Cool Refugee Story
The highlight of recent events is related to the shelter at which I’ve been teaching English with some teammates. The shelter is full of young men who have fled their home country for various reasons, and have no other choice than to live at this place where the vast majority feel like there’s no life or future. As my teammate and I spend time with them, many express their feeling of hopelessness with their current situation. At the same time, many are very evidently seeking hope elsewhere, and God has been drawing them to himself as the direction of that hope. Though they are from... Read more
A Day in South Asia
Today I invite you to walk a day in South Asia with me. The only dilemma is that one day is never the same.So I’ll tell you about today, 12 December, 2013 After waking up at 7:30 a.m., I have my usual instant coffee and toast. Often I’ll drink my coffee out on the balcony, but lately it’s gotten colder so I don’t always go out there to do devotions. Some mornings I’ll run with my roommate, while others I just get an early start on learning language. This morning after a workout, I prepared for our language helpers to come over. While we were waiting we started reviewing the vocab and... Read more
"The Bubble"
I remember back in high school hearing my home town being described as the “Kingwood Bubble.” I’ll admit that I too referred to it as such not only because in someways it was the thing preventing us from the real world but that everything seemed to be perfect. I can’t think of a time I felt unsafe during my years that I lived in Kingwood. It was like this image that as soon as you saw the giant wooden sign signifying that you had arrived into Kingwood that you felt safe. All you saw was suburb after suburb that contained homes with yards, joyful kids playing in the streets, community members... Read moreTwo Months In
People have told me that life speeds up after college, and it seems overseas that is true as well. These past few weeks I’ve had many new thoughts, challenges, realizations, and experiences. Many of these have had to do with language, as that is my full time job for the time being. I am in class a few days a week and supplement that with self-study and language practice with Turkish people. Studying and learning a new language has really made me examine my own. I have realized how so much of my communication is conveyed through idioms, slang, and expressions, and it makes me wonder how long... Read more
During trials and pain...
**Sorry about the image. I tried to edit it to face the correct way but nothing worked! The photo is of a small canal I found on my runs near my house. It is a place where I have found solitude with the Lord. Its not the prettiest of places, but its mine and I love it! (fyi, I think if you click on the photo, it may reload and show you the correct position) This past week I was asked to share a devotional to our team of interns and our leader. As I was praying and seeking the Lord on what topic He would want to share…He put the power of prayer on my mind. Prayer is something the Lord... Read more
Battling Through
There is so much to learn from weak moments such as these: breaking your tooth in celebration, seeing your wife almost get hit by a car, feeling out of control, feeling offended by teammates, having to apologize for being offensive, etc. Feeling out of control through being away from “home” commonly brings feelings of helplessness. But everywhere I go while I'm alive is foreign territory – Heaven is my home. In Turkey “yabancı” means “foreigner”. And it’s very clear that I’m a yabancı. As I’m a foreigner here, I’m being exposed to new things. Some things bring on feelings of adventure... Read more
Where do I begin?
There is just so much to say... ...so I guess I will break it up into sections! Ministry: My Saturdays consist of lots of fun, english, stress, and great company!!! Natalie and I lead a children's program with our leader Karen and Thai helper Pee Noy from 1:30-2:30...usually 3pm! Then we teach english to youth and adults from 3:00-5:00 and then Natalie and I tutor from 6:00-7:00! So our Saturdays are packed!! Children's Ministry: God has been moving! We taught the kids a thai worship song that talked about how God knows us from before we were born and how he loved us always. The kids just... Read more
Fortune Telling, Cigarettes and Glory
She pulls out another cigarette from her freshly opened packed. I’ve lost count of how many she’s smoked since we sat down for an afternoon of speaking Turkish and English over a small table at an outdoor café. It’s at least her 6th or 7th. I sip my tiny cup of Turkish coffee and she nurses a beer. This is a Saturday afternoon with my first Turkish friend in Izmir. Although the smoke wafting across the table filling my own lungs and permeating my hair and clothes is less than desirable, I am so glad to finally feel like I have a Turkish friend. I look across the table at her darkly lined eyes... Read moreEvery Tribe
After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10 This post is going to be very... Read more