Another Day in Paradise

I am having an incredibly wonderful time. I can see God working through me. I am trying to give in three different areas: to the Turkish people who have welcomed my team with open arms and established deep relationships far beyond my imagination, and to our dear hosts who are helping us navigate Antalya (again-kinder to us than I had predicted), and to my team. The team leadership is by far the most difficult for me. Please pray for me in this area.

Ramazan and Karen

We had dinner at Karen and Ramazan’s house last night. He is the pastor of the Turkish church, and he’s coming to the US to live for awhile. I’m hoping he’ll end up in Ventura, which is one of the possibilities for him. (If you have any say in this, call me if you’re open to taking bribes!). Karen met Ramazan when she was on a short term journey to Turkey, and they are a really neat couple. They are really living out their faith, and are doing such an amazing job under incredibly difficult circumstances. We could learn so much from them.

Right now they are like Abraham when God said “Go to a place I will show you…” They don’t know where they are to go, and are waiting for different churches in the US to make decisions. Additionally, although the church will go on without him, I imagine it is very difficult to turn over his leadership of the Turkish church to others. Ramazan cares so much about the people in his congregation, and knows all their troubles and needs. I pray that the Turkish leaders in the church will step forward and take on new roles, just as people did at CPC when Paul was in Albania.

Another highlight today was when I gave this little girl, who has autism, Play Doh. She doesn’t talk much, but whines instead. You would have thought I had given her a new pony the way she reacted to the Play Doh. She said “Tesekur ederim” (Thank you), and stole my heart.