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!