It's all about the Benjamins baby!

Well, the Benjamins and the Grants.

That's right, I currently have a stack of six thousand American dollars on my desk in the form of forty one hundred dollar bills and twenty fifty dollar bills. Now before you start thinking I joined my friends from yesterday, let me explain.

To get a two year tourist visa, I have to prove that I can support myself during that time. To the Turkish government, that means that I have to have two hundred American dollars for every month I want to stay. For those of you who didn't graduate from Clemson, that means for a two year visa, I'll need $4800. On top of needing that money, I need almost a thousand dollars to actually purchase the visa. So, with all that in mind, the company kindly slid me a few Gs last week and I promptly took them from my bank account. I've never, ever, had this much money in my account, and never have I ever even seen this much money at one time in person. Life sure has taken a turn for the strange lately.

So tomorrow is my second trip to the visa office. Step one is to go change this money into Turkish Lira. I need the receipt of my exchange to prove I have the money here in country. Step two is to make copies of my passport, entry visa, and bank receipts. Step three is to take the copies, my receipt, and the letter I am writing tonight (in Turkish) requesting to stay in the country to the visa office. There I will complete steps four, five, and six. Step four is to complete a short form (in Turkish) with my personal information for while I'm here. Step five is not a given, but I'm guessing that it will probably happen. Step five is to field even more questions about why I am wanting to stay here, what will I do here, who do I know here, etc. If all that goes well, it's on to step six, which is to actually pay for my visa. Step seven will be to go pick it up, probably early next week.

Please pray that all of this goes well and that no matter what happens, I will glorify Christ in my words and actions.

And since I don't know if I'll ever have this much money in my hand ever again, I took a picture of it, so I can remember what it felt like to be rich for a night.