Month of Ministering

 We have had a busy and wonderful month as we've reconnected with our Türkish friends!  We were in Türkiye for about 10 days, then back to Sarajevo, back to Türkiye, then to Belgrade, Serbia where we are right now so that we could enjoy a wonderful Zone Conference.  We continue to travel, but we do have an apartment now when we are in Türkiye!

Our Apartment building

       

This view! A seven minute walk from our apartment!

                                             

Our first night back we ate our favorite salad, called Piyaz,
some "meatballs" which are round and flat in Türkiye,
and Kebab which is rolled meats.

We invited everyone to a pizza party.  We learned that the games we play in America, 

don't translate too well into Türkish!  

Everyone had some good laughs!

We had dinner with Mert and his mother.  I complimented her on her 

scarf and she insisted that I accept it as her gift to me. Turkish people are so giving! 

This was the same place we met Mert for dinner last October when it was just our second day in Türkiye. We looked like deer in headlights back then, I'm sure.  This time we were comfortable, knew how to order, and conversed some in Turkish.  We've come a long way!

One night we took a wonderful walking tour of Kaleiçi, which is the Old Town. We wore ear pods while a tour guide spoke about the history and trivia of what we were seeing. 

We saw this beautiful statue, views of the town and port, and this famous minaret.

We learned that Turkey officially asked the world in 2021 to refer to them as Türkiye 

(Tur-key-yeh). In 2022, the United Nations signed an agreement to make it official.  Now they are just waiting for everyone to catch on to calling it by the right name.

                                  We had lots of ministering visits with wonderful people which we enjoyed.  

                        

We remembered to take pictures withsome of them!

Elder Bates drove the elders and Kemal out 4-hours round trip to meet Mehmet and his son, Clark

We drove out to Burdur to meet Kemal's Mom.  Kemal lives 90-minutes away by car.  Once he drove his scooter 4 hours to come to church.  Wisely, his mother told him not to do that again.

It takes him several hours one way to get to church by bus/tram. He is the only member of his family.

Dinner with new-member Omer and the Sisters

We had several visits with Aynur.

We went to visit Recep and his wife, Fatma.  

Sunday dinners with the Elders

We had such a nice visit with Sheymah and her family

Natali had us over (the orange drink in the yellow mug was DELICIOUS!)

Side note:  No seedless watermelon here.

We had dear Rubina over for dinner. She is alone working in Türkiye
while her 3 sons and husband are in Pakistan.

We loved having Fatma and Recep over for dinner

A wonderful visit with Semih and Sevgi in their home.  
They are preparing to go to the Temple next month!

A highlight was our first ever Relief Society Activity!  

Sister Hitchins, our District Relief Society President came and spoke to us.

A fun trip to the village with Natali to visit Mert and his parents. Mert took us around the village which we loved seeing.

People make wishes then tie a string to this special tree. We also saw a 2,000 year old tree that is still alive.

                    Besides all the visiting, good things have been happening at church, too.  

Baptism of Kerim!  Mert baptized him and Elder Bates confirmed him.

Having some fun before the baptism 
We love these people!

We love this comparison picture. Kerim loves it too!

Elder Bates took this picture while we all stuffed onto the hotel elevator to ride down
to the hotel swimming pool, where the baptism took place.

Our largest Relief Society meeting yet with twelve sisters!

Elder Bates held the very first Young Men's meeting
with Kemal and a visiting Area Seventy, Elder Cziesla.

                

Kerim received the Priesthood.

This was the rehearsal for our first Men's choir performance on Mother's Day.

Serdar received the Priesthood.

 

84-year-old Patriarch Schutze came from Germany
and gave Patriarchal blessings to 6 of our members.

Note the picture of Kadir above and below:  How he arrived for his blessing (sitting), and how he left (elevator).  Elder Bates gave him his own tie to wear as a reminder of his special day.  
Note to self:  Buy Reid a new red tie  :)

Ministering means to love and care for others in the way that Christ did. Ministering is learning of and attending to others' needs. When you minister, you are representing Jesus Christ.  We love how our Savior ministered one-by-one.  

We did our best to minister this month.  

Thank you for supporting us.  

If you want to see more pictures, keep scrolling! 

Pickled things for sale in the grocery store

I caught Elder Bates eating like a native.  They eat Cucumbers like we eat an apple.
Just bite right in!

Notice anything strange about this box of munchable nuts?
The pistachios are still in their shells!   They always come this way.
Don't pop a handful of these in your mouth! Ouch!

We were walking home through this football (soccer) game celebration.  
It was noisy and fun and full of families all celebrating together..with fire!

This was being broadcast in the Istanbul airport. We sure wanted to know what they were reporting.

This is the sheep butcher shop.   The "sheep meat" is hanging in the window.  
They have the cutest little lamb statue on the left!  Seems ironic!

Fatma crocheted these shoes for Elder Bates and myself!
They are sooooo comfy!

We took this picture because it captures Türkiye.  The vendors on the side of the road.  The narrow streets.  The scooter.  The beautiful trees!  A typical Spring day.

This was the parade in the evening of the "Youth and Sports Day" holiday.  
The teens are holding flags, pictures of Atatürk,
and they have torches on the ends of their poles.

This is a repairman.  
They walk through the streets calling out for anyone who needs repairs.  
(Notice the family on the scooter)

Shoes for sale!  Which would you pick?

Turkish rugs are sold everywhere.  This one almost came home with us!

These are our missionaries assisting the Red Cross in delivering and assembling a very nice hospital bed that will be used for the mother-in-law of the woman in this picture, who has brain cancer.  The bed was donated to the Croatian Red Cross by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, along with 79 other beds just like it.  The beds are very deluxe with high quality functions and mattress (not shown).  The Church always donates the best items.
We have been happy to be a part of this project.

We had to go to Sarajevo, Bosnia for a week due to Visa issues.  
This was the view from our Air BnB!
Other amenities (think bathroom/bedroom) were not up to this standard!

But we sure did enjoy this view!  
Sarajevo is built in a bowl shape with the city below and mountains around it on every side.

They have the most perfect fruit.  Never a bruise.  Never a mark. How do they do that?  

There are still some reminders of the 1990's war.  They have left some of the shells right where they fell and painted red around it to show damage.  It's very humbling.  There are many buildings with bullet holes still, too.  Maybe those reminders are good because the Bosnian people are the most kind and helpful.  We really love Sarajevo!

A typical narrow street in Sarajevo.  
Notice the older thin brick building, next to more beautiful architecture.

Since you made it to the end, we have two exciting things to end with!  Please watch your Church News for an announcement about Türkiye coming any day now, (we learned about it just this past Monday) and secondly, here is a sneak peek of what city we are headed to in June, and what we will be doing there!

We love you!