Even More Updates...Enjoy!

6/27/07 Wednesday

Today is our sabbath/day of rest. But instead of resting, Me, Theo, Erin, and Randon (improper grammer...i know...) went swimming and rock jumping in the Mediterranean Sea. The water was refreshing and we have some great pictures to put up on Facebook. Dan and Mike you would've had so much fun! Theo and Randon ended up swallowing some water and gagged/threw up. Our feet were a little cut up but it was worth it. I really want to swim to the beach which is about 1.5 km away but Kristin says that death on a GP is not an option. But we're pretty sure Theo got sun poisoning and an amoeba that is messing with his stomach. The next couple days he had to rest and recover but keep praying for him. After our adventure we went to a friend's house, prayed for the Turkish Church. There verses were given to us (and you) to guide our prayers for the church. Ephesians 1:17-19, Ephesians 3:16-19, Phillipians 1:9-11, Colosians 1:9-11, and Romans 15:5-6,13. Then we had great food, bread, watermelon and the host of the house loves 24! He also paraglides! But kristin still says death is not an option on this trip. I have to agree with her...sadly.

6/28/07 Thursday

Today was the first day of our actual linguistics program. It went great. Eight University students joined us and we chatted about college life. One of my friends, Ertan, knows the same amount of NBA trivia as me! He would be a suns fan except for he lost a bet in their favor. Atakan, Ertan, Deniz, Ece, Mustafa, Melahat, Turker, Leyla, Mari, and Selin. They area all great fun. We also did a scavenger hunt around Antalya and had various tasks. One of them caused me to lose my wallet. I didn't realize it until about 10 mins later when a random turkish boy came up with my drivers license and wallet. Thank goodness! But the first day went very well and the weather has officially switched to dripping wet humid!

6/29/07 Friday

Today we went with our Turkish friends to Duden falls. They were beautiful! There were a lot of tunnels and I felt like an oversized hobbit. Everyone still gets a kick out of calling me uzun adam (tall man). But today we had really good conversations about popculture, movies, tv, music, and celebrities in both the US and Turkey. I found out that one of our friends likes spongebob (and after I sang the theme song) so we're going to hopefully watch cartoons together. And all you harry potter fans will be happy to know that Turks are just as excited! After Duden falls we went to the young adult's service at Ch. and two of our friends came with us for the first time. They were curious and we had a great time.

6/30/07 Saturday

Nana and Grandaddy Happy 50th Anneversiary!

Today was very chill. We went to lunch and found a very good restaurrant that serves doner in a pita type bread. It's so good. We met our friends at 4 pm and went on a boat ride along the coast. I can't get over how beautiful the landscape is. And the water is a perfect teal blue color. A couple people became ill but sadly no throw up. We ate dinner after that and the Turks are amazed at how much bread Randon and I eat. I can live off bread and fruit (and doner). We also went to a Turku bar which had very good live Turkish music. We even danced with totally random people in the bar. It was really fun, really hot, and really smoky. But god has been good. We have made healthy friendships and for the most part we're healthy. Theo is steadily getting better. We all have so many stories to tell when we get back.

7/1/07 Sunday

Today we went to church and had a great time. Afterwards we went to the beach and played volleyball with about 20 turkish friends. It was really fun and the games were really competitive. And the beach we went to had perfect skipping rocks. It was every little boy's dream come true. My arm is a little sore but it was worth all the skipping. Afterwards we went to a cafe and hung out, played pool, and talked about school, sports, and all sorts of stuff. And I found out tonight that some of our friends like to play basketball so Randon and I are going tomorrow to play!!!! I've been waiting for this day to come!

7/2/07 Monday

So today had to have been my favorite day so far in Turkey. The morning was relaxing. We had a great time of worship (lauren and randon are amazing guitarists) and studied 1 John 5. After that we took a bus to another cool hangout spot in Antalya and had another question led discussion with our language partners on sports. Soccer is insanely huge here as well as Basketball. It was a great time and everyone was talking constantly. But afterwards we were able to go to the downstairs game room and play games. Pool, ping pong, foozeball etc. Mike and Dan some of the Turks I played were pretty crazy at Ping Pong. Even though I beat them 21 17 and 21 15 they put some funkadelic spin on the ball. I wish you guys were here to show them how the knox bros. play. So you better be practicing for when I get back. But after some intense ping pong matches most of the group went back to a restaurant near our pansiyon but Randon and I stayed to meet up with a couple buddies to go play basketball. One of our friends, Bulent, is probably the craziest drivers i've ever seen. Randon asked if there were speed limits and he looks over at us and says, "Speed limit? Yes, but it is not important." We were in his work truck so two of his friends were in the back without seat belts. So when Bulent failed to see the speed bump ahead of him, until we were about 5 feet away, he slammed the breaks and one of his friends went flying across the truck bed. It was so hilarious/painful at the same time. But now to the good part. We got to play basketball at the local Akdeniz University. We played 3 on 3 and my team one both games to 21. It felt good to be able to shoot a ball again. Our friends are not very tall but they are crafty and great passers. After playing for about 2 hours they took us to dinner. Now people, you haven't had real food until you've stuffed yourself full of Turkish food. I have never eaten so much in my life. First we had unlimited bread, then salad, lettuce wraps, then a Turkish style pizza (each indv serving was the size of a medium pizza in the US) and theeeeen we had about 2 kabobs each...while eating more bread and then we had dessert. Yes I am a fatty and just trying to keep my rep up in Turkey and the US. So this day was really awesome. And tomorrow we get to hang out with our friends at the beach playing volleyball, swimming, and Ultimate Frisbee! I"m so glad Jesus lets us enjoy life and have fun loving him.

But before I go I just wanted to share something that spoke truth and encouragement into my life since I've been in Turkey. The lyrics are from the band Cool Hand Luke. I hope they are encouraging to you as well. God Bless!

One Time: "Let me tell you what he dıd for me. I cried to my Father at the end of all hope. Show me the road, which way to go. He took away my worries. He picked me up and put me on his shoulders. I could see for miles. He showed me that the mountain I'm climbing is not a mountain at all but a gentle slope leading home. There are mountains towering ahead...He says to me: 'These are mine'. Hold my hand and you'll be fine. The mountains are mine...The mountains are mine...The mountains are mine." - Cool Hand Luke