Turkish Tea (Çay- pronounced Chai)

Yesterday I was invited to my friend's home to experience a full Turkish Tea! My friend is a marvelous cook and made everything from scratch!

She was so gracious and picked us up in one part of the city, and paid for a taxi to take her straight to her house. Taxi's are very expensive here, but she wanted to take care of us. She gave us a tour of her house, and her mom's artwork. Her mother is so talented in so many different art forms. the mirror it took her 6 years to finish. The Arabic writing painting was painted with real gold melted down and watered down. I told her it must be very very expensive if she ever wanted to sell it. She told me, that in the time it took her to do all the detail, altogether, the painting is priceless. Too expensive to put a price on it.

Then we all sat down and had cookies, pumpkin, bread, crushed lentils, and others commonly found tea snacks. Afterwards, we had some fruit and homemade dessert of mini cream puffs with thick chocolate sauce! YUM! I was so full though, I could only eat half of what I was given. We also had Turkish coffee which is very very strong. Like espresso with a little sugar added. The grounds are in the cup, so you only drink about half of the espresso cup. then you put a saucer on top of the cup, and quickly turn it and let it sit upside down for

a few minutes. A favorite pastime is telling your future in the grounds of the coffee. My friend's mom was an expert in this. I don't believe in this, but she insisted on telling each girl her future. It was an interesting experience, and I was able to share how some of the things she mentioned relate to Christ, or how my life has changed because of Him.

I was so glad to be able to experience all of this. I had been hoping to visit a Turkish home while I was here, and God heard my prayer. My friend and the other girls that were there were so nice, and we had some very good conversations! I am praying they may know God! To top it off, before we left, her mom gave me and my American friend who came with me two of her paintings!!!! we couldn't believe it!!! They will be a treasure! My evening was made complete when I was able to give a New Testament to one of the girls there that I got to talk to a lot, and I know God will use it in her life.

Living in History!

One thing I have been stuck by the past couple weeks is where I really am at. I know I am in the Middle East, but this is where history happened. Paul walked these roads and next week I am going to visit Ephesus, one of the most famous churches in the bible. This country has the city where the people where first called Christians! This morning I read about Paul traveling to Attalia, the people here know it as Antalya. It's SO COOL! I can't believe this is where it all began. The other day we were in the middle of the city, and stay this tall pillar. Our friend told us even though it's not labeled, and almost no one knows why it is there, it is one of the oldest places in the city. It is a pillar Rome built to commemorate the Roman Empire converting to Christianity. Right here! Right in this city!!!!

Last week I got to visit the home of a man who in this century became one of the first 100 known Christians here. He told us about how the government skips over the part of history when Christianity ruled here. The people know nothing. We mention we are going to see the 7 churches of revelation in the bible. When we explain the first Christian churches were in this country they are amazed. I pray that God would bring this people back to himself.

My friend also told me how he took a team of about 9 Muslim raised Christians to another Middle Eastern country to share with them about Jesus. They did so by sharing the culture and history of This Country with friends they would meet. They knew they should keep good records of all the people they met and talked to and who was interested in knowing more about Christ, to give other friends of theirs in the area so they could follow up with them. At the end of the summer, they counted up that 37 people prayed to receive Christ!!! That is incredible for this part of the world! In This Country alone, only about 7 people came to faith through our friends in the past Year! so 37 is amazing! they are going to try to do this again in the future, because God is obviously moving through these people to reach others like them!

I got this incredible picture as I was reading through Acts the other day. This is where it all began. What if the Gospel came back to Antioch. it would have gone out to the whole world and finally come back again. Wow. I hope Jesus is coming back soon! maybe we won't see it in our day, but I can't help but think it is close!

living on campus

So the university I am at is very high end. The fact that all the classes are taught in English is attractive and very prestigious! They also have beautiful roses and other glowers all over the campus and today the gardeners were out. I noticed this on my way back from dinner! If you can't tell what the picture is. The round bushes were cut so there was a bare place where the face would be and the green part is the hair, and the bush has giant sunglasses on!

Other interesting things from living in the dorms includes, f

ans are forbidden until it is hot enough to use them. we think it may be because they don't want the waste of electricity. All of the lights all over turkey have motion detectors. So all the hallways in most places, in the schools, hotels, bathrooms, etc have motion senor lights. so it looks like you are going down a dark scary hallway, and then BAM! the lights come on. its annoying though when you are waiting in dark scary hallway and not moving enough, and the lights keep going out.

Also I was told I would have a Turkish roommate!!!! I was NOT expecting this! My roommate for the project did not end up coming, so I have been enjoying having the peace and quiet of not having a roommate, and extra space to myself. Well, the univer

sity doesn't understand my position. They think I am just another foreign exchange student for the summer. With all my responsibilities, it would be very detrimental for me to have a roommate, especially one that isn't Christian. Most students living in this dorm are about 18-20, so not only is there an age gap, but I am still working while here, and my room is a place of rest and comfort, away from distractions and a rest from the language and culture. I think they understand I can't have a roommate, but the language/cultural barrier makes me worried sometimes.

the view from my dorm window

I'm here!!!!

I made it!

I have had some fun interesting experiences so far. one of the days we got to visit the famous blue mosque and hagia sophia. They are right next to each other and symbols of the city. I loved looking at history, and just learning more so I can better pray for the people here.

we did have one downfall. This city is so big, and there are so many people. one of the girls went to the bathroom, and I am not sure anyone knew. We left and were touring around, and when we were counting to see if we had everyone so we could move on to the next stop we realized she was missing. It had been over an hour since anyone had seen her. We quickly retraced our steps and found her in front of the restaurant we had lunch at. Praise God she was ok, and stayed put! It was scary, but we realized we needed to have a better grasp of the buddy system, and really watch out for each other.

a guy on the street making some sort of candy

the work in progress - the yellow is the plaster that covered the beautiful mosaics underneath it.

one of the famous beautiful mosaics that was plastered over when it was turned into a mosque

The hagia sophia - a famous church that was made into a mosque, but is now a museum

The famous blue mosque and hagia sophia

The blue mosque is a very large and beautiful mosques that is part of the European skyline of Istanbul

Beautiful detail inside

Julie, who is leading with me, and her little trooper! Ellie has been so good this whole trip so far!

The large racks of "doner" meat. one is lamb the other is chicken. They rotate slowly and cook by flame on one side. The meat is shaved off to make sandwiches that are common everywhere, you can find them from $2-$7 wrapped in a large tortilla, pita or on a baguette.

a cool shot I was able to get in a break in the crowd

I have no idea what the sign says

the city skyline

the blue mosque and the hagia sophia from the ferry boat traveling between Asia and Europe. I am living in Asia, but most of the touristy places are in Europe

welcome to campus!

the night-time view of the city from my dorm window

the campus entrance

somewhere in the middle of campus

cool sign :-)

these are a few of the interesting things....

pickled pine cones?

this street is named "fish street"

now that's fresh garlic!

vegetable market!

a nice bakery! we didn't have any of those in Thailand!

loading up on water because you can't drink from the tap

"restaurant" street

this man is selling simit (sounds like sa-meat) it is a bagel shaped bread that is not as soft or dense as a bagel

These men are selling water and disguises? in between the fast paced traffic

A view of the city while driving in

a brave? man selling water in between heavy traffic

a mosque closely situated among other buildings

traffic that reminds me of Bangkok

first day in the M.E.

So my first day here this was the salad I got!!!!!!

I was ecstatic!!!! I love cucumbers and I love tomatoes, and so when I found out this is very popular/common, I was glad that I would continue to have something healthy to eat.

Our flight and travels overall went very smoothly, and we were not too tired when we got in, but we were super tired by about 6 or 7pm. With a 7 hour time difference, and not getting a full night's sleep on the 14hour journey left us a bit bleary eyed. :-)

My first impressions of the country were that it reminded me a lot of Thailand!!!! similar building structures, the city layout with everything sort of hodge podge with really nice buildings mixed in with poor shacks. Even just the sidewalks reminded me of Thailand. I am sure people probably got tired of me saying, "wow! this is so much like thailand!!!" The only difference though is when I was in Thailand I was with people that could understand and speak a little of the language my whole first year. I didn't do much exploring on my own. Here the language has been a little harder for me to pick up, and I am frustrated all the time when something isn't clear, and I can't understand them or they can't understand me.

New sister in Christ!!!

The beginning of the semester started out as I was feeling a bit down. Like I had already tried to visit many students last semester, and I didn't have anyone left to go to their rooms, or whatnot. At least not new students. But I realized there are over 5,00 intl students at MSU, and surely I hadn't talked to all of them. Plus there were many students I would see in the dorms, that I knew I had never met before.

I decided to knock on some new doors, people I didn't have a card for, but I figured it was worth a shot. One of the doors I knocked on belonged to a girl named Wendy. I started talking to her and doing a picture survey with her, but halfway through she had to run to meet a friend she forgot about, but she really wanted to finish our conversation.

So the next week I came back, and we got into a conversation talking about God, and I was able to go through our short booklet called "Knowing God Personally." In it there are 4 main points that are basically the meat of the Gospel. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. But because of our sin (choosing to go our own selfish way and not choosing God) we cannot experiencing this love and plan. Jesus is God's only provision for our sin so we can know Him personally and experience His love and plan. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and then we can experience God's love and plan.

After sharing this with her, and a little of my own personal story, she

wanted to pray right then and there to have God come into her life so she could know Him personally and experience His love in her life. I was so excited! Here I was not very ambitious about talking to new people, and one of the first people I talked to was interested in God!

I am so thankful, and am excited to see how God uses Wendy and helps her to grow more!

It was cool too that we had a game night shortly after, and We

ndy was able to come and meet some new people, as she doesn't have too many friends on campus still. Over 40 people ended up coming to the game night, and we were able to build some new friendships!

Here's a picture below!

Believer's Overnight

At the very beginning of January, we had an overnight just for our Chinese friends who are Christians. We wanted them to all meet each other (since many didn't know each other) and have a time of fellowship and growth in their Christian walk.

It has been so hard getting any of our key students to attend conferences with Bridges or CCC. We have tried many things, and so having just a short 24 hours seemed like a great way just to start the ball rolling this semester and get students started on the right foot.

Six of our 17 believers were able to make it! This was a great turnout and we were excited that we were able to get that many students together at one place at one time (our bigger parties are all nonbelievers from all over campus, and about 1/3 to half of the students invited usually come)

We started the night with pizza and getting to know one another, talked about the worthiness of Christ, to help fix their eyes on the Lord for the weekend, and then played some games and shared stories and laughter. I missed part of the games and such because I was still getting over my terrible cold I had the week before.

The next morning we had to pull students out of bed to get them to help make breakfast, and start our first session of the day. It turned out the girls (two to a room) all stayed up talking into the wee hours of the morning. It was great they were forming friendships and such, but not so good if you want people to be awake to learn stuff. :-)

Our first session was how to spend time with God, and we gave them time to spend reading their bibles. Then we talked about how to share your faith with friends, family, and others you meet on campus and at work. we then took a break for lunch and some sledding!!!! Most students had never played in that much snow before ( about a foot and a half) and LOVED it!

Afterwards we warmed up with hot chocolate and talked about the importance of fellowship. Overall it was a great 24 hours, and I think the students were greatly encouraged and built up by this time!

Libya

So I have a new update about some of my Libyan friends. So there are 35 Libyan students all at MSU. They are a part of a special program designed just for them. They are sent here by their government to learn English, and politics, so they can return to their country and be diplomats and ambassadors. 6 of the 35 are women. I know 5 of them.

One of the women, I met briefly last year, but this year, I have found she hangs out in the same place during lunch time every day. She is 4 months pregnant and wants to see a doctor, but because of communication problems, and her own stubbornness, this has been quite a difficult process. So I have been helping her over the past couple weeks to call different offices and to figure out the details to help her make an appointment.

As I spend so much time with them, I know I am not sharing the Gospel verbally, but each day I am able to share the Gospel through my actions, and my patience and just in small ways as I help her and make friends with another girl that hangs out with her. I feel so privileged to be able to meet with them, and I keep praying that God will use me in their lives to show them the love of Christ, and that their lives would be changed by Him.

broken vessel

So last night, I faced a difficult night once again. I feel like I get to this point each night, where I am just down and out. Like nothing is right, and I don't know what's wrong. I realized last night I just needed to face the Lord with some of these things head on.

Even though it was 11pm, and I really wanted to just go to bed, I knew I had to just hash it out with the Lord. I feel like I had just been putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. I would spend time with God ( I've spent more time with God this semester than ever before), but at the end of the day, I still just felt empty/wrong... like something just wasn't right with me.

I've been better since I recognized I've been facing a bit of spiritual battle, and been fighting against Satan, but I realized I had some of my own personal demons I needed to deal with. As I started to work it out and journal about it, and get to the root of my problems, it was as if God was ripping the band-aid off my wound. It hurt, I was crying out to God, but I knew I needed to work through the matter, and not just seek someone or something to soothe me.

As I figured out exactly what my problem was, what the root of the issue was, it made sense. I kept feeling like I am the only one experiencing feelings like these, but then as I cleared up and pinpointed what was wrong, I realized I have heard story after story of others facing this same road. Some didn't figure it out until they were neck deep in a big mess that was about to suffocate them. I am just happy that God does love me and cares about me enough to help me to figure out what actually was causing this gaping wound in my soul, and then helped me to at least start stitching it up one little bit at a time.

I know I will continue to deal with this, and it's not unusual, many other women walk this same road as I. But the difference is what I turn to. Will I turn to the things of this world to make me feel better? Or will I open my heart to God and let him pour salt in my wound to help disinfect it, and cleanse it before it can heal?

Last night I chose God. and he showed me that I am a broken vessel. I am a jar of clay, easily breakable, and has many cracks already, but I am God's exact work of art. He has a purpose for each and every single one of those cracks, and will use me for His purposes. He doesn't need me, but He chooses to use me in a way infinitely more than what I can do on my own.

On my own, I would try and fill myself with water that keeps pouring through the cracks, getting me frustrated, and settling for stagnant junk floating on the top of whatever water is left in me. But God wants to fill me with His living water. A spring that will overflow, even though the water will pour through the cracks in my life, God will keep me filled, and continue to fill me if I let Him.

Praise be to Him. The author and perfecter of our faith.

new eating habits

So one thing I wanted to do this year was start eating healthy. Right after I returned back after my conference, my roommate announced she was going gluten-free again. She gets sick from it sometimes, and after a bad winter break, she decided she needed to cut the gluten out again.

My mom has cut almost all simple carbs and sugar (besides fruits) out of her diet. I'm not sure I could go quite that extreme but I know it's healthy. When I was sick, I stumbled upon a newsletter and some other healthy eating tips and guides. I was intrigued and thought about implementing some of these things into my own diet and some maybe slower than others.

Since all I could really eat when I was sick was juice and eggs, I thought it might be easy to make changes to my eating habits since I had a few days head start with no cookies, breads, sugars or other foods I get attached to. I knew it would be hard to cut all gluten and sugar out at the same time, so I thought I would start with gluten, with the help and support of my roommate and then possibly cut out sugar as well.

As I started though, I was still pretty congested from being sick, and milk products were making it worse, so I cut all dairy out too. Then I read about how dairy really isn't that good for you anyway, even the raw milk and such! Then I read about how soy and soy products are really bad for you. One lady suggested throwing out all processed foods in your house. Basically anything that has ingredients you can't pronounce. These mostly have high-fructose corn syrup or soy derivatives. I knew the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and she made a good point, that if your health is really worth it to you, then why not get rid of $10-25 of junk sitting in your cupboard. the $1 mac and cheese I hold on to really isn't worth it when you think of it as eating glorified plastic.

Plus I really wanted to make these changes really to help me to eat more vegetables. I like veggies, and I eat them all the time. I just don't like buying them ( they usually go bad) and cooking them ( I think it takes too much time, sometimes).

now that I don't have pretzels/chips, baked goods, and breads and pastas to fill up on, I fill up on veggies instead, and I know it's good for me, but I just needed a little help. So cutting gluten out, really helped me to make these changes. I might not keep gluten out of my diet forever, but just this semester at least to get used to snacking on healthier things and filling up on the good stuff, not the junk stuff, or whatever is "quick" and "easy"

sick at beginning of year

So my first weekend in January I had a conference in Dallas, TX. This was to help prepare me to co-lead a summer project in the Middle East this summer!!!! :-)

I was super excited when I found out about helping lead 5 weeks of reaching out to Muslims with a couple that are really awesome (on my staff team at MSU) and their 7 month old daughter. I got to fly with a Bridges friend of mine from MSU who is also helping lead a project overseas this summer. So it was nice not having to travel alone. Usually I go to all these conferences and travel alone, but our plane tickets were paid for, so it didn't matter which airline I had miles with or whatever, but we picked the most convenient, but not too expensive flight.

It was a very encouraging weekend and I got a lot out of it, but the last day of the conference I woke up not feeling so great, and as I started my day, decided I needed more rest. By noon I had a fever. I had to skip the rest of the seminars and training sessions. What made it worse was knowing the next day of travel home started at 6am and ended at 7pm. :-(

Dayquil and Ibuprofen we my best friends.

After my third day of fever all day, I went to the doctor's and they said I didn't have flu or a sinus infection, but some kind of infection. So much for a day off. I spent all day sick! Thursday I still wasn't up for more than walking from my kitchen to my bedroom. By friday afternoon I finally felt like the fever was going. 5 DAYS! I haven't had a fever for 5 days in a LONG time. but everyone was getting sick. At the conference, of every group leading a trip, at least one of the members got sick. Even when I got back, it seemed this illness spread through many not just on our campus, but many of my friends across the country seemed to get this same or a similar illness. yuck. what a way to start the year

Happy new year!

This year has definitely been a full one. I feel like I am ready for 2011. New places to go, people to meet, and lots of great opportunities are in store for me in the coming year.

Looking back, I feel blessed by so many things that have happened, how God has answered prayers, and helped me to see His hand clearly in some situations.

I just got back from a week in Nashville, TN. I had hoped to do more visiting of friends and family in Florida and Arkansas, but I and a couple of my teammates ended up driving 9 students down with us. It was a blast!!!! I wish I had gotten a chance to talk to the students a little more and engage with them a little better, but I was pretty busy during the conference.

I was a part of the program team, and this year our conference was set up a little different, so there wasn't a main meeting in the morning and evening, but the students separated into three different tracks. The Chinese Track, Multinations, and EMMO ( Emerging movements - for students that want to learn how to help out with Bridges)

So part of my job was stage director. I got to wear a headset and tell people when to get on and off stage, and be the communication between the back of the room with the audio and video stuff, and the stage and emcees. It was so much fun!!!!! I got to help problem solve at the last minute on a few different things, and help keep everything organized. One of my good friends was the program director, and so it was a lot of fun getting to work with her, and spend time together since she is far away in Boston, and I only see her once or twice a year.

I got to talk to a few students while I was at the conference, but the longest conversation I had was with an American student that was asking about my time I spent in Thailand, and what it looks like to intern with Crusade and and be on staff with Bridges. I felt like he really picked my brain a lot, and I had hoped I could talk to some of the international students more, but I think I was really able to help answer some nagging questions he had, and it definitely seemed like a conversation God orchestrated.

So now I am gearing up to start the semester, and then this weekend I will be in Dallas for some leadership training for the project I will be helping lead this summer!!!! So I am excited to get some warmer weather and possibly some sunshine!

This week I am also home alone at my apartment as I was over Christmas break. For the holidays I stayed at my brother's condo, but it has been a little hard to be by myself for so long. and I hope I won't get antsy this week being by myself before my roommate comes back. I do have a long list of things to get done, it's just nice having another person around to talk to while getting little things done, like taking down the Christmas tree, organizing my desk/office area, and general stuff like that.

I do feel very blessed that I have found a women's bible study to attend. I met one of the girls at the young adults group at my church and she invited me to join her and some others, and it was so nice! I felt like I fit right in and was immediately welcomed in. So now I am trying to get to know some of the girls a little better, and I am able to find time to just hang out with a few of them here and there. So hopefully this week, I will be able to get out of my apartment to hang out for a little bit.