BEING A MISSIONARY

Last Thursday, May 14^th was a holiday in Germany and many other European nations.Ascension Day is the 40^th day after Easter and celebrates the ascension of Jesus into heaven as described in Luke 24:51. When a holiday falls on a Thursday, you can be sure the office will be a ghost town on Friday, as almost all the employees will take the day off and have a long weekend.

We took the opportunity to go see Elder and Sister Herway (who we work with on humanitarian projects in Milan and northern Italy), where they are temporarily serving for a couple of months, in Istanbul.  We enjoyed seeing them very much and it was a nice change of pace for a few days.  But the most important thing that happened on the trip was probably a 30-minute period on our way over when I was able to talk to a young man from Brazil about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, His restored church, and the Book of Mormon. Alex was sitting next to me on the plane and working on his computer for most of the flight.  We started talking about what brought each of us on the flight, he is an architecture student in Sao Paulo and attending a seminar.  I explained that we lived in Frankfurt, where we did humanitarian projects around Europe and that we were going to see some fellow missionaries. He asked which church we were affiliated with.  It turned out that he had a friend named Moroni back in Sao Paulo who he thought might be “Mormon.” I showed him on my phone the Book of Mormon and Moroni 10:3-5.  I told him, I think this is who your friend was named after. Following our talk about the Church, I gave him one of our name cards and told him he should ask his friend to have the missionaries come teach him about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He asked me to sign my name card that I had given him and to write a short message, which I did.

I will likely never know if anything comes of our encounter and discussion regarding the Church, but it did feel good to be a missionary for a few minutes.  Just as it did prior to my retirement, most of my time now is consumed working and associating with those who are already members of the Church. I need to do a better job of looking for opportunities to share the Gospel with those I happen to encounter.  My guess is that it was not just a coincidence that Alex was seated beside me on the plane last Thursday.

We attended church at a small branch of about 30 people on Sunday morning. Elder Herway conducted, Sister Herway played the piano and they both spoke.  There was a young woman sitting in front of us. She was originally from Sudan, and then her family moved to Uganda.  She is attending school in Istanbul and was quite lonely without friends or family.   She reached out through social media with the sister missionaries and has been attending church.   She will be baptized in two weeks. 

This young sister missionary played a beautiful violin solo as part of Sister Herway's talk. The young elders and sister missionaries live in Frankfurt and commute into Turkey every other weekend to attend church. They can only teach those who reach out to them on social media requesting more information. 

It seems like there are mosques every couple of blocks in Istanbul. We visited the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. 

 

We could not wear our missionary badges while in Istanbul except while attending church and had to wear head coverings while in the mosques.   The girl in the photo with the yellow scarf is our tour guide Yagmur.    As we weren't supposed to talk religion we tried to be discreet when she asked us where we were from, and we said were living in Frankfurt. Eventually she found out that we were from the U.S. and specifically Utah.  She said she has several families that she is very close to that belong to the "LDS community".  She was very surprised to learn that we are missionaries. She commented several times during our tour about how she is still thinking about our faith and beliefs. 

Originally built in 537 AD as a Byzantine Christian cathedral, the Hagia Sophia served as the largest church in the world for nearly a millennium before being converted into a mosque, a museum and ultimately an active mosque once again. Most of the Christian themed mosaics were covered up by the Muslims, but were eventually uncovered once it was turned into a museum. 

 

I (Eileen) finally had to tell the guide I couldn't walk any further. We walked over 23,000 steps in 9&1/2 hours.  

This aqueduct is from the 4th century.  Pretty remarkable.  

 

Men carry huge loads of garbage up and down the steep hills of Istanbul. When walking they flip the trolley so that the weight of the garbage is on their back. 

Sister Herway with her favorite street vendors-the doner vendors.  

The Para Palace is a hotel that Elder Herway HAD to visit to get a club sandwich. It was built in 1892 for travelers of the Orient Express. Sister Herway said the first time she visited there she said "doesn't this just make you feel like you are better than everyone sitting in this decadence?  One club sandwich, 3 cokes and a water came up to $40.  

 

Bosphorus River Cruise

The Galeta tour was built in 1348. 

Turkish delight comes in all different colors and flavors-some taste better than others

Not much room for error between the roof of this boat and the bridge. 

 A visit to the spice market

Overlooking the Bosphorous River

Sister Herway and I spent a girls evening at the spa at our hotel. Unfortunately, the water was freezing-including in the jacuzzi.