Nothing is Random

Knowing that God does all kinds of unexplainable things I shouldn’t be surprised at the experience I had today at the police station. While I certainly can’t explain how it all came about, I know it was not some random chance. I suppose I ought to begin with a little backstory. Just a few weeks ago we moved to Istanbul. I went to the shopping forum a few metro stops away from the school in order to go explore the area where we live. While I was heading back to the metro after walking around the center I saw a couple of guys speaking sign language. I know that American Sign Language is not the same language that the deaf community here speaks but I decided to go up to them and try to communicate something. In the end I just wrote down on a piece of paper, “Amerikalıyım” to indicate that I was from the states. Then I hopped on the metro and went home.

Only a few days later I got on the metro again from the stop near my house. As I stepped on the metro car, the two guys directly in front of me were the very same ones from the forum. I couldn’t believe it. Quickly, I ripped off my sunglasses and the guys greeted me with the patriotic head tap (it’s like the kissing of cheeks, except here men just touch the sides of their foreheads together). I was shocked to see them again and was a bit frustrated that I couldn’t communicate with them well. Even the letters of the alphabet have different signs. I was able to get one of their names but that was it. Shortly after that I arrived at my stop and had to disembark.

It was extremely surprising to randomly come across a couple guys I had already met; I had only been living here for ten days. So I did what anybody would do; I Tweeted about it. And then I emailed everyone telling them what happened asked some people to pray it; if God wanted me to connect with them again we would cross paths. Today my roommates and I went to the police station to get our residents permits. As we left we walked down the street and waited for our guy to bring up the car. That’s when I looked across the street and I saw the two deaf guys from the forum. I quickly ran over to them and exchanged numbers before our car pulled up.

I shouldn’t be so surprised, but I am. I love it! I love that God drew me to them, and is giving these divine appointments! Now that I have their numbers I have already exchanged text messages with them and soon we’ll meet up for tea to get better acquainted. This is just one small piece of what’s going on. All that God is doing isn’t revealed to me, and it’s not my time to know so that’s okay. However, the people I meet want to hang out. A second guy has asked to come to church with me. Since when do people ask that?! I’m excited to see where these relationships all lead. Maybe I will never see the outcome of building these bridges and planting these seeds. But I know that as opportunities arise I want to jump on them. I don’t want to let another chance meeting with someone to slip away. Thankfully, God’s work is not dependent on me. I can mess up and God still works things out for his honor. That is my hope now. I want to step into what God has, not try to make something happen on my own. More divine appointments will occur!

Lots of Learning

My life in Istanbul seems full of new experiences and challenges. Two days ago I told myself that I could stay here for a long time. Yesterday I was over it. So there are clearly ups and downs. Last Sunday my friend who I had met on the metro came to a Turkish church with me and he continues to be interested in learning about life in Jesus Christ. He introduced himself to the church telling them all that he felt welcomed by them and a warm presence with the community. Unfortunately, he is heading off to university tomorrow in the capital city so I won’t see him for a while, but hopefully he can get connected with some people there that will help him as he seeks God. The good news is that he’ll be taking the Bible we gave him! He’s already begun reading it and the theological study keeps his interest—I just can’t wait for him to get to the New Testament. When we hung out last night one of his other friends told me that he too wanted to come to church. Hopefully, when I’m not at work, I can keep getting to know this group of guys who are seeking to know more about God.

It’s weird having a 9-5 job. It’s still a tough transition as I enjoy late nightlife but it’s also a blessing to have all my evenings free. Working in a high school is a completely different experience too; I don’t think I could have been prepared for some of the challenges here. I teach 21 periods throughout the week. The majority of the students here are boys; of my seven classes only two have a couple girls. In the classes that are all boys it’s evident that there is at least one student who wants to learn English. It makes me so sad to see their eagerness and watch their comrades continuously disrupt learning. I’m throwing around the idea of an English club that would meet after school in order to help the earnest students of different levels speak in English more often in an environment that would further facilitate language acquisition.

So glad it’s almost the weekend again, just one class left. I don’t have plans, but we are in the process of getting our work visas from the government so that we can officially work at the school. Then once I have my visa I’ll be able to leave the country and return without issue. This November we have about two weeks off for a holiday, Kurban Bayramı. Apparently, there is a lot of blood in the streets as it’s the time for sacrifice. It’d be intriguing to see and learn about the culture, but I also am considering getting out for a time, maybe visiting a friend nearby since we have such an extended break. We will see, but either way, continued adventures await!

Progress!

We have our own apartment and what a blessing this is for us! For the first ten days in Istanbul we were living in the dormitories of our school; while we were glad to have the school providing food for us at the cafeteria for each meal we have more fun exploring our neighborhood for local eateries and grocery stores. Of course, it’s not all food that we appreciate. It’s nice to have a room to call my own, a kitchen to store and make food, and our washing machine is now hooked up as well. I can’t believe that we have this place! The IKEA is only a few stops away on the metro, which is about a ten-minute walk from our place—if your hands are free! Our first night here we walked to the shopping center and got a load of cleaning supplies, lampshades, water, and other things to get us started. We are still trying to figure out a few things; among them are one of the sinks that doesn’t drain and the wires coming out of the ceiling where there could be a fixture. It’s small potatoes though; it’ll work out. Really, having a place is awesome.

In Turkey, a home is a place to invite guests and have real connection and serve the people who come to your home. In fact, our homes came with teacups and a teapot but not toilet paper! Now that says something about the culture. Tea is not a drink but a way of communication. Having tea means being interested in somebody else’s life, it means being hospitable, so we drink often. Going to work was particularly challenging at first. My boss told me we would have a meeting the next day after breakfast. When I saw him at the school cafeteria at breakfast he reminded me and I told him I’d see him upstairs five minutes later. Upon getting to the meeting however he wasn’t there so I called him only to discover he had left and said that I should return in an hour. An hour later I came back, and he was watching the news in the lounge. We ordered tea; we talked about traveling and what was going on in the world. After twenty minutes he said he was leaving for a couple hours and I wouldn’t see him until after the weekend. While some might like this idea of “work” the lack of efficiency and value for personal time is driving me bananas.

This past week has been significantly better compared to last week but still seems quite unproductive. I now know that I’m teaching high school. The classes get shuffled around and thus I may not be teaching the same grades two weeks from now. At this point I have one freshman class, several sophomore classes, and one class of juniors. I’ve been given a program that I installed on my computer that contains all the books I will teach from and all the info I’ll need to teach the lessons, which certainly lightens my load! Preparing lessons is still somewhat futile, as I don’t know these students’ level. The one lesson I did write is for a class that I don’t have anymore so I’ve decided to wait until I meet the students and see their needs first. School begins on Monday; I’m not nervous but ready to finally jump in—let’s just hope they figure out a schedule soon.