Our last few weeks in Istanbul before our journey to England were really packed, with travel and work and church work and then numerous hours staring at a computer screen in disbelief, as 52% of voters in our country decided they didn't want us to be in the European Union, and we searched for signs of any kind of plan or leadership. The campaign’s negative emphasis on Turkey’s potential membership of the EU was irresponsible, and i’m sure that there are many people across the world who feel that 52% of the population endorsed their view; that it was the equivalent of a 52% vote for the BNP. We know that people voted for lots of different reasons. I hope that churches will live up to the challenge of encouraging reconciliation, reconstruction and practical support as the economy suffers. Quite poignant to travel by train across the EU right now. Since I haven't had time to blog on anything recently, I thought I'd start by mentioning one or two of those things.
Our congregation at church had a long awaited vote for our Pastors. With members from different church backgrounds, and 5 different continents, searching for Pastoral candidates who were almost as different from each other, it has been a time consuming, and sometimes quite stressful, but enriching process trying to get to a decision. At the final meeting we thankfully managed to affirm and vote for our current Pastor and his wife, and vote for a second Pastor, an Indian Anglican Vicar, currently working in Libya. We got to know the new pastor well because he stayed with us for a week whilst he had meetings and he preached before the vote.
The explosion at Ataturk airport was a terrible event the week we left, and followed many other terrorist attacks in Turkey. I won't comment much on here, but It is terribly sad for Turkey. For those who worry about our personal safety, it's not something we particularly worry about. There are more than 15 million people in Istanbul, so the chances of us being caught up in an attack are low. The evening it happened,Tim had been at home from work for a few hours, he heard from the EU network about what had happened and went straight back in for another 17 hours. Then the texts and phone calls went on for several more hours.
A couple of days before we came, I hurt my back. Strangely, it was sneezing whilst sitting on the sofa which did it. I used to have back problems - when we lived in Rwanda I was medivacced to South Africa for medical treatment. This actually felt more acute at the beginning. Not good timing, but the children were pretty patient as I recovered - some of the time beside the pool whilst they swam with friends.
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