Spring Is In the Air

 

We have occasion to go to "The North" which refers to Turkish Occupied Northern Cyprus.  There are at least three border crossings where you drive across and a couple of crossings where you can walk across.  We explored the walking access crossing in Nicosia one day.  A few pictures from that adventure. 

There’s seldom a pattern to our weeks and what we can anticipate and plan for, with the exception of our weekly District Council meeting.  It is a weekly event at which the young missionaries conduct and train in various aspects related to missionary work.  It is often so insightful as to the upbringing and character of these good young people.  We often come away enriched and blessed by our attendance.  There are two Districts on the Island of Cyprus which comprises one Zone.  We have four elders and two sister championships for a total of six and we make eight in the Limassol District.  The Nicosia District is comprised of four elders and two sisters, again a total of six but without a senior couple.  Essentially, we are the lone senior couple on the island.  There are rumblings that another senior couple are coming in May to Nicosia. 

While they are capable, wonderful young people, they are still just six years out of Primary!  With our recent transfers and all the shifting that occurred throughout the mission which includes Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus, there were a lot of logistics involved in all the movement.  Essentially a missionary leaving Cyprus to go to Greece needs to leave behind their apartment key, car key and SIM card.  Despite various reminders to all concerned we ended up short a car key here.  There were different arrivals of incoming missionaries, trying to locate their vehicles in a sea of cars in long term airport parking in the dark, and those who were new to Cyprus required some basic driver training, provided by Elder Kiddle, before they could be turned loose with a car.  Additionally, one new sister had to be taken to the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia to have her driving record from South Dakota notarized before she could drive.  We loved going to the Embassy and seeing the stars and stripes.  It reminded us that we are a significant distance from American soil.  Back to the missing car key.  Somehow it “mistakenly” ended up in Crete (an island off of Greece) in an elder’s pocket!  We have duplicates for all the other cars except “Betsy” because a previous elder lost it sometime back.  Betsy is the oldest car in the mission and will soon be replaced so we haven’t stressed about it too much until last week!  Alas, the key was located and arrived four days later from Crete via DHL.  But it did nonetheless create some inconveniences for those involved.

We don’t recall being informed of the parenting portion in our job description.  But in the end we love them and are grateful for their acceptance of us as their “grandparents”.  Certainly, we could be to most of them.  We were on a hike about a week ago with four elders and were traversing a somewhat treacherous area alongside a hillside overlooking beautiful Pissouri Bay.   Elder Paez stayed close by and was so helpful and mindful when we had to navigate some treacherous area, despite having our walking poles in hand.  When we returned, I thanked him for letting his grandmother tag along.  He chuckled.

We continue to make visits to different members of the Larnaca Branch.  There were a couple of visits this week that were particularly meaningful.  A goodly number of the people we visit live in a manner I’ve never known and I’ve had to reassess my premise for how I receive and interact with them.  Jesus was ever reaching out to those who were on the margins of life.  But they were children of God and that’s all that really matters in the end.

One young man Medich lives in Ayia Napa which is about 30 minutes away from us.  It is a highly sought after vacation location for tourists and there are probably 15 Branch members that live there, many of them in poverty level situations.  They work seasonally in the tourism industry.  And of course, with it being “winter” the big hotels and resorts are not yet functional.  They will reopen late March/early April.  So many of these people are from African nations, having fled there in search of a better life. 

Medich has lived here for about two years.  He recounted his story.  He’s from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  His father worked for a public company that failed.  It caused a lot of trauma for families who worked there.  One of his father’s coworkers committed suicide, his wife disappeared, and his children were on the streets.  His father was very troubled by the current circumstances and Medich stepped up and became the primary support for his family for a few years.  He had some connection with an opposition politician, and he was somewhat vocal against the policies of the ruling government.  He started to get phone calls from officials and secret police threatening him.  He feared for his life and fled the Congo, arriving in Northern Cyprus and eventually here in Larnaca.  He began his time here in the refugee camp and ultimately met up with a friend who introduced him to the gospel.   It’s a powerful experience to hear their stories and the spirit with which they share their love of God and the gratitude they have for their new life here.

We also visited Georgianna and her son Praise.  She is from Sierra Leon and remains faithful despite the many challenges of being a single parent and working only seasonally. 

We also visited Kosta and Stefka Dimitrov, whose roots are in Bulgaria.  Lovely people who are helping raise twin granddaughters.  Yet again good people who are living in conditions I’ve never known nor would be very comfortable in.  I’m slowly learning to separate my perceptions of people from their living circumstances.  I’m a slow learner, but making progress!!

We were in Limassol on Wednesday for District Council, about a 45 minute drive.  We returned again Thursday to meet up with a realtor because we are looking for a new apartment for the sisters there.  Again, don’t recall that being in the job description, but it was all good.  There is a marked price difference between the housing market in Larnaca and Limassol.  Limassol is a fairly wealthy city with a strong Russian influence, huge office buildings downtown and a beautiful marina adorned with some pricey yachts and other watercraft.  Five apartments were visited but to no avail.  All were unfurnished and were running about $1,100 Euro/month.  The search continues.

            Friday we were on the motorway again in the same direction only continuing on to Paphos to attend a baptism Friday evening.  It’s a lovely drive and especially because we were accompanied by our two elders who were happy to drive us even though we were in our car.  All missionary cars are equipped with what’s known as a Tiwi.  It’s essentially a monitoring device such that when driving patterns violate speed etc. you are verbally corrected, “Please check your speed”, “Aggressive driving”, etc.  Even when you start the car she talks to you before you even have a chance to initiate the fob, “Unknown driver”.  It’s actually quite annoying, and especially as you approach a traffic light and are crawling along and she says, “Please check your speed.”  It does have merit at times because when the young missionaries speed, etc. Elder Kiddle receives notification and has to provide appropriate correction.  Again, parenting opportunities.  I thought that was all in the rearview mirror!!

            We spent three hours yesterday doing some deep cleaning at the chapel with our Iranian friends.  They are meticulous in their cleaning and we accomplished a great deal.  They LOVE to feed us and we returned to their home for a lovely lunch.  Despite their broken English we manage to communicate with them and they are appreciative of the many rides we provide for them to church, because they are without transportation and live in our neighborhood.  They are caretakers at an amazing home as noted in the photograph.  We discovered a beautiful vinyl banner in our deep cleaning which we hung in the window at the chapel.  A lovely invitation to passersby to join us for Easter.

A few pics from our recent trip to Ayia Napa and a sweet little Greek Orthodox Church.  I'm not sure how many worshippers could participate in such a tiny chapel.

            It’s turning spring here and we’re feeling anxious about the summer weather we keep hearing about…….heat and humidity!!  Daytime temps are currently hovering around 70, a lovely summer day in Alaska!!

  President Russell M. Nelson has declared, "You can be part of something big, something grand, something majestic (referring to the gathering of Israel)!" We remain ever grateful for the sweet and sacred opportunity to be in the Lord’s service and trust we can be of some value to these good people we rub shoulders with. 

            We love the notes we receive periodically.  Keep us posted on your lives.

Until next time….much love,

Elder and Sister Kiddle