a taste of istanbul

About Istanbul, a book read the following: "Turkey's major city is like a juicy, sugar-dusted morsel of lokum just waiting to be devoured. Its flavours are rosewater, pistachio, almond and cinnamon - all rich, complex and redolent of the exotic east - but its packaging is different, reminiscent of the the elagantly boxed treats sold in Paris' Fauchon or London's Fortnum and Mason. East meets here, all in one delicious mouthful."
We came here by faith and with our mouths wide open; it appears that God is ready to fill them.

ISTANBUL the beautiful

ORTAKOY CAMII, originally a church

Going site seeing is definitely our least expensive- yet enjoyable

choice for a date!

Turkish lovers

I couldn't resist...! what a clash of cultures

Garip, Jediah, Sadek and P. Matti
waiting for the rest of the group in front of the Egyptian Bazar

Gypsy girls in Tuzla, they sang for me and snapped

their fingers in the most unusual fashion!

'Cok Guzel'

Nyazi and Irada, we have so much fun with them!
(Below eating a baked potatoe filled wih just about
everything you can think of!)

On the ferry, saturday morning going to Tuzla with the team,

in search of divine encounters.

IT'S THE INCIL!

waiting at the tram station
(Taksim is where the old church bulding was - we'll post pics of the new one soon)

kindness of a stranger

... today we met a young lawyer in the tram who pulled out of his bag a present he had just bought in Egypt and gave it to us... that's how kind people are here/ we have his email and phone and will call him back for coffee. A similar encounter happens everyday!!

OUR APARTMENT IN ISTANBUL!
on Tombaz Street in the Taksım area.

the living room, wıth a pull out couch for future vısıtors

hall between LR and kıtchen / entrance ıs on the left

our bathroom

our kıtchen
oops i just erased the pic, no time to dowload it right now!

the vıew from our bedroom (full bed and dresser) wıth tiny balcony

thıs is one of the views just a few streets from ours.

the apartment accross the street from ours!

now THAT's an addition ıf i've ever seen one....

The apartment ıs more expensıve than we had planned but ıt seems ımpossıble to have started off wıth no furnıture at all. ı can't even ımagıne what ıt would be like to be running around everywhere trying to buy a frying pan, a couch, a bed, a stove top etc... wıth lımıted funds - which we couldn't have afforded all at once anyway. There's already so much to do wıth just dealıng wıth food, our bank, fındıng our way around etc. God certainly lead us to thıs apartment whıch also happens to be rıght behind P. matti's!
did i sound a little discumbabulated??!

tryıng to upload pıcs.... on thıs turkısh computer ıs quıte a challenge.

arrived at destination

July 31, 2007

- How is the weather (hmm, can't find the question mark on this turkish keyboard) I asked a custom agent
- It's calm.
And so it is as he described, 'not hot, not cold' - Ok a little on the hot side.

It was a rather eventless trip; no major delays, the amp made it with no damage, only 2 missing luggage out of 9, buying a tourist visa at the Atartuk Airport *it's free for french nationality ) climbing Nyazi's 4 flights of stairs, meeting his lovely wife Irada, eating some delicious Azeri rice and vegetables, shower, nap/
At the Dulles Airport, a kind Massachusset Roseta Stone Sales person informed us of the special deal of the day; Find someone who will buy a language program and the 2 of you get a significant discount. Our flight was delayed just enough to bring an interested customer, who in no time became buyer, allowing us to get the long awaited TURKISH level 1. We were very excited. A 'man' in Turkish is Adam!

This is how i found jediah when i came out of the shower . Stuying Turkish. It's all about faith rest after all.

////Photo to be posted... as soon as we find the cord...////


On our way back from our little 2 year wedding anniversary celebration at Chincoteague Island, we read part of the story of Adoniram and Nancy Judson. They studied the Burmese language 12 hours a day when they first got there. It also took them 1 year to get to Burma by boat. Hmm. How things have changed.

It hardly felt like being in another country for a while until the voice that cries in the cities woke us up from our dreams. Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,,,, etc... It must have been around 5 pm. Indeed this is not America!
- though i think we could all use daily reminders for prayer!
I'll never forget the 1st time we heard the call for prayer. We were on our way to our honeymoon, driving from casablanca, Morroco to Marrakesh.... It's the middle of the night, we stop at a tiny little gas station in the middle of absolute no where. the idea is to get some coffee for our driver who is litterally falling asleep on us. that gas station also happens to have its own tower with a loud speaker at the top. When the yelling starts, jediah wakes up from his sleep and his first thought is: We're being attacked by a flock of cows...!!

we're meeting with p matti at 6 tonight and tomorrow the search for an apartment begins.

Family time... BALTIMORE 2007

My sister Melody and her husband P. Beaugard were visiting for 3 weeks and it was a treat to be all together once again. (the last time was 2 years ago) They live in Paris, FR and are very involved in the GGWO church there with singing, teaching etc... We hope they'll be able to be in Baltimore for a bit longer someday!

On the 4th of July at the Watsons...

"Like the potter"........well.... we tried at least.

Devotion in Book Cafe - july 10, 2007 - P Schaller HEBREWS 6:11

Not sloathful, but with faith and with patience, looking afar off... I can have my eyes on myself, and be utterly discouraged or dream with God's promises and see myself how He sees me. The rest will follow.

................................................................
My Quietness

O Thou Who art my quietness, my deep repose,
My rest from strife of tongues, my holy hill,

Fair is Thy pavilion, where I hold me still.
Back let them fall from me, my clamorous foes,
Confusions multiplied;
From crowding things of sense I flee, and in Thee hide.
Until this tyranny be overpast,
Thy hand will hold me fast;
What though the tumult of the storm increase,
Grant to they servant strength, O Lord,
and bless with peace.

Amy Carmichael

PRAYER MEETING at the Villeneuves with singing in Turkish!

CONVENTION - as seen on our lil' TV in the booth -

WAS FABULOUS to say the least!
One of our favorite moments:

Jediah with friends Scott and Carl from Marlboro!

OUR BOOTH :

DESTINATION ISTANBUL, TURKEY !

GOD SENT MANY ANGELS OUR WAY!

Don and Janet Tanguay were the most instrumental people

in the realization of the booth! JANET WAS THE RELENTLESS HEART BEAT AND PUMP OF THIS WHOLE ADVENTURE.... tHANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

also...

Fanny Berthe from France

Shirm Stevens and Scott Dubay showed up one

day we desperately needed more hands...

Mr. and Ms. Johnson!

other friends who's help was very timely:

JOHN VON BUCKWALL -himself leaving for Istanbul in September,

MICHELLE - the infatigable!

HAYLEY TANGUAY - traveling great distances to volunteer her help,

STEPHAN and MINDY,

BEN TANGUAY,

SHANE VILLENEUVE,

CHRIS ALDERSEN,

ESTHER - from Iran,

JASMINE - born in Istanbul,

ALEX - from Philly,

and others who were led by the Spirit to our rescue at various times!

Collecting coins for toilet paper on the missionfield..... Rene and Debbie are ever edifying, giving us tips and other very useful information that are already helping us prepare our arrival in Istanbul.

......................................................................
The MIRACLE JOB that enabled us to pay our debts off and 'afford' to look at the possibility of a foreign missionfield! PRAISE GOD!!

"THINKING WITH GOD" is the theme

We are looking forward to the Annual International Convention coming up at the end of this month!! For more information visit: www.ggwo.org

We'll be doing a Turkey booth! Make sure to stop by. (volunteers are welcome!)