ARRIVED IN IZMIR

We’ve been in Izmir for less than five days, but it feels longer (in the most positive sense!)

Our journey here was easy and uneventful. We received a warm welcome from our greeters, who then took us to a restaurant, where we enjoyed the iftar menu, for those observing the Ramazan fast (freedom to eat being signified by the firing of a cannon. There is a pre-dawn warning from drumming in the streets.) It appears that many people are not fasting – Izmir is a liberal, Western-oriented city (known to many Turks in the past as ‘infidel/pagan Izmir’!)

Physically, it is very hot (40/41 degrees C yesterday), but less humid than we had expected, and mitigated by breezes off the Aegean. So we think we will survive; especially now that the church has had air conditioning put into the main bedroom of the flat. We are about ten minutes walk from the sea. We can see St John’s from the flat; the former chaplain’s house is used as the British consulate. An advantage of that is a reassuring, friendly police presence whenever the church is open.

We are settling into the practicalities of life here. Shopping is easy; there are some good supermarkets nearby, as well as many ‘corner shops’. Yesterday we discovered an abundant farmers’ market in neighbouring streets, with all sorts of fresh produce on sale. Our lack of Turkish is a slight disadvantage, but much can be achieved by smiles and pointing! We are working on the language. Our hosts have taken us out to two lunches: one an amazingly good value salad bar (six portions for 10 lira – less than £3!), the other a wonderful fish lunch at a harbour-side restaurant.

We are gradually finding our way around, but hampered by inability to find any meaningful guides or maps. The one map we did find was declared confusing and unhelpful by a Turkish visitor. The local metro station seems bereft of any timetables or route indicators! We will try the Tourist Office – but the Lonely Planet guide declares it ‘unhelpful to the point of being hostile’! So far we have not discovered a single post-card seller – so potential recipients will have to wait! (And post is slow…)

However, we are here to minister to the church. The Eucharist on Sunday was a good occasion. The congregation is not large; there were 21 communicants, of whom Jo and I were the only British. The rest divides between Americans and Turks, with 3 refugees from Iran and a couple of Koreans. We received a good reception, and my sermon seemed to connect for at least a few. The style of liturgy is quite formal; but we feel they are open to variations, though we are hindered by our inability to explain any divergences in Turkish. As usual, we are leading the service together as a team. Singing is not their strong point – and the organist returns to USA this week, until the end of September...

Tomorrow we visit the daughter church, and there will be other Christian groups to meet and pray with in coming weeks.

So please pray:

1.      For our ministry here, that we will meet the people at their points of need, and be open to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

2.      For all the church members; especially those whose mother tongue is not English, that we will communicate clearly with them.

3.      For refugees; especially a couple from Iran who had to leave because he comes from an important Muslim family, while her family has been Christian for many generations; and another woman from Iran.

4.      For the future development of this church and chaplaincy; adverts for a full-time chaplain are appearing in the church press around this time.

5.      For us – that our Turkish will improve, and that we will be able to find our way around on the metro and bus systems! And that we will be able to visit some of the many wonderful ancient and Christian sites in this region.