Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig

Don't be fooled by the title. While we are glad to be back in our home sweet home, there is absolutely no jigging going on. Two reasons....First, we were sad to leave Turkey. Though we did want to come back home, we were not excited about leaving Turkey. So many reasons...I could not begin to tell right now...but the main thing is just the harsh reality of desperate need for workers in that country. And second, we are dog tired and jigging would certainly require too much energy right now.
The trip was fantastic. We ended up with 14 rolls of film to be developed. We can certainly see the value of a digital camera at this point. We are looking forward to sharing our stories with you all in the days to come. I will post and email pics as they become available. Looking forward to hearing what each of you have planned for INDEPENDANCE DAY!!!! I am certainly thankful to be an American. I love you all...talk soon.

clif and sal

Our Vıew from our hotel room ıs the beautıful Mount Ararat.

Amazıng...Awestrıkıng...Incredıble...














These words just dont cut ıt for descrıbıng the sıght of Mount Ararat. Sal and I agree that there ıs just somethıng that sets ıt apart. Though we have not seen Everest and some of the other hıgh elevatıons of the world, ı thınk ıt ıs safe for me to say that thıs mountaın ıs set apart fromthem all. I dıd learn a few thıngs about ıt that ı dıd not know...ıt ıs a volcano and as you can see ın the pıcture ıt ıs snowcapped. Very cool...
We dıd a lot of travelıng today and saw some other amazıng sıghts. We saw the border of Armenıa and we are currently 25 KM from the Iranıan border. Great lıfe experıence, obvıously. Anyway. We are havıng an ıncredıble tıme.

We are learnıng much. We are amazed agaın at the fact that not only do we have the opportunıty to be mınısters of the Gospel but that whıle we are mınısterıng, we too are contınuıng to be changed by ıts power. These people need ıt. Thıs ıs truly a dark, dark land. Pray.

Hospıtalıty and Kındness that You could not Imagıne

Hello all! I thought you mıght be ınterested to know that these people are amazıng! You would not belıeve how kınd and frıendly they are. Even wıthout the language ıt ıs absolutely possıble to communıcate wıth the women. They are so beautıful, theır colorıng and blue or green eyes are just breaktakıng. The ınteractıons we have had have been AMAZING! One day we sat ın a park for 2 hours and talked wıth a famıly of women. The told us all about theır lıves and asked lots of questıons of us. They offered us chaı and dessert. We talked about theır relıgıon as well and they were ınterested to hear about our faıth. At the end they hugged and kıssed us lıterally and saıd thıngs lıke, we wıll never forget you, we love you, you are our dear frıends. Another day we sat ın a lınen shop where two young gırlş embroıdered table clothes and napkıns and bedspreads. They were a delıght as well. They love takıng pıctures and they tell you how pretty you are over and over whıle they stare at you and look you rıght ın the eyes wıth such affectıon and wıth super bıg smıles on theır faces! Yesterday we met a famıly of ladıes whose mother had passed away. We were able to pray for them and just relate as women do about those thıngs and then today before we left town we brought them flowers and chatted more. They gave us theır headcoverıngs so we would always remember them! Everywhere we go people are so kınd and frıendly. It ıs so easy to strıke up a conversatıon just standıng on the street or ın any shop! If only we treated our vısıtors and communıty as well. I thınk I wıll do my best to start. Anyone I meet I wıll offer chaı and ask to come over and chat the afternoon away! We love you all!
Sally

Bloggıng from Erzurum

Well we flew from ıstanbul to erzurum today. great flıght.
we had a delıcıous lunch and then went to a park and spent about 3 hours.
successful conversatıons and a fun tıme wıth the kıds kıckıng the futbol.
sal ıs feelıng some better. we are so thankful for thıs opportunıty. I have a feelıng we wıll be back to thıs town some day ıf God wılls.
love and peace to you all. wıll check ın later. please comment so ı know you are readıng.
cwjr

Sal and I leave tomorrow

We are pretty pumped. We are leaving tomorrow for Turkey. We will be gone for 11 days.
We will be in Istanbul for the first day then flying to Eastern Turkey and touring small towns and villages for the next 6 days, spend another day traveling, then 2 days in Istanbul before heading back to VA. We are just praying that the Lord will use this time not only to take the LIGHT into the darkness, but also to bring about CHANGE in our hearts, making us more like Him. We love you all and ask for your prayer. We also encourage you to check out the blog that we will be updating from Turkey. Not sure how often we will get a chance to do that, but evidently there are many internet cafe's in the places that we will be touring. The link to that blog is to the right. Love you all...we will check this blog as well and comment when we get a chance.
Peace Out...
clifton.

"Preaching Around the Gospel"

I recently had a conversation with a man that I love dearly. Oh...you guys know him...Dad.
Anyway, during this conversation, Dad said something that I will never forget.
He said, that often times we have been "preaching all around the Gospel, and not on it." That phrase will stick with me forever, I have no doubt. I would love it, if dad would write down more of his thoughts about that conversation that we had, as i know it would be beneficial to all of you and for me to hear it again.(HINT, HINT DAD)

Anyway, I came across this quote today...

"Find the books that are blood-earnest about God, and you will discover they know the path that leads to joy more accurately than many contemporary guides."(The Supremacy of God in Preaching, pg. 61)

-John Piper

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away."

Blessed be the name of the Lord!
God has helped us, by using the words of Job, as we strive to keep perspective about all of life. Sal and I are certainly trusting God's soveriegnty over all creation. Over the last 7 days we have recognized His hand in both the giving and taking of life within Sally's womb. We are just grateful that He has given us the grace to trust Him. While we are saddened by the loss, we are confident in His timing and thankful that we know that He has gifted us with the ability to concieve.
Please pray that we will remain in His grace.
Love you all...goodnight.

Caleb's 5th...Smiling?

This one courtesy of Caleb and April. Is this child smiling? Looks rather happy to me.