June 23rd ~ Thursday

The morning routine was the same as the other days. Also once again the water was too rough to take the kids all the way around. We took them to the tip of the larger rock and then found out that one of the youth really did not know how to swim. He could not get his ears wet so he was dog paddling. Laura in back had noticed and asked, but he kept saying he was fine. We had forgotten about the Turkish shame based culture...anyways we got everyone back safe and just relaxed on the beach.

Later that day for our big game activity we had the traditional football game (soccer). This is where all the local Turkish youth come and play our youth. I was expecting the Turkish youth to dominate, but I guess our youth have been living in this beautiful country long enough to learn how to play :-) the final score was 6-2 in our favor.

Then it was finally the high schoolers turn to go on the eternal flame hike. On mount Olympus there is a spot at the top where natural gases are always being released and catching flame. After dinner we all hiked up. The hike was not bad, but in some places there were built in rock steps that varied from a foot deep to over two feet... I counted and there were 211 steps.

Once we got to the top it was almost like a rock heap or rock slide and then there were flames just randomly coming out of some of the rock piles. While we were there a couple of new flames started... We roasted American marshmallows and made smores on the flames. We then all gathered in the ruins of this monastery and had some worship and a lesson. It was really good the lesson was just what a bunch of the kids needed to hear and the setting was amazing. You could see tons of stars and there was an amazing breeze whistling through the trees. Then came the fun of getting back down in the dark...but we made it with only a few people getting some scrapes and bruises.

June 22nd ~ Wednesday

I slept better last night because the sun burn has healed! That was a huge blessing.

 I am going to skip over the morning routine....

Laura, co-leader of snorkeling, was able to swim today so that promised to be really good. When we got down to the water there was a decent breeze and the water was somewhat choppy. We took off around the rock after warning people that it would be a little rougher. When we made it to the tip of the rock it was really choppy! We went around the rock and about twenty feet down the other side and stopped. I thought it was great, but for our inexperienced swimmers it was just going to be too much. So we turned around and came back. We took our time and enjoyed some of the underwater wildlife. I was told the name of some of the fish in Turkish but won’t even try to type it out.

The kayakers were having the same problem so most of us spent the last half hourish sitting on the beach just playing in the water. It was actually really nice to relax a little. My ankles really needed the rest.

But there was an empty sail boat and nine of the youth were interested in taking it out. James said we could. He showed me how to operate it and I got to go sailing for the first time! All by myself, It was fun and I was proud of myself.  I did not have any trouble.   

We actually made it back in time for me to rinse off and change before lunch. Normally we have been making it back half way through lunch so I just eat in my bathing suit.

After lunch and siesta time, they have an hour nap built into the schedule and it is so amazing.  I went and talked with Renata about a few things and the tracked down another young lady I wanted to talk with. We spent almost all of free time chatting it was a really good.

Next was big group games which was an intense version of capture the flag played on a soccer field, ie sand and rocks with soccer goals on either end. It was fun and I did not get any lasting injuries.

Hmm we then had our dinner, lesson (loving God and your neighbor), and cabin time. Then I ditched my councilor and came into my cabin to work on typing this up... (they said it was fine).

June 21st ~ Tuesday

I did not get a good night sleep.  My back and shoulders hurt because of the sun burn and my thigh hurts  because of falling.  I was rather draggy this morning. But Tressa prayed for me at our staff meeting and that helped.

We did Word study again after breakfast and the ladies are a real joy to work with.

Then it was time for electives and I was almost dreading it :-) but Jess, one of the staff ladies heard I was leading them alone and so she came with me today. It was so much nicer to have a second adult in the water. Plus she was so encouraging with her excitement over the water life and the whole experience. It was her first time snorkeling, but she has had lots of swimming experience.

When we got back to the main shore area James said there was a Sting Ray off shore a hundred meters. Jess, Jim and  I, swam out there. There were two rays and a sand shark. After closer inspection we realized they were dead so we brought them back for the kids to see.

I had the privilege of having multiple meaningful conversations with the young ladies today. I went on a walk that was over an hour long with one and then sat on the beach and chatted with the other. After leaving the beach we went to my cabin to get aloe Vera for her and myself. While doing this she made a comment about me not having white skin. She was shocked and did not want to believe me when I told her I really do have white skin. So I showed her my side, untanned, and she was really shocked then ;-) I would like to say at this time that I am wearing TONS of sunscreen...

We then did tie dying for our big grow activity; the youth went and played a game on the beach for a half hour to let the young kids get a head start. But I played hooky, with Renata's permission, because I had been in the sun so much already. So I got to help with getting things ready for the kids to hike up to the eternal flames and make smores.

I  tie dyed with the youth and went to dinner. The lesson was really good, it was about Joseph and love. Then one of my young ladies needed to go to the nurse to get some stuff to clean out her toe that had a cut, and I needed to get some gauze for my thigh because it was oozing and it would have made a mess on the white sheets while I was sleeping. After we finished we ran into another young lady from our group and we looked everywhere for our group. After a half hour of searching we found them! I then walked around with the hurt tie lady after cabin time for a little under and hour and talked

June 20th ~ Monday

When I woke up, I was indeed burnt :-( but Diny, from Holland, told me using toothpaste worked well. I started the day  rubbing mint toothpaste all over my burnt shoulders. It actually does work nicely.

We had our morning inspirational thoughts and meeting. Next was breakfast and  Word study time with the young ladies. This went well and we really do have a great bunch of girls. I scrambled to get ready for my elective that I'm doing, snorkeling.

It went really well and the kids all seemed to enjoy it. But I did not realize how hard it is to get a mask to fit your face until I was trying to get these young people set. It took about a half hour to get eight of them ready.

 Laura, co-leader, was unable to swim today so I took them out alone. We made it around the large rock without anything too exciting happening. There were some different fish that were rather nice and interesting rock formations. Once you come around the turn it is rather deep. I did not know where we were supposed to meet the kayaks so I started to head across the cove to a sandy area. The water was so deep you couldn't see anything but the very blue water and the sun rays. It was rather pretty in its own ways.

P.S. I was wearing a shirt for those concerned. But we overshot the rock we were suppose to meet at and had to back track a little bit. After arriving at the rock I had one young lady inform me she has panic attacks and she was nervous  she might have one. Then a young man told me he was exhausted, even though I had repeatedly asked about stamina and been told he was fine, and unsure he could swim back.... We all did make it back. Life is good.

It was funny to me that one of the Turkish girls while sitting on the rock eating our snack proclaimed, "I'm black!" in a very cute Turkish accent. Now she is honestly not that much darker than I am, I actually think I might be slightly darker at this point. We had a fun conversation about how skin color and the definition of beauty changes depending on where you are. We also had some other good conversations.

Later I did kayak check-outs which was somewhat stressful. I really don't like having the safety of so many young lives  in my control. But all was well, although I banned one kid from ever using the kayaks again...

For big group games we did capture the flag and the playing field was ridiculous! You could not see from one end to the other and it was extremely hot and on very rocky and sandy terrain. I ended up falling and have a really large bruise scrape thing on my thigh. I did not have time to change out of my swimsuit so more skin than normal was exposed, it was not pleasant and after all that I was an inch to slow :-(

We ended the day with a much appreciated dinner, lesson (dignity), and cabin time.

June 16th

The day started with trying to take a shower without getting everything in the bathroom soaked. This might sound like it should be easy, but it was not! The bathrooms here are covered in tiles both floors and walls. On one wall there is a shower hose that does not really sit right in the thing to hold it on the wall. So you just take a shower standing in the middle of the bathroom with no actual shower wall or tub. I'm not sure if all the shower holders are like this but ours would make the water go sideways which would soak the toilet. The whole bathroom is probably 5ft by 5ft.

Anyways after that fun I went to breakfast which was good. We had bread and goat cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, orange and strawberry jam, and eggs. With the Turkish Chai of course. I  really do like Turkish tea I might have a to find some to bring home.

Group devotions and  Olive Grove planning was next on the day’s agenda.  Among the information we discussed was the profile of a TCK. Hmm we/they are complicated people!

Eventually, after hours of talking and lunch we were given the opportunity to go and just do something. I went swimming! (of course) I went and snorkeled a little bit in the area everyone else was at, I got far enough away to see some fish and an eel but never so far that they could not have heard me if I needed help. It was refreshing to get some time alone and just watch God's amazing creations. Most of the fish were small and ugly,  but there was one brighter colored fish.  I asked God to let a second one show up.  Right before I gave up,  a second one did show up! I  walked the shore and looked for sea glass, I thought of you, mom and the OR coast :-(, I actually did find some sea glass! It is small but a very bright green.

We had some more meetings and dinner. For those that don't know I will be helping with 9th - 10th grade girls. For electives I am going to be helping with adventure world, which involves sailing, kayaking, snorkeling, and rock climbing. We discussed how we planned on breaking up everything to make it doable. Myself and another young lady will be heading up the snorkelers. This means four days in a row we will take a group of high schoolers snorkeling around the end of our cove into another cove where we are supposed to be able to watch the big sea turtles. The kayakers are supposed to be somewhat close by us. Everyone is required to pass a swimming test. Two and a half  hours of snorkeling, four days in a row! Yikes! Can you say sunscreen?

We ended the night with another devotion worship time. The lady that shared incorporated Ps 125:1-2 in what she said. These are my life verses, and apparently there is a song based on those verses as well. It was really amazing!

Another highlight from the day was the session on prayer. Diny shared about thirty second blessing style prayers, listening prayers, and how to involve others in praying for their stuff. What she had to say was great. It was nice to see the importance of a quick thirty seconds to pray for someone when they have been sharing about their life. Could you imagine how nice it would be if after you shared something you were thinking about or struggling with the person not only said they would pray but took a few seconds to pray? I also enjoyed the tips and techniques she gave for the other two types.

I finished the evening by watching the moon on the ocean and thinking about the greatness of God.

 

Oh,  a real downer to the day was the court case. The other guy’s lawyer brought a false claim of bribery against James. James  was not allowed to share at all... They have another court date on November 5th. Be praying for everyone involved it is a hard thing to deal with.

June 15th

So today was the day! The beginning of Olive Grove. We started off the day with some yummy pancakes made by Christine and then finished the last packing up of our room and packing for Olive Grove. James dropped Christine and I off at La Paloma, the small inn in old town where people were staying, where we were to act as their guides.

After meeting everyone we headed to the ATM and then the exchange office. We still had some time before lunch and loading up, .so we went to the local Mosque where visitors are allowed.

We all had to take our shoes off and the  girls all had to wear head scarves. Those ladies not wearing a long skirt were given a skirt to wear. It was rather pretty inside, no statues. But plaques with the name's of God in Arabic, I think they were names. There was this narrow stair case leading to the top on the side of the stage area, that none of us were sure what it was for. They also had a lineage chart up that had Abraham and Mohamed. It was interesting to see. There is something awe inspiring to enter anyone’s place of worship, in some cases sadder than others... I would like to go back sometime with someone who could explain everything we were seeing.

After that we went to Hadrian's gate. I am waiting till I have pictures to tell you about this gate, but it is really amazing and old. We  spilt up and Christine took people to Starbucks and I took people to look around Old Town some more. We had a good time and did not get lost. It was fun to act as the guide for a change, I also realized how much I had learned. Although it was funny before we split ways because Christine was remembering the route by clothing on display and I was remembering by the old buildings...

I had my first Ayran at lunch. This is a very common drink here that is like runny Turkish yogurt, similar to plain organic yogurt with a little sour cream, with salt. It is suppose to be really good at refreshing you if you are dehydrated.

Next we all CROWDED into the van. After a little drive we arrived. Next followed the normal settling in and meeting everyone and information sessions. One thing that was fun was we did the human knot. We divided guys and girls but we had way more girls than guys so the girls then divided in half again. Both girls groups finished within two minutes and it took the guys almost a half hour and in the end they cheated to get done...

After a time of worship and sharing we walked down to the beach to see the full moon. There was a pesky cloud in the way. I learned later that we had been watching an eclipse :-)

June 14th

Camp prep 

Talya play

Krista's having troubles with her internet. She's sent eight pages for me to post. Stay tuned. 

June 13th

There is not a whole lot to say about Monday. We worked on camp stuff and ran camp related errands. We got stuck in a big storm, it is not suppose to rain this late in the year. Oh it was the day after the elections so we were watching the exchange rate to see what it is going to do. So far it has been dropping but we are hoping it will stabilize and then climb…

Hmm so now would be a good time to comment on the Turkish currency. They use Liro here, there paper money does not get smaller than 5 Liro, they then have a 1 liro coin. When it goes smaller than this it is a Kroishe and it goes in 50, 25, 10, 5, and 1 increments. When I first arrived the exchange rate was 1.6 it dropped to around 1.57 sometimes it rose to 1.58 or 1.59. Yesterday it dropped to 1.55 by the end of the day. It has gone back to 1.57 at the start of today and we will just see what it does from here. Oh to translate those numbers $30 would be worth 48 TL with an exchange rate of 1.6 and 47.1 TL with a 1.57 exchange rate, and 46.5 TL with a 1.55 exchange rate.

June 12th

This Sunday we had a wider variety of nationalities than normal at service. There was a Korean guest speaker who has been working in LA. Then a group of young people from Texas who are a part of an exchange program, so they were there but they also had their Turkish exchange people. Then there was an Estonian couple there. Plus all the normal nationalities, our little upper room was swollen to around a hundred people. It was neat to be there on Pentecost Sunday meeting in a hot upper room in an area that was mentioned in the section about Pentecost in our Holy Book.

After service I went to lunch with the youth group and then to their service. It was a bitter sweet service to sit in on. Because it was there last one of the school year and so there were many good byes. But it was nice to see the love and respect that had been built in their group.

Talya, Rhema, Danny, a boy (I think Zack), and I then started to walk to our homes which were in the same direction. It started to rain and we ended up rather wet but it was a fun walk.

I then relaxed and did normal Sunday stuff for the rest of the day.

June 11th

We started the day by not sleeping in as we were suppose to… Some people blame me for this saying I am loud in the morning. I think everyone was so excited about the full day ahead they just could not sleep.

After finishing the normal morning stuff and packing a lunch, Renata, Tressa, Manny, and I all headed out to the depo. The depo is their storage area and it was full of stuff for camp and other things. We met two ladies, Mary and someone, who are the head mistresses at the international school. Mary had a truck. After some amazing packing we got everything onto the back of her truck or into our van. It was quite the feat and you all should be really proud.

We then drove to camp, about an hour and a half, and unloaded everything. We were then very ready for lunch. The owners of the pansiyons where we have Olive Grove made us a pot of chi to go with our lunch. They have a different type of tea pot here, they are two tea pots that sit on top of each other. The one on top is slightly smaller than the one on bottom. Then they make really strong tea in the top one with loose leafs and the bottom one has just hot water. Then you pour water and tea into your glass vase shaped cup to the desired strength.

After we finished lunch Renata let Tressa, Manny, and I go swimming in the Sea while she took care of some business with the pansiyon owners. It was amazing and very refreshing after having moved all of the camp stuff.

We then headed back to town and stopped at the boat motor place to leave the motor to be checked out. We then went to the printers and picked up all the material for the councilors booklets. After this we dropped Tressa off at her bus stop and went home.

After a great dinner, we created a bag build and put together all the councilor booklets. We then got some ice cream and watched an episode of Alias and collapsed in bed.

June 10th

So Friday has arrived! We started the day by going to get a car inspection done, so we went to the mans world. The inspection took a little longer than we thought but their van passed and it gets another year of life!

We then headed to Metro to make the BIG Metro trip… Metro is like a Costco. But before we started shopping we decided to eat some lunch. Like Costco they have a little food court area. Unlike Costco was the food selection. They had these trout’s that were spread out and then wrapped up like a cinnamon roll with the fishes head on top. The fish had its mouth open and up and it looked like a bunch of weird looking fish about to attack.

Upon finishing lunch we attacked the shopping. We started with snack stuff for camp and filled up two of the large flat carts. We picked up PopKeks, DanKeks, Crispi and many other things I can’t spell with an English key board.

We also picked up about two normal shopping carts full of other stuff. But a few things that were interesting was that they had a whole Costco size aisle just with coffee and chi (all types of tea) it was amazing if you could imagine it they had it. Then they also had big things of yogurt, umm you know the five gallon buckets of laundry soap or paint they were just slightly smaller than that. There were also community coats for you to wear when you went into the cooler section.

After the shopping we loaded all of this food into the newly inspected van and went to get the camp shirts. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this yet but the sizing rather weird. The ladies shirts are European sizes so they are really small, I can make a large work but it is still rather tight. Then the men shirts are German in size so they are larger than normal, I would be swimming in a small.

We arrived home and did some more camp related computer work and prepared for dinner. Tressa and Manny came over for dinner and to stay the night so they could help with the depo move the next day.

We had an enjoyable evening of food, fellowship, games, and a movie.