Oct. 17--23

I moved into another house on the 19th. This was the fourth time that I had moved since my arrival to Turkey in July. Praise God that this is the last time that I am going to have to move before my return to the States. I was really happy that I was moving in with this particular family, because of prior engagments. I went to the Black Sea with them in August and I was also invited to a picnic with a lot of their Turkish friends. I felt very welcome and excited as I moved into this families house.

The next day I was invited to join them in one of their ministry events. They teach English for free on Mondays and Wednesdays. They have a link on facebook allowing people to see what to expect in their classes. You have to be atleast 18 years old to join and have some understanding of the English language. Those who wish to learn must also be okay with learning English from the Bible. The classes were set up as two different classes. One was for advanced students. This class is more for people who have a good grasp on English with some minor issues. They are able to speak more fuently. The other was for those who don't know much English. They need help in sentence structure as well vocabulry. The first day that I went a few of my other short term friends were teaching. They taught some English words, phrases, and it all came from Jesus's teaching of worry found in Luke 12:22-34. We described words, asked questions pertaining to the story, made the students read the story, had them ask questions, and then at the end we would give the students the story in Turkish. We would try our best to not use Turkish in order to explain, so that the students may get more of an ear for english speaking. We played charades that night with some of the words from the story that we read in the Bible.

On Saturday I attended a CP Bible study. It was at the workers house in which I am staying. There were about 7 or 8 kids ranging from 3 to 8 and we all wrestled for a solid hour. They were all kids to parents who were attending the Bible study. Anyways, I never thought that wrestling kids ranging from 3-8 could get so tiring. All they wanted me to do was throw them around like rag dolls. I enjoyed it. It allowed me to let off some steam by beating up little kids. I am just joking, but seriously I enjoyed it. Our goal right now with the kids is mainly to calm them down so that they may pay attention. It can be hard for me at times because some how just attract the desire for wrestling. This saturday was pretty crazy but it apparently went a lot better then it usually does. After all the kids got quiet we began a movie until their parents were done with the study. Our goal eventually is to be able to do a study of our own with the kids.

Oct 10--16th

I got to hang out with my friend Çagrı again this week. This time I watched him eat a huge kumpir. A kumpir is an incredibly large baked loaded baked potatoe. It usually consists of butter, two kinds of a lot of cheese, salt, and another half of a big potatoe. It is then placed back into the oven and browned on top. Then there is an assortment of toppings that can be requested. I usually get grilled chicken, grilled mushrooms, pickles, onions, olives (green and black), jalapenos, corn, ketchup, mayo, and BBQ sauce. It sounds horrible but trust me its awesome. Anyways as I was watching my friend eat a kumpir I decided to order a chai. We sat there for abut an hour just talking. Then the subject of smoking came up and he asked me about my past. I told him that I had tried some things but only a handful of times. His next question was about why I stopped doing all the stuff I did back in the past. So this was a great opportunity to tell him about Christ and how He changed me. I got to tell him about who I was and then and who I am now. This was basically the conversation for the rest of the night. We went to several other places such as D&R and Starbucks, and messed around a bit. However, our conversations always ended up coming back to God.

I really liked this guy a lot. He was a person that thought for himself and was not a follower of society. He did and said what he saw to be right and stuck closley to his word. We had some great conversations concerning more than just religion but the world in general. We had a lot of the same interests in views, movies, music, and much more. There was one movie, for instance, we both absolutly love which is known as, "Into The Wild." We would talk about that movie all the time it seemed like. There is just so much to talk about concerning that movie. It brought up questions of identity, life, society, and God. We even found ourselves singing the song "Society" from the soundtrack to the movie by Eddie Vedder outside of starbucks that night. The worst part of that nght was that it was our last night of being about to hang out. I didn't know it at the time and neither did he. Çagrı has been waiting since September to get his visas to Spain so that he could attend Valencia University. He recieved his visas week and a couple days later. He was on the bus to Istanbul on the very same day to catch a plane to School. He called one of our mutual friends while on the for just a split second and said his good bye's vicariously through him.

Oct. 3--9

This is my last week for Turkish classes. To be honest I was incredibly stoked. Please, don't get me wrong I enjoyed the classes. However, at the same time I was ready for them to over. They were 12 hours a week as well as homework. I met some great people there and was very glad that I finished my two full units. I was ready though to get out and focus more on ministry, friends, adventures and school work.

I had a great time with my friend Çagrı the other day. We got to hang out, he watched me eat a huge plate of Iskander, and we got some coffee. As we were headed to a certain coffee shop we had to walk through a D&R bookstore. So we decided to check out some music and books and what not. We were just kinda waisting time and hanging out. What else do guys my age do? Anyways, as we were looking through books we came across a NT. He asked me if this was the book that I read because I am a Christian. I told him "yes" and from there our night pretty much began. He picked up a Torah next and asked me about it. I thought it was kind of odd for a muslim to not know about the torah but it wasn't a big deal. It actually explained a lot, because of the abrogation that Muslims believe. From there we had a spiritual discussion about who both Christ and Muhammad where. It was a great conversation because we were both focused on truth. We were both willing to learn from and hear each other out.

Sept 26--Oct 2 HEY YOU!!!!!

I was spending some time exploring my new home this week near Kızılay known as küçükesat (pronounced like kew-chew-ke-saat). So I was walking around and visiting stores and what not. While I was walking around, I heard the voice of the century cry out. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I heard the voice say, "HEY! YOU! YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!" This guy yelled at me from about 50 meters away, I recieved a lot of attention to say the least. I was also little freaked out and honestly had no idea that I stuck out that much. Anyways he didn't stop there. He then ran over to me and said, "Hello. We will be friends. Come with me and we will drink chai." It was definately a weird situation, but I went with it. So I followed him over to a bench and this guy was just excited out of his mind. He told me to sit down and then the next thing I know he has 3 cups of chai. I was wondering who the third chai was for. He gave it to the guy next to us. He had no idea who this guy was but it was an act of Turkish hospitality that I did not want to leave out. Anyways once he sits down he introduces himself as Ömer. He then pulls out several books such as Romeo and Juliet, Frankentstein, and some others. He then tells me to read to him. He didnt really know too much english but he was eager to learn. I had a pretty good time with this guy. After a while other people started to crowd around me as I read. Some where laughing and some where just listening. I would say that there were atleast 6 other people listening. I met a lot of people through this event. After reading several pages and helping him critique his english it began to get late. We exchanged phone numbers and parted ways.

Later on that week I was exploring again. So I went into a kitap evi (book store) at one point and had a chance to talk to the store owner for a little while. I asked him if he had any çocukların kitapları (childrens books). He got a good laugh out of my question but he did happen to have some books. So I ended up buyıng a book called, "Rita ve Adsız. This book is about a very bratty girl and her birthday. I picked it up soley on the drawings of the girl. It looked really funny and I figured that it would be great practice. Well to be honest I got the idea from Ömer.

September 19-25

Well its my first week back to Turkey from the states. I am staying in a new house with another one of my Worker friends. I currently live right outside of Kızılay and I love it. I dont have to deal with transit anymore and I am right in the heart of basically everything. One day this week I was able to go out with my roomate to a place called the sevgi (love) cafe. He goes down there apparently every so often to hang out and pray for the employees. He has made some great relationships there and most everyone there can't wait for his next return. The employees see this act as a true blessing and welcome him with open arms. The day that I joined him was a great day as well. They embraced me as well with a very warm welcome. They were continuingly handing us free çay (chai) and prayer requests. They also told me that I would be welcomed as such the next time that I come in, even without my friend. After we prayed and had our tea we continued to meet and get acquainted with more people, it was great. We basically went on a circuit. We picked up spices and went to the post office and all sorts of stuff. Everywere that we went my friend knew someone. It was pretty exciting to meet so many people in such a short period of time, I really enjoyed every minute of it. We also had quite a lot of time to just talk amongst ourselves. I had no idea how my friend had such a plethora of knowledge. This week was one of the best weeks that I have had in Ankara since July.

September 12-18: Heading back to Turkey

I departed from the states again on September 14. This was definately an exciting trip. Please do not take any of this as if I am complaining. Please just use this time to laugh with me.

First off I entered a plane full of babies and crazy mothers. I didn't notice this right off the bat, but it was less than an hour into the flight. Ok, so please try and imagine this with me. Your in a giant hollowed out buss with wings. There is no escape. It's now about an hour into the flight and then your start hearing a little bit of a whine. Then another. Then another. Until you notice that you are surrounded by screaming babies with their mothers drooling all over themselves from a slight overdose of Tylenol PM. This is basically what I imagine hell to be like. This happened about the entire flight.

I then had a seven hour layover at Heathrow Airport in London, England. This wasn't nearly as bad. I actually got to catch up on some sleep after my escape from baby hell, but I digress.

As I started to meet people on the flight to Istanbul from London I noticed that I was surround by people with very interesting stories and adventures that they were about to embark on. There was one man that was about to take a backpacking trip through the outskirts of Wetsern Turkey and end in Greece on Mount Olympus. There were also some elderly ladies that just left Cairo, Egypt and were going on a tour of Western Turkey. And still another couple that was going to Istanbul on holiday. There were a few other couples as well but there was something in common with all of these groups. They were all Canadians and extremely friendly. I had great conversations with each group.

We got to Istanbul an hour later than we were supposed too. Therefore I missed the metro to the Otogar (Bus Station). So God helped me out by introducing me to yet another guy, around my age, to help me out in this time of need. He got me a taxi, gave me some tips and information about the ride. A Canadian couple that I had met on the plane asked to share the taxi. They noticed that I could speak a little Turkish and had some experience in Istanbul. They happended to be staying at the exact place I had stayed when I spent some time in Istanbul. So on the way to the Otogar we had the most awesome Taxi driver I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. This guy was so goofy. About five minutes on the road he turns up some Techno music and we all start jamming down the road. It was a blast. Once the Taxi driver dropped me off at the Otogar he jumps out and runs to the cheapest yet best bus line to get me a ticket. It was a pretty cool experience. That was completely unexpected. I ended up taking a different bus though. At the Otogar I was able to witness a great ceremony. It was the celebrating of boys going off to become men. These boys were catching a bus to fulfill their non-optional military duties. There were people dancing, singing, playing instrument, fireworks, mobs chanting and cheering their brethern on. It was something that I had never seen before in the states. It was a very honoring time.

After I got my ticket I had about less than five minutes to find my bus and get on it. This guy from behind the desk jumps around and grabs my bags. We then raced off towards my bus. We got there just in time. Then I saw a bus going towards Ankara that was about to leave. So I start to talk to him and he basically pushes me aside and tells me to stand by the curb. However, I refused. This was my bus getting ready to leave and I was not going to buy another ticket. So I kept pursuing other employees on the bus. This seemed kind of odd to me. Then I hear a guy finally say, "hey kid thats not your bus!" He was standing by the curb, so I walked over to him. He checked my ticket and told me that my bus line was late, an hour and a half late.

The rest of the way to Ankara was pretty much a breeze but yet again God had shown me his divine hand at work. He blessed me by allowing me to come back to Ankara safe and with many more stories to add to my testimony of life on how God watches over me.

Sept. 5th-11th

I had an awesome time while I was home, although it felt very short. The entire time that I was home I helped out the most I could with wedding stuff and tried not stressing everyone out. That was hard for me because it is a called duty of mine. The main reason that I went home was to be a part of this new season in my sisters life.

When I got home it was a little weird being there at first. It's kind of hard to explain but it seemed surreal. After a few days it felt as if I had never even left. I was able to see a few of my friends but not to many. I had a blast telling a few of my stories to my family and friends about my current and past adventures in Turkey as well as all of the blessing the Christ has given me and allowed me to be a part of. I was very blessed though to see everyone before and after the wedding. I was able to see my best friend, Austin Brown, right before he left for the Air Force. I also got to see my very good friend Kris Dankers as he passed through Tennessee on his way to Texas. It was great to hear all of the great things that God has done and is doing with my friends and family while I was at home.

The wedding was absolutley amazing. My sister looked gorgeous. The wedding itself seemed to be perfect. I myself looked awesome. I don't mean to brag but come on, how couldn't I look good in a seer-sucker suit. The wedding and arrangments was done with a very good eye for fashion and style. Nothing went wrong during the ceremony nor the reception. It was great to see all of our family and friends there. It was also a blessing to have gained an older brother during this time.

If you would like to see pics of the wedding please visit:
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