No Literal Translation

In an effort to understand, I find it more and more imperative that one would really need to understand and converse in the tongue of the people served.  Unfortunately there is no way I will ever be able to understand or speak Turkish in any sense of the imagination.  On top of that I am not sure that if I spoke or understood the language, I could think Turkish.  Not the words, but the real thoughts, reasoning and conjecture of this culture.  I am so fascinated about what really makes us, us?  Why do we think, do and act the way we do?  What creates our inner most thoughts and what do we really believe without question?  What makes us function.

 Another smiling Turk

I walk the streets, ride the buses, the subway, the trains and I pass thousands of faces every day.  I wonder what is going on inside?  What do all these minds dwell on as they seem to be caught up, going somewhere?  Somber faces, few smiles, blank stares, no eye contact, no real sign of what's inside.  Children of God just struggling through life and seemingly trapped in some routine that consumes them, but does not appear to bring joy.  Maybe they are ecstatic on the inside and the outside simply looks dull and uninvolved.

Yesterday, we traveled over to the old city to work on the details of the upcoming Humanitarian Conference to be held here in Istanbul in mid May.  We must have walked about 5 miles total as we tried to consider the best way for the people to get around and not get lost in the City.  We need to develop a guide so that all the missionaries from the other countries of Eastern Europe can visit and enjoy the City with minimal confusion.  I took the time to count smiling faces.  In about an hour of walking I counted only 3 smiles on faces that walked past.  I tried to smile at the oncoming crowds and if they noticed my grin, they would just look away.  Now I did not count the dozen or so carpet, purse, or scarf salesmen ready to separate us from our money.  This group is like a pack of predators with more sales lines that you can imagine, but they do smile and say, "you look like you are looking for my shop?  Let me show you my shop."

A delighted citizen

I did find that the smiles seem to come out when people recognize someone they know.  It would seem we find joy in our acquaintance's but not so much joy in strangers.  It struck me that to find joy, one must know people and be able to welcome them and share in the lives of others.  The only exception is joy in little children.  Everyone seems to find joy in a child whether they know them or not.  Every person on a packed bus, train or subway will light up when a child comes into the scene.  Apparently we find little joy in old people.  Now I understand all the frowns I meet.  I am just not cute anymore.

In church the most common problem that we hear from the members is that they do not always feel welcome.  They carry dissatisfaction and a sad heart because someone did not welcome them or the people they have brought to church.  We shake hands with every person every week and make sure we learn something about every person.  I am more and more convinced that leaders spend too much time meeting on subjects and issues that never really get resolved in the meeting and then have no time to truly be among the people.  It is not the appearance of leadership that inspires people, it is the leader among the people that inspires.  It is contact with the leader that develops strength, support and happiness among the members.  Unfortunately I see people waiting to be recognized and not anxious to step forward and recognize others.

We will hold our first Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday in Izmir.  We know that we will have one other family on that day, but that may be all we have in attendance.  I guess I will conduct, pray, do the sacrament, talk and teach any lesson we may have.  Perhaps I can get Nori to help with some of the program.  This will be so strange.  It is like being the preacher of a congregation.  We will have so much to do in order to reestablish the Church in Izmir.  We will be in need of all your prayers.  Perhaps you all could schedule a trip to Turkey and attend our meetings so that we have an audience.  There are plenty of members in the good old USofA that it would not hurt for you to help out here in Turkey.

Finally we visit the Blue Mosque

End of prayer

At least it would seem that we are needed and not just the old folks in a full building.  It is strange that we have value in the new parts of the church and little value in the old and established parts.  We are important in the teaching and leading of new congregations, but we are just a body in the States where the young people are the value.  I am not complaining.  Really I am not, it is just an interesting perspective.  In the last several years, it seemed that I was just a nuisance, but here it seems like even the young people are interested in our thoughts and experience.  I have talked in Church more in 5 months than I did in the last 15 years at home.

Well it is off to the PTT (Turkish Post Office)  this is one place that could compete with the US mail as far as post offices go.  Instead of waiting in line, you choose a number based on whether you want to mail a letter; mail a package or the busiest section, pay your utility bills.  As I said before, this is a cash society.  Why is it cash?  Very simple, if you pay in cash then you can avoid the 18% tax charged on most everything.  Today I am lucky I got number P269 and they are already on P230, WOW!  Unfortunately just like the good old US post office, they only have a couple of service posts so it will be about an hour wait, not bad today.

See how no one is working.  Just like home.

Serving in Turkey is comprised of standing in goofy lines and fighting crowds for whatever space there may be in order to file documents or pay bills or simply to get assistance.  Nothing is easy.  Thank goodness I have been blessed with a huge ability for patience.  If it were not for my incredible patience, I would go nuts.

More of the Blue Mosque.  Simply Beautiful.