Thursday, July 17, 2008

Anglicans, Armenians, and other news from Tky

I haven't had much time to blog. It seems like we're walking the whole time and everything is up hill both ways. It's ridiculous. If I were more of a servant it wouldn't be so bad. But my feet are dirty and someone needs to wash my feet. Tim isn't willing. Slacker.

Jeff- (excluding Leatha, of course) you know that no one will be able to replace you as my main overseas travelling partner. However, Tim L. is in the running. Dude is hilarious because he's so smart and such a clear thinker (sort of like myself)- he calls stuff as it is. I'm not smart and I just call stuff- not always as it is (many times as it isn't). But I'm blown away by his insight and ability to scope out, see the issues, then provide a solution. He's a "can do" "get it done" guy. The only dissappointment is that I used to think, "Well, at least Tim is in style in Turkey..." I've confirmed he's still two decades behind here as well. Don't worry Tim, soon your white socks w/ penny loafers, matrix glasses, and plaid shirts will be back (I've got friends in SoCal that say it's surging back- should hit the Midwest by '010.

We've got some great pics which I'll post as soon as Tim gets the iphone online. The battery went out right before the cuneiform on the ancient stone. No problem, Tim, I'll get it next time I come in 10 years.

We met with an Anglican pastor. He's Turkish and has an MDiv from Wycliffe in Canada. Brilliant thinker. I agreed with him on almost everything he said. I told him we had a coffee shop in our church. He said they have wineries. (Pete Matthews, if you're out there, I thought of you). Maybe Cstone needs to consider Anglican. Imagine Rectors Jeff and Troy...

I've had many social blunders. Like telling the priest I'd show him by butt to prove I was more white than him. (Turks also consider themselves "white") He said, "That's enough."

I cleaned my glasses with handsoap in a Turkish restaurant. I'll give you two guesses... they were dirty from all the travel around Turkey OR they dropped into the squatty potty and got 'dirty.' They were $12 Walgreens glasses, there was no way I was throwing them away...

Our friends who work here have just been added to my list of heroes. Bless them if you know them and their work here.

F-16s came close to us as we stood on top of this 2,900 year old castle. They were headed toward Iraq (just a few hours away). You'll probably hear on the news what they were doing.

There are many more stories to tell. Hopefully some will be through pics.

1 comment:

Jason Lee said...

Thanks for the update Mark!