September 29. 2014

 

Hello Everyone, 

It's been pouring rain for the past two days and we love it! It's really needed here and we're so grateful for it.

We are in for another interesting week of celebration by the Turks! According to Turkish tradition, the Feast of the Sacrifice commemorates Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to show his faithfulness to Allah. You can find essentially the same story in the Old Testament where Abraham was willing to kill his son Isaac, until an angels stops him. Cattle, sheep and goats are sold by farmers to communities as people gear themselves up for this four day festival called Kurban Bayram.  

Animals are to be sacrificed according to Islamic rules and traditions. Literally these animals are sacrificed in the streets (mostly in the older sections of town), and the meat is cooked and taken to the poor and needy. I'm glad the sacrificed animal's meat serves a good purpose in the end, to feed the hungry, and I am also grateful we do not practice animal sacrifice any more. Our sacrifice is the sacrifice of our wills, as we give them over to the Savior while we partake of the sacrament each Sunday. We turn our lives and our wills over to Him who can shape our earthly/worldly ways and trade them for Christ-like ways.  

Missionary work is simply incredible! It is so great to see someone realize for the first time that there is a better way to live if we choose to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that when an investigator really wants to know the truth, the Spirit helps guide their questions. It's as though the Spirit is leading them to understand what they've wanted to know all their lives, and they now finally have a chance to hear the answer. One of the missionaries said, "one woman's series of questions were so inspired. They helped her understand the power of God, and if He is the one that created all, then He has the power to change our nature as well. It was such a "light bulb" moment". The shaping and molding of our lives feels like major renovation at times, but with Heavenly Father as the architect we are assured the end result will be a glorious creation!

 

We are aware of the political problems going on around us and our hearts go out to all those involved. We pray that the hearts of our enemies will be softened and that they will have the courage to step away from the old traditions of their fathers and choose to live in peace. We bring a message of peace and hope to the world and wish everyone could hear it and feel it. It would be such a tragedy to destroy the beauty of this country because people can’t love one another. This is a picture from the Ferry on the Bosphorus Straights, taken on our way to our Branch President’s home for Family Home Evening a couple of weeks ago,…(not his home)J  

There is so much needless suffering on this beautiful earth and it has been since the beginning of time, and apparently will be so as long as humans live on this earth, until the Savior comes again. I'm so incredibly grateful for the peace of mind that the knowledge of the Savior and his Atonement offers. The Savior's love is real and the Atonement is real,...they are the real and true means by which we can repent and live our lives in a better, more humble and loving way each day.

 We had another Zone Conference with our fellow Senior Couples and younger Elders, with President and Sister Wilstead,...we love these people!We love hearing from you and so grateful for your love and support. You are in our prayers and we hope you know of our love for each of you.

Sister and Elder Ercanbrack

Elder E post August

Hello Everyone,

 

I thought I would take a few minutes and let you know what is happening in Istanbul.

Life here is never boring, it is interesting when you consider how much there is to learn

and how little time we really have to do it in. 

We have recently finished Ramadan, (the Muslim month of fasting during the day), at the end of

Ramadan is a festival that lasts for 4 days, called Bayram. The first Bayram is a sugar festival.

They celebrate the end of Ramadan by eating and giving sugar treats to friends, and relatives,

much like Halloween, but without the masks and commercialism. Nancy and I learned this first hand.

The final day of Ramadan we were at the spice market in Eminönü, and a big truck pulls into the vendor

area and begins to unload big gunny sacks. The truck was loaded with these gunny sacks at least six feet high. I watch as they carried these sack to flat bins and opened them revealing bright colored individually wrapped candy wrappers. As I watched to see what these sacks were full of, we just about got run over by all the women coming to purchase the delights of the sacks. That is when we realized the contents were candy. Not just any candy, it was chocolate covered candies. The wrappings are in bright colors, orange, red, purple, lime colored. I can't name them all. They are really quite pretty to look at. The Candy is only available once a year at the end of Ramadan, and there must have been a thousand women jostling for a big bags of these candies. We later found this same candy piled quite high at the Migros shopping market where we buy most of our food. We shop about every three days, so by the third day it was all gone.

Now we are going to have the second Bayram. This festival comes 40 days or so after Ramadan, and is in remembrance of the sacrifice Abraham made with Isaac. (the Muslim believe that it was not Isaac who was to be sacrificed, but Ismael). This brings everything to a halt in Istanbul, all shops, grocery stores, tourist shops and venues, and the metro slows to only one bus per hour, and this continues for four days. We will buy our groceries in advance knowing this. During the sugar festival things got a little lean in the Ercanbrack home because we did not know everything would be closed for 4 days.

This second Bayram brings live animals into the city, and into neighborhoods. Then they slaughter them in the streets. We are told that the gutters run pretty thick with the blood of all the animals killed. Then they give away the meat to the poor and needy, and to the old people who don't eat very much meat. It has been suggested to us to avoid certain neighborhoods during this period. I can just imagine every household in some of these devout Muslims will be slaughtering a sheep or cow. This could be an interesting week. It begins September 4-7th.

On the weather side of things, we are seeing a little cooler weather now. In July it was very hot and humid. The heat is ok for me, but the humidity is like having your very own sweat maker that is not only invisible but never goes away.

I walk from our apartment to the church, takes about 12 minutes, and I am wet, I mean very wet. Like I have been sprayed with the hose. I get a pile of paper towels and begin dabbing my shirt and head to absorb the water. I go througha pile of towels and then stand in front of the air conditioner until I am getting chilly, then resort to more dabbing until

my thermostat lowers. This has pretty much become a ritual for me. I see some of the Elders doing a similar thing, but they don't seem to be affected quite as much as I am.  Nancy has even helped me dab the back of my shirt, to catch the stream running down my back, bless her for that. She looks at me and says you are wet. Something's' in life just have to be endured.

We are getting into the comfort zone of our mission I would say. We have multiple callings, each of us, and we seem to have had our capacities to do these callings expanded. We both spoke in church Sunday on topics requested from the Branch President. Nancy's topic was "How to prepare and give a talk in Church", mine was "how to bear Testimony in a Testimony meeting". Very basic, but very informative for these members who have never been in a fully working Ward or Branch of the Church. It is very instructional to me to see the curious nature of new members of the Church. They have

minds like sponges, they absorb the details of talks and conversation in the Gospel with amazing accuracy. The Turkish people are bright and intelligent and engaging. They are a joy to be with. 

We do have a mailing address that is we can receive mail. At least we have received some letters and packages from

the USA. It is: Yasli Terry Ercanbrack or Kiz Kardes Nancy Ercanbrack

                          Levent Mah. 4, Gazateciler Sitesi

                          Ülgen Sokak, B8 Blok  No. 8/6

                          Beşıktaş,  Istanbul   34330

                           Turkey

Thanks for all your prayers and support, and all that you are in your lives.

We are always thinking of and thanking our Father for you.

 

 

Elder Ercanbrack

Hello From Istanbul August

Aug. 4, 2014

Hello Everyone! 

The Elders, and Elder Ercanbrack and I traveled by bus for about 1 ½ hours last week to visit a member whom we had not met.  She was born in Iran and moved to Turkey when she was about 10 years old. She said she was hesitant to tell her family she had been baptized, because if she went back to Iran and someone found out she was a Christian she could potentially be beheaded in short order. She told us not to say anything about the church until she had a chance to see how her niece and nephew-in-law reacted to us as Christians. Happy to say we all got along great,…in fact our friend told them she had been baptized and they took it very well.  They wanted to know more about us, and of course we were happy to teach them. They were very interested in the concept of a loving Heavenly Father who is always willing to forgive and accept us as His children. They were interested in our belief in life after death, so we taught them about the Plan of Salvation. They had never heard anything like it. It was great to give them truths that could potential change their lives. A Turkish friend of our friend came by during the discussion, and was interested in what we were teaching.  At one point we had two discussions going on simultaneously, one from English to Turkish to Farsi, and one from Turkish to Turkish. Exciting work! By the way, our friend is a great cook and so is her niece. We had the most incredible Iranian/Turkish meal with them. I am collecting recipes to cook for you all when we come home! 

The past couple of weeks have been busy with wonderful events. The Istanbul Branch members (many of us from Utah), and our friends traveled to the Asian side of Istanbul, to Özgürlük Park to celebrate the Utah, July 24th Pioneer Day.  In honor of the Pioneer Trek we walked around the park for a couple of miles and had great conversations with our friends. Some who attended were new to the whole concept of Mormonism, and we had an opportunity to share our knowledge and experience with them. Some new and lasting friendships were forged. We also played some games our Prophet Joseph Smith was known to play. We played a very fast moving game called “Fox and Geese” in which anyone could get tagged to be the Fox chasing geese. There was a lot of laughter, fast running and tagging one another. Honestly, you can have so much fun with those games.    

For the program, Elder Schmidt gave a wonderful tribute the first group of Mormons who entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 with Brigham Young. He then focused his talk on one of the very first notable pioneers, the Apostle Paul, who lived in Ephesus in Turkey, and worked with the congregation organizing missionary activity and converting many. Ephesus was one of the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 2:1–7), indicating that the church at Ephesus was strong. I love this area and it’s incredibly rich history. The people of Turkey are fascinated to hear that our church is the very church Jesus established when he was alive, and has been restored to the earth with the writings in the Book of Mormon.  

Elder Ercanbrack and I are traveling to Ankara and Adana this week so Elder E. can do church audits. The new “fast train” opened a week ago, traveling from Istanbul to Ankara, so we are going to travel by train on Wednesday. Adana is very close to Tarsus so we thought we would spend a day there after the audits are complete.  

The people studying the Gospel as investigators, are learning quickly, feeling the Spirit and expressing their gratitude for having missionaries in their part of the world. One fellow is a PhD in molecular biology and said he was an atheist. He came to church and became interested in the Book of Mormon. He kept coming back and was baptized. When the Spirit touches one’s heart it’s impossible to ignore. The truth wakes people up in the most interesting ways. I have such a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Jesus is truly the Christ, the literal Son of God, and our Elder Brother and Redeemer. He loves us more than we can imagine and has literally given everything he has for us to return and live with him again. I wish everyone had the joy I feel because of this knowledge.  

Today is P-Day so we’re off to gets groceries, etc.  

Have a wonderful week, and know we love you!

 

“I could find no peace of mind unless I was playing sports or in a gym”, were the words of a recent convert from France who is an athlete working in Turkey. He bore his testimony today, and said he loves reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church, because he finds a very deep peace in doing both of those things. He said those activities quiet his mind and he loves and appreciates it so much. In this world of turmoil, it is great to have a place where we can find peace that is everlasting if we seek it earnestly.  He spoke in French, and one of the members translated from French to English, and a Turkish man who speaks English and Turkish then translated into Turkish for the Turkish members.  Everyone got to hear his wonderful testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration. Our newest member, the attorney I told you about earlier, was baptized yesterday! She too bore her testimony in which she expressed profound gratitude for finding the missionaries and learning what she is learning. It is so wonderful to hear and feel the testimonies of these new members. There is such a profound sense of gratitude and enthusiasm with people when we come together in this work.

We have been told that it is not uncommon for Missionaries to have questions about the very gospel we are teaching when we hear so much opposition to the message we are giving. It has been so interesting to learn from a book written by Bruce R. McConkie called “The New Articles of Faith”. Teachings from this book were a main focus of our mission conference with President Lawrence, our Area Authority, last week.  It explains so many things regarding our pre-existence, our lineage, and our ability to become converted into the House of Israel…interesting concept. I was able to download it from Amazon, and I highly recommend it. I feel as though I’m learning doctrine in a new light, and I so appreciate the insights and confirmation of the truth. This is such exciting work and every aspect of it has depths one could never grasp in this life time. Thank heaven for eternal progression! My batteries are recharged and I am grateful for technology that allows almost instant access to the volumes of information that teach me so much! If you read this book I would love to hear your thoughts! 

Elder Ercanbrack and I are team teaching Gospel Doctrine, and it’s my turn to teach this Sunday. This mission is requiring calling on many skills that keep us on our toes. Elder Ercanbrack taught last Sunday and did a great job and had many compliments on his lesson. I’m so proud of him! 

Well, I did play the piano in Sacrament Meeting and it was O.K.  I know I was being helped because I only made a few mistakes and I made it through without passing out with anxiety! I was asked to play next week so maybe that’s a good thing. If you’ve taken piano lessons, keep practicing! You never know when you’ll need to recall those skillsJ. 

We went shopping for steaks last week, and the price of a T-bone at the market is 45TL (Turkish Lira) which is about  $23.00 for one steak!! So, we will not be having steak until we get back to our great home land. My mouth waters to think of barbecuing steak on the deck and enjoying it so much. Next time you eat a steak, enjoy it for us! We heard the price of meat in the US has gone up 30%. Is that right? 

Well, have a wonderful week and know we love and miss you. You are in our prayers daily!!

Sister and Elder Ercanbrack

This has been a fantastic two weeks! A woman who introduced herself to the Elders (unheard of) on the subway is being baptized this Saturday. She is an attorney who is looking for a better life, and has been on line researching the church. She stopped smoking completely within 4 days of learning of the Word of Wisdom. She asked me to speak at her baptism so that will be a great opportunity to feel the Spirit.

 

Also, we just got home from teaching our tutor whom I have told you about. Tonight he agreed to be baptized!! He said he feels so peaceful when he reads the Book of Mormon. He said he is so surprised he is feeling this way about a religion. He said he wasn’t really looking for something new when he agreed to take the lessons. He became familiar with the Elders from teaching us at the Branch and liked them. He had a little curiosity about us agreed to listen. The feelings he felt were so peaceful he decided to continue to let us teach him. The first night we met with him he agreed to say his first prayer ever and he gave two prayers during the lesson!! As a result of his two prayers he has found a job and he also told us that for the first time in seven years his family did not struggle with paying the mortgage this month.

Prayer is so powerful and the Lord has poured out sweet blessings on this young man. He said a prayer this evening and it was just thanking Heavenly Father for all he has,…just a prayer of gratitude in which he told the Lord “thank you and I don’t need anything, I just want to say thank you”. He is so sweet and sincere!

 

We have the unique opportunity here to talk to Muslims and try to understand their culture and religion. Many questions come up when they find we are representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. All of the missionaries have been asked to get a “clean copy” (not previously marked) of the Book of Mormon, and begin reading with the intention to be able to respond to concerns from these wonderful people. If you have the inclination to read the Book of Mormon with new eyes, you may want to get a new, inexpensive copy of the Book of Mormon and begin reading. It is a powerful experience. I’ve learned things I had not known before, and I feel the truthfulness of that book in a feeling of confidence and peace as I read!

 

Two of our Elders from Ankara and two from Istanbul went home last week and we received 4 new ones. One is an Elder Clark from Woodland Hills who will be in Ankara! I have not met him but I look forward to it. We don’t recognize his name. Another of the Elders came in from Bulgaria and is scrambling to pick up Turkish in a hurry. For about a day or two there will be someone who doesn’t know as much Turkish as Elder Ercanbrack and me!!  Oh yes, Terry and I have been asked to teach Gospel Doctrine, and I’m playing the piano this Saturday for the baptism and for Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. I’m so serious when I ask you to say prayers for me!

 

We hope all the Fathers had a great Father’s day.  Skyping on Sunday was so much fun!

Take care of your wonderful selves and keep us posted on what you are up to.

 

Love,

Sister and Elder Ercanbrack

It’s getting really hot and humid here! We’re learning to sweat with dignity and pretend we’re not dripping wet when we arrive somewhere! Luckily everyone is in the same condition!

I forgot to tell about security at the airport coming home from Ankara the other day. Elder Ercanbrack was stopped by security going into the airport because there was something suspicious in our computer bag. I had put six Swiss army knives in our bag for the Elder’s emergency packs to bring home to Istanbul and forgot they were there. There were six of us traveling and when security saw six knives and six people they dispatched a couple of other officers to stand near us until they could figure out what we were doing. Luckily they understood that it was a mistake to have put them there, and let us put them in our large luggage to be checked and let us through. What a relief! We had 4 youth with us and would have regretted having to tell their parents they were in holding cell in Ankara!

Elder Rasband and President Bennette  from Moscow and their wives visited Istanbul last Thursday. We were in 3 different meetings with them and got the solid message that the Lord is hastening his work, and we need to keep up with the Savior. Family History is a strong focus and the youth need to teach the older members how to do it! Keeping ourselves clean and worthy to receive inspiration and do our best in whatever calling we have is another focus. I’m so grateful to have felt their support and know this is the Lord’s work on the earth and the power of the Priesthood is alive and well and working in changing people’s lives for the better.

We cleaned the church for a baptism this weekend,…first one since we arrived. We are so happy to share this wonderful moment with this humble French man who is working in Istanbul. He said he has been searching for truth for many years, in many different belief systems and churches, and finally found the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ on earth today. It’s wonderful to think the Lord has put the Priesthood back on earth to prepare for His Second Coming and let us have the opportunity to work out our salvation. I’m so grateful.

Our Daughter-in-law Anna, and our two grandchildren visited us this week from Finland! It was so fun to be with them and to be introduced to our 8 month old grandson. They are all precious and beautiful and we miss seeing them. We’re planning to go to Finland at the end of our mission to see them which is far too long away! I’ve attached a photo and hope you can see it.

The BYU Chamber Orchestra performed at one of the Universities here in Istanbul last week. They were absolutely wonderful. 47 young students they played with such a big sound you could have closed your eyes and thought you were at Symphony Hall with a full orchestra. We took our tutor Ilkar and his girlfriend Chanel who have been asking questions about why we don’t smoke, drink alcohol, coffee or tea, and other questions about the church. The word Elder in Turksih is “yaşlı” and literally means “Old Man”. When the young Elders introduced themselves to Ilkar as Elder So and So, he laughed out loud thinking they were kidding him. He is impressed that these young “shinny” men would spend two years of their lives here in Turkey teaching about Jesus.  Ilkar and his girlfriend have been coming to activities and seem to really like the members.  Ilkar also brought a friend of his to a gathering after church last Sunday. His friend said I reminded him of Princess Diana! I said, “Gözlerinizi arkadaş kontrol olması gerekir” which means “You need to have your eyes checked my friend”!!! Funny things happen here.

We love you and think of you often! Take care of yourselves and let us know how things are going for you.

We love pictures!

Love,

Sister and Elder Ercanbrack

It is almost shocking to realize it’s May! The time is seriously flying by. The weather has been very rainy and everything is getting so green and beautiful.

We have good news! A businessman from Iraq was walking past the church last month and felt a strong prompting to come in. He was greeted warmly and came back the next week. The missionaries have been teaching him and he is going to be baptized in two weeks! He is such a good man and feels the spirit so strongly. We have one more Nigerian man who is scheduled to be baptized the end of May, so this will be a great month for baptisms! We have two missionaries going home in June and two more coming in July. We also have a Senior couple coming in July. We are so excited to not be the newbies in Istanbul, and to help those coming in get settled.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! We had a lovely Mother’s day yesterday. Elder Ercanbrack gave a great talk on Mothers, and how this is the day to apologize to your mothers for all the worry and frustration you caused them as teenagers. There were people from all over the world in the congregation and everyone laughed at that. I guess we really are not so different no matter our upbringing! The missionaries were so excited to call their mothers and I could just picture my nephews on the phone with my sisters. How fun!!

We are sponsoring Youth Conference this weekend in Ankara and have been planning a great weekend for the Youth. We have some great speakers and activities planned. I love being with the teenagers. Their energy and enthusiasm is great. These are some of the brightest youth I have met, and their accomplishments so far in life are impressive! They all speak Turkish and are leaders in their schools. They report how their association with the gospel has helped them with their relationships and other activities in life.

I have two sisters having birthdays this month. Happy Birthday to my dear sisters, how I love you good women! Happy Birthday to my other relatives and friends with birthdays in May!

If you have the opportunity to take a vacation soon, you should consider Istanbul. Tourists love it here, and we have visitors every weekend from all over the world stopping in. This is an amazing place filled with fascinating history and sites you would love to see AND you will have us to show you around (for a few hours at least) and a place to stay!

We love you and miss you!

Sister Ercanbrack and (Elder Ercanbrack)