#130 "Close (with an ss sound not zz)" (By Grandpa)

Dear Grandchildren,

It seems that we are really close to seeing new members in our branch. Eight persons have baptismal dates set for this month. Today we were to see two, but they were postponed because of the illness of the mother. These two have been moved to next Sunday when Grandma and I will be out of town. We shall be sad to miss them. A third person, a fellow who has been coming off and on since last May, also appears ready to join. That will be next Sunday too, with us away. This man has a long reach. We expect that his teenage son will join in the summer after his intense schooling has ended. The man’s good friend has come three times to church services and to our Christmas Eve party. He told one of our YVs this morning that he has read almost through Second Nephi and feels that Nephi is his good friend. And he now has a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

I sat with the man who is to be baptized next week and interviewed him with the help of one of our YVs. In short, we talked about his faith and his testimony and his commitment and his willingness to live new covenants. I didn’t ask him questions in quite this way, but asked him about his belief in God and his Son, and so forth. He is very well grounded, I judge. And he will make a very solid member of the Church. I hope to see him receive the priesthood within a week of his baptism.

This man also works at the courthouse where the bomb went off last week. It is about four miles from our apartment. He said that the vehicle packed with explosives and other military grade weapons was trying to get into a parking lot at the end of the work day where about 200 employees in the building come to catch small buses that take them to various destinations around the city. The perpetrator’s intent, apparently, was to drive into that area among the gathering people before detonating the bomb. The vehicle was stopped at the entry and not allowed in. Whoever the guard at the gate was, he saved a lot of lives.

Perhaps oddly, as an SV, I felt I had to pull the plug on a pair of baptisms in a distant city that were scheduled for yesterday, Saturday. At first, a pair of YVs and Grandma and I were going to travel to the city and perform the baptisms and confirmations, basically taking the whole day. But the couple had not received their last lesson from another pair of YVs (in Farsi by Skype) and, after that, they had to be interviewed by one of the zone leaders, usually an hour’s process for two persons. Add to that the fact that the woman had to work late every night last week, coming home after nine at night after going to work at seven in the morning. So there was no way to squeeze in the lesson during a weekday evening. And I thought of her madly scrambling to get her apartment in order yesterday morning, and fixing food for guests, all the while sitting for a lesson and an interview during the same morning. It seemed a bit much. And the timing was too close if something needed to be fixed. For instance, for those of us going to the distant city from here, all of this action would occur while we were on the train, heading to the baptism. There was no room for any last minute adjustment. So with Grandma’s encouragement, I said, "Let’s wait two weeks." And that is what we are doing.

Oh yes. It snowed here a couple of days ago. The flurry lasted less than ten minutes. But the snow was genuine. Some of the plants around here have taken a hit from the sub-freezing temperatures that have grabbed at us during the past couple of nights. Nothing like Istanbul where hundreds of flights were cancelled a couple of days ago because of severe snowy conditions. Glad to be living in Paradise.

Our numbers in Sacrament Meeting reached 28 today, seventeen in the hotel room and 11 by Skype. We heard one of the YVs give a lesson on pride by Skype to a sister in Bodrum. It was impressive enough that I wanted others in our branch to hear its main points. For our Sacrament Meeting, a good feeling prevailed in the room the whole meeting. Of the eight whom we project to be ready for baptism this month, seven were with us — five in the hotel and two on Skype. Under the leadership of our MP, our YVs are to wait until a person has attended church services at least eight times before leading them to waters of baptism. These seven are walking the walk, and will be good, solid members.

For me, one of my daunting tasks has been to move our branch out of the paper record-keeping materials and into the world of e-records. That means going to MLS for keeping records of expenditures, contributions, etc. And much more. Simply stated, I lack the confidence that I can make all of this work. I have called one of our YVs, actually the youngest one, to serve as the branch clerk. (The MP encouraged me to take this step.) This YV seems destined to be here for a few months and can serve as a bridge between us and the persons who come into the branch leadership at our departure. He speaks both English and Turkish. And he is well suited by temperament. So I shall set a weekly time for him and me to meet together to see that our records are up to date and up to snuff. The call of a Turkish-speaking counselor and the call of this YV are intended to make the hand-off of responsibility as seamless as possible. I hope and trust that it will all work. (Here is where we all clink our glasses together.)

I love you and pray for you all every day.

Grandpa Brown