Turkey (and More)

The past two weeks have been awesome!  If you get my newsletters, you know that I went to Turkey to pray with a big group of people.  If you don’t get my newsletters, 1) you should email me if you want to receive them & 2) I went to Turkey to pray with a big group of people.

On March 25^th, I said goodbye to my sweet friends, Reid and Sandy.  Sandy and the kids flew with me over to the Big Island, and then I continued on to the mainland to catch an international flight peke yangu (by myself).  

I flew through Dubai, and had a 15 hour layover.  What does a girl do with a 15 hour layover?  She goes and explores!  I’m pretty sure my mouth was wide open the entire time.  I think as an American, the gold buildings, nice cars, and ridiculously huge shopping malls would have blown me away, BUT as an African (because I really felt like a villager seeing nice things for the first time), I was seriously in shock!  I went to the largest shopping mall in the world, the tallest building in the world, and the biggest jumping fountain in the world. 

The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.

The mall was filled with yummy food, every store you could ever imagine, an ice-skating rink, an aquarium and underwater zoo, and huge fountains.

Truth- I really took this picture because of this kid's mullet!

Fish Feeding from the top of the aquarium

I even started the day off with a healthy breakfast- doughnut and orange juice- two things I have missed!

I’m pretty sure Dubai has the biggest everything in the world.  I was pretty impressed!  Even though I may have still had my bush goggles on, I think you would have been impressed, too!

After my layover, I continued to Istanbul, where I met up with about 350 other followers of Jesus who gathered together to pray for the world.  INCREDIBLE doesn’t even begin to describe to you about my time there.  It was a time of refreshment and encouragement, a time of corporate worship, a time where we were listening and hearing from the Lord, a time of praying for the people and things that the Lord gave us to pray for.  The Spirit of God was undeniably at work, and the power of God in prayer was extremely evident throughout the week.  God used that time to excite me even more for what He is already doing on my Island, to excite me more for what’s to come, and to excite me more in that I get to be a part of it.  God is GOOD, y'all.  Going into the week, I thought I would never be able to pray for such an extended period of time, but I experienced the opposite- I wanted more.  The presence of God is an incredible privilege that we, as sons and daughters, are able to enjoy! And that is exactly what I did!

 View from my hotel room.  Turkey is beautiful!

After the conference, my friend, Kim, and I had 4 days to explore Turkey. We wanted to see as much as we could, for as cheap as we could, in our short amount of time.  I think we did pretty good!  Our hotel that we were staying at was about an hour away from most of the tourist attractions in Istanbul, so we changed to a hostel in the center of the tourist area, and went out to see what we could find.  

We were walking through town and a guy trying to sell tickets for the ferry came up and said, “Bosphorous Tour- please don’t say yes!”  I chuckled and said, “OK, I won't.”  Then he realized what he had said and said, “No, no, no, I meant please don’t say no!” Haha  We started talking and he told us how much it was- 15 euro.  The African in me started bargaining.  We got him down to 7 euro, so we went.  It was a 2 hour ferry ride on the Bosphorous River, where we were in Asia and Europe at the same time.  It too, was beautiful!

We were walking to the ferry and I got out my camera to snap a picture
of the street, and the "Please don't say yes" man jumped in. 

Right hand on Asia, Left on Europe.

After the Bosphorous tour, we went to the underground Basilica cistern.

We explored the Grand Bazaar, as well as the Spice Market.

Sampled and bought some turkish delights.

Then we went to the Blue Mosque and spent some time praying inside.

We also visited the Hagia Sophia, which was an old church that was turned into a mosque, and then 

turned into a museum.  

Entry way to the Hagia Sophia.  The picture above the door
 is of Jesus with a scroll in his hand that reads,
"Peace be with you.  I am the light of the world."
This mosaic was there when it was a church,
when it was a mosque, and now as a museum.

Mosaic closer up (but blurry- sorry!)

We even met up with some other friends for ice cream and exploring.

After spending two days in Istanbul, we hopped on a flight to the Southwestern part of Turkey and visited Pamukkale and Ephesus.  We took a 4 hour train from the airport to get to Pamukkale.  Then, we got on a bus (yes, we used every form of transportation that day), and arrived at the entrance gate at 4:45pm.  The park stays open until 8pm, but the gates close at 5.  Just in time!  It was SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Ephesus and surrounding area from the air

Turkey from the train

Truth be told, we weren't sure exactly how to get to where we wanted to go.
We knew the name (but actually didn't even spell it right), so we wrote it
down and kept showing it to people.  The people of Turkey are so
hospitable and helpful and we made lots and lots of friends along the way.

We made it!

Calcium deposits made from the hot springs.

After Pamukkale was Ephesus.

View from breakfast at our hostel.  That is a crusader castle on the top of the hill.

What is left of the "Great Temple of Artemis".
Acts 19:26-28
"You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia,
this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people,
saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all.  Not only is there danger
 that this trade of ours (making silver shrines of the goddess, Artemis) fall
 into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be
regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship
will even be dethroned from her magnificence.  When they heard this and
were filled with rage, they began crying out, saying,
'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"

Acts 19:29-30
"The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed with one accord
 into the theater,  dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling
companions from Macedonia.  And when Paul wanted to go into the
 assembly, the disciples would not let him."

Library

Public toilets.  You got to know your neighbor very well.
Paul most likely used these toilets here in Ephesus.  Weird.

Basilica of St. John

After our tour of the city of Ephesus, we had two hours to spare before our flight out.  My friend wanted to try a Turkish bath (when in Turkey…), so I said I would go.  We were pretty excited about it because it was only $10 for a 50 minute "massage".  The brochure said it was for "cleansing and relaxation".  We had been going non-stop for 4 days so we decided it would be a nice treat.  I really didn't know what we were getting ourselves into.  

Before

After

Since this post is already ridiculously long, you can hunt me down for details.  Let's just say, been there, done that, never again.

I loved Turkey.  I loved all the things we were able to see.  I loved the people I got to meet and spend time with.  There were only two negatives about Turkey for me:

1) Turkey was freezing!!! I’ve been living in very warm weather for the past 11 months, and my body has had a hard time adjusting to colder weather and air conditioning.  On the airplane, I had to request a second blanket, and in our hotel, a second comforter- even with the heat on.  I was a little pathetic.  Luckily, I bought a pair of jeans in Dubai “just in case”.  Those jeans were worn for two weeks straight.  Don’t judge me J To redeem myself a little, I did have them washed once. 

I also borrowed some warm clothing from friends who packed more appropriately than me.

Soup, hot chocolate, gloves, a scarf, sweatshirt, and beanie.

2)  You have to pay to use the restroom!!  They made a killing off of me during those 4 days.

I think the cat is out of the bag on this one, but for those who don’t know, I left Istanbul on Friday morning and arrived in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA on Friday evening!  I surprised my family and came home for a two week visit!

This coming weekend is my grandma’s 90^th birthday, and the following weekend is Easter, and since I had a couple of weeks to spare before my new co-worker comes to join me, I asked my boss if I could come home!  I have loved getting to see my family and many sweet friends already!  Hoping to see more of you before I have to leave!  

I'd say my surprise was a success.

Untitled from Ginger on Vimeo.