We arrived in Istanbul on Friday night at 11:30PM. We were delayed going out of Austin; consequently we had to be rerouted through Houston. We were able to get to our room by 1 AM.
On Saturday morning a Turkish friend and his wife that we met when we were leaving in June 08 came to the hotel to take us sight seeing. However to do any real sight seeing, you must walk, because their are not places to park and there are a mass of people walking around. This citie's population is around 18 million. We went to the Ayasofya. It was the largest church in the world built in the 5th century. We also visited the Blue Mosque that is located across the street from the Ayasofya. We would pronounce it the Hiya Sophia. You can see both on line. The mosque is second only in size to the one in Mecca. By the end of the day we walked about 5-miles. Needless to say because of a long trip Thursday and Friday along with all the walking, we were in bed at 7PM and slept most of the night.
We were able to contact a couple that came to the marriage conference in May of 08.They had a freind of their's meet us this morning and we attended Union Church. They meet in the Holland Consulate chapel built in the 1800s. The church is pastored by someone from South Africa. We met the Pastor and told him of how God had called us to come to Turkey. We also was introduced to the Chineese pastor of that church. We too told him about what we were going to be doing in Turkey. He told us that they were going to have an OM (Operation Mobilization) conference at the end of the month in Turkey. He said that he was going to pass the information along and possibly they might invite us to speak to the English speaking attenders. Finally, we had dinner with the Asian couple that attended the conference. They have been continuing to try to practice doing some of the things that we taught about, and allowed us to do some mentoring. They also asked about doing a retreat of some type for their workers.
Praise the Lord! God helped us to do some networking during or stay in Istanbul. We did not meet with the people that we had in mind, but God knew who we were supposed to meet.
Tomorrow we will leave for Bodrum and begin to settle in to the place that we will call home for the next season in our lives.
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4 comments:
Mark & Pat - Were so glad that you made it safely to Turkey. God continues to do HIs works through you both and your not even "home" yet. After service today (WOW was the Spirit at work in NWF today)I spent some time waiting for Molly to finish up with her child care orientation and read Colossian 1:3-6. Your presence in Turkey will surely bear God's fruit through your works. We pray that you remain safe and healthy, lots of walking and fresh foods! We love you guys, Matt and Molly
Mark and Pat, we are so proud of you and the journey God is taking you on, my mom didnt understand what you all are doing and why, arent they at retirement age she said ! I've got some work to do there.
big thumbs up from the bleachers, we are cheering for you. let us know if there is anything you all need
Hurray you made it! I'm really sorry I wasn't there to hug your necks when you left last week. I'm missing you two already. Bruce and I are praying for your continued safe travel and settling in to your new digs.
We love you!
It's amazing that God is already blessing you guys immensely. I gave a great big shout when I read this entry: "Hallelujah!".
I scared Slinky when I did! :)
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