As I started writing in Microsoft Word I found that I was essentially writing a book and would never get to the point of putting it on the blog, so I’m going to divide it up even more than I intended so you can get as many details as possible. SO…. Now for the update you’ve been waiting for. We spent the trip divided between three cities: Trabzon, Rize, and Istanbul. Today I’ll update on days 1 & 2 of Trabzon.
I was part of the 2nd phase of the trip. Two guys left a few days before me. On Wednesday, John, Emily, Joseph and I flew out of Dulles at 10pm. We had a flight to Paris, a short layover, a flight to Istanbul, a 6 hour layover in the domestic terminal, and then a flight to Trabzon that got us there at 2:30 in the morning! That is A LOT of travel. I thought I was going to get some good sleep on my first leg – I had an aisle seat with nobody next to me, BUT… there was a Swedish mom and her son after the open seat. The kid stretched out across not only his mom, his, and the empty seat, but spent the entire flight kicking me! It was awful. At one point I jerked up and the mom realized what he was doing and fussed at him, but then he just cried the rest of the way. Misery. Our layover in Paris was pretty tight and we had to change terminals. Luckily, my French was good enough to help us navigate the train as well as order myself a croque-monsieur sandwich. It was delicious!!! I was so exhausted from the first flight that I put my hood up, popped in my earphones and slept all the way to Istanbul.
Once we got to Istanbul we got to go through customs. It reminded me of Kyrgyzstan. You wait in line, walked up to a counter, hand them your passport and a twenty and you’re in! They give you a nice sticker for the visa. This is the first time I’ve used my new passport since I got married. My old passport was filled with visas and stamps and this one was empty. I kind of felt like a loser. But now I have a pretty Turkey stamp : ) I was also nervous because it seems like every time I travel, my bags never make it. But sure enough they made it! Then came the hard part, 6 hours of waiting in the domestic terminal of the Istanbul airport. It was PACKED and hot and nasty. Believe it or not they have a sbarro, so we camped out.
When we landed in Trabzon it was 2:30am. It was pouring rain and we had to walk from the plane to the terminal. Our guide, who just happened to be a Christian, who from here on out will be referred to as Randolph, and our translator, who also just happened to be a Christian and I will refer to as Ernest, picked us up and took us to our hotel. [Side note- for the security of anyone we met or interacted with in Turkey, I have changed their names.] As we drove from the airport to the hotel the only way I can describe the town I saw is like a European beach town. It’s on the coast, very hilly, but with the old crooked European lanes. It was very enchanting.
The whole way home we talked about how we were going to sleep in the next day until noon and just take it easy because we were so tired. When we walked into the hotel at 3am, our guide told us that we needed to be downstairs, ready to leave at 7:45 because he was going to “force” us through jet lag. We got up to the room and found a clean room with dorm beds and one of the most interesting showers I’ve seen. The bathroom had a sink, a toilet, and a showerhead… but no shower. You basically take a shower on the bathroom floor, trying not to get everything else wet in the process. It was interesting to say the least, but after flying for that long I was just glad to see a shower.
7:45 came E-A-R-L-Y the next morning but Randolph the guide assured us we were just doing tourist stuff that day so I put on my skinny jeans and toms and headed down to a breakfast of lentil soup, pumpkin pancakes and tea. They drink soooooooooooo much tea in Turkey. And this is from a person who actually likes drinking tea at home. They also drink it in these little glasses without handles. It takes skill to figure out how to hold those things without burning your fingers or dropping it. I was proud of myself that the Turkish people noticed I could drink it straight (it was strong) while most people in our group put sugar in it. In fact, Joseph would put 4 cubes in each cup!
While we drove through Trabzon, Randolph and Ernest told us their testimonies. Both, incredible. Randolph told us about how he and his wife came to Turkey. It was so cool to hear how they trusted each other and God so much to move halfway around the world and even stay while raising their three young children. Ernest also shared his story. In Turkey, a country of 74 million people, there are only 3500 Christians. That is a STAGGERING number. Hearing the struggle and the faith of a Christian in a country like that is both convicting and encouraging. It made me feel so guilty that I live in a country where it is so easy to be a Christian. It reminded me to be more grateful for what I have.
Our first destination of the day was Sumela Monastery. Now, I knew that when I was going to Turkey in March that it was going to be cold. No one told me to expect snow…As we started driving into the mountains it started to sprinkle a little, then there was a dusting on the ground, and then it was full out snowing and our van got stuck going up a hill. We had to stop to put on chains.
Then they told us that the hike was a good “30 minutes” to the monastery. Now, what they failed to mention was that by “30 minutes” they meant an hour, and that by a hike, they meant mountain climbing, and that there was 6 inches of snow including it snowing at the time. The local man just looked down at my sockless feet in my nice toms and shook his head. This was going to be bad.
It really bugs me when people use the phrase “it’s a god thing.” I’m not sure why, probably because Caleb doesn’t like that phrase. But anyways, that is the only way I can describe it, but my feet weren’t cold the entire way up. They were instantly soaked but I didn’t feel it. At least not until we got back down the mountain. So, up we climbed! The view was magnificent! Snow covered trees and a raging river and up in the mist, the view of an old monastery.
Of course we had some fun on the way up and lots of snowball fights broke out. When we got almost to the top, out of nowhere came the sound of music. I turned to one of the other guys and asked where it was coming from. I was told that it was Jesus guiding us up the rest of the way to the mountain. It wasn't Jesus... but it was a local man playing music. It was enchanting and I hoped maybe he was telling us that we were almost to the top...
Sure enough, when we turned the corner, the mountain ended and the staircase began. We were almost there! The vision of this ANCIENT monastery literally built into the rock emerged. It was incredible.
They have stories from Genesis
and Jonah.
and Elijah
and Moses parting the Red Sea
Jesus riding in on a donkey
I wish I could put into words the feelings that I had up at that monastery. Wet and cold and tired, but it didn’t even matter. To realize that I was on the top of a mountain in Turkey looking at ancient frescoes that had survived in a country that did not even believe in Jesus. These things were right here for the whole country to see! They were beautiful! They spoke the truth! And yet they were ignored, they were damaged, and it was heartbreaking. It was also a testimony that you can't hide the word of God. Despite Turkey's denial of Jesus as Christ, despite scratching out the eyes of the frescoes, despite the grafitti and the lack of care, the story of Jesus still shone through on those rocks. It was very powerful and moving.
It was hard to leave the monastery, but to be honest it was getting pretty cold. The climb back down was both easier and harder. The snow had stopped, but going downhill was slippery! Lots of people were skidding and sliding and falling the entire way down. Don’t worry mom- I didn’t fall once! Which is quite a feat considering everyone else was in tennis shoes.
At the bottom, my feet were finally starting to feel the hike in essentially bare feet. I walked into the lodge and plopped down next to the heater. Luckily the local guy who had shook his head at my feet had actually bought me socks to put on when I got to the bottom- they were child sized, but you better believe I stuffed my frozen toes in there! Turkey has some interesting supersitions. They believe that if you put your bare feet on the ground, you will get sick. If you put ice in your drink, you will get sick (which means you can't get ice anywhere...) and of course my favorite. If a woman sits on the ground, she will become barren. Believe me, they FREAK OUT if you sit on the floor. Learned that one the hard way...
With some instruction on how to open it up, I dug in. I’m not sure if it was the cold or the exhaustion but it was soooooooooooo good! In fact, it was so good that I ate trout again on the trip! This meal was also when I ate my new favorite food – lentil soup. It’s technically red lentil soup or ezogelin. It has the lentils, garlic, and mint and it may be the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I literally ate it morning noon and night for the rest of the trip and even brought home a package to make at home. Hope Caleb likes lentils! For dessert we had our first of many rice puddings.
After lunch we got back in the van and headed towards Trabzon’s Hagia Sophia. They put Turkish music on the radio and we all pretty much conked out. Best nap I’ve ever had in a van.
The church was beautiful. Again, yet another example of Christianity right there on the coast of the Black Sea that is not being utilized! We spoke with a guard and he said that most visitors were either Greek or Armenian. From the backyard of the church you can literally look out on the Black Sea as far as you can sea. It was wonderful.
Following out afternoon at the Hagia Sophia, we went back to the hotel for a team meeting on the project. Our job while we were there was to develop an interactive prayer guide. Each day we would take pictures of locations and come up with things for people to pray for at those sites. Then at night we were geo-tagging the pictures to those locations and uploading the prayers. Additionally, we were working on a monthly prayer guide for our church to pray for the Laz people in Turkey. Although there aren't really many Laz people in Trabzon itself, it is a bigger city out on the Black Sea coast and a good place for us to get out feet wet. Even though the people in that town aren't who FBCA has actually adopted, they still are a town needing significant prayer with very few believers.
That evening we walked around the center of town and had dinner. Of course, I had the lentil soup. By this time everyone was pretty much hyped up on caffeine (tea…endless cups of tea!) and exhausted so there was lots of laughing and goofing around. We bought a ton of baklava and headed back to the hotel for bed.
I’ll admit that this was a tough night for me. During our team meeting, I found out that our church had originally adopted the Kyrgyz people. Unfortunately, they found it to be too much of a challenge and had some problems with workers in the field so they abandoned the project and adopted the Laz people in Turkey. While I know that should not diminish what our church is doing in Turkey, this was a tough pill for me to swallow. The Kyrgyz people are particularly close to my heart. I think of my host sister Aika and brother Nari and think about the possibilities of them hearing about Jesus being lost. I think about all of the great things our church could have done there. But, I am trying not to get discouraged. I know that everything happens for a reason and that if the Kyrgyz were too much for my church, they are a perfect match for another church. One day I know my Kyrgyz family will hear about Jesus. I know it.
Well that is day 1 and 2. Check back tomorrow for days 3 & 4 in Trabzon!!
Stephanie your trip looks like it was Amazing! The monastery is beautiful. It's so awesome the mission you guys had and worked on as you were there.
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