EDMOND—Armstrong International Cultural Foundation marketing director Shane Granger toured Turkey from July 19 to August 2 as a guest of the Dialogue Institute of the Southwest, an organization that promotes friendships between American and Turkish citizens. Granger also stopped by the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus and the Edstone campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College in Warwickshire, England.

Together with nine other Oklahoma professionals and public servants, Granger visited Turkish destinations including human rights organizations, historical sites and host homes. The tour began with the Istanbul headquarters of Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anyone There?), a non-governmental relief organization with 220,000 volunteers worldwide that is assisting some of the millions of Syrian refugees who have fled their country’s civil war. The group also visited Samanyolu, a television station known for highlighting the disadvantaged within the Turkey; Cappadocia, a unesco world heritage site where Christians hid in caves from various persecutors between the 8th and 14th centuries. Other destinations included a pottery factory in the seafront metropolis of Izmir, the ancient ruins of Ephesus, the Bursa Grand Mosque, a whirling dervish ceremony, and a lecture at the Journalists and Writers Foundation back in Istanbul.

The Oklahomans encountered hundreds of Syrian refugees, and Granger reported his firsthand account for theTrumpet.com. The group also spent time with Turkish families, sharing meals, exchanging gifts, and even attending a wedding reception.

Granger said these interactions were a highlight of the trip, with friends and neighbors joining in after dinnertime for Turkish coffee and wedding reception attendees pinning money on the groom until he looked like a feathered bird.

Before returning home, Granger flew to England to visit Edstone Hall in Warwickshire and to help plan the décor for the Philadelphia Church of God’s regional office there. He also took the opportunity to visit Buckingham Palace and the British Museum in London.

Fourteen flights, several subways and ferries, and more than a dozen buses later, Granger returned to Edmond with all his bags and a rich collection of experiences and connections that may prove to richly benefit to the work of the Armstrong International Cultural Foundation.