Olive Grove + The Beginnings of Cultural Exchange

Hello kind readers! Sorry it's been awhile again. The past week and a half we were away from nearly all technology and wifi in a town in the mountains 45 minutes outside the city. Casey and I were helping at Olive Grove, a holiday adventure that TCKs and MKs from all over come to! We were privileged to work with a wonderful group of co-counselors from all over the US, and some serving as workers, or TCK's themselves, and then campers from all over Turkey, Russia, Lithuania and Kazakhstan! It was truly an AMAZING experience! The first few days were orientation and we learned more about ways to better serve our campers. Then campers arrived Saturday and we got to spend time with them swimming in a super clear and gorgeous part of the Mediterranean, hike with them up the mountains, and even go visit the ruins of an ancient city with them! Casey and I also specifically served as ESL helpers, something neither of us had done before. But God provided excellent teachers and we were able to follow their instructions and get to know and see our students improve their English in just a short time. It was pretty exciting! One of my favorite moments at Olive Grove happened on the last day. We had worship outdoors facing the mountains, and we began to feel lots of wind as we watched the clouds roll into the mountains. Our group was positioned in the middle of this, singing praises to our God, and as we sang, the gravity and majesty of the moment hit me. How often to we get to praise Our Father with people from all parts of the World, in a plethora of languages while in the midst of His beauty? It has not happened many times in my experience, but the exciting thing is, this was truly a foretaste of heaven. I wanted to stay in that moment forever. Alas, time goes on, and we returned this past Saturday to Antalya to do lots of laundry and catch up on rest before we started the Cultural Exchange program Tuesday. It started off well with worship and getting to meet the university students, believers from England. We have made some grand friendships with them already, and learned much from each other. We went to the beach to play get to know you games and meet the Turkish students. It was really exciting and fun! Since then we have participated in conversation groups talking about the hard issues in our respective societies as well as about what we value and want to change most about the world we live in, shared many yummy meals, and have had many wonderful adventures and experiences together! We took a boat ride Wednesday which was super exciting, and a little bit scary when we jumped off the boat into the water, the super strong current kept pushing us where we did not want to go! But we all survived and were able to laugh at ourselves in the end. We also have had tavla tournaments, danced together, bowled, and sang together on the beach. Through these shared experiences I am thankful for the friendships that have really begun to grow and develop, despite the fact that our native languages are not the same. We have also been able to learn so much from one another and I pray that truly continues. Please pray for the friendships that will continue to develop in this community and that through our lives we are able to share the Lord's goodness with those who do not know Him in the program! Thanks for all your past and future prayers! 

Boocoos of Pictures

Here's a glimpse of some places and things we've seen in Turkey!

This is right down the street from our house. It's just this one street that has umbrellas for a ceiling...

This is a beach we visited a couple of weeks ago. Funny story, it was actually our first time to take the bus on our own. We knew to take the bus all the way to the end of its route and we just assumed we'd see the beach when we got off the bus...

But this is what we saw when we got off instead...we basically picked a road and walked down it and hoped that the beach was at the end. We passed a government security place that had barbed wire fences and signs with men holding guns...but after we passed that we found the beach! So yay!

This is another place we go to swim that's just a short walk away. There's a beautiful walk down to the water where you have to jump off rocks (there's no beach) into the water. 

Speaking of the sea, we went to an incredibly interesting lecture by Linford Stutzman. He and his wife decided to sail the same route as Paul did in Acts and spent over a year sailing together. He's written two books since then and he came to speak about his book Sailing Acts. He pointed out Paul either lived in a port city or on a boat for 2/3 of his life. His observation was that people who lived in port cities and traveled were the things in the picture above: mobile, inclusive, and adaptable. It was really interesting to read Paul's letters with the mindset of how his travels would influence his views of the church. (Specifically, Paul's focus on meeting people where they are..)

Exploring in Kaleici 

Hadrian's Gate

This is our intern group: Paige, Hannah, Casey, (our worker's daughter), Brianna, and Brittany

This is a statue of Attaturk's (the founder of the Turkish Republic) hand in the park near our house

This is a cafe we hang out in a lot with the youth group.

This restaurant was really cool, partly because it's called Is Kender (my sister's name), and because they come and pore hot, frothy butter all over your dish before you eat it. So much butter....so much goodness...

A wonderful, enchanted, dank, dusty, darling bookstore down the street from our villa....

Sigh....

Cats are everywhere here...

And sleepy three-legged dogs...

And tea. Hot tea at the end of every meal.

Güle güle!

Seftali tea, please

It takes a focused, mindful person to remember all the things they ought not to do or say in a foreign country. Don’t say “peach” or “sick,” don’t stick your feet in someone else’s direction, don’t point with just one finger, don’t be too friendly to guys. If you know me well, you know that focused and mindful aren't exactly my strong points. If I don’t consistently remind myself of these things, I know I am at risk of unintentionally giving offense. Sometimes the process of remembering these things is both stressful and irritating. I feel at times that I can’t relax and have to be constantly on guard. This frustration occasionally causes me to blame others in my thoughts or have unreasonable expectations for them.

“Surely they’ll realize I’m not from here, that I made a mistake…”

“Well, they really ought to show grace and not mind…those things aren't a big deal.”

The problem with these thoughts is that they allow me to disregard the feelings and experiences of others. They say, “Your culture and mindset doesn't make sense to me, therefore I can disregard them with no consequences.” This counts my feelings as higher than others and exempts me from caring for others more than myself. They are selfish, mean-spirited thoughts. This morning, these verses from Ephesians reminded me that being a servant of God requires diligence:

“I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” –Ephesians 4:1-6

Every good deed does not come naturally or effortlessly. I have to remind myself to be patient; I have to urge myself to show grace; and I have to sacrifice to put others first. It would be silly to expect others to excuse my every offensive word or tolerate my selfish behavior. We cannot live without being mindful of those around us and how our words and actions will affect the state of their heart.

I come across this dilemma in my mind sometimes:

If I know that a specific action of mine is not technically immoral, not exactly wrong, but I know that it will likely cause anger or hurt, am I still right to do it? In this type of situation, I wonder where love lies. Where am I striving to walk in humility? How are my actions gentle and peaceful? Am I promoting unity or discord? I don’t know that it’s always possible to live in peace. We certainly cannot expect every person to look at our beliefs and actions and be okay with them. There are too many people with too many opinions for that. However, I look at myself and the motives that are so often unkind and unthinking and I wonder if I try very hard to be at peace. It’s hard to mindful of the opinions of others. It takes effort to remember what might cause someone pain or stir up anger in their heart. But we are called to one hope. We are united by a need for that hope. Our actions, as I see it, are either pushing those around us towards that hope, or away from that hope.

I am encouraged by these verses a little further down in Ephesians 4:

One day…”we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grown in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.”

We are all parts, (I love that Paul calls us ligaments) working together and promoting the growth of each other. That isn't easy, and that isn't a lightly taken task. But it’s a beautiful, worthy task.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit on this glorious Saturday,

Casey