Merry Christmas

This year my Christmas is looking a little different than usual. Myself and three others from the track left on Wednesday night for Istanbul by bus. Twelve hours in an upright seat is not always suiting your sleeping needs so we were all pretty tired when we arrived in Istanbul. Our first morning consisted of finding a great bakery, me chilling at Starbucks for a couple hours and the rest sleeping away the afternoon. I eventually made it back to the hostel and fell asleep myself waking up at 4:30 just in time to get ready for supper. The rest of the day mostly consisted of resting.

On Friday we visited the famous Agiya Sofia. What an incredible building with so much history and significance. At one time Istanbul was named Constantinople and the Agiya Sofia was built in honor of Constantine in about 300ad. The Agiya Sofia was burnt down twice and the third building was constructed about 400ad, complete with domes, whereas the other building was more of a rectangular shape. This church was one of the largest churches in all the world and had great importance, being the capital of the Roman Empire

In the 1400’s Istanbul was conquered by an Islamic group and the Agiya Sofia was tuned into a Mosque until the 1800’s. During the mid 1900’s the plaster in the Mosque was stripped away to reveal the beautifully handcrafted mosaics from the previous church. The Agiya Sofia is now a museum in itself. It is quite incredible to stand under eight story domes, decorated with mosaics, paintings and ornaments and to think that ten thousand human hands once crafted this building.

Anyways enough about this building just thought you might be interested. Three days we spent in Istanbul and then took off to visit some people in Bulgaria for Christmas. I was quite shocked at how I pictured Bulgaria to be and how similar it was when we arrived. A fog filled land and quite cold, the snow just disappearing. Looks like I won’t be having a white Christmas for the fifth year. The town we are staying in called, Pazerdjik, has many apartment buildings remaining from the Communist era but lying just outside the city is beautiful snowy mountains. We hope to go skiing later this week!

I also wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and New Year wherever that may be this year! I hope that Jesus is close to your hearts and becomes real in this time. Thank you also for your support through this incredible journey God has been taking me on this year. It has been a wild year with many unexpected situations. For example, deciding to go to Costa Rica with my leaders Paul and Susi Childers one week before we left.
To sum up this year; I have been to seven new countries (one of those being painted in a tribe), staffed a Discipleship Training School, lead a team to Columbia, finished a Living Waters program, visited home, worked at a café for one month, had a photography exhibition; currently helping lead a team around the world studying photography, the Bible and World Views and I am now celebrating Christmas in Eastern Europe. So thank so much for being a part of it! Love you all very much and please don’t be shy to email anytime (kiwana5@gmail.com or Facebook).

Please pray that this Christmas would be very real for me as it is hard being away from my family at this time of the year. Also pray for opportunities to minister to people when we visit some of the gypsy villages here in Bulgaria. One last thing, just for this year in general, that I would grow deeper with God and he would continue to use me in leadership, photography and being Jesus to people as well as I can!

Blessings and Merry Christmas,

Aaron Harcourt
photogenX team
Around the World Track
http://www.aaronharcourt.com/
PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Agiya Sofia
























Blue Mosque






































Istanbul

Turkish Delight Anyone?

One of the most friendly and hospitable people I have ever met. A country full of Ancient wonders but nearly in the modern 'European Union'. A place of old hills and rugged villages, where the sent of burning wood and tea waft from houses and the beautiful yet empty and hopeless singing rings every couple hours from the mosques high towers. A country that is now cold with winter but jumps to a new Mediterranean beat as summer approaches. Her name is Turkey.

After leaving Greece's mainland we set out by ferry for a small Island named Chios about one hour from mainland Turkey. It was a short stop but a great one as it was our first time to see Greek Island life. On Chios we found this amazing shop dediacted to a special plant called Mastiha. Mastiha is a tree only found on Chios Island and is used as chewing gum. After being poked, it drips out sap in tear shape beads onto the ground. The gum tastes like sap at first but then has the flavor of ginger. It is good for oral hygiene, digestion, cleaning intenstines and healthy skin. Another one of those rare natural treasures. And a very random fact for you to know.

Our arrival in Selcuk, Turkey (located near Ancient Ephesus) was warm. Like I said, the people of Turkey greeted us with such warmth and hospitaltiy. And it's not just because they want you to buy their carpet or Kashmere Scarfs but because they genuinely love having people around. On my first day out with a couple others from school we were invited in for apple tea and quickly began to get to know the local people.

Our next section of study was into the Epistles and what a perfect location to do that. We as a class had the oppotunity to read the book of Ephesians in Ephesus where the people once had an uproar in the great theatre. We had a wonderful yet very busy week with David Hamilton and it was such a blessing to have him in Greece and continuing on with us in Turkey.

This week a young guy from Townsville, Australia has joined us for two weeks in Design. And this could not have come at a better time. We were searching around the community to find a way we could serve them and there didn't seem to be any door opening. Even after speaking with the Governor and Educational Director of Selcuk we still had nothing but then a photography exhibition was introduced to us. I wasn't sure about the amount of work, cost or other details, but after praying with the staff we got a go ahead. We are now one week away from the exhibition and after much intercession and planning things are on their way.

This area is so ripe with photography opportunties. For example, the other day me and a freind went to a small community called Sirnice. This community, built by the Greeks, is full of old stone houses, brightly painted walls, traditional clothes, authentic Turkish pancakes, fruit wines and wonderful people. We even stopped by a random jewelery shop that made all the jewelery for the movie 'Troy'.

During the afternoon me and my friend walked through the old stone streets and saw this beautiful old lady walking with a white horse as the sun shone of the two of them. My friend ran off to take photos and couple minutes later I heard here voice shouting, "Aaron, do you want apple tea?" I said yes and went looking for her but was comfronted with about 40 houses on all levels, all looking the same and a maze of streets. I shouted to her and after several minutes she popped her head out of a house high on the hill. All this to say we ended up having tea with this women in her house which you could see your breath in and bought some knitted socks from her. Through little English and lots of hand motions she showed us her wounded shoulder and we were able to pray for her. It was a beautiful moment as she gave my friend a kiss and warm huge for what we would say an akward amount of time. But that moment was special and she knew what we were doing despite her Muslim background. She said good bye with another hug and a couple apples from her tree and we were on our way.

I can honestly tell you that this is one of the most wonderful countries I have ever been to and hope to return to one day.

Please pray for the photography exhibition this Friday, that God would plant a seed in this community and check out our photo in the Selcuk newspaper http://www.efestenhaberler.com/index.asp?gorev=haberdetay&id=3353. Thanks again for reading and enjoy the photography.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Use your imagination...

It's hard to desribe the feeling you get when you stand in a place where someone who changed the world once stood. A place where the gospel was once preached and spread like wild fire into Europe. It's one of unbelief, awe and imagination. This is how I felt as I stood at the Acropolis and Mars Hill in Athens. A place that a radical man for Christ stood and proclaimed the good news of salvation and forgiveness. This is how I felt in Corinth, a city once rich and famous, possessed by the gods of immorality and idolatry. This is how I felt in Ancient Ephesus, full of beauty and the newest advances in human achievement. And it all came to ruins.

Let your mind create the seen...marble buildings beyond belief, the smell of baking bread in stone ovens, people dressed in colourful robes and gold jewelery, animals and fresh fruit being sold in the market, a temples with 10,000 prostitutes... It's hard to picture even as you stand in these ancient places. Yet you feel a sense of what once took place as you read through Acts, Corinthians, Ephesians and all the Epistles. The story came to life!

Our journey took us from beautiful Porto Rafti to Athens, to Corinth, to the Island of Chios and onto new lands.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Athens














Parthanon









Porto Rafti



















Corinth









Chios Island