#132 "A Week of Changes" (By Grandma)

How come we have to go through so many changes in life?  I'm not good at changes.  I like keeping the same car for years and years.  I like the same family members for years and years.  I've even liked the same husband now for 50+ years. 

But this experience has brought daily changes.  As you know baptisms can get rescheduled.  This happens all the time.  It is part of the territory.  This happened in our branch.  We had three baptisms today.  But guess who wasn't there?  We were in another part of the vineyard.  The dates had moved a bit around the calendar and when they finally settled we had other commitments that could not be moved round the calendar. 

So dad's new counselor, who speaks no English, conducted for the first time and was involved in the three baptisms.  And the elders also had the opportunity of doing everything without dad.  They called just before the confirmation and asked if he had the words in Turkish.  So there was a scramble to find the right words while everyone was changing their clothes.  Luckily we were with a BP who had the words and could tell them what to do.  You can't translate such things directly.  We fly back to Izmir tomorrow. 

Another blast to us is transfers.  One of our elders leaves for Germany in the AM before we can even say goodbye.  Another elder leaves Tuesday AM for another city and we'll get two new elders.  I'll have a farewell dinner tomorrow night.  The two who are leaving have had a huge part in the baptisms and the new members are hurting.  We shall see how we can survive without the two vibrant elders.

We spent one night in Ankara, the Capitol of Turkey.  We were able to have dinner with the Huntingtons prior to dad's fireside.  The H's are a new humanitarian couple there.  Ray taught at BYU. 

The next day we flew to Gaziantep in southern Turkey.  The BP picked us up at the airport.  We took him and his family to dinner that night.  It was a fun restaurant with specialty food.  Good thing we love lots of kinds of foods.

Dad and I spoke in sacrament meeting and dad taught SS.  It is a small branch and the only time they use English is when visitors come.  We had dinner at the BP's home in the afternoon.  She makes very good food and says she loves preparing food for us.  We love eating it.  She gave me a bunch of stuff to bring home.  I'll feed it to the elders tomorrow night. 

So we'll try to survive the next few weeks.  Things just keep swirling around us.  We may have more baptisms this month.

Love,
Mother