Hot mikado

 I thought you might like to see a few pics from the play I choreographed.  I had a blast and these kids were wonderful.  All but one of them had only seen tap on TV or in the movies, so it was a big under taking to get the finished product.  But they hung in there with me and it was great.  The first night I started teaching I went home and said, "What have I done to these kids".  But the next day they had it, they had gone home and practiced and learned it all.

 Of course, I have to have a Young Ambassador/Janie Thompson ending.  They performed to almost a full house every night for 4 nights at the Turkish-American Association Theatre.

 You can see their hands by their necks. . . They were singing and dancing about an executioner and what he was going to do.  So fun.

 This number was the funnest one to choreograph.  It was called "Three Little Maids".

 The girl in blue was our lead.  She has a voice as lovely as any I have ever heard.  A darling actress also.

 The little gal in the yellow dress almost quit on me.  She didn't think she could ever do it.  I told her that she had so much natural talent and that the audience deserved to see how much she added to the play. I went over the steps with her again, and she had them all.  So we talked some more, next day - she just was beaming and was wonderful.

 The gal in the front with the white dress would never hold her head up during practice and kind of hid behind her hair.  She had an excellent voice and picked all the dances up very quickly.  One day I took her aside alone and stood her in front of the mirror and told her to look at just how beautiful she was.  That she needed to be proud and hold her head up.  We had a great little chat.   Wow! look at her now.

 This is Abu.  When I learned I needed to teach him a solo tap dance, I didn't think it could be done.  He wanted to learn so badly that he worked really hard and in the end he brought the house down.  He had lived in Utah for a couple of years and totally understood where I was coming from and we ended up being great friends.  He has a PhD in mathmatics and does research in the 4th and 5th dimensions.

It was so fun to get flowers and hugs from everyone every night.

 The fellow on the floor in the blue vest was the director.  He had lived with a Mormon family in Idaho as an exchange student.  So he never even asked me to come to the rehearsals they had on Sundays. 

Duard was amazing.  He came to every rehearsal and performance and never complained once.  He even got invited to come to the center and teach a family history class and he is very excited about it.  I hope I can be as supportive.

Hot Mikado

Helping a little School

This has been one of the busiest weeks yet.  We have been going from sun up to sun down.  We have met many wonderful new people and are This little school has been one of our favorites.  When we first met them the children were the ones mopping the floors and keeping the school clean. 

They invited us to come to the school to see the new desks, cupboars, bulletin boards, and shelves.  She told us that this little village that has no money have been so happy to have these things for their children that they got together and cleaned and painted the whole school before the new equipment was delivered.  She, the principal, said this was the most community spirit she has seen she has been there.  She also told us that she thinks this is the first time these children have had anything that is new.  Everything they have, including all the school stuff, has been hand me downs or used before.  The parents were as thrilled as the children that their children could have a better environment to learn in. 

Mersin and wheelchairs



  This was an incredible day.  We were able to attend two ceremonies that placed several of the wheelchairs that the church donates.  The fellow behind Duard is blind and is a most amazing man.  He had all the documentation for us, which is a big deal.  The first ceremony took place on the sidewalk.  That worked well for people needing the wheelchairs to be able to move out of their cars.  There were many press representatives and a very nice articles ended up in the news papers.  We heard it was on TV, but we had no way to figure that one out.



 The lady Sandy is hugging was crying and so was Sandy.  We felt that by giving the wheelchairs to the children that we had freed many women who could not do anything because they always had to carry the children if they went anywhere.  Some of these children were in their preteen years and this was their first wheelchair.




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The second ceremony was held in a very festive setting.  They had the traditional Turkish dancers perform and also these darling little children.  We did get a video of these children and if I can figure out how to put it on here you can see how darling they are, if not you will have to wait until we get home. 



 LDS Charities had donated equipment to this organization so they can teach sign language.  They are training their people to sign and interpret.  They are also teaching the parents so they can communicate with their children.  These girls are signing the Turkish National Anthem and have graduated from this class.





These are two of the mentally handicapped children from the Center who were doing a Turkish dance in the isle, I joined them and we had a great time.

3 of the 7 churches in revelations

 Ankara Branch less a couple of families: L to R Hasan Pres./Dr. Jeffory Schwitzer [Member of the Seventy & East European Area President], his with JoAnn; our interpetor Seda; Meriç; Laura; Emily; Sandy holding Emily's two girls; Duard holding Laura's son.

Flight from Ankara to Izmir, only the mountain peaks show through the clouds.

 Carpet buying in Izmir, yea I finally bit the bullet, I am still trying to recover.

The konak clock tower in İzmir. For centuries İzmır was known as Smyrna, one of the seven cities John wrote to in Revelation. Until 1922 the city had a large Christian population, including thousands of Greek Orthodox. İzmir is Turkies third largest city with a population of about 3 1/2 million.

 A computer closing in İzmir at a handicap orgaization. They were training the handicap in the use of computers and assist them in finding employment.

While on the Cross, Jesus gave his Apostle John the charge to take care of his mother. The Greek isle of Patmus where John wrote Revelation is just off the coast of İzmır. The Catholic Church along with Muslims believe the foundation to this stone house was Mary's. A small chapel adjoins it.

One of the seven wonders of the Ancient World was the Temple of Artemus, this sculpture is one of nunerous artifacts believed to have come from it. So important was Artemus to Ephesuss economy that Paul was stoned and driven from the city when they thought his conversions would hurt the city.

 

The great theater in Ephesus that Paul was to speak in. Ephesus did become the center for the Christian Church about 90 AD after so many followers left Jerusalem. It was one of the seven Churches, John wrote to.in Revelations while onthe Isle of Patmus, a short ferry ride off the coast.

Excavated starting in 1999 and opened to the public in 2006, the Terrace houses in Ephesus allow you to see how wonderful a life the wealthy lived. Other than electricty, they had running hot and cold water in their kitchens and bathrooms, saunas and swimming pools. beautiful mosaics. The home were even set up so they were cool in the summer and heated during winter.

The famous library of Ephesus. It is said that Mark Anthony gave Cleopatra the volumns of writtings from here and the great Library in Pergamum as a wedding gift and had them sent to Alexandria Egypt which later was lost in fire. L-R Elder and Sister Schwitzer; Elder and Sister Abney and us.

Du & Sandy; Greg and Jo Ann; Marilyn and KC at the Temple of Trajan in Pergamum, the third of the three Churches spoken of in Revelations we visited. The other four are in the same general vicinity, hopefuly we will made it back down and have the opportunity to visit them. Here at Pergamun [Bergama] was another of the Ancient seven wonders, the Temple of Zeus. It was taken stone by stone and rebuilt in Berlin in their Pergamun museum in 1870. Another highlight here espically for Pres. Schwitzer  who is a MD  was a visit to the great mrdical complex built by the famos physician Galen who was born here in AD 129.

An amazing weekend with Elder Schwitzer

 

We just finished an amazing weekend with Elder Schwitzer and his wife.  It was a whirlwind of events.  We needed to pick them up from the airport and since we don't have a car or access to one big enough for us and them, we asked the hotel where we had their reservations if we could ride out with the van out to pick them up.  It was a beautiful van and a nice ride with them.  We took them to the Hotel where we handed them the keys because we had already checked them into the Hotel.  We had flowers in their room and a few treats.  We wanted them to feel very special and we think we accomplished that.

 The leadership of the Adana drove 5 1/2 hours to be with us.  So we invited them to dinner with us and the Schwitzers at a Turkish restaurant.

From there all the men headed to the meeting place for some training that everyone said was great. 

Sister Schwitzer and I walked down Tunali and looked at the beautiful clothes that are the trademark of Ankara.  We had a great time.  Everyone headed back to our apartment for a fireside at 8 pm.

We had several investigators, some friends and of course all the people from Adana and our own branch at our appartment Saturday night,.  Right around 30 people.  Since our branch is mostly women, to hear the Sprit of God sung so robustly by the men brought tears to my eyes.  Elder and Sister Schwitzer were right on with their remarks.  Our investigators seemed to enjoy the evening.  We had great good afterwards.  All were fed spiritually and physically extremely well this evening.

 This is our branch on Sunday with Elder and Sister Schwitzer.  We had presented them a hand painted Turkish plate.  Laura, is leaving in two weeks so we gave her a plate also.  Elder Schwitzer pronounced a most beautiful blessing on our branch.  It was very needed, moving, spiritual, and spoken humbly and sincerely to everyone there.  I will never forget that moment.  All was so silent for a while after that.  So beautiful.

After our two hour block we had a linger longer.  The girls in the branch fixed a delicious Turkish meal.  One of the gals is going to have me over to teach me how to cook this meal.  You will love it when I can fix it for you.   We have grown to love these little children.  The little boy will be leaving with his Mom at the end of this month and we will really miss him. He just loves Durd and always give me a kiss goodbye.

 

 This room doubles for not only our meeting place, but for everything else too.  We eat here, socialize, and have the best meetings ever.

 This little man is always here on Saturday and Sunday and this is the building where we meet.  Every Sunday Duard brings this little man a snickers bar.  We were thinking the other day that he probably doesn't even like Snickers and has a whole pile of them at home.  We had thought about getting him a wheelchair - then last Saturday, I saw him walk over to his spot, put out his cushion and sit down.  (not an invalid at all)  We love him though and I think he loves us back.  Kind of funny if you think about how sorry we felt for him.

Elder Schwitzer interviewed Hasan and we are still of track for his mission.  Getting him ready so far has included 9 different medical, dental, and eye appointments.  We think the worst is over, but you never know.  In this picture he doesn't look to happy because the day before he had several teeth removed.  He is such a happy young man and loves the gospel very much.

                                                                                                            

(picture of us on the Havas)

The time came that we had to take the Schwitzer's back to the airport so they could continue on to Istanbul.  We again asked the Hotel if we could ride in the van.  I guess we didn't make it clear that we wanted to ride back also.  When we got to the Airport we dropped off the Schwitzer's and the van left.  But then he pulled off to the side of the road and handed us his phone (he didn't speak English and had to have the people at the Hotel tell us something)  They told us he had another pick up and we could wait for two hours or find a different way home.  They also said we had to pay for the van right then.  We were lucky enough to have enough cash on us to do that.  As he pulled away and left us standing there, in the cold with no coats I started to laugh.  We always have an adventure and this surely would be one.  They have transportation from the airport to the city called the Havas (pronounced Havash).  We were on that for an hour to the main bus station.  From there, we hopped on the Metro to Kizilay. We then found a bus that we thought would take us close to our apartment.  Wrong bus.  We finally got off the bus and walked down the street to our apartment with me wrapped in Duard's suitcoat and he in his church clothes.  We did get some odd looks.  We were finally home.  What an amazing weekend it was!

I wanted to add this picture of a scout board of review we held the just prior to the Schwitzers visit. I am the Scout Committee for the Troop that supports the American and French Embassies.  It is a lot of fun to remain active in scouting. 

Quick trip to the USA and Istanbul

This has been a wild ride week. A sad event put us into motion. Our country director for the Humanitarian missionaries, the husband of the tiny lady in this picture, passed away very suddenly. We happened to call when they were still trying to revive him. We quickly made the appropriate phone calls and got ourselves to the airport to fly to Istanbul to help. Duard was amazing with making the connections that needed to be made with the Embassy, consulate, and the local authorities in order to get the body out of Turkey in a timely manner. We were then asked to accompany her home so she wouldn't have to travel alone. After making sure his body was on its way home the three of us boarded a jet and headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma. As she was from Joplin, Missouri, Tulsa was the closet airport.

This is the couple from Moscow on the left, the Holmes. Ara an interpreter and very strong member of the church, and very tall. Sister Nickolaisen and Duard and Sandy.

This is the Branch President and his family from Istanbul. This is a very beautiful and strong in the gospel family. They are so wonderful. He sends us referrals almost every week. What a strong man he is. He was converted in Norway and Duard loves that he speaks Norwegian. His name is Murat Cakir.

This was when Sister Nicholaisen's family picked her up from the airport. They were very compassionate and sweet to her. They had brought a larger van so they could give us a ride to our hotel before they headed of to Joplin. Our hearts ached for her loss, but her strength was amazing. She was constantly lifting others. She said, "He died doing what he loved. I know where he is, because he was a righteous man. What else could I ask for".

We landed late on Tuesday night in Tulsa, spent the next day in Tulsa and on Thursday morning we headed back to Ankara. I only got a little teary as we passed over Maryland and then landed in NYC for just a short time. So close to loved ones and so far away. Missing everyone is very hard at times, but I know I am doing the right thing by being here for a short time.

We went shopping at Walmart in Tulsa. What a treat! I didn't ever think I would say it, but oh well. We bought too much stuff and ended up having to buy a suitcase. (we had only brought carry on's so Sister Nickolaisen could use our suitcase quota on the airlines to bring both hers and her husband's things home). On the way back to Ankara our suitcases took a trip of their own to Amsterdam and Munich. We don't know how they did it, but they were only one day behind us getting back to our apartment.

When things were calm in Istanbul we stole away for a few moments here and there to see just a little bit of Istanbul. What an incredible city. There is so much to see here. I think you could spend a year here sight seeing and never see all of it.

This is the doorman of our hotel. I wanted you to see the Santa (which is a female store mannequin with a Santa Suit on). You can also see the poles decorated with trim and a star on a wall. Interesting since they don't celebrate Christmas.

Come on Du, look at all this stuff and I only want this hat! (no, I didn't get it). This lady was rolling out the dough for this restaurant. They roll things out with the flat little rolling pin she is using. I have tried to use it, but still can't get the hang of it. I just thought she was so beautiful.

This is one of the two most famour mosques in Turkey. It is called the St. Sofia. It is now a museum. Originally it was a church, but after the Ottoman's, it was turned into a mosque, and now it is a museum. So beautiful.

This is part of the aquaduct system that is still standing that they used to bring water into the cisterns that held the water. This aquaduct is so large that the cars drive right through it as you can see.

This is inside the cistern. It can hold about 200,000 tons of water. There is just a small amount of water in the bottom now. This is the largest of over a hundred known cisterns that are beneath the city. It is really breathtaking to be down there and see just how huge this cistern is. It was forgotten about for 100's of years and one day a man saw people dropping their buckets down these holes and coming back up with water. He searched around and finally found an entrance down to the inside of the cistern. It is not used now for water storage, but I think it still could.

This head of Medusa is at the bottom of one of the columns and there is another of her head that is sideways. They don't know really why this is like this, but it is very interesting.

Duard loves the fact that a James Bond movie was filmed down here. "From Russia With Love", there is a seen where Sean Connery is rowing around columns in a canoe.