Another Arabian Night

Of course Nori had to decorate
and as always makes everything
better for everyone.
Farshad and Elham
Tahsim in the back.  Our
most recent Turkish member.

I had been teaching, if that is what you would like to call it, an English class for the Iranian refugees that are so prevalent here in Turkey, for several weeks and had developed a good bond with several of them, when one night about 10 weeks ago as we ended our class, Farshad simply announced that he was getting married.  Out of the blue and simply aside, oh, by the way “I get married”.  With my great language skills, I recognize this as future tense even though it is spoken in present tense.

As strange as it was, it was about to get stranger.  Two weeks later he sat in class just beaming.  He has the best smile and kindest eyes ever.  Each week part of the class is to tell your story for the week in English and share more about you.  Farshad, like a child on Christmas morning, could not wait to tell his weekly story.  He began in his broken and halted English, “I be married!”  Now a present perfect tense.

I asked, “where is your wife and when will we meet her?”  He responded, “She be in Tehran.  She come soon.  She be Mormon!”  Hello!  I must have missed something in the weekly discussions and certainly in the laborious translations.  Do you just wake up married?  How do you respond to “I be married”?  How can your wife be in another country and what do you mean “She be Mormon”?

This is a big thick cake.  Turkish
surprisingly not too bad.
Chocolate pudding with lots of nuts.
That's a standard American pan next to the
cake.

After much discussion, translation, arm waving and general good humor, I discovered that his family in Iran had proposed and arranged a potential marriage to a lady, Elham.  She then traveled to Turkey to meet Farshad and actually attended Farshad’s baptism at the Church.  Now visualize if you will, a young Muslim woman, not overtly religious, in other words, not covered, travels to Turkey to meet her possible future husband as he is converting to Christianity and being baptized in the Mormon Church.  Now that is a religious conundrum and the making of a movie.  We met Elham at that point in the story, but had no idea we were meeting a possible bride.  Apparently the whole thing was still up for debate and negotiation.  Elham had the right to decide if she would even consider marrying Farshad.  The arrangement is not a given or forced proposition.  It is just a concept in the making.

Apparently the whole conversion thing was not a deal breaker.  Elham must have liked what see saw and so the marriage plans continued.  In order to meet traditional ceremonies, she went through the process in Iran and they Skyped the results to Turkey.  Marriage by Internet.  She then traveled to Turkey and they met with a Turkish magistrate to make sure the marriage met the legal requirements for Turkey and the documentation for the United Nations and the process was complete.

 

Somaya, Farshad, Elham, Reza, Nafas, Vahideh
Part of our Iranian contingent.
We now have a total of
16 Baptized Iranians with 2 more
investigating.

At the time of the announcement of marriage, Elham was still in Iran and we then met her again as the new bride some weeks later.  In the mean time Farshad had been reassigned from Ankara to Kirkkale, about 110 kilometers away into his refugee holding city.  If this seems to complex to follow, welcome to the travails of a seeker of freedom from a fascist Muslim country.

“She be Mormon!”  Translated means she will become a Mormon because that is the best thing for her and my new family.  Farshad is absolutely converted and loves the gospel.  He just expects that his new bride will be just as enamored.  She has begun to take lessons and attends every time Farshad makes the 2^1/2 hour bus trip from Kirkkale.

Yesterday we celebrated the union of these great people.  We held a “linger longer” after church and we arranged a big wedding cake and gave our best to the new couple.  It was a real treat.  It never ceases to amaze me how a simple act of attention can make someone’s day.  We also took up a collection and attempted to get the branch members to give a little monetary recognition gift, but we only got two other couples to contribute.  Oh well everyone else’s loss and the amount was still a nice contribution to people who have absolutely nothing but a desire for freedom.

 

Yes I know, no tie.  It was so hot and I
 couldnot take it any longer.

We were asked some months ago to list out our mission cost and summarize what it costs to live in Turkey.  I suppose that is for the future couples information.  Well the actual cost is not even close to what we spend.  The amount of money we have given away to those in need is well beyond discussion.  Perhaps our greatest blessing has been that we can give to others and still live a good life.  We are so blessed beyond our wildest imaginations.

They try the American tradition, but
are too polite to smush cake.
Just guess who made the decorations and who had to hang them.