Hello from Turkey…
Istanbul is HUGE!!! This city is ridiculously large. To get to our “job” everyday it generally takes a little over TWO HOURS!!! In any one day we will potentially use five different forms of travel: bus, train, light rail, ferry, subway. Granted three of these move down rails but all very different if you were to see them. We see two continents every day. We live on the Europe side and travel everyday to the Asian side. Istanbul is separated by the Bosporus, a canal that connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. Istanbul has been literally at the center of the world and culture for years and remains an epi-center of activity for this part of the world. It is the 4th largest city in the world depending on who you ask and where you draw the lines and to put it into perspective…Istanbul has about twice the population of New York City.
Our time in Turkey has been completely different than what I was anticipating, or to be a little more correct, Istanbul has been different. I imagine Turkey as large and diverse as it is, holds many areas of very different life styles. Istanbul though has been a fascinating place to observe the culture. We live in a very western part of the city which we honestly have not minded all that much. Turkey in a lot of ways is to Islam as Christianity is to the US. It is not a perfect parallel and there are certainly differences but the more I’m here and after talking to our contact here I am becoming increasingly certain of the similarities. The practice of Islam here like Christianity back home has lost a lot of its spunk. It is still very much intertwined in the culture, but as far as I can tell is on the decline and Istanbul seems to be becoming a much more worldly city. Practicing Muslims will pray 5 times a day; they will turn towards Mecca to do so. They will not drink or smoke, but honestly you would never know these things from being here. The prayer is still blasted out over the city from every mosque in the city but not once have I seen anybody in prayer. I have been told that many will still go to the mosque on Friday evening for prayer as this is regarded as the most precious of the week. I compare it very much to a Sunday morning Christian, and I mean no offense to anybody with this comparison….just trying to paint the culture in a light that makes sense. People go to church Sunday morning most of the time but their life style does little to reflect what they say they believe. Bars are packed in our part of the town with Istanbul locals on the weekends and it is all around a happening place. This is much different when you hear the numbers presented on Turkey which go something like this. Turkey is 99.8% Muslim and Istanbul hosts more mosques than any other city in the world. It is statistically the most unreached country in the world, but here in Istanbul if people spoke English you would simply think you were in another large city in the US.
It is ironic to think that this was arguably the largest launching point of Christianity and as argued by some, the doom of it as well. The Roman Empire for the longest time outlawed Christianity and meanwhile moved their head quarters from Rome to Constantinople or present day Istanbul because it was a more easily defensible city. It was here that Constantine changed the official religion of what was left of the Roman Empire from the Roman Gods which were basically the Greek Gods to Christianity. Up to this point Christianity was a wave of underground believers that took the largest empire in the world’s history by storm. People didn’t believe because they were forced to, they believed in the message of Jesus, they believed that the God of the heavens came to a distant part of the Roman Empire and gave their life, in doing so paid a debt which only he was worthy to pay. Some would say that after Constantine made the change Christianity became a religion as opposed to a relationship. Now 2000 years later this city of between 15 million and 24 million (depending where you draw the lines) has fewer believers than the graduating class of 2009 from Texas A&M, fewer believers than the city I grew up in.
Our “job” here in Turkey is far from glamorous. We are working with local SBC contacts, a couple who are actually from Texas, one a graduate from the greatest school in the US….Texas A&M University, WHOOP. We are attempting to do part of an ethnographic study. We are trying to figure out where certain people groups live in Istanbul, and what their day to day looks like, what their home life looks like, what languages the speak, what languages their kids speak. We are currently seeking out the Za-Za people. After many hours of walking around in the cold and wet we have managed to find a grand total of 1 man thus far, but we believe have stumbled onto a larger community just as of yesterday. The ethnographic study helps people like the Southern BC workers know how to approach different parts of the city and to understand the people group that you will potentially be working with better. It is, so I’ve been told, the slowest, most painful, tedious, non-results seeing job they do and so we got it. In a way it sucks… really bad, but it is also good to know that we are actually getting to help support the people who are here long term. Turkey has not been the easiest place to live, we are all in a small apartment with one bathroom and it can at times be very frustrating. We have had lovely 40 degree rainy weather as of late and I don’t believe it is going much of anywhere…lucky us. We have however decorated our apartment for the Christmas season and are attempting to make it feel as homey as possible. I sorely miss my friends and family back home, but in the same strand I understand that Christmas is a celebration for a much larger “family” than my family back home. I will certainly be in prayer for everyone back home during this Christmas season, and especially for my little brother who is taking his first round of finals. Much love and God bless to everyone back home.
PS. I am still on my technology ban but we were allowed to get on to write a blog, I won’t be able to check my email for another 5 days.
PSS. I don’t like Texas’ chance vs. Alabama
