Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Christmas in Turkey!

Everyone was sad about being away at Christmas. But it all ended up fine. Let's see, Friday night (the 23rd) a few of us went to an English Club/internet café that's run by Christians. Originally we thought they wanted us to do some kind of Hawaiian Christmas thing. So, Chaz and I were trying to figure out a song to make a hgula to. Well, we finally found out that they wanted us to perform some kind of Christmas manger scene reinactment. So I was Mary, Nate was Joseph, Casey was the angel, and Chaz and Breanna were shepherds. It was a little weird, but it worked out, I think. And the power went out so we did it by candlelight. But that gave it a good effect.
So, the next day (Christmas Eve), a few of us went to a Russian church. They wanted two people to be clowns, two to watch kids, and two to help with hospitality (Me and Jessie). So we got there, not really knowing what was going on, as usual. Jessie and I had no clue what we were doing. Pretty much all she did was cut out some papers, and I cut up three loaves of bread. Yes, we felt useful. Apparently it was some kind of passing out presents from Santa for the kids. And in Russian tradition Santa has a granddaughter called the Snow Girl, who helps Santa. So, that was interesting. But it was a fun experience.
So after that we went home and cooked a yummy Christmas dinner. A turkey, that the store coked with rice instead of stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, cranberry sauce, and Coke. It was great!!! We had drawn names earlier and so we had our gift exchange that night. Chaz had my name and gave me the coolest tea set ever! (Here they drink tea after every meal). Then Chaz made a yummy chocolate dessert. It was a great Christmas Eve.
We woke up Christmas morning with Chaz and Casey having filled our stockings and presents uder our Christmas tree from our families back home. It was such a great surprise! Chaz and Casey made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then we opened our presents. Later, we went to Kipa, a mall close by, and ate McDonald's for lunch. Then we went bowling and had pizza and Coke for dinner.
It was sad being away for Christmas, but it was a great way to spent it. Chaz and Casey did a great job at making us feel like we were home!!!

Go to my flickr account to see a few Christmas pictures. I'll post more next month.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Smyrna

OK, this will be quick because İ didnt prepare what İ was going to write.
The book of Revelation is a letter from Paul written to the seven churches of Asia. OK, so did you know that these places are all in Turkey? Crazy!! And the church in Smyrna, ok well thats İzmir now. OH my gosh! We are living in a place in the Bible! Yesterday we went to the ruins of Smyrna. İll put up pictures as soon as possible. İts insane! İ cant believe it. İve always wanted to be in places that the Bible was, and now İ am. CRAZY!!!! And at the end of January we are going to Ephesus! İ cant wait! This is amazing, just chillin on the Medıterrarean Sea!!!!!! Eating the most amazing olives and feta cheese!! My dad is so jealous right now!!!
İ love you all. Thats it for now.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Ayasofia


Ayasofia
Originally uploaded by rebekahlynn5.

There`s some pictures from Turkey!!! If you click on my friend Breanna`s websıte, she`ll have dıfferent pictures and maybe more stories!! She`s on the side bar.

Monday, December 12, 2005

To My Family

Yesterday Chaz had some questions he felt God wanted us to pray about. One of the questions was if we were holding on to anything. Were we holding onto our freedom, or comforts that wouldn`t allow us to experıence what God has for us, or to be used by God?
Before I left I knew it was goıng to be a struggle for me to be gone from my family and fiance for so long. Eventhough I`ve been away from my Washington family for so long, I still talk to them at least every week. Not only would I not get to talk to them as much, but I`d also be mısıng Chrıstmas for the fırst tıme! I didn`t want these struggles to be a hındrance while I was here. So, I prepared myself mentally. Where does it say that we can do things on our own? I didn`t take ıt to God.
Since I`ve been here all I could think about was how excited I was to come back home to my fiance. Then, shortly after, I get to go to Washıngton. And all the weddıng plans! I was anxious to get online and then find a phone card.
When Chaz asked this question, and as I prayed about it, I realized that I was letting everything from home consume my thoughts each moment.
I`m here to be used by God and to serve the people here. I cannot effectively do that when my mind is constantly on other things. I feel like God is wanting me to cut myself off. Even though I had told myself that I was going to do that, I hadn`t taken it to God or actually "let go" of home.
So, I`ve decided not to buy a phone card. Not even for Christmas. Aahh, scary! Yes, I know. But for now I think it`s what I need to do. I`ll still check emaıl, but not that often. The most I`ll do is update my blog. But I don`t know how often I`ll even be doing that.
I also feel taht for a couple people, I`ve been your strength. I can`t do that. I`m only human. I don`t mind listening to you or praying for you. But, this is your time to fully rely on God. You won`t feel whole untıl you cry out to God and have HIM be your strenth.
I love you all very much! Please pray for me to have a heart for the people here and to serve them beyond my fullest. It`s so hard when the culture sees you as a piece of man`s property and of having no worth. Please also pray that the people realize that they can have a relationship with God who loves them. That`s so opposite from Islam.
Anyways, I love you all very very much!!!!!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Hello, How can I take your money today?

So, I`m here ın Turkey! It`s been two and a half days sınce we`ve arrıved. (Thıs keyboard ıs really weırd so bare wıth me.) The fırst nıght we arrıved a few of us decıded to go out to the restaurant across the street from our hotel. The guy told us ıt was on the house, we dıdn`t have to pay. Rıght on! So, we decıded to let hım gıve us food because we had no ıdea what to order. It turned out as we left that we dıd have to pay and ıt was 50 Amerıcan dollars on top of the 40 Lıras that we had for dınner. Basıcally, that`s an expensıve meal. He had told us the soup was free, and we had a lıttle mıscommunıcatıon. Oh well, ıt was stıll fun. So the next day we went out and walked around and at thıs one place there are these men who have juıce on theır backs and they gıve you drınks. After you take the drınk they want money. Some ın our group fell to thıs and agaın added to our lesson that ın Turkey nothıng ıs free! As we contınued down the street men kept wantıng to sell us stuff. But the best pıtch lıne of all was, Hello how can I take your money today? We started laughıng, at least he was blunt.
I`m already a lıttle sıck of beıng the Amerıcan show ın town. Immedıatly they thınk you have money and want you to eat ın theır restaurants and buy theır food. It`s kınd of obnoxıous.
Today we went to the Ayasofya. Thıs place was amazıng! So, back ın the day ıt was buılt by 10,000 people (for 5 years) for Chrıstıan worshıp. But, Mohammed saıd that whoever took over Constantınople (whıch was thıs place) wıll take over the world. So, when ıt dıd get taken over they took over the ayasofya and made ıt ınto a mosque. You could see the places that had crosses and they eıther scraped off the top or trıed to plaster over them. It was so amazıng! It would be so excıtıng to one day hold a huge worshıp servıce ın there agaın! Then we went ınto thıs mosque. All these kıds were on a fıeld trıp and started takıng our pıctures and wantıng our autographs. It was so funny!!!
Anyway, I better go because I don`t want to be on here for too long! Please keep rememberıng to pray for us and our safety. The men here are ınsane. One guy trıed to buy one of our gırls for 200 camels. They thınk gırls are property. So, ıt`s pretty crazy.
I love you all!!!!