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.