Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

We got rear ended this week. That was... interesting. An adventure, to say the least.
With the division between the North and South of Cyprus and in order to drive on the North side, we have to buy insurance for the vehicles fairly regularly. Which in itself is something I never thought I'd ever do in my life, but here we were, in the middle of UN bufferland, and me trying to explain Elder Carr, and I needed to be placed on a new insurance.

The man was completely confused because 6 people were already insured to drive the one vehicle, and the 'max' was apparently 5. And the insurance we had wasn't from his company, so we had to purchase brand new insurance for that month. Things get hairy sometimes here. It's sometimes an adventure to try to hear through the glass and the Turkish accent.

Despite the difficulty in obtaining insurance, thank goodness we had it-- for the same day, we drove back to the border after more lessons than I've ever given in my first mission-- and... BOOM!

"What in the world?!" Elder Carr shouted when the car jolted after we came to a steady stop (in traffic). It was too bad. We were just getting into the song playing ('This is Halloween' from Nightmare Before Christmas).
Man, I really wish we could speak Turkish. Thankfully the person that hit us could speak some English, but it mostly consisted of dialog that you would expect to hear on the TikTok social media. But also thankfully, the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.

We struggled to communicate through the process of explaining this was our 'company' vehicle, and we had things and procedures to follow in an accident. That's why she couldn't leave yet. After we finally communicated this, she expressed some frustration, but we continued as advised.

The next morning, we came to realize the car was in worse condition than we thought but it was a blessing because it could have been quite a bit worse. Though I will say, I am curious how everything will work on the Church's side of things, cause the accident happened in an unrecognized country.

Of course, things like this can't stop you from plans for the rest of the week, so we later ventured right back up into the North! Meeting and talking with members is something that I feel before I struggled a great deal, but recently things have felt a bit more natural. For that, I have been very thankful. We ventured into an area I have never been to, a Hawaii like area, Lefke. One of our wonderful members was debating about going on a mission for himself.

As we spoke, and he expressed his concerns serving a mission, and the trouble he's had with the mission office in the past, we listened attentively. In that moment, I realized, at least in part, why I am here. I really don't think I would have been able to provide certain insights without the experience of having gone home. When I explained what I had to do to return and as well as my personal experience with it, I think it meant a lot to him. I also shared the experience of someone close to me, and I think it changed his perspective on things. It was special. Regardless of what his decision is, I know that he will make it after much prayer and personal revelation.

After leaving that appointment a lot later than we anticipated, we rushed to our next appointment with a friend of ours that none of us had seen in a while.
Weaving through streets too narrow for a 9-person van, we park in front of a home with all the windows and doors open. My only guess for why it was so is it's too hot to do anything else right now, expecially if you don't have air conditioning.
So we walk up to the place Elder Carr recognizes and stumble across a older Turkish man, watching us intently.
There are 3 things that can help you in this situation-- a turkish-speaking Elder, google translate, and the Spirit.
Good thing we had 2 of those 3 things. It would have been nice to have the spirit, though. I'm only kidding!

So Elder Carr whips out the good ol' Google Translate and approaches the man in a stride I could only strive to obtain with my confidence. As we struggle to try to ask where our friend was, a small crowd of neighbors began to gather... We struggled to try and communicate until somone puts their arm high in the air and gestures for somone to come over, and we see a middle-aged lady come over with a baby in hand.
"You speak English?" she asked.
Thank goodness. We complied. "Yes. We're looking for our friend." We explained the situation, as everyone kept watching us like they could understand us. She explained our friend had actually moved, which was something we were not notified about.

This interaction consisted of two blessing that were apparent to me. One: Someone spoke English. Thank goodness. Two: This entire interaction was basically seen by, what felt like, the entire neighborhood. In a country where open preaching about the gospel is illegal, this was a beautiful experience that we could have that was completely legal and honest. We were just looking to teach our friend. The Lord works in ways that we cannot even begin to understand. It is a true blessing that the most powerful-- and yet kind, person in existence has someone right there with us at all times.

As always, so many things happened this week, but I never have the time to tell all the stories. But I'll leave you with one more before I conclude my email for the night.
...I'm not sure why I'm feeling like writing like a grandparent telling a story on Christmas eve, but here we are...

My companions and I, with a member present, ventured to the home of a friend that lived just outside of the North side of Nicosia. She is a lovely lady that has a fire of a testimony. It's honestly wonderful to watch her bare it.
But knocked on the door, and someone else answered! Which isn't uncommon, but yet for some reason, I wasn't anticipating it this time. The woman looked at us very confused, and we asked if our friend was there. She said she was (which we later learned she meant our friend LIVED there, not necessarily that she was THERE), so we asked if we could come in.

Little did we know, our friend was not home, and this lady had no idea who we were and what we were doing. And yet she let us into her home. So naturally we started to get to know the person who let us in. We ended up talking to her for almost 20 minutes before someone asked, "Is Crown just in the other room?"
"Crown isn't here. She will be soon, but no she isn't."

Now, usually, when a friend doesn't show up to a lesson on time, it's a slight hindrance because you never have enough time to teach a full lesson on occasion. And yet, because of the delayed arrival of our friend, we made another! We got to know her, and she stayed for the whole lesson as we discussed the Book of Mormon, which was something we hadn't planned.

Now, I don't know if anything I will see will come of that interaction we had. However, I do know that it was guided by the Spirit. And if it's guided by the spirit, it is willed by God.

Listen for the promptings of the Spirit. Even if it's pushing you out of your comfort zone. God would not give you those prompting if he didn't want you, as you are in that moment, to act on that prompting. I will promise you that.

I hope the weather is doing you well! Believe it or not, this snowman, hasn't melted yet, but it's probably thanks to the face the time in the sun is getting shorter and the dark is getting longer.

Love you guys! May you feel the Spirit!

Oh and yeah, transfers already! Found out, next week, I'll be flying to Crete! To serve with Elder Jenkins! Get ready for some fun stories. Elder Jenkins and I are excited.

Also, this week, some soldiers had a skirmish kinda thing at the border and has affected relations between the North and the South side. The United States has asked American Citizens to not cross into the North right now. It should de-escalate soon, but it was pretty interesting to find out just as we left the North. It's too bad, but I hope things will get better soon. It was really interesting to see so many tanks on trailers though, being moved around. Troops too.

Elder Dylan Hansen

Thinking of Sandy Fidel, praying for comfort for Jay Fidel.