Central Asia: Day Two

Today was a scavenger hunt! We were split into three random groups and our guides were instructed not to translate for us, but to pretend to speak only English. They were strictly instructed not to help us. We had a whole list we had to do, the main goal of which was to force us to interact with the Turkish people. The first task we tackled was each member of the group drinking Ayran, which is liquid yoghurt and tastes kind of like salty buttermilk. I failed miserably - it was definitely the lowest point of my trip so far. It's not that it tastes bad, because it didn't taste that bad, but every time I put a tiny sip in my mouth I'd gag and only barely keep from throwing up. In about two hours I managed to drink about 1/3 cc of it. After I'd been carrying it around with me for about an hour trying to get it down, my team leader told me to just throw it out because it wasn't worth ruining my day over. So I felt bad about that for the rest of the day.

Nothing else today challenged me quite as much as that did. The guys did most of our talking, since most of it required approaching Turkish men. We all had to use a squatty potty, which everyone always makes a big deal out of but which don't really bother me. We got to eat some really yummy Turkish ice cream bars, as well as some other Turkish food. I love lamb and usually choose to get it over chicken, unlike most of the others. We also got to ride the metro around for a little while, which was cool too, since I love subways. We met a really cool lady who helped us with some of the things in the scavenger hunt and even rode the metro with us. We want to try and contact her again before we leave the city. After all this, my team lost the scavenger hunt.


The city
was never
ending -
it just went
on and
on and
on and
on . . .
all the way
back to the
mountains.




Once the teams had all reconvened, we all headed to one of the higher points along the mountain our city is built into and got to overlook the city at sunset. It was beautiful, but also very sobering. Looking over the city, it's like it's never ending - everywhere you look is city, stretching out into the horizon and even up the sides of the mountains. You see minarets everywhere, since there are mosques every block. You also see the disrepair the city is in, and it makes me want to cry out to these people, because I know their city and their lives reflect one another and that God longs to rebuild this city and restore it to glory. This people is a beautiful people and it's sobering to know that they live their lives in the shadow of all these minarets, of this law with its intensely restrictive rules and regulations when they don't need to. Instead they could have the joy and the peace and the assurance that comes with knowing the Lord. At this time, we know of about 40 Christians among the 2 million inhabitants of this city.



One of the
dozens of
minarets
piercing the
landscape,
broadcasting
the call to
prayer five
times every
day.









"How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? [...] So faith comes through hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ."
~Rom 10:14, 17

God wants to do something about it and I'm so glad the Summit has pledged to be a part of that. Whether or not I'm ever personally a part of it, I'm glad that I'm at least associated with someone who's doing something.




Our
beautiful
city at
sunset.