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Asian Journals Duzkoy, Turkey on the south Black Sea coast
Asian Journals Duzkoy, Turkey on the south Black Sea coast
| Duzkoy, Turkey on the south Black Sea coast |
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| Friday, 29 January 2010 00:00 |
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Day 61, Asia mile 620, Eurasia mile 3430 Dear Praying Friends! What a surprise blizzard that was! Walking along the south coast of the Black Sea in January seems to be very similar to what you would expect if you were walking along the North Shore of Lake Superior in January….freezing temps and covered with snow! Sunday night we went to sleep being pelted by torrential rain and Monday morning we woke up under piles of snow. We thought that this must just be an ‘unusual event’, and as the temperature seemed to be warming up, we headed off for the day’s walk. The route took us over a mountain pass, and that’s where the fun began! It was snowing thicker and faster as the elevation increased, and look as I may there was no place on the roadside to pull over and wait for John. Finally at the 10 mile mark for the day, I saw an unplowed road on the right and inched over to park as far away from the oncoming traffic as possible so the poor guy could have a rest break and something to eat. By the time he struggled the 10 miles up the mountain in the thickening snowfall, visibility was very poor, the wind had picked up considerably and we decided to call it a day, hoping that this was just an ‘unusual event’ and warm weather would soon arrive. We were walking amongst palm and magnolia trees the day before, for goodness sake! So together we inched up the road in the camper, spied a digger plowing out a pull over spot for folks to use to put on their tire chains (that should have told us something!) and at the same time lost all traction on the slippery incline. We had just enough momentum to get over into the plowed spot, and were rendered unmovable! Transport trucks, cars and busses were all at a standstill on the highway for miles down the hill. Folks were lying in the snow without coats, hats, gloves or boots, putting on their chains, which they did seem to have with them. It seemed as though we were in for a long stay, as vehicles were off the road in every direction, snow plows seemed scarce and several policemen wearing yellow rain slickers had shown up to try to direct the three ring traffic circus. As we live in our vehicle and are well supplied to wait out the weather, we thought we should become a way station for folks that were stranded around us. So, armed with hot chocolate, coffee and pockets full of candy bars, we waded out through the snow offering hot drinks to our fellow travelers and inviting them in out of the wind. A policeman instantly took up John’s offer of his gloves, three little girls were especially delighted at the chocolate bars and several men nodded their thanks for the hot coffee. We chatted quite a bit about our family and the prayer walk in our ‘pigeon’ Turkish with one gentleman who came inside to drink his coffee, and spoke a blessing upon him as he was leaving. There were tears in his eyes as he replied in Turkish, he touched his heart with his hand, and grasped my hand firmly to shake it as he went back out into the blustery weather. Oh, to have enough language ability to be able to communicate more fully and to know what is in the hearts of the Turkish people that we meet! May the Lord send workers into this ripe and ready harvest field! Finally, as evening was upon us, the initial wave of stranded trucks were on their way and some hours of plowing and sanding had taken place, the friendly policeman wearing John’s gloves decided that we should try to get back on the road. He and his buddy directed us, pushing and shoving our vehicle as we slithered along and after a few attempts we were road born again, honking and waving goodbye to the gloves and to the helpful guy who was wearing them! Back down the mountain along the coast, the storm was as bad as ever, but we found a parking lot to camp in for the night and waited to see what the morrow would bring. As morning dawned, the snow had lightened considerably and the city streets were passable. So, after discussion and prayer (he thought he should walk, I thought he shouldn't...you can see who wins the 'discussions' in our family!) we packed a lunch for John and headed back up the mountain where I dropped him off to walk the 18 miles back to town. There weren't any plowed spots along the way to wait for him, and not wanting to get stranded again I headed back down the mountain to a safe landing spot for the vehicle at his day’s end. About 7 hours later he came slowly limping to where I was parked. 'Johnny Walker' was exhausted, hadn't stopped to rest, had eaten his lunch as he trecked, had worn some very painful spots on his calluses trying to stay upright on all of the snow and ice, but had made it off of ‘Blizzard Mountain’ in one piece! Thank the Lord. Not until Friday did the temperature get above freezing again, so we are still surrounded by 3 to 4 foot drifts, and have a coastline full of snow covered mountains in view as we continue east. We again have emptied all of the water from our camper system and are keeping clean with ‘wet wipes’, a great invention. As he walks, John is reminded that ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it’, and that the Lord wants His world back. Please pray with us that there would be a global turning of hearts to the Lord God before His return to planet earth, and that the Lord would accomplish His will in each of us and through us to bring that turning of hearts about. May we each tackle the ‘Blizzard Mountain’ before us with His love ablaze within and His grace on our every step. Amen! Thank you so much for your prayers for us, for your letters of encouragement and financial gifts. We are each so privileged to have a part to play in the Lord’s plan to bring the earth to Himself, and we so need each other! We love you all and miss you greatly! It sure can get lonely out here. You may enjoy seeing this week’s photos in our photo gallery on this site. Love, John and Sandy |
