Dear
Family,
As I prepare to write this
it occurs to me that our children are probably not interested in a long
rambling epistle detailing the events of our week. They rarely asked us
how our days went when they were young, so why would that change when we are in
now our 70’s?
I
know some of them just skim the letters. So I thought I’d bold the important parts to save time in reading all the little print.
We had a very busy week. We went south to visit two families in Bodrum. Such trips always
begin with either a bus ride or a train ride. But a train doesn’t go to
Bodrum, so we took the bus. We went through two security check-points and
guards boarded the bus and asked to see our ID. We gave them our
passports and they got off the bus. When our bus attendant returned to
the bus, and we drove away he passed out “our” ID. We soon noticed that
he didn’t have our passports. The bus driver had
to turn the bus around and return to the check point. He had to drive
quite a distance before he found a place to turn around. When we returned
to the check-point the security people said they’d sent our passports on ahead
with the next bus and we could eventually catch up with that bus at the next
station. And we did. We were happy to see someone flag down our bus
with our passports.
We had booked a hotel for
the evening. A husband of a member was the manager of a hotel fairly
close to the bus station. He met us at the hotel and they we caught a bus
that took us near to their home. After a bit of a walk, in very steamy
hot weather, we arrived at their home.
We had dinner there and a church meeting. Two German sisters married two Turkish men.
They have six children between them. Dad baptized two of the children
last fall in the Sea. One of the fathers runs a tourist boat. The
two mothers and two children spoke at the meeting. Dad blessed and passed
the sacrament. The talks were in German. Dad and I smiled
pleasantly through the talks. I’d brought some pictures to color and some
little treats for the children. The children are
from 3-11. This is the 4th time we’ve visited them, so they are
getting used to us by now. On Sundays they get church through Skype.
The next morning we walked
down to the beach. I wish I’d seen it
sooner because it was beautiful and many people were swimming there. Next
time… We caught a bus, and made the trip back to Izmir. We were not
stopped by any security guards this time.
There is a church patriarch assigned to this part of
the world. He is a retired BYU Russian professor. He comes to this
Area several times a year and gives blessings in Russian and English.
This is his first visit to Turkey. Dad gave most of the recommend
interviews for his visit, including 9 of them
today… some via Skype, some in Person, and some over the phone.
Dad also gave interviews to his own Branch members who wanted blessings.
(They would have his signature two times on their recommend) The Mission
President asked dad to give the final interviews. The MP is out of town.
We
enjoyed visiting with Gary Browning. We took him to dinner last night. And he came to
our house today for dinner (we had IKEA meatballs) after church and after
the blessings he gave to our branch members. We had to reserve the hotel
room for a few extra hours to accommodate his visit. He is about dad’s age. He was the first
MP in Russia in 1990.
We
had another special
visitor in Sacrament
meeting. An Elder who left six months ago, came back with his parents and
brother on a tour. It was nice to have him with us. Dad asked him
and his dad to speak in Sacrament meeting. He says he missed Turkey very
much. He’ll be going to BYU-Idaho this year.
Dad
and Brother Browning are going to Ephesus
tomorrow and then he goes to other
areas in Turkey to give more blessings. He will visit 4 branches, then on
to Kazakhstan. I admire him. He says he has given as many as 7
blessings in a day. That is a huge challenge!
I
imagine all of you are in the throes of school this week. School doesn’t start here for several more
weeks. I hope that all the children will do well this year. I
actually loved school and found it very challenging to do my best. I
wasn’t the brightest, except in math
classes and ping pong.
Thanks for keeping us
informed. We do read every little tidbit of information that comes to us
from all of you. Good luck in all your endeavors.
Love
Mom
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