Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Istanbul - and it's happening over here!
So, I arrived safe and sound after 50+ hours of travelling on Thursday evening in Istanbul, Turkey. I clear customs and immigration and then come face to face with a big TV - The match is still in progress... it's gone to penalties... what a welcome!
Istanbul is facinating, enhanced no doubt by the presence of NATO and the some 13,000 police who are on duty in the surrounding area. For those of you that know the city, I'm staying in Sultan Ahmet - 5 mins. from the famous Blue Mosque. Our team made contact with our, erm, 'contact', last week and we had a small tour of the area. We went to a local church, a tiny room on the 4th floor of an 19th century building. This is a city of 15m people, and only 1,000 Christians - in the entire country. Crazy! Open evengalism in the streets etc. is forbidden, so we're beginning to build friendships with the people in the hostel and tea shops around etc. Our leader has been to Istanbul before and she is reviving some of her old relationships with people around, that's really cool to observe. The Turks are an extremely friendly people and chatting with them is very easy. Most of them know enough English to have a conversation with which helps me a lot!
The other half of our team is due out on the 5th July and shortly after that we'll be heading by coach to Athens. We're still having difficulty in finding accomodation in Greece, your prayers for this would be greatly appreciated :)
Will update again with more news when I can. Until the next time, friends...
So, I arrived safe and sound after 50+ hours of travelling on Thursday evening in Istanbul, Turkey. I clear customs and immigration and then come face to face with a big TV - The match is still in progress... it's gone to penalties... what a welcome!
Istanbul is facinating, enhanced no doubt by the presence of NATO and the some 13,000 police who are on duty in the surrounding area. For those of you that know the city, I'm staying in Sultan Ahmet - 5 mins. from the famous Blue Mosque. Our team made contact with our, erm, 'contact', last week and we had a small tour of the area. We went to a local church, a tiny room on the 4th floor of an 19th century building. This is a city of 15m people, and only 1,000 Christians - in the entire country. Crazy! Open evengalism in the streets etc. is forbidden, so we're beginning to build friendships with the people in the hostel and tea shops around etc. Our leader has been to Istanbul before and she is reviving some of her old relationships with people around, that's really cool to observe. The Turks are an extremely friendly people and chatting with them is very easy. Most of them know enough English to have a conversation with which helps me a lot!
The other half of our team is due out on the 5th July and shortly after that we'll be heading by coach to Athens. We're still having difficulty in finding accomodation in Greece, your prayers for this would be greatly appreciated :)
Will update again with more news when I can. Until the next time, friends...
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Here I am. Lecture phase done and dusted, the great wide world awaiting me. Yes... Let the outreach phase begin!
I'll be leaving c. 20:00 HST on Tuesday 22nd June, flying through Seattle, Minneapolis, Amsterdam (12 hour layover) and on into Instanbul - just in time to watch England v. Portugal in the quarters. I'll be a good match, 2-1 England (Owen with the first (about time when it comes too) and another for Rooney).
Anyway... thanks for all your prayers for me and my team whilst I've been here in Maui. I really do appreciate it and I can't wait to share with you all the wild stories that'll come out of my time in Europe. I hope to update this blog as much as possible whilst in Turkey and Greece, however I have no idea how often this'll be. Please be patient and know that I'll be doing my best to let all you guys know what's going on.
Mahalo for all your support :)
Jonathan
I'll be leaving c. 20:00 HST on Tuesday 22nd June, flying through Seattle, Minneapolis, Amsterdam (12 hour layover) and on into Instanbul - just in time to watch England v. Portugal in the quarters. I'll be a good match, 2-1 England (Owen with the first (about time when it comes too) and another for Rooney).
Anyway... thanks for all your prayers for me and my team whilst I've been here in Maui. I really do appreciate it and I can't wait to share with you all the wild stories that'll come out of my time in Europe. I hope to update this blog as much as possible whilst in Turkey and Greece, however I have no idea how often this'll be. Please be patient and know that I'll be doing my best to let all you guys know what's going on.
Mahalo for all your support :)
Jonathan
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
So, I'm back from Molokai now. Wait... you didn't know I was going there? Neither did I, until 20:30 last Wednesday. "Be ready with you bags on the deck tomorrow at 03:30" Yessir!
Had a brilliant time away nonetheless. It was a 5 day mini-outreach with a two-fold purpose, to settle our teams down and to get some away time from the island before outreach. It came at a great time, I didn't realise I needed a break from the routine of DTS but I did. The island of Molokai is to the West and slightly North of Maui. It's part of the County of Maui and only has c. 7,000 people living on the island, making for a completely different experience. The people were extremely friendly and completely laid back. It felt almost 3rd World at times - you can't drink the tap water, electricity was in high demand, the houses were all made out of wood and looked a bit tired etc. We had a tight schedule whilst on the island. We were put to work almost as soon as we stepped off of the ferry, cleaning a church and then helping tidy a school which was in the process of renovation. The following day I was 'weed wacking' - that is, strimming to us! - for 5 or so hours. Two things I have learned: 1) Trousers and Sunglasses necessary to prevent life-long damage! 2) Occasional breaks important, well - if you'd like to have feeling in your arms for the next two days :) And then we shifted mud, red dusty mud that goes everywhere.
The following day we headed round to the East side of the island to work with a couple on their tarrow fields. For those of you that don't know (including me a week ago), Tarrow is a root vegetable known as Poi after harvesting and preparation, that in Hawaii grows in mud pools. The pools were tiered on the side of a mountain with a small stream of fresh water entering at the top and flowing from pool to pool, six pools in all. As a group we were involved with weeding and harvesting, needless to say we all got covered in warm gooey mud - probably accented by the mud fight at the end. There are some good photos of that floating around that I should be able to bring back! Afterwards, a friend and I floated down a small winding river and out into a small bay surrounded by forest covered mountains. It was just like a scene from Jurassic Park. At any moment I expected to see Triceratops wondering across our path.
Surreal, especially as we hardly saw anyone else. On the Saturday evening the church hosted a Pot Luck (lots of good Hawaiian food, bring your own style) and we had a great time of worship. A three piece band played their hearts out, and... wow! What a time! Spirit led, extreme talent... man, the drummer - out of this world. African by origin but born and raised in Molokai, dude the guy was awesome. Natural rhythm, awesome Djemba skills, extremely tight on the kit, and could he sing?! Man oh man!
And then we caught the ferry home. Strong Trade Winds that picked up at 09:30 meant that by 14:30 the Channel was choppy, and combined with a swell, sent our little passenger ferry bobbing like a rubber duck in a bath. It was wet!
And so now, I have exactly one week until I'm on the plane and heading for Turkey. So excited - learning about the early church at the moment, yup - Turkey (Asia Minor) and Greece was where it all happened. I really hope I get to visit a few of the places mentioned in the bible.
Well, friends - a little update on what I've be doing. I hope to post at least once more before I leave next week. Thanks again for all your prayers :)
Until the next time...
Had a brilliant time away nonetheless. It was a 5 day mini-outreach with a two-fold purpose, to settle our teams down and to get some away time from the island before outreach. It came at a great time, I didn't realise I needed a break from the routine of DTS but I did. The island of Molokai is to the West and slightly North of Maui. It's part of the County of Maui and only has c. 7,000 people living on the island, making for a completely different experience. The people were extremely friendly and completely laid back. It felt almost 3rd World at times - you can't drink the tap water, electricity was in high demand, the houses were all made out of wood and looked a bit tired etc. We had a tight schedule whilst on the island. We were put to work almost as soon as we stepped off of the ferry, cleaning a church and then helping tidy a school which was in the process of renovation. The following day I was 'weed wacking' - that is, strimming to us! - for 5 or so hours. Two things I have learned: 1) Trousers and Sunglasses necessary to prevent life-long damage! 2) Occasional breaks important, well - if you'd like to have feeling in your arms for the next two days :) And then we shifted mud, red dusty mud that goes everywhere.
The following day we headed round to the East side of the island to work with a couple on their tarrow fields. For those of you that don't know (including me a week ago), Tarrow is a root vegetable known as Poi after harvesting and preparation, that in Hawaii grows in mud pools. The pools were tiered on the side of a mountain with a small stream of fresh water entering at the top and flowing from pool to pool, six pools in all. As a group we were involved with weeding and harvesting, needless to say we all got covered in warm gooey mud - probably accented by the mud fight at the end. There are some good photos of that floating around that I should be able to bring back! Afterwards, a friend and I floated down a small winding river and out into a small bay surrounded by forest covered mountains. It was just like a scene from Jurassic Park. At any moment I expected to see Triceratops wondering across our path.
Surreal, especially as we hardly saw anyone else. On the Saturday evening the church hosted a Pot Luck (lots of good Hawaiian food, bring your own style) and we had a great time of worship. A three piece band played their hearts out, and... wow! What a time! Spirit led, extreme talent... man, the drummer - out of this world. African by origin but born and raised in Molokai, dude the guy was awesome. Natural rhythm, awesome Djemba skills, extremely tight on the kit, and could he sing?! Man oh man!
And then we caught the ferry home. Strong Trade Winds that picked up at 09:30 meant that by 14:30 the Channel was choppy, and combined with a swell, sent our little passenger ferry bobbing like a rubber duck in a bath. It was wet!
And so now, I have exactly one week until I'm on the plane and heading for Turkey. So excited - learning about the early church at the moment, yup - Turkey (Asia Minor) and Greece was where it all happened. I really hope I get to visit a few of the places mentioned in the bible.
Well, friends - a little update on what I've be doing. I hope to post at least once more before I leave next week. Thanks again for all your prayers :)
Until the next time...
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
So, two weeks and one day until I leave Maui heading for Istanbul. Things are going fast here yet it still seems like it's been a long time since I was last in England. Speaking of England, I hope they get through their group so that I can catch a few matches in Europe. France next Sunday... is it wrong to pray for one team, earnestly?!
Last week's topic was 'Inductive Bible Study' with a couple from Kona teaching. The teaching came at a good time, just when as a group we were all getting into our bibles more, so learning to really understand the context of the books at the time they were written was really healthy for us. The main methods being taught on were typical historical methods of analysis which brought smiles to my face. I had enjoyed History in school, yet had never taken the skills taught further than the classroom and the topics on the curriculum of the time. Applying logical methods and taken an unbiased stand brought about many revelations as to what was actually being written about. As a group we took apart two of Paul's letters and scrutinized them, cross-referenced them, established who they were written to, what the situations were at the time etc. and found we could read them in a totally new light. Letters which on the face of them seem confusing as to why they were in bible, become blindingly obvious with key Christian truths, which are as revolutionary now as they were then. It's all in my notes though, so if you want to know more, feel free to e-mail me :)
So, two weeks until my team's outreach starts. Again, I think I should mention that at this point the team as a whole still has some financial needs. Not all of the students have the money they need to go on outreach, and as such two of the eight team members don't yet have a plane ticket. For those of you that are praying for me, please pray for my team that we would acquire the money we need, and, more importantly actually trust God for his provision. It's easy to understand, God's called us there and he will provide, but being human we all still have our doubts. Financial miracles are happening, and that's an answer to prayer - so as I see it, we'll keep praying 'till it's all in. Your help with that would be greatly appreciated :)
Also, Albania is now looking like a prospective country taking the total to three (including Turkey and Greece). This is well cool as a few of the students (including me!) have heard God speak to us about this country. If you want info, look it up in Operation World, but I can tell you that there's so much opportunity there. It fits well with the outreach as a whole, we don't really know what's going to happen but we do know that something is going to happen. Our schedule is open, and if we're following God's will that's by far the best way to go.
Thanks for your prayers, much appreciated :) I know that in my next post I'll have great stories to sharea about money coming in from random places. Until the next time friends...
Last week's topic was 'Inductive Bible Study' with a couple from Kona teaching. The teaching came at a good time, just when as a group we were all getting into our bibles more, so learning to really understand the context of the books at the time they were written was really healthy for us. The main methods being taught on were typical historical methods of analysis which brought smiles to my face. I had enjoyed History in school, yet had never taken the skills taught further than the classroom and the topics on the curriculum of the time. Applying logical methods and taken an unbiased stand brought about many revelations as to what was actually being written about. As a group we took apart two of Paul's letters and scrutinized them, cross-referenced them, established who they were written to, what the situations were at the time etc. and found we could read them in a totally new light. Letters which on the face of them seem confusing as to why they were in bible, become blindingly obvious with key Christian truths, which are as revolutionary now as they were then. It's all in my notes though, so if you want to know more, feel free to e-mail me :)
So, two weeks until my team's outreach starts. Again, I think I should mention that at this point the team as a whole still has some financial needs. Not all of the students have the money they need to go on outreach, and as such two of the eight team members don't yet have a plane ticket. For those of you that are praying for me, please pray for my team that we would acquire the money we need, and, more importantly actually trust God for his provision. It's easy to understand, God's called us there and he will provide, but being human we all still have our doubts. Financial miracles are happening, and that's an answer to prayer - so as I see it, we'll keep praying 'till it's all in. Your help with that would be greatly appreciated :)
Also, Albania is now looking like a prospective country taking the total to three (including Turkey and Greece). This is well cool as a few of the students (including me!) have heard God speak to us about this country. If you want info, look it up in Operation World, but I can tell you that there's so much opportunity there. It fits well with the outreach as a whole, we don't really know what's going to happen but we do know that something is going to happen. Our schedule is open, and if we're following God's will that's by far the best way to go.
Thanks for your prayers, much appreciated :) I know that in my next post I'll have great stories to sharea about money coming in from random places. Until the next time friends...
