Grizzweaver Week

Those are tears of joy.  A Happy grandma

Grandma and the kids at Effes.  HOT

We were blessed by a visit this past week by Adam and his family.  It was so fantastic.  We covered Istanbul, Izmir, Kusadesi, Effes and the areas round about.  The Little Weaver’s got a first hand experience of how we have to travel to everything and the crowds that make getting around a real work in and of itself.  

The highlight of the week for me was to have them in our Apartment for Church.  It was so moving to hear the kids bear testimony and work so hard to understand the Turkish Speak.  Perhaps the sense of compatibility was Adin setting with a 14 year old boy who speaks only French and still communicating by video game.

East meets West in Selçik

We had our Turkish friends, Suat, Yigit and Ethan along with a couple from France and their nephew.  We are so blessed to collect new friends around the world and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with our family.  Adam taught a lesson on the 13^th article of faith and we then ate Nori food and visited for hours.  Great day!  Everyone was exhausted from listening so hard to understand and communicate.

Whirling Dervish Show

sacked out grandma's

Unfortunately the week began with another Weaver adventure.  The plane Adam's family was on from Amsterdam to Istanbul lost an engine and made an emergency landing in Bucharest, Romania.  We were waiting in Istanbul.  Thank goodness all went well, but we lost a day of our planned visit because they did not arrive until the next day.  Then of  course Adam nearly stepped in front of a train in downtown Istanbul.  Another day another adventure.

 

Artemis, the goddess of fertility or mother of the earth
I think some people see the Church this way.  Provider of all things.

I continue to be amazed at the foolishness of apostates.  I can understand that someone may decide the church is not for them, but I fail to understand that someone can literally steal from the church and then blame the church when they are caught.  That is the case with the former Branch President in Izmir.  He is nothing but a simple thief and perpetrator of lies.  He publishes as many articles as he can in an effort to disparage the Church.  He claims he had a salary of $120,000 from the church as an interpretation.  When his lies and theft of sacred funds resulted in his dismissal and subsequent loss of membership, he attacked the members and threatened their lives.  He is a despicable man.  He has now referenced this blog in his lies and ranting, so perhaps, we may need to privatize access.  However I would really love to call this fool out and relish the opportunity to see him suffer for his tragic misuse of the church.  What a poor representative of his countrymen.  Just a liar and petty thief.

I have now been able to sample the medical portion of this country.  I am laying in Kent Hastanesi (Kent Hospital) with a broken foot waiting for the swelling to diminish so they can operate on a fracture of my 2^nd metatarsal.  I broke 3 metatarsals, but only one is completely fractured and offset.

My bad right foot.

Breakfast.  Yummy

Like most hospitals, the food is terrible, but breakfast this morning is a new low.  10 olives, 5 green and 5 black, a roll, some pink meat like baloney and a slice of cucumber.  Yummy.  One nurse and the doctors speak English.  They check on me about every 4 hours, but do not know what to say.  About midnight they brought in a bedpan and wanted me to pee, but were not happy when they discovered that I had been up to use the banyo.  What did they think; one time a day in the middle of the night?  Of course I can watch CNN or any Turkish Channel I choose.  Thank goodness Adam brought some beef jerky.  It is a long way from the apartment so it is not convenient for Nori to come back and forth.  I am so sorry I have subjected her to more grief in her life.  Seems like I just make life difficult for her.  I know she is frustrated and feels so alone.  There is no one to help her out.

 

Self portrait.  Hospital P.J.s

Today is the first day of Ramazan (Ramadan) in the western world.  The drum sounds at daybreak and you are supposed to fast til the drum sounds at the end of the day.  30 days of fasting in this manner.