#86 "Koo" (By Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

For me personally, Parker’s wedding and Tanner’s release stand taller than the troubles that we have seen here in the past two days. To be sure, a coup (I shall spell it koo hereafter) impacts the lives of millions of people, as it did here during a span of sixteen hours or so. (I keep thinking that some communiqués are being monitored.) The quiet, empty streets around here bear silent witness to a level of fear and worry that seems to be tugging at citizens. More than 160 dead, evidently not counting those involved in the koo who lost their lives, and thousands of arrests bespeaks a major upheaval. It will be interesting to see whether, in the aftermath, we witness a spirit of restraint resting on law or a full-scale purge. Enough on this topic except to say that I awoke to the news Saturday morning and decided to skip my planned bike ride. I also faced a large group of email inquiries about our safety and well-being. We are fine and in a state of lock-down in accord with a request from church security. It’s a good thing that we have some food in our storage.

Now to Parker. When we received photos of him and his new bride, Lindsey, we were happy, happy for them. A huge congratulations to them! Naturally, we wished could have been there to celebrate the day with them. I won’t lie. But we are in the right place. And so are they. If we had been in southern California, perhaps we could have made some arrangement to join them. But hey! This is a very interesting place to be in. Very. We know that the two of them will become people whom the Heavens can count on and call on when needed.

And Tanner? Who would have known that a little squirt from Lehi could have a big impact on his mission and fellow missionaries, not counting the investigators whom he led to the waters of baptism? I sensed a few wobbles during his time in South Africa. And his mother was the reason that most of those wobbles disappeared. But he emerged from the experience a better person, and a man. I can hardly wait to see what direction he wants to take his life. Unlike Parker, he doesn’t have a pretty girl waiting for him (I think).

We welcomed two new YVs to our city the past week, bringing the total to four. One is a veteran from Istanbul and the other is a greenie from Twin Falls, Idaho. The two who were here are still with us. They have now split up to become companions with the other two. It will be interesting to see how they divide the city for their work. They work with a number of restrictions that grow out of past attacks in the country, including not traveling on public transportation — buses and metro trains — during peak hours when they could meet and talk with a lot of people. Another element has to do with the religious character of the country, which we all want to respect.

We were ten in our one church service in the hotel today, a Sacrament Meeting. We did not hold our regular Sunday School class because we did not want to be long in the neighborhood. We counted it a blessing because members elsewhere in the country were not meeting in their regular buildings. The YVs traveled to us in a taxi. No public transportation allowed until they receive an "all clear" signal. Thirteen others joined by Skype, eight from one home and five from another home. Importantly, three were investigators. One was in the hotel room with us for the second week in a row. The other two are now meeting by Skype with YVs in Ankara, one of whom speaks Farsi. I keep thinking that one or more of these people will join the Church, an event that I shall relish.

We took a day and went to a town called Çeşme. It lies about an hour and a half west of us, just across the strait from the Greek island of Chios. I imagined a flatish town with a nice beach down the street from the main  part of the city. Instead, it is a place surrounded by hills with a big castle-fort along one side of a bay. We went into the castle because we each have an antiquities pass and the entry was free, and then climbed a lot of stairs to get up to rooms and tops of walls. We sat under an awning of a restaurant next to the sea and ate lunch. It was nice, but pretty hot. The walk back to the bus station was really hot because we were no longer sitting. We even bought an ice cream to cool us down a little. We had scheduled ourselves to leave on a bus at 5:45 p.m., but we were back at the bus station by 3:30. So we took an earlier bus. It's not much of a story, but we introduced ourselves to a town where we might take a ferry sometime to Greece for a day, if we can get permission, of course.

I love you and pray for each of you every day.

Grandpa Brown