Dear Family (and friends)
This is my 2nd to last family email from Turkey. My how the time has flown. And the good thing about it is that I didn’t have any birthdays here, so I’m not any older than when I left home. All of our grandchildren like to get older, but I assume the rest of you don’t.
Today was an interesting day in church. It was our Branch Conference and when the stats were read in your dad was read-in as Counselor to the MP Presidency, and BP of Izmir. I had expected a change. We leave in 9 days, right? But when the MP stood up for his talk, he basically released Dad and asked one of his counselors and the priesthood leader to “fill-in” for a few weeks after we depart. We know another couple is coming April 30, so we assume he will be BP. The MP proceeded to praise your father for all of his service to the people in Turkey. Your father really has made a difference in the lives of many. So, I am proud of him. He’s even been a pretty good husband through it all. I’m not admitting what kind of wife I’ve been.
Today we had a very good group at church and I took extra refreshments. There were about 5 investigators, and several new members. I’m not sorry that I only have one more week to carry heavy bags of stuff to church, but I will miss the journey.
We travelled by bus to a city in the South (Bodrum). It is sort of the St George of Turkey. It is warm, but differs from St George because it is a sea coast town. Two sisters who are members live there with their children and non-member husbands. We spent time with them. Dad set them apart for RS callings. They only join us by Skype, but they are now both serving in the RS. One is a counselor and the other is the Secretary. The counselor gave the RS lesson last week over Skype. They always feed us even though I plead with them to not feed us. We haven’t wanted our visits to be a burden. They always act like it is a privilege to feed us. I never feel that when I feed people. We took the opportunity to visit an Underwater Museum/Castle while we were there. It is on the edge of the sea and was a fortification for battles long ago. Lots of shipwrecks are displayed there.
| A view from Bodrum |
he next day dad took the train to another distant city. I didn’t go with him because the elders needed to use our apartment for skyping. I was about to leave the apartment when I discovered my keys were missing. Luckily I discovered this before I left the apartment. If I hadn’t noticed it, I could have been locked out of the apartment for about 10 hours. That would have been a very nice experience! I have never found my keys, but I’ve had 3 sets of duplicates made and given each set of elders’ copies. We need three keys to get into our apartment.
We had the “opportunity” to do an inspection of the elders’ apartments. We began our journey in a rainstorm. We literally walked through rivers to get to one of the apartments. Sidewalks are very narrow and cars park on them. So we could only walk down the streets that were filled with rushing water. We have no boots. We even had umbrellas but they only pretended to keep us dry. In fact one of them collapsed and was no good at all. We were drenched. The first apartment was neat and tidy, and we found only one toilet stain, a sticky refrigerator handle, and one dust bunny. They have a beautiful view of the bay. We got even more drenched travelling to the 2nd apartment which was across the bay. But Dad found one dust elephant, so it was worth the trip. I think our elders have pretty decent accommodations.
| One clean elders apartment |
It took 3 days for my shoes to dry out. I even used my blow dryer on them. Our clothes dried quicker than that. After we arrived from the apartment checks, a friend from Ankara invited us to lunch. So we put back on our soggy clothing and headed to a pizza restaurant.... a 20 minute walk in the rain. The woman works for the Embassy and has interesting tales to tell.
We have been having “last” meetings with people. I think lingering farewells are awkward. But lots of things had to be worked out with our leaving, so people had to know. I don’t like saying good-by because I’m sure we will never see many of these people again. I doubt we will return to Turkey. I wouldn’t mind coming here for a visit, but I’m old, and loooooong air travel is a challenge. If they all lived in Nevada, then we might see them again. Of course, we’ll probably see the elders and other couples again, but the local members may never come to the US. I am glad that I can see some of them on FB. It really is a good “tool”.
| A view from our visit to the south |
We expect the elders in a few minutes to do Skype lessons. This set of elders teach Iranians on Skype in Farsi. Very talented elders. And tomorrow we fly to Istanbul again, for a Zone Conference. We’re trying to take a suitcase with us. When we leave for good, we have to go to Istanbul and then the US… but on different days. So we cannot check our luggage straight through. I’m sure you are all concerned about that.
I understand our children have been working hard getting our house ready for us to return to. I think some furniture has been moved around, and some manure put in the garden. We can hardly wait to see our family members again!!! But leaving Turkey will be hard.
Love,
Mom
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