Turkey Update

Brandon, It has been a good week here in Antalya. We started facilitating English-Turkish conversation classes this week, which we are doing on Mondays and Thursdays. On monday we had a lot of students and talked as a group for almost 2 hours. It was fun to talk to native Turks and learn about their views on things and their culture. They were also interested in American culture but mostly for the first day they told us about Turkey, the changes happening here, the places we should visit, the food we need to try, music stations to listen to, and talked about Ataturk, the founder of Turkey who we had learned about from Ben and Verna. All Turks have a picture of Ataturk in every room in their homes and offices. On Thursday the format of the conversation group class was very different, and we paired up for conversations and met some new people. Through the conversation groups we hope to havethe chance to build relationships outside of class. After class thursday we went to dinner with one of the students named John, which was fun. The crafts and gymnastics are going great and the kids are starting to know us and really like spending time with us. One group of the younger kids were so cute the other day after gymnastics lessons when they were all eating lunch inside thier lunch room. When we walked by outside the window they all stood up and waved and smiled and said "bye bye! goodbye!" which we have been teaching them taught them to say. A couple days a week two of us are starting another craft project with another group of kids at Tanchule's business (our lead translator). She runs a little learning program that lasts 2 and a half hours, 2 days a week. Im the only one of us who has helped at that yet, besides Alisha, from Ellensburg. Health wise we are all healthy except for Amy, who has been battling a cold/caugh/sinus infection which slowly gotten worse since we arrived 2 and a half weeks ago. So she could definately use some prayers for a quick return to health! The rest of us have only dealt with minor stomach upsets and small injuries such as cuts... (Well I managed to rugburn my nose the other day during the gymnasics lesson but we wont get to much into that). Some of you may have heard about the bombing on a bus filled with tourists on a coastal town in Turkey, but it wasn't near us so no need to worry. We are all fine. However please pray that we continue to stay safe and stay clear of any incidents such as that in the upcoming weeks, especially since we are in a tourist area and will be traveling on the weekends. Next weekend we are still planning to go to Ephesus, which we are really looking forward to! Yesterday we went to see the ancient Amphitheater and ruins at a the ancient town of Side, (pronounced Seeday) How amazing it was to walk on the same paths of people thousands of years ago! Mary loved to look at the Archetectural structures that were still standing. Afterward we saw a waterfall at a nearby town called Manavegat. It was nice to get out of Antalya for a few hours and see some of the surrounding area. We started a bible study with Verna, her daughter Karn, Alicia, and a girl named Chole from England. We are doing it on Theresa of Avila. So far we like it and it is great to get together as a group each sunday and review the week. Mary has been singing and playing the piano at Wednesday worship and Sunday church, which has been awesome! I attempted to help sing today and last wednesday, which was fun and challenged my courage. So that's it for now, and we are continuing to think about and pray for all of you wherever you are!Love, Kim, Amy, Heather, and Mary