Amazing Grace.

Who knew that my solo career was going to take off in Turkey? I certainly didn't! We had dinner with our university neighbors last night. They made alot of food...and it was all good. We taught them a few idioms. And all night, our friend kept saying things like: "I'm as hungry as a horse" and then every now and again, she would get confused and say in Turkish that she was really full and she had been hungry because, (now she would continue in English) she ate a horse! Very funny. It was really fun. I'm sad that our neighbors will be moving out soon. They are all university age. Here, everyone has the opportunity to go to college for free. Students go to school in the morning and then in the afternoons go to what is called a 'dershanesi'. It's an extra place where they are prepared and study for the O.S.S. They must pay for these classes. The O.S.S. is a test that all students have to take before they are allowed to go to university. If they pass the test, their grades will determine where they can go to school and what they might be able to do occupationally. Pretty interesting, huh? But, if they do pass and go to university, most of their college education is free, (but they have already paid for extra classes to study for the college entrance test which can be very expensive). I guess there are ups and downs to this. We know someone from church who took this test again this year for maybe the fourth time hoping for entrance to college. You may only take the test once a year. Thought you might like a little tidbit of information from this culture I'm living in.
So, several of our university girls took the O.S.S. last Sunday before they had us over for dinner and are now waiting...waiting...waiting for their results. Graduation is Friday, and then they'll be moving out. We're hoping some of them will come back to our floor next year, but we're not sure. They have been really sweet to befriend us and help us with our Turkish. At some point after dinner, we were talking about what we believe and somehow I ended up getting volunteered to sing a solo for the girls...What to sing? I chose 'Amazing Grace.' It fit. I sang my best and just closed my eyes and sang to the God who I later shared had done all the things I sang about. This is the state of my life. Loving people and daily, desperately hoping for and wanting more for them.