Night and Day

It's amazing how much of a roller coaster my life has been in this country. I complain about how dramatic the Turkish people are, and yet, at the same time, I understand how they feel. It seems that every other week I'm ready to get on that big plane home. And every other week I'm ready to trade my passport in for a Turkish ID card.

Two weeks ago was one of those that makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing here. I had just said goodbye to all my marathon running friends. It's always a bit depressing to see a bunch of friends leave town. It's even harder when the next afternoon you come home to a note on the door asking you to clean up the living room. They had just left at 10 the night before and I had been busy that day. Give a guy a chance. Then, the next day was an impromptu theological round table discussion. Due to my busy weekend and the need to clean the house Monday, I did not come fully prepared. Not only that, but the topic is one that I have not studied much to begin with. So it wasn't surprising that I didn't have much to add to the conversation. It was a bit surprising that the tone of the meeting wasn't what I had hoped for and it added to my already melancholy mood. Then I showed up to play some ultimate on Wednesday afternoon only to find a big DO NOT ENTER sign on our field. Pooper. Then, on Thursday afternoon, after not talking for a week or so, I had a difficult conversation with Lane. It was a terrible way to cap a pretty crappy week.

Does it have to fit the story to be included? I didn't have any pictures of a crappy week. I hope the arch picture will suffice.
But the last week was the total opposite. I had a great time seeing an old friend on Wednesday. We sat around and chatted for hours about life here and I came away very encouraged. Then on Friday, we had a great Bible study followed by some good fellowship and a delicious kebap with friends. It doesn't get much better than that, but it did. Friday night at my barber shop I got to speak truth into the life of a good friend here. He's newly married and is dealing with all kinds of junk that I can't even imagine. But he got to hear the message again, in it's entirety, in English, and for that I am very grateful. As soon as he left, I got to share the full Gospel with another man. This time, it was entirely in Turkish. It's the first time I can remember sharing with someone and answering their questions without there being some major language barrier in the conversation. I felt like I explained everything just how I wanted and was able to answer his questions without much problem at all. Then my roommate came down to sit with us. He was on a special TV series this past week entitled "Being a Missionary in Anatolia." I watched the episode he was interviewed on with my barber, so I knew they had seen it. Just as I had hoped, they were full of questions for my roommate when he came down. He got to share his testimony, story of his beating, and answer a ton of questions about being a Christian and church life. It was absolutely wonderful. The conversation was full of laughter and deep spiritual truths. It doesn't get much better than that.

Random picture of our church. I know you like pictures.
I have ticket to go home now. I fly out early on May 31st and will be in the States that same day. It's done. There's no going back now. And some days that's exactly what I want. Other times, I still don't like to think about leaving this place and these people.

Right now I feel like I could stay forever. Then again, who knows what tomorrow will bring.