Travels in Turkey

Needing a blessing

We arrived on the other side of the lake and the fisherman got out in his waders and pulled the boat to shore. He did not want us to get our feet wet, so he carried Ang and then Jeff on his back to the shore. Then Jeff paid him for the ride and lunch. Helmut had told us to pay him even for the food, because the women did not handle money. The boat ride cost 25 Lira and the food 15 Lira.

As we were walking we realized we were going to have to hurry, because it was getting late and we needed to get out of the village to find a place to camp. We passed by some Turkish people eating melon who wanted us to stop and eat with them. We had to tell them “no” and they seemed a bit disgusted with us. 

As we were on our way out of the village, we were noticed by two dogs. One was an 80 to 90 pound blonde colored dog used by shepherds (we knew this because of the spiked collar it had on). It did not want us to go any further. Both dogs stopped pretty close to Jeff barking and seemed to want to attack. Jeff blew a loud whistle, while Ang stood back out of the way.

 A Turkish lady had heard the dogs and seen us. She started running, then slowed to a walk, toward us from her hut about a quarter of a mile down the road. As she approached Jeff, he walked forward and the dog started to go after Ang. The woman ran in front of the dog and began throwing rocks and screaming. Thankfully, the dog left. We kept repeating thank you, and we’re sorry to her in Turkish. She nodded in return. She walked with us to her house and asked us to join her for dinner. We declined and tried to explain to her that is was getting late and we needed to go on and find a place to camp. She spoke very adamantly in Turkish in Ang’s face, but we  finally convinced her and showed her that we were on the St. Paul Trail and needed to get going. 

By this time it was getting dark. We began hiking up this steep mountain to a ridge where Jeff thought we could camp. However, when we got there, there was no place to camp because there was no flat ground. Angela was still worried about the dogs being able to get to her, so we continued down the other side with our head lamps on to try and find a flat place.

When we got to the top of the mountain, Jeff noticed a light down on the beach. He thought we needed to try to go down to whoever was there to camp, because they had surely seen us with our lights, and it would be safer. Ang was by then even more scared. We started hiking down the steep mountain, in the dark. The whole time Ang was praying and getting mad at Jeff thinking that he was crazy. 

On our way down the mountain, Jeff was yelling “Merhaba” and a man named Yasar (pronounced Yashar) climbed up the mountain to get us. Yasar lives in the mountains, and his name is in our trail book as someone we might see. He took us down the mountain, showing us the trail markers on the way, to a place where we could camp on the beach and made sure we were able to set up our tent. He lit a bush and showed us there was nothing on the beach. We kept telling trying to tell him thank you in Turkish but butchering it badly. He kept telling us “My name is Yasar” and “no problem.” He had Jeff get out the trail book so he could show us his name in the book. He did not speak much English, but it was enough. When he realized that we were going to be fine and had our tent set up, he invited us to breakfast at his house and said goodnight.

We were able to camp on the beach and look up and see an amazing sky filled with stars. Ang was able to see three shooting stars. It was incredible! It was like God had brought us an angel! We quoted Psalm 23 because it discribes what this was like for us. God led us through tough times to help us lay down in safety beside still waters. We felt like we were in the shadow of the valley of death, but He was with us all the time. Our cup overflowed with a safe place to sleep, no fear, and an incredible sky full of stars! Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life: and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We never saw Yasar again.