Poverty, Injustice, Apartheid,...

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about injustice in the world. Over the past few weeks I've been talking with some other staff about creating a community of students focused on looking beyond themselves to the needs around them, looking to the fact that more world exists beside them. The first step is just finding like-minded students and then beginning to create a community where we ask the question of "what kind of fingerprint am I leaving on the world?" and "how can I both individually and in this community leave a mark?" We want to have projects both for the students in this community persay, but also for the campus as a whole. That's the simple version of where we're going with that...

But going back to what I've been thinking about... injustice, how the world is somehow not the way it should be, something is horribly wrong and horribly broken. Not too long ago I watched "Hotel Rwanda" again and was reminded of the tragedies that not only occurred there, but which occur everyday around the world - maybe not in my backyard, but still in the world in which I live. Monday, I went with the group from campus to give out sandwiches to the homeless downtown and to talk to them, valuing their existence and being. I talked to a woman from Romania who can't get a job because she doesn't have papers to be here. I talked to a man who seems perfectly content, wandering from place to place. He seemed very well educated and read, but lives on the streets. Then we ran into a group of guys that are nearly always in the same place, who are fun to talk with and who I really never know what they say is true and what they say is not.

As I walked home, I was reminded of a woman I met on Sunday morning, as I walked from the metro on the way to church. She asked for money or for something to eat, so I bought her a ham & cheese sandwich and a coke - that's what she said she wanted. We talked for a bit. She said her name was Rosa and that she is from NW Spain, has a baby, doesn't feel like she can go home, probably some other things have happened, and is having trouble finding work. I know I've given food to her before, but it was the first time we talked for very much time. I asked her if there was anything specific I could pray for her and she said for a job. She didn't seem to be without hope, just in a hard situation. I can remember seeing her for at least the past 6 months on and off. That fact, the fact that most people I see begging on the street are the same people I've seen for at least the past year, if not longer. I've asked some of them whey they are on the street and such, but still don't quite understand the "why" behind it.

I recently was looking at a friend's pictures from South Africa, pictures of an Apartheid museum, which again brought me back to "Hotel Rwanda" and the atrocities that occur around the world. Sometimes our discrimination has to do with race, sometimes with class, sometimes with other things, sometimes it seems more "sophisticated" but it always seems there to some degree. Why are we so quick to put ourselves above another? Why are we so quick to take care of ourselves and pay no attention to those around the corner? Why are we so quick to judge? so quick to hate? so quick to hurt one another? I say "we" because as much as I might like to think that I can be excluded, I know that isn't true.

Jesus talked about what goes on in our head, hurtful thoughts, hurtful words being like little murders. (Matthew 5.21-22) He talked again and again about our not judging one another because we really have the very thing we see in another in our own heart. I want to love as Jesus loved, and at times I do, yet I need him to change me from within or I am not much better than the people who commit the atrocities I see. Maybe I wouldn't do it actively, but by passively doing nothing I in a sense condone the same thing.

This morning I listened to a sermon from my pastor at home. His sermons really are like honey to my soul. He talked about in Acts 2, when the people heard about Jesus and were "cut to the heart." He talked about this phrase "cut to the heart." They were affected in a way that they encountered God. They saw the God of justice and truth, the God of love and hope. They saw him and saw that their lives didn't match up, that they were in a messed up, drastically broken world and that they were part of the mess. Yet they also saw the one who would make things right, the One who is just and good and true. While the world is broken and I need to be part of the change, some of that change can only begin within each of us. And, while that makes it seem even more impossible, particularly when I think of how far I still have to go, I also see the One who gives me hope and the One who makes it possible for the impossible to take place, the impossible to take place in me, but also in those around me. I have a lot more to say about all of this and hopefully will, but for now let me just write some of the HOPE that I do find, not in our messed up world, nor in myself, but in the One who made us and the One who redeems us...

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end." (Isaiah 9:6-7)

"The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth... Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat, and the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them... The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Isaiah 11:2-9)

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread,a nd your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare... Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near... You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands..." (Isaiah 55)

Faith - Fe

"Tener fe es tener la plena seguirdad de recibir aquello que se espera; es estar convencido de la realidad de cosas que no vemos. Nuestros antepasados fueron aprobados por Dios porque tuvieron fe.

Por fe sabemos que Dios formó el universo mediante su palabra, de modo que lo que ahora vemos fue hecho de cosas que no eran visibles." (Hebreos 11:1-3, Dios Habla Hoy)

So... this year is for sure turning out to be harder than I expected. Somehow, I'm not surprised. And... it's affecting me more than I had hoped. BUT with that said, I'm finding that the Lord is teaching me a lot about what it means to walk by faith. Surprise, surprise. :-) After going to the evening service at a church that is just a 10 minute walk from my apartment, I put on "The Holiday" and began to read part of Ney Bailey´s book, "Faith is Not a Feeling" (which by the way is a great book). I've read most of it before, but it was timely for now. In chapter 8, which is where I began, she recounts a conversation she had once with a counseling friend. Let me quote a little bit of it:

"One day his secretary, Carol, was telling him about all the difficult circumstances she was facing. When she finished, Don said, 'Carol, what you have just told me is not unusual. Seventy-five percent of life is made up of struggles, concerns, frustrations, and trials. That 75 percent will always be with you. You need to let that 75 percent be characterized not by unbelief but by faith, by believing God and hoping in Him.'"

Ney then talks about what she does in her difficult circumstances. (As a side note, forgive my horrendous spelling, which despite being almost entirely in english is a bit of a spanglish mess.) She says divides a sheet of paper into 4 quadrants, one listing the good, positive things she likes, one listing all the things she dislikes, the third listing her responses and reactions, and then what God might want to teach her and Bible verses to meet her in her need.

Now before continuing on about Ney Bailey's book, let me go back to the church service. In the sermon, the pastor talked about the fact that what is in our heart will come out sooner or later and that often in difficult situations we see things we dislike (or wish weren't there). Instead of excusing them as "not being who we really are," we should see that the Lord wants to bring them out so we'll actually see what is in our heart and allow him to change us.

So... going back to the book, as I read these words, I thought back to the sermon and began to make my list. Most of what I wrote wasn't brand new information about myself, but did shed some light on how I've been dealing with feeling in over my head and a bit alone. It also was encouraging to see what God IS doing in me and to be reminded of what is excited about being in over my head - that He has to be the One to work. It will be obvious that it is Him, not me.

An old college friend was a breath of fresh air the other day as he wrote me and said just that. Sadly, he's one of the few friends who has said that, instead of acting as if I'm insane to still be here. So... walking by faith and not by sight, trusting in God's greatness and that He is bigger than the obstacles I see around me, really trusting God and being courageous to step out in faith.

So, I have a litany of verses I'm going to begin reading and memorizing. But to begin, Joshua 1:9; Hebrews 11:1; and Hebrews 13:5-6 - "I am the one who tells you to be strong and courageous. Do not fear and do not be dismayed, for I, the Lord your God, will be with you wherever you may go." "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things unseen." "(God said) 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' Thus we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my help; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'"

Beauty, Goodness, and Friends

A few days ago I decided that I needed to get out of the house to get some work done. I went to Starbucks, as it's right around the corner and has predictably good atmosphere to get work done in it (and unlike most other cafés, there actually are other people getting work done, or at least reading). So, I get my tall cappichino con soja and sit down. As is not uncommon at all, the guy in a chair closeby struck up a conversation with me. He was probably in his early 70s and told me that I looked like I just stepped out of "Friends." Now, I don't think I've ever been told that before.

Well, we began to talk a bit and he told me I should sit down with him to talk for awhile. I told him that I actually came to get some work done and began to pull out the stuff I needed to work on. He proceeded to ask if he could give me his e-mail, website and I don't remember all the other stuff he wrote down on the napkin I gave him. Apparently his website has poetry and pictures and such.

He told me that he has begun a new life. He has decided that he needs to spend more time with young, beautiful women. :-) He has decided that beauty and goodness go together. All things beautiful are good, or so goes his line of thinking. I mean, take for instance, Blancanieve or Snow White. Who is the good one and who is the bad one? This was his proof for his theory after I told him I didn't think that was the case. He asked me to give him an example of one case where this wasn't the case. And, while it took me a few seconds to think of one, I don't think they are far in between.

Anyway, I was obviously flattered that I was included in the "young and beautiful" category, which by the way is one great benefit of living in Spain - being called "guapa" on a regular basis. So, this man told me that he hangs out in Starbucks and at least recently has talked with quite a few guapa girls from the US.

Turning over a new leaf

So... I've been playing around with the whole idea of blogs and, honestly, can't say I've become fully convinced that I'm made for blogging, but I like to read other people's blogs after which I always think about my lame blog and how I should try to keep it up. I mean, really, there are plenty of interesting things to write about in my life or at least in my city. So... here is a new go at it. And, if it works, maybe more than just a handful of people would actually know that I have a blog. funny.

"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God..."

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God -- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ahs surpassed me becasue he was before me.' ' From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus chrsit. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." (John 1:1-18)

Somehow, as the beginning of the semester is drawing near, and, as a new and challenging year is beginning, it is good for me to be reminded of John 1. It sets my compass to the right place, it reminds me of who I am and what is true. It reminds me of Jesus's great humility to come to earth and live amongst us, but also of his majesty. He was with God in the beginning! He in fact is God. And, it says here, that nothing was made that didn't come into existence through him. That means a lot! That means that not a detail goes without his notice. That means that He does in fact have power over nature, power over my life, power over the details of my life in Madrid, Spain, power over even the things that seem far out of my control. That is very good news!!!

I need to be reminded that the rock I am clinging to will in fact hold me, that it's not just a nice thing I tell myself, but it is a firm and reliable foundation. And this Word, this Light, this Jesus, is the one who gives LIFE. That is why I'm here. That is why I have given everything to follow him. Oh, that I may be reminded of these truths every moment of every day, so that I would have confidence to encounter the winds and waves of life.

John 1

This Week - Sept 25

So...there are 3 "major" events happening in my life this week.

(1) I'm moving, which is turning out to be somewhat of an ordeal. From finding a decent size moving truck, to hoping that the gas (to heat the water and for the stove) will be repaired in time, to trying to find a day when everything we're getting from IKEA is actually in stock, so we can pay one small price for it to be deliverd, and that we'll be fully moved by Friday, when I need to give my keys to my former landlord. Please pray that everything will go smoothly.

(2) Katie & Bekah, the other STINT girls arrive - Katie on Friday and Bekah tomorrow. This is GREAT news!

(3) Classes start this week and next on campus, which means our lives go into overdrive. I'm super excited! This is probably my favorite time of the year. (see the pic below of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid - the largest campus in Madrid, with about 200,000 students!)



All this to say, life is a bit crazy right now. I am definitely seeing my need to cling to Jesus and I'm definitely seeing myself get stressed out now and then with details or frustrations, etc., As I've been reading Joshua & Exodus, I've been reminded of how BIG and MIGHTY God is, along with how compassionate and gracious He is. I've also been reminded of my quickness, like Israel when Moses was leading them out of Egypt (in Exodus), to become anxious and to question God's provision. By God's grace, I think I'm learning some patience, to trust HIM and, God-willing, being made more in His likeness. I love the passages that say "Be strong and courageous! Do not be anxious or dismayed for the Lord thy God is with you." and also when Moses talks to Israel after the Passover and when they see the Egyptians coming after them and say something to the effect of "why didn't you just let us stay in Egypt instead of bringing us here to die?" They are IN THE MIDST of being delivered from Pharaoh and not more than a day has passed since they had left and at the closest sign of danger, they fear. Moses then says, "God is going to show up. He is in fact going to do some amazing things! Just sit back and wait. All you need to do is be still (and trust me)." Amazing. This is my prayer - that I would trust Jesus in the midst of the craziness of life, that I would let HIM be God and that I would be still, that I would be bold and courageous, trusting in His power and might not my own. ;)

Tidbits from the Week of September 11

This week has been a whirlwind. Jessica arrived Monday afternoon, we've been intensely apartment shopping, we signed for a piso (apartment) and paid a bunch of money, we walked ALL over Madrid, we've figured out how we're decorating, and we've been praying for our new roommates to come.

(1) Here is a map of where we are. We live (or will soon) right be San Bernardo metro stop, just about smack dab in the center, on the brown or 4 line. I used to live at Avenida de America on the northeast edge of Madrid.



I'll post pictures of my piso after we move in 2 weeks. In the meantime they are painting. But to describe my place... :) It's fabulous! So you walk in, there is a littel foyer, then there are two bedrooms on the right, where Katie, Bekah, and Jessica will live. Then you turn left and walk down the hall for a little ways to find the kitchen on your left right next to a half bath. The next room on the left is a full sized bathroom that is HUGE by Madrid apartment standards and it is a fun 1940s green, kind of foam green. You then turn a corner to the left and find a triangular closet on the right you could walk in, the HUGE (by Madrid standards) living room and dining room, which are surprisingly 2 rooms. I might also add that this room, or rooms, have one full wall of windows, which are beautiful! and which face the outside world :) We're on the 3rd floor so we have a good ammount of light and a nice view. So, now if you go back to the hallway and finish walking straight, you end up in my oddly shaped room, which is between a trapizoid and a rectangle with 2 curved corners and 1 wall that is a bit diagonal.

So that's my new home. I'll add a picture, just because I can, but it will be better once you can get the full effect with our stuff in it :)

(2) Here is a picture of the STINT team this year:



They are Bekah, Jessica, and Katie. I'm so excited to have them both on my team and my roommates for the year.

(3) So, with my staff team composed of people from all the different ministries with Agape in Madrid, we built a tower of balloons as a teamwork exercise. The goal was to build a tall, sturdy, and pretty tower. Well, we did that and the balloons went from the ground to the ceiling. But the problem is that the room we did it in is my living room and I live in an apartment and don't want to make a TON of noise by popping 100 or so balloons. The balloons are FULL, so it's hard to puncture them without popping them. AND there are just so many of them. Here is our tower and, more importantly, our team. ;)



And this weekend we're going to have a little retreat with all of us on this team to bond, seek the Lord, and plan for the year. We're going to one of the couple's houses in a little pueblo in the mountains outside of Madrid. It is definitely out in the country compared to Madrid.

Blogging

So...the reality is that I'm not quite into this thing we call "blogging." I'd like to be. I'm in awe of some friends who have this skill down, but I've come to realize that I am not as witty as some and that is just the way it is. Now that I've gotten over my lack of wittiness nor wittiness in what to talk about, I'll write when I can and about whatever seems to be on my mind. This all began with a desire to better keep up with friends and family, as a kind of "postcard from Dawn's life" without sending a physical card (although I do think that writing letters is highly underrated in our day and age of "instant-ness").

Chi-town

Chicago, the windy city, and in August the steamy hot city. So, about a week ago I got a call from the Spanish consulate to say that my visa was ready to pick up.

This is amazing on two counts, one because this is the Spanish consulate, the land where things don’t necessarily happen as quickly or as they “should.” But in this case they did, two months after applying for a visa, I was able to pick it up. Praise the Lord! It’s definitely been something on my mind.

So, up on Monday and back on Wednesday (today). Trains, metros, city living, lots of people, Spanish while not the first language, definitely the second. It feels much like Madrid to me. In fact, after coming out of the subway at one point, I honestly felt like I had time warped back to Madrid. I guess you could say I’m a bit homesick and ready to be back at a home, a city that has become mine.

Compassion that amazes me

So, the past few days, as I’ve spent time with God journaling and reading the Bible and praying, I continue to come back to the question, which has a lot of emotion behind it: Lord, why don’t you make all people see you and understand the Gospel? Why must all these people I walk around and order coffee from and live around, why don’t they see? Why have I tasted the sweetness of the Gospel, of being saved by another, when they haven’t, at least not yet? And, why aren’t people quicker to hear? There may be curiosity and there are some who hear the Gospel and immediately believe, but at times it seems that culture and man’s abuses of using the name of God for evil have put big barriers up, at least that’s the way it seems to me.

Now I can’t say that I’ve figured it all out, but I can share how the Lord has met me in this. First of all, I’ve been reading through the book of Acts in the Bible. It talks of the early church. There I see God reveal himself again and again through common men and women of that time – people who had experienced Jesus in their own lives and are quick and very outspoken in word and action.

Secondly, the Lord continues to bring to mind passages in the book of Romans, remembering that in chapter one, it says that the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation for all who believe” by faith. What I’ve continued to read and mull over has been Romans, chapter 9 and 10, where Paul shares the same sentiment with me. He says:

“I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh…”

He then goes on to talk about God being God and, thus, although we may not understand it, we’re the created one not the creator. God can do what he wants (which is only comforting because I know his character and know that he is trustworthy and for sure the source of all goodness). But then, at the end of chapter 9, he begins to talk about God’s compassion and mercy and the fact that the only way one can be saved is not through trying to be good, but instead through faith in Jesus Christ.

Then in chapter ten, this is what I love, is says this:

“ ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

What I love about this is that it is for EVERYONE who believes. It is NEAR. And it isn’t about what we do or don’t do. It is based on God’s goodness and us just trusting in Him to carry us. And even more, it talks about God revealing himself even to those who did not seek him nor ask for him. I may not fully understand God’s ways, but He is making people whole and new. In fact, I read Acts 8 and 9 where Paul’s conversion is recounted. Paul, who persecuted the followers of Christ in his day and age, was not even too far away from God, or too much an enemy of God, that he couldn’t be saved. Nope, the Lord revealed himself to Paul and God empowered Paul to tell many about his love and way of salvation. :)

English, Menus, & My Few Hours in Philly

<-- a picture of my brother Drew

I returned to St. Louis last Tuesday night at 11pm, or 6am in Madrid. Before arriving to St. Louis I had a 9 hour flight from Madrid and a 6 hour layover in Philadelphia.

Upon arriving to Philly, I met my brother and we went into town for dinner and a walk around town. Granted, I was a bit tired, but my first impressions of the States were of those in the airport and then those that walked by us as we walked around West Philly, not too far from U. Penn. I was surprised to be surrounded by English-speakers and it took me most of the night to figure out that they weren’t all foreign exchange students.

As we sat down to eat, the waiter came and gave of the specials of the evening and Drew (my brother) said that I looked at the waiter with a blank stare, as if I couldn’t fully process much of anything he said. Which is exactly what happened. I’m not quite sure if it’s the fact that I haven’t heard a waiter nor read a menu in English for about a year, or what, but I couldn’t process much of what the menu nor the man had said. So, I asked Drew what he wanted to get and we split a plate of grilled octopus, shrimp scampi, grilled veggies, an avocado and citrus salad, and some tasty red wine. One thing that has never let me down about Philadelphia is the great, gourmet food. And this nice little café lived up to the reputation of fine food, I’ve come to appreciate.

Bono & the One Campaign

“When I was a boy, my first impression of America was a man walking on the moon – Neil Armstrong, 1969. And I thought, ‘These Americans are mad! They are mad.’ For I thought, ‘What can this country do? What can these people do if they put their mind to it? It’s incredible.’

John F. Kennedy is the one in 1963… he said, ‘By the end of the decade, we’re going to put a man on the moon.’ Well… it’s not because it was on everyone’s mind. It just was the right thing to do and it was…

It’s what we’re asking now. President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, and all the other world leaders to do. We’re asking them to do something extraordinary… not put a man on the moon, more like put mankind back on Earth.

We have the technology. We have the resources. We have the know-how… to end the extreme poverty… if we have the will… and I believe we have the will.

Others, you know, the other civil rights movement. Others ended apartheid. Others tore back the iron curtain. That’s what this generation… that’s what’s up to us… our moon shot… our putting a man on the moon – we’re going to end extreme poverty. We’re going to make poverty history. That’s what’s fallen to us to do. And I believe that’s not an impossible venture.

I believe in 50 years, when I look back on this moment,… and they’ll say, ‘there were some people at a time who said:

It’s not okay to have a child die for a lack of a 20 cent immunization.
It’s not okay to have a child die for lack of food in his belly in the 21st century.
That’s not okay anymore.’

Now I now that you know that. But I’d like you to tell President Bush that, Prime Minister Blair that and any other politician you see that. And you can do it quite easily. So… we’re looking for a million Americans to e-mail us to join the ONE campaign, not looking for your money; looking for your voice.”

Bono, Vertigo Tour, 9 & 10 May 2005 – Chicago, IL – prior to singing “One”

“One” – by U2

Is it getting better, or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You’ve got someone to blame

You say...
One love, One life
When it's one need in the night
One love, we get to share it
Leaves you, darling,
If you don't care for it

Did I disappoint you,
Leave a bad taste in your mouth

You act like you never had love,
And you want me to go without

Well it's...It’s too late… tonight…
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?

Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head?
Did I ask too much?
More than a lot?
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got.

We're one,
But we're not the same
Well....we, hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say…

Love is a temple
Love, a higher law
Love is a temple
Love, the higher law

You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl

And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love,
One blood
One life
You get to do what you should
One life… with each other
Sisters and Brothers

One life,
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other

One love
One

New Friends & The Joys of Travel

One of my favorite parts of traveling to Istanbul was meeting people from all over. On the plane on the way to Istanbul via Paris, I met a couple from Guatemala who were traveling home from visiting their kids who live in Spain. They are both doctors and we talked about life, the States, Istanbul, Spain, Guatemala, and faith in God and how that affects one's life.

On the flight from Paris to Istanbul, I attempted to talk to the Turkish woman next to me, but most of our "conversation" consisted of her looking at me as if I was crazy and smiling nicely. She did say "Istanbul is very nice" as soon as we got within view and asked if I'd ever been there before. She seemed sweet and I was amazed and her bravery to travel alone when it seemed that she spoke neither English nor French (as we were traveling from Paris). But she got along fine.

My next new friend was a dear college aged girl, who offered me to hold her arm, as I was too short to reach the pole on the bus above my head and the bus wasn't the smoothest ride. As I continued to almost fall over, she then said, "Hold tighter" so I did and we talked for awhile since she spoke nearly flawless english, as do many turks.

I believe that it was that night that we went to a restaurant where there was a woman making the tortilla-like bread that went with our meal. As we walked in Leanne, our friend and fabulous tour guide explained what the woman was doing. I can't remember what she said, but she blinked at us (with both eyes, a long blink), which in turkish culture mean "I like you" (or a bit more than a smile. We went and sat down and then talked to her a bit before we left, blinking at ehre and telling here that the food was really good. As we were leaving the woman making the tortillas told the owner, "I love them!" Another amazingly kind turk. Everytime we passed the building we waved and blinked at her and she did the same and blew us kisses.

The next day as we went to see the big sites of Istanbul, including the Aya Sophia Mosque, I found two kind old men who would pose for me to take their picture everytime I ran into them. Very fun, particularly since I love taking people pictures.

The following day as we went on a boat ride up the Bosphorus sea up to the Black Sea and then back to Istanbul, we stopped in a town known for freshly made yogurt. Instead of ice cream shops there were yogurt shops with deliciously plain yogurt. As I went to the bathroom I met another dear, dear old woman waiting in line with me. She smiled at me, patted my face and said "choke gazelle," or you are beautiful. She said some other kind words, although I'm not exactly sure what she said. As she entered and left the stale before I entered, she came out and kissed me on both cheeks before leaving and said to have a good day. She definitely endeared me to the turkish people.

Next were some saleswomen where I bought a jacket. The told me I had beautiful eyes, which definitely made my day.

On Easter we went to an International Church in downtown Istanbul. There we met people from all over - including Iran, Iraq, England, Scotland, South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Romania, Turkey (of course) and the US. It was fun to be with such diverse group of people.

After church and lunch, we visited Starbucks to journal and relax. There another girl, see the picture above, named Esin came up to me, asked if I spoke English and asked if I could help her with her English homework. I said yes and she asked me several questions about myself as she trembled from having to speak English. Basically her assignment was to talk to a native speaker.

The last day we were in Istanbul we stopped into an amazingly large Christian and English Bookstore. There we met a college aged girl who shared here story of how she had come to know Jesus, after having grown up in a Muslim family. And we met two older women. All three asked us about ourselves and told us the names of everyone in their family that hasn't yet made Jesus their Lord. They asked us to pray for them, taught us some turkish phrases, and told us that they would pray for us to find husbands. They were very dear. They also asked us to pray for Turkey and pray that Jesus would come soon. It was great to be with them.

On the plane back, I talked to a woman from San Francisco who had gone to Turkey for her spring break, as she is a 5th grade teacher. And then after a 5 hour layover in Paris full of suduko puzzles and lots of people watching, I sat next to a German man going to Madrid on a business trip. We talked about some of the fun cultural diffences between France & Spain with Germany & the US, particularly as it relates to business and working together.

All and all, despite some digestive issues that resulted from the trip, I wouldn't change a thing about our trip and a highlight was both meeting neat people who showed me much sweetness and then seeing how God is at work in people's lives in Istanbul and how he's even using Spaniards there to tell people about the love and freedom found in Christ alone. :)

Visiting the Bosphorus

Over Easter break, or Semana Santa, I spent a few days in Istanbul with my friend Katie and some friends there.

Istanbul is a great city of warm, delightful people, who say things to you such as "choke gazelle" which means "you are beautiful" or give you besitos or offer their arm as you are about to fall over on the overly crowded buses (actually that is a HUGE understatement).

It it a city divided in two, part in Europe and part in Asia, by the Bosphorus sea. It is a city where the fashionable and modern mix daily with tradition, religion, and modesty. It is the city that was once known as Constantinople, the Eastern capital of the Christian world.

Da Vinci Code & Granada

So...I just started reading the Da Vinci Code. I'm about halfway through it and will write more when I get done. It's definitely a quick read and a novel that holds your attention. (As a side note, some great thoughts on the book and it's validity in a historical context, are on www.gepc.org)

I'm going to have to get into this blog thing.... Right now I'm in Granada, Spain, visiting another stint team and enjoying a little get-away. :)

You might look close to see the rosy cheeks on these figures.

Again, here are several pictures of one piece, so that you can see more of the detail. As a note, the first photograph of the "little feet" is actually taken from another work of heatheR's that was done with fabrics with a quiltesque effect.

Here are several pictures from the same piece. The figures are peuter.