Closing Ceremony for Women's Center

This was a fun closing ceremony. The center is setup to teach the young single women how to read and write. They will also be teaching them skills like sewing and computer work so that they can find employment and still remain at home and not have to leave the children. These women typically have several chldren and the fathers have left them. Some of them are grandmothers that the moms and dads have both left. Before they could take classes, they had to have a place for the children. The lions club fixed up the building and arranged for teachers for the children. We furnished the furnishings for the children. We will be working with them to obtain better sewing machines for them to learn on in the future.

These are some of the women and children who will be taught here. Classes began right after the ceremony. They also told us they will be starting classes for the Irag and Iran refugee women next month. We feel so privledged to be part of such a great project that will benefit many women and their families.

This is one of the women's classrooms. You can see how old the machines are that they will be starting to learn on. But they are starting to learn.

Elder and Sister Pederson with the Lions Club District Governor

The Lions Club President, District Governor and other officals at the closing

How they tow your car in Turkey...

We thought you might enjoy seeing how they tow your car in Turkey. It happen within about 1 and 1/2 minutes. First they put the hooks around the tires. Raise it up. Swing the car around to the truck. Put it down on the truck and away goes your car.

Beyond the ceremony

At the end of the wheelchair ceremony they had a performing group that were handicapped perform. We found out that they had performed all over the world in many different venues. I found this girl particularly expressive in her movements.

They performed with their wheelchairs and used their chairs not only as a means of movement but as props also. It was very beautiful.

Of course I had to get right in the middle of them after they performed and really enjoyed their spirit and their joy of dance.

This little baby really got to Du and me. She just let us love and kiss her. She would smile and hug back. I got a little teary for a minute thinking of all the hugs back home I was missing, but recovered quickly because I was so grateful for this little girl's love and sweetness.

Maybe she just knew how much we miss all of you....

On Sunday we had one of the most spiritual meetings I have ever been to. There was a man [Roger Andersen], visiting from Alpine, Utah doing business with Turkey Aerospace. He bore his testimony and his eyes were filled with tears as he expressed how amazing the feeling and spirit of Christ that was felt here. He is missing in the picutre as he left right after Sacrament meeting to pick up his boss at the airport, and of course I am taking the picture. I need to learn how to do the timer on my camera. What an amazing day this was. This was our total branch that live close, plus the four missionaries visiting us.

Left: the Nickolaisen's from Istanbul.

Middle: the Holmes from Moscow.

Right: well, you better know who that is. (we have lost a combined weight of 55 pounds. You can see how saggy my clothes are - Yahoo!!! love it)

We had an amazing Turkish meal here before we went to the ceremony. Great food, great company - who could ask for more.

Ceremony of Wheelchairs

Our wheelchair project was a success. The Municipality of Yenimahalle, a 2 1/2 million suburb of Ankara with the Spinal Paralysis Center prepared this wonderful ceremony. They had wonderful food and the event was organized better than any our East European Directors had seen before. As we came in they had all the chairs out with the name of the person it is going to on it. As we don't give chairs away to the family unless the recipient is with them, this worked so well. They picked up their chair and came into the ceremony for food, awards, and entertainment.

The Mayor and several dignitaries from the community and National Party officials were in attendance. It was a beautiful evening and turned out to be a very happy event. The Mayor gave out the awards.

This is a copy of the glass wheelchair they gave to us and to the Spinal Paralysis Center that participated in making the event successful.

The recipients were so happy to get the wheelchairs. The parents were so happy also. Many times we found that for the parents to go anywhere they had to carry the children, or just had to stay home with them. This not only gave the recipients some freedom, but also their families.

The man in the wheelchair is the director of the Spinal Paralysis Center, Yildrim. He is a very capable humble sweet man. We have really enjoyed getting to know him and his organization.

After the awards had been given, we took pictures of us with the recipients, or at least as many as we could catch. This little guy we thought was the essence of what we do. He was so happy not only to get his wheelchair but to get his picture taken.

There were many smiles, a few tears by us and many many memories that will stay with us forever.