Days 3 in Turkey

The next morning I woke up in a complete fog. Jet lag got me. There was not enough concealer or tea that morning to make it better. When we went downstairs for breakfast we were greeted with terrible pictures and videos coming from Japan. We didn't totally understand since it was all in Turkish, but clearly something really terrible was going on there. First things first that morning we needed to buy John some new shoes. His loafers did not treat him or his backside so well climbing the mountain, so we had an early morning shopping trip. While he shopped, we sat in the square and shot a few pictures.

Once we got John's new shoes, we were off for the day! Trabzon has a sign on the top of the hill much like the Hollywood sign, just not quite as glamorous. We drove to the top of the hill and got out and sat at a table overlooking the city and enjoyed a morning of discussion over tea.

That is when Randolph dropped the big one. As we looked out over this huge city, kids running around with their friends, women chatting over tea, men working in the buildings, everything was so relaxed. And then Randolph told us that the city we were admiring so much had only about 5 believers and 2 of them were a British couple. In fact, that couple had pretty much stopped sharing about their faith and “retired.” It was an overwhelming feeling. It really made it difficult to enjoy the view, which really was stunning. We broke up into groups and prayed over the city.

If you know me well, you know I'm not an overly emotional person. I like to keep my emotions under control and to myself. But looking out over Trabzon, I was filled with this overwhelming feeling, a feeling that I really can't even put into words. I stared out at this city and I just could not imagine the lack of believers. I mean, how is that even possible? Staring out over the sea, the beauty was astounding. How could they not believe? How could they live their lives and not know? And then the call of prayer started up.

Then I got angry. So angry that I couldn't hold back the tears. Not only did this beautiful village not know God, but they would stop everything every 4 hours and bow down to walls, to NOTHING! It was almost impossible to take. I found it difficult to even be up on the hill anymore. I didn't want to see or think about it anymore.

After our morning on top of the mountain, we broke into two group. Emily, Tommy and I went with Ernest the translator. I kid you not when we I say we walked 10 miles around the city that day. First we went down to see the local Catholic church. There was no answer. Randolph had told us that it had pretty much ceased to exist since a man walked into the church a year ago and shot the priest in the back of the head… Can you imagine? Not only was this denial of God, this was outright violence against Christians. The church itself was completely protected by gates and tall walls. In fact, you really couldn't see any of the church except for the cross on the top. I was struck by a sign on the wall. It's hard to see in the picture below, but it says Allah Seni Seviyor. I asked Ernest what it meant, and he told me that it said God Loves You. I was intrigued because I assumed the word Seviyor meant Savior, but it actually meant love. I thought that was fitting. The church also reminded me of the importance of encouraging each other. Here at home, I feel like protestants and catholics have this rivalry going on all the time. But in a place like Trabzon, it was important to pray for the them because they were there. They had a building and an opportunity. My prayer for them has been for courage and boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus.

From there we walked downtown for a lunch break. Again, lentil soup, but with fried eggs and sausage and cherry juice. Delicious! From there we literally walked to beyond the city gates. I could list all of the places we saw, but I think pictures will do a better job.

 After walking the entire city, we were exhausted and hungry. They have these street vendors who sell roasted chesnuts on the streets so we bought a bag to split. Most people really didn't like them. They were okay, but had a very "meaty" texture and taste to them. They also make you super thirsty. I don't know why, but it reminded me of Christmas.... chestnuts roasting on an open fire!

Then we wandered into a bookstore. I was pretty surprised by what I found. In my mind, Turkey was a country overly dominated by its autocatic government. I expected censorship to be through the roof! BUT... they had pretty much anything you would find in a U.S. bookstore, including..... TWILIGHT! I guess Turkish people aren't that different from us...

We were on our way back when we saw the following shop.

That stuff looks good right? Kind of like fudge. It's called Helva. And it may be the worst thing I have ever put in my mouth. We bought half a kilo and split it into about 10 pieces for everyone to try. I was expecting fudge and that was definitely NOT what I put into my mouth. It had the consistency of wet chalk and the taste... well... I couldn't put it into words, but one of the guys in the group said it tasted like he was eating a cigarette. While I've never smoked a cigarette it did kind of taste like the smell of cigarette smoke. Awful. Pure evil in my mouth. I liked pretty much everything I ate in Turkey, but Helva was a HUGE exception to that.
 
When both groups got back to the hotel we had about 1 1/2 hours before we needed to go to dinner. Some of the other group wanted to go back to a bazaar we had walked to, and I wanted to buy a few souvenirs that I had seen, so about half of us walked back across the city. First we stopped in a silver shop. They have this really need technique where they wrap silver and can make jewelry, picture frames, bowls, etc. It is unique to the region, so I bought myself a picture frame. From there we headed to the bazaar where we all bought a variety of socks and scarves. It was really fun. Before we headed back, Randolph wanted to show us this antique shop that had old dishes and things that had pictures of Jesus and crosses on them. Again, right in front of their eyes....

More importantly, when we came out of the store, we saw two Turkish girls sitting and having a conversation. Randolph asked if Emily and I wanted to talk to them. We were hesitant. I was nervous! What was I going to say to these girls? We grudgingly said okay, sat down and ordered tea. I've been lucky that in all of my travels, I've always known at least enough of the local language to have a basic conversation. In Turkey, I was COMPLETELY reliant on translation. It really takes some time getting used to having a conversation via translator. We made small talk about who we were and where we were from and our families. Then, with Randolph's help, we were able to talk more about Turkish culture, headcoverings, mosques, education, and religion. We learned about how your entire future - your university AND your career - is determined by a test you take in high school. We learned that headcoverings differ not only on religion but also on region. We learned that girls go to the mosques at either different times or in different areas because they believe if a man looks up during prayers and sees a woman, his prayer is cancelled out. Really interesting stuff. Unfortunately, it took so long for us to get to these deeper topics that it came time for us to go to our dinner plans. As we walked away, I felt really down. We hadn't even shared a little bit of the Bible with these girls. I was talking to Randolph and could sense he was a little disappointed with us. It was so hard while we were talking with them to find bridges into the more serious stuff. Of course, as soon as we walked away, the bridges became so clear. I could only hope that we would have another opportunity...

After talking with the girls, we hurried home, hopped in the van, and headed to the mall with dinner with a local believers, who I will call Samuel. I was shocked by the mall - it was SUPER fancy and had nice stores, a movie theater and even an ice skating rink! The restaurant we ate at had this amazing dessert - it sounds disgusting but its amazing! It is basically a cheese patty coated in shredded wheat and fried. It sits on some honey and then on top is ice cream and crushed pistaccio. YUM!

This was our last night in Trabzon, so we went home to pack up our bags. But, before we went back to the hotel, Ernest wanted to take us back to the center of Trabzon. Apparently their soccer team had beaten a rival that evening and there was supposed to be dancing in the streets! Unfortunately we were a little too late to see the dancing, but he showed us a clip on youtube. If you want to watch it, here is a link!

Trabzon Dance!

Check back tomorrow for an update on our last morning in Trabzon and moving to Rize!