Hello everyone !

 

It’s almost been a month since I flew out so thought I’d send you all an update on how everything is going!

 

Thank you so much for your support, especially prayers, emails, texts and phone calls I’ve had. I can’t explain how much it helps me and pushes me to trust God more. Knowing your behind me in prayer is a big encouragement and strength. At times I’ve felt weak but known a real presence of the Lord through just knowing people are praying for me.

 

At the end of my last email I asked you to pray for a few aspects and praise to God, these have all been answered. I am especially pleased that God’s really had His hand on my health, my body has had no problems getting used to the change of diet and although the first week I was eaten alive my mosquitoes after forgetting to put any spray on, all of them soon faded and none became infected as I had feared! Having good health is vital for this job, you need energy the whole time and often don’t get the full amount of sleep you may want, sometimes with it being broken, however on days where I’ve felt so tired have prayed and asked God for supernatural energy and sure enough He has provided it.

 

My role out here is mainly resort rep, meaning I’m in charge of organising all the morning and evening activities/entertainment for the adults, all the trips and generally that guests are happy!

 

My daily routine consists of this. I have to be at the hotel at 8.30am every morning, although there is a prayer meeting with the leader every morning at 7.45am which I sometimes make it to if have got enough sleep! The last few weeks we haven’t had a ministry leader so we’ve had to lead these prayer meetings.

 

We have breakfast with guests, which I find hard as like to be quiet in the morning! Then sometimes have a staff meeting at 9am, it’s pretty flexible out here, so you don’t know until the morning! Then just chat with hotel staff and guests.

 

At 10am I organise a morning activity for the guests, this may be taking them on walk around the village, to the local market, pool games, etc.

 

Then 12 noon is staff lunch, which has been good to get to the Turkish staff. I’ve fit in really well with the Turkish staff, which is completely the Lord. At the start I think they were quite unsure of us all. I now consider them all my friends and have a lot of fun around them. I seem to have fitted in better than the other English staff; today I was invited to the Turkish staff afternoon tea and cake and one of the Turkish staff said to the owner ‘she is our girl’ and others where saying ‘not English staff, now Turkish staff ok’. I Praise God I’ve fitted in so well, has made the job a lot of fun, last week went to a local bay one night with a couple of them and another night we had a little party, so am enjoying the social side a lot. We’ve also had a lot of good conversations about my faith and theirs. Last night when I said I was going to be leading the prayer meeting for the guests in the morning, they asked for me to pray for them at it, which we did. When I was talking to one about my year with the church last year and how I would study the Bible as part of it he turned to me and said, ‘you’re normal, I meet these Christians which have studied the Bible and they are boring, but you are fun and normal, it’s good!’ Please pray for more opportunities with the staff.

 

Then afternoon is mainly spending time with guests, in the pool, etc. Fliss and I get two hours off in the afternoon which we can go back to apartment, get changed for evening. As part of my job I have to get a bit dressed up for the evening (suits me!)

 

Then 6.30pm is the Ministry Meeting, which is optional, but I usually go to. Then dinner is from 7.30-9pm. Once this is done I have to change the board of activities, info for the next day so the guests know what’s happening.

 

Then 9pm I do some sort of entertainment, this can be a quiz, going to local bar, games, last week people decided they wanted to have a pool party! On Tuesday evenings I run a trip into Bodrum where people go for dinner overlooking the harbour then to the market places all still open, which people really like, especially bargaining for prices! I finish work when evening entertainment is finished, so it varies, this can be as early as 9.30pm or if I’ve done the trip into Bodrum, can be as late as 11.30pm.

 

The job is pretty flexible, some days I’m manic, especially if I’m organising a trip, I spend most of the day running around collecting guest’s money. Other days I can be sat by the pool sunbathing all-day! I really enjoy it though.

 

Being the only main rep I’ve been the only one going to the airport to meet guests. This is an interesting experience attempting to communicate with the driver who speaks no English and the guide of the company who speaks some English. Last week I had to wait at the airport for two hours with the guide, which was a bit painful attempting to communicate for that long although managed somehow! Welcoming guests, showing them to their rooms, given them information and then holding the welcome meeting are all jobs for changeover days.

 

One of the trips I get to on for free is the boat trip, which is so much fun. I spend the day on the boat with guests, we stop at 3 bays where we jump off and go swimming, have a lovely lunch, stop on an island and last week I got a free camel ride on the island, lots of fun! One of the perks of the job!

 

I’m hungry for God to use me more in Turkey; I have such a heart for the women here especially. I am praying that I am intentional about the friendships I make with locals and that through them I can show Jesus love to them. I’ve become friends with two girls who work at a local cafe. One speaks reasonable English, but her sister doesn’t speak any English, so we communicate through the phrasebook and her sister. This can be so tiring, one week I spent one hour attempting to speak Turkish to her, but through it was able to share I went to Church and therefore believed in God, so was worth it!

 

Please pray I would pick up the language quickly, I really want to be able to communicate more in Turkish. I’ve had a couple of amazing experiences where God has given me words in Turkish, which I didn’t even know what meant but meant I was able to communicate better, I’ve also had a couple of times where I’ve understood what they’ve said even though I didn’t know what any of the words meant. Please pray God would increase this, it’s very exciting!
 
My blog which I'll keep updated is: http://rachy4jesus.blogspot.com/

I’ve also got photos of the last month on my facebook.
 
Keep in touch,

Lots of love,
Rachel XxX