Dear Grandchildren,
Time sort of hung around. Or so it seemed. All last week, everything pointed to Thursday when the YVs would arrive back. Thursday finally came. Then all of our slow-motion activities finally tightened into something meaningful. We caught a flight to Istanbul about noon, enjoyed the toasted cheese and tomato sandwich which is now standard fare on all Turkish Air flights, and arrived in time to make our way to the international terminal just before the first YVs emerged. They came out in threes and fours until only three remained inside. They were dealing with an immigration issue for one of them. In the end, because of a glitch that occurred before the YVs departed two months before, one of the fifteen had to return to Germany for up to a month. The MP was on his phone almost constantly, getting a sense of what was happening inside the international hall with the one YV’s emigration situation, and calling people abroad who needed to know that the fellow was probably going back, and working out who could help the YV shorten his stay in Germany. After almost three hours in the airport, we hauled all the luggage onto a bus and headed for the hotel where the YVs would stay for a night.
The next morning, the MP held a zone training meeting for all of us. In many ways, it framed a reminder about the kinds of activities the YVs should be engaged in. They were out of Europe and back in the Middle East where the stream of life is different. Before six o’clock Friday, we were back in our city, with our four YVs. How do you spell Hallelujah? Since then, we have already hosted one lesson in our apartment, with others to come.
The big news Saturday was the arrival of our newest branch member, a baby named Olivia. She was born Caesarean section. Apparently she came early. Her mother said a week ago that she was due a month hence. But she is now here and, because she is the first child in the family, a lot will change in their house, or apartment. They have just moved in and are expecting a huge shipment of household items to arrive any day. So the Yvs and I will take it upon ourselves to assist with hauling the boxes. It is a lot to put on a family — to move into a new apartment, to welcome a new child, and to receive and arrange a bunch of goods for the apartment.
We were eighteen in our Sacrament Meeting today, ten in the hotel room and eight by Skype. We don’t download and watch the first couple of sessions of general conference as happens elsewhere in the Church. We feel an obligation to those who join us by Skype from afar to hold a Sacrament Meeting; and if we show a conference session or two, we cannot transmit such sessions by Skype. Therefore, we lose those good people. Moreover, needed translations of the sessions that we can view are not ready until a few days after the conference ends. So we instead soldier on with regular church services, adding in a translated talk to each of a later set of Sacrament Meetings in October and November. In this way, we hold a Sacrament Meeting and then invite branch members to view the talk that we have chosen for the week. (I send the links for the various languages to branch members in an email during the week before our next meeting.) I hope that this is somewhat clear. Maybe it is not. If not, I apologize. We hope that in some small way, one talk at a time, we can bring the spirit of the conference to our branch members.
My birthday came and went. Mostly went. Thanks for the kind greetings and sentiments. I am grateful for your thoughtfulness. Now that I am officially more than a year past the three quarters of a century in age, I want to announce that I feel about the same as I did last week. A little slow and inclined to fall asleep in the strangest places. Actually, I have slowed a lot. I don't run up any stairs, I don't run down any stairs, I spend more time in the bathroom than I used to, I am slower to put on some articles of clothing, and I surely don't look good in a bathing suit or anything like unto it. I can still ride a bike a bunch of kilometers, but it is flat where I ride. It is also safe. I don't dare ride toward any hills around here to challenge them. I am not certain that drivers see bikers. So I stay totally out of their way.
I love you and pray for each of you. Always.
Grandpa Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment