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.