I woke at 3:30am this morning to shower and get ready for our adventure with Bharat and Bandana.

They picked us up before the crack of dawn and we stumbled into their Hyundai. We weren’t sure we were going to get too far as the gate to the community our hotel was in was closed and the guard was either not there, or asleep on the floor of his gate house.

We made a quick dash out the entrance gate while no one was looking and we were on our way east, toward the sun, and our ever elusive goal of the Bhutan border.

We saw the moon rise back over Siliguri from the Coronation Bridge as the sky began to lighten for the coming day.

The sun rose a little bit later, but the residents of Mal, or at least the proprietors of the motels (restaurants) in the town did not. We postponed breakfast and drove a bit further.

The town, don’t know the name, where we bought some bananas and oranges, looked like a war zone. Bandana said that they torn the fronts off the buildings to wider the highway through this sleepy little burg.

Back on the road again, we continued east and north till we came to Jaigaon, India. It the city on the border with Bhutan. The Bhutan Gate is the crossroads of the two countries.

We went to Indian Immigration to see about checking out of India so we could enter Bhutan. They were not sure whether Bhutan would let us across the border without already having a visa.

Bharat checked with the Bhutanese officer at the gate and was told we could if we already have a visa, which we could get online…a month before we want to cross. A few years back, we went to Nepal, and were able to purchase their 15 day visa at the border-not so with Bhutan.

We went a ways away from the guard at the gate and I was able to get part of me into Bhutan, at least. President Trump would be impressed with the Bhutanese security-and their version of a wall, I think.

We found a motel and had some local fare for brunch, went to Jaigaon’s Hong Kong Market, and then headed back toward Siliguri.

The woman in yellow was the mom who was picking produce for dinner. Her daughter had the protein selection for dinner in the red and white bag.

I’m not sure how fire safe that fabric on the wires was, but then I’m not a network engineer, nor a lineman for the county.

On our way back to Siliguri we ran into a crew bringing their morning pickings of tea leaves to the truck.

Back at the Coronation Bridge we got a better view of the bridge itself, and the local inhabitants.

Back in Siliguri, we then went to Bharat and Bandana’s home for dinner. Chicken, pork, rice, dal, greens, and cucumbers. Oh, and milk tea and samosas for appetizers.

After dinner, we took a group photo said thanks and good bye and then Bharat and his father-in-law took Rob and I back to the Montana Vista for our last evening in Siliguri.

Bharat and Bandana will pick us up at noon (check-out time) tomorrow. We’ll go grab some tea, eat some lunch, and head to Bagdogra yo begin our journey back to California.

I’m not sure when and where we might have internet access once we leave the Montana Vista. But if all goes well, we’ll be back at LAX about noon on Saturday.

We started our day at Word for the World Fellowship around 9am. There were 5-6 there waiting when we arrived. We setup up some chairs and started praying. More brothers and sisters arrived. We sang a couple praise songs. More friends came through the door. By 9:30 or so there were almost 30 of us in the room.

We brought a family to the center and gathered around them as we prayed for them. There was illness in their family, especially the children and when Word for the World Fellowship prayed for them earlier, there was healing and the family trusted God. We prayed that God would continue the healing and also strengthen and grow them spiritually as members of Word for the World.

Because we only had 7-8 cubes in the room, we broke into that many groups, with the plan that one of the 3 members of each group would share the Good News while the other two prayed, and they would rotate the one sharing each time they visited a new home.

We then loaded on some tum tums and in a couple of cars and headed for Chandmuni village. On the way we had to stop for a passing train. The gates came down about 10 minutes before the train got there, which caused a bit of a back up in both directions. Here are a couple of the sites while waiting for the train.

We got to the village at met up at Grace Church. This was not Dipesh’s fellowship, but one of 6 or so churches in the village. We prayed and worshipped as we got ready to head out in our teams, in various directions.

Bharat, Rob and I were one of the teams. We got to our first home and were invited to sit and share with a family of about 7-8. We didn’t have a cube with us, but that didn’t stop Rob from sharing the Good News with them. I prayed as Bharat interpreted for Rob.

The family listened intently and let us know that they liked what they heard and would discuss it as a family and that they knew of Grace Church and would go talk to the pastor with any questions they might have. They let us pray for them and then we walked down the road.

Along the way, we ran into 4 young men (teens and pre-teens). They followed us back to Grace Church were we sat out of the heat. We borrowed a Cube from the team that was there at the church preparing our lunch and I shared the Good News with 6 young men (they brought 2 more friends, one of whom was the son from the family we had just talked with).

One of these boys understood English fairly well, and though he offered to interpret, didn’t say anything after I did, so Bharat interpreted for me as well. I could tell he understood most of what I said though, he just didn’t quite understand the interpreting part of interpreting, I guess.

As you can see, we posed for a selfie with our new crew and thanked them for listening. I think at least half of them might now be disciples. Bharat exchanged phone numbers with one of them and they said they would be visiting Word for the World Fellowship.

There was only about 20 minutes till lunch was ready at this time, so we stayed in the church and greeted they other teams as they came back from their adventures. Several of them shared how their experiences went and we chatted about some ideas, giving feedback and suggestions on things they could try in the future.

We then had lunch – chicken, rice, dal, and cucumbers – followed by bananas for dessert. We thanked them for their hospitality and the encouragement they were to Rob and I. We prayed for them and they prayed for us. Rob and I so wanted to bring them back with us, to graft into our fellowship, so that the rest of our church could be encouraged by their obedience to the Great Commission. Maybe we can smuggle one of two of them into our luggage…

We said goodbye (a few times) and then drove back to town. We took a side trip to Hong Kong Market so Rob could visit the dentist and have a cap glued back on.

It’s about 8:30 and I’m heading to bed (I’ll let these photos upload while I sleep). Bharat and Bandana are picking us up around 4:30 tomorrow morning. We are driving to Jaigaon, Bhutan, just across the border from India to pray for opportunities the members of Word for the World Fellowship have a burden for, and which we might be able to play a part in down the road.

Pray for safety as we drive there and back. We will then be joining the Pradhan’s for dinner in their home tomorrow night, before heading back to our hotel.

After breakfast, Bharat picked us up from the Montana Vista and drove us to a village called Chandmuni. It is maybe a mile or so south of the City Center Mall. It used to be a tea village, but the workers are not picking tea anymore. Many of them have found jobs in Siliguri, some at the mall.

The above is the City Center Mall from Chandmuni village.

The medical camp was scheduled to begin at 9 and when we got there, the camp was ready to go, and there were even some patients waiting to be seen by the doctors.m Here is a video, giving you the lay of the land – it was not like the medical camps we had previously done with LTC.

Throughout the day, ten doctors (I think 4 of them were from Bharat’s church) spent some time in our tent, seeing the 300 or so Adivasi who came to our camp. Some of them were able to spend several hours with us. Others were only there for an hour or two, during their breaks from work. These were some of the top doctors in the Siliguri area. We had general practitioners, an OB/GYN, some pediatricians, a neuro-surgeon, and even a dentist. (Rob is going to visit the dentist later today to get a cap glued back on, I think…)

I spoke with a young man who had a skin rash that he developed playing football. He loves football but is going to school because his mom has convinced him that it is really hard to make a living playing football. He had an exam at his medium school in the early afternoon and was hoping to see a doctor in time to get to school. I prayed with him, that the doctors would be able to determine what the cause was and how to best treat it and that God would heal him to good health.

Each patient signed in with their name, gender, phone number and address so we could follow up with them to make sure their treatment was working and to do counseling with those who desired it.

We both had our BP checked and according to my daughter-in-law we’re doing just fine!

After the medical camp, we visited with an old friend from our LTC days, Dipesh Mukia. He leads a fellowship in this village. The land was donated by one of the members of the fellowship and the fellowship not only raised the funds and bought the materials, but constructed this building in which to meet for worship.

We encouraged these believers and were every more encouraged by them. We prayed for their continued faithfulness and partnership with God. They prayed for us as well! It was a great blessing for both Rob and I! There is a great opportunity to partner with this fellowship on future visits…and we’ll share more about that when we get home.

We then picked up Bandana and went to a new mall in Siliguri – the Vega Circle. It had 7 floors of shops, the sixth was a food court and a toy store, the top was a movie theater. We had an ethnically eclectic dinner and then returned to our hotel, where I think I fell asleep wishing 10, maybe 5 minutes of hitting the sheets.

Update from breakfast…I found this new treatment for allergies here at the Montana Vista. Cleared my sinuses up right away!

8:45am, our usual pickup time.

Breakfast was eaten (we had to send the over VERY easy eggs back to be done “American style”, but otherwise a tasty start to our day.)

Bharat brought us back to the room that Word for the World Fellowship rents at the City Centre. Our 9 o’clock session got started a little past 10, but I was able to make up the time.

The first session was on Contagious Disciple Making. We then took a break for tea around 11 and started our session on Discovery Bible Studies.

Rob and one of the young men sang an impromptu duet of How Great Thou Art after the break. After learning how to lead a person of peace and his/her family, friends, or neighbors in a discovery of who God is and what He wants us to know, we broke for lunch.

There were about 25 or so men and women at the seminars this day. Probably split fairly equally between the two.

In the final session, Rob taught how to use the eCube to share the Good News. We went through a presentation for them twice (Rob explained it as he shared it and then I did a sample with one of the young men so they could see it in action one more time.) Then we had them try it with each other.

Then we asked for a volunteer to come up front and try his hand at it. Dr. Paul, the Dentist, did an excellent job for his first time.

We wrapped up the day by answering questions, first about the eCube and then about things in general we had been discussing this week.

After a chat with Bharat and Avishek back in out hotel room, we went to Avishek’s home and were served a lovely chicken, rice, dal, and salad dinner.

—-

This morning, it’s almost time to go grab our breakfast. Oh…we ran into an old friend at the end of the day yesterday.

He is pastor at the village (right by the City Centre) where we are going to be doing a medical camp today. Several doctors, some from Word for the World Fellowship, and some who just wanted to join the medical camp will be caring for the members of the tea garden where Dipesh lives and works.

Thanks for your prayers, they are very much appreciated, and we truly see the result of God’s answering them!

Bharat and Aksha picked us up at the hotel around a quarter to nine and drove us to the City Center Mall.

The 9 to 11 service started about 9:15. There was about 45 minutes of so of singing and praising God. The offering and testimonies came next. And then I spoke on the mission of God and being partners with Him in that mission. Bharat came up next and fixed any mistakes I had (actually he just summarized, I think…as it was in Nepali). The service was over about 11:20 and we hung out and made some new friends before heading over to KFC for lunch then walked back to the hotel (about half a miles maybe).

We had a good conversation with Avishek in our hotel room and then at about 3:30, Bharat and his wife, Bandana came to pick us up for the 4pm service. The music style was unlike any other Indian church I had attended in my trips to India. Rob then taught about how we should imitate the apostle Paul as he imitated Christ. We made some more new friends and then headed back to the hotel to eat some dinner and get some sleep.

At dinner we were treated to some of these…

A couple of days ago, Rob Marton and I climbed aboard an Air China 777, bound for Bejing. 24 hours (plus 2 transfers and a short nap in the hotel in the Delhi airport) later, we found ourselves at the Bagdogra Airport, just outside Siliguri, India.

We were picked up by our Indian brothers, Avishek and Bharat-a very good welcome! The drive into Siliguri was both familiar and new.

As you can see from the photo, the national highway is being upgraded and in the future this drive will be elevated, and the view will be different.

We’re not staying at our usual Siliguri dwelling on this trip. Instead of the Appolo, we are staying at a hotel called the Montana Vista. It’s newer than the Appolo, more modern in design as well, and more importantly, it’s much closer to where we will be going on this trip (potentially saving 1-1.5 hours of driving time each day.)

The Montana Cafe is billed as ’24-hour’ and while its true we’ve been able to sit and order something to drink or a limited selection of appetizers, dinner is not served until 7:30pm and breakfast can’t be ordered until 7:30am.

The food is good and reasonably priced, though the selections are not always familiar. The Montana Vista is nestled away in a residential area and much more quiet than the hustle and bustle of the Appolo. Another difference between the hotels is that we always saw other westerners at the Appolo and were able to chat which them in English in the lobby and restaurant. I haven’t seen any other westerners here yet. And the wait staff here don’t seem as English savvy. I’m not complaining-just observing.

Breakfast is eaten and I have about half an hour till Bharat comes to pick us up. It’s Sunday morning here. I’m speaking in Bharat’s church this morning and Rob is preaching in it tonight (they have 3 services each Sunday, in a church of about 100 if everyone came at once).

We covet your prayers. I guess I better go figure out what I want to say in church this morning!

I woke up a little bit earlier today and went out to take a picture of one of the other things Cappadocia is famous for…

Then we took a little hike–DOWN hill this time!! From the hotel up on the hill, to the city down below.

Then we all climbed back on board Kaptain Fred (the van) and headed back to Ankara. Along the way we stopped to help this little fellow safely across the highway.

  
We got back to Filipus just in time to grab a pot of soup and take it to the weekly meeting of the Filipus staff/workers for a little fellowship and prayer.

  
Then, at about 10:45pm we walked back to our Ankara home. Tomorrow is the last day in Turkey for most of the class. Four will be staying on for part, or most, of the summer, doing internships for school.

I was too tired last night to type and wanted to find my pillow, and I tried to post some pictures of our jam-packed day before I went to sleep but even though the wifi signal was strong, the Internet was unwilling. So I’m trying again this morning…

Let’s see if I can remember all that happened yesterday. If I recall, after breakfast we loaded in the van and drove towards a town by the name of Güzelyurt. Along the way we listened to a podcast about Monasticism and learned a really old (but cool) hymn. The little mound in this fist picture would be our first stop . On top of that rock is St. Analipsis Church. There are remains surrounding the rock date as far back as the Hittites, and show that the area has been inhabited since that time. It’s seemingly last refurbishment was in 1894. The following pictures are as we get closer and arrive.

Once in the church itself, we sang the hymn we learned earlier in the morning. It dates back to the time that this church was being used for worship, though the tune w modernized and our lyrics were in English. We then drove back into the town and had some lunch on a sidewalk cafe – a place Ryan said was his favorite in all of Turkey. He ordered his favorite dishes and we ate family style. It was all really good-and authentic.  

After lunch we walked around Güzelyurt to explore this cool little town. Murray bought a plate and had the artist who painted it autograph the bottom. We also ran across what looked like a subway entrance but more likely led to a cistern.

If I understood correctly, this little town was known for Christians and Muslims living peacefully together for hundreds of years. There are Christian churches and monasteries all over the countryside here. Most were in the caves carved into the sandstone cliffs. In the 1920s, I think, Greece and Turkey did a population swap with all the Christians from here being relocated to Greece and all the Muslims from there being relocated to Turkey. All the Christians from Güzelyurt were relocated to Greece at that time.

We then packed into the van a drove to Çiftlik, into a peaceful valley, at about 5,800 feet in elevation. Notice the glaciers on the mountains in the background. On my son’s suggestion, a few of us got out of the van and walked to the little red church down the road. It was a gorgeous day (rain hadn’t started…yet) and it was really cool to approach the church the way many visitors would have, on foot.  

This church was built in the fifth or sixth century, possibly during the reign of Emperor Justinian. The property belonged to the family of Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the Cappadocian Fathers. It’s sits right net to the road which was the route between Constantinople and Antioch. It was also a stop for pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. The Red Church was recently restored (the dome and some supporting structure) by the World Monuments Fund and is one of the earliest surviving Christian buildings in Turkey-most likely predating the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. It’s certainly not as marvelous as he Hagia Sophia, but my visit here actually touched my soul/spirit even more profoundly. I’ve been to much older ruins, some of which are Christian, but this little church in this beautiful valley was used by God to strengthen and deepen my faith like none of the rest have.

While in this church, we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. In the same place ages of our brothers and sisters have done the same. As this church was still being used into the early 20th century, that’s at least 1,500 years of communion going on there. It was one of the highlights, if not THE highlight of my trip. It was an almost tangible connection to possibly thousands of my brother and sisters in Christ throughout the centuries. My only regret is that we didn’t drive away in silence…

The church used to be surrounded by a city. The rocks which now are piled up between the fields used to be houses and other buildings in a bygone era. About 100 yards away from the church was a tree on a mound. The mound is actually the walls of a building that they think might have been the house of Gregory of Nazianzus. If that’s truly the case, and the house and church were there at the same time, then the church could actually be dated back to the fourth century. Next to the house was the actual road that went to Istanbul to the west and Antioch to the east.

   
  
 We did a lot more yesterday but it’s bout time to check out of the hotel and see some stuff and drive back to Ankara for our last night in Turkey. So I’ll have to finish this post later

We visited a LOT of church/monastery sites (in and out of the rain), both caves and traditional structures. One we went to after the Red Church is in a place called Monastery Valley, outside the little town of Güzelyurt. It is now called the Güzelyurt Church Mosque. 

On the drive back to our cave hotel we drove through a little weather. Of course we had to stop and let the children play with the snow (hail)…

Then we stopped at a mall and had a little dinner. 

I wanted to see a movie, but wanted to get back “home” even more.

  
We finally got back to our hotel, shared and debriefed and then I took a short stroll before heading back to my cave for the night.

We are in the region of Cappadocia and checked in to our hotel. The rooms are on the side of the hill and not really cave rooms-well, except for mine (which is carved out of the limestone, in the belly of the rest of the hotel – no widows but I got my own queen sized bed and bathroom. The girls got rooms on the upper floor and have the best views of the valley.

I’m still amazed at how green Turkey is. Here’s a picture or two of the drive out of Ankara…

Our Quiet Time didn’t really become official, but the first hour or so was pretty quiet anyway…

  
The drive to Uçhisar was fairly uneventful. We pulled over once to get some native raisins and hazelnuts at a roadside stand. There was some huge things being moved that was on three different trucks, each taking up both  lanes of the two lanes alloted to our direction.

   
    
Here’s a couple/three pictures of my room …

While eating lunch at the hotel, we are learning about early church history (particularly how communal monasticism started – in Egypt, and right here where we are now – separately from each other, but happening simultaneously with each other.) We also learned how missional movements sprung out of these monastic communities. 

Tuesday morning, June 2nd. Murray and I have been to the market to get some bananas, oranges, yellow honeydew, bread, and jam (I THINK it’s boysenberry, but it might be mulberry, or maybe blackberry…) The rest of the class is now 1 minute late from official start of breakfast time so I’m gonna go grab something to eat before they show up and it disappears in the whirling of the dervishes.

  
No sooner did I click “post” than these guys popped in the kitchen door…he who hesitates doesn’t get as much to eat.

Today I think we’re going in to some part of town to serve soup which the students at Filipus made here last night. They do this every Tuesday. We most likely will be helping behind the scenes since none of us speak much Turkish.

It’s Wednesday morning as I continue this post and we’re about ready to drive to Capaddocia for a two night stay. Yesterday we went to the Ataturk Mausoleum and Museum and then spent the afternoon at the church with the Filipus students, passing out invitations, serving soup and tea and bread, praying for those who might and would come, cleaning out a storage shed. Then we all piled into the van, stopping along the way so that a couple of our students could learn a Turkish dance on the sidewalk. That evening we went to the home of an American family who are workers here in Ankara for some fellowship, pizza, and ping pong.