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.