Summer travels...

So I haven't written on here for a while. July was busy, involving a number of travels...
First a quick trip to Cyprus to renew my visa. From Cyprus I took a ferry boat directly across to be in time for the family camp happening near Mersin. At the camp I helped out with the children's program, met some great Turkish believers, and was granted the incredible privilege of helping someone come to Christ. It was an unbelievable experience as this individual was told by Jesus in a dream before camp started that a Canadian girl with long blonde hair would help him. I won't repeat the story as I've already included it in my newsletter but suffice to say it was completely God's work--God provided the dream and He provided me with the needed Turkish words (my Turkish is not good) and the needed answers to the myriad of questions this young guy had.
After that I took an overnight bus back to Istanbul, did some laundry and then met up with my old roommate to get on yet another overnight bus to go to Eğidir, a beautiful, COOL, lakeside town in the mountains to have a relaxing holiday and visit a few friends of hers there. We had a few days to sleep in, enjoy not sweating 24/7 (what a difference lack of humidity makes), to journal, to wander about the town basking in the slower pace and friendly atmosphere, to visit some surrounding places, and to meet with the people she knows there (which was quite a few!)...overall it was a marvellous holiday! Both of the above photos I took in Eğidir.




















Left top: Walking in the footsteps of Paul, in the ruins of Psidian Antioch just outside of Yalvaç a small town nearby Eğidir.
Left bottom: Taking a walk with Beth's friends in the very small village of Gelincik, again nearby Eğidir.



Above: Beth's friends took us all around their village on their tractor:) We rode in the back there, it lifts up...good times.














Left top: Dinner with Beth at a lakeside cafe. Left bottom: Our view from the lakeside cafe.
After this trip I was home only a day before some visitors from Canada came to stay with me while they saw the sights of Istanbul. I spent a couple of days helping them get around this vast city before they headed off to see other parts of Turkey.
I have to say it's been tough to get back into the grind of language study after all that, I'm so grateful for the break!