Final Hours in Istanbul

A beauty at the Jewish Center
Cute at 93

We are down to our final few days in the great city of Istanbul.  The apartment is stacked with boxes and we have given a lot of stuff to charity.  Our moving day is Tuesday April 16.  We are anxious to go.

We are tired of being stuck in neutral and looking forward to the new assignment.

Today I will haul the dishwasher to Mine, our relief society president's apartment.  Lugging it up 2 flights of narrow stairs.  This could be all the work I need for a while.  Too bad there is always more work to be done.  That is life.  I truly love good work that helps someone, but dislike meaningless labor.  True service is a great blessing.

Today we are having our final young men and women activity.  We are going to the Branch to play ping pong, foosball and watch some movies while we eat pizza and junk food.  We will miss the young men and young women.

We have been busy trying to tie up the loose ends and get everything closed down here in Istanbul.  We completed our closing events with the Iraqi School, the Jewish Home and the Little Sisters.  We are trying to complete the details for the upcoming Humanitarian Conference in mid May and we have arranged the details for the Youth Conference in Ankara.  Details, details.

Nori and the boys at the Jewish Center
These old farts are so cool.

Now the highlight of the week:  NEWS FLASH- Istanbul-On Wednesday April 10th Fred Weaver was pick pocketed in the bazaar.  He lost his wallet containing 4 credit cards and his Turkish Tax card. The thieves immediately charged up nearly $14,000.  Not a great day.  Unfortunately part of the problem is that I am becoming too comfortable here.  We never feel threatened or concerned about our welfare and I just let my guard down.  Normally I do not even take the wallet when we are in the area around the bazaar.  I just failed to take the normal precautions. Lesson learned.

This is a world of wonderful people but there are always those who will take any advantage to benefit themselves.

10 PM sitting in the dark selling tissue packs

It is our current understanding that the Church will not replace us here in Istanbul.  It seems like a strange thing.  I cannot help but wonder if we never had any value or perhaps we messed up so bad that it is not possible to recover or perhaps my favorite, we are just irreplaceable.  It is hard to think about not being replaced after spending nearly 5 months here.  There is plenty of work.  We had even completed a comprehensive study of the opportunities that could be tapped.  It is hard to think that in a city of nearly 20 million needs no support.  Oh well, the decision is not mine.

Our good friends the Bauers from Hawaii

I want to share a story that tears my heart asunder.
Nori and I had been asked to eat at a fancy restaurant to determine if it were a good place to hold a meal for the Humanitarian conference.  We have been told that the Humanitarian Missionaries need a nice break from the work.  This is my first objection.  We do not need a conference, a break from service or even a fancy meal.  We came to serve, but my input is ignored.

We ate a nice meal, we chose the least expensive items and still spent 150 TL or $85.50.  We left the restaurant and began walking to the train.

 It was cold and dark with the only lights being the yellow haze of street lights.  We see a little boy huddled in a corner of the sidewalk and building with no coat.  He had his box of tissues and was literally hugging himself.  I took out all the change I had, about 9 TL and gave it to him.  The irony was not lost.  We were eating like kings and enjoying a fancy meal in a well heated place and he was freezing on the street.  Of course I do not know the whole story, but the same story is being told in every corner of the world.

How do you help an infinite need with finite resources?  There is a lot of good in the world, but there is so much inequity.  You can not give every one a chocolate bar or a quarter, some people capitalize on their hard luck, but a child should not be working the street.

Tulip festival.  Tulips came from the
Ottomans, not the Dutch.

Give your families a hug and give thanks for the infinite blessings we receive.  We have so much in a world of need.  I am so grateful for all the good people I know.  I so grateful to have been born in the USA and the freedom we so enjoy.  Next blog from Izmir.