#119 Visitors (by Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

One of the SV couples came to our fair city yesterday. They came as part of a rotation of the SVs through the smaller branches in Turkey. The only small branch that we cannot access is in the south of the country where military personnel are more or less locked on base. And the rest of us are locked out. Probably as it should be. This SV couple spoke in our church services today on the plan of salvation. Their presentation was simple yet profound. Only one adult investigator was with us in our meetings, but the message was perfect for him. That man, we expect, will become one of us on Christmas Day.

The coming of this couple adds an important dimension for us. During the last seventeen months, we have enjoyed the companionship of another couple only when we travel away from here. When we go to Istanbul, this couple is there. We have formed a good friendship with them over the months since they arrived in Turkey. Our time with them allows conversations with another couple who function rather like we do. Without them and the other couples, our main interactions are with either young single adults, including our YVs, or with branch members who speak little or no English. Just being able to talk about what we are doing and planning to do is a wonderful piece of therapy. But I don’t want to make too much of this because we get along just fine without this sort of conversation on a regular basis.

Oh, and by the way, one of my counselors has been deported. That news caught me completely by surprise, I will admit. He went off to Germany for a meeting and, when he returned, he was denied entry. The problem seems to be that he owns a company and does not have a current work permit. At least, that is what he was told. It is a long story. He was able to talk the border officer into deporting him back to Germany where he had traveled for the meeting rather than to his home country which is much farther away. Now he has gone to the Turkish Embassy to begin the process to obtain a permit that will allow him to return and take up his work again. Nary a dull moment, it seems. We are not expecting to suffer his same fate. We have no immediate plans to travel outside of the country.

For the record, we were 28 in our sacrament meeting today, 15 in the hotel room and 13 by Skype. We and the YVs were expecting several investigators. Three showed up, one adult and two older children. They all have a date to be baptized on Christmas Day. Our realtor lady, who had come twice in a row, did not come but joined one of our pairs of YVs at our home this evening for a lesson on the plan of salvation and the Word of Wisdom. She is a very generous person and took Grandma and me and the YVs to one of the very impressive breakfasts that a lot of restaurants serve on Saturday mornings. Yummm. And now she is going to pray about the Prophet Joseph Smith. Why is that important? Because, she says, she drinks everything that is against the Word of Wisdom. Knowing whether Joseph was a prophet will have a huge impact on how she lives her life. It will all be for the good, I promise.

Naturally, I cannot forget our Thanksgiving meal. We took the four YVs to the Renaissance Hotel in town. It is the only place that serves this dinner. We met in the lobby earlier than the meal began so that we could go to the restaurant in plenty of time. When we arrived, we spotted others seated a few minutes early. And the food was already set out in lovely fashion. So a person showed us to our table for six (I had reserved the table a few days before). Then we went on a tour, walking the length of the serving tables before diving in. And in we dove. For one YV, it was a complete diet of meat and potatoes. Another finished his meal with a serving of fish. For a third, it was mainly a question of how much he could pile on his large plate. And so it went. For me, one of the oddest dishes was a mint flavored pudding in a small wine glass with three chocolate cake cubes resting on the top. The surprise came when I discovered kernels of corn in the pudding. That was a new combination. Shall I try that again? Probably not.

I love you and pray for each of you.

Grandpa Brown

#118 Thanksgiving Week November 27, 2016 (By Grandma)

I hope you all had a wonderful week of activities for this holiday.  I've seen on FB a lot of the stuff you did.  I can't believe all the activities the Pearson family members were involved in.  Vernal has major celebrations after Thanksgiving.  I saw some Brown family racers.  I saw Cassidy's damaged shin from a soccer injury.  She was kicked in a game.  I was able to see the screws that were taken out of Nelise's leg.  They were huge.  I assume Joel will use them in the remodeling of our bathroom, or make a necklace for Nelise.  I saw Rose's clothes laid out on the floor awaiting the snow.  And I wonder if you all enjoyed Black Friday.  We didn't.

Our week was quite busy also.  We have had lots of visits from the YVs to our apartment with investigators.  They are scooping them up.  I "graciously" feed all of them bits of edibles.  It is Turkish culture to always feed a guest.  

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner in a hotel.  The YVs were our guests.  I think they enjoyed themselves, and could eat all they wanted.  The only two things I missed were cranberry sauce, and stuffing.  But they had lots of wonderful foods.  My favorite dessert was a lemon meringue pie.  Our dinner wasn't until 8:00 PM, so it was a looooong wait.  

On Saturday a Turkish woman took us and two elders to breakfast.  Turks are big on breakfasts, and all restaurants feature a special breakfast.  I've enclosed a photo of our breakfast.  We were actually sitting outside on a hilltop.  She had a car and drove us to the outing.  We spent about 4 hours with her.... three of those hours were eating.  The YVs also got filled up again.  

That same day a senior couple from Istanbul came for a visit.  So we spent seven hours with them, touring them around Izmir, shopping and eating.  The man bought a new suit for about $65.00.  The shop had it hemmed and ready for him in about one hour.  Dad bought his second pair of pants from the shop.  The pants cost about $18.00  They were also hemmed for him.

We enjoyed having the couple spend time with us today also.  We fed them a yucky chicken/rice dish.  Oh well.

You'll see our Christmas tree.  It was a gift from Bobbie and Gayle.  They sent individual gifts with scriptures attached that we can open for 25 days.  The package was very expensive to ship, and had obviously been rummaged in customs.  There were 8 caramels in the package.  They have tasted sooooo good.  Haven't had caramels for soooo long.  I threw away our Christmas tree from last year because I didn't think we'd be here another Christmas.  But here we are.

I hope you are all doing well.  We miss you a lot.  But we are okay.  And we will survive!

I love you all!

Mother

#117 Two (by Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

The week was essentially defined by two events. The first was the move of two of our YVs into a new apartment (well, new to them) and the second had to do with our visit to some members in a distant city. First things first.

The week before, the new apartment came into view with the help of a willing pair of realtors who actually wanted to help these young fellows find a place to live. The capstone was one of the realtors attending church services last week and then meeting with the YVs for a gospel lesson at a later date. Cool. She also showed up at our church meetings this morning for her second week in a row. What is more, for the second week she was the first person to arrive except for the YVs and myself. She might be a keeper. We shall learn later in the coming week when she comes to our apartment for a second lesson.

Last Monday was moving day. The two YVs showed up at an appointed hotel with their big bags stuffed into a taxi. The Church’s representative and I went with them, in another taxi, to the realtors’ office. There they took care of the formalities of signing the lease and paying two months’ worth of rent as a deposit. The landlord and landlady could not have been more gracious. He remembered me from an event that honored our illustrator member and she, with the YVs in her car, drove them to the Metro stop near the new apartment to show them where they can catch rides to different parts of the city. Except for a couch that crowds their study area, they are happy as clams in the sand. And that’s really, really happy. I know. I used to ask clams how happy they were when I dug them up on New England sandy beaches.

For the visit to the distant city, we went on a weekday which cut our attendance a bit. We stepped on the train at 8 a.m. and walked into our apartment just before 9 p.m. A long day by any account. We went to the apartment of a member couple who have been faithful attenders at our Sacrament Meetings via Skype. Her sister joined us, the one who speaks good English. And one of their Iranian friends who, with is wife, has been meeting with a Farsi-speaking YV in Ankara, also was there. This fellow and his wife have also been with us regularly by Skype for about four months. By whatever expression I might choose to describe them, they are the salt of the earth, the cream of the crop, the top of the mark. And they are all refugees from Iran. The sister of our member now has information from the UN that she and her husband will be relocated to the US six months hence. She asked about Trump and then declared that he does not like people from her country. I sensed a bit of worry in her words. Even so, the others in the room are hoping for similar news.

We were slightly off our game today at Sacrament Meeting. But only slightly. We were twenty-seven total, compared to thirty last week. Seventeen were in our hotel room and another ten joined by Skype. The part that impressed me is that five in the room were serious, adult investigators. And two joining by Skype are golden investigators according to the YV who has been teaching them in Farsi during the past couple of weeks. The YVs in our branch have set three baptismal dates for Christmas day. Let’s see whether they hold. I think that the possibility is good, even excellent, that we shall see three new members join our branch that day. At last!

We are waiting for our second pair of YVs to show up with an investigator for a lesson. The other pair came right after church services to meet with a young woman, married, who became a Christian after growing up otherwise. She stepped into a Christian church a few years ago and felt a friendship and love that she had not felt before. She came to our branch this morning. Her husband grew up Christian but is now an atheist. She was nice, very polite. She apparently enjoyed our services. She met with other YVs in Istanbul but is here for a short while.

The YVs who are coming are bringing a fellow who asks a lot of academic-type questions about the Bible. I spent a good deal of time with him during the first lesson. We shall see what this second lesson brings from him. I am hoping that he feels satisfied about the issue of the inerrancy of the Bible and such questions.

I love you and pray for you each day.

Grandpa Brown

#116 Another Sunday, November 20, 2016 (By Grandma)

You would be seeing us in a month if we were leaving Turkey on our original release date.  But we still have another 4 months.  I wonder what that will mean?  As I think of each name on this email header, I know I will miss each one of you more by then.  As you know it is hard to spend holidays far away from loved ones.  Gratefully I still have one loved-one by my side, but the other 38 of you are still only "perfect" visions in my memory.  

Since this is the second time around for us in this season, it is often easy to compare where we were last year at this time.  Today we had 17 people in the room at church.  That is HUGE.  Last week we had 22, but some were out-of-town visitors.  Of those 17 people in the room eight were solid investigators.  The elders have set Christmas Day as the day for baptism for some of them.  We think that will actually happen.  The MP will not allow anyone to be baptized in Turkey unless they have attended church 8 times.  He is very interested that those who join have been thoroughly taught and are "keepers.  

I think we have some of the best YVs in the church here.  Of course our own grandsons are also among that number.  The YVs here have a very challenging language to learn, and they have many restrictions that they have to follow.  It varies from day to day with the security messages we get from the US Embassy.  And as far as I've been able to detect they are ALL very obedient.

I'm also amazed at how much church knowledge they have to have.   They all far exceed anything I've ever learned.  Your father supplements their knowledge when there is an opportunity.  He really enjoys that role.  The elders YVs all over the Mission call him with questions.  I wonder why they don't call me?

We rarely see a day that we do not have a set of YVs or both sets of YVs come to our apartment for discussions or skype discussions.  We had one discussion in our apartment after church today, and we'll have another one in a few minutes.  Most of the discussions are in Turkish.  I sit and politely act like I'm enjoying not being able to understand anything.  Sometimes the visitors speak a little English, so I can communicate with them in the beginning.

It is a Turkish custom that you always feed a visitor.  Usually you offer them some Turkish coffee, or tea.  So each time the elders bring someone to our apartment I "get" to provide some "nourishment".  I usually put out some juice and a couple of bowls of something... like nuts and/or cookies.  And more often than not, the YVs meetings run over the lunch hour or the dinner hour, so we often feed the 1,000.  I think we had lunch together 4 times last week, and dinner 3 times.  And that didn't include the juice/snack feedings.  I used to have left-overs.  Now I don't.  If I make a pot of chili, it is all consumed.  Luckily I can supplement with bread.  Bread costs the equivalent of $.30/loaf, so we can always feed them lots of bread.  The loaves of bread are called baggettes, and they are delicious.  

We visited some Iranians in a distant city this week.  They are refugee status and joined the church more than a year ago.  Turkey is full of refugees from many countries.   Some have adequate housing and employment, some do not.  They are all in the waiting game hoping that some agency will take up their cause and move them on to another country.  They mainly hope to go to the USA.  Some wait for years.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to be in such a state of limbo.  Not knowing where or if you were going anywhere.  Trying to be optimistic and facing delay after delay.  Most have left their country-of-origin because of threats to their life, or any number of things.  The church does assist some indirectly, but they have to be careful to not become a target also.  

We plan to eat our hearts out on Thanksgiving at the Hotel.  It is the same place where we ate last year.  They try hard to make it look like Thanksgiving.  The meal includes two glasses of wine, so we are grateful for that perk.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving.  I'll miss you all.  Good luck to Nelise in her surgery.  Good luck to Cassie in her soccer tournament.  Good luck to all of you and your bulging mid-lines.

Love,

Mother

#115 ... 21, 30 (by Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

Twenty-one dollars. That’s how much US currency I had in my wallet when we started our trip to Kazakhstan. When I came to Turkey sixteen months ago, in my wallet I brought forty-two dollars in new bills — two twenties and two ones. I held them for an emergency. Or two. I had spent one of the twenties and one of the ones during the past months. I sank the remainder during this most recent trip. No symbolism here. Just a fact. The twenty went out of my wallet when we were arguing our way out of a $120 charge by a gypsy taxi driver who wanted to charge us the equivalent of $10 per kilometer for the ride from the Astana airport to our hotel. In my book, $20 is better than $120 any day. Even if the true cost in a regular taxi was closer to six or seven dollars. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the two old Middle East travelers were taken for a ride. Actually, we took a bath on that one. Hard to admit it, but we did. The other dollar? It is in the possession of a bell boy from Africa who took our bags to our room in the Almaty hotel. We had met him before and didn’t want to leave him without a small gift at our presence.

We had gone to Astana and Almaty for me to give a fireside in each branch. We left Wednesday afternoon and arrived home Saturday afternoon. We covered a lot of ground, mostly by flying above it. It is amazing what a red-eye flight can do to a person’s outlook, especially when factoring in a time difference of three hours — sleeping little on the flight and trying to catch up at the hotel after arriving at four in the morning local time. In the snow, of all things.

We have been enjoying delicious weather in our corner of Turkey for weeks (I suspect it will soon chang.) Then, as we were descending into Astana, Grandma noticed all the snow flakes whizzing by the airplane window. Yep. The season’s first snow fall in that city. It will become worse in Astana as the weeks wear on and the snow turns to ice, especially on the sidewalks that no one ever cleans. Our senior sister there broke her arm when she fell on an ice encrusted sidewalk almost a year ago. We were told that, after the first snow, the snow and ice will be on the ground until spring. As if to reinforce this observation, we learned that the river running through the city is already frozen over. And the natives of the place say that it is not yet cold. The real cold comes later (the senior couple arrived almost a year ago on a day that was 30 degrees below zero).

Almaty was a different story. The temperatures are still rather mild and snow has fallen only in the mountains. When the weather patterns get around to it, more snow will fall but will remain on the ground a shorter time. Never mind that the elevation is higher than in Astana. Milder winters are the norm.

The firesides? They went fine. As part of my presentations on the apostles Peter, John, and Paul in ancient Turkey, I drew a map on the whiteboard in each chapel. After the second fireside, I left the map unerased. Within three minutes, two boys in the Almaty branch came up to the map and, with other colored marking pens, began to "bomb" Turkey. At least they enjoyed that part of the evening.

Monday I spent the day looking for an apartment for our second pair of YVs. The threesome in our city became a simple companionship on Tuesday when the YV who has been here for a year was transferred to Istanbul to open a new area. Losing him is like losing much of our branch's institutional memory. I went apartment hunting with one of the YVs, who will remain in our city, and with a member who works for the Church as a facilities representative. On two earlier occasions this YV and I had gone together to check out some apartments that were listed on line. Both times at least one of the apartments was rented as he and I were either in the apartment or were on our way to inspect it. He and I both had the impression that the landlords and agents were reluctant to rent to young foreign fellows. But on Monday, we literally stumbled onto an agency, while walking around in a desired neighborhood, that seemed anxious to help find a place for them.

The three of us saw three apartments that had no furniture in them — they had just been refurbished. Then came the fourth that had furniture in a high rise apartment building. The look was totally different. But the price was, well, a little pricey. But only about $35 per month too pricey. So we asked if the landlords would cut the price by that much. (The woman was with us and, miracle of miracles, she was willing to call her husband, the co-owner, and discuss a discount with him. They agreed.) I don't know how long the apartment had been on the market, but it was a relief to identify a place for the YVs to settle into after two weeks of searching. After they move in on Monday, they can get back to doing what they do best — talk to people.

Thirty is the next number. That is the number who joined us for our Sacrament Meeting. Following conversations earlier in the week with our YVs, I had a sense that we might need more chairs in our hotel room. I am glad that I requested more because twenty-two were in the room for the service. The place felt packed. Eight joined us by Skype. I expect that another four or so would have been with us except for the current Metro strike. Of the twenty-two, five are serious investigators. Well, one has yet to participate in a lesson. But she shows promise and participated in our Sunday School class. She was the real estate agent who helped to find the new apartment for our YVs and accepted my invitation to join us for our meetings. She came and felt good enough to accept another invitation for a lesson later this week in our apartment. I am anxious to see how she responds.

I love you and pray for you all each day by name.

Grandpa Brown

#114 Sunday, November 13, 2016 (by Grandma)

I assume you are all living a peaceful life and everything is going great... not challenges, no stresses, no strifes.  I know that all the children are getting A's in school, all YA's are getting raises at their jobs, all the parents have model children, and that economic security abounds. I know that the minor repairs that you have to take care of must be exciting for you like a broken water heater, a broken computer and other appliances.   And I know you must all be basking in the sunshine.  Are you all in Arizona?

We have had a very busy week.  We flew to Kazakhstan and were gone from our apartment for 76 hours.  Out of those 76 hours we probably spent 46 hours travelling.  Kazakhstan is far away - 3 time zones from Turkey.  We visited two cities:  Astana and Almaty.

Dad gave a fireside in branches in both cities.  The language spoken there is Russian and Kazakhi.  Both of his talks were translated into Russian.  He basically spoke about the three apostles who spent time in Turkey:  Peter, John, and Paul.  I thought he did a good job, and the audience seemed receptive.  There were several investigators in both groups.  They had treats afterwards.  One of the elders made banana cookies that I thought were very good.

It was interesting to visit these two branches.  We spent time with a senior couple in each city.  Both of them go home about the same time we do, and there are no replacements on the horizon.  There are currently 12 missionaries (volunteers) in this country, including 4 sister missionaries.  

They were able to tell us all about their experiences.  We are grateful we are in Izmir.  But they do have more members to work with than we do in Izmir.  

Kazakhi are a very distinctive-looking people.  I actually think the women are very beautiful.  We had met some of them at the YSA Conference in July.  They were part of the Soviet Union at one time, and strongly resemble Mongolians.  In addition to the Kazakhis there were a number of expats there.  Some are associated with State Department, and some with other entities like a University.  

We stayed in two different hotels... Just one night in each hotel.  In our last hotel, the hot water didn't work.  We didn't realize that until about 9:30 at night.  I called the front desk.  They sent the final repair man at 11:00 PM.  We were already in bed.  It worked for a few minutes, but when we got up in the morning at 1:45, it was not working.  So no hot showers.  We caught a taxi to the airport and began our looooong journey home.  The hotel prepared a box lunch for us.  The box lunch had some veggies, two fried eggs on top of them, no utensils and no napkin.  I picked up the egg in my fingers and stuffed the whole thing in my mouth.  Yumm.... We also received breakfast on the airplane, so we were not without sustenance.  

When we arrived at one city the "taxi" driver who took us to our hotel at 4:00 AM said it was 37,000 tenge.  That is about $118.00.  We were astounded, and refused to pay.  We knew that the going rate was 2-4000 tenge.  He was a rogue taxi driver who said it was 1,000 Tenge per kilometer. I got out of the taxi and said I'd go to the hotel front desk and have them settle it for us.  But eventually dad gave him $20.00 and we went on our way.  When we returned the next morning to the airport we paid 2,000 tenge for the trip.  We had arranged for a taxi from the Sr Couple there.  Quite a difference!

One of the Sr couples fell and broke her arm when she arrived in Kazakhstan.  It is understandable because all the sidewalks are covered by ice for about 8 months of the year.  They aren't salted, nor cleared.  Some of the members wear a blade over their shoes, like an ice skate.  We slipped a few times, but didn't totally go down.   It was cold, but I had my parka.

We had a record number of people in church today.  22!!!!  As you know I take treats each Sunday.  I wondered if I would have enough.  I'd made my trusty rice krispy treats, with cocoa puffs.  Everyone could have one.  So I worry if we only have a few, and I worry if we have too many for my treats.  Will I every be happy?  Well, yes.... in a few months when I see you all again!!!!

Two of the YVs are currently in our living room doing their gospel study.  They did a skype lesson earlier... had dinner with us... and will have a skype lesson later.  They are two very sharp YVs, and I enjoy having them around.  One of them knows how to do dishes and does them.  His companion knows how to wipe a few items.

We've had five YVs here for about a month.  One was transferred away last week, and the other two will get their own apartment tomorrow.  So they should all have a lot more space.  It should be interesting to have them in two distinct areas now in Izmir.   I think it was feeling pretty crowded for five of them to be in the same apartment.  Doing the wash, preparing meals and showering was a challenge.  Evidently they do not share meals, so that is a problem.

I do hope you are all doing well.  I love you.

Mom

#113 Sunday November 6 (By Grandma)

Dear Family,

This is sort of a “normal” Sunday for us.  We are not travelling.  We are fasting.  Three elders are in the living room skyping, and we’ll have some chili for dinner a little later.  I don’t know how many I’ll feed.  I don’t know if the 3 elders will stay for dinner, nor do I know if the elders who arrive at 7:00 Pm will be hungry.  And since it is Fast Sunday I was not planning on anyone at all.  These meetings were just set-up at church. 

There has been a huge shut-down of social media this week in the country.  It included lots of news outlets, FB, Twitter, U-tube, and even Skype.  But luckily we could still email.  When such blackouts occur, I check some “outside” news source for info.  I now know when some applications do not work, that there are problems in the country.  Very interesting…. Or not interesting.  Check your news.

Today I was startled when Dad called up YV - Y and asked him to make an announcement.  He is being transferred!  He has been here since October 2015.  So we feel like we own him and he owns the Branch.  He is leaving a huge hole.  We know that transfers occur, but it takes so long to gather people here, that I wish he could stay for the whole time.  He has been very good.  He is the Navajo.  Evidently the MP called him this AM and gave him the news.  We have had a three-some and now there are even-number of YVs in the mission. 

We are preparing for our trip to Kazakhstan on Wednesday.  We will go to two cities, and dad will give firesides.  We arrive at one of the cities at 3:30 AM.  And evidently is it like Siberia.  You can see the cities on the map.  It is part of our mission, but Russian speaking.   So, it won’t be a vacation, but it will be a change of pace.  We are packing warm clothes.  It is almost 70 degrees here today.  We haven’t had any winter yet. 

It was wonderful to hear from ALL of you this week.  Sorry the Pearsons had a complete black-out.  Good thing they have a daughter living across the street.  What a bizarre event.  And I hear the melodrama went well.  Evidently some Cleggs and a Moore went to Sadies’ Hawkins.  Shoshauna sent us photos of Nelise and Nathaniel at taekwondo.  Kara is still flitting all over the place with VolleyBall.  And Kaelin was in Arizona.  The Browns always have a huge job of shuttling their children to games and activities.  Their schedule begins at 5:30 AM. 

We miss you all.  Thanks for your support.  We’ve noticed that you all deposit $5.00 into our mission fund yearly.  We appreciate that. 

Love,

Mother

#112 Back Into It (By Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

Twice in the last ten days I have found myself back in an environment to which I had become accustomed. I went to visit the heads of the two archaeological excavations in the city at the excavation sites. The one focuses on the original city that dates before 1,000 BC. The other has to do with the Hellenistic city that kept going for more than a thousand years, through the Roman and early Byzantine periods, and became known as Smyrna, a city mentioned in the New Testament (Revelation 2:8). I had learned about these two men from an acquaintance who runs a tour agency in town and to whom I was introduced by Ralph Atkin. After my usual pattern of putting things off, with my usual reasoning (they are probably away from campus for the summer), I emailed the two professors and said that I wanted to come to see their work. (It turns out that they were both at their respective sites all summer long while excavating. So my reasons for hesitating were flawed. I should have known that about archaeologists — they work during the summers.)

I enjoyed the visits with both and met others of their colleagues. They work at the two biggest universities in the area. And those universities own good libraries. So I asked each to set me up with his respective university librarian because I have two sets of books to give away from the Maxwell Institute. To grease the skids, I took an extra book from the Islamic Translation Series that BYU publishes, and gave it to each of them. I must now follow up. The librarians will be suitably pleased. I know that. And I hope to make a bit of a splash not only for BYU (they will not have heard of it before our meeting, I am sure) but also for the Church by inviting our YVs to any meeting wherein I give the gifts. I want these people to see our young men who have worked hard and saved money for their volunteer service, and have put off their own educations so that they can come to Turkey and serve others.

We were 23 in our Sacrament Meeting today. Sixteen were in the hotel room, of whom three were investigators and one a less active. Seven joined by Skype. The testimonies that we heard were exceptional. I especially wanted to hear from our YV who just learned this morning that he is being transferred to the big city of Istanbul after more than a year in our fair city. He will be missed. He has the institutional memory of contacts, particularly with less actives who at one time formed the substantial active membership of our branch before it was given a death blow by the x-ing of a former BP. Lingering in my soul I have the feeling that we need to make a strong effort to reach out to those who can join us by Skype. A cluster of regulars has attached itself to our weekly meetings. But I suspect that others who have joined us in the past need some firm encouragement to rejoin us. I keep worrying about them and their need for nourishment.

I keep waiting for the really cold weather to arrive. But on this sixth of November, with the sun shining and the air temperature at 70 degrees, I wonder now about global warming right here in our town. Typically by this time, the rains have begun in earnest and the daytime temperatures have dropped into the low 50s. No such luck so far. I have only worn my fleece coat a couple of times, and I felt that I was a bit over dressed for the weather. But I am planning to take everything in my closet to Astana, Kazakhstan, next week. I see that the high temperatures there are in the low 30s, with snow expected. Should be an abrupt change. I am looking forward to it.

I love you and pray for each of you.

Grandpa Brown