It has been great to have the missionaries back. But
transfers are coming up next week and we are worried. I love our YVs.... well, best of all the two who have been here the longest. We
get five new YVs on Wednesday, and therefore, there will have to be a lot of
reconfigurations. We will then have 19 young YVs in Turkey.
The biggest number so far.
Dad and I arrived at the airport
in Istanbul just prior to the YVs' arrival from Germany. So we could
be part of the greeting and went on a bus with them into the city. It was
so fun to watch them arrive. There were huge problems as they tried to
enter the country. One YV could not enter at all, and was sent back to
Germany. It is a complex story, but he cannot come back for a month.
It all has to do with visas, etc. The Zone Leaders stayed behind to
get him settled and on to a return flight.
The MP's wife is very smart.
She really does a lot behind the scenes. She insisted that all the
YVs take their cell phones with them to Germany, and she had them all loaded
with minutes before they returned so they could call us from behind all the
gates, and doors when they arrived in Istanbul. That way, we knew what
the delay was and what was going on. She was able to direct them and
tell them what to do, and get new reservations for the returning YV.
So only 14 YVs returned on the bus with us.
I was surprised to get a hug from the YVs. They are not
allowed to touch us ordinarily, but it was nice to get a hug on their return.
And now it is back to arms' length.
The bus took Dad, Diane and I to
the mission home to finish getting dinner ready, then took the YVs to their
hotel, and then they walked to the mission home and we had a dinner. The
Torontos had just returned from Kazakshstan two days prior, so I'm sure having
all this happen was very hard on them. Diane had to walk up the hill 4
times to get enough food for the event. And the YVs devoured it very
quickly. We had the elders, 3 service couples, the Torontos, and the BP
from Gaziantep. The YVs had been up since 2:00 AM so they went back to
their hotels and to sleep.
The next morning we had Zone
Training meeting. (We stayed at the mission home). As you probably
know Zone Training is usually just done by the YVs. But this was
more like a Zone Conference with reports, new information, etc. It was a
good meeting. We had pizza and then the Izmir and Ankara people went to
the airport. We flew home with "our" YVs.
I chipped a tooth this week.
I had it repaired by a Branch member who is a dentist. He did a
great job. He'll begin a root canal for me on Monday... Ugh! He is an
American married to a Turk. He is actually with the AirForce... came to
Turkey with the AF. He met a Turkish woman and married her. He has
stayed in the AF so he can get retirement. So he leaves Turkey now and
then for AF stuff. But he works as a dentist in the AF. His wife
has just opened a shop near our apartment. She sells fashionable clothes,
all much too small for me.
We flew 10 times in September.
Are you impressed? We had the same lousy "grilled" cheese
sandwich on each flight. I hope they change their menu for October.
I was really looking forward to church today. It would be
back to "normal". The elders are back, we have a new RS
President, etc. We were going to have our first RS. But alas, I
received a text yesterday from the RS Pres. She had had her baby
early. It was due Oct 30. She said she had surgery. I
don't know more details than that. I'll take a dinner to them
tomorrow.... walk, walk, walk, bus, metro, walk walk walk. They had still
been in a hotel and were to move into their apartment Oct 1. It is all
pretty far from us. So our meetings today had to be adjusted again.
change, change, change......
I am relieved to have the elders back. I worried that they'd
never come back. The Turkey president has extended his State of
Emergency. But we don't see much about it from where we stand.
There are still lots of warnings about US citizens, but who knows?
It looks like it is dangerous to be in the US.
I hope you are all enjoying the Fall. It has cooled a bit here but
still warm in the days. And last week an errant mosquito found its
way into our apartment. It woke me up with its fine several times during
the night. I kept putting the sheets over my head. Finally in the
AM I spied it on the wall and smushed it. A lot of blood splattered out.
Dad goes to Istanbul again this
week-end. I don't. I should have my root canal finished by then.
I'll certainly keep you posted by that.
I saw a photo of Tanner in the
Conference Center. Did he get to attend Conference?
I love you all!
Mother
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