Dear Grandchildren,
As you know, Larissa finally nailed one for herself. And for her resumé. You are aware that, in Salt Lake City, she has been working almost around the clock for weeks as the director and choreographer for the musical Seussical that initially debuted on Broadway in 2000 and is based on books written by the beloved Dr. Seuss. I am impressed that she did this while holding down a full time job (directors in Utah productions usually don’t get paid enough to keep their water jugs full), and while going back and forth to Vernal for one family thing and another. She deserves our warmest congratulations and admiration. Don't you agree?
We finally got him in the water. The elusive convert from a distant city. One plan after another came apart, whether because of government policy governing refugees’ abilities to travel or because of trying to make arrangements from afar in the capital city. Whatever the reason, all came to a happy conclusion in a spa of a hotel. The YVs went looking for a facility near where our new brother is living and found a spa with a very large Jacuzzi. So they called and made arrangements to rent the facility. I went with them on the train. I was to be the second witness. The google map showed that the hotel was ten minutes by taxi from the train station. It was actually 200 yards by foot. When we arrived, the YVs asked about a day room that we could rent for a short baptismal service. The hotel people had never heard of such a thing. So we went downstairs to the spa. The fellow showed a massage room to the YV and the investigator where they could change clothes and then he disappeared. We had the place to ourselves. In a tiny alcove, we sat together and prayed and talked about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then the YV and investigator stepped down into the big Jacuzzi. The rest was sweet. The investigator came up from the water with a big grin on his face. After the two changed and we gave our newly baptized brother the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, the father of three of our young branch members led us to a restaurant where we enjoyed a celebratory meal together. (This father is not a member, but he allowed his two older children to be baptized when they lived abroad — the youngest one was not yet old enough but has since been baptized.)
There is an interesting footnote to all of this. Besides the ideal conditions for the baptism that we found, the fellow who was running the spa met us (by chance?) on the street following our meal in the restaurant. He was curious enough that the YVs gave him a pamphlet on the plan of salvation and got his contact information. Let’s see where this might lead.
We were twenty-three today in Sacrament Meeting. Nine were in the hotel room that we rent, the other fourteen joined us by Skype, including our recent convert from a distant city. Anticipating that we would confer the Melchizedek Priesthood on one among us, my first counselor spoke about the power and authority that belongs to this priesthood. After his talk, while those on Skype were still with us, I ordained our Turkish brother to the greater priesthood, ordaining him an Elder in the company of the other Melchizedek Priesthood holders in the room. It was a wonderful moment for me. I sensed that this man has an important future role to play in this country. I was honored to be a small part of that experience.
We flew to Istanbul this afternoon for a zone conference tomorrow. Our ride from the airport was the quickest we have experienced, going though a lot of back roads to miss the traffic on the freeways. The conference should be a good set of meetings. We shall meet for the first time the new SV couple who arrived in country just over two weeks ago. He was a YV years ago in Italy with our current MP. By now, they should be acclimated to their new time zone and all that. They go off to Armenia late tomorrow for some humanitarian training. The time zone is two hours ahead of here even though a person crosses only one border and flies about three hours. They will like Yerevan, I predict. It has a totally different feel from Istanbul. For one thing, Yerevan is much smaller and the streets are broad and uncrowded. And it is a Christian country. So the make up will be different for them. Whether they will like it less or more than here I cannot predict. Each has its own charm. That's what makes this region so interesting. All that charm.
I love you and pray for you all.
Grandpa Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment