Katy is going to Turkey

Greetings!  You have arrived at this blog either because you know me, or because someone forwarded you my information---welcome!  This is a blog dedicated to my upcoming trip to Turkey, in October 2010.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to go on this trip, sponsored by the Office of Disciples Women in which a group of about twenty women will journey to Turkey together. While there we will travel, listen to women, learn about the lives of women in Turkey and forge lasting connections between our churches and theirs. (Also when I have an itinerary I will share it with you).

The trip is part of a program sponsored by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) called Woman-to-Woman Worldwide (WWW), an organization that "responds to the call for church women to experience solidarity with one another, to affirm the unity of the church in Jesus Christ and to join the common struggle for justice and peace in the world today. These international, ecumenical and personal experiences encourage faithful women to see the world through new eyes and bring that perspective back to their congregation and community" (discipleswomen.org).  Recent trips have been made to Haiti, Israel/Palestine, Bosnia/Croatia, Venezuela/Colombia, and Korea.

Why am I going to Turkey on this trip?  For those of you who are part of the Christian tradition, it may resonate with you to know that I felt a "call" to this particular trip.  For those of you from other traditions, it may resonate to hear that in previous years when I heard the destinations of this program (all wonderful places), I thought "Oh, I bet they'll have a great time.  Can't wait to hear about it"! but when I heard that this year's trip was to Turkey, I thought "Oh!  THAT one is for me!"---and I am still waiting for precisely why this is the case to unfold!  For now, I will only say that the Divine Mystery is tugging at me to go on this trip, and I am thrilled to be part of the group.

While there we will meet with women, talk to them, form relationships, be advocates for one another, promote the biblical ethics of peace and justice, and be responsible for communicating this to our communities back in the United States.   Soon I'll be having some "guest bloggers" tell us what they did on their trips!

A little bonus for me is that my dissertation is on stuff that happened in this part of the world 2,000 years ago.  So, I'll be staying on and doing some research in and about Turkey and Greece---more details to come.

In upcoming posts, I will start reading and posting information about our destination, the people we may encounter, and other interesting details and pictures of the country.  Here is a stunning picture of the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) church, originally a Christian church which was later converted to a mosque, and now serves as a museum---and undoubtedly a jewel of Istanbul, our arrival and departure city.  Please make posts below and tell me your thoughts about this upcoming trip.  I'm getting my camera ready!