Outreach is over!!!

Hello everyone!!

Wow, I haven't written on here in almost 2 months and I am so sorry about that :( Unfortunately while we were in Turkey to keep us more focused they limited our computer time to 1 1/2 hours a week. I would have written on my blog but I wanted that hour and a half to talk with my family on skype so I apologize if you have been wondering what was going on.

Ok! So I am officially back in Scotland now! We arrived in Glasgow last night around 9:45pm. The flights went very smoothly and I am very happy to be back in the small village of West Kilbride. :)

OH Turkey...what can I say about you?! Istanbul is an interesting place...it honestly feels like any giant city you would find, except there are mosques EVERYWHERE!!! In fact the flats we were staying in had a mosque right next to it. I don't know if any of you know that in the Muslim faith they have to pray 5 times a day. In order to make sure they remember the exact times when they should pray the imam(Muslim priest) sounds the call to prayer from loud speakers at the top spire of the mosque. One of the times when this happens is around 5 am....and it is LOUD!!! So in case you haven't caught on...every morning at 5 we were all woken up by the insanely loud call to prayer hahaha!

Also I did get to go see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia of Sophia (one of the seven wonders of the world) and the Topkapi Palace! They were absolutely breathtaking! The artwork is amazing...I will be posting pictures soon I hope :) Oh and we also got to go to Ephesus which was brilliant! It was so cool to be in a place so old. The ruins were something to behold :)

As far as our ministry went...I'm going to try and explain this without sounding really chaotic haha. Our weeks were fairly structured with a specific schedule. I'll tell about my week because we all seemed to have a different one. Sundays we would go to church and some of us would help with the worship (it was a church for long term workers in Istanbul). Mondays I was part of a prayer team that would go and pray around the city (I loved Mondays). Tuesdays were our days off which were much needed because we only had one day off a week. Wednesdays was doing local EV (evangelism) work around the city. It never looked the same twice haha. Thursdays we would go to a place called the Jubilee Cafe and would pray and worship there for awhile before going out to do more EV work in the afternoon. Fridays I would help out with a Jewelry ministry. Refugee women make the jewelry and then we would go over to a ladies house and check to make sure they jewelry was up to standard and then label and package it so it could be sold and they would make money. Fridays were my favorite day :) Then last but not least Saturdays I would go out with a small group and do EV work in the city wherever God seemed to be calling us to go.

I know this is a somewhat vague description of what we would do but seeing as I just got back to Scotland my brain kind of hurts trying to remember every little thing we did haha! :P Overall it was a great trip and I consider it a complete success :) God did amazing things and He really did teach me a lot about different cultures.

Now we have 2 1/2 weeks left here to talk about what we learned and what we feel like God is calling us to do when we get back home. Then I have about a week and a half of Scotland and then Ireland after that and then I come home on July 14!!!

I will write again soon with more details of how Istanbul was but at the moment I am still trying to get unpacked and organized in my thoughts haha! I miss you all so much and I will talk to you again soon :) God bless you all!!!

-Kaitlyn

Quick Update

Hello Everyone! Just a quick update since I don't have so much Internet time around here. Things are going very well. We are helping out all around the city :) I love it since I love volunteer work. The only downer is that it is soooooo hot around here right now. Summer has arrived in full force and you can especially feel it while riding on a crowded bus in the middle of the day haha!

Next week we have a long weekend and they are taking our whole group to Ephesus for 3 days. It will take 10 hours to get there but I am excited since so much history is there. Oh and I made a friend today named Rabia and I can't wait to meet her again. That is all the time I have for now will update again soon if I can. Love and miss you all!!

-Kaitlyn

In Istanbul!!!

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry it has taken me so gosh darn long to write on here again but we have been busy to say the least. Ok so we arrived in Istanbul 2 Saturdays ago ha I can't remember the date. Well anyway...we arrived around 2am Turkey time :P and then drove to our new home. We are staying in two separate flats (one right on top of the other). They are actually very nice flats and we are in a pretty good area...very close to a lot of stuff. Unfortunately there is a mosque very near our flats so the call to prayer goes off every morning around 5am...ugh! I'm starting to get used to it but most of the time it will wake me up haha!

Our first week here went pretty good :) The city is beautiful and there is a lot to see! Sometimes it seems like any other city until you get a good look from a high place and see all the mosques! They are absolutely everywhere haha. Even though I am not a Muslim I cannot deny the beauty of those buildings...they are gorgeous. One fun thing has been that because we don't have cars over here our group has to take the bus everywhere. Oh my....Turkish buses are extreme. Rarely do you actually get a seat so you are stuck squished between a bunch of hot and sweaty people trying really hard not to fall over because these Turkish bus drivers LOVE the brake and gas pedals!!! And just in case that isn't difficult enough us girls are not supposed to look men in the eyes because being western women that would be considered us making an advance lol....so while we are trying desperately to keep our balance in a crowded (and I mean crowded) bus we are also having to keep our eyes lowered lol....most of us have become accustomed to wearing sunglasses on the bus, it makes things a bit easier :)

One of our days last week we got to go out and see the Blue Mosque...oh my was that amazing! I took lots of pictures so don't you worry :) That building was so huge and detailed I was left speechless! Along with seeing the Blue Mosque we have also had some opportunities to just explore Istanbul which has been equally fun and stressful trying to find our way around in a place that speaks no English haha. Basically everyone here has adopted carrying around a Turkish/English dictionary with us wherever we go :) While here we still have work duties and I am part of the food crew. So it is our job to come up with menu's and to do all the shopping...I am starting to get the hang of figuring out a grocery store where everything is written in Turkish haha. Oh and if anyone has any good recipe ideas that can serve 9 people that isn't crazy expensive send them to me at Ldnhappy22@hotmail.com Thanks :)

We have gotten to work with a group that makes jewelry (lots of fun) and we also got to go to a picnic with an English club and I got to chat with this really nice Turkish man for awhile :) Oh and yesterday my group met this really nice Turkish lady who spoke no English but got really excited when she found out I'm from California and invited us all to tea next Sunday at her house :D I'm pretty excited I hope that we get to go! Other than that we are still getting into the groove of things and starting to get a regular schedule. I can't wait to see what amazing things will happen :) I love and miss you all so so much...I really hope everything is going great for you back home!
-Kaitlyn

Still In Scotland

Hello everyone!

Oh how plans have been changing! Haha! Flexible has been the theme of this last week. SO for those of you who don't know my team was supposed to leave for Turkey last Saturday but due to a volcano erupting in Iceland all flights were grounded and we were not able to leave. Since then we have been trying to book a new flight to Istanbul but things have not been going so smoothly. As of now...we are booked on a flight for this coming Saturday so if you could please be praying that that does actually happen haha. We are all feeling very ready to leave and go to Turkey :) Other than that things have been really good. Technically outreach has still started so we have been helping out around the Seamill base with cleaning and other practicalities. Along with that we have been doing quite a lot of worship and prayer times a long with some extra lectures from a few guest speakers so that has actually been pretty fun :) Right now we are pretty much relying on God to tell us what to do next haha which is the whole point right?! :D I know this post is extremely short but I have limited time on the internet now so I will have to leave you with that. God Bless you all and please keep my team in your prayers and that we will make it to Turkey safely on Saturday! Love and miss you all!!!

-Kaitlyn

Stirling!

Hello again everyone! So last week we had a fairly unorganized week. Tuesday and Wednesday we were joining in on a Seamill staff meeting called Face-to-Face which was basically lots of prayer, reading scripture, more prayer, and encouragements for the community. It was very nice to be a part of it. Thursday we all hopped into the base cars and drove to Glasgow where our school staff took us to a Mosque. The building was absolutely beautiful! We had a very nice man take us on a tour of the Mosque while telling us about the Muslim faith and some of their practices. It was very interesting to me being that I knew absolutely nothing about it. The prayer room was about as big as a football field...it was amazing. One interesting point was that all the girls had to wear head scarfs...it was actually kind of fun to sort of submerge into the different culture.
On Saturday I pretty much just hung out around the base. I spent most of the day reading because we have to read 3 books on a reading list while we are in Turkey...and I would just prefer to read all 3 of them now before we leave so I don't have to stress out. I'm on my third book right now and it is my favorite! It is called 'The Heavenly Man'. If any of you have time to read a book soon this book is amazing. It is an amazing story about how God protects, provides, loves, etc.
Sunday was the best! Bre and I took the trip out to Stirling cause I have been wanting to see the William Wallace monument. Stirling is such a beautiful little city. When we got to the location of the monument we realized we would have to hike up a gigantic hill just to get to the foot of the thing. Then once we reached the monument we would have to climb up 246 steps on a narrow spiral staircase to get to the top! It was so much fun...I'm quite sore now but it was completely worth it. When you would run into someone on the staircase we would have to flatten ourselves against the wall so they could get by haha! When we finally got to the top the view was absolutely breath taking! It was a gorgeous sunny day in Scotland and you could see all of Stirling from the top of the monument! I took a lot of pictures and I have already posted them on facebook so check them out :) I was so happy I got to go see the Wallace monument...I will never forget it!
This week we have been learning about missions because we are leaving on Saturday for Turkey! Yay! I can't believe it is so soon! It doesn't seem real. I will only be able to get online once a week from what the leaders tell me so I will update as often as I can but I'm not sure how often that will actually be. But just so you all know...due to Internet security issues while in Turkey I will have to refer to some things differently on here from what they tell me. I am a student with University of Nations with a bible school and we are in Turkey to learn about the culture and such. When I refer to God I will be saying Dad....So if I say Dad is doing some amazing things...while my daddy(Larry) does do some amazing things...I love you daddy...that isn't what I am talking about haha!
I started packing tonight and I am actually going to go try and finish that right now. I hope you all are doing well back home! As always I am missing you so much...I can't wait to tell stories of what will happen in Turkey. Love you and God bless!!
-Kaitlyn

Edinburgh

Hello again everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Easter :) Well today marks the last day of long weekend for us here in YWAM...and what a great long weekend it has been! Thursday was our last day of lectures on Spiritual Warfare which was surprisingly not that terrifying haha. I am quite happy to report that the week went very well and only a few times did I get uncomfortable (which is saying a lot :P).
Friday morning(6:20am) Kari and I left the base for the train station where we would start our long journey to Edinburgh. Ok it wasn't that long...Two 1 hour train rides really wasn't so bad haha. The trains here are actually very cozy. We arrived in Edinburgh around 9:30am and then had to proceed to find out which bus, out of the practically 50 buses we could take, was the right one to get us to our hotel that was about 4-5 miles away from the city center. Luckily some nice locals helped us out and directed us to the right bus stop :) Because we couldn't find any hostels with openings due to the busy weekend we were staying at the Holiday Inn. It was so nice! Kari and I both loved the fact that there was a pool, hot tub, and sauna to relax in. We also had our first experience with UK television :| Wow! I don't know if we just got the bad luck watching UK soap operas or if it was their actual regular programs but Kari and I spent the whole time watching them laughing and making fun of every scene haha.
Throughout our stay we just explored the city :) Edinburgh is the most beautiful city I have ever seen! There is so much history there. All the architecture and buildings are very old and absolutely breathtaking. There are monuments and statues on practically every corner documenting Scottish history. It was so much to look at...I wish I would have had a month there instead of just 2 1/2 days. Edinburgh castle was amazing to look at. We didn't actually get to go in cause it was a little pricey and SO crowded we decided that pictures from the outside would suffice. I think my favorite was the Scott Memorial...it was incredible to behold! I will be posting pictures later on today :)
It was a much needed break from base life and I am so happy I got to go :) We both needed the chance to relax and not be worrying about what task we must complete next or where we have to be in the next hour. It was good to just go with whatever seemed good at the time. We both got a chance to just sit and talk about God and life and what God has been teaching us since arriving here. It was a lot to process but in a relaxing and beautiful environment :) I hope that if any of you every get the opportunity to go to Edinburgh that you will go!
Up next is a chaotic week with no particular subject. Then the week after that is our last lecture week on missions...and then Saturday the 17th we leave for Istanbul, Turkey! It is coming up so fast I can't believe it. I haven't heard much about how the Internet situation will be like there but I will be trying as often as I can to update on my blog while I'm there. Well that is all for now folks...be looking out for pictures of Edinburgh on my face book very soon! Loving and missing you all like always :) God bless

-Kaitlyn

New News :P

Well hello everyone! So much has happened since I last wrote...I hope I can remember it all haha :) Last week we had a wonderful lady, Joe, teaching us on relationships. It was an amazing week and we learned a lot about how we as individuals process things and how God wants to be in relationship with us. It was really eye opening to realize what was holding us back from that relationship with God. I also got a chance to meet with Joe on a one on one basis and that was extremely helpful to be able to have a chat with her. She was such an amazing and understanding lady...I was sad to see her go at the end of the week.
That weekend a group of us girls went into Glasgow for a sort of combo birthday-day haha. Kari and built up some birthday money from a week prior, Eileen's birthday had been on Friday, and Hannah's birthday was on Saturday (although we were under strict instructions not to celebrate that one lol). It was a very productive day and a lot of fun! I found some amazing skirts at some charity shops which was the highlight of my day :) At one point we were in the west end of Glasgow and Kari and I spotted a Cold Stone Ice Cream shop!!! :O We were so excited we just had to get some cake batter ice cream...however we went in to find they did not have that flavor nor any other of the ones we loved so much :( It was very sad ;) haha!! The next day was spend mainly relaxing and getting some practicalities done like laundry, letter writing, etc.
Monday we were starting the new week with classes on spiritual warfare. We were supposed to have a speaker, Paul Bell from the US, teach us but when he arrived his visa was the wrong sort and he got deported :( So instead of that we have Mariette back (the lady who taught us in week 3 about the Holy Spirit). But before we get into that I want to take you back to Monday morning with me. Every Monday morning we have base worship...not my favorite thing to do for reasons I will not totally get into at this moment lol. In a nut shell I have had a really difficult time since the start of DTS feeling like there was something not ok with the way I worshipped God because my participation level had been questioned (I'm not very loud). During the worship service one of the base staff members came up to me and said that she felt God was leading her to tell me that (and I am paraphrasing) I do not need to feel insecure about how I choose to worship Him. That he just wants me to worship Him and spend time with Him and that is all that matters. I was absolutely amazed! I could not believe that that had just happened, because that was exactly what I needed to hear. I actually had tears come into my eyes. God is so good you guys! I was struggling so much and I have been praying a lot since I got here asking God if what I was doing was wrong or if I needed to change something...and what does God do? He answers me through someone I have never even spoken to about my insecurities! Amazing :D
Anywho...so Mariette is teaching us on spiritual warfare, or spiritual authority as she calls it. It has been an interesting week. Mariette and the rest of my class are very good at getting side tracked so the week has been very scattered and unorganized. I have been learning a lot but it has also been somewhat difficult because I have a hard time focusing when things are all over the place lol. Tomorrow is our last day on the subject so I am pretty curious as to what will happen in the 4 hours of class tomorrow.
Friday starts the long weekend!!! Yay!!! Kari, Hannah, and I are going to Edinburgh for a few days and I could not be more excited. I keep hearing what a beautiful city it is and I cannot wait to see for myself what everyone has been telling me. I'll be sure to come back with lots of pictures for you all (since I hear there are beautiful castles)! Well I am off for now but I will update again when I get back from Edinburgh hopefully...or at the very least I will post all the pictures on my facebook :) Loving and missing you all like always...God bless!

-Kaitlyn

P.S. only 2 weeks until we leave for Turkey!!!!