English for Meeting People

Well I've talked about using our son Braxton to meet people. We are also using our native tongue, English, to build relationships. Angie and I along with our partners were interested in building more relationships with the Turkish people who are learning English. I have been hesitant to do this because I didn't want to speak too much English while trying to learn Turkish. I still don't like to speak too much English, but our team decided to start meeting one day a week with any of our English speaking Turkish friends who wanted to practice their English. I've been able to invite some students from the school where I teach English and our partners have done the same. So far our highest number is 2. We have had a good time. We have met the past two weeks now and we are hoping the same people come each time so that we can really build good friendships. I'm so glad I speak English!

What an Ugly Baby

What? Did you just call my baby ugly? Yes that's exactly what they do here. At first one might be taken back at the comment of one's child being ugly. Don't be too upset though. It's supposed to be a compliment. See if your baby is cute and everyone is looking at it, that could cause envy in someone else. So to keep evil spirits away, they look at your baby and say that they're ugly. How thoughtful! Obviously we believe that God protects our baby. Don't be surprised if you come and visit and they tell you your baby is ugly.

Fatalism

There is a new game show on Television these days. It's called Var misin, Yok Musun. It's a lot like Deal or No Deal in the U.S. While watching this program you will hear the contestant and everyone else who they talk to say Insallah (inshallah) about 1000 times. The word means if God wills or pleases. One of the fundamental beliefs that Muslims are supposed to adhere is Fate. They are to believe that God is the source of both evil and good. So whatever happens basically comes from God whether good or evil. What strikes me is that in this game show you can tell most people don't really believe it. I know we say things out of habit just as people here say Insallah out of habit. For a Muslim though this is supposed to be one of their major beliefs. For instance a lady took the offer from the bank for 40,000YTL instead of continuing the game. Well of course they open her box to find that she had the box which would have given her 250,000YTL. Oh, the drama! She was crying. Family members were crying. I could hardly bear it. The point is if you believe in this extreme fatalism as Muslims are supposed to, why does it matter what amount the other box had? This view spills over to every part of a Muslims life. Life is so cheap here. Could you imagine resigning yourself to the fact that you were going to spend some time in Hell? Unless of course you die as a martyr or convert someone to Islam. Friends that I have talked to have no problem with the fact, as they believe, everyone will spend some time in Hell. Why? Because Allah wills it. God loved the world so much that He sent the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for sin. I know this, God wants to save people from every 'kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation' Rev. 5:9 This includes Muslim nations. That is what God wills and pleases.

Another Year of Life

Well I turned 27 last Friday, Jan 18th. My twin brother also turned 27. Go figure! I'm thankful that God has allowed me to live this long. I have been having a problem with Blogger on my computer. I can't get to the site. So I'm sorry it's been a while since you have heard from us. Looking back over my 27 years God has given me some great opportunities. One of the biggest privileges he gave me was allowing me to be born in the United States of America. It's a land filled with opportunities to hear and read the Gospel of Christ. God saved me. I was born again at the age of 10. I have two birthdays. I didn't have to worry about being alienated from my family. I didn't have to worry about people telling me I wasn't American because I believed in Christ. I didn't have to fear for my life because I became a Christian. What a privilege. Yet everyday in this country, this is exactly what believers in Christ face. I would like everyone to please pray for my language helper. He is a believer and has been through everything that I mentioned above. At this time, he can't find a job. Although perfectly qualified, no one wants to hire him. Pray that through this he and his wife's faith would remain and that God would supply a job for him. Whether it is here or in another country. He and his wife have been a great blessing to us. We are praying that through my language helper's life God would give the other Turkish believers courage to serve Him.

One Year ago...

Exactly one year ago today Angie and I left the United States headed for Turkey. Ohio State also lost the National Championship Game to an SEC team before we left. Somethings never change! For Angie and I much has changed. We have a new home and baby, and are learning Turkish. We thank God for the past year that He has given us in Turkey. He has touched and worked in our lives and I believe He is working in the lives of some of our friends. It appears that the friends that we have made here in Turkey are becoming more comfortable with us. We can talk about anything with them, including Jesus. In fact, most of the time people bring up Jesus and we're able to explain what we believe. I thank God for this. When we arrived many of the people we met had a lot of questions and they still do, but now it seems that our friendships our growing. I was asked again if I was going to become a Muslim yesterday. Some guys I met when I first arrived asked me. We've been through this before, but they had a new guy with them. One of the guys told me that to become a Christian I believed I needed to be baptized. I said no I... but before I could spit it out another young man standing by me said, "No he believes Jesus paid for his sins on the cross, and he's going directly to heaven." I'm glad someone's been listening. This led to a big discussion. It was fantastic and great practice for my Turkish. We are wanting God to use us to do impossible things this year. We know without faith it's impossible to please God. Pray with us that God would continually increase our faith as we seek to do His will.

Merry Christmas!

Angie made me wear the hat! Angie, Braxton, and I hope you had a great Christmas. Although we are 6,000 miles from our families, technology helps us feel closer. We also had a nice Christmas dinner with our teammates Isaac and Elizabeth. I don't know why but Braxton wanted to sleep through the gift opening. Braxton is now 13lbs. and nearly 23 inches long! We hope you all were reminded this Christmas of what a great gift God gave us in His Son Jesus. What an amazing thing to think that God loved us so much that He would give His only Son to save us! It is that gift we want to give to the people in Turkey.

Earth Shaking News!

Here is another picture of Braxton. He is now 4 weeks old. The fact that we gave him the middle name of Emre has been great so far. The Turks love it and they always ask why. So it always gives us a good opportunity to meet new people.
Well we felt our first tremor yesterday. That's the earth shaking news. I was sitting having my Turkish lessons when the ceiling fans in our apartment started shaking. I thought well its no big deal and the house just kept shaking. Right about the time we were getting ready to go outside it stopped. The actual earthquake took place about 60 miles southeast of Ankara. It was a 5.7 earthquake. There were no deaths just a few houses were damaged.
Yesterday was also the first day of a four day holiday called Kurban Bayrami, which is the Sacrifice Holiday. Meaning Turks will buy a sacrifice and have it slaughtered. They were showing all kinds of lambs, goats, and cows on the news yesterday. I was thinking they have no idea what they're in for. Our neighbors actually brought us a whole bag of freshly slaughtered lamb. It was a very nice gesture. Traditionally the family that sacrifices is not supposed to eat of the meat. They are to give it away. Nowadays though most people in Turkey sacrifice and put the meat in the freezer for later on in the year.