#125 "Another Sunday in Izmir" (by Grandma)

Dear Family,

This week has been a blur.  I know I’m getting older, but sometimes I can’t remember what I did yesterday, even though it was monumental.  I bet you are impressed I can still spell monumental.  In fact my spelling is improving with age.  Just ask the spell checker.

Check out my post on FB.  We are not allowed to post photos of members and “missionaries”.  But the photo represents an evening in our apartment with YSA’s and the YV (Missionaries).  The YV wanted to provide a Christmas activity for the YSA’s. They decided gingerbread houses would be great and it would be fun to make and decorate sugar cookies.  They wanted to do it all themselves because they didn’t want to bother me.  Oh my!  One YV spent his whole month’s allotment of $’s for ingredients for the project.  He said he had $1.20 left for the month.  They even had to purchase an electric beater.

Such projects are overwhelming here.  Luckily the MP’s wife had picked up the crackers for a gingerbread house last year at IKEA.  She forgot about it and didn’t use it for Christmas last year.  So she sent them to the YVs.  All they had to do was make icing and get candies to decorate it.  But they made some sugar cookies at home to bring along.  Their tales of trying to get all of this coordinated were hilarious.  They said they had flour on the ceiling and all over the kitchen.  They bought cookie cutters, rolling pin, 8 boxes of powdered sugar, lot of fondant, pastry bags…. Many, many things I never would have purchased here. 

They arrived at our apartment with bags full of supplies….a little late for the YSA’s who had been here waiting.  Another sr couple were here visiting and helped whip up the frosting that included lemon juice and 12 egg whites.  The project could begin.

One of the YA’s brought her mother, who was properly clothed in her Muslim attire.  She seemed to have a good time decorating the little houses.  They never did have time to decorate cookies, nor bake any extra cookies.  (They brought lots of extra dough).  But the houses turned out to be pretty great and the Turks learned about the frenzy of a family activity at Christmas time.  The elders learned to appreciate a little bit the behind-the-scenes work I do when I feed them!

We had activities stacked up this week-end and with the visitors, most of the time was accounted for.  In the midst of this I received an email from the RS president saying she wouldn’t be there this week, and would I take charge and give the lesson.  I must have spent about five minutes of actual preparation time for this lesson.  She had actually outlined it, copied a bit in Turkish, and done a good job.  I tried to give her lesson….two sisters were on skype, three sisters were in the room, and two elders were in the room for translation.  But I felt impressed to talk about The Christmas Jar.  I can’t tell that story without crying.  I told a lot about Hannalyn and the early trauma of her trip to Primary Children’s Medical Center.  What a heart-wrenching time it was for Nashelle and Daniel and all the family.  The amazing gift of a Christmas jar to them was a true gift. Someone walked up to them in the hospital cafeteria and gave them a jar of money.  As you know they were very poor at that time.  I ended that part by saying that Nashelle and Daniel and replayed that event by going back to the Hospital two years later and giving a Christmas Jar they had saved money in to someone else. 

We spent a little bit of time with Syrian refugees this week.  Our YVs had been helping to distribute blankets at a mosque.  They thought our experience with Arabic might be helpful.  I guarded a door, and dad tried to keep some men in line.  Some had been in line for more than three hours on a very cold morning to get their blankets.  They had some sort of voucher and were given one blanket.  Many women were there with young children and babies.  I assume all these refugees have a place to live.  I don’t see them sleeping on the streets like we did last year.  But whatever, it would be a very tough life to have to stand in line for 3 hours for a blanket.  We are all so wealthy!  Most are looking forward to a time when they can be evacuated to a better place for themselves and their children.  But the wheels move very slowly, and sometimes not at all.

Our church room was almost full again today.  I often take cookies for treats.  But since they are so hard to make and my oven is small, I only take about 20.  So I hand-pass them around so that everyone will get one.  I also have orange pieces, and banana nut bread.  I’m getting very good at making banana nut bread.  Who would have thought I’d return to cooking?  I haven’t done my rice krispy (or in reality cocoa puffs) treats for several months.  I have actually baked.  But I have to convert cups to ml, and pounds to grams, and Fahrenheit to centigrade.   Luckily I have a conversion app on my phone.

I hope you all have a good week.  Enjoy the warmth of the season, the music, the decorations, etc.  We don’t see that here.  But we are trying to feel the Spirit in our souls.

Love,

Mother