Walking where the Apostle Paul once did...

Update, part 2! Here you see the beautiful Mediterranean Sea! Antalya, Turkey, where I just recently spent Thanksgiving Break, is right on the Great Sea (as it is called in the Bible). I had the privilege of swimming in it twice, once during the day and once at dusk. It was a bit chilly, but not bad. Weather in Turkey was 60s and 70s, with a couple days being sunny!

On Friday, we went to a big Bazaar, or open air market in Antalya. Quite an experience!

Heika and Cliff Wright (missionaries in Kiev) and Dana Winsinger (another Mission Corps volunteer teacher in Kiev). They became great friends in just three days!

The highlight of the trip for me was visiting Perga, an ancient Roman city from the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. (actually a civilization has been there since the 11th century B.C.). It was awesome! Here you see the inner gate of the city. The apostle Paul visited Perga twice during his first missionary journey (he also visited Attalia...now Antalya), and his bold preaching of the Word of God had quite an effect on the people of the city. As Christ was proclaimed as Lord and as people began to accept Him as their Savior, women began to gain more rights within the social system, and the slave trade was abolished!

Perga's main street. Shops lined both sides, and a channel of water ran through the middle. Everything 1,700 years ago had been overlaid with beautiful white marble, and fresh water from the aqueduct would cascade over the walls of the city into channels on the interior - just gorgeous!

Walking where Paul trod! What an experience!

The ancient stadium of Perga.

I couldn't resist! The runner in me just had to be unleashed! How could I be at an ancient Roman stadium and not run a lap around it?

After this past weekend, I am completely refreshed. I have a new focus for the last three weeks of the semester and a renewed vigor and vision for loving and teaching my kids. A verse that has meant a lot to me this past week is Jeremiah 15:19a: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me. This verse reveals one of God's purposes in restoring us: that we may serve him. It's not for our sake. It's not that we were so pathetic that we needed help, although that's part of it. He doesn't restore us just to restore us. God saves and restores us so that we might be used of Him to affect this world! That's why the recent restoration I was given this weekend has resulted in a greater desire to serve my students effectively this week.

On the agenda for this week are Christmas program rehearsals; visiting the classroom of the pregnant rabbit because we might soon adopt one of its babies as our class pet; and studies of correct verb tenses, long division (Daring Monkeys Ski Backwards!...Divide Multiply Subtract Bring Down), biomes presentations, the Far East, reading selections about the Revolutionary War era, and the effects of hiding sin (Achan). I love this profession!

Please pray that not only I, but also the entire staff and all the students' parents here in Moscow, would be filled with the Holy Spirit as we do our work. His power and authority are what make God the most effective Teacher! Pray that I wouldn't lose focus as we close out the semester and I look forward to coming home in less than three weeks. Praise God for all his provision, energy, and ideas! Praise God that he used my low point a few weeks ago to bring about some tremendous healing and growth in one of my relationships! Pray for my class as they are dealing with the sad situation of one student moving away to Korea next semester. Pray for the spiritual development of the students at Hinkson, that they would grow in Love with Christ.