maddness

In case you are wondering, here are six of us in this mini and let me restate that this care is small. Yet another fun night on the town here as our new friend Efe had some of us over to bbq. We even got pulled over by the police in this car and PTL, they just asked if we had been drinking and let us go. No, it doesn't really matter that we had 6 people in a 4 person car. this place is off the hook, not to mention He was watching over us.


oh and miss kim, your boyfriend loves you but Stephen is gaining momentum

I love technology!

Well, maybe it is a little frustrating. And to clarify, the internet here is a little sketchy and I am not conceeded. Really folks, that was supposed to be five very cool, but different pictures. So let's try this again:



Thanks for the comments, maTT and Los. I'm glad you liked all of them maTT. Los, miss you and Sandals too! Can't wait to hike half dome!

double shout out to maTT: happy year and two months. that is a weird statement.



So now I have another hole in my head. İ really like this one.




Leah, i hope you will enjoy two of these photos, since you love old people!

snap! snap!

Food and...gravity.

The food is really great. This is my favorite meal so far.

For those of you who have never experienced nakedness, the girls from CBU are no longer with you. Today we visited a Hamam, also known as a community bath. Feel free to appropriately use your imagination here because it was a wild experience. This bath begins with 8 women bath-ees and 3 women bath-ers. To clarify, there are no men in this picture. We enter and awkwardly remove all articals of clothing except one and quickly wrap ourselves in towels. There are rooms with marble, floor to celling. But first! oh man. Passing other women who are on the end of their journey here at the bath, who by the way have cast their towels upon the floor while sucking on a cancer stick, we begin to feel unsure of this expedition into the fog. It is really hard to write about this with multiple sexes readying this post but both men and women attend these places of scrubery, seperately. So if you are a guy, you don't have women at your bath. But at ours, we had some well , gravity effected women who could have fit in on the cover of national geographic if you know what I mean. So we timidly begin to soak ourselves and keep eye contact. And then there was lather, face down, spank! (this means turn over) and belly up, spank! (you sit up now) and the weirdest thing happens. She sticks my arm in between the girls and "cuts" my dry skin. (this cutting this is really meaning scrub super hard) Then you join the other newly educated (on what our bodies will look like later in life) females. Now scoop water out of a cistern,hot then cold and some more cold for you to realize this isn't a dream. Squeaky clean has a new meaning. Looking back, this was the perfect memory maker and I might go back for a second before my return.
well, the food is still great and the conversations with our new friends are becoming even deeper. EXCITING!

two visitors

The team has been doing well and this week has been fun but last night puke monster came for a second visit and the poor survivors, Jenny, Shannon, Robin and Sarah, have been weakened from this recent attack. Was it the food? the smell of smoke? the sketchy fish we ate? Who knows but please keep them in your thoughts and ask for a speedy recovery. They lay in bed eager to escape the porceline throne while a creepy guy kept coming up to the window and knocking on it. Oh, and how can we forget the advantage of a regular constitution. For some, this daily task has not occured for 2 weeks. sad. I hope this doesn't make you blush.
So this morning we had home group and it was so amzazing. Dr. Mooney arrived safely from the bird in the sky and has since tasted everything twice in his short time here. He really likes the food. Well, I like it too, I wont lie, but I really love that we walk every where. Although I do miss my bike, it is so much fun ridding the buses and walking everywhere. I feel like I have finally stopped with the rush of busy California and I could fit in here.
I have made some friends and it is so exciting to be welcomed by these hospitable people. The people here are really kind and most college students speak english well. Sometimes I even feel like I need to brush up my grammar. I know I do actually.
Something I have been thinking about lately is discipline of not being double minded or single minded (on myself), but revealing every thing to focus on father. Coming to a humbling understanding of how selfish I get makes my desire to continue on resting in the peace a minute by minute attempt. Just being completely involved in where I am at makes the future in His hands. I really appreciate the relationships that I have at home and her and my heart springs to work out my faith in serving others.
In case you are wondering, squaty potties are really frustrating. I am not good at them. I even had to pay to use this glorified hole in the ground. hah.

Fret no more...

Hip Hip Ho-ray! Three cheers for this place and the amazing blue water. Today I took a boat with some friends for two hours to the Black Sea. Just in case your wondering, it is really blue. No need to worry nor call the person who named it a liar because the beauty of this place screams out to the creator of His amazing creativity and astounding completeness. I love to sit and ponder the meaning of life and think about being intentional and the time there and back was so relaxing. If you haven't gotten out today to soak in the heavens declaring the glory of Him, get off the net and go sit outside for a while.

It is a pretty risky place here at night so one of my class-mates Jeremy walked me home. This scrawny child comes up to us and keeps saying money since that is all he knows in english. In his life, he will be taught to beg for the things he wants when he needs someone to love him and teach him the virtues of life abundantly. This breaks my heart. We bought him groceries and a top (ball) and sent him on his way. He said thank you. This gave me joy. Ah, Father I beg that you would have mercy on these people. Open their eyes to how poorly they are living and awaken them to the delight of your heart.

Sorry, got carried away. It is so much fun being a student here, minus the homework. blast. Till next time, be intentional!

It's cool here...and by cool I mean hot.

Hey, Everyone. It's maTT, updating for Brit. Her internet access has been kind of hit and miss lately. she writes:

well, I don't even know where to start. It has only been a week and already I feel like I have been apart of so many things. If there is one word to describe this all, it would have to be: INTENTIONAL. That is pretty much what we are all focused on being and it is a challenge, but not something we can ever halt on. We don't have the typical Sunday schedule so we just have groups, you know.





I have to leave for mine in a few, but before I do, I leave you with the following: In the country where I'm living in, there once walked many followers and the seven places of Worship started here after His return and ascension. I have walked where Paul did. Now, there are approximately 700 followers in the entire country. This means that to pass a fellow believer in the metro, I'd have to stand in the same place for over 2 hours where 14,000 people pass me, for one follower. There is so much darkness here, but I know my Father. I'm trusting on the inheritance of the Kingdom, where there will be people from this place. It is all about His W. Please read Isaiah 55 and continue to think intentionally. The metros have been a great place for this. Shoot, any place we all walk is.

So keep thinking about the people Brit encounters every day. She has had some great opportunities, and let's just pray they continue and that God uses the students to change a nation one soul at a time.