Greetings to you from Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and the third largest city in the world. As many of you know, for the past year I have been praying and thinking about serving in Turkey. Last December I heard of a wonderful opportunity to serve in Istanbul in a Christian school. I started to pray about this opportunity and corresponded with the school Headmaster. Meanwhile the Lord gave me a job in Moscow that led me to Turkey for a short time in June and I had a chance to see the school and meet the teachers and students before moving here. For the past few months God has been faithful in leading me here through doubt, unbelief and temptations. The hardest thing was to face the questions from both believers and unbelievers who kept asking: do they pay there well? Do they provide the airline tickets and the insurance? Do you know where you will stay? But just like a couple of years ago, when I left my career to go to a Bible college, I was confident of God's will for me. I packed my 30 kg of weight permitted by Aeroflot and flew in. The school I am teaching at is a Chr. school founded 2 years ago by the Istanbul Protestant ch. and a British enthusiast who has been living in Istanbul for over 30 years. Registered as Turkish "School of Tomorrow" in England, the school is called The English Club here for it is not officially recognized in Turkey. Certain laws prohibit Chr. or any "different" curriculum to be used for teaching to Turkish children . School education is a very important element of control for the Turkish government . Since education reforms in 1995 when mandatory school education was changed from 5 years to 9 it had become an organization with uniform, strict discipline and a special emphasis on patriotism which often includes a message of how evil and wrong Chr. is. The English Club is a unique educational institution. Along with good education in English based on ACE curriculum it provides a safe environment for the children of Chr. parents and workers here. Although Turkey is not as strictly Isl. country as, for example, Iran once you step out of your home you are bombarded with Isl. ideology. The Club is a place where kids are nurtured and taught the truth about God and Bible, good attitudes and manners. Our Turkish students ( there are also children of the workers from Korea and Romania ) have to start Turkish school at the age of 7 , therefore, after 2 years of pre-school at the Club, they attend both schools doing twice as much work as their Muslim classmates but by God's grace they manage to be the best students in their Turkish schools. There are 6 teachers at the Club and just like our students we come from different countries: US,England,and, surprisingly, Peru and Russia! To keep the cost of the English club affordable ( students only have to pay a small fee to help with the rent) all of the teachers are volunteers and usually come to serve for one year. Our constant prayer is for more stability and also for another English Club on the European side of the city since some children have to travel 1,5 hours to get to the Club. Having lived here for 1,5 months I begin to realize the importance of Chr. education here.
Every day I talk to different people: christians, Muslims, atheists. Also, I talk to my Turkish flatmate who has been going to church for 2 years yet can't trust the Lord with all her heart, and I understand that their doubt and antagonism to Chr-y has a deep root that goes back to their childhood where everything they heard about God was that He is there to punish you for the wrong doings and does not care for you once you are outside of the mosque. The children at the English Club have Chr. parents but they still live in Turkey, watch Turkish TV and visit their Muslim relatives. They need to be fed spiritually and prayed for more than any other children. They are the future of the Turkish church and the hope of all the foreign workers here who, like our pastor from Spain, have been struggling through visa process for 24 years praying for the Turkish Chr. leaders to rise and witness to their nation about the living and loving God who died for them.
