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

A First Week Full of Blessings

So Wi-Fi in Turkey is either hard to find or a little sketchy, so we apologize that we won’t be posting as much as we originally planned to. But here’s a recap since we last posted! Tuesday we went to the pazar for the first time to buy fresh fruits and veggies, and practice some of our Turkish numbers (“bir, iki, uç, dört…”). It was so much like I had seen in the movies, and we got lots of yummy foods for our house for only 15 lira! My (Hannah’s) luggage also came in Tuesday, so I was full of gratitude for these blessings. We continued our language learning Wednesday and Friday mornings and did further prepping of our house and hearts. We attended a Turkish church prayer service Thursday and with some help, we were able to understand and pray with this congregation whose hearts are so sincere and caring. Friday we helped prepare for the fair at had youth group at which we got to sing many of the songs we’re familiar with from English worship songs in Turkish. Singing songs we’re familiar with has easily become one of our favorite ways to learn Turkish! Afterwards we all went to coffee and the park and had a wonderful time of fellowship with the friends we had made, and met new ones. A group of about 5 recently graduated college students have spent the past school year here teaching English. Many are believers and a few of them attend the church so it was wonderful getting to know them and hear their stories.

Saturday was a glorious day! We helped for the larger portion of the day at the church Mayfair and got to do crafts, play games and paint faces with lots of sweet children. We also got to know some other church members better as we served together. Afterwards we were pretty hot from being outside all day and decided our team wanted to go for a swim together. This became much more of an adventure than we imagined! We went down to where our worker had showed us was a great place to jump off cliffs and swim, but at the time there were quite a few fishermen and other swimmers. So I had the great idea to hike around (up and down) some of the other cliffs to reach a different place to jump in, out of the fishermen’s way. This proved to be fruitless, and while getting to the place I hoped to jump in was not difficult, returning was rough after realizing the location was not providential. So rough, in fact, that I completely broke my shoe and tore my shorts! Yet, this didn’t stop us; we then tried a completely different location, which was beautiful, with ancient ruins and lots of greenery, but, alas, also had no easy access to the water. Dismayed, we tried to buy me some new shoes (which ended up being only socks…and some ice cream) and decided on plan C. We resolved to try once more at the very first location and just swim beside the fishermen, and when we went down, we found a group of our new friends had just arrived, so we got to swim with them, which was way better than just going by ourselves! I was so excited (and sweaty, ready to get into the water!) that I hadn’t fully thought through that I was jumping off a cliff into the chilly Mediterranean, so upon arriving I took off my cover up and jumped into the water. However when I did, my body went into a little bit of a shock and I couldn’t breathe, but after about 20 seconds I was able to calm my breathing and was just fine. Some of our new friends came to make sure I was fine and helped me be able to get used to the ocean and notice things I may not have on my own. We swam around and had lots of fun and great fellowship with our new friends.

Not only was this a great experience, but also I feel the Lord used it to teach me a few things. First, I learned that this trip could be a bit like our adventure. Getting there and achieving goals is certainly not always the easiest or as we anticipate it to be, but there are some great blessings that we get to experience in the midst of a crazy journey. Also, while it may scare me a bit initially jumping in, God is quick to provide peace and make the experience all the better the deeper we go. Finally we can be thankful for all those around us and focus far more on the folks and beauty opposed to the danger and scariness within situations.

Sunday we went to both services at church again then went to lunch with some friends and had some time to relax and explore. Monday we went a bit outside of town to ruins of a Roman road. As Paul and Silas sailed out near where we’re staying, it is highly likely they may have walked this very road! It was so wonderful getting to appreciate both the history and beauty of this place as we hiked up a ways. It was a truly remarkable to be a part of! Tuesday we had language class and bought groceries again at the pazar, and then this morning we did some gardening outside our language school before class, and prayed over the building and all that will take place there (as it’s the same building where Casey and I will do a conversational/cultural class later in the Summer).

Thank you for all your prayers and support so far! We have surely felt them! Casey came down with a bad cold/flu thing Saturday and had to rest until today(Wednesday), but thankfully she is doing much better now! I know she would still appreciate your continued prayers, as would all our team for our own health to not interfere with us getting to do what the Lord has called us to. Please pray also that we continue to really learn the language so more relationships may begin. Sağol (thank you and God bless)! Görüşürüz (see you later)!


This was the first location I found, georgous, but not exactly safe to jump in and out of:(

The second location where we found lots of beautiful sights and ruins!

Ruins outside of the Roman road.

The actual road! 

Merhaba!

Hello! Due to a lack of wifi at our home, Hannah and I haven't been able to update our blog, but boy do we have a lot to say. Our journey here was definitely a rough one, filled with delayed flights (every single flight was delayed actually), missed flights, new tickets, lost luggage, and all around tiredness and frustration. BUT, we learned a lot about handling stressful situations and how each of us handle them differently. We met a lot of really helpful people along the way, including a very friendly man at passport control in Munich and a cheerful Turk on the plane to Istanbul who made a puppet out of a barf bag to quiet a screaming baby. Just a couple of wonderful humans that made us smile during a very unpleasant 48 hours.

Once we arrived to our destination, we met with our host family who fed us an AMAZING dinner and showed us to our home. The next day we attended church, both the English and Turkish services. Although we couldn't understand any of the Turkish service, Hannah and I had a good enough grasp of the alphabet to sing the hymns which were beautiful! My personal favorite was a song written by the pastor of the church, based on Psalm 37:

Her seyi Rab'be birak

o'na guven, O'nunla kal

O senin dogrulugunu bir isik gibi 

aydinlatacak

Not sure what it says...but we enjoyed singing it. The Turkish service was devoted to praying for those who lost family members and friends in the Soma mining incident. The pastor specifically asked that his congregation pray for the living, those who are left to make sense of their grief. Hannah and I ask that you guys back home would pray for them as well, and for the working conditions in Turkey to change as a result. 

After church we went to the beach which was GORGEOUS. Holy cow. I explained to my friend Alice who attends St. Peter's that beaches in Texas are brown all over. Sand, water, seaweed. Brown. The Mediterranean coast is unique because it has pebble beaches and sand beaches. The beach we went to was a pebble beach. The ocean was extremely salty and the waves that day were tall and rocking. We had a great time. We made a lot of friends around our age: Lance from England, Tom from France, Jack from Serbia, and Alice and Delores who are from Turkey. (Note: we are changing names on our blog for safety).

Monday (today) we took the bus to our first language class with Mamud, a professor of the Turkish language. We focused on greetings, the alphabet, numbers, and common verbs. We will be attending language class three times a week and hopefully will catch on quickly! I apologize for the rambling nature of this post, I'm typing very quickly because I have little battery left and no converter for my plug with me! I hope everyone back in the States is doing well; Hannah and I thank you for your prayers!

Here are some pictures!

This is our house :)

Our street 

Turkish delight 

THE BEACH!!! and mountains in the background.

Gule Gule! (Leave with smile return with a smile),

Casey

THREE MORE DAYS!

These last few weeks leading up to our trip have been crazy! With finals, leaving the dorms forever (Hannah leaving Nelson and ResLife), recovering from illness, being with family during a loss and packing we have been BUSY--but the Lord has been ever present, blessing and preparing us in a thousand ways. We're thankful for sweet friends and family and lots of prayers prayed over and for us. Please continue to pray as we finish our packing and goodbyes before departure on Thursday!

About Our Trip

We will be serving in Turkey working with a Turkish church and an International Church. We will also be serving as counselors at Olive Grove Camp with over a 100 campers, some missionaries’ children, some from Turkey. Additionally we will help with a 2 week cross-cultural English learning class.