It’s Sunday afternoon and we just finished church for the
day. It’s a nasty day in Turkey…rainy,
cold, windy…and of course I decided to wear a skirt. Brr.
The bus came and the 6 of us quickly hopped on; you never know when a
Turkish bus is just going to up and leave the bus stop no matter who’s waiting
to get on.
The bus is fairly packed so we all stand
squashed amongst a bunch of strangers.
After a few stops I noticed an open seat and motioned to the middle age
woman next to me that she could go and sit.
She gladly accepted and sat down.
After a few more stops and about 10 more people (don’t busses have max
capacity laws?), the bus was getting really packed. I suddenly see the woman who had been
standing next to me motioning me over to her.
I assumed she was going to let me stand close to her since space was
limited. I moved over there and she
motions for me to turn around. Confused,
I turn. She then pats her lap, like you
would if you want someone to sit on your lap.
Thinking she was kidding, I just laugh.
But the woman is quite the persistent one. She continues to pat her lap and grab at my
waist until I oblige. At this point it
has become quite the scene with my entire team and half the bus watching the
scene with lots of giggling. The woman
said something in Turkish which Leslie interpreted as “this is normal in Turkey”
and “I have 2 daughters at home your age” (which is actually probably very
accurate). The one thing you need to
know is how I looked. With my hair in a
ponytail, no makeup, and glasses I look no older than 16 on a good day. We’re assuming this woman had no clue that I
am, in fact, 25. To top it off, the bus
driver was driving like a crazy man so the woman had her arms wrapped around my
waist holding on tightly so I wouldn’t go flying with every stop and turn. This is one memory that will last a lifetime.
Ministry is a little slow this month. We’re on a hunt for a people group, the
Za-Zas. The group were working with do ethnography…they
learn all about specific people groups and figure out the best way to bring the
gospel to them through this information.
Nobody knows where the Za-Zas are and when we actually found one, he wouldn’t
talk to us. Needless to say, it’s been a
little difficult. We have a good 4 hours
of travel each day which means we get to be on both Asia and Europe every
day! (For those geographically
challenged individuals like me, Turkey is a transcontinental country meaning it
is on both Asia and Europe.) I’ve been
able to have quite a bit of prayer time on the bus since I have the Flavin gene
of motion sickness and really can’t do much of anything on a bus. So if you have anything specific you want
prayer for, let me know and I’ll get right on it.
Here is how you can pray for me… Pray for us as we continue to hunt for Za-Zas that we’re
able to persevere and not get frustrated.
Pray also for health for our team and the others around us seeing as
though 5 of the 6 of us have already come down with the flu in one form or
another. Pray also that we’re able to
continue to grow as a family, especially here in Turkey and during Christmas.
Love you all and thanks for all of the continued encouragement!
P.S. For those of you
wondering what we made for our Shabbat dinner in Jerusalem, here is the menu:
Spreads for the bread included egg salad, guacamole, hummus
and a tuna/avocado mix.
Friday we had broth and rice, chicken and potatoes, and a
fruit salad dessert.
Saturday lunch was broth and noodles, chili over rice, raw
veggies and croissants for dessert.
Saturday dinner was tuna salad and some sort of cake thing
that we bought at a bakery.
We were able to keep the soups “warm” by having a large
hotplate (that you can make pancakes on) with ceramic bowls on top of that and
the pots on top of the ceramic bowls.
