Traveling to Turkey: Izmir/Smyrna

Well, I'm back to updating the blog, so sorry it's taken so long to get to our trip to Turkey, when we returned getting adjusted back was a more difficult experience than I anticipated!  We left Seattle, Wa on Sunday, June 14 early with 3 stops to our final destination in Izmir, Turkey.  We stopped in Chicago, Frankfurt, Istanbul and then finally to Izmir.  The Lord was gracious to us that all of our flights arrived on time and there were no significant traveling issues, besides a fair amount of fatigue, which we fully expected...it took about 29 hours to arrive at our destination, which was Urla, Turkey, a suburb of Izmir where Ismail and Susanna live...it's beautiful, right on the Aegean Sea!

We arrived and were immediately picked up by Ismail Omac, a friend of ours who lived in Temecula for several years with his wife, Susanna.  A little back ground, Ismail was born in Izmir and grew up there.  Over 25 years ago he met Susanna, an American.  They were married in Turkey one week before Paula and I got married (we were married on June 18, 1994), so we celebrated our anniversaries together!
Ismail worked most of his career in the Insurance business in Turkey and retired early.  He and Susanna lived in Temecula where they met my parents as their home is in the same condo place as my parents.  They came to CTK many times.  They moved back to Turkey a couple of years ago as the felt the Lord leading them to do that.  They are both wonderful Christian people and as you will find out as we traveled, God is working through them in powerful ways!

We arrived on Monday, June 15 around 5 pm and met up with Jeff Bolduc who came in on a flight from Athens, Greece, as he and his wife Tami had just finished a Mediterranean cruise.  Tami flew back to the US, but Jeff joined Paula and myself for much of our journey through the Seven Churches of Revelation trip.

We arrived at their beautiful home in Urla and had a fabulous dinner, then off to bed to try to get on the right time zone!  The next day, Tuesday, June 16, I woke up and felt pretty good, so Ismail, Jeff and I did some touring of the sites of Smyrna, particularly the church of Polycarp which exists today and an excavation site...now you have to remember that the church in the first century was not marked by a building...buildings came much later, but there is a church that bears Polycarp's name and there are  ruins of the ancient buildings of the time.  

So, some history...Bishop Polycarp lived in the later first and second centuries and is believed to have been a direct disciple of the Apostle John, who appointed Polycarp as the Bishop of Smyrna.  Polycarp was a fierce and devoted believer in Christ and led the early church during a time of persecution.  He is believed to have been burned at the stake for not offering incense to the Emperor, but the flames wouldn't touch him, so they stabbed him to death...but his last words were believed to have been this, "Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong.  How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour? Bring forth what thou wilt." I hope that I can have such a great statement of faith in the face of persecution!  Below is a pic of us visiting the church there...we got into the court yard, but the church was not open for us to go inside...still it was neat to be at a place that honored a great martyr of the church.

It's interesting to note that when Jesus spoke to the church of Smyrna, He spoke about a great persecution that would take place...listen to His words in Revelation 2:8-11,  “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.

¹¹ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death."

If you want to read an ancient account of his martyrdom, you can click here: The Martyrdom of Polycarp

After we went to the church, we went to the excavation site of the ancient ruins...Smyrna was a city that was destroyed and rebuilt several times over it's history.  One of the most interesting was a legend that supposedly Alexander the Great had a dream to rebuild this city...here is a pic of a sign that talks about that dream:

Here are some more pics of the ruins...

 

 

  

 

After visiting these ruins, Ismail took Jeff and myself around the town and then we traveled across the bay on a ferry, Izmir really is a beautiful town...we stopped off for lunch and had turkish pizza, really great!

 

As I mentioned earlier, Jeff and his wife Tami were on a Mediterranean Cruise the week before, and so they had already visited the town of Ephesus with Susanna.  While in Ephesus, Jeff found this beautiful lamp that he bought, not thinking that somehow he would have to transport it back.  So part of our day was spent talking to the Turkish UPS people who informed us that it would cost about $300 to ship it...there's got to be a better way...so Jeff decided he would bring it with him on the plane, but it came with no packaging, so we had to find a box, which turned out to be a greater task than we realized it would be, but we were victorious after wondering around the town for quite awhile!  So, the good news is that Jeff's lamp made it back with him fully in tact!  The bad news, his luggage didn't, it was lost, but finally did come through about a week after he got back to the US...ah, the joys of travel!

  

 Meanwhile, the ladies were connecting with some of the women in the neighborhood where Susanna and Ismail live.  Susanna is someone who looks for ministry opportunities where ever she is, and God opens amazing doors for her.  Her neighbors are all Muslim in varying degrees of commitment and practice, but when Susanna asks if she can pray with them, they are all for it, and God is doing a work of healing and blessing in that place!  Paula got to meet with these ladies and the beautiful little girl in the picture below, all were very welcoming and she learned a Turkish phrase that was very helpful, "Hosh bull duke"  which means, "I feel welcomed here."

Susanna and Ismail were always the great host and hostess and treated us to a beautiful Turkish meal that night, always full of great fruits and vegetables...we set off for our trip in the morning, the first stop being Pergamum, so that's all for now, thanks for tuning in!