Expectation

There are moments in life where we all question why, we all wonder, and we all strive in vain, wishing it could be some other way. Expectations in life can be a dangerous thing, as can dreams but without them what would life be but a mere day with a sun up and a sun gone down. I am not satisfied with a life without dreams with a life of no hope or no expectations of a faithful God. To hope and believe in a faithful God is a vulnerable thing but one without disappointment. To expect things from God...well we must, it is our act of faith to expect that God will pull through for us but we some how miss the point when our expectations fulfill our own gain. I feel stupid time and time again when I have to realize that the God of heaven who made the universe obviously knows better than I do. When things don't happen as I expect them to I can know that God is doing better things, but at the time my heart is only filled with these selfish questions, why can't it be my way? To let go for a guy like me...not easy. To trust...I fight it. To believe that God has something better in store...I must. True expectation of a faithful God is not about how He can fulfill my dreams but how I can fulfill His. About how my life becomes one with the desires of God, and before I know it I am walking in His footsteps. I guess that is what faith is really about isn't it? Coming in line with the Divine and perfect will of a perfect God? Well my faith has certainly been stretched these past weeks to open my eyes and see the movements of a faithful God. I have certainly had to let go these days and trust that the things God has in store for my life are far better than the things that I could wish for in my life. Tonight I get on a plane for Africa, by tomorrow at this time I will be standing in a war torn land of poverty and need. I expect God to do amazing things there and I know already that it is not how I could imagine it but only as He wants it. May this same faithful God lead my steps there as He has here. Daniel

Greece and Bulgaria

I don't enjoy putting up posts as much without photos to go with it. The last while our camera has been giving us difficulties. Now that we got it fixed, I'm excited to get lots of photos on now.

Basically after we were spending time with all the locals in Sulcuk (Effisis) we took a ferry to Samos island in Greece. We experienced the unbelievable beauty that was there. Then we went by ferry to Athens where we went to Acropolis to see the ruins on the mountain top. From Athens we went up the east coast by train to Katerini on a quest to experience a pure form of the Greek culture we were still trying so hard to find. Unfortunately we found it to be a mini Vegas on the beach that was packed with Eastern European tourists. From there we went to Sofia in Bulgaria, which was a cheaper place to stay and to see the churches and parks in the city. Now we have returned to Istanbul Turkey, where we will fly out of on Friday to Uganda.

To be honest I've felt a little let downs since we left for Greece. I had expectations of finding someone or something that would give us a new great experience. That I would somehow connect with the culture and have an experience that would be uniquely Greek, but yet I feel we hardly experienced the culture at all the way I hoped to. We have often prayed that we will meet someone either at the ferry, the hostel, or where ever. That a person would offer us a place to stay or to introduce us to his circle of friends. It is not just a way to save money but to experience what life is truly like for the people in each place. The three of us were hoping and praying that we would see the Greek culture this way. But it didn't happen. We saw it from 'the outside', like a tourist. These last weeks I've felt a lot like a tourist, we just need the flower shirts to go with the image. It's the times like this on our trip that I question how useful I really am, what purpose I have here? I still trust God has called us to tour the world, to go where we have gone, but I sometimes fail to see why. Perhaps there is a lesson in this that I must learn. Maybe our journey is not always gonna look the way I expect it to. That my will doesn't always line up with God's. That I need to trust He is using us the way He desires. I have seen some cool things these last two weeks: we saw maybe some of the most beautiful ocean water, and rocky islands while were in Greece. We saw the Greek Orthodox churches that stand on top of little mountain peaks and experienced the effect the religion has on the people's lives. We've also met heaps of travelers, people from all over. We have shared the gospel of Jesus with them and listened to all different questions they have. Many of them have their own views of God, life, and the world. A part of me thinks I have heard it all, but I know that I've only scratched the surface of what there is out there. I imagine that as we arrive in Africa on Saturday we may be entering into a whole new land of different worldviews. I expect that I will continue to be stretched while I'm there and I don't expect that Africa will be much like anything I've seen before. We have 6 weeks in Africa, after that we will be in Europe until November, and we are asking for the strength to finish strong. There is so much more to do and see. We covet your prayers.

Kenton

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I'm not sure who this kiss is for...

Time Travel

Thus far our time here in Turkey has been an adventurous one. Starting from getting caught up in a big scam in Istanbul, to experiencing the collide of muslim and christian in the Hagia Sophia museum. Then upon arriving here in Solcuk we have had the rad experience of going and checking out the ancient city of Ephesus, as well as just today we made our way to a beach on the Aegean Sea where Dan and Kenton found a cliff to huck ourselves off of. These experiences intermingled with meeting the people has made Turkey a wonderful place for the three of us.

In the early morn of our 244 day travelling we ventured first into the Blue Mosque. It was absolutely brilliant in all its magnitude. The outside was a fantastic architectural feat, while the inside could not help but take one outside of themself and think on a bigger scale. From there we crossed through a wonderful plaza with a gushing fountain and tourists from all around the world, to enter the gates of Hagia Sophia. From the outside Sophia looks to be a run down shadow of her former glory. But as one enters through the large steel doors and first lays eyes upon the breathtaking interior you realize what a true gem she is. The mix of muslim and Christian art intrigues and confounds, so opposed and yet inhabiting the same building for all to see. It was from there that we travelled the ten hour bus ride to Solcuk the town that now resides on the outskirts of ancient Ephesus. This place was another incredible experience for me. Walking through this city that was once the epicenter of the whole world, brought so much life to Pauls words in his letter to the Ephesians. We got the unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of the lifestyle and culture of those times. From the worship of Artemis, to the openly public brothels, and the opulent wealth that was Ephesus. Then just today we made our way down to the beach on the Aegean sea. It was rather a normal beach except for the superb cliff jumping that was just around the bay. Dan and Kenton spent a bit of time exploring and finding what looked like and excellent place to jump. So after little hesitation Dan hucked himself from the five meter cliff, praying that it was deep enough!! As the afternoon continued on we found ourselves wanting to take the next step and to begin diving, so there Kenton took the lead and dove from the highest point possible! After that Kenton encouraged Dan and myself also to take the plunge. So one after another we spent the rest of the afternoon diving off of these cliffs into the clear blue waters below! We even met some other crazy locals that joined us and we became friends with. They invited us to hang out for the evening and so after getting back from the beach we chilled out with some of the local guys and even got to share the gospel with them and why we believe that its the truth, and applicable to all people. It was a cool night, the people here are incredibly friendly and were excited to hang out with them more as the week progresses. So those are just a few of our recent adventures here in Turkey. While you read this please pray for this country also. It is predominantly a Muslim nation with very little Christian involvement. Yet there is so much hope, as we have talked with the youth here, many of them believe in a god and say they are not muslim, but instead searching. Thus be in prayer for transformation and understanding, prayer truly does revolutionize nations! Lehmann

We find ourselves walking ancient streets once again. Istanbul Turkey is a city of fascinating history. Once known as Constantanople this city was taken over by Islamic rule hundreds of years ago and the result is a country devoted to the god of Islam. Here Islam is most definitely prominent as Mosque's fill the landscape in every direction possible. I am glad to be in Turkey though and I am expecting great things of this country. Though I see the face Islam everywhere I am confident that the workings of a faithful loving

father God is moving in this country. We still have no idea our purpose here or where we will go or how long we will stay but I know a God who knows all those details and in His good time we will also know. I remember a morning a long while back walking the streets of Eston in a thick fog early one morning and I was asking God to know my future, I wanted Him to just tell me what I would do and I heard the voice of God so clearly that morning tell me "look down the road, you can see less than a block but its all you need to see because as you walk you will see more, that's your future. You don't need to know what is farther down the road, I know what's beyond the fog and I will show you what you need to see. Just keep walking" It was a moment of revelation in my life and something I have to really obey these days. We all trust that God has been leading our journey from the beginning but sometimes sitting in these moments its a lot harder than telling the story after the fact. So as the Lord leads us we will continue on in hopes of meeting people and seeing the fascinating history of this land. Daniel

This could be you

Ya I know some may say the whole mullet thing is getting old primarily Kendall but you gotta understand I am in a culture of mullets and I am just trying to fit in, so go easy on me I really am innocent. Nice yamakuks huh?

this is the famous wailing wall of Jerusalem where thousands come daily to pray for the restoration of the temple.

we try to party like its 1999

There's some paint for you The mount of Olives

Flashbacks to the good days

Well just wanted to give some extra visual to the whole stories thing. Dream big cause there is no reason these pictures couldnt be of you! Life on the road gets tiresome but the blessing always weigh heavier. Looking back on 8 months of travel now it is incredible to see the hand of a faithful God in a broken world. Well I hope you enjoy and that you have a blessed day. Shalom and blessings to all. Dan

Jesus Walked

The history I have studied about the land of Israel has given me a picture of it being like a knot in a rope that is being used in a 'tug a war'. The borders are always being hit with blows from both sides. Many of their wars, even within the last century, have been miraculous victories (or even just survival) with uneven odds that are working against them. Many people claim that God's hand is still protecting this nation like in the days of the Old Testament. As a result of all this fighting these people are tough. They have had to live much like a 'boy named Sue' where you 'get tough or die'. Even the women, we have often seen them at all the check points, dressed in the full military attire. Even the ladies you see on the street that are wearing the trendy and fashionable clothing are sometimes packing an automatic rifle, as they are chatting on their mobiles. Last night Jordan noticed a pretty tough truck that was jacked up with big mudder tires, getting fixed right on the side of the street by three ladies our age. Two of them were underneath the truck one was under the hood, their tools in hand. They seemed prepared for any unexpected problems, wearing their white pants. He probably would have gone over to say, 'Hi' but I think he was scared of getting beat up. This country truly has a thick skin and you seen it with all the check points and the racial screening. Arabs can be full citizens here and will still not be allowed to buy land. Israel has a fear that someone may be plotting against them. Who can blame them when you think of the surrounding neighbors, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt who have at one time or another waged attacks with Israel. Even within the country there are Palestinian states, the West bank, and Gaza, who are usually not very peaceful. So this is what we see in the Holy Land today. The place God promised to His people through Moses. The place where Jesus Walked. Jesus did walk around in these hills, and even when he heard about His dieing friend, Lazarus, it would have been a 3 day walk to go see him. Today those paths are a little flatter and covered with a smooth layer of asphalt. And so we too, decided to venture out and explore this land on a 'road trip'. The group was Scott, Anthony, Jordan, Daniel, and I. The trip was called, 'Aqua Adventures in Israel' or 'Canada Day's Beach Party in Israel'. The mission was to circle the entire border of Israel and swim in all 4 bodies of water and the Jordan river in 24 hours. Scott has perfected the Arabic language, and Anthony was able to loosen up most check point officers with his Witty Hebrew. And the three of us were able to... well we're Canadians eh, so our bases were covered with the different neighborhoods we would be entering. We woke up at 4am and were on the road at 4:45. We went over to the Dead Sea (again, but this time on the Israeli side) and drove south down the shore as the sun was rising over the Jordanian mountains across the sea from us. We passed by the high mountains as we drove south through the Arava Valley passing by the caves of the 'Dead Sea Scrolls'. We made a quick stop to have our bodies healed and every bodily opening burned in the waters of the Dead Sea. We went further south, past garrison of Masada where, in the first century, each Jew on the hilltop committed suicide before their defeat by the Roman Army, that was camped in the valley below them. The valley lead us all the way down to the Red Sea, where we found it to be like a beach town. It was really nice clear blue water that we could see some colourful fish and the reef as we swam. From that point we could see the hills of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt while swimming just off the Israeli beach. After our short swim, we moved on up along the border of Egypt, cruising through the dessert. We passed over the hills and through the valleys, seeing many different places that I imagined to be the battle fields of some of the largest armored tank battles the history of the world, that took place only around 40 years ago. I tried to imagine the scene of such a large amount of land mines, being hit as rows and rows of tanks would be advancing into enemy territory all firring shells. Seeing fighter jets doing fly by bombings and 'dog fighting' in the air. All of this would have been to a greater scale than Hitler's battles against Russia in the WWII. We were stopped at a check point when we were advancing towards the Gaza Strip. We were advised to take a route further from that border, unless of course we had guns. There was no joking here, it seemed that the next check point in that direction was only letting people with any kind of gun go by. Since Jordan forgot his air soft at the church we felt we shouldn't risk it. I guess 3 rockets had fallen from Gaza that day already. Our secondary route took us through one huge hole in the ground. It has been there a long time, so no one really knows what happened. There are two theories I heard; because the rock that they find on the bottom of the hole, people think it is either a huge space rock that hit, or some kind of volcanic activity. I think it may have something to do with Star Wars. Either way we enjoyed standing on the edge of those big cliffs throwing big rocks down and watching them explode into dust when they hit. Later on, we did actually find ourselves getting right up beside the border of the Gaza Strip where we could see into what seemed to be a very normal peaceful town over the border. We didn't make any stops there, we just continued over to the Mediterranean. We happened to find a beach with some waves that people were surfing. So we were able to ride in the waves for a few mins before we drove on north, up the entire coast. It was a beautiful drive, that sort of reminded me of the North American west coast. It was a very beautiful drive that we all enjoyed. Although Dan managed to hurl hummus and bread onto the road and on the side of the car after we ate, it was alright we had all finished by that point. We had to drive through Tel Aviv and some small towns during rush hour and we were put behind schedule, so at that point we were rushed to make it to our next point which was a mountain top that borders Israel and Lebanon, where we hoped to see the military forces cruising around at that very tense border, and to see the sun set from that point. We managed to be just a little to late and were only able to see the lights of the border and towns around. From there we went for Pizza and continued to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River for a swim. We knew the sun wasn't there to dry our shorts after our swim to get back into the car, so as a result we decided to not post those photos of this swim on the blog. Our drive back to Jerusalem was long and dark, each one of us was fighting to stay awake. (I usually loose that fight) But after a few driver rotations we made it back with a little time to spare. Our Mission Was Accomplished! All around this awesome country in 24 hours.

Kenton.