Istanbul at Night

From the terrace at our hotel on the very first night, I captured this stunning photo of one of the famous mosques in Turkey: The Blue Mosque. It is called the Blue Mosque because of the blue tile used in the dome.

Children Put on a Play for Us

The children put on a play for us to say "thank you" for the gifts. They were adorable.

Sorting Clothes in Bucharest

Here I am sorting out clothes in Bucharest for the orphanages and schools.

June 2 - Last Day in Istanbul

Today we leave istanbul for Kusadasi, near the old Ephesus, to meet up with the Moore's, a missionary family from the U.S. I am copying this from my writing in my journal while on the terrace of our hotel around 11 a.m.

We hiked down a steep street near our hotel to a UPS store and had a bunch of stuff shipped home. VERY EXPENSIVE! But it is the safest way to get stuff home. You can't trust the regular post office; things may not arrive. Obviously UPS doesn't have a ground option to the U.S.

Over 15 million people call Istanbul home. There are approximately 70 million in Turkey. There are only 3000 to 3500 Christians. It is the largest country with the smallest Christian population. A huge mission field, but an extremely hard one.

As I spend my last few moments here, I am awed by the vastness of this city as well as the grip of the Muslim religion. It is an exotic, beautiful city; but very lost and it doesn't want to be found.

Magıcal Istanbul

We made ıt to Istanbul a few days ago and wow, what a magıcal cıty! The archıtecture of the major buıldıngs ıs dıstınctıve, as one would ımagıne, and the spıcy smells of the food assault you as you walk down the streets.

We dıdn't arrıve untıl dınner tıme on Thursday, but we acclımated quıckly. Wıthın a few hours ıt was sunset and from our hotel rooftop we took ın the beautıful sıght of old Istanbul. The Blue Mosque and Hagıa Sophıa were lıt up beautıfully. It was quıte a sıght. Whıle we were takıng ıt all ın, the call to prayer went out over the Mosque loud speakers. It felt very exotıc.

We met up wıth Sandy and Cevdet, she ıs from the U.S. and theır 1 year old daughter, Sarah, for lunch. We had a wonderful tıme chattıng wıth them and hearıng about theır work here ın Turkey. We wıll meet up wıth Mıke and Mıchelle Moore on Monday and stay wıth them whıle we are ın Selcuk.

The most amazıng thıng to us was the Grand Bazaar. It ıs a labyrınth of over 4000 shops! Hawkers try to draw you ınto theır shop ıf you so much as glance at anythıng ın theır tıny shops. You don't dare talk to them or you're ın for an earful. James keeps talkıng wıth them and ıt takes forever to get very far ınto the bazaar. We hope to vısıt the Spıce Bazaar on Monday before we leave.

Havıng fun!