Goodbye Turkey.

(below is my 'I don't like goodbyes face')
Today is my last day in Turkey. It's hard to believe. He has given me a love for this place and these people that I never would have imagined could be as strong as it is. I guess that He just gave me His love for these people. In spite of how excited I am to be coming home, I have mourned for leaving this place. It has been like a death of something in me, but I choose to think that it is hard to leave here because actually, He birthed something new in me here.

Last night, I said goodbye to my sweet American friend that I've partnered with in leading our girls' Bible study for our Turkish sisters. We have loved side by side and we have laughed as we learned to pray and share and praise in Turkish, and mean it. It was so hard to leave her, yet I'm so incredibly grateful for her fellowship and I am privileged to have served alongside her here...and selfishly I am glad that after I am gone, she and her incredible heart will remain. He's just been so good to me throughout this time of goodbyes. Yes, I have wept and I have been stressed and I have been exhausted, but He's been here beside me every step of the way. Him and His peace. Last night a new girl that has been studying the Word and claims to want to follow His Son came to our study. It was a special time of goodbye and I didn't know her, but that didn't make it awkward at all. Instead, I thought, what a special gift for Him to give me when saying goodbye to these sisters that I have walked alongside on their faith journey for over a year now. He let me see the promise of more to come through her. And I wouldn't want to leave any other way.

The hardest goodbyes to come will be tomorrow morning when my three closest Turkish friends and two American friends will drop me off at the airport. I praise Him for the time I have spent with those girls. I praise Him for calling them out of darkness into His marvelous light and I'm in awe that He let me see it and get to be a part of it in a small way. My God is so good. But one of those friends does not yet believe and that breaks my heart. But, I know that He's not done here. It is His work and when I leave, He will continue to bring it to fulfillment. I pray that includes my sweet friend that I have so desperately shared with and prayed for. My season is coming to an end in this city, but I leave joyfully knowing that these friends will continue to be a part of the next season of my life wherever it takes me to, and I will continue to give her over to Him and wait expectantly for her eyes to be opened.
My sweet Turkey, you have been so good to me and I will miss you. Goodbye for now.