BACK HOME

 We’re back in Axminster now. The travel all went smoothly, and it was a nice surprise at Stansted to find that the sun was shining and it was almost hot (though less than the 38° we’d had in Izmir.) Axminster has not changed much; though the grass in our garden had grown quite high.

 Our final services in Izmir went well, and we said our farewells (or au revoirs – we’ll see what 2026 brings!) Monday and Tuesday were tidying up, and a final boat trip across the Bay. We transferred to the Ibis hotel on Wednesday, and had a final meal at Doga café that evening (Jo had another hug from the proprietor!) On Thursday morning we took a taxi to the airport, and were taken on the scenic route (alongside the Bay for some of the time.)

 We nearly had a catastrophe at the airport, as Michael managed to lose his wallet. We later discovered that the taxi-driver had found it and taken it to Ibis – what a relief! And the panic abated, when I realised that we had enough euro notes to buy drinks on the plane, and enough sterling notes to pay the taxi fares. So all was well – and I have been chastened and warned not to be in too much of a hurry! We give thanks for the honesty of taxi driver (Turkish people are generally very trustworthy) and for my providential putting European notes in separate place, and for storing plane and rail tickets on my phone!

 Anyway what else have we learned, what will we miss – and what will we not miss?

 We learned that there is goodness and kindness in many people. And we have learned to trust God more!

 We were encouraged by the commitment of the young Christians at St John’s. All of them have to travel to get to church; yet even on a hot Tuesday evening, two or three came to Bornova to the evening service (even though one was in the midst of end-ot-term university exams.) There is an enthusiasm, and a desire to learn more. Most Sundays they went for lunch with a couple from the congregation, and we joined them for coffee and chat. It wasgood to be included by them, despite the considerable age difference – we didn’t feel so old!

We will miss that – and the variety and international flavour of the whole congregation. The patience of some of the refugees is impressive. 

 And there are incidental pleasures we shall miss:

Every morning, before we said our daily prayers, we could look out of the apartment windows across the city, to see the sun rise behind the hills. We will miss that (we can’t see the sunrise here.) We enjoyed our regular pre-breakfast walk by the Aegean, and often collecting our gevreks straight out of the bakery oven. And some evenings, we could see the sun set across the Bay if we walked by the Kordon.

The skies were filled with swooping swifts, which we seldom see in England m- and there was always a chance of spotting pelicans on the water.

 On the other side, we will not miss the noise and pollution of a big city – or the particular nuisance in Izmir of large cars trying to negotiate narrow back streets, or motorcycles and electric scooters, which appear to go where they like (including pavements and pedestrianised roads); food delivery bikes are ubiquitous. Nor will we miss the litter – including plastic bottles and beer bottles floating in the sea.

 But we always felt safe, and accepted. The church congregation is welcoming and friendly, and we continue to feel a part of it.

 So we will hold Izmir and St John’s in our hearts and in our prayers