Turkey - Our Group

Before I bore you with all the hundreds of photos of flowers, mountains, plains and old rocks (and maybe food, drink and cities), I'll start by boring you with photos of our group and of us. You're not really interested in Turkey, anyway, are you? It's us you want to see! This post will concentrate more on people...if you want to know more about the country and the customs, you'll have to come back for future editions.

First, Our Leader

Nida comes from near Sardis. She accompanied us over the entire 2500+ km and was very patient with us, answering questions and waiting on the whole group to regather at every stop.  While some shopped, others were taking pictures...or just wandered off. One of my favorite pictures of Nida, as she sat waiting patiently for all of us to reappear from the Topkapi Palace:

The Group

Several group pictures were taken (at Ephesus, et. al.), but the best one I got on my camera was at Tarsus, the birthplace of the apostle Paul. This well apparently dates from Roman times, but no one can guarantee Paul drank from it as a boy.

As we began our short cruise up and down the Bosphorus, the narrow channel that separates European Istanbul from Asian Istanbul, more group pictures were taken, one of the men and another of the women.

What's wrong with this picture? The trip was only beginning and Abbie had all the men around her! Hmmm... more below, as you'll see. Actually, when the picture of the women was taken Abbie was not present, and all the women came and sat where I was. I had my seat and didn't give it up, so my picture was taken with all the women. (Didn't get that on my camera.) When Abbie got to where we were, the men were getting ready for their picture. I took her place; she took mine.

Lourdes


This group is basically the same one we went to Israel with two years ago. They come from various Baptist churches in mainland Portugal. The one exception (besides us) is Lourdes, a member of our church, who was not part of the Israel tour.

In Cappadocia....

In Kusadasi...

Us

We did get some pictures of us together, by the way.

In a tree, literally (in Istanbul)...

In the middle of Cappadocia (no trees)...

But most of our pictures were taken of her by me, and of me by her. She got to stand by pretty flowers at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul..

I, on the other hand, was in a cave in Antioch of Syria. (The passage behind me is supposed to have been an escape route  from a cave where Christians met in the early centuries when they were persecuted. I was on my way back from having discovered I couldn't escape that direction. I had to come back and join the group.)

Abbie soon adopted the local dress code. Here at Antioch of Syria, because of the cold, wet weather. A few days later, she discovered that the pashmin actually kept the hot sun from burning her neck.

She left me for another

Abbie was soon telling me good-bye.

A couple of days later I knew the truth: she had found another. Someone with more hair. I came upon them as they were about to kiss in broad daylight!

Lourdes, on the other hand, apparently had to use a more physical approach to get his attention.

To Turkey and back(?)

I know we went to Turkey. I'm not sure I'm back yet. We got home about 2 a.m. Monday morning, so it's been a week since we left Istanbul on Saturday, but the experience was so intense that I have dreamed of travelling, seeing old rocks, and being in Turkey every night since then. The landscapes are beautiful and varied; the people are friendly. I began studying the language and feel like I left in the middle of the lesson. I miss the music of the language.

I took so many pictures that I could send 4 a day, and it would take a year to share them all. And that doesn't count the film clips. I hope to take a few at a time, grouped by subject rather than date or location, perhaps, and give you a feeling of what we saw and experienced.


Let's start with coffee---Turkish coffee...what else? The ground coffee is boiled in a little pot and all is poured into a cup without filtering. At some point you have to stop drinking because all that's left are grounds. The cardinal rule: if you want sugar, it goes in during the boiling of the water and grounds---don't stir! (In fact, it never comes with a spoon. You have to tell them when you order the coffee whether you want sugar, and how much.)



My first cup, the first night. It was served with Turkish Delight, but that is another story. Yes, it was the Hotel Titanic, but we survived.

A few days later, the coffee came in a silver container...

The patterns on this cup and saucer are typical of the designs and colors of Turkish pottery. More of that later, too.

Change of scenery

This is Saturday night and we're in Lisbon. We tried to leave Madeira on Thursday night, but our first flight was canceled because of an air controllers' strike. We were sent back home about 11 p.m., but had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch the 5:45 a.m. flight. We went straight from the airport in Lisbon to the embassy at 8:30, where I had a full day of meetings, so by the time we left at 5 p.m. we were exhausted. Now we can begin to think we're on vacation. Vacation, where? Turkey. We leave for Istanbul on Monday afternoon for a 12-day tour of Turkey with the same group we toured Israel with 2 years ago. The route takes us through several of the cities visited by the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys, and includes Tarsus, where he was born. I'll try to keep you posted of where we are and photos along the way. In the meantime, the members of the church are covering the services in our absence, and we appreciate your prayers for them. On Easter Sunday we presented a cantata in English and Portuguese, which was a blessing. On the following Sunday, the husband of one of our members came forward professing Christ as Savior. We've been praying for Gil for three or four years. When I asked him about his coming to Jesus, his one comment was, "It took a long time." But not as long as one of our other church members: we witnessed to Maria José for 26 years before she accepted the gospel! Thank you for praying for the continuing steady testimony of God's people; the results do not always come quickly, but we pray they will be solid and eternal when they do come.

I know you're out there

Recently, through various comments made via e-mail or by visitors to our Sunday morning services, I've been told that people check in on this blog for news. Looking at the archive list on the blog, I see it goes back to June 2004, almost 8 years. The frequency of the postings reflects the ups and downs that are a normal part of life. We grow by spurts, we pass through phases where little seems to happen; feelings and emotions are often as steadfast as a ride on a roller coaster, on which the important thing is to keep moving and not get off while in motion.

Not a lot of exciting news to report in recent weeks. I did get over the flu and my roller coaster is picking up speed. Kirstin continues to do well, but her parents have decided to take her to the US for further tests and possible treatment. Andrea will be headed for California before Easter with their 4 children (accompanied by her cousin, who has come to visit), and Kris will stay on to complete the school year at the language school where he teaches.

Upcoming events:

Ambassadorial Visit to Madeira later this month -- Ambassador Katz and his wife will be here for 4 days; these visits always require extra planning, some of which never seems to get ironed out until the last minute, no matter how much effort is spent in the weeks and months before that.

Consular office downsizing -- I was given the first hint of this last summer, but it took until last month for the major details to get resolved, by which the two ladies that assist me in the consular agency have fallen victim to a procedure called "reduction in force." Sounds like Governmentese, doesn't it? One lady has been in this job for 40 years and the other for 23, but as of May, it'll all be up to me. Changes in law and the use of the Internet have reduced the amount of paperwork that has to be physically processed by offices such as ours; in a time of budget crisis, such measures for "reduction in force" are not unusual.

In the church, upcoming baptism -- Catia left the island and spent a few months in Holland. While there she got work at a Christian hostel and accepted the Gospel. She's come back to Funchal and wants to go forward with baptism. Pray for her, as her family situation is not easy. Many times we have seen people come from abroad, where they began to follow Jesus, but when they get back in their family and social environment on the island, their faith withers like the shoots Jesus spoke about in the parable of the Sower: the seed fell on stony soil and sprouted quickly, but could not stand the sun of persecution and opposition. Pray for her. Young believers do not always understand that even in our Christian faith we should be prepared for ups and downs. But then, neither do a lot of older believers.

Kirstin's Better---so am I

In the intervening time since I last wrote, Kirstin improved to the point she was able to go home. Since then she has continued to improve. There are still some medical concerns about any lasting effects from the meningitis, especially to her hearing. A couple of tests were done this week, but I haven't heard what, if any, definite results were achieved. Also, in injuries such as she sustained, there may be the need for an operation at a later time to repair a fissure in a bone to prevent the recurrence of meningitis.

As for me, in that same period of time, I got down. I preached one Sunday morning in English as I was just coming down with the flu and didn't have time to get someone to cover for me. I was able to get a brother to fill in for the Portuguese services, and I went home in the afternoon and stayed there a whole week. I didn't go to the Consulate...did nothing but stay at home and read whenever I felt up to it. I couldn't even sit at the computer for more than an hour at most in the morning, checking e-mails, and doing the minimum of correspondence. I was at church last Sunday, but I had already got others lined up to preach, just in case. So I went and enjoyed hearing someone else preach. Tomorrow I'm back on full duty in the pulpit, Lord willing.

I'm better enough to feel like working, but I can tell I'm not back to 100%. Abbie, fortunately, has avoided getting the bug. I know she's glad of that, but so am I!

Kirstin

In the week and a half since I last wrote, Kirstin improved to the point she could go home on Monday. The doctors say she'll fully recover, but what they don't know yet is whether she'll have to have an operation to repair a hole in a bone to prevent her getting meningitis some time in the future. She's at home, in a room to herself, to minimize the risk of catching something from the others in the family. On Monday she was being moved from an isolation booth to a room shared with another child. It made more sense to be at home and try to control contagion than to have her in the hospital with another sick child or, perhaps worse, exposure to those who come to visit.

At the moment, there's no lack of opportunity to catch a cold or the flu. There's been a lot of it since before Christmas, and most of the families of the church have been affected to some degree or another. In some cases, the symptoms go on for weeks and weeks. Until now, Abbie and I have escaped unaffected; correction, UNTIL YESTERDAY we escaped unaffected. Abbie thought a few days ago she might have been starting a cough, but she hasn't gotten any worse. Yesterday, towards the end of the day, I felt a head congestion coming on...sinuses inflammed, etc. As the day wore on today, I have worn down myself. There are all the signs of one of those bouts with sinusitis I get every few years, and it means having to sleep in a recliner. The cough that accompanies it is the real bother. I pray this round is light and short. In fact, today would be enough, as far as I'm concerned.

Kirstin-- Andrea's post at about midnight

I spent the day with my precious baby again today. As Kristjan said we talked to the Dr. in charge of the floor and he said if she persisted with fever today they would start doing tests (mainly CT scan again) tomorrow. He acted like he was doing all the things on the list where in fact they are only doing a small amount of basic things (anibiotics, pain meds when needed, checking fluids etc.) I saw the Dr. that was assigned to her on that floor and she was abrupt and brushed off my concerns. I am really concerned about this.

I spent all day with Kirstin and with the Nurses coming in and out and children screaming down the halls, she just does not sleep well. After the lower temp in the afternoon Kirstin's temp has continued to rise again and even with medication has not gone down past 100. She had to take medication at 4 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. We are very very concerned about the fact that the fever stays even with strong medication. This is a possible sign of a secondary issue that she might have.

On an encouraging note....I saw some progress with Kirstin today that made me cry. She tried to smile at me probably twice. After a week with no smile this was so precious. She also began making some sounds more like "maaaaa" and other grunting noises. Until this point she either cried or made sounds that showed she was in pain and having difficulty breathing. The other thing was I held her several times today to help her change position. Her little legs shake when they are in certain positions because they are so weak.

Another positive is that I really like the nurses....they were kind, answered questions and did what they could to help us feel comfortable. They are busy and understaffed but nice people. Even nurses from the ICU came to visit her yesterday and today. Kirstin is totally traumatized....if any person comes close to her she starts to cry. I cannot even write here all the things she has had to go through....I even try to not think about it cause it just breaks my heart. Right now she has two catheters....one for urine and one to inject the antibiotics and take blood etc. This one is in her upper thigh. Basically this means anytime she has had dirty diapers that all these things get dirty and bandages need to be changed. A simple thing like changing a diaper becomes a big ordeal...like 30 minutes of nonstop crying. Her skin is raw and this has become a very traumatic event. She looks at me with insecurity like "mama please do something."

Here are some prayers request at this point:
1) That her fever would die down during the night so that we would not have to put her through yet more tests.
2) That her body would fight this disease and that the antibiotics would help and do no other harm to her body (kidneys etc.)
3) That she would be able to sleep so that she can get stronger.
4) That if we need to do these tests tomorrow that they would be thorough to really try to find the source of this fever. That they would be willing to run all the tests necessary.
5) That we could be reassigned a new doctor that would be more thorough and caring.
6) For strength to endure the long hours and decision making of every moment of the day.
7) For Kirstin to feel loved, cared for and secure in the midst of all this.
8) Also pray that Kristjan or myself can get Kaija to a dentist tomorrow as she is crying in pain tonight with a cavity.

We are resting our hope fully upon the grace hat is in Christ Jesus. Even this cannot separate us from His love. We are thankful for His tender mercies that renew every morning. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. All things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. May God be glorified through all this!