The Dove and The White Tree

Being back home is surreal. It's almost like I never left, the calendar just jumped ahead a month. Aside from my office location changing, work is right where I left it, and things around the house are the same. And everyone is behaving as if things are normal, wondering cursorily how my trip was, but are content to hear me say that it was great.

This has made it really hard to be back. Now that I'm mostly over jet lag, some part of me is expecting life to pick up and suddenly have the same level of intensity that the last month has had, with a clear sense of purpose and well-defined goals and end-results in mind, plus weekend trips to exotic places. But that's not going to happen... life happens in the day-to-day, in the mundane... it can't always be intense--I've burnt myself out that way before.

Even so, I've found myself depressed, although I suppose that's to be expected. My last month was indeed a great time, and I learned a lot, received lots of praise for my efforts and generosity while I was there, and made some new friends. Now suddenly I'm disconnected from all that and have to get reconnected back home.

Thankfully, God has provided some good counsel, in the form of my good friend Jason and of my parents. My parents have experienced this "re-entry" phenomenon before, and suggested that it was important for me to write about my experiences and specifically about what I've learned and how this last month might influence the future course of my life. Also, they suggested I set up a time and place to share more of the details about my trip for people who are interested... and that's something I can definitely do through my church.

In the meantime, God is reminding me of some of the anchors he's given me in the past. One of them is the dove. While I was in college I started noticing the call of the dove. It's always been a soothing and comforting sound to me, and it seemed like every time I walked out the door to go to class I'd hear that call. I started to associate that call with God constantly saying, "I love you", reflecting his unchanging love for me.

The other is The White Tree, symbolic of the life of the king and the royal line of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings. At some point while I was living in California this took on meaning for me in relation to my identity in Christ. Because of Christ's work on the cross, I have been adopted into God's family. I have been made a part of the royal family of God. I am a noble in his kingdom. I have full rights as a son, access to the resources of heaven. How awesome is that?

So how should I face the days ahead? How do I do the mundane, day-to-day when it seems like life ought to be far more exciting, esp. as a son of the King? Hasn't he designed me for greater things? Things just seem bleak now--great... I get to grow in maturity now... woohoo. I'm not particularly thrilled to wait x number of years to get to where I need to be for what's next.

But waking up or walking out the door in the midst of those thoughts recently, I heard the call of the dove, which I hadn't in quite a while. "I love you." Remember? This state you're in right now is pretty normal, don't worry. I'm here with you. You can enjoy work--you're good at what you do. You can connect with people here--I've given you a great community of people. Life won't be boring.

Even so, I've had trouble getting out of bed the last few mornings. What's the point? Can I really do this? I don't think I can. No, I can't handle this--get me out of here! I dragged myself through a couple days of work and then made it to the Indy House of Prayer last night. Receiving prayer there, God met me again and gave me a stern reminder.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does" (Js. 1:22-25).

Remember who you are, who I've made you to be? You look into the perfect law that gives freedom, but then walk away and forget what you look like! It's true. The symbol of The White Tree meant enough for me to get it tattooed on my arm to remind me of who I am (along with a reference to Psalm 1--I will be like a tree planted by streams of water). I know the truth, I know the scriptures, but do I actually live accordingly? Often not.

So it seems I do I have something clear to work on, and there's no shortage of battles to fight here. The more I walk in my identity in Christ, the more I step out in faith according to the truth, the more I boldly speak it, the more I'll see God at work. No, life won't be boring. And there's no reason for me to think that God doesn't have exciting plans for me in the future. I can be praying even now that God will direct my paths and open and close doors. Maybe I'll be back in Turkey sooner than I think.

Trabzon Pictures

I had a really great Trip to Trabzon this past weekend! I don't have time to write much about it now, but I wanted to make sure I posted links to the photos I took while I was there.

Day 1 - Trabzon
Day 2 - Trabzon / Sümela Monastery

I'm writing this now from the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, waiting for my flight back to Indy. I've been on the road a long time (esp. if you include my trip back to Istanbul yesterday), and I'm very tired. I will have more thoughts later, but for now it's all I can do to head to my gate...

Winding Down...

Well, I'm nearing the end of my trip. It's been a full and rewarding time. I've participated in a conference, spent two and a half weeks working hard on a website redesign and taken two weekend trips, and now I'm at the airport waiting for a flight for my final weekend excursion to the Black Sea coast city of Trabzon. Unless the British Airways crew strike results in my flight being canceled on Monday, I will be back in the U.S. next week. Wild.

I've been pushing pretty hard the last few days, trying to get things to a good place with the website, but unfortunately there are still too many loose ends to launch it before I go. My perfectionist side is disappointed, but we'll get things wrapped up before too long. All in all it's been a success, with a new design in place and a new back-end structure set up to facilitate future maintenance. I'm happy with it, and I believe my host here is as well.

I've learned a lot on this trip. On a technical level, I've had to dig into the inner workings of the Joomla content management system and learn how to customize and create new modules. The project has given me consulting experience as well, from working with my host to develop an Internet strategy (based on guidelines we learned at the conference I attended) to working with my designer friend back in the States to develop the design and a new logo. This is experience I'll likely be able to use elsewhere in the future.

In addition, I've had the chance to see what it's like to work in a faith-based context and to see some of the vision and potential for using technology to reach people in a meaningful way. I've had many interesting conversations about the cultural dynamics in this country and how they differ from the West. And I've had a whole month to re-acclimate to living in the main country in which I grew up.

I've really enjoyed my time here, and all these influences and experiences definitely have me thinking about how I can come back in the future. I'm praying that God will lead me and give me wisdom... who knows what the future holds? Is it possible He has a longer-term application of these and my past experiences in mind? Am I even at a stage of life right now where I should consider that?

I've got a lot to consider, but right now it can wait--I'm gonna be a tourist now. I've been looking forward to this final trip since before I got here. I'll be going further east than I've ever been, both within Turkey and within Asia. I have very little idea of what to expect, and I'm excited. One thing I did find out after I bought my plane ticket and was looking for a place to stay is that apparently Trabzon is quite a hub for Russian prostitutes, or "Natashas". Good to know. Apparently there are hotels to avoid.

Fortunately, just as I was heading out the door, a couple people at the office where I've been working told me they had friends in Trabzon that I should hook up with while I'm there. They made a phone call, and now I have a couple people I've never met expecting me and possibly providing a place for me to stay. I have access to a pretty awesome network here!

Well, it's time to board, so here we go on another adventure. I'll be sure to take pictures...

Changes come... bring the whole thing down...

Today I'm in Ankara, the capital city of this country, and the city where I grew up here in Turkey. It's not exceptional in the way cities go, but it's full of familiar places for me, and it was a lot of fun to stroll around downtown and see many of my old stomping grounds. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera along today, so I won't be able to show you pictures, at least not any that I've taken.

One of the things I noticed this time moreso than in the past was the number of abandoned building projects. There are various structures, from massive malls to smaller streetside shopping areas that are just huge skeletons or are standing empty, a sign that the hard times are hitting worldwide.

Apparently there has been a shift away from some of the traditional hangouts to these big new shopping malls. That had started to happen before my family left the country, but it sounds like the trend has continued. As a result older parts of town are suffering, like the mall attached to the iconic Space Needle-like structure, which was the first mall of its kind in the city.

Well, I suppose these things happen... things don't stay the way you remember them, and life goes on. In fact, life is continuing back home in Indiana as I speak. Weird.

One other different thing I noticed, an indicator of the shift in culture here, even as the malls grow in influence... on the bus I took here from Istanbul, an overnight bus, men and women are not allowed to sit next to each other. When I mentioned that to my hosts in Istanbul they said yep, things are becoming more conservative. This multiple continent-spanning country definitely encompasses an intriguing tug-of-war.

Tomorrow evening I will be returning to Istanbul to finish up our work on the website over the following three days. That's the goal. Lord willing, I will still be able to do some traveling after that. Then we'll get to see whether or not my British Airways flights back to the States will be affected by the ongoing crew strikes... this could be fun!

Skiing Thoughts

This past weekend I got to go skiing at Uludağ (pronounced oo-loo-dah), the first place I learned to ski back in 3rd grade. I found an all-inclusive ski tour package for the weekend and got two good days of skiing in. The skiing was a lot of fun--during a wobbly first hour or so I remembered how to ride, then I found some steeper slopes, explored and worked on my technique. I'm nice and sore now, but it was a good workout, and I was able to relax with a dip in the hotel's warm pool after the first day. All my meals were included and served at the hotel, and the spread was plentiful and filling.

But I'm a little sad about the trip. I had a great time skiing, but I was alone for most of the time, and that made it difficult. It felt lonely to be there without a group of friends of my own like just about everyone else that was there. It appeared that I was the only foreigner at my hotel, and while my Turkish is decent, the cultural barrier (as well as the more insular nature of the wealthier strata of society that were represented there) didn't lead to many natural acquaintances. I probably could have tried harder, but I was tired in the evening and didn't feel like going out anyplace where that would be easier.

I've also been wrestling with a sense of guilt over taking this trip at all. The process of arranging it was a distraction while working on Thursday and I had to quit early on Friday in order to pack for the weekend. That time can be made up, but the bigger issue for me is that I feel like I shifted from a service mode into a self-serving mode, as though the work I'm doing here was secondary, just an excuse to go see exotic parts of the world and spend money on myself.

I know part of that is just religious accusations, but I definitely felt convicted as I started thinking about what I was going to do my final week here when I'd planned more vacation time. If we don't get to where we need to on the website project this week, but then I just go off to see the sights, something seems to be wrong about that. What did I really come over here to do?

And so I'm realigning my priorities. If that means canceling my plans for next week (which were vague anyway), that's ok. God is giving me all sorts of great experiences right where I'm at, and there will be other times to see the sights, and it will be better if I'm with people. So I guess I'll have to start recruiting for next time. ;) This evening I was reminded of the simple joy of being with friends as I enjoyed a glass of wine with my hosts here, and I'm looking forward to more such opportunities.

And Thank God that He is the redeemer of clouded motives, that He's patient with us, that He still blesses us with good things, including new friends and new experiences, even in the midst of our inconsistency. I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Alive and Staying Well

To all of you who have asked how I'm doing, thanks! I'm fine. The earthquake that struck in Turkey yesterday hit over 1000km away and could not be felt in Istanbul. I found out about it when I got into the office, and today it was all over the papers.

Any earthquake news is a big deal here because there have been some incredibly devastating quakes that hit this country not too long ago. In August 1999, a 7+ magnitude quake hit the western coast of Turkey in the middle of the night. I remember waking up in Ankara, a few hundred miles to the east, and feeling like my bedroom was rolling back and forth like a skateboard on a halfpipe.

It was crazy to watch things unfold in the following days. Estimates at the time suggested 30,000+ had died. International aid flowed in much like it has in Haiti recently. The local church here dove in to help and was recognized in a very positive light as they helped set up tents and kitchens and later more permanent dwellings. In the end the death toll settled at nearly 18,000.

That said, even though I experienced the quake and even though I knew many people, including my family, who worked with the earthquake victims in the aftermath, it remained a distant thing for me. I left the country not too long after the quake to return to school. I saw some of the damage and continuing relief efforts a few months later, but in many ways it all remains in my memory as TV images and numbers. The trauma here must have been huge.

And it seems to be continuing all over the world. Have you noticed how many significant earthquakes there have been in the past few months? California, Haiti, Chile, Turkey, all over 6+ magnitude in the last two months (see the full list). It's pretty crazy. Kind of makes our time feel short, doesn't it?

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Things have been going well on the web project the last couple days. I've been working from an office on the Asian side of the city, while staying with my host on the European side. It's a pretty awesome commute. I get to cross the Bosphorus on a boat twice every day and see some of the world's most historic sites out the window on the way. It's quite a privilege.

This morning it was rainy and cold like it was yesterday. On the boat during the crossing, men selling tea and other hot drinks walk through the ailing calling out what they have to sell. Yesterday I bought a cup of "salep", a sweet rice-based hot drink with cinnamon on top. This morning my host suggested we stop at Starbucks after the crossing. Yes, Starbucks. It's a treat here. And it was freaky walking into the place, because I immediately felt transported back to America. I ordered my tall half-caf, no-whip mocha just like in the States and got the same drink I would there. Bizarre.

Anyone want me to bring them back a Starbucks mug that says Istanbul on it? They're $12, so pony up.

Thanks for reading,

Dan

P.S. If you're the praying sort, we could use some prayer for health here. My host's son has a really bad cough, so please pray that he would heal quickly and that it wouldn't spread. Thanks for your support!

Touristing and Church

Well, I got all my pictures from yesterday posted! I've captioned them nicely so you'll know what you're looking at. It was a really tiring day, trekking around everywhere in the cold and the rain, but the sights were rewarding, and at the end of the day (after my camera battery died) we got to go to the Grand Bazaar and do some shopping. We had an excellent guide who knew the right people and got us some amazing deals.

After getting back to the home where I'll be staying for the rest my time in Istanbul, we relaxed and popped in the movie The Blindside, which I hadn't seen yet (and no, it's not out on DVD yet... this is Turkey :).

Today I slept in, then went to a Turkish church with my host. I was pleased that I was able to track with the sermon, which was on the end of Eph. 6 and focused on prayer. It was a good (and convicting) message... I know I spent far too little time praying for anyone / anything but myself, and I need a lot of grace to move beyond myself and pray for the spread of the gospel and for the needs of others.

We did get to walk around the spice bazaar today, and the picture you see here I took while avoiding getting hit by all the people crowding around each seller. There are a few more pictures on Facebook.

Thanks for reading!

Dan

Tongues

Wow, the last couple days have been really full! Where to begin? Perhaps I should start with the conversations I had last night with Turkish believers? Or should I talk about seeing the Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cisterns, and the Grand Bazaar today? I'll have to do both, but I don't know if I'll be able to fit it all in this post.

This isn't the first time I've thought to myself that Turkish believers are some of the most amazing people to be around. My experience so far has been one of encountering passionate men and women in love with Jesus who really know their stuff. In a country where one faces the likely possibility of rejection from family members and friends (think excommunication), it takes a lot more courage, faith and commitment to be a believer. The common understanding is that to be a Turk is to be a Muslim--so becoming a Christian defies tradition and culture. They better know what they're doing.

The last couple nights I've stayed with a few of these men, and it's been a blessing. Actually, a couple of them were here from Germany, and it was encouraging to hear their stories. It also was a lot of fun switching between all three languages, Turkish, German, and English, sometimes mid-sentence. I had sat down to read after making a sandwich (on some good Turkish bread, with some slightly different-tasting peanut butter and jelly), but I was soon drawn into conversation with one of the guys. He was talking about spiritual gifts, in particular speaking in tongues, talking about how what he saw in the scriptures was people talking in "the languages of Babel", i.e. languages that people have actually used to communicate with one another.

He was saying that in his experience, he had never actually heard someone speaking in tongues where he actually recognized the language, even if he couldn't understand it. I would have to agree with him... while both of us have heard of it happening, neither of us had ever heard anything that didn't just sound like gibberish. Now, we both appreciate the idea of a prayer language and that there is a place for that (and not in a service where everyone is speaking in tongues--otherwise their better be as many interpreters present), but why aren't there more cases of people speaking in tongues where the speaker is actually speaking a recognizable language? Please feel free to chime in.

In any case, that conversation along with other meaningful ones made me once again very appreciative of my Turkish brothers, and I will miss talking to them and enjoying their sense of humor, which was very Turkish as well. They are heading back to their respective homes today and tomorrow, and who knows when we will next cross paths?

This morning I woke up late along with my roommates, and we got in a couple last sessions to close out our conference. I figured I'd be sticking around to help tear down, but before I knew it I was whisked off by my host along with the conference speakers to see the sights. It was a cold and blustery day, but we braved the elements nonetheless... but you will have to come back next time to hear my thoughts on that.

Unfortunately I can't even give you a teaser picture at the moment because my camera battery is dead and I don't have a card reader... I'm sorry. But soon, I will post pictures, and they are breathtaking--well, at least the sights themselves certainly were. I hope you'll be able to get a sense of that--and why you should come visit this beautiful country yourselves!

Thanks for reading,

Dan

Conferencing

Today was a busy day of meeting people and talking tech. It was fun running into a couple old acquaintances from back in the day when my family lived here, including the guy who got us online in the first days of the Internet here in Turkey, back when it was amazing that I could download a megabyte in an hour. We heard some pretty cool reports about the growth of the Internet and other technologies in Turkey over the last few years. In addition to being the third largest user of Facebook in the world, Turkey is also in the top ten Internet-using countries in Europe. From the sounds of things, computers are becoming common enough in households here that people are having to figure out what home networking is all about. Things have definitely changed.

One cool thing I learned about today interested me not so much because of its application in Turkey, but because of another project that a friend of mine has been asking me about. He works with a US-based organization that works with other organizations on the ground in South Africa to help deal with the AIDS crisis there. They want a way to use cell phones and text messages to gather patient data in the field and send it back to a database at headquarters. Well, it turns out this has been done all over and there's already open source software out there for that purpose. The software is called Frontline SMS, is freely available, and it sounds like it's pretty straightforward to implement. I don't have the bandwidth for that sort of project right now, but if you're interested, let me know!

I found myself translating between English and Turkish quite a bit today, which I didn't expect. It was in an unofficial capacity, but it came in handy and helped some folks out. The breakout group I joined, having to do with social networking, ended up being entirely in Turkish, and I ended up talking about Facebook and Twitter in Turkish, picking up the appropriate vernacular as I went. It was a lot of fun. One topic of conversation--privacy on Facebook. A big one.

During some of the presentations today I zoned out a little and focused on learning Joomla, the content management system being used for the website I'll be working on. While the speakers spoke about forming Internet strategies and relationship building, I was learning about how Joomla implements a model-view-controller paradigm with some pretty complex views. A model/controller can have multiple views, the views can have multiple layouts, and those layouts can be displayed in multiple positions within a template, which in turn can override some or all of the layout functionality. That raises a lot of architectural questions for me... it'll be insteresting to see how this all works out.

After dinner this evening I went out for a nice stroll through the restaurant district where we ate last night. It felt a little weird being on my own since so far my time has been mostly directed by my host and by the conference agenda. I hadn't had to depend on my Turkish entirely until then, but today's translating helped my confidence. I enjoyed going into a cell phone shop and not missing a beat talking about my options for getting a cell phone for these weeks that I'm here. I don't think I will making such a purchase, but it was still fun to have the conversation. :)

I don't have many pictures today... we were inside most of the day. But here are a couple.

Thanks for reading!

First Full Day

This day has been a busy one! After a slow start this morning we headed out, went down to the water and hopped a ferry across the Bosphorus. It was a beautiful day! The sky was clear and the sun was welcome--we may not see it for the next few days with the rain that's expected.

We made it to the office where I'll be working during my time in Istanbul, and I was introduced to a bunch of people. We didn't waste any time brainstorming about website ideas as well as getting me to a point where I could start playing with the site to test out some of those ideas. Looks like it will be fun!

I'm already enjoying the food. Lunch was a doner kebab from a quick little street restaurant, and it brought back a lot of good memories. Later on, we met up with the speakers for the conference this week, and after a short walk through a beautiful street market, we sat down indoors at a nice restaurant where I had a dish called "alti ezmeli kebab", which is a plate of beef cutlets over cooked tomatoes. Delicious.

I've been enjoying the many conversations with folks so far, and many are thought provoking. I am appreciating being around folks whose main focus is making Christ known, who are thinking big and dreaming about some really cool ways of getting the word out. For us, it's going to start with a redesign of the website, but it really comes down to the people involved who are making themselves available and praying and listening together. I'm learning a lot, and it's exciting.

I took some pictures while we were out and about today! See the album here.

An Airy Trip to Istanbul

At the Indianapolis airport, the still-new concourse ceilings soar high above me as I wait for my plane to Chicago. I board and settle down to read an article in Relevant about solo work from Sigur Ros front man Birgisson, whose celestial-sounding songs have become worship music for many. Most of this Icelandic band's lyrics aren't lyrics at all, but made up syllables in "Hopelandic", a fact that has actually made it difficult for me to connect with their music. Something about them singing in gibberish just seemed to say something about where we're headed as a culture, obscuring truth and robbing language of meaning. But the article I was reading suggested another perspective, that maybe their songs are closer to "groans that words cannot express" or a prayer language of sorts, something that expresses the deep longings of the heart without forcing them into the confines of words or our ability to express them. Maybe that's why many have connected with this music at a spiritual level. Interestingly enough, one of the Sigur Ros most popular tracks is called "Glosoli", not too distant-sounding from the Greek glossolalia, referring to speaking in tongues. Maybe Hopelandic isn't so devoid of meaning after all?

In any case, while I still don't connect all that much with their music, as I hit the air for Turkey, maybe Glosoli is a fitting first track of a soundtrack for this trip (listen/watch here). The video suggests a jumping-off point too, which is pretty cool and inspiring.

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I am now in Istanbul after an eight hour flight to Frankfurt, which passed fairly quickly with some fitful sleep, followed by a two and a half hour flight to Istanbul, a half hour light rail ride and a fifteen minute bus ride to the place where I'm staying. My hosts are very hospitable, and we had a good evening getting to know each other last night. I was soon exhausted, though, and I slept well last night, waking this morning to feeling like I had both under- and overslept. Weird. But I'm now thoroughly caffeinated and will soon be heading out to meet some of the folks who will be involved in this week's conference. I'm looking forward to seeing the city in the daylight, and I'll be sure to post some pictures!

Thanks for reading!

Dan

Upcoming Trip to Turkey

A week from today I leave for Turkey.

A year ago I would have told you I was heading to Brazil. I've been wanting for a while to have a chance to put my vocation to use in a ministry context to get a taste for what that would be like, and an opportunity came up while I was in California to potentially take a trip to Brazil for a few weeks to help out with a project there. Things were in flux for me at the time, however, so I put that idea on hold.

I have since moved back home to Indiana and have settled into an apartment in Indianapolis and have rejoined the church community I had been a part of before moving to California over three years ago. The Brazil idea never left my mind, but when I finally got around to pursuing it this past summer/fall, things had changed and that opportunity had passed. In the meantime, another opportunity presented itself.

Through a connection my parents had, I made contact with a group of folks working in Turkey on a website meant to help people understand the Bible and the message of Christ. The organization behind it provides resources for helping those interested to grow in faith and knowledge of God in the hope that they can discover the reality of God's love for them.

After a few conversations and a pilot project it became clear that this could be a good fit. My experience lined up with what they needed. Before I knew it I was seeking approval to take a leave of absence from my job (something I asked to be able to do when I interviewed a year ago) and a little over a month ago I bought my plane ticket to Istanbul.

I'm really excited about how this has worked out. God seems to just drop things in my lap sometimes, and His provision for me has always astounded me. I did not plan on heading to Turkey, nor did I seek it out, but it came together in the timeframe necessary to work with my job. I have some specific technical skills that are needed for the project, so God is providing for this project as well. And I fully expect to see other ways in which He has orchestrated the details of this trip--like the graphic design help I am already receiving from a friend!

My first week in Turkey I will be joining a group of technology-oriented folks for a conference on using the Internet in ministry and getting up to speed on the website and the technologies they use. The next couple weeks I will be helping implement a new design for the website and adding new functionality to tie the website in to social networking sites such as Facebook. (Turkey is the third-largest user of Facebook in the world! See this link for more details.)

During my last week in Turkey I will have some time to travel. I feel very blessed to have a chance to visit some of the places where I grew up. My family moved to Ankara, Turkey when I was nine years old, and I spent the next seven to eight years there before leaving for high school in Germany. I plan on visiting old friends who are still there and also hope to visit some parts of the country that will be new to me (including Trabzon and the Sümela Monastery).

I'm looking forward to hearing and speaking Turkish again and seeing many of the familiar sights of Turkey, from the towering minarets of the mosques in Istanbul to the street vendors balancing stacks of baked goods on their heads to the mountainous landscape and the Black Sea coast as I travel beyond the city. And the food! I can't wait for a good kebab.

As I leave on this trip next week, I would really appreciate your prayers! Please pray for smooth and safe travel, but mostly please pray that God will have his hand on every step of this trip. I am going to serve... I want to have a servant's heart. I am also going to learn... there is much I do not understand about the ministry work to which I will be contributing. And I am going with my eyes open, looking for ways that God might be leading me or speaking to me as I think about how to invest the gifts He's given me in the future. So please pray that He would direct my steps and give me divine appointments... meetings and conversations from Him.

Beyond my involvement in ministry, I would also appreciate your prayers that I would just be able to grow in closeness with God during this trip. Please pray that He would reveal himself in new ways and that I would revel in His delight in me. That's part of where the title of this blog comes from... two symbols that God has given me over the years of my identity and His love. I'll try and write more about that later. Please pray for God's protection and provision as I'm on my own for a few weeks without my normal community of friends and family in Indy.

That said, please keep in touch with me while I'm in Turkey! I will update this blog as much as I can and try and take some good photos to share with you. I'm looking forward to writing about my experiences and putting my otherwise dust-gathering camera to use. Thank you so much for reading this and for your encouragement and support! I am so thankful for the friends and family God has given me.

More to come,

Dan