Dear Grandchildren,
You all know what vitamin C pills are. They are those rather large pills that you take when you are getting a cold, or you need some kind of support when facing immune system deficiencies. They are a safe addition to our diets. Ok. A couple of weeks ago, I started feeling the onset of a cold. So I went looking for vitamin C pills at a local pharmacy. The pharmacist, who spoke minimal English, after I thrashed around with my limited Turkish, finally understood my need and produced an orange tube that contained 20 tablets and promptly charged me 10 Lira. What? Three dollars for 20 tablets? Yes. I left with the orange tube in my hand vowing to find a cheaper source for vitamin C.
After I got back to the apartment, I thought to myself that I should be able to pop a tablet into my mouth and chew it. After all, I had done that with edible pills in the States, including a batch of vitamin C pills. I didn’t read the label because, it seemed obvious to me, it was written in Turkish and I would spend a long time trying to figure out what was on the label, with a dictionary in hand. If I had troubled myself, I would have found the short expression "20 efervesan tablet." Those words would have told me what was coming next. I took off the lid and out rolled an orangish pill about the width of a silver dollar. "Hmmm," I thought, "I am going to have to work to swallow that big pill." So I put it in my mouth and, before I could even think about getting some water, that pill turned into a virtual firecracker that used my tongue as a launch pad. It started foaming and detonating, hissing and sissing. And the taste was awful. It was all I could do to chew it and gag it down. Hoooee. You can imagine that I was not looking forward to the next pill. I must have taken a half dozen pills that way, with all those ‘splosions banging in my mouth, before Grandma said that I should probably be putting them in water and drinking the liquid. Well. Ok. But even that did not improve the taste much.
This week we were pleased to welcome into our midst a Turkish
gentleman who had begun his career in this city but then, after a few years,
went off to Switzerland to seek out a better life. He met an LDS woman whom he
calls "my missionary." He joined the Church and they have raised
their family in its embrace. His oldest grandchild was recently baptized. If he
were here, he would probably be the branch president. As it is, he is one of
the regular consultants on church publications in Turkish. He came to our
services this morning and, at the end, said that he would return for vacation
in August with his family. It was nice to meet a native of this area, along
with two of our faithful, current branch presidents, who is a faithful church
member. The YVs were hoping to get a specific investigator to Church to meet
this man, but it didn’t work out.
In a related vein, we had three investigators at our services this morning. One is meeting with YVs in a distant city, and the other two are meeting with our YVs. I would say that the one who is currently living away from here has the best chance of joining the Church, judging from the expressions on their faces during our Sacrament meeting. One of the fellows whom our YVs are meeting with is a student from Afghanistan and is a professed athiest. We had a lesson with him in our apartment yesterday and it did not go wonderfully well. I even got into the mix trying to answer his questions, but my participation seems not to have made a big dent. But he came to our services. If he will pray, that will make all the difference.
We totaled fourteen for our Sacrament meeting today. Of the usual eight who join us from Bodrum by Skype, only three were with us. Another sister from north of us was able to keep on the line with her smart phone for most of our service. Ten of us sat in the room, including the three investigators. The YVs are pushing and working hard. I keep thinking that one of these people is going to be touched by the Spirit and make a beeline for the Church. It hasn’t happened yet. But I have faith that it will. I have told the YVs that eight convert baptisms by the end of the year would be a reachable goal. I may be a bit overly optimistic. But, as I pointed out to them, that is a substantially smaller number than Nephi and his brother Lehi baptized in and around Zarahemla when it was under Lamanite control — 8,000 (Hel. 5:19).
I have babied myself this past week, not going out except twice between visits to our branch meetings. I feel as strong as a washrag. The cold that has captured me has been the worst that I have experienced in a lot of years. I am retired, so I can baby myself. Even so, I have forgotten how to take care of a cold. As a result, I have made mistakes, like taking a Contac pill just before going to bed and not remembering that these little varmints squeeze all the juice out of you through the night. Up, down, up, down, up, down. And so forth. I had better be feeling better by tomorrow because I have agreed to accompany a few YSAs to Ephesus. And it will be chilly. We are going by bus to the big town nearby and then going by a smaller bus to the site. I look forward to being with them through what will be a new experience for most of them. Both the Apostles Paul and John, as you are aware, spent time in the ancient city. But no rain. Later this week, I am hiring one of the YSAs who is in tourism in his college curriculum to take me to Pergamum, a site that I visited 20 or so years ago with some fellow faculty members. That one will mean a lot of climbing because it sits perched on a very tall hill. Hey, this is the way to get well. Right?
I love you and pray for you.
Grandpa Brown
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