#119 Visitors (by Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

One of the SV couples came to our fair city yesterday. They came as part of a rotation of the SVs through the smaller branches in Turkey. The only small branch that we cannot access is in the south of the country where military personnel are more or less locked on base. And the rest of us are locked out. Probably as it should be. This SV couple spoke in our church services today on the plan of salvation. Their presentation was simple yet profound. Only one adult investigator was with us in our meetings, but the message was perfect for him. That man, we expect, will become one of us on Christmas Day.

The coming of this couple adds an important dimension for us. During the last seventeen months, we have enjoyed the companionship of another couple only when we travel away from here. When we go to Istanbul, this couple is there. We have formed a good friendship with them over the months since they arrived in Turkey. Our time with them allows conversations with another couple who function rather like we do. Without them and the other couples, our main interactions are with either young single adults, including our YVs, or with branch members who speak little or no English. Just being able to talk about what we are doing and planning to do is a wonderful piece of therapy. But I don’t want to make too much of this because we get along just fine without this sort of conversation on a regular basis.

Oh, and by the way, one of my counselors has been deported. That news caught me completely by surprise, I will admit. He went off to Germany for a meeting and, when he returned, he was denied entry. The problem seems to be that he owns a company and does not have a current work permit. At least, that is what he was told. It is a long story. He was able to talk the border officer into deporting him back to Germany where he had traveled for the meeting rather than to his home country which is much farther away. Now he has gone to the Turkish Embassy to begin the process to obtain a permit that will allow him to return and take up his work again. Nary a dull moment, it seems. We are not expecting to suffer his same fate. We have no immediate plans to travel outside of the country.

For the record, we were 28 in our sacrament meeting today, 15 in the hotel room and 13 by Skype. We and the YVs were expecting several investigators. Three showed up, one adult and two older children. They all have a date to be baptized on Christmas Day. Our realtor lady, who had come twice in a row, did not come but joined one of our pairs of YVs at our home this evening for a lesson on the plan of salvation and the Word of Wisdom. She is a very generous person and took Grandma and me and the YVs to one of the very impressive breakfasts that a lot of restaurants serve on Saturday mornings. Yummm. And now she is going to pray about the Prophet Joseph Smith. Why is that important? Because, she says, she drinks everything that is against the Word of Wisdom. Knowing whether Joseph was a prophet will have a huge impact on how she lives her life. It will all be for the good, I promise.

Naturally, I cannot forget our Thanksgiving meal. We took the four YVs to the Renaissance Hotel in town. It is the only place that serves this dinner. We met in the lobby earlier than the meal began so that we could go to the restaurant in plenty of time. When we arrived, we spotted others seated a few minutes early. And the food was already set out in lovely fashion. So a person showed us to our table for six (I had reserved the table a few days before). Then we went on a tour, walking the length of the serving tables before diving in. And in we dove. For one YV, it was a complete diet of meat and potatoes. Another finished his meal with a serving of fish. For a third, it was mainly a question of how much he could pile on his large plate. And so it went. For me, one of the oddest dishes was a mint flavored pudding in a small wine glass with three chocolate cake cubes resting on the top. The surprise came when I discovered kernels of corn in the pudding. That was a new combination. Shall I try that again? Probably not.

I love you and pray for each of you.

Grandpa Brown