Beautiful Istanbul Faces - We miss you all so much!

Great Times with Visitors, Messages, Fellowship & Baptisms!

Saturday Night Fellowship - celebrating the end of our Bible Class semester!

Barış & Suna

Roger befriended a young guy named Baris (means peace) after he delivered food to us at the church several times. He was very sweet and completely baffled that the place we were in was a church. He was intrigued for sure! He came to church the next night and really enjoyed P.Matti's message. He invited us to his house for dinner right away. He took us to their small apartment that he shares with his older brother's family of 4 and his sister. The children were asleep and his brother and sister-in-law work nights, so we had a great time with just Baris and his sister, Suna. They are from a large Kurdish family (nine children) that moved to Istanbul from an far eastern city in Turkey for work and more opportunity. They told us all about themselves, their lives, their hopes, their troubles. They were both so sweet and open. Suna made all the food and spread a tablecloth on the floor of the small living room where they both also sleep at night. So we ate soup, salad, fish, and rice while sitting on the floor and talking (only in Turkish, of course!). Please pray for these two wonderful people and their family! God has such an amazing plan for them and it is so far beyond what any of us can imagine.

Ladies Craft Time

Ehsan - a gift

We have the privilege of having an amazing Iranian friend, Ehsan, staying with us. When I woke up this morning, I walked into the living room to find Roger and Ehsan sitting at the table with their Bibles open. They were having a passionate conversation about what being "hid in Christ" means. It was such a blessing to see Roger be able to pour out the doctrine that he has learned in Bible College to someone who has not had the opportunity to be taught yet! This man has such a hunger for the Word and such a joy when he reads a verse he has never read before. Its so refreshing for us! This is why we are here. To serve, to give, to share what we know by the grace of God.
Now Roger is showing him how to make crepes... from one classroom to another!
Pray for Ehsan. He is hoping to find a job here in Istanbul and be able to stay here with us to learn and grow in his faith.

Girls DO play soccer in Turkey!

As some of you may know, I have played soccer my entire life and its something that I have a passion for - passed on faithfully from my father to my brothers and I. But when we moved to Istanbul, I was prepared for the fact that womens soccer would be hard to find here. We've been here about a year and a half and it took that long to find them! When we first moved here, I asked everyone I came across if they knew of any girls who played soccer...but after all the incredulous looks and even laughter, I started to stop asking. But God is faithful! I met a girl at Bosphorus University who knew of a girl's soccer team. I made some calls that day and two days later I was playing a full field outdoor soccer game in a beautiful stadium with a great group of girls! I wanted to share this because it blessed me so much that God cares so much for me that He would bless me far beyond what I expected!