CES Conference in Romania September 2013

This conference was very special as there will never be another one. So we are grateful to have had this last experience with our counterparts from many other countries. The church is heading in a different direction for CES and YSA and many of us will be the last of our breed. As for Greece and Cyprus we will not be replaced with CES couples, this has been a source of disappointment for us because of all the great work the Lord has allowed us to do. Both with our YSAs in southern Cyprus and with the others in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. We have been coordinators of the CES effort here on an Island that is divided into two separate nations, and as you know the church is not recognized, nor sanctioned by the TRNC. We have had to go there without wearing our missionary badges and have had to perform our duties quietly and have been made to sorrow for the YSAs there without any connection to the church except though us. It has been one of THE most remarkable experiences of our lives together.

I will not attempt to identify those in the picture because they will have no meaning to anyone but us - but you can see us clearly. Our time spent together was remarkably spiritual, and the bonds we've made as missionaries in the great CES program of the church has been phenomenal. We shall never forget one another, we are linked together forever now.

None of us will be replaced, and that in itself is sad to me. But when the Lord's leaders take us in a different direction it is always better, we just have to wait and see what will come.

The Long, Hot Summer!

We are finally saying goodbye to our last long, hot summer in Cyprus. The early mornings and evenings are cooler, but it is still very hot during the day time. We are grateful for the bit of rest from the heat. Today was spent sitting at home waiting for the the car rental agency mechanic to come and check out our car - this time it is very serious, the brakes have gone. We have had to have two new alternators put in the car, four new tires and countless other mendings. Apparently Avis Car Rentals finally felt we have a lemon and gave us another car to use permanently, a KIA. However, we will be receiving a brand new car (not from Avis - rather, Church owned) sometime this month. It will be CES issue, so it is a micro-mini car - an Opal Corsa. But it will be useful for the next few months we are still here.

In fact - we leave our mission here on January 9, 2014 - less than four months from now. Unbelievable!! My how it has flown! We are happy to have been here, and we will be happy to be reunited with our family and friends, and to sleep in our own bedroom, and use our own things again. But I'm certain we will leave here with very mixed emotions. We love the Island and all the people, but being out of the USA this long has been taxing on our wallet and our emotions. We long for familiarity and the modern life-style we live there. Here, in Cyprus, life is very slow and very behind the times. I always compare it to about the 1980's in America. Except the bathrooms are late 1920's! Ha!

The water on the Island is very salty and hard to deal with, it pits all the chrome fixtures in our flat and doesn't taste all that great. The water is safe to drink out of the tap here, but we still use bottled water for drinking purposes, as it is much more palatable.

People here are having such a hard time economically that they rarely smile, and their heads are always down in thought. With the banks crashing this past year almost every small business has folded, and many have left the Island to find work elsewhere, as there is none here. Many city folk have left the larger cities and gone back to their home villages just to survive. There they can fish, grow gardens and live without electricity. The cost of living in Cyprus is very high, and what you get in return is very small.

We will leave Cyprus soon, but Cyprus will never leave us! We are inseparably intertwined with this lovely country, the people, the customs, the language and the food. We shall never forget our time here and the great opportunity we have had to serve the Lord's children in this area of His Kingdom on Earth.

So Much Going On

There is so very much going on in our lives that I find it difficult to journal it all.  I don't feel inspired to share everything about our mission, and we both post a lot of pictures on Facebook because it is easier than doing it on our blog.

We have now entered the long hot Cypriot summer season, so we will complain vehemently about it.  Summer in Cyprus is nearly unbearable.  We stay indoors and avoid the heat as much as possible.  At the end of each day I feel like I have taken a bath in Kool-Aid.  (You remember spilling it n the floor as a kid and it stayed sticky for a week even though you washed the floor thoroughly?)

Our work takes us to the north most days, and we travel so much in doing this.  We have students/members who are very isolated from the church because they cannot cross the border and enter the south to attend with us.  For them our visits are crucial, since they have no other contact with the church.

We are friends with them on Facebook and we have Skype sessions with them as well.  But it's not the same as participating in church meetings and activities.  We all long for the day when an agreement is arranged to allow the missionaries to freely proselyte in the north.  We are fairly certain this will not happen in our time here, and now we only have six months left of our mission, so we aren't certain if we are making an impact - just to leave abruptly.  This is the hard part.  We love all our members of the church, and we are particularly drawn to those in the north because of their inability to fellowship with all the saints here on the Island.

There is the dilemma - the fact of the short time we have here.  We'd need to stay a lifetime to really finish the work, but we are only called for a very short period of time.

Below are pictures of camels that we visited as a Zone activity a couple of weeks ago.  Interesting.

The camels were shedding their warm winter fur, and their coats looked like when sheep are sheared.

These are dromedary camels, so they only have one hump.  I was not adventurous enough to ride them, although other senior couples did.

I trust all is well at home.  We are excited that our grandson Josh left today for the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center), where he will live for the next nine weeks as he is trained to speak Mandarin Chinese. He will be serving in Calgary, Canada among the Chinese people, we are very pleased he has accepted this call, and we know he will excel in the work.

Our daughter Ramona made this wonderful missionary shirt and tie cake for Josh's farewell.  He is pictured here with seven of his siblings who are very pleased for his example to them.  He certainly has a large cheering section at home.

We know God will bless him in his work in teaching and preaching the Gospel in Calgary among our Chinese brothers and sisters.

Easter in Cyprus

I have not had time to blog about our mission lately, and I apologize, but I am going to make some time right now to share with you all how Easter is celebrated on this lovely Island. Byzantium reigns here, especially during Easter season. The world celebrates Easter on a different day/month than do the Orthodox. It is THE highest Holy Day in the Orthodox faith, far more prominent than Christmas. It is begun with a 40 day fast from meat. Even fast food places such as McDonald's serve veggie burgers and fish during the 40 days of Lent. Here is the timeline for the celebration, which lasts the whole month of May this year.



Easter Celebration in Cyprus

Easter is the most sacred of all holidays in Cyprus. According to the Greek Orthodox tradition, this year we are celebrating it in May. During this Holy Week, Cypriots will come together to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ with religious rituals, sumptuous feasts, singing and dancing.

The Easter celebrations begin on the Saturday of Lazarus (the day before Palm Sunday) when children go from door to door, singing the ‘Lazaros’ and collecting eggs and money.

On the morning of Palm Sunday, churchgoers are given crosses made of palm fronds, which they take home and keep on their icon-stands for the rest of the year.

From the Monday onwards, fasting and reflection in the day lead up to the Passion of Christ in the evening.

Tuesday is devoted to scripture reading and on the Wednesday, the faithful are anointed with holy oil or a spring of oregano – a herb which is believed to have healing powers.

On Easter Thursday there is the grand ceremony of the dying of the eggs. This custom dates back to Byzantine times when a ring-bread was baked with a red egg in the middle. The red eggs symbolise the resurrection of Christ: the egg stands for the birth of new life and the colour red represents the blood of Jesus. The eggs are then put on display until Easter Sunday.

Good Friday is a day of mourning for the death of Christ. This is the time to serve special soup, made from lettuce or lentils, and sesame paste and vinegar (in memory of the vinegar Christ was given to drink on the cross). Sweet foods are avoided and it is considered a sin to work with a hammer or nails or to sew on this day.

On the evening of Good Friday the procession of the Epitafios takes place. The Epitafios represents Christ’s funeral and a decorated bier is carried around the streets, followed by a band or choir, cantors and clergy, women carrying myrrh, scouts and guides and the local people. It is a wonderful sight to behold as all along the route flowers and perfumes are thrown onto the Epitafios.

On Holy Saturday the food for Easter Sunday is taken to the church and blessed by the priest. At midnight, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated. This is considered one of the most important rituals of the year. Bells are rung and candles are lit from the Holy Light inside and outside of the churches.

In the evening, the traditional supper is served which includes traditional Easter bread and a special lemony lamb soup called Magiritsa, followed by Flaounes – special cakes made of local cheese, semolina, sultanas, mint and yeast wrapped in pastry.

The big focus of the holiday is Easter Sunday, when families make their way to church for the service. The Lenten fast is finally broken after the Easter Sunday service. Families gather together to crack the red-dyed eggs before eating them and to wish each other with the words ‘Jesus has risen’ to which the traditional reply is ‘Yes he has’. It’s said that the person with the last remaining uncracked egg will enjoy good luck throughout the year.

On Saturday 4th May, firewood will be gathered in the chapel courtyard ready for the evening, when the effigy of Judas will be burned on the lambradja (bonfire) to symbolize his punishment for the betrayal of Christ.

The evening will climax dramatically when the church lights are put out and then relit to the ringing of the bells, to symbolize Christ’s resurrection.

Life Is Full of Change!

We are now in our seventh month as missionaries on the Island of Cyprus in the Middle East in the Mediterranean Sea! Our lives are very busy, as you know. However, last Sunday before we began the Nicosia Branch Conference President Freestone called Elder Vargas to be the new Nicosia Branch President. The previous president unfortunately lost his job here and has to return to the states by the end of this month. We are sorry for their loss and all the upheaval of moving internationally, certain the Lord will direct their lives for good and plant them where they are needed now. Due to this new calling our lives become just a bit more complicated. We already have enough work to do, and our workload was due to increase as we are implementing another Institute class in Limmasol on the 23rd of this month. We will have to teach it once-a-month until the Limmasol branch president can call and sustain another teacher for the branch. Our YSA group has grown tremendously in the past few weeks because the Limmasol YSAs have been attending our Friday night activities. Two weeks ago we had 26 in attendance with nine of them being investigators. We know the Lord will strengthen us to carry this burden and mainly it is a matter of time-management. We will have to carefully arrange our schedule in order to accomplish everything necessary. This call will last only until Elder Vargas can train another priesthood bearer to assume the responsibility - we are hopeful it will happen quickly.

Our dear friend and YSA, Michelle Wu is currently in the process of preparing to receive a mission call. We have given her all the Temple preparation classes and will begin teaching her the Missionary preparation lessons next week. We are excited to be part of this phase of her life and love her very much. The Lord has blessed her tremendously since she has come here, especially in finding the church and being baptized. Her progress has been nothing short of spectacular!

We continue ever faithful to the Lord and His commandments, and feel the many blessings we have received are because of our firm commitment in the faith.

If you have not already pledged your time, talents and all you are blessed with to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ then I implore you to do so. You will never be disappointed.

With much love - until the next time.

Some Information

My dear readers, I have chosen to inform you of two things. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I have been for 50 years now. I am not a sometime follower of my faith, I have served in our church for 42 years in every capacity possible, and have served along side my husband as he has served as well. Our children were reared in the faith, and it is sad to us that only one of them has chosen to follow it as well. This does not mean we have abandoned our children or demanded them to return to our faith, quite the opposite. One of the major tenets of our faith is everyone has agency. Agency to choose their own path and make their own way in life, because we teach "God will force no man to heaven." I do not nor have I ever required any of my friends or family members to be members of the church. And because we are currently on the Island of Cyprus in the Middle East serving as missionaries does not mean I preach the Gospel in every post on this blog. However, the time has come that I must.

If you do not want to read my testimony, then don't. I will not take it personally. But if you are really interested in me, my husband and our family then you must know I shall always bear testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel.

Elder Vargas and I serve as Church Education Service (CES) Missionaries and directors of the Young Single Adult (YSA) program on the Island. We co-ordinate the Seminary and Institute programs in the four major cities here. We teach Seminary and Institute classes here, and Elder Vargas is second counselor in the Nicosia Branch Presidency. I play the piano when needed and teach in Relief Society (the church women's organization) when called upon as well. We also teach and preach investigators right along side the young Elders as well. We love our work. It is challenging, tiring and absolutely fulfilling. We love working with the young Elders here, they are a total inspiration to us! They sacrifice everything to go out into the world for two years to preach the Gospel, as do we.

We know our service is necessary. The youth of our church are some of the most valiant individuals on the earth presently. They can now serve missions at the age of 18 (young men) and 19 (young women). Here on the other side of the world the missionaries have been serving at the age of 18 for years. Only in the states were missionaries sent out at age 19 (young men). And now that this has changed we will see a new spurt in the growth and strength of the church. We are excited at the prospect of it all!

I want you to know that Joseph Smith was/is a prophet of God. He translated the Book of Mormon while under the influence and power of the Holy Ghost. He restored the ancient Church of Jesus Christ which includes, prophets, apostles, evangelists and all other appendages necessary for the salvation of mankind. He lived for Jesus Christ and he died in Jesus Christ. He was a martyr and gave his life's blood to bring the world the truth. His successors have also brought the truth to God's children, and the present leader of our church, Thomas S. Monson is likewise a prophet, seer and revelator. I am proud to be a member of this church and especially to be counted among the numbers of missionaries who are teaching and preaching the salvation of the Lord. We are preparing the world to usher in the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is God's handiwork and will bring us closer to God than anything available on this earth. I have read it many times and have prayed to know that it is true - and it is. I want it said that I make no apology for being a member of God's church. I do not spend time denegrating other faiths, nor do I want to. If you already believe in Christ then all the better! Come and listen to what we have to say and we will bring you more of His truth.

I DO NOT worship Joseph Smith nor Moroni, they were prophets. I worship the one true and living God and His Son, Jesus Christ - Savior of the World! I believe in the power of the Holy Ghost, the third member of the God Head, he is my close and ever-present friend, my comforter; and he testifies always of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

If you want to know more about our Savior then contact The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and ask for the missionaries to come and teach you. You will not be disappointed.

Now, may the Lord always bless and keep you in all that you do and say, and may He bless and keep your precious families well and safe. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Salamis in Northern Cyprus

We have travelled to Salamis three times since we have lived on the Island. Salamis is located east of Famagusta in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. We love to go there because it is said that it is the place where Paul the Apostle first set foot on Cyprus. There is a special feeling when we stroll throughout the ruins there. It takes at least two visits to view all the ruins as it was a very large city in it's day. In about 300-400 AD there was a great earthquake there which left the city in ruins. The really neat feature about this archeological site is we are free to walk among the ruins, sit upon them and touch them! The Turkish government has done very little to preserve the site. It would prove extremely costly and time and labor intensive as well. The beauty of the inlaid mosaic streets and marble colonnades is incredibly well-preserved. Below you will view many of the pictures I took while there the last time (about a month ago).