Peter had a chance to spend 4 days on an organic farm stay while we were in Turkey!

Here are a few shots of the family members he lived with.

Sultan picking peas.

Mr. Erzos putting together a shipment to one of the five organic markets in Turkey.

Erdal and his brothers

I have been taking some nice panoramas but I still need to figure out the best way to put them on the blog.

“Where are we? Are we in Asia or Europe? I can’t believe I don’t even know what continent I am on!” This is Amanda talking and to be totally accurate, I have to confess that I was asking these questions for not just a minute or two, but for several hours…almost half a day.   If you know me, you know that I take pride in knowing  geography, understanding maps and especially in knowing where I am at the moment.  In junior high, I actually had my mom make me a skirt and vest outfit out of material with a world map all over it. Classy, huh? My classmates accused me of cheating when I wore it on the day of our geography test. To this day, that skirt/vest combo outfit is the joke of choice regarding me when it comes to reliving junior high days with old friends. So, how did I get to this point where I didn’t even know what continent I was on? It’s called Turkey, a country that spans two continents… mix in arriving at 3 am, a bus ride to who knows where (actually, I think the other people on the bus knew, but we certainly didn’t and we couldn’t seem to find an English speaker who could clue us in), and a taxi ride to “someplace where we can sleep.” Thankfully, we finally did get to a place where we could sleep and when we awoke, we set out to figuring out which continent we were on and where exactly on that continent we were at the moment. “I think we are in Kadikoy… wait… maybe we are in Karakoy.”  Karakoy is on the European side of Istanbul and Kadikoy is on the Asian side.  After a walk and a stop at an internet cafe to check out a map, we finally settled that we were in Kadikoy.  Ahhh… how nice to be in Asia again. Pictures to be posted soon.

We met up with (Peter’s) mom and dad in (guess!), where we started our bike and barge tour through Belgium.

Our barge was the Miro, built in the 1920s.

On arriving, we found out that some of the other guests had canceled and that rather than having a total of ten passengers, it was seven. So Shackelfords were the majority!

We enjoyed the three other passengers on board. One was Flemish and the other two were Dutch. We packed a lunch from the breakfast fixings every morning and then had a picnic lunch on the road.

Amanda was the lucky one who had two flat tires. Ed had one slow leak. Peter and Luanne nil.

Part of out exit strategy for Africa was to fly from Cairo to Germany. We found tickets with the budget carrier TUIfly for $125 each! Upon arriving in Berlin we took a train straight to Bonn. In Bonn we stayed with Rahel and Daniel.

Rahel and I grew up together in the Philippines and amazingly have kept in contact. Amanda and I enjoyed relaxing, talking, reading, riding bikes around the city etc.

A week and a half ago Amanda and I were in Cairo. Some of our impressions are as follows. Cairo reminded us a lot of Bangkok, albeit with a middle eastern twist. The people there were very friendly. We were regularly recognized for not being local and people would smile really big and say “Welcome!” We found that food, water and lodging were relatively cheap and the used clothes market was so big even after walking an hour we could not find the end of it. The day before we left we decided to go see the Pyramids. We walked an hour to the subway and then took a mini bus (we were with only Egyptians the whole way). We were informed multiple times that we had to take either a horse or a camel in to see the pyramids. We explained that we were content with looking at them from a distance but people insisted that that was not an option, horse or camel. We ended up climbing to the fourth story of a Pizza Hut and taking pictures from there. One of the surprising things about the pyramids is that they are in the city. Most photos you see give the impression that they are out in the middle of some desolate place. The other interesting thing is that the sphinx is dwarfed by the pyramids. I was surprised by how small it was. Sorry we are not including the pictures. We sent some equipment home and the pictures were on our other computer.

Our 2 weeks in Zambia was a wonderful way to end our time in Africa! We filmed Hope Ministries: a church, school and orphanage ministry initiated and run totally by Zambians.  They are doing an impressive job! We were happy to be able to do a small part to help by shooting footage for them! While filming, we stayed with the Mulando family. Such wonderful people… we learned much from them and were so thankful for their hospitality (and they sure know what it means to be hospitable!!!).

Our second Sunday there, Peter was asked to preach. I am probably bias being his wife, but I think God really used him!  From the sounds of the congregation, they also agreed that he was saying some important things. Oh! How I wish I had an audio recording of the sermon. The congregation’s reaction was hilarious and encouraging at the same time. One woman would say one of the following phrases about every 3 minutes: “Prreeeeeach it,” “Glooooory,” “Asa-fee-wé Mung-goo, (Praise the Lord)” and “tell us tell us tell us tell us.”   Ask us to impersonate her some time… I just can’t do the story justice without audio!