Of all the wonderful things that happened this month, the highlight was attending the Bangkok Thailand Temple with 7 other members of our District. Four members received their own endowment, as well as our dear Semih and Sevgi Aksu from the Antalya Branch. Afterwards, they were sealed for time and all eternity. They have waited years for this and still had to travel for 11 hours on a plane to make it happen. We are grateful for our District Presidency organizing this Temple Trip, the first of many that are now scheduled, so that our Türkiye members can start enjoying Temple blessings.
***Here is the very best part! Unbeknownst to us, the Temple department had worked very hard to have the Endowment presentation available in Turkish just in time for our visit! Words spoken in Turkish, captions in English! No head sets needed! It was such a surprise and glorious experience when the session started and it was in Turkish! It was the very first Endowment session presented in the Turkish language ever! A historical session which brought great joy to all of our hearts.
Good things continue to bless this wonderful country!
Mr and Mrs Semih and Sevgi Aksu
Gülsah's Endowment Day
This sweet girl is from Istanbul. She is leaving on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in September. She will be serving in the California, Los Angelos Mission. We became very close as we shared sacred moments in the Temple together. I love her dearly!
Night shot of the Bangkok, Thailand Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
This is the only picture we got of all 9 of us at the Temple. We were a happy group that night as we celebrated all the wonderful work we did for ourselves and our ancestors over 2 days.
We also enjoyed experiencing the flavors and sights of Bangkok......
The start of the statue above, the end of the statue below!
Reid had fun with the name of the above place....
Reid: Where are we?
Kathy: Wat Pho.
Reid: It's a simple question. Please just me give a simple answer.
Kathy: Wat Pho.
Reid: I just want to know the name of this place!
Etc....
He still makes me laugh after 43 years!
This looks like a difficult language.
T
We saw lots of golden Buddha's, including the famous "Reclining Buddha" below
.
Lots of motorcycles everywhere!
Another highlight of June was the Antalya Branch Conference. We had a record high of 41 people in attendance. Our branch choir sang. Beautiful and humble testimonies were born. The pictures below show us sharing dinner the night before with some of our stake leaders, followed by a group shot the next day. We love and appreciate our District Presidency. They travel all over the country supporting the members. We know our District President and his wife will make fabulous new Mission Leaders! We can't wait to see what the next few years bring to Türkiye!
For the grandkids: How would you like to go to a school with a long name such as these:
Can you pronounce them? These are all schools we saw in Thailand.
We left a teaser in our last post. Here is what it was!
ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE CHURCH NEWS:
The First Presidency has announced a new mission. The Europe Central Türkic and Persian-Speaking Mission. This covers Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well as all Persian and Turkish speaking missionaries in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Mission Office will be in Frankfurt, Germany. President and Sister Peter and Carla Huber have been called to serve as Mission Leaders and their mission will start July 1st."
When this announcement was made, Elder and Sister Bates cried. Ok, Sister Bates is really the only one that cried, but there may have been a little mist in Elder Bates eyes, too. They definitely both jumped for joy! We are so happy for Türkiye! This will be an amazing blessing for this country we love! As one of our fellow Senior missionaries said, "Türkiye is halfway between Palmyra and Kirtland. Soon they can get on their way to Salt Lake City!"
I never like putting this at the end of the blog because it truly is the most important part of our mission. Our Savior, Jesus Christ has become so meaningful to us. More so every month as we watch His miracles happen right before our eyes.
Quoting Prophet Russell M. Nelson,
"As you make your testimony your highest priority,
watch for miracles to happen in your life."
We are witnesses that this is true. It will be true for you as well. We promise.
. Lots of motorcycles everywhere!
