The Genesis of our Journey

We have thought long and hard about where to go after we finished our Bachelor's degrees from Canadian Mennonite University. No kids, no money, and no worries seemed to be the perfect recipe for traveling abroad. At first we thought that we would go to Tokyo, where Jess had taught English before; however, no doors seemed to open. Alas, where to go? 

We were interested in going somewhere that would be rich in culture, yet would not be completely foreign to our own - the Mediterranean! We were interested in Greece, but all of our dreams of Greece we saturated in thoughts of high white stone buildings, numerous stairs to climb to a cliff side villa, and beaches (so many beaches). Realizing that we did not have money, we realistically conceded that we could not really afford this lifestyle. 

So how did we decide on Istanbul? No, our minds did not drift across the shores of the Mediterranean to Turkey, but instead came from an action movie at Cheap Seats in Winnipeg, The International (rent it today!) In the last fight scene Clive Owen runs after a bad guy on the roof tops of Istanbul, and we turned to each other and said, "What about Istanbul?" 

And thus began our journey. Three days after this decision a good friend of mine was back in Winnipeg after a 6 month stint in Turkey, and raved about it (and consequently, dissuaded us from thinking of living in Greece). The next week we had a meeting with our pastor and mentioned in passing our interest in Istanbul. It just so happened that a woman who spent ten years in Istanbul starting a Christian school went to our congregation, and our pastor connected us not only with her and her friend, but also with a congregation that we are partnered with in Istanbul. Not long after that we found out that the pastor of that congregation was coming to Winnipeg and wanted to meet with us. 

By this time, two of our close friends (Adam Klassen and Andre Forget - read their blogs too!) asked to come with us. And shortly thereafter Peter Nighswander joined us to make the perfect quintuplet of travelers. 

So after a year of planning and meetings and research we are a week way on an adventure of a lifetime! 

Stay tuned as we continue to share our Erb endeavours!