It was hard to say goodbye to our dear friends in the Ankara Branch. We have loved their friendship and great examples to us, and we will miss them dearly.Elizabeth hated to say goodbye to her little Primary children. At the end of sacrament meeting, one or the other of the smallest children would always come take her finger and lead her away to the Primary room because they knew this would be their special time together.
Ron and Mehmet have been the only two Melchizedek priesthood holders in the Branch and have shared many great experiences together. Mehmet’s family, originally from Tarsus, was converted by the Apostle Paul; and Mehmet’s love for the gospel is deep and sincere. We will always remember his example of faithfulness.
We had many Turkish people at our last meeting together on July 4th. Three were visitors: Lokman (our investigator) brought his cousin, and Ioana brought her husband. We had a great, Spirit-
filled meeting. A few more Turks—Laura’s husband, Selim, and Emily’s husband, Nehir, and his cousin—joined us after the meetings for our shared lunch (“Linger Longer”). We had American food (BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, and apple pie) an
d it seemed very festive and fun to be together one last time.We’ll truly miss our dear friends in the Ankara Branch!
Hi Ron and Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI was reading through church websites trying to find anything about the church in istanbul, and in one of the links your blog came up! It is amazing to know that there are humanitarian missionaries, and some members in Turkey! I will be going on exchange to Istanbul in February and am wondering if you could possibly give me some contact information with members there?
Thank you!