“Hey, Tony! What time should I set the alarm?”

That’s what I remember saying sometime last night before losing consciousness. I slipped off into jet-lagged-induced slumber, not even really noticing the occasional barking dog or noise on the cobblestones street below.

What was I thinking!!! I should have known better. We don’t need no stinkin’ alarm! We are in a country with a national built-in alarm system.

It was 0545 when the wakeup call went out … I did. Wake up, that is. Not much choice. Anyone have an image of basic training? Then, at precisely 0600 both the voice and volume are ratcheted up several notches as the strong male voice warbles out the call to prayer. I mean this with all due respect, but to a Westerner not accustomed to the culture it sounds somewhat like a combination of an opera singer and a hound dog with scurvy.  Not really sure what that might sound like, but I’m thinking that has to be similar. Whatever it sounds like, it is magnified to level of the adolescent urban land yacht that often drives down my street at home with the bass cranked up so loud it rattles dishes in a thunderstorm.

So what did I do? I laid there and prayed! Very effective.

When it started, I kept thinking I was actually inside the mosque. No, I really did. It was kind of like having a tornado warning siren go off right into my hearing aid turned up full. Then, I could hear the echo from a thousand other mosques within ear shot (the ear is now shot!) in this country with more mosques than schools or hospitals.

The sun coming up, I looked out the open window to discover the reason. The mosque is right across the cobblestone street from our second story room window, a cobblestone street so narrow only one small vehicle can pass at a time and I can almost reach across the street to touch the loudspeaker aimed directly at our window.  No, in answer to your question we did not have to pay extra for this amenity. Pretty cool, huh?

Needless to say, Tony and I were the first to report for breakfast on the wonderful rooftop terrace. Good food, better view. We looked out across the water and watched the early morning boat and ship traffic pass by. Other team members straggled in and we soon had a quorum and also a majority in the breakfast area. Very quaint, fascinating little boutique hotel in the Medieval part of this city of somewhere over 12 million, give or take a few.

This day was given to contacts with friends. As we were finishing up breakfast, our buddy Jake arrived. So good to see him! Many of you in KC will remember him and Ersin from our conference the year before last. We moved to the outside part of the terrace and had a super time of just chatting about anything and everything, plus a little orientation for the newbies to the region.

Afterward it was a short walk down from the hotel to the amazing Blue Mosque and the even more amazing Hagia Sophia across the way. Alberto and a couple of others  ran across to take some pics inside the Hagia Sophia for his art history professor sister. She really needs to see this for herself! I had never been inside the Blue Mosque and that’s what Jacob, Tony, I and some others did. Coming out and just having put my shoes back on, a guy comes up from behind me and begins to hassle me. I turn around and it’s Ersin!!! I wasn’t expecting that and was afraid I might not get to see him this trip. Wow! He has a K brother with him, and that was an added blessing.

The Gringos were going to hang out with Jacob for some touristy stuff while our Latino delegation hurried down to the water to catch a ferry across to the Asian side to meet our Central American Guate Bro who has been working here for 15 years. As an added bonus, his wife was with him waiting for us on the other side. I had not been able to meet her the last time I was here and it was good to get to know her.

One of the truly neat things about technology is being able to text someone from a ferry in Instanbul to text something like, “Yes, we r really on this ferry docking. OMG! Is that u to the right? LOL! C u soon.” Actually that came in handy on both ferry rides we took today.

With our friends, we walked around a couple of corners to meet up with a couple who are natives to this beautiful city and are now working with our Latino folks. Off to a lunch spot where we sat and talked for a couple of wonderful hours about all that is going on with them.

The Gringos did not do the tourist thing after all. They were really OK with that. Jacob had just lost a friend to cancer and the burial was this afternoon. They decided to accompany Jacob to the funeral and get a first row seat for some cultural lessons. Mission accomplished!

Meanwhile, at 15:00 hours our group was to meet a Spaniard who has been here for 27 years and has the first and only officially recognized and approved assembly in the entire country. Tony and I know him from several connections and have been in their building before.

Then, we got a text that he wouldn’t be able to make to our pre-arranged meeting until 16:30 or 17:00 because a friend of his had died and he was participating in the burial. Yep! You guessed it. Same guy. This is a city of over 12 millions. You do the odds. So, we were forced to sit down for some coffee and more good conversation.

Just when we could wait no longer, our Spanish friend arrived! We exchanged greetings and took a very quick tour of their facility before we had to head back toward the dock and a ferry to a different destination where we would meet up with Jake and everyone else for dinner. As we sailed down the water, night was falling and the sight was beautiful. It was very interesting, because on the way the two naval warships this nation had just approved to help deal with the crisis in Libya sailed by in the opposite direction, troops at attention on deck. Amazing!

By the time we finished dinner and commandeered taxis for all, a small contingency of four of us stayed behind to make sure that a local Starbuck’s was measuring up to quality control standards. Finding no obvious problems, we proceeded to try to upload a couple of videos on the wifi that we could never do on the slow hotel network. Then we spent the next hour in a taxi trying to find our hotel.

I am saying that to let you know that it is late and my alarm is already set for early tomorrow morning. We leave the hotel at 0730 to head to the neighboring country to the east. I’ll let you know how it goes, but first we are headed to a remote area for a retreat time where I’ll have a chance to do some teaching on leadership to a group of leaders. I won’t say all that much, because I really think I will have more to learn from them than them from me.

I’m not counting on being connected to world.wide.web or even the little.local.link. I’ll give you more when I can. Yawn! 0545 will come quickly.

Istanbul Express

We pulled the big switcheroo Sunday in third service. One song and I preached. Have always thought it would be fun to do that to catch those who never make it in time for the worship. We weren’t trying to be cute; it’s just that I had catch a flight to Istanbul and the only way to make it to the airport in time was to do what we did. That was kind of fun. I also appreciate the corporate prayer for me just before I ran out the door. Thanks!

For those who like to do this stuff vicariously through yours truly, I offer to you the Diary of the Istanbul Express – someday to be made into a YouTube video hoping for 37 hits. I will use creative language as I go along and would ask you to do the same in any comments or FB posting. Please! We don’t mind a bit of suffering, but there’s no sense in harming someone’s effectiveness when you don’t have to do so.

I had no problem making my flight, but I sure didn’t have any margin. The flight to Houston lifted up into the air on schedule. Yes, Houston. For the geographically challenged, this was not necessarily a straight line flight to say the least!

As I was still waddling down the gangplank getting off in Houston, I pullout my Android to check the KU score. Suddenly, I was cured of self-pity that I didn’t get to watch the game since I was flying. Got over that real quick!

In Houston I was meeting two Mexican buddies, both members of our little alliance to be friends of the K people. One of them arrived a couple of hours ahead of me and the other was still an hour away. I went to the terminal where our next flight was scheduled to see if I could find him waiting in the gate area. Actually, he had stationed himself to spot me. Very smart.  I didn’t even see him until he shouted at me. Great! Now Ricardo the Chilango  and I were together. He had traveled with me to north Africa and Europe a couple of years ago and was excited to be going again on a Jeff adventure again.

We pulled in so I could grab a nourishing lunch of cheese and crackers and then headed toward the gate to see if we could find Alberto from Monterrey. There he was! filling up at the pizza joint by our gate. Our flight loaded and took off for Frankfurt right on time. Great! But, why does the big guy with a 60 inch chest have to sit in the middle seat next to me? My body feels like a toothpaste tube that someone is smashing to get the last little bit of toothpaste out. Oh well! It’s only a little less than ten hours to go to Frankfurt! I choose to be cool and happy and get some sleep anyway.

I’m still wondering about Beto, my economist friend from Lima who left the day before. I was being copied on emails by all sorts of our team people who said that the guy who was to pick him up in Istanbul reported he wasn’t on the flight. He was standing by for the next flight to see what would happen.

All cuddled-up with the Teddy Bear in 16B, I closed my eyes, titled my body to the right and fell asleep. I really did! After speaking at three services, I had not had my normal nap, so this was good. When I came to semi-consciousness, we were just about to head into European airspace. Touching down on schedule in Frankfort around 11:30am, we didn’t have much layover time to get to our next gate for the Lufthansa flight to Istanbul.

Checking my mail as we got off, I learned that Beto had appeared. He had flown Lima-Miami and his Miami flight was delayed – that caused him to miss his New York to London flight. But they got him on a flight an hour and a half later – that caused him to miss his London to Istanbul flight – but they got him on a … travel is great! Right? My long-time Salvadoran buddy Tony was to arrive from DC to Istanbul just about 25 minutes before us. Mike, our team facilitator and a few other Gringo type guys had arrived (we hoped) early in the morning. Ya know, if we all get together at one point, this will really be good. And, if all our bags all make it we will for sure know that there is a God in Heaven!

We’re walking through the corridor in Frankfurt and Ricardo says to me (he cracks me up!), “I thought Germans were supposed to be sort of grumpy, direct and demanding, but so far they’ve all been very nice.”

Dude! You’ve been in Germany for all of 15 minutes and had an interaction with maybe three Germans for less than 30 seconds each and you’re already an expert on German culture??

Isn’t that what we all do, though? We meet a couple of people for a brief time and already start to form stereotypes in our minds. Ricardo is really cool. Chalk in up to jet lag insanity. Well, the German Lufthansa crew continued to be nice all the way to Istanbul, served us up a pretty decent little meal and we were there – only about two-and-a-half hours later.

Just clearing the jetway I get a text from Mike. “Turn right leaving customs and I’m at Gloria Jean’s on your right.”

Prayer lives verified by arrived luggage, we collect ourselves and head out to Gloria Jean’s. There are Tony and Mike right according to script. Beto was picked up by Brian, a Jacob team member and taken to a home to rest up a bit.

The shuttle bus ride to the hotel is about 20 minutes in normal traffic. Looking out the window I am reminded how gorgeous and exotic this city is! Mind-boggling! Then, I enjoy watching Alberto and Ricardo smashed up against the windows taking every picture they can. Our home tonight is nestled in a very cool little historic area within walking distance of the Blue Mosque (Google it). By this time the entire team has come together in one spot in the hotel lobby. Thank you, Jesus!

We drop our stuff and head a couple of blocks down the narrow cobble stone paths to a quaint little restaurant for some Mediterranean food. Good stuff! We sit around the table forever solving all the problems in the world. Well, most of them. If we missed yours, we’ll try to pick it up tomorrow.

So, here we are back at the hotel and ready for some sleep. Up early in the morning for breakfast. Beto and Jacob are coming over, we’ll do a bit of orientation and probably walk down to check out the Blue Mosque for those who have not seen. Then, the Gringos go their way for a city tour and those of us in the Latino constituency take a ferry across the river to the Asian side to meet a Central American friend who has lived here many years. Yes, I said the Asian side. In Kansas City we complain about being divided by a state line. Istanbul is a city that straddles two continents. Very interesting!

I’ll get back with you when I can, but now you know where in the world I am.