Counting down the days.....

So, its been a REALLY long time since I have written here and for that I do apologize. I will try to write more often but now the time is ticking and our last days are approaching as we prepare to leave Baku.

Some of you may be wondering what in the world we have beeen doing, or even just how are we doing. Touche!! Those are all VERY good questions..haha..and I will try to answer them. I will go back in time just a little then come back to the present time.

Well, we arrived in Baku on April 23rd. After being in Baku for 2 days we had to move promply from our apt. as we later learned that we were living in what we in america might call the ghetto or a slum...basically the worst part of Baku...lol...in that place we were mistaken as prostitutes and so we had to move. After living with a family for nearly two weeks when then moved again into our own apt. ONE room!! No need to say more....lol....We lived there for one month and then, on June 3rd the night before our departure to Istanbul to return home we felt led to pray for about FIVE hours where at the conclusion of that we felt led to stay. "STAY???? For how long?" well....the answer was "Until I say to leave!"...so....as you can tell, WE'RE STILL HERE!! haha... and we have moved yet again two times since our previous place. In many ways it made me feel like Jesus b/c the Bible says that even the Son of man has no place to lay his head. We went from place, to place, to place. Many of those times we were just staying with other people and not knowing each day where we were going to be staying. But all in all the times were great.

Our time here has been filled with LOTS of obstacles, which in turn led us to have to seek HIM more and more. The hardest times here have proven to be the best. We have had to make decisions that we wouldve never dreamed we'd have to make, or we didn't want to have to make or even just having to make them RIGHT at that moment in time under tremendous amounts of pressure and having to trust that we heard from Him. So, all in all we're learning.

Throughout our time here we have just been spending a lot of time with my friends and former students which has been amazing. Former relationships have grown deeper and new relationships have been made and also grown very fast in such a short amount of time. Both Leilah and I have felt our hearts grow towards the people here in a way that we have never felt them grow towards anyone. We feel as if we've known some of our friends for our whole lives. Two months feels like 1 yr or more.

Our diets have consisted of food, food and MORE FOOD!! Hahaha... We have each picked up a few extra pounds, which we plan to dispose of before returning home..whenever that is...lol....Lamb meat has definitely been in the picture, which we both could do without. Just a few short weeks ago we went to a village far away by the name of Quba. On the way, we stopped on the side of the road where we then found our dinner, watched it get chopped to pieces and then kebabed it for a delicious lamb on a stick....yuuuuuummmm!! Quba is one of thee most beautiful places I have ever seen. I have been there before during one of my previous trips to Azerbaijan, but this time was different. We stayed in a friends village a.k.a "the willage" where we slept with every animal you can think of making noises all night long, with a hole in the ground for a toilet and with water running right down from the spring. We also visited a waterfall where Leilah and I (after much contemplation) decided to dive in. It felt like ice cold needs pelting us in our heads...haha....

The past few weeks we have spent with some very close friends, one of whom will be leaving for the army this Saturday July 4th. We are all kind of down and out about that and will definitely miss him dearly. Then, after just a few more days we will be departing for Istanbul Inshallah (God willing) where we will then stay from a period of 1-7 days and upon that we think we will be returning home. :) I will try to give an update in the next few days..until then, God speed...

Callie