Paradise Lost

Our last days in paradise! Thursday afternoon the weather was much more cooperative in south-west Turkey, warm and sunny, and we had a little time between training  sessions to walk to the beach. Sister Davis wanted to put her feet into the Mediterranean Sea! So several of the couple missionaries headed to the beach which was a 3 minute walk from the resort. After being "cooped up" inside all day, just being in the warm sun made us feel like we were in paradise!

The storm that had blown through our first day here had dumped lots of seashells on the beach. Sister Davis collected a few to put in her terrariums back home. Elder Davis thought she was "nuts" because according to him, "the shells here look just like the ones back home."



Our last day in Turkey and we finished the morning with a testimony meeting. E/S Davis have really enjoyed being with other CES missionaries. CES missionaries are a unique group. Our main emphasis is on teaching and making sure the youth of the church strengthen their testimonies. We learned so much from each other. And testimony sharing was a time to strengthen one another spiritually. What a great way to end the conference. But as the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end."
And we had a plane to catch back to Istanbul at noon; ours was the first shuttle to the airport that morning. And we arrive at Antalya Airport with an hour to spare.

View from the airport...Antalya boasts a population of just over a million people and is Turkey's eighth largest city.

With tickets in hand we hurried to our gate and just had time to use the WC before the plane started boarding. And hurray! we got a window seat this time. We really like Turkish Air, good flight staff, good food and more leg room.
Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey...


So, we finally find Air Baltic and hand our flight info. to them and throw our heavy suitcase on the scale. The attendant says, "There is no luggage on this flight."
Sister Davis incredulously and stupidly repeats the comment, "There is NO luggage allowed on this flight? What does that mean?"
She was told this Air Baltic flight (the only one of the day) only allows carry-on luggage. Well, someone obviously didn't notice that when they purchased our tickets...so Elder & Sister Davis were directed to another Air Baltic counter and had to declare their luggage as freight and SURPRISE! for $70 they WOULD put it on the plane.
And since there was no time for lunch, Sister Davis became quite cranky...luckily she still had that Valentines candy with her that her daughter sent from America...pink York Peppermint Patties and Hershey's kisses. You can get food on Air Baltic but you have to pay a steep price for it...needless to say, Air Baltic is NOT our favorite airline.
The flight was really bumpy and the small plane bounced around a lot. Elder & Sister Davis say a prayer every time we fly and we never give it much thought after that. We mostly read our kindle or ipad and try to sleep. But this flight gave us pause and when we finally touched down in Riga, the whole plane erupted in applause, which we both found amusing. They must not have a lot of faith in the Air Baltic pilots...
We got a taxi at the airport (our 2nd Taxi ride!) and were home around 7:30, exhausted and starving. But we were way better off than the missionaries from Russia. We later heard they waited 3 extra hours for their Areoflot plane to arrive in Istanbul (they had overbooked the flight and had a bigger plane sent from Moscow). And every couple missed their connecting flights to other cities. Some didn't get back to their missions until the next day!
One thing we have learned is that no matter how much we complain, the missionaries in Russia have it worse. So, we really need to stop complaining...

Who's the Boss?

But this was a really busy week for Elder & Sister Davis. Just after getting back on a crazy flight from Turkey, we had break-the-fast for 22 people.




We served dinner with an assembly line since the kitchen is so small. We served chicken alfredo, vegies and bread. And as usual, there weren't any left overs. Sister Davis is dishing up vegies with the help of Maksims and Maris.
Rudolfs serving Sergio and Svetlana with Pres. & Sister Boswell already eating at the table behind them.

Sister Boswell was our main speaker and she showed a portion of the movie, "17 Miracles" about the Willie Handcart Company as it crossed the plains on their way to Salt Lake Valley.
Her great-grandmother was one of the people in that ill-fated pioneer company, where the members ran into severe weather conditions and ran out of food. This handcart company story is well-known to Latter-day Saints in the States.
At one time during the journey across the plains Elizabeth (Betsy) Cunningham, age 12, was left for dead, as she was thought to be frozen to death. The ground was frozen so hard that they could not dig a grave so they just wrapped her in a blanket and laid the body on the ground and hurried on to make camp for the night, as darkness was fast overtaking them. After they had made camp, the mother of Betsy felt impressed to go back to the child. Her friends ridiculed the idea, but the mother was determined, for she maintained that the child was not dead. She had been promised in a blessing given to her in Scotland, that if she was faithful, she and all her family would reach Zion in safety. She had faith enough to know that the blessing would be fulfilled. She went back to the child and found her undisturbed by wolves. She carried the child back to camp and worked over her. Some hot water was spilt on Betsy's foot accidently and it caused a quiver to go through the limb. Convinced that she was still alive, they kept up their efforts until they brought her back to life. Elizabeth lived to be the mother of thirteen children, and the foster-mother of three others.
And thus we have Sister Boswell today because of Betsy's miraculous healing. The YSA's loved the story and the movie.

The next day Henry Kosak our CES  “boss” showed up at our home about 10:30 and asked if we wanted to go to a movie with them. We saw "Iron Lady" a film about Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister in Great Britain. Sister Davis got acquainted with Elke and found we both have very similar forthright personalities. Elder Davis thinks he and Henry are "kindred spirits" because they had a great time visiting also.

Thursday night we all went to Lido's and had a good time eating and talking and came back to our apartment to play "Apples to Apples" which we found out is a very good game for those who want to learn more English words. Henry kept looking the words up on his iphone for the real meaning. Elke didn't have any problem understanding, she is that good with English!

Friday night Henry was coming to Institute and Student Council meeting and we sent an email out to all the YSA's inviting them to be there.
Below is our newly formed Institute Council. They help find those who aren't attending church and plan activities. Elder & Sister Davis are mentors to them and help them out. These kids are really great and are doing an excellent job!

We had such a good time with Henry and Elke Kosak. They are funny, honest, and young at heart. We spent a few hours with them and thus Elder & Sister Davis have new friends...this is a mission of friend making. How great is that!

Side by Side

Side (see-deh), a small city, both ancient and modern. The locals don't pay much attention to the ancient city...they are too busy trying to make money from the tourists. Side is a popular tourist attraction and is situated on the Mediterranean Sea in south-east Turkey.
The impressive and abundant ruins in Side are from a Hellenistic, then Roman city which included a Great Theater, a market place and two temples. There was a colonnade along the main street and arbors to shade people who were shopping. Now there are only ruins. But as your bus passes by innumerable ruins, with your guide telling you what they are, you start to get a feel for the ancient city and what it must have looked like. And then, just before you enter the Turkish Market, you pass through this impressive entryway. Our big tour bus passed through this portal with inches to spare!

The Turkish Market here has open doorways, with shopkeepers shouting out to us to come in and buy something.
"You want a rug? We have beautiful rugs"..."Lady needs a purse?"....
"Try our Turkish-Delight!" And the bustling little market place is all the more confusing because cars keep coming down the little one-lane road while you are trying to navigate from shop to shop. There isn't enough room for the tourists and the cars but that doesn't matter, it is a bustling, confusing, shoppers paradise!

Our group of missionary couples followed our enthusiastic guide down the street because she is taking us to the ruins of two old temples down by the harbor. We see nothing to indicate there are temples close by and you can't see them from the marketplace...

...but as we round a corner along the water's edge, we get our first glimpse of the Temples of Apollo & Athena, and it is a startling sight. It is steps away from the marketplace where the land juts out a little into the Mediterranean. It is said Anthony and Cleopatra used to meet at these temples. There were no entrance fees, no security, no fencing around it, just this beautiful monument for people to come wander through...
And here we are side by side in front of the Temple of Athena with the beautiful Mediterranean Sea behind us. Can you believe it? What kind of mission is this? It is a WONDERFUL mission.

The coastline is beautiful, it's no wonder Cleopatra and Mark Anthony wanted to meet here.










On the bus ride here, our guide handed out Turkish Delight, a very sweet candy. She said, when sugar was introduced in the late 18th century, Turkey confectioners started experimenting with new kinds of sweets. According to local legend, the kitchens of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire made a very sweet candy out of fruit, pistachios, and sugar, to keep the Sultans many wives happy. A British traveler came to Istanbul and took a large amount of this candy back to Britain and labeled it "Turkish-delight." And now it comes in many flavors and is eaten around the world.

These hanging lights were really pretty and Elder Davis wanted to buy one. But how would we get it home? Too hard to ship...

Sister Davis bought a jeweled camel trinket box to remind her of the camels that were at Aspendos, two scarves and a magnet. Turkey is a part of the European Union and accepts Euros but we hadn't had a chance to get any Euros so we were stuck with a few American coins and a Visa card.

We needed to get some pictures of the Great Theater. It is said that this is where the Apostle Paul taught the Romans in this part of the Roman empire. Wooden arches were constructed to keep the stones in place. This theater was not in as good of shape as the one in Aspendos.

Can you imagine Paul or other early Christians coming through this entrance to speak to the Romans? Back then, people were eager to have visitors come to the main theater in town to entertain and orate. And these big Roman theaters were designed with great acoustics, so the big guy in front row could hear as well as the little guy on the top row.


Everyone back on the bus...the last couple on, got a round of "Here we sit like birds in the wilderness" from all of us in our seats who had been waiting for them. Who says old missionaries aren't any fun?
And on our way back to the resort, Elder Davis puts his camera up to the window and starts taking pictures of the "real" Turkey, what the houses look like, signs and scenery. It's these pictures that give you a feel for the country we are in.












A typical modern Turkish home with multiple hot water heaters on the roof. Some of the buildings are apartment buildings.






And this brings it all into perspective. No matter how much fun you are having, reality sets in and you realize ... we all have laundry to do!

Splendid Time in Aspendos...

Ahhh, the ancient Romans! We have heard about them in history classes all through school but reading about history and actually being in the place where it occurred are two very different things. And Elder & Sister Davis were in a place that was once a part of the Roman Empire. Aspendos is an ancient city we would never have seen on our own. And part of our training conference was learning about the ancient world the century after Christ was crucified. A tour was arranged with an English speaking guide. The bus was luxurious, the day cool but sunny.  Our beloved "Henry" enjoying himself on the bus....

In ancient times Antalya was known as Pamphylia- the land of all tribes. The most impressive city in Pamphylia was the city of Aspendos. Aspendos is located near Antalya, in south-central Turkey. The crumbling ruin below was once an ancient gymnasium (boys school)  with a bath room nearby in the once thriving city of Aspendos.

  Aspendos has one of the best preserved Roman theaters in the world. Built in the second century and seating 15,000, the structure is nearly intact.  The outside was big but not nearly as impressive as the inside...

The history of the city goes probably back to 1000 BC. According to inscriptions on the entrance, construction was paid for by two brothers and says the architect is Zeno, a local Aspendian. It is one of the few Roman buildings of which the name of the architect is known.
What a great adventure! We listened to our tour guide tell the history of the place... but we just wanted to absorb the atmosphere. To be here was a thrill that we never imagined would happen to us...

And after the lecture, we got the opportunity to climb...
Huffing & puffing, Elder & Sister Davis climbed higher and higher. Oh boy, we were out of shape (all that resort food hadn't made it any easier!). But we were one of the few couples that made it to the top...of course we are also one of the youngest couples in the Europe East Area!

Climbing this in the USA would have been forbidden because it is pretty much a lawsuit waiting to happen. The steps are uneven, sometimes non-existent and many of the rocks are broken and jagged. But the view from the top was well worth the climb...

                     

Back on the bus, we headed for more ancient sites and a Turkish Market. Some of the Turkish scenery we saw:.
                                                         

Many homes are built up because they are shared by multiple generations of family. We often saw "rebar" jutting out of rooftops and were told that they were there to add another floor to the building for the next generation to to live in.

Turkey Training

This "Evil Eye" amulet is found all over Turkey and is kept to protect you from evil thoughts, like envy and jealousy. The symbol is found all over the Mediterranean area and can be seen hanging from doorways, on doorknobs, on bracelet's and necklaces. Once you know what it is, it kind of freaks you out!
And so Elder & Sister Davis are here in Turkey, a superstitious country, surrounded by Evil Eyes, Ancient Temples to False Gods, where Alexander the Great conquered. This is tough! We sacrifice so much already; time away from our families, the expense of living in a foreign country, unable to communicate with anyone....what a hardship we must endure...and now we are here surrounded by Evil Eyes? Oh, the mental anguish! Sister Davis can hear the sad violins starting to play right now...
Okay, that was a bit over the top, and we know you aren't buying it. But if you have been reading this blog you know that things can be somewhat difficult for every senior missionary couple. But the three nights we had in Turkey were a godsend. We not only needed to be around other CES senior missionaries to hear their stories and find out what they are doing in their missions, we needed the training we got from our beloved director, Henry (don't even try and call him Brother Kosak), and his colleagues from the European East Seminary & Institute office, located in Moscow.
Henry is from East Germany and was a member of the church behind the iron curtain. He has remarkable stories about what life was like as he grew up a Latter-day Saint in a Communist Country. Our religion is all about freedom to choose and yet the East German Saints struggled with even small freedoms. And through the faith of those humble East German Saints, the government allowed the church to purchase land and a build a temple, behind the Iron Curtain. An almost unheard of event.
Henry is one of those remarkable priesthood holders who is both spiritual, inspiring and irreverent at the same time. He brings laughter and love to everyone he meets. And his wife Elke is both beautiful and intelligent. Henry has been called to be the new mission president in Germany so this was his farewell conference.

The first night the 17 CES missionary couples introduced themselves and told how many grandchildren they had. Henry was keeping track of the numbers on a white board and it was quite comical how fast the numbers were adding up. The final count was somewhere near 288. We got to include Brandy's baby in that count since she is due this week!

Each morning we started with a hymn, prayer and then we divided into scripture study groups where we were assigned a topic to research in the scriptures. One couple was the facilitator in the group. Elder & Sister Davis thoroughly enjoyed it.
We were taught how to be administrators for the Institute and Seminary Programs and what our roles were as Couple Missionaries. At one point, Henry forgot one of the couples names and he apologized and said,
"Oh, I am so sorry. My name is Professor Alzheimer's and everyday I have new students."

The weather was quite cold for Turkey, about 40 degrees which wouldn't have been bad except for the wind. We kept our coats on outside, that's for sure. And it was hard to leave our room and go back for training when you had a view like this from your bedroom balcony. In case you were wondering, that is the Mediterranean Sea, past the swimming pools.
Things we learned from our teacher training...
Don't be afraid of silent moments in class. That could be when the Holy Ghost is speaking to the student. Teaching is not talking and telling; It's observing and listening.

A common mistake is to spend too much time studying the lesson and not enough time deciding how you will teach it. A good teacher is never totally prepared...you have to be able to step beyond what you have prepared to go into unknown territory...like when a student asks a question, or when the Spirit directs you to teach something else.     Ask the right questions!        

 We learned a whole lot more but we don't want to bore you all with two days of teacher training! A "Henryism" we learned..."It does not matter how ugly or unorganized our priesthood leaders are, they still hold the keys and we sustain them

President Bennet told the story of a young man in Eastern Europe who came into an LDS Chapel one night. He told the Branch President he wanted to know more about the Mormon faith. The Branch President asked him how he came to find the building and the young man said, from the internet. He had been studying our beliefs on Mormon.org. When he was scheduled to meet with missionaries he came with a white shirt and tie on. They asked him why he was so dressed up and he said, because he saw pictures of what Mormons wear online and he wanted to look like them. The internet can be a great tool in missionary work.
You already know that our stomachs were full at this conference and this day our heads were full of all sorts of new and exciting information and by the end of the conference our hearts were full also. Full of the love we had for all the new friends we met and for our inspirational leaders. Thank you all! It was the BEST!
A group of FANTASTIC people....

Stuffed in Turkey

Warning! This blog post may cause you to gain several pounds in weight just reading it.
Rather than give an hour by hour description of our training in Turkey, Elder & Sister Davis will talk about the food we ate...and ate....and ate in the three short days we were there, thus the title of our blog, Stuffed in Turkey.
Last we left the blog, we had just arrived at the Susesi Resort in Belek, a small town close to Antalya, Turkey. And it was dinner time...

We found the main restaurant & dining room with a little bit of effort. The resort is so huge they give you a map with the room key and you quickly realize why. The place is HUGE. The main restaurant is below and every day, three times a day, a huge buffet is served here.

We were starving! Well, Sister Davis was starving because, those who know Sister Davis, know that she doesn't eat sandwiches. Hasn't eaten them since she was a toddler. Don't know why, don't care to explain....she just doesn't eat sandwiches and that is what was served on Turkish Airlines. So Elder Davis ate two sandwiches because that is what he does every time Sister Davis is served a sandwich.
So when Sister Davis entered the restaurant and saw the buffet, her eyes glazed over. There was a plethora of food choices. Fish entrees, beef, chicken, pork, breads, salads, soups, it was an amazing spread.

So many choices, so many decisions... of course, you can try everything, there just isn't enough room in your stomach for it all. There are chefs everywhere, making new food and refilling the chafing dishes. Below, Sister Davis is trying to make a decision about what to eat.

We had three tables set apart for the "LDS" group. We were a lively bunch who routinely set at different tables so we could mingle with other senior missionaries that we didn't know. We had CES missionaries from Kyiv, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yerevan, Bulgaria, Odessa, Kharkiv, Novosibirsk (Siberia), Yekaterinburg, Armenia, and several other Russian areas.
Elder & Sister Davis were the only ones who dealt with multiple languages on their mission. Everyone else was pretty much Russian speaking except for Armenia and Bulgaria. We quickly found out, the Ukrainians do not consider themselves Russian!
So as Sister Davis was making her choices, she couldn't help notice the succulent roast turkey that one of the chefs was carving. Well, how appropriate is that? Turkey in Turkey.




So when you are done eating, a very attentive waiter whisks away your plate and you go get another one filled with food. We felt like cattle that are getting fattened for market.

The breakfast buffet had a separate omelet table where a chef made your custom omelet right in front of you. Bacon, sausages, fresh fish, fresh vegies, fruit, breads, potatoes, eggs.... what are senior missionaries to do? Well, what would you do? We ate and ate and ate.   Elder Davis said it was like being on a cruise ship, without the ship.

Our room was on the 5th floor and we should have found the stairs and waddled up them for the exercise. But we didn't. It was nice to be pampered, but lest you think it was all fun and games. We had some of the best training we have ever had....but that is for another blog post!

Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

Istanbul was Constantinople

How exciting...we are on our way to Istanbul, Turkey!

Tuesday morning, Elder & Sister Davis got dressed (sans name tags), finished packing, used up all the milk in the fridge, took out the trash and called a taxi to take us to the Riga Airport. We were told not every taxi company is honest, so we called the one that everyone recommended...the green one. The green taxi (Baltic Taxi) are easy to find in Riga......and for 10L we got a ride to the airport.










And to keep up with the "green theme" our flight was on Air Baltic. We said a quick prayer as we got ready to board the plane and found that we had seats across the aisle from each other. Since the Area CES office took care of all the details for this conference, we were clueless about a lot of things.

Sister Davis struck up a conversation with the young man next to her and found out he was on his way home...to Turkey. He had been working in Finland for 6 months and was looking forward to going back to his home country...and as a result, Sister Davis found out a lot about the country she would soon

Turkey Fast facts:
Istanbul has about 20 MILLION people living there (bigger than NYC!)
Turkey's total pop. is about 74 million.
Turkey is a very modern, mostly Muslim country, (although in 2010 there were 221 LDS members living there in 4 branches).
Antalya, where our next flight is headed, is a tourist area on the Mediterranean Sea.

And the fellow passenger told Sister Davis the usual Mediterranean climate had been exceptionally cool lately.  SIGH...  Sister Davis had been really looking forward to some warm sunny weather after the three hour flight through heavy clouds.The flight was rather bumpy, due to a lot of air turbulence but we passed over the Aegean Sea, and the Marmara Sea and caught our first glimpse of Istanbul.

We arrived at Ataturk Airport and had to go find our luggage because the next part of our journey was on Turkish Airlines. The airport was very modern and HUGE. We followed the signs (in English) to the visa line and only waited a few minutes to get a Turkish Visa that allowed us into the country. We paid with our Idaho Central Credit Card ($40) and found that the Airport readily accepts American money.

So with our passports stamped, we got into another line where we showed our passports. Tourism is BIG MONEY in Turkey and that is why CES holds it's conferences here. It is easy to get in and out. The resorts are also less expensive in the winter months. It takes 6 months to get a visa to Russia, but Turkey gives you one at the airport!
We followed more signs to the huge baggage area where there were over 15 carousels to choose from. But what fun to study the people around us!
Elder & Sister Davis were seeing a new culture from what we had been living in. Life is certainly different in Istanbul from what we are used to. One of the first things Sister Davis noticed was how many dogs were roaming through the airport. Dogs on leashes and some not on leashes. They didn't look like drug sniffing dogs but peoples pets. Maybe it was bring your pet to work day.
We saw women in burkas, families in traditional Muslim dress...and people from all cultures hurrying to and fro. But we were especially relieved to see many Turks with big smiles on their faces. For the most part, they are happy, talkative, and friendly. We even saw a sign pointing the way to a Mosque located downstairs. Around one corner we saw 5 men kneeling on prayer mats, facing a wall and praying together. These people are devout in their faith and you have to admire that.

After a little searching we found our one piece of luggage.
And now we needed to get ready for our next flight. It was in the Domestic Terminal...in a galaxy, far, far, away. So we took people movers to get down the looong hallways.
We had to go through another security check. In fact, by the time we were home again, Elder Davis had taken off his belt, coat, shoes, taken the laptop out of its case, put his wallet, keys, hat, and suit jacket in a plastic tub 6 times. And 6 times he had to put it all back on.

While waiting for our flight we did meet up with the CES missionary group coming from Ukraine. We introduced ourselves (funny how you can find other Mormon Missionaries, with no name tags on, in a crowd of people). We would all be on the same flight to Antalya.
Our plane getting ready....

We really enjoyed Turkish Air!  Each seat has it's own TV screen and they give free meals and lots of leg room.

Getting close to Antalya...








It was getting dark and we were tired when we finally got our luggage in Antalya but at least we weren't by ourselves. A shuttle bus was waiting for us at the airport and after a 30 minute drive we arrived at the little city of Belek where the Susesi resort is located. Susesi means bubbling waters and this place had it's share of pools, fountains and rivers and they were all lit up at night. By now it was after 7PM




And most importantly, WE HAVE A BATHTUB! Hopefully, we can get a long soak in before we leave.
But for now, Sister Davis is too tired to blog but she is still amazed that she and her wonderful husband are on such a crazy adventure.