Yes, sometimes Global feels like survivor. Every day you get a clue about what will happen next (because God doesn’t give you a road map) and often you are unsure where the next meal will come from. Only difference is that instead of voting off a team member you don’t get along with, you deliberately fight for love and to keep unity….
So still in Izmir we woke up one morning to notice half our team’s shoes had been stolen during the night. It was only then that we thought maybe camping in a dodge public park was a bad idea… In hind sight maybe that fact should have been more obvious… So as the police walk over and chase us away (jip that happens a lot) we pack up and leave. With a day of prayer, scavenging for food (burger king is the best spot) and using a very friendly lady’s wifi, we find a woman on couch surfing willing to take all 11 of us for 2 nights. So for those of you who don’t know, couch surfing is an app where you can meet people from all over the world who are willing to give you a place to sleep for free. It is a virtual community of travellers who support each other. Great concept!!! She was such a blessing to us! She shared stories of her travels, washed all our clothes (10loads!!!) and cooked for us. And of course we shared our stories…
As we were praying for direction over the few days, the team heard that God was going to send us in a new unexpected direction. No one quite knew what that meant, but we kept our eyes open. As we continued to ‘surf’ for some ‘coaches’, we found someone who suggested we stay with his family on their olive farm outside Urla (20min from Izmir). Before we knew it we were on the road again, hiking to Urla to volunteer on the olive farm. What an amazing experience!
The agreement: we work on the farm, building fences and planting tomatoes and they give us food and housing for free. YES PLEASE!! Wow, farm life is just great! Waking up early for quiet time in the olive grove, hearty breakfast, work work work, fresh farm lunch, work work work, massive Turkish dinner from the fire-oven outside. Amazing!!! Being South African, we finished the work in record time. We were just happy to have the opportunity to serve, seeing that that is our mission for the year. Our stay on the farm ended with a starlight feast the evening before our departure, with pans of fresh fish, salads, breads and dessert!!! And what is a party without an outdoor movie projected on a bed sheet with all of us lying on the grass in our sleeping bags. While I write this I realise how unreal this may sound, but believe me, it really happened!!!
And so we headed back to Istanbul by bus, picked up our visas (THANK YOU JESUS!!!), camped out at the bus station for the day (being chased away often by the police), and slept at the airport again.
Ways that Global changed me so far:
- Being chased away is no longer something to be ashamed of. It happens.
- Pride about having a title must be long gone if it seems normal to convince a cleaner to let you have the left over chips and coke instead of throwing it away.
- Nothing weird about washing your hair in a public bathroom. Personal hygiene is important even if you don’t have a place to sleep.
- If you sleep at the airport, there is a good chance that you will wake up with a bunch of men in business suites staring at you. At that point you just turn on to the other side and continue sleeping. But if someone nudges you with a foot, consider getting up.
Wow, looking back Turkey has been amazing and I really hope to return one day.
Things I have learned:
- God wants to speak to us but sometimes we don’t know how to listen
- His plans are better than our plans, so don’t worry if things don’t look the way you thought it would. If your spend 2 weeks in a country and see nothing you wanted (Ephesus, Cappadocia, etc) that’s okay. This trip is not about me.
- Sometimes you just want to yell at someone because they touched the stove knop that you spent 20min fixing and trying to get it to work and then they break it so you speak maybe a little too load and they almost start crying and you feel bad so the whole day is sucky and then you want to cry and blah…… and that’s okay. It just means that there is still a little ‘self’ that needs to die….
- Not knowing what will happen next is kinda fun so give control over to God.
- I have trust issues…..
- God is still good.
Next stop… Macedonia!