White Flag

Surrender.

In this day and age, when we hear that word, I'd assume the first thing that comes to mind is giving up a fight. One party knows the other has them beat, and sees no point in continuing the battle, so they wave their little white flag and surrender.

Last night I was reminded that surrender is not just admitting defeat in the midst of battle, but admitting defeat before a battle even begins. As we are in the midst of a battle, not of flesh and blood, but of spiritual things I've realized that I have some things in my life that I cling so tightly to that I'm practically white knuckling my way through life. Even to acknowledge that the family I hold so dear is in fact not mine, but that they have been entrusted to me for a short time on this side of eternity is a hard concept to grasp.

Just like chicken soup, I've found Turkey is good for the soul.

Humble Pie

I have been doing a lot of thinking over the past 24 hours, and have allowed a thought to go from my head to my heart.

As I type this, I sit in a hotel room over looking the Mediterranean Sea- the very means by which Paul made his first missional journey to Turkey. He landed at Attalia, which is modern day Antalya, where we landed as well. I find myself wondering, is there a reason that I am here at this time in my life? Is this the beginning of my missional journey?

Over the course of my 25 years, I have learned that I absolutely love the book of Acts, as it describes for us some amazing examples of what we can strive for our churches to look like, and examples of being bold in our faith. To know that I am within hundreds of miles of the sites that Paul visited along his journey in the book of Acts amazes me. To know that I may find myself walking the same path as Paul did absolutely astounds me. Tomorrow we go to Perge, which was Perga in Acts 13. I don't know what to expect there, but I feel it will be an amazing day of learning and quiet reflection on my own journey.

Another thing that has struck me came from a conversation with some International Workers we met. Recently, a number of other IWs in their area were removed from the country when the government learned of their religious agendas. The couple we spoke to were quite sure that their phones are tapped, and their email is monitored, and the government is just waiting for a reason to get rid of them. I realize that I have no idea what persecution really is. I have never been thrown in jail for what I believe, as Peter was. I have never been stoned, dragged out of a city and left for dead as Paul was. All that to say- do I live my life in such a way that people would even persecute me? Let me clarify- can people tell by how I live my life what I believe and that I'm not ashamed of it? Do I live in such a way that I am persecutable?

In my head tumbles a conflict or two...

One of the other IWs who spoke said he once heard a speaker say that North America is one of the most grossly over-staffed continents in the world. Are we up for a transfer?

Another relaxing day in Antayla

Yesterday (March 16) we had another relaxing day, which was really quite nice. We took Terry around the resort and showed him the interesting things we'd found in our travels, and found some new things. Came across a couple orange trees along the path back to our room, but from listening to other people, they were fairly bitter, so we didn't try any. Went back to the Mediterranean for a bit- I'm pretty sure I could've stood there all day long. Yesterday it was clear enough along the beach that you could see the mountains in the distance, and man, was it beautiful!

After lunch yesterday, we decided to go for a swim outside in the pool. It was about 23 out, with something of a wind, but we figured the pool would be warm enough, so why not? We noticed that there had been a lot of people sitting around the outside of the pool, but no one was ever IN it- we now know why. I lasted for maybe 20 seconds, and Terry didn't get anything but his legs in, but Cam, of course, had to get right in there. That was the coldest water I have ever felt in my life. I felt like my lungs were going to implode- not the most relaxing feeling. Terry and I got out and sat on our beach chairs in the sun and under our towels to try to warm up, while Cam waited it out in the pool for at least 15 minutes. We decided to then try the indoor pool and Turkish bath, to possibly warm ourselves up a bit. The pool was nice, and the bath, was- an experience. Pretty much a Turkish bath- or as it is nowadays- consists of going from something like a pool where you are cool and wet, to a room that is hotter, ie., a sauna. Then you end in this room that is made entirely of marble, but HEATED marble, and you just lay on this big slab, that somewhat resembles the alter on which they kill Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia. So if you could get past that thought, it was pretty nice and relaxing, and something to experience while we are here for sure! We ate supper overlooking the Mediterranean and mountains while watching the sunset.... Its going to be hard to leave in a few days!

Our conference started last night- will post more on that later, as we are about to head off to day 2 of our sessions.

Just another day in Turkey...

Yesterday (Monday, March 15) was a great day. It was nice to have the day to just relax and take in the sights, sounds, and of course food at the resort. Cam and I spent the day walking around our resort, which is quite a bit larger than either of us realized. We took a stroll down to the beach, and walked with our feet in the Mediterranean Sea- it was a bit chilly, but c'mon its the Mediterranean! It took all my strength not to just dive in fully clothed, but realized that may be frowned upon... We spent the rest of the day just lounging around, which was really great after a long day of traveling the day before.

I meant to bring a notebook so I could journal while I was here, but forgot to pick one up amongst all the other travel preparations. So yesterday we went down to the gift shop to pick one up, and discovered that the only book they had was a Spiderman notebook for children, AND it cost 7 Euros. We also needed to pick up shampoo, as for ease of weight for packing, we figured we didn't need to bring large shampoo bottles because they'd have it for us at the resort- ahh, not so much. We only had brought 2 small bottles that we had gotten on the cruise, and because its 'hard water', it takes quite a bit more shampoo than usual to even get a lather. So after purchasing my Spidey notebook and a small bottle of 2 in 1 shampoo, we paid 28 Turkish lira, which is about $18 USD. Hmm, not QUITE the deal I was hoping for...

The situation with the power converter has been sorted out- which is GREAT, so we are now able to use our own laptop and wireless in the hotel lobby. Yesterday, before we had figured out what the issue was, we had to use the internet cafe again. I was having so much trouble trying to figure out how to log into our hotmail account, as I couldn't find a character the same as our letter 'i'- which is pretty much essential to log into any hotma'i'l account. There were some people sitting next to us who were able to help us figure some things out, but on the other side of us, sat a very angry German man, who didn't appreciate us talking out loud. Cam informs me that he was watching some sort of streamed video about airplanes, that was freezing a lot, and perhaps he thought it had to do with our talking. After yelling at us a few more times in German, he got fed up and threw down his headphones and stormed out. So no more angry Germans for us- we'll just have to find them elsewhere, perhaps the buffet.

Terry arrived last night around 6:00 PM, and we happened to be in the hotel lobby Skype-ing with Thelma at the time, so she was able to greet him on arrival herself- that was pretty cool. He made it here alright without any problems, except he mentioned there was a delay on one of his flights for over half hour due to a duck on the runway. I asked why they didn't just shoot it, but maybe they frown upon that here...

Conference activities start tonight, so we are looking forward to meeting people from many walks of life and hearing their stories. Today we are just enjoying the beautiful weather- again about 20, but windy- no where NEAR Saskatchewan wind though! Might take in a swim or a Turkish bath (you don't actually bathe with a Turkish person, its more like a steam bath kind of thing, and you wear a bathing suit) before the activities begin.

Between the three of us, we'll do our best to soak up some sun for the rest of you at home.

Court

Arrival ın Turkey

We have spent our fırst nıght ın Turkey, and are feelıng much more rested after quıte a good sleep at the hotel. You may notıce that some of the characters I'm typıng are strange, as I'm stıll gettıng accustomed to the Turkısh keyboard. We had brought our laptop wıth us so we could use our own computer and ınternet ın our room, however, the power converter we brought ıs a 2 prong outlet and we needed a 3 prong outlet for the computer plug. Unfortunately we dıdn't realıze that untıl we went to plug ın the computer before bed last nıght. Hopefully we can get a compatıble one soon!

Flıghts were good, a lıttle hard to convınce our bodıes to sleep when ıts lıke 6 pm our tıme, but we managed to get some sleep. We left from Regına at 10:30 am on Saturday, March 13 and arrıved ın Antalya, Turkey at 4:30 Sunday, March 14. I truly belıeve some people aren't cut out for "tıme travel"- I fear I'm one of those people! Our flıghts were very good- we flew from Calgary to Frankfurt on Lufthansa wıth a few Olympıans on theır way home from the wınter games. We then flew from Frankfurt to Istanbul on Lufthansa, then from Istanbul to Antalya, we flew wıth a Turkısh aırlıne, Atlasjet.

Communıcatıon ıs provıng to be a bıt of a challenge, even at the resort, but we are managıng. It ıs beautıful here- took a walk to the beach thıs mornıng and had our feet ın the Medıterranean Sea. We wıll be hangıng out today, maybe take ın a swım, but we are able to enjoy a day of relaxatıon before thıngs begın tomorrow. We (well I) am enjoyıng the food a LOT, as most thıngs are stuffed wıth feta, feta, and MORE FETA!

Terry arrıves at the resort tonıght- he was travelıng on the same flıghts that we dıd, just a day later. So we look forward to seeıng hım.

More to come- stay tuned...

Court from Antalya, Turkey