Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Walking through history at one and a half. Less than two hours from where we live is the ruins of the ancient city, Pisidian Antioch. Still under excavation, the site hosts ancient Roman roads, a theater, old temples and churches, an aqueduct in the distance, and most of the general features of these old Roman cities. We took a friend there not long ago who said he had seen lots of old churches and ancient ruins, but it was his first time to an ancient city that is part of the New Testament narrative (see Acts 13). What a privilege and adventure to go to a place like that. Some people might just call it “old stuff,” but the history of that place means a lot to us.

Umut Reis , Chief Umut Not long ago Lincoln Umut came home from preschool with a colorful paper chief’s crown on his head. I told his teacher that many Americans, including Lincoln Umut, have Native American heritage, even if it is just a little bit. The Turks, on the other hand, have a theory that they descended from the same people group that Native Americans descended from. Far away in the plains of Mongolia one set of tribes went West and another went East, and now they are very very distance cousins across the sea. Is it true? Perhaps, no one really knows, but we don’t have too much reason to be skeptical of the idea!

A loom within the museum displays the process of making these complicated carpets. Within the city, Isparta does not honestly have much sightseeing. However, this past year a new museum has opened its doors: the Etnografya Muzesi , the ethnography museum. Basically, it is a museum of carpets. Isparta has a history of carpet making. Various friends of ours had been involved in hand weaving carpets with colorful cotton and wool yarns, but the industry has died away in recent years due to modern machinery. Nevertheless, Ispartans seem proud of their carpet legacy, much evidenced by this ornate building that harbors hundreds of examples of the kind of carpets produced in the not too distance history of the city.

This year we actually made goat stroganoff! We have a hard time believing that this is the fifth year that we have been in Turkey for Kurban Bayram, the Islamic sacrifice holiday. It has become a family tradition to make beef stroganoff during this time, for although we do not celebrate the holiday ourselves, we are usually recipients of the neighborly distribution of a generous chunk of Kurban meat*. And meat is generally quite expensive here (ground beef is about $6.50 a pound here), so Kurban is a very joyous time of enjoying this delicacy. Beyond being carnivorous, this is one of our favorite times of year to talk with our neighbors and friends, to learn, to discuss, and to share. *We really did some consideration before partaking initially, for our own beliefs tell us to avoid eating sacrificial meats. This, however, is not sacrificed to idols and is butchered in as humane a manner as possible. Our Muslim friends sacrifice in remembrance of Abraham’s will