Hello friends!
SO incredibly much has happened since the last blog.
I now have a new team (and while I STRONGLY miss goodness. gracious. I am blessed to have my new team). Our team name is Phoenix and there are now 6 of us: Jennifer Mitchell, Joel Williams, Lindsay Nelson, Martha Lemke, and Tim(othy) Fizzell. While we were in Sofia, new squad leaders and team leaders were risen up within the K squad and almost all of the teams got switched around. The new squad leaders are Mike and Denise Murphy and Tamica Sloan!! I’m really excited about how God is going to use our new teams.
Anywho we (Phoenix) are in Selcuk, Turkey. And dearest friends, let me just say that if you ever get a chance to travel to Turkey, TAKE IT!
This quaint little town is roughly 2 kilometers outside of Ephesus. Yes. EPHESUS. Where Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and John wrote John, 1st John, 2nd John and 3rd John, and where Aquila and Priscilla helped spread the gospel, and many more things happened here. So we walked the streets where they walked and we visited the Great Theater and read aloud the letter to Ephesus (Ephesians) before the crowds. (For the majority of the time it was just us BUT we did have a few French viewers and a few German fans).
Our team is incredibly blessed this month (again) it is amazing to me how much God POURS His love on us. Each day. The people in this town are amazing. We have met some of the most hospitable people they have cooked meals for us, bought our dinner, let us stay for a ridiculously cheap price and just have so much to give. Tea is pretty much an everyday occurrence here and it is DELIGHTFUL to get to know someone over a cup of tea. Luckily most of the people we have met speak English so we have been able to understand each other very well. Our purpose this month is to study the culture and the people (cultural ethnography for a much more technical term) and it really has been lovely to study the people and build relationships with a culture so completely different from my own but yet the same. I hope to share more with you about the people here and the culture in the coming days.
I would ask that you continue to pray for God-ordained steps. That we would be soaked in Him. That everything we do be for Him. And that even if it is just us walking down the streets here that His presence would be evident.
Thank you for reading this. Thank you all for your comments and prayers. Thank you for having grace with me. So many thank you’s I have. I would not be here if it was not for all of you so thank you beyond any thanks I could actually give and know that you all are with me wherever I go. I have felt your prayers and your encouragement has spoken life into me in the times I have needed it.
