Greetings From Turkey

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Above: Elianna tossing her princess doll through the air to pass the time as we awaited to board our plane to travel to our PI conference this week.

With a rough landing that jolted our airplane as we touched down, we arrived safely in Turkey.

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Above: Ben and Elianna were excited to pack their own bags which they were rarely willing to let out of their sight.

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Above: Sights when we arrived.

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Above: Two beauties in my life-one of them has been a bit grumpy because of a new tooth coming in (no it's not Sharon).

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Above: We are not allowed to drink the water in this country, and as we pulled up to our hotel, I joked with Sharon about finding a 7 Eleven to buy some goods. Seconds later, when I glanced across the street, my eyes beheld a 7 Eleven. What a strange thing to be all the way across the world and see a convenient mart.

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Above: Ben wishing he could try on this special armor found in our hotel.

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Above: A beautiful view from our window. Last night (although I was not able to participate), many went out to the beach for smores. I was told that there was a unique type of algae in the water that caused object that were put into the water to glow.

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Above: Some from the worship team that are blessing our time with their giftings in leading us in praise to God.

The highlight of our time so far was hearing from a Turkish brother who shared about the martyrdom of 3 saints that happened days ago in Turkey. One of those killed for their faith was a German missionary and the other two Turkish believers. Just one week previous to their martyrdom, they had held a special Easter service where it is believed the plot to kill them was initiated.

From Wednesday to this morning, all major papers and TV news are reporting on this martyrdom. Many are saying that the funeral touched their hearts. The wife of one of those killed was recorded to say, "Do you see the picture of your father hanging up? Now we have a festival, and we are celebrating because your father is in heaven now." And when asked about the perpetrators, she said, "I forgive those men as Jesus forgave me". This news is being broadcast throughout Turkey, and the young Turkish believer is hoping to see more added to his number through this persecution.

He reported that there are over 72 million Turks with only 3,000 being Christians. He has faith that this number will soon grow to 15,000. Please pray for the new work God is doing with the church in Turkey and for the families that temporarily lost loved ones to be strengthened in this time of grieving.


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