I'm writing today from Antalya, Turkey. "What? I thought you were in Croatia" you say? Well so did we until just days ago when we got an interesting phone call asking us to be Humanitarian volunteers in Antalya and Isparta, Turkey (Republic of Türkiye). We were shocked but excited! We will fly back and forth from Croatia to Turkey. We've been in Turkey a few days now and we already love it! And btw, Turkish Airlines is the best!
We got to meet President Camille N. Johnson and Sister Tracy Y. Browning. (General Relief Society President and General Primary 2nd Counselor respectively, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) We arranged for them to tour the Zagreb Refugee Center and their laundry facility installed by the church. Those 5 washing machines have done over 80,000 loads! They shared with the leaders of the Center the approval of our first project: a kitchen remodel for the center. You can read about their visit here: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders/2024/09/23/president-camille-n-johnson-sister-tracy-y-browning-central-europe-ministry/
Here in Turkey, the church has been very benevolent after the earthquake in 2023. At the end of this month, the church will open 3 elementary schools they built in the quake zone! That is only the tip of the iceberg for what they have done here.
Last Thursday we made it official! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is providing therapy sessions which will include art therapy, group therapy, and one-on-one counseling for teen refugees in Croatia. We are so thrilled about this project to support these young people, some who still have family members in Ukraine!
Inspecting the apartment of these great elders.
They passed, AND they got homemade cookies!
Meeting my cousins' grandson, Elder White! Welcome to the mission!
Between General Conference sessions we had 9 missionaries over for lunch! That window behind them is just wide open...no screens here! Surprisingly we rarely have bugs (or birds) fly in!
We need to do a better job of capturing some pictures of Zagreb. In the meantime, here is a typical blue tram sharing the streets with cars, pedestrians and bicycles! Sometimes a bit scary!
We have had a few meetings in Ljubljana, Slovenia and absolutely love this place, too! It is beautiful and quaint. That is a castle on the hill behind us.
Reid has been fascinated by the variety of doors he has spotted on his mission and often will stop to take a picture of a random door. This one is hardly random and certainly unique. The door is only 30 years old but it is on the 300-year old Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Ljubljana.
We got to watch general conference at the church building. It was in English with Croatian sub titles. We watched Saturday morning session at 6 PM on Saturday. We got to see all 4 sessions, although the last one ended at midnight Sunday night!
With our mission leaders and some of the most wonderful young missionaries and Senior missionaries! We love them all!
Here are some pictures of our few days in Türkiye!
Our second night in Antalya, Türkiye and we were treated to a Turkish dinner overlooking the old Roman Harbor with a wonderful young church member who has been so kind in providing Turkish hospitality. It was a delicious and beautiful evening.
We went back a few nights later to the old Roman Harbor to see it from sea-level. This is a very cool place!
We love seeing the cats everywhere in Turkiye! It is fun to see them peeking around a corner. Last night while we were preparing for the next day of meetings and sitting on the hotel patio, we noticed this little feline staring at us across the table. Can you see her?
We have a new language to learn with our new assignment. So far we only know a few Turkish words. We long to communicate so here we go, studying a new language again! Can anybody say Merhaba, tanistigimiza memnon oldum? Neither can I.....yet! It means "Hello, nice to meet you!"
I'll end with a joke meant for our grandkids:
Grandpa (Reid): We have learned to speak Turkish!
Grandkids: Really? What can you say, Grandpa?
Grandpa (Reid): Gobble, gobble! See? I can talk turkey!
Until next month, remember to be grateful for all you have....food, shelter, water, and friends! We are rich indeed!
