John and Louise Dalton Visit us in Turkey

We had the most wonderful visit with Louise and John Dalton, my sister and her husband. They had been on a Greek Islands cruise, which ended in Istanbul. From there they flew to Ankara on Sunday morning, where we spent two fun days together. They arrived in time to speak in our meeting, and then we visited Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s tomb. The next day we went to a museum, ate börek from a stand (a mistake, I discovered later) and saw many sights in Ankara.

Tuesday morning we all flew to Istanbul together. We stayed in a lovely and interesting hotel filled with “ceiling ornaments,” lamps made from all sorts of beautiful glass pieces. It is just down the street from the Basilica Cistern, and we could see both the Haghia Sofia and the Blue Mosque from our front balcony. After visiting the Haghia Sophia and having lunch with the Istanbul missionaries we took a small cruise on the Bosporus. It was a beautiful day, and we really enjoyed just relaxing and soaking up the beauty of the day and the city. On the way home we walked through the Spice Market.

We spent our second day at Topkapı Palace, the Blue Mosque and other nearby sites. Louise and I linked arms and walked and talked as fast as we could. We had a great visit! We had lunch at a little restaurant in a park, overlooking the water. In the afternoon we sat in front of the hotel and watched the street action and talked more. We even found time to shop; Louise bought me a beautiful necklace for my birthday.

After dinner at an outdoor restaurant we strolled around and looked at the lights on the Haghia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. It was a beautiful evening! The next morning we took a shuttle to the airport together, and the Daltons returned to the States and we to Ankara. It was a wonderful, wonderful visit!

As you can see, rules for Senior Missionaries are less strict than for young missionaries. We are able to have visitors—so we’d love to see you, too!

White Cane Week

This is “White Cane Week” in Turkey, in which special attention is paid to the blind. Since we have done two projects to benefit the blind in Ankara, we attended two ceremonies this week at which LDS Charities was honored with plaques, etc. The first was at the Blind Foundation, where we donated four computers and aural-feedback software. (In this picture you’ll see a picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk hanging on the wall. Every office and schoolroom has at least one picture of their great national hero.)

In their small classroom, blind adults are given computer and English training to enhance their job skills. The student shown here demonstrated how the aural-feedback software worked.

We were surprised to find that the textbook which they use to study English is written for both Turkish and Japanese students, since, the teacher told us, “the syntax is the same in the Turkish and Japanese languages.”

We also attended a ceremony at an elementary school for the blind. We donated 220 folding white metal canes to the students in this school. Because the students are young, we weren’t permitted to take any pictures which included students, but we toured the classrooms. We were astonished at how rapidly they could read Braille. It touched our hearts that some of the canes had to be specially made because they were so small.

The ceremony ended, as do all the ceremonies we have attended, with a group photo of everyone present. After pictures, we always have tea and goodies. Our interpreter explained that we drink only apple tea, which is always readily available.

The Turks are warm and generous to us, and we feel that we have many friends among the various service clubs with which we have worked.