Yabba Dabba Do

Christians around the 8th century in the region of Cappadocia(Acts 2:9; I Peter 1:1) lived and worshiped in homes and "churches" carved into the unique rock formations in north central Turkey. They did this for protection from the elements(heat) and from their enemies.

On Wednesday night Rodney and I boarded a bus for a 10 hour evening trip from Istanbul east to the region of Cappadocia. We stayed in the "Rock Hotel." Our room was mostly carved into the rock from which much of the hotel was formed.

We were in this region for two days. We saw many very unique homes, churches and entire communities. One community of around 5,000 people lived underground!! They estimate that this community thrived around the year 1000AD.

One of the wonderful surprises for me here in Turkey is how willing and eager many people are to talk about religion, faith and personal beliefs. The Turkish people are very warm and love to engage in conversation. Over the course of these two days I had three good conversations about faith. I asked one young man what is the essence of Islam. With enthusiasm he shared with me and answered my questions. On the second day our tour guide asked me what I did for a living. I told her I was a teacher of Jesus. She said, "I want to learn about Jesus!" With a quick prayer, I shared with her about the Jesus who loves her and yearns to be in a relationship with her.

What a wonderful time of sharing, discussing and being in dialogue all the while seeing amazing landscape and learning about Christians who lived a thousand years ago!

Tomorrow I fly to Jerusalem and begin my three weeks of study and learning about the history and geography of the land where Jesus lived.

The Church I was with this morning for breakfast, study, fellowship and prayer sends its greeting to you all.

God's peace be with you on this day.

Jamie

PS Why the title Yabba Dabba Do? Don't these rock structures remind you of Fred Flinstone's neighborhood? In fact, in one of these rock structures was a little shop and as I entered the owner called out "Yabba Dabba Do!"

Letting Down My Hair

Greetings from Turkey!

There are times away from home when one wants to do things that one normally wouldn't do:

* dance through the night
* watch 5 movies in a row
* eat cow intestines
* try a bunji jump
* sing karaoke

This generally gets put under the category of "letting down your hair."

I didn't want to dance through the night, watch 5 movies in a row, eat cow intestines, bunji jump or sing karaoke. So, I decided to let down my hair in another way:




















Have a great day!

Ooooops!!!

Have you ever had one of those "ooops" moments in a foreign country or in trying to pronounce a word not of your own language?

You know - you are trying to call someone Peter in Spanish and you call them a dog or worse, a fart? All three words, at least to me, sound somewhat similar.

A few days ago I met a woman named Zeynep. When I meet her she flexed her muscles and said in her best english,"the warrior queen." There was, maybe is, a show on TV called "Zeena the Warrior Queen." She was helping me remember her name.

Later in the afternoon, I wanted to impress her that I remembered her name. I shouted out "Zina, Zina!" Rodney, the worker with whom I am staying said, "Don't say that!" He was very emphatic.

"Why not? That is her name, she told me."

"No, her name is Zeynep, but you are shouting "adultery, adultery!"

Ooooops

Picnic, Capture the Flag, the Running Father and Ice Cream

Yesterday was special.

It was picnic day - all day!

On Monday I shared with you about a family with 11 kids. Yesterday we spent a day with them, other family members and friends at a park about 4 miles from their home. The kids only get to this park 2 times a year on these picnic days.

We arrived at 10am and didn't leave till around 7:00 that night. We ate a late breakfast and lunch together. The kids loved the food, but didn't linger long as they wanted to enjoy the freedom of playing on the green grass. Every other day of the year they mostly play on a narrow street on the side of a hill where they live. No open space. No grass. No ocean breeze.

But not on this Sunday!
We played soccer for about four hours(yes, I am so sore today it hurts to walk - really!) We then taught them the game captue the flag and they loved it! After a 10 minute break it was back to more soccer, jumping rope and a form of dodge ball. I was seriously exhausted.

The joy on the kids and adult faces throughout the day was heartwarming.

When it was almost time to leave I shared The Running Father and the Runaway Sons story with them from Luke 15. You can see that the Father of the 11 was my "lost son" who got hugged and kissed - he responded in like manner much to the delight of the kids and family!!

As the day was coming to a close, I asked Rodney if I could treat everyone to some ice cream before we all went home. He said many of the adults and kids had probably never had ice cream! As I bought the last of 26 ice cream cones and gave it to one of the kids, her face lite up! I chocked back the tears. Her first ice cream cone.

We have so much that we take for granted.

As we arrived home, the oldest daughter(19) was walking down the road to us. She couldn't join us this day because she was called in to work on a Sunday(her 7th 10 hour day in a row). As she walked toward us two of the girls ran to greet her. They hugged and turned to walk arm in arm toward us. They seemed to be talking about the day and the fun they had. I said that I was sorry she couldn't be with us today. She responded by saying that she really missed it, "and you had ice cream!"

Tomorrow night I am going to go visit this family one more time. I will represent your love, care and concern for them.

May God's peace, presence and passion for the lost be with you and with us, both now and forevermore.
Amen.

Devoted

Almost every Saturday morning a group of 5 men meet for breakfast, conversation and Bible study. They meet at one of the men's shops of business. The morning I met with them we ate meat, cheese, bread, honey, tea(always tea), olives and tomatoes. The business owner led us in a Bible study in Romans 6.

I sat and listened. While I didn't know what they were saying I sensed an excitement in them as they studied and wrestled with this powerful passage from Romans 6:12 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life...."

They spent a good deal of time sharing and discussing experiences with how to offer yourselves to God. The Bible study leader shared that he did not make time to read the Scriptures for an entire week. He shared how he had felt empty and weak.

As I watched and listened in I was reminded of the passage in the book of Acts which describes the first disciples as "devoted to the apostles teaching." (Acts 2:42) I had a vision that some day in this area of the world there would be hundreds and thousands of similar groups with new believers in Jesus gathered together, devoted to each other, studying the Scriptures and following Jesus.

Mosque Musings

Yesterday I went to a Mosque for the 1:00pm worship service. Muslims are called 5 times a day to prayer/worship. It begins at 5am and continues throughout the day at about 3 to 4 hour intervals. The call to worship can be heard all over the city as the singing and scripture blares from speakers placed in minneretts situated beside the hundreds of mosques all over the city.

There were over 3000 people crammed next to each other on the carpeted floors of the mosque. We stood, knelt and bowed with our foreheads to the ground. I counted that we bowed 24 times(I was following the guy next to me!!) There was a sermon on(I was told) honoring your mother and father. The service lasted about 45 minutes.

As I worshiped the living God with these devout people, Scripture ran through my head:

* "You Samaritans worship what you do not know, we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in thruth, for they are the kind of worshppers the Father seeks." John 4:22-23

* "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

* "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6

May the Kingdom come to these warm, God seeking people!

Much love,

Jamie

11 Children

Last night Rodney and I went to a home of a family with 11 children. They live in a home with two main rooms a small kitchen and a bathroom - 13 people! Four of the children went to a camp last summer where they heard and received good news. Rodney and another member of his team visit this home frequently.

Our time last night was so rich. The meal was delicious - mushroom soup, rice, bread and salad. We sat around a table on the floor, laughed, ate, tickled, laughed, ate,.... Afterwards, the kids played a simple game with Rodney using scrambled letters on a piece of paper. The kids had to look at the letters and use them to spell an animal. For example, ehsor - would be horse. They played this game for a half hour or so, laughing and competing against each other. It was very touching for me to see all 10 kids(the oldest son is in the military) having so much fun with each other.

After the game we sang songs of faith and worshipped the living God. Again, it was very moving for me to hear and see these kids with us adults praising God. I couldn't understand any of the words, but I do understand(to some small degree) the language of the Spirit, and it was there! I then shared the story of Jesus' tempation in the wilderness. Many of the kids were wild eyed and very engaged. Some were running around, not paying attention, falling asleep - but I have been well prepared for those kinds of reactions to my teaching! We ended in prayer.

As we walked up the hill away from their house back to our car to go home, I was reminded yet again of the well worn cliche "many of us have so much, yet so little, some people have so so little, yet have so so much."



"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" Matthew 5:3