Days 7 & 8

Saturday November 7

For the last two days we have been in Mersin, a city of maybe 900,000 with over half under the age of 24. It's a very pretty setting right on the Mediterranean Sea along Turkey's southern coast. I first came here in 2000 when Fr Bruno was the pastor here and subsequently visited 4 more times until he was moved to Istanbul. That coincided with an increase in activity in the Armenian community which took much of our attention. Now that things have slowed down with the Armenians, Fr B really wanted us to return to the south which he loves so much. He would come back here in a heartbeat if the bishop offered it. Kindly enough, he came with us on this visit to lend credibility among his brother priests and to call all his old parish members to come to our programs. More and more he has become a strong advocate for us.

We've has programs here the last two nights. Last night there were about 25 people and topic was forgiveness. Nancy gave the talk and did a great job. Tonight's theme was on how love needs hope, hope needs faith and we come to faith by believing in Jesus. Life transforming change occurs when we have an encounter with him. Each of the team gave their testimonies on that personal encounter. There were about twice as many people tonight. We also set up a projector so the Greenhaws could show some footage of Renewal Ministries work in Africa, namely in Ghana and the Sudan. The folks liked the videos.

I'm more and more convinced that this people has grown in their trust for us. I think our faithfully returning has built a trust. Turks, Kurds, Armenians, and probably people of the middle-east in general, are very skeptical and suspicious. Although they can be very warm, show world class hospitality and practically talk your ear off, trust is built over a long period of time. Given the history, it's understandable.

Tomorrow we travel back to Iskendrun for Mass and then a program immediately after. We then fly back to Istanbul in the late afternoon.

I think the visit here was a success. There are new young, energetic priests in each of the three parishes (Adana, Iskenderun and Mersin) all who have arrived in the last 2-4 years. All of them are speaking and preaching in Turkish. They are from India, Poland and Italy. The bishop, who is also in Iskenderun, has given us his blessing and encouraged the priests to receive us. With Fr Bruno's backing and Dcn Hagop knocking on doors and making phone calls to get people to the programs, I really feel that coming back here should be a priority. With Antioch and Tarsus so close by, it makes it interesting for team members as well.