jkaz's blog

We're back in Istanbul where we have a more reliable internet connection.  You can't imagine how happy that makes us all.

First I want to post an amazing picture of the Deyrul-Zafaran Monastery that my friend Nan Greenhaw took our last night there.

And here's a picture of the interior of the Armenian Church in Diyarbekir (Dikranagerd) which is being restored.  It has 5 altars.

People say that Armenians who came from Diyarbekir spoke a very strange dialect such that other Armenians couldn't understand them.  Now that I've been there I see what they mean. I could hardly understand the Turkish they were speaking. 

We stopped by at St Mary's Syrian Orthodox Church in town as well. It's where St Thomas the Apostle remains are burried.  Now that's pretty cool.  I don't think anyone I know can say that.

We took the day today to recover from the long hot trip to the east and this evening visited the African community at St Anthony's Church in the Beyoglu district for a prayer meeting.  What an awsome night.  I'll try and tell you more about it tomorrow but it's 1:30am and I'm exhausted.

We've been gone most of the day (and night) and it's now after midnight here so I'm not going to write tonight.  I did want to post a couple of pictures we took today with Bishop Timotheus Samuel Aktash.  He was quite vocal with his anger about Turkey's claim to Mor Gabriel's land and that it
is an attempt to rid the country of Syriac Christians entirely.

After starting the day with Mass and breakfast we hopped on our bus and set out for the city of Mardin. 

Our destination: the ancient Deyrul-Zafaran Monastery founded in 439.  It is one of the oldest in the world and the only one still functioning in Turkey.

We reached the monastery a couple of hours ago.  There's a very weak WiFi signal I'm able to pick up, but we can send and receive email.  Thank you Jesus!  If you could see where we are you'd be amazed at any type of amenities, maybe the picture helps.  Internet is a big happy surprise. We are basically near the peak of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.  An amazingly beautiful place which I look forward to exploring tomorrow.  We are three to a room and had to separate up by guys and gals.  I'm not with my daughters, which would have certainly been my preference, but it sounds like they're having fun next door with Savi and Seda.  I'm with Jon and Hagop.  I asked Hagop if he snored and he said he didn't know. . .  I think that's a bad omen.  I have my ear plugs at the ready.  It was an 8 hour drive from Iskenderun to get here and we made a couple of stops, so the trip took 12 hours.  Our first stop was in the city of Urfa.  The locals believe that Abraham was born here and have built a mosque on the "spot" where he was born.  Others say he was born in present day Iraq.  There is also a tradition that Abraham died here.  The local tradition is that Nimrod had Abraham immolated on a pyre but God turned the fire into water and the coals into fish.  There is a park with a pool full of fish that commemorates this event. 

Urfa, the locals believe, is also where Job was born. 

We also saw some old fashion adobe style huts that look like something Abraham would have lived in.  It was amazingly cooler in the huts than the 90+ degrees outside in desert-like arid land. 

Our second stop was in Haran at the ruins of a very ancient settlement on a bluff which dates back 4,000 years.  Adjacent to the ruins is a second set of ruins where the first mosque built in Anatolia (745) which was built. On the same land there was once a church, a temple and a univerity.  It was all destroyed by the Mongols.  Haran, according to Genesis 12, is where Abraham heard God call him for the first time to leave the land of his fathers and go to Canaan.

The ride was quite hot.  The small 17 passenger tour bus we hired doesn't have the best air conditioning system and the driver kept turning the fan down to put less pressure on the engine.  But we all did well with little complaint (yea team).  Another group of 15 from Istanbul is now traveling through the night (24 hours) to be with us for a program.  They are due to arrive at 7 or 8am. . . Ugh!

It's Sunday afternoon and we just wrapped up the weekend conference with Mass.  Calling it a meeting for those planning to attend World Youth Day in Madrid would be a stretch.  Without the presence of the main organizer, Fr Francis, it was very difficult to get the group together and only a few from that group of about 50 were able to join us here.  There was a group of 8 college aged Slovenians visiting here on a school outreach with two of their teachers. They are cleaning and generally helping the superior, Fr Martin (also Slovenian).  They are here for a few weeks and were very happy to receive us and be ministered to.  So in addition to the hand full of locals we also had Fr Macik, the Polish priest we met two years ago who is serving in Mersin, and Fr Jackie, a priest from Haiti who is living and serving at the Holy Spirit Cathedral.  In all we were a group of about 30.  We did presentations on overcoming fear, barriers to forgiveness, the sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion, and empowerment.  During the three days we were together we had Mass each day, adoration and every went to confession.

After almost four days in Turkey we finally have our entire team together and are doing what we set out to do.  The start of our outreach was somewhat rough.  My two daughters, Any and Christi, and our friend Savi arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  Unfortunately my luggage didn’t arrive with us.  It was still in Amsterdam.  But thankfully it did get on the next flight and arrived the following day.  One day without your stuff isn’t so bad.  
Pat Maroney, a veteran of four visits to Turkey with me and a very seasoned traveler with Renewal Ministries, was supposed to arrive the day after us (Wednesday) with her sister Beth.  Unfortunately they missed their plane at JFK and weren’t able to catch another one until Thursday.  This meant that they wouldn’t be able to fly to Antioch with the rest of us on Friday because their plane wouldn’t be landing in Istanbul until shortly after our departure.  Thankfully there was room on the next flight a few hours after ours and kind local friend, Jon, met them at the international terminal and helped them make the transfer.  It’s been a very long journey for them, but they’re now with us.
Lloyd and Nancy arrived on Thursday as planned.  They just returned from Papua New Guinea and had a few days at home in South Texas before leaving again.  It’s so good to have them with us one more time.
This is Savi’s second trip to Turkey and she was really hoping to go to Ephesus and visit the home of St Mary.  History and tradition say that she went to live there with the apostle John during the latter years of her life.  Just by coincidence our new translator for this year, Seda, a Christian convert living in Izmir, said that she could help make this happen.  So we sent Savi off on a plane Tuesday and she was back on Wednesday.  She’s very happy!  Seda and her friends showed her typical wonderful Turkish hospitality.
Other than making many trips back and fourth to the airport, Ani, Christi and I did fit in some visiting and shopping.  We made a trip to the covered bazaar, the spice bazaar and to the shops of four Armenian friends.  We also made many stops to the bakery, lahmajun oven, simit stand and a quick cheese boreg from a street vendor.  So don’t feel real bad for us, we have been quite happy.
Oh yea, I almost forgot to say that my ticket got bumped to first class for the long flight to Amsterdam.  This rarely happens on international flights for people with my frequent flyer status.  Actually the first ever for me.  I really think it was a way for God to bless Ani.  With her hips being so sore from the surgeries it’s really tough when she cant stretch her legs for long periods.  She not only got the extra leg room, but a messaging chair to boot.  We won’t dwell on the ‘pasta or chicken’ she missed out on with us small people behind the curtain in the back.
So this evening we began our outreach.  Back in the place where it all began for me in 1999, the beautiful city of Iskenderun.  If you read back in my blog to last year you’ll see that this is where my friend Msgr. Luigi was killed last year by his driver.  It’s my first trip back since then.  Things are different here without him of course but the superior, Fr Martin, and two other priests are doing a terrific job.  We are doing a retreat here for about 20 young people (19-30) and their leaders.  Some of them will be traveling to World Youth Day in Madrid next month to be with Pope Benedict.  We started with Mass and then after introductions I gave my testimony.  Since this city plays prominently in the story, it was great to be able to share it here.  Afterward Lloyd encouraged everyone to offer their lives more fully to Christ.  One of the priests came to us afterward and said he felt the evening was just for him.  I reiterated how I experience that during most every outreach.  We go to give and find ourselves receiving instead.
Tomorrow we will teach about the tools we’ve found helpful for dealing with fear.  Specifically by exorcising the gifts of forgiveness and helping to identify sources.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.  We can tell you’re interceding.