The weeks and days all see
to blur together. And by the time I begin to write about the week, it
seems like it was forever ago.
First, thank you for your notes and emails. We love hearing
from you. We are happy to see some photos of prom goers. Gone
are the layers and layers of netting for prom dresses. We hear Snoopy was
fantastic. We hear that Russell has gone to his hometown to recuperate.
Heather finished first draft of Ruth. We get to be beta readers.
Shoshauna had a mad moment at Costco. Hello Sam's Club!
Julianne has another 12 year old. Tanner wrote a wonderful email to
his grandpa. Scott tried to pass off a prior newsy email as the current
one.... but caught himself, just in time. All of your lives are
amazingly busy. We hope you can feel the tug of heaven as you work
through all your challenges and activities.
We spent one night and two days in Cappadocia with two other
Senior couples. Both couples live in Istanbul and are delightful company.
I became the travel agent and booked our trip through a company I found
on-line. It included a pick-up (at 3:45 AM) from our hotel. So
we stayed one night in Istanbul to get the pick-up. Our hotel was close
to a couple's apartment, so we were all picked up nearby. We had to join
the others in Istanbul and then fly to Cappadocia. As you know we have
been to some very exotic places, but this may be the most amazing place I've
seen. Who would have known it even existed? When we brought 4 of
you to Turkey 30 years ago we didn't go here But I imagine it would have
been like Death Valley in July. It was pleasant in September.
We had a guide and a van for just the six of us. It was
perfect. The guide asked if any of us were claustrophobic. I
thought about it. Last time I went into the Great Pyramid, I vowed that
I'd never go to a place like that again. And some of the caves in Israel
were very confining. But I decided I wouldn't be claustrophobic for this
adventure.
The Cappadocians/Christians basically lived in caves and built
underground cities for miles and miles. It is a huge area. We went
into one underground city and went down four levels, seeing living quarters,
storage facilities, sleeping areas, burial areas, etc. It was well
lighted and not as bad as the pyramids. Our hotel was actually a cave
hotel as are many of the hotels in the area. Many people still live in
cave-like dwellings. They have built onto them, but still live in caves.
The Cappadocians basically were hiding from the Romans. The caves
have easily been carved out of the rock formations in the area. And wind
and rain erosion have also made beautiful structures.
We've flown a lot lately. And unfortunately the airline we
fly on has the exact same meal for each flight.... a scrunched
melted cheese sandwich and your choice of drink. We had two flights
coming home from Cappadocia.... two scrunched melted cheese sandwiches,
yuk!
We heard some GREAT news this week. We received an email
from the MP yesterday and he said the YVs will return to Turkey next week.
(They have been in Germany about 2/1/2 months) So we get to fly to
Istanbul to greet them and have some meetings. We will get the same 4
YVs back in Izmir. That will be great! We have really suffered
with their absence. This week there were 8 of us in the room, and next
week we'll have 12 easily. The future looks bright for Izmir.
In addition, the BP (your
dad) called a woman to be RS President. She just moved in, is 8 months
pregnant, and was a RS President in Hungary before they moved here.
They'll be here for 3 years. Her husband will work for NATO.
They are super active, enthusiastic members. This will be their
first child. They appear to be their late 30's. We have not had RS
at all. So now we'll have one week of RS/Priesthood and one week of SS.
We have Sacrament Meeting every week. We have 10-15 still viewing
on Skype.
We had a branch social yesterday. It was at a member's
summer home at the beach. It was a fun activity, but took lots of
planning and turned out to be a "bad" week-end for some. Dad
kept arranging and rearranging the transportation. We have to hire a
driver and a van or a bus, the potential numbers kept changing. In the
end there were only 11 of us. Five were non-members. An
activity like that would have been enhanced if the elders were there.
Next time!!!!
We have a busy October
coming. We already know of three trips to Istanbul. One of the
flight attendants asked dad if he travelled a lot. She recognized him.
Our next big "chore" is to figure out how to get our
Branch members... up to 35 of them... to Istanbul for a District Conference in
October. This includes airline reservations and hotel reservations.
Help! The herding cats analogy is very adept.
Have a great week.
Love,
Mother
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