Hello Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well. Winter finally came to my part of the world in the last month and half. January saw record colds here. And just this week we saw snow! I was excited. It has been very cold the last couple days but we are surviving.
The cold has made football difficult. Most of our players are not coming and it is hard to teach and practice when only 15 guys show up. And to top it off, we are still having problems with our sponsors for the open league team. The longer our season goes without a game, the more I have come to accept that we won't be having a game this year. It is tough personally to accept that it won't happen and to see that my last season here never really got going. The good news is that we have more time to hang out with people. I am excited to see how God uses my last couple months in Turkey. I still find it incredible to think that I have been in Turkey for a year and a half now.
January was a not a great month in terms of ministry. Because of the semester break, most of the guys we know went home to different cities and football was just canceled. The other side of that is I got to take a small vacation. My roommate and I spent a couple days to go see Istanbul and Ankara and learn more about Turkey. We went to several different museums in Ankara and finally (after two trips to Ankara) got to see Ataturk's Mausoleum. Ataturk is considered the founder of modern Turkey and is almost worshiped here. I am glad that I finally got to see the monument created for him.
I also had the chance to go see a very interesting spectacle. In January, my roommate and I went to Turkeys Camel Wrestling Championships. That was an experience. A couple thousand people gathered together in this little town just a couple miles from Ephesus to watch camels bump into each other. In reality it felt more like an excuse to eat food, drink alcohol and dance. I think people rarely watched the camels and I can't blame them. The actual camel wrestling was not very exciting. Some of the best parts were watching the random street musicians come up and start playing at the tables people had set up. Somebody would pay the musician and then a bunch of older men with a little help from alcohol would dance. It was one of my favorite experiences in Turkey so far. My first impression upon arriving was that it was similar to the 4th of July. Lots of people setting up tables for picnics and almost everyone was grilling. I also had the chance to eat camel sausage. It tasted just like any other sausage I have had.
That is about all that has happened recently. I would appreciate continued prayers our players and for the friends we have made. I still have one friend that is coming to church with me every now and then and there are several others that have expressed interest in hearing more about the gospel. I am praying that God would open the doors of their hearts to see him.
Thank you all for your prayers. Blessings to you all.
Your Brother in Christ