Dear Grandchildren,
Happy birthday to Shoshauna on this day. She was born a long time ago, it seems. And when her birthday arrives, the end of the year is close and Christmas is even closer. Those events are worth celebrating, as is Shoshauna’s birthday.
During the past week we have been introduced to the world of holding YV discussions in our apartment. In one case, the person was a young student; in another, it was a professional person, a lawyer. The student seemed a little nervous. The lawyer was not and he had a bunch of nicely framed questions after reading First Nephi, chapters one through eleven, such as why it was necessary that Laban die at the hands of his relative. For that one, we essentially repeated back the reasons the Lord told Nephi. Other possible aspects exist in this story, but there was little reason to explore those with an investigator. We shall see whether either one of these individuals comes to church services in the next couple of weeks. That will be a measure of the person’s real interest.
Three days ago we bought a comforter for our bed. It is made of cotton, not the real nice (and expensive) goose down. To that point, I was getting up in the middle of the night and putting on a second pair of pajama bottoms to keep warm. With the comforter, no reason for that kind of action. I am warm, warm under that comforter. Now I am happy, happy during the night.
This past week I found myself scouting a couple of places to visit, one the ancient site of Roman-era Smyrna (see Revelation 2:7–10) which I had visited before, and the other a nearby museum that I had learned about. Some special visitors will show up during the coming week (I shall write about them next week). Besides going to Ephesus, the real attraction to people who come here, they will have time one morning to explore some other places. Like it or not (and I do like it), I am becoming something of a tour guide for friends and special visitors. The weather will be nice, clear and in the mid-sixties in the afternoon. Eat your heart out.
In my mind, I had thought of a way to do a little work on my Turkish. I had decided to approach a fellow who runs a little grocery shop and ask whether we could speak a little Turkish together. I was thinking of a more or less regular basis. Well, I think my fractured Turkish did not come across too well. He agreed to meet at a time one day last week. I came. He moved a couple of his stools between the two sides of the shop where he keeps the fresh vegetables and fruits. We sat down. Then he began to name all of the vegetables and fruits. I had brought a notebook and asked him to write the names in the notebook. He did. Then, like a good teacher, he went over everything a second time. That was it. He then said (I think) that I needed to practice my greetings like "How are you," etc. Now I have to find an excuse to go back and see whether I can start again with him. In another vein, I was mildly encouraged (very mildly, I should say) that I could understand bits of the discussion between the YVs and one of their contacts. But my vocabulary is very limited and I don’t track the endings that people put on the ends of their words. So I have a lot of work to do. One thing I am doing is memorizing things to say if I say a prayer in a church meeting and if I bear testimony. One small step at a time.
You know those slippers that I bought to keep my feet warm while resting my feet and walking on our stone floors? The slippers have been doing their duty, but they seem to slip sideways on my feet when I walk. For some reason, the heels of the slippers end up to the sides of my heels. So I have taken to walking pigeon-toed so that the slippers stay on properly. It sort of works. And sort of doesn't. I just know that I am paying a lot more attention to walking than I have done in the past. Whether that is a sign of something odd I don't know. I have to keep going like this only until next June when the outside heat kicks up and the stone floors don't feel cold anymore.
I love you and pray for you all.
Grandpa Brown
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