some old and new palmieris

views from palmieri grand parents house in Northern France

arriving at train station, my parents are sometimes camera happy!

christmas dinner, we all sang "Tu scendi dalle stelle"!


grand ma's brother, Armando

dad's brother, Jean-Marie, please pray for him, we haven't heard from him in a long time

grand-ma Carmela with Mario and Luigi!

and ze cat

TURKISH CHRISTMAS

well actually there isn't such a thing as a Turkish christmas per se, for the obvious reasons that Christmas is a Christian holiday. But for those of us here it is a 'turkish' christmas'. May i describe it to you?

LIGHTS

We first thought that the little plastic tree in our living room would be the only visible symbol of Christmas for us in Turkey. But we were wrong! In this part of Istanbul where many foreigners live and work and shop, decorations are seen throughout the main square. One of the big Turkish celebrations -Kurban Bayram (Sacrifive Celebration)- also happens to be just a couple days before dec 25 this year and so most main streets are lit up with lights and colorful decorations, you can even see some nicely decorated christmas trees in the lobbies of some big hotels. And of course Taksim Square is overly lit up (is that english? who cares, i'm not writting an essay) but it's beautiful because lights in the night shine bright, they're happy, hopeful and inspire expectation.

KURBAN

Advertisements for 'A RAM FOR 120 TURKISH LIRAS' are seen throughout the city at this time of year. People will kill and roast for this holiday. I remember seeing big animals roasting in the middle of the streets once a year in africa, mostly in the muslim areas of the city and was facinated by it.

Last night my friend Etkin invited me for dinner. She is not a believer and is a young Turkish lady that was raised in the states. She moved to Istanbul last summer and we 'randomly' met in a store one day. Over the delicious dolma she had made we started talking about the amazing similitude with this coming up holiday and Christmas. The need for sacrifice, this 'sacrifice' phenomena found in almost every civilization that has ever existed. A universal need for atonement. And finally Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect one- as it had to be a man to pay in man's place and it had to be God to satisfy God's justice. We have had many discussions over the last 5 months but never so deep and so clear. That night I told her how much it meant to me to share with her what my faith is about. That it is not a god I have made for myself, the result of many years of reading, meditating and inquiring. It's the God that reveals himself, the God that speaks and is very clear. It's the God of the Bible that transcends the finite and the temporal. In him we find what Adam lost. Once he decided to act separately from God he lost his freedom; he became attached to his belly button and realized he was naked. This yearning for freedom from this world, from death and from ourselves is found in this once and for all sacrifice.

PARIS

Jediah and I have been dreaming of meeting up with my parents, brother, sister and her husband at my greand parents in France for christmas but were so short of funds we were left with our dreams only... As days passed, hope started growing faint but lo and behold God had not forgotten about lil jed and sarah all the way in Turkey!!!! (surprise, surprise) A dear friend from the States announced that he wished to buy us tickets. what a treat. I think it will be great to be outside of the country for a little while. we'll return on the 4th. And so sunday we will fly to Paris, monday train to Port Boulet, then back to Paris at my sister's for a few days and finally a train to the south (nimes) to spend the begining of the new year with dear friends there.

Please pray for our time at my grand parents who are not believers. They are the best, most fun, italian old couple you could ever imagine, i'll try to upload a pic of them.

2 nights ago

we had just layed in bed, sleep was starting to take over our minds. I felt myself twitching. I was twitching like crazy, actually more like my leg and arm were violently shaking in spasms... it woke jediah up who couldn't help but ask "what the heck is going on"..... I was still half asleep and incapable of describing what was going on, all i could say is "i feel it in my brain"..... jediah told me the next day that as soon as we started talking he began feeling an incredible pressure in the air, we then even wondered if our bed was being electrocuted.... but it was all too incredibly not natural. the next second another spasm shook my body but this time i was feeling it on my neck and it started pushing against the bed. without a word to jediah he instinctively started praying outloud, i closed my eyes and saw distorted faces staring at me. had to open them quickly, another 3 or 4 times the same demon faces, i started praying outloud as well, agreeing with jediah's prayer asking God to fill our room with his presence. neither one of us remember falling asleep but that night our sleep was sweeter than ever.
The next morning we were confident that Satan had tried to intimidate us but instead he had given himself away. the intense atmospheric projections we had been experiencing lately were now clearly identified, if we ever had doubted someone was truly against us being here for God's purpose, we now knew it.

It feels great to be so weak and yet so powerful. Do you see why we covet your prayers!?


"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name"

"It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power."
John 1:12 and 1 Corinthians 15:43

prayers

asking for prayers for one of our beloved team member that needs spiritual support from all of you in a very crucial way.

so much to say...

i just can't keep up with this blog. forget about the journal i've been wanting to update since we moved here.... There's so much to say!!!!!!!!!!

today was an amazing day.....

7:15 we dragged ourselves out of bed

7:30 breakfast for 2 at the kitchen table, it's saturday morning the house is still quiet and the rule is 'enjoy while you can'

8:30 we leave the house, and walk up(i mean CLIMB UP) to Taxim Square. if you've been here you know what i mean. Istanbul is stinking built on a million hills!!! wow, i just had to let it out.

9:00 catch bus 73 to Sirinevler (lit: 'the sweet houses') found 2 empty seats on bus!

9:45 arrive at the school, pick up lesson book, greet Zubeyde the secretary (who once meant to jokingly tell Jediah to be quiet and said -in a direct translation of Turkish: Cut your voice! we had a good laugh at her expense)

10:00 lesson starts, 2 breaks and lesson ends at 1 pm

1:15 pm we grab a turkish hamburger... no comments

1:30 pm Jediah leaves for an unknown adventure (which ended up being a 3 hour walk on the majestic ruins of the walls that once surrounded Constantinople, there he met many homeless people that broke his heart, he bought some super glue -that looks and smells more like water- from one of the homeless guys at the little 'bazar' they had set up on top of the wall) hopefully we can download pics from his cellphone, they are incredible

1:30pm I show up at the cell phone store next to our work place to meet with Deniz and Rabia. the idea is to teach them english and who knows what else could come out of this. Deniz ended up being busy with customers but 5 other young guys and girls joined Rabia and I and we had a great hour learning about I AM, YOU ARE, etc and that personnal pronouns must always be used in English, contrary to turkish. I am sick = Hastayim (lit: sick am)

3 pm catch metro and tram instead of bus to avoid traffic

3:45 arrive home for quick snack and shower, zumrad and alfya are painting the last room in the house. (Larry is here from New Jersey, visiting for a few days; P Julian and Natela just left after staying with us for 10 days. pray they will be let back in Moldova)

4:30 tram to Karakoy, then ferry accross Bosphorus to Kadikoy where Umran is waiting for me.

UMRAN: please pray for her. I met her on outreach and decided to meet again for coffee. She is 20 yrs old, a university student (to become a fashion teacher), she wears the veil and very strict length of every piece of clothing yet with a touch of colorful artistry. She listened to me -as though i were an apparition from heaven or maybe something else- and found out she prays at the mosque 5 X a day, which is somewhat rare around the city of Istanbul. I told her of my visit to certain mosques and she promised to visit my church one day. We plan to see each other next week.

THANKSGIVING

FOR ALL THOSE WONDERING: WE DIDN'T HAVE TURKEY FOR THANKSGIVING
(report and pics to follow)

team life helps

visiting a mosque... ladies have to cover their heads, and it's always very special to see people praying - like that man in the background.

it's so amazing... talking with jediah and john the other night we realized that satan was using a certain strategy to discourage us. which was to make us feel disappointed, feeling that our expectation wasn't fulfilled... when in fact we NEVER had a tremendously great expectation in terms of tons of people getting saved, miraculous things and all. All we had was an expectation from God that he would do an amazing work in and through us -which is soooo happening. but the way the devil tries to project it at us is so false, yet looking so real... it was good to discern it, trample it to dust and throw it on the street. psalm 18.

TURK-CON PICS

So we just had TURK CON 07!! What a whirlwind of unbelievable moments. The combination of sessions, concerts, art exhibition, outreach, dinners, etc.. made this week remarquable.

We had about 60 visitors from Switzerland, England, Finland, the States, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Kyrgystan...

(pics of P. Matti's exhibition to be posted soon!)

Zamira and Sarah at registration

(Umid- on the above picture- just joined our team from Uzbekistan; he is an answer to our prayers, a team member that speaks Turkish. Umid studied in Turkey before he became a believer and learnt Turkish. He is working on his paperwork and findind an apartment before he brings his wife and 2 children over, please keep those plans in your prayers!)

Some times it took 2 translators depending on who was preaching!

Clasical Concert with Trio Voce from Finland.

2 of the musicians P Risto (piano) and Timo (cello)

There's no age limit to be a disciple
POT POURRI CONCERT


Ayfe and Zumeya, 2 of our students and Rudi from Holland, a fellow teacher, came to the Pot-Pourri concert. It was a beautiful reward.

(4 other students looked for the concert place for about an hour

and had to go back home..)

2 other of my friends came, Puray and her brother Kerim (they are not believers)



RAP AT A NEARBY COFFEE SHOP

(standing Johnny the V, and sitting in a beige sweater Thibault from Lebanon, originally with Swiss church in Geneva - his urgent prayer is to meet a good church there where he is studying)




Afya Yeboah, our delegation from London and Catherine from Baltimore!

Playing 'spoon game' after sunday dinner.

L to R: Zamira fromUzbekistan, Sarah, Jediah, John and Mehmet

an amazing devotion by P Matti

It is amazing how God allows Satan to come so close to us . Even when we desire to do good solely, evil is present with us. Rom. 8:21 This is discouraging, but victorious in the same time. God doesn’t give Satan a choice. He has to be present in our lives. This is a part of his judgment.He has to daily witness how the glory of God is revealed inour earthen vessels. This is his humiliation in the midst of his ostensible success. (at our team mtg he added: and God shoves Satan's face into those erthen vessels!)
I’m sure that every time when a child of God chooses to give and receive grace tons of frustration is experienced in the demon world. We don’t defeat demon armies by shouting louder. They are incapacitated by the sweet words of forgiveness. Evil is strangely present in the church too. Again, I think that God doesn’t give Satan a choice. He has to "go to church”. This is where God displays his glory today. It is not seen in the golden decorations of ancient buildings. God is glorified in human relationships, when believers choose to look beyond failures in order to see one another’s needs. “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” I Pet.5:10

The conference is starting tonight. HOS GELDINIZ !!

Turk-Con ‘07

THURSDAY
7 PM Opening Dinner at Dilek Restaurant, Istiklal St. 341

FRIDAY
10-12 AM Session at Richmond Hotel, Istiklal St. 445
6-8 PM Art Exhibition Opening “from my window” at Istanbul YMMO Gallery, Istiklal St. 146
8 PM Trio Voce Concert, at Santa Maria Church, Istiklal St. 429

SATURDAY
10-12 AM Session at Richmond Hotel, Istiklal St. 445
3-5 PM Session at Richmond Hotel, Istiklal St. 445
6 PM Trio Voce Concert, at Notre Dame De Sion, Cumhurriyet St. 205

SUNDAY
10-12 AM Service at Richmond Hotel, Istiklal St. 445
12 PM Trio Voce Concert, Istiklal St. 186/2
6 PM Potpourri Concert, Istiklal St. 186/2