Well, we have met in our new Branch here in Istanbul and it was terrific. We have to walk about a half mile to the metro and then travel two stops east before we walk about 3/4 of a mile to the rented building that is our Church building. The room was nearly full for Sacrament Meeting and other than the testimonies that Nori and I had to give, the talks were great. All the business is conducted in Turkish and the talks were all in English. The Turkish is translated into english and the English is translated into Turkish. I guess that means we attend two meetings in one so we are building extra credit.
The Primary consists of 5 children and there are 3 young men and 2 young women. There were at least 4 investigators today. There are members from Turkey, the US, several from Nigeria and at least 1 from Ethiopia.
The four Elders have made so much progress in Turkish that they can translate and do a remarkable job.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Unfortunately Nori is getting sick and we could not stay after the meeting to visit. We hurried home and she is in bed. We have so much to do over the next 4 days before the Canfield's leave for Italy that there is no time to be sick. We will move into our apartment on Thursday. It will be so good to get out of suitcase living.
I love these people. The are so friendly and polite. The young people are not tattooed and messed up like US young people. Most everyone is well dressed and well groomed. Of course there is more smoking here, but for the most part everyone must smoke outside and I have not found it to be too much of an issue.
I have already lost weight. My pants are getting baggy and my shirt collars have loosened up. Lots of walking and as Nori says, "no bad snacking at the cave". On top of that, there is only meals and no between meal eating.
We hope all are well back in the states.
Get well mom! Great post. Love hearing everything.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Hearing about your experience at church made me disappointed that you just barely missed our friends Noah and Kendra Donadieu and their sons who left this summer. They loved it there-- he worked in the embassy and is back working in Virginia now.
ReplyDeleteI bet you will be relieved to move into your more permanent home. Why are you sick, Nori? I hope it's just too much traveling and not that you're allergic to Turkey! Get well!
Derek gave a great talk in church today. I'll have him email it to you. He talked about Tim and Tyson and their rainbows and I think it was pretty powerful.
Love you both!