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!