Dear Grandchildren,
Cappadocia is not a name that really catches your attention unless you are a devotee of the first epistle of Peter in the New Testament where the place is mentioned in the first verse, along with a bunch of other places in Asia Minor (now Turkey; see also Acts 2:9). This name has stuck whereas the others in that verse have not. The region is not really very large and sits on a high plateau. Its main claims to fame are two. First, it features stone towers formed by erosion of a region originally covered by mud and igneous rock from a couple of long extinct volcanoes. Second, ancient inhabitants created both residences in cliff faces and underground places of retreat by digging into the soft rock, creating food storage bins and worship areas and a fresh air vent along with spaces for sleeping and living. Evidently, no fires were allowed in these spaces except in a communal kitchen because of the risk of detection from rising smoke. Some of those who fled into these man-made caves were ninth and tenth century Christians trying to get away from bands of marauders or foreign armies that tramped across this part of the world. I decided that this was not a happy way to live.
We went to Cappadocia on a two-day package tour. Now you know my interest in bringing this place to your attention. The first day began rather bumpily when we got up in our Istanbul hotel at 3:15 a.m. for a 3:45 pickup. Our flight left at 5:55. Ouch. We traveled with the two senior couples who are serving in Istanbul. For one couple, it was the first real P-day (actually, two of them stuck together) that they had enjoyed since coming last March. For two days we enjoyed visiting natural and human creations. Among the most impressive of the human creations were churches carved into the rock, complete with frescoes of biblical scenes painted on the walls. In the intervening centuries, the faces portrayed in many of these scenes have been damaged by zealous adherents of another faith that forbids the picturing of human forms and by those who believed that, by taking a bit of paint from these walls and stirring it in water, they could drink the resulting potion for good health or for producing children or for any number of other noble purposes.
Grandma will have a few things to say about our visit to Cappadocia, perhaps including the uninviting character of the carpet in our hotel room there and the leaky and occasionally non-functioning toilet. Yes, all of that. We were told that the cost of our room did not include dinner at the hotel, but it did. It was a so-called cave hotel, which means a lot of its rooms are built into the rock or into old caves (the backs of the caves, of course, are not visible; a wall has been erected over the stone of the caves). One of the couples moved out of their first room, a cave room, and into one that stood above ground. Too much mildew for them. Ours was ok on that score except for the mold in the bathtub. It seems that a selling point for visitors is offering them an opportunity of staying in a cave hotel. It didn't make much difference to me. More news on our YVs will come to you next week.
When I was in graduate school, I learned about the three famous Cappadocian Fathers, men whose written works in the fourth century AD shaped a lot of Christian doctrine and practice, especially monastic practice, after their time. But I had no clear idea what the term Cappadocian really meant in our discussions of those days. Now at least I have a visual sense for the general area where these men lived and wrote. It has taken almost fifty years to put the name and the place together. I’m a little slow, one might fairly observe.
We finally held it. The branch activity at the sea, that is. On Saturday. Planning for this activity has skipped all over the summer calendar, with one date and then another, all pushed to the side by something that came up, or would potentially come up. People could come and then couldn’t come. Others, refugees, could not even leave the cities where they resided. Through the generosity of one of our members who owns a condo near the Aegean sea coast, we got eleven of us together for a visit to the sea shore and some good food for an afternoon. It was wonderful. And even the cold water of the sea felt alright after the first thirty seconds. But those thirty seconds were pretty intense.
Sixteen were in our sacrament meeting today, eight in the rented room and eight joining by Skype. I find an immovable core of Skype attenders, including an investigator couple. They are wonderful. I am grateful for their continued faithfulness each week. The most important event to report is the sustaining and setting apart of a branch Priesthood Leader and a branch Relief Society President. Never mind that there are only eight potential priesthood holders and eight sisters who fit within their new stewardships. We have finally taken the needed step toward regularizing things like Sunday classes and home and visiting teaching. These may seem like small, baby steps, but for our branch these are major steps. It took a couple moving here from Europe to allow us to go forward with these callings. We are happy for their presence among us.
I love you and pray for all of you.
Grandpa Brown
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