CARLY IS HOME!!!

I'm so happy!

My Friend Carly...

I know it's been way too long since I last posted but I've been super busy and haven't had a lot to share, but now I do. So just now I was looking at the map of the world I have on by blog (it's on the right side-you should look at it so you know what I'm talking about) that shows all the different places that my blog is being read. (Thank you Bess and Brandon for the great idea)! Anyways as I was looking at it I noticed that there is a new red dot in the middle of nowhere! Who would be looking at by blog from way over there? Then it hit me...IT'S CARLY! So because my friend Carly is looking at my blog all the way over in Thailand, and because I love her and miss her, I'm blogging for her sake. All of you should go to her blog and check out the amazing ministry opportunities that she has there (she's one of my friends to the right-it's just one click-do it)! And keep her in your prayers!

These are some of my favorite pictures of Car...







I love you Car!

I'm Home!

Sorry it's taken me so long to let you know, but I'm on family vacation (we left about 20 hours after I arrived at the LA airport) and we don't have Internet service. So I'm at a local Starbucks (actually sitting in the car outside because it closed right before we got here) using their Internet. All that to say I'm home and I'm happy!

Leaving Turkey was definitely bitter-sweet. There are so many things and people that I will miss! At the same time I don't feel like that will be the last time I see Turkey. You never know!

Being with my family and Jon is just a really good way of getting back into the swing of things here. I always have so much fun with my family. It's nice because most of the time it feels like I was never gone, like I didn't miss out on a thing with them.

To sum up my feelings right now....I loved my time in Turkey! And I love being home!

This is a picture of my family on vacation (minus my brother of course, he's a workaholic).


P.S. Billy and Elizabeth, I looked everywhere for Settlers and NOBODY has it! I'm still not over it, and I don't know if I'll ever be! I don't know what I'm going to do without it and it's all your fault! Maybe I could make one...I'll let you know how it goes!

5 Day Count-down!

That's right, I have five days left in Turkey. Technically, I have four full days left because I leave on Friday morning. I know I haven't blogged in a while, I've been pretty busy. I've been spending time finishing up the day camp I posted about before and working with different volunteers. I survived without Ally! Although my trip is not yet over, it's been amazing! It is a very bittersweet thing leaving Istanbul. There is definitely a family here that I love!

So this next few days I'll be spending time tying up loose ends, running around getting last minute souvenirs and saying my goodbyes :( ! Pray that I won't mentally leave Turkey before physically leaving, and that I will never leave spiritually. I have brothers and sisters here I need to continue to pray for!

Thank you SO much for your prayers during my journey, they mean more than you know!

The Ritz...

As some of you know, yesterday was my birthday. Ally and I had to work yesterday so we decided to celebrate today instead. So the wonderful person that Ally is took me to the Ritz Carlton for breakfast. It was the most amazing experience ever! We ate really good food in a beautiful place with a wonderful view of the Bosphorus. And the service was like nothing I've ever had. At one point I had to use the restroom so I asked one of the waiters, he didn't just tell me where it was, no, he walked me to the restroom. Amazing!

The beautiful dinning area..


Ally and I satisfied after our great meal...


And our wonderful view...


I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

The Little Things

This past week we did a day camp for the kids of a local neighborhood. It was amazing! We did crafts and played games and taught English, we basically just loved on these kids, and man did they love on us! They were so cute and responsive to us being there. I hope that we were a blessing to them, but they were for sure a blessing to us!

These were some of the fun times we had...

This is the majority of the kids that came. We had 50 to 60 kids every day...that's amazing!


I did the games with them most of the time. It was pretty entertaining!










The girls didn't always like to play...


This girl just took my heart...she's so beautiful!


The twins dad has cancer and a couple from our team were able to pray with him which is amazing. Keep his health and this new relationship in your prayers. This could be a way for his eyes to be opened.

I love boats...

This weekend I was invited to go on a boat trip up the Bosphorus for Byron's (him and his wife Karen have become friends of mine here) birthday. We got to ride on the U.S. Consulate boat. So I was basically on U.S. soil here in Turkey. Cool, I know! Here are some of my favorite moments of the day...

I think she wants to be just like me when she grows up! But if her parents knew that they would probably freak out, so lets not spread it around!


Being on the water is a nice break from the city.


And I'm proud to be an American...


Karen made an amazing cheese cake...


These are the fun people I spent the day with...


The next couple of weeks I will be working with a team from Florida doing a kids sports camp in a little neighborhood on the Europe side. Pray that everything goes smoothly and we can be a light to the kids and their families.

Happy 4th of July!

Well, this is my first 4th of July out of the US of A, and it was actually really fun! All the Americans here rent out this huge picnic area with a giant pool and we ate hamburgers and hot dogs and watermelon. It was very American and patriotic! Besides not being in America on an American holiday, the worst thing was there were no fireworks. There's always next year!



You will most likely never see this again!

I'm still here...

I know it's been a long time sense I've written and I"m so sorry! I've actually been really busy, but it's such a blessing. The Lord has been teaching me so much and I can't wait to tell you all about it. I'll be blogging in the next few days, hopefully, so check back then.

Sorry again for the lack of communication! And thank you for your continual prayers!

I love you all!

The Power of Prayer...

For those of you who don't know there has been a lot of persecution on the Turkish church. A few months ago a few Turkish believers were arrested because of proclaiming truth, although their charges said differently in order to give the impression of religious freedom. These men are still going through trials to determine their punishment. Yesterday, I had the privilege to hear one of these men, Hakan, speak. After hearing his testimony and the different things going on with the trails, he shared a story about prayer that he heard just recently when sharing about the trails to a church in London. Now I want to share it with you...

There was a woman from this church in London that was driving to different villages in Africa sharing truth. As usual she was driving alone to her next destination when she was stoped by four men. These four men had the intent to harm her, but just before they attacked her they were frightened and ran away. The woman was confused herself. She had no idea what had made them run in such a way. When she finally got to the next village she saw the four men who almost attacked her. Still confused at what had happen, she approached the men and asked them. They said to her that they were not going to attack her when she had thirty men around her. I'm sure they were surprised she even asked. She then became very confused and assured them that she was alone. All four men insisted that all four of them saw the thirty men and they were not crazy. When she contacted her church to tell them the story, they told her that a group of thirty men have been praying for her.

When I heard this story I got chills all over my body. I hope that it encourages you as much as it encourages me. I hope that you continue to pray for the Turkish believers, that they will continue to have strength during this time of persecution. Your prayers do matter!

Blessing...

I've been here for almost three weeks and I am just now beginning to feel like I have a purpose here. Don't get me wrong, I've been having a blast, but it has also been a struggle as far as what exactly I will be doing here. But, like I said, there is a blessing, it's Ally! She's been great this whole time. She knew how frustrated I was and talked to a few people and made it possible for me to be her specific intern so that I don't have to deal with anyone else. So now I have a specific job...yay! Right now we are getting ready for a group coming from my university, CBU, and I'm am very excited about that. Without Ally I might have gone crazy this summers. She has truly been a blessing!



This is a picture of Ally and I on a boat in the Black Sea. Just another perk of being in Turkey!

Ultimate Frisbee

Saturday we had an all day Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. There were about 50 to 60 people there and we literally played all day. And I'm not just talking about a couple of throw around games...there were six teams of seven to nine people, each team playing five one hour games, and these games are serious. These people have strategies and game plans for offense and deffense. I met so many cool people from all over the world, I even had a German guy on my team. I got worked, but I've never had so much fun playing frisbee!

This is a picture of my Ultimate Team!

STOMP...

I got to go to Stomp! Bet you didn't think that cool stuff like this could come to Turkey. It was amazing!

I'm Here...

Ok so I know I'm a little late in telling you all that, but I do have a good excuse. My internet on my computer isn't connecting to Ally's wireless for some reason so I haven't been able to use it at all. When I had Jon set up my blog I had him create a way that I could get on by only clicking one button, so without my own computer that is very hard to do. And also because of that, I had forgotten my user name and password. I had been trying to figure it out for almost week and finally today I remembered...yay! Lets hope I don't forget it again.

All of that to say, "I'm here!" I've been here for almost a week now, but the moment I stepped off the plane I felt as though I had never left. I was here two summers ago for those of you who don't know, and it seems that nothing has changed. There are things all over this city that bring be right back to that summer, it's crazy! However, that summer I lived on the Europe side and now I am living on the Asia side. (A little history lesson: Istanbul is the only city that is located on two continents, Europe and Asia, seperated by the Bosphorus Strait). So the things around where I live aren't as formiliar, but I'm excited because now I get to have all new memories.

So far things have been wonderful. I have been able to spend a lot of time with Ally catching up and just laughing, which we do best! Her apartment is hugely amazing. Her and I share a room that is also huge...I love it! We share the apartment with two other girls Kristi and Mandy (I should say they share the apartment with me seeing as they have been here longer than me). I haven't been able to spend too much time with them, but they seem great.

As for what I as doing here...it's still not fully figured out. I'm hoping to have it all squared away before Jeff leaves, so you could be praying for that.

Thank you for your prayers and support! I promise I will try to be good at this bloging thing from now on. Sorry this one was so long!

2 Days Til I Leave...

Well, I'm here 2 days before leaving. Jon helped me set up this blog so I can stay in contact with everyone easily... look here for updates and requests. Thanks!