February 2025 - A month of Love

If you noticed a new flag to the right of this post, you are very observant! We are moving to Serbia for the next month or more due to some Visa issues within the Schengen regions. We will still be able to get in and out of Türkiye, but we can't get back into Croatia or Slovenia where our Humanitarian projects are. I understand the need for tight Visa control and I'm grateful for it but it sure has made our mission full of surprises! What a wonderful and full month we have had. We love our mission! We are growing in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of our Savior overwhelms us at times. There is zero doubt in our minds that God is over this work and bringing to pass much good. There are so many wonderful people in the world! The highlights are definitely these four things: 1. District Conference with Elder David A. Bednar and Sister Susan Bednar.

2. The baptism of Kemal.

3. A few weeks later, Kemal baptized Usef! That was joy!

4. Our Humanitarian Project. The church is providing 80 high quality hospital beds to the Croatian Red Cross. Eight elders helped us unload them off the truck. The bags are the mattresses. We are holidng a placard that will go on each bed that says "Donated by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the Red Cross". (That means it came from YOU. Thank you!) They will be going into homes of mostly the elderly and be a blessing to both the user and the care giver, as the beds have all the bells and whistles to make it easier to raise, lower and be quite comfortable.

These 4 things brought us so much joy this month! On Valentine's day we flew into Istanbul and actually left the airport this time! The District Conference was held at a hotel in Istanbul and so many dear members and friends drove all night long, many on buses, to be there to hear an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ speak! It was the most humbling thing I have ever witnessed. It was so amazing to hear from President Huber and his wife, Elder Picard, Elder Alliaud and his wife, and Elder and Sister Bednar. The spirit overflowed. This was the largest gathering of Turkish saints ever! When Elder Bednar prophesied that next time he comes there will not ony be hundreds in attendace but thousands, we were so overwhelmed with love. He said these dear people are pioneers and they will grow the church in Türkiye, just as it grew in the early days of the church! We are so amazed that we are getting to see it first hand.

Although those are the highlights, here are some other pictures. Türkiye pictures first: This one is of a major mall in Antalya. They have you go through a scanner, like at an airport, before you enter any mall. They also check your trunk and underneath your car.

They sell cups of corn for snacking. It is delicious!

You've probably heard of "the evil eye". They are all over.

I found it interetsing to see where all the flights were headed in the Istanbul airport

This is Istanbul from the 32nd floor of a hotel

This is outside of a Mosque. The second picture shows where they wash their feet.

These are all pictures of the Sultan's palace in Istanbul. It was fascinating to see into the life of a Sultan. This is the Topkapi Palace. It is "one of the world's largest surviving palaces and was built between 1460 and 1478 under the orders of Sultan Mehmed II a few years after he conquered Constantinople. The palace served as the home of the Ottoman Sultans for almost four centuries."

Some random pictures: Pomegranates, riding the bus, dinner with friends, a member gave each of us a cello lesson, Turkish lamps, our plane we boarded, and what are these huge squashes??? They use them in soup.

On to Slovenia! This is their famous Kremna Rezina. It's delicious and very popular. We saw this maibox with English written on it so we got closer and this is what it said!

Now to Croatia! This Turkish man was taught the gospel and baptized by our Croatian elders! He read the entire Book of Mormon five times before his baptism. Fruit Stand Breads Brunch with our District

This is a great illustration of the Plan of Happiness as put together by our Mission. We love it so much and we want all to partake of these blessings! Please ask if you have any questions.

On to Serbia; we leave tomorrow!