Rothenburg and 5 MONTHS of Memories on our Mission

Three years ago we visited Munich and one of our destinations was Rothenburg ob Der Tauber.  We loved it then and we decided that for our 43rd anniversary we would visit it again.  So, on Friday we headed South East from Frankfurt for Rothenburg.  Rothenburg is a Bavarian Medieval City built, as all other towns in Germany, around a Castle.  This particular Castle was called Rothenburg and was built high on a mountain top above the Tauber River.

As we drove, we saw our first Germany snowfall and it did not disappoint !  Just beautiful.

 This is our hotel room in a quaint little

hotel just a mile from the town center.  This is how they do their beds in Germany.  Each side is made up individually instead of making it as one bed with one cover.  We each have our own "down comforter" which they call a Federdecke.  

 We went out to eat at an authentic German restaurant.  It is fun to watch Tony get so excited about eating the German food that he so fondly remembers from his young mission in 1972.

 We were glad we got there on Friday because on Saturday the streets would be busy with all the tourist coming to see the Weihnachtmarkts or Christmas Market that opens at 10:00 am.  Many German towns have this market going on up until Christmas and many town squares have them.....lot's of fun and very festive. We strolled around and went into some cute little shops and enjoyed ourselves in the freezing cold but we bundled up so it wasn't too bad.

 The windows couldn't be cuter!  I loved just walking the streets and looking at all the cute windows that were all decorated for the Christmas holidays.

 Every store was enchanting and we couldn't help but think of our 5 grandchildren back in the United States and how we would love to buy them some of these cute things.  But the expense to get them shipped is exorbitant and besides, we really could fine almost everything back in the states.  Their displays are just so cute, it makes you want to buy everything.

 Here's another cute store.  These Beer Steins are beautiful but extremely expensive.....what would I do with one anyway???

 This was another cute store front.  It was a bakery and they looked delicious.  They are called Schneedballs.  The only problem is, the Germans do not bake with a lot of sugar, which Americans are used to!  We bought some of these and they were just barely sweet.  If I am going to eat something with a lot of calories, it needs to have enough sugar to give me a sugar high!  But they are pretty!

 This is a very famous Christmas store by Kathe Wohlfahrt.  The store looks small but it is HUGE and the decorations and Christmas "stuff" is incredible and very expensive.  I would have taken a picture inside but they asked that we not take pictures.  They had some of those German candle holders with the propeller on top, they are called Pyramids. One of them is $50,000......yes, $50, 000.00

 As we were driving we realized that we have been on our Mission for 5 months already, come Sunday.  Where has the time gone.  We started to list all the things we've done since we arrived and the list is quite long.  

First, in July we entered the MTC in Provo and mingled with all the wonderful missionaries that have dedicated 18 months to 2 years of service.  We loved our experience there and met some wonderful people that we will call our friends forever.  One couple in particular were the Wakilds who are serving in Accra Ghana, West Africa in the OGC.  

Then we had the opportunity to be taught by Bill Atkins and Lance Wickman in Salt Lake City and it was so enlightening and interesting to learn of all the corporations that make up the church organization.

 Then on the 14th of July we arrived in Germany and were met by our zone leaders, the Proctors and the ALC (area legal council) head, Jeff and Janet Nelson.  We were exhausted but ready and excited for our new experience in Germany.

 So, while it took a little while to get our feet on the ground and our days and nights straight.....we were off and running.  Some of the wonderful things that Tony has been able to do is.....  keep several countries open for our missionaries to work.  It is extremely hard these days because of all the refugees entering the countries to get a 2 year Visa permit and Tony works all day, each day on these problems in 26 different countries.  He also kept one Elder from being drafted into a particular country because he has dual citizenship (America and Finland) He also kept a certain young missionary from being deported from his mission country.  I don't think these young missionaries have any idea of all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep them on their missions.  It seems like something comes up on a daily basis.

 I have worked in the financial department tracking Stake Priesthood Leadership travel.  Some of the work I do results in trainers and Audits.  Sr. Missionaries  travel to these countries to re-train the Stake Presidents and leaders what travel is aloud to be reimbursed and what is not.

 We also have been able to do quite a bit of traveling during our 5 months.  We have been to: Switzerland, the Alps, France, Berlin, Dresden, Reudesheim, the Swiss Temple, the Freiburg Temple, Rothenburg, Braubach off the Rhein and 2 castles - BergEltz and Marksburg.  We also visited a concentration camp from WWII name Buchenwald.

 Among our visits to interesting places, I got to visit the HOSPITAL because of a fall I took on my bike, where I broke a bone in my thumb and needed to be put in a brace for 8 weeks.  Not a fun time at all!

 We have loved riding our bikes and learning how to use the Metro (train) system here to get around the entire city.  We have loved the past five months and look so forward to continue our adventures here in Frankfurt.  We have met the most wonderful people who work along side us and will keep in touch with for the rest of our lives.  We have a lot of fun, at "movie nite" and game nite at some of their apartments and we also have enjoyed going out to dinner with many of them.  We have also had the pleasure of having new senior missionaries over to our flat for a meal to help them with the first few days once they arrive.

 On Saturday, we bundled up again and went down the same streets we had walked the night before in Rothenburg.  This is a typical cobblestoned street.  It was so charming.  I loved just walking around and looking at all the windows and how they were adorned and decorated for the Christmas Season.

 We walked the WALL around Ruthenburg.  It surrounds the city for protection which was common in the 1600's to keep out enemies.  In 1601 after the "Thirty Year's War" the Count of Tilly wanted to "house" his 40,000 troops in Ruthenburg but instead of of allowing them to enter, the town defended itself and had intended to win but instead were quickly defeated by Tilly's troops.  After the war, Tilly's troops left the town poor and almost empty.  Soon the Bubonic Plague broke out and killed most of the remaining townspeople.  Without any money or power the city stopped growing and prospering and remained in its 17th Century state which makes it a lot of fun for todays tourists to travel to see this medieval city.  As can be seen in the home below, the roof is sagging a bit, most of the homes have been preserved but we did notice some of the roofs as we walked along the wall around the city.  We had a great vantage point being up high.

 I took this picture below because I wanted to remember how they decorate their windows.  They are all so unique and pretty.

 Still another picture taken from the wall of a typical street.  Look how they hang Christmas trees outside their homes.  And, at night, they are all lit up....it's quite a sight.  Makes you so in the mood for hot chocolate and Chirstmas!

 This is Tony on the wall.....we walked 3.4 km.  The wall is very thick and every 50 feet or so, there is a cut out where a soldier would stand to watch for unwanted quests from other towns and  defend the town of Rothenburg.

 This last picture was taken from our kitchen window on Sunday.  We woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow this morning.

17 Dec 2017 Christmas boxes for refugees

A dear friend and fellow missionary, Jill Roberts entered a post on her blog and I just copied it because she did such a great job explaining this week.  Here is an entry from her blog:

And the celebrating just keeps going on!  Our Thanksgiving dinner committee had a special lunch together this week to celebrate a "job well done" as they say.  Of course, I felt a little guilty being included since we were in London.  But I'm never one to turn down a festive occasion and I had done my part before the big day.  We were at San San which is one of the best Chinese restaurants in Frankfurt.  It does sound a bit convoluted eating Chinese in Germany, but it was fabulous food and the company equally delightful.  Just some of the wonderful missionary sisters to be serving along side here in Germany:  Anita Canfield, Marlene Lindsay, Sue Goodall, Mona Bateson, and Karen Orlowski.  

For several weeks, I have been organizing Christmas boxes for our refugee mothers and their children at the Krift location.  (This has taken Jill many hours and lots of love to organize the putting together of these boxes sg.) This week it all came together with the wonderful help of the women at our ward and so many of the missionaries working in the Frankfurt Area Office and mission.  Each box contains flour, sugar, rice, lentils, and canned tomatoes in addition to two gifts for each child in the family and a handbag for each mother.  Also, the Krift employees mentioned that all the children were in need of new underwear.  So with the help of our former Area Refugee specialist, Sister Stay, we were able to add two pair of undershirts and bottoms for each child.  Heart-shaped  pillows, and miscellaneous school supplies filled out the boxes.

And then it was time to wrap the boxes!  With the help of more wonderful people whose hearts are continually turned toward giving service to others, we met and had everything wrapped in under an hour.  Many hands made quick work of the task.  

Valerie Sabin, Kay Lundquist, Teresa Dewey, Jill Johnson, Sue Goodall, Paula Thomas, and Janet Nelson and I got started as others soon joined us.  Our ward members generously donated new toys they had collected to include.  So, in addition to the Christmas boxes, the children will each get to choose a wrapped gift.

We tried to fit most the toys into a neutral or toddler category but there were some where we just had to make a boy or girl designation.  We are dealing with a very traditional culture and I know the boys will be adverse to using the "Frozen" games.  At the Rebstok camp, the boys wouldn't even play Uno with a deck that had Anna and Elsa pictured!  It will be fun to see the children's reactions and how much trading may take place.  But we are happy that we can bring any extra joy to them at this time of their lives after what they have faced getting here. 

The wrapping crew: (standing)  Karen O., Carol Nelson, Linda and Ian Carroll (our Aussie friends from Down-under have never had a cold Christmas!), Val S., Sue G., Teresa D., Paula T., (kneeling) Jill J., Kay L., me, and Janet N.

Santa could not have a better group of elves this year.  Some other elves are not pictured but also helped in many ways.  Everyone offered to do anything that needing doing: sewing, picking up extra items, donating food, helping me sort the items, driving the handbags in from Bad Homburg.  One woman in our ward asked me if we could use the purses as she has a few she wanted to donate that were not just like new, but were brand new in some cases.  I thanked her but explained that I would need one for each of the 16 women and assumed that was more than she had to give.  Not a problem she said. I laugh just thinking how happy her husband was to get them out of their house and deliver them to us! But seeing such unselfish generosity from everyone makes one wonder how to capture this season for the entire year.

All sixteen boxes and lots of toys ready to take to the Krift party later this week.    

Thank you Jill Roberts for this entry......Unfortunately I came down with a really awful cold and was unable to attend the party where all these boxes were handed to the mothers at Krift refugee camp in association with Caritas, Catholic Charities.  I am thankful that I was able to help with the wrapping but Jill did a wonderful job of organizing and putting this all together so all we had to do was wrap the gifts.

Reformation Day In Frankfurt

Reformation day in Germany is a celebration of the day Martin Luther nailed his Theses to the Wittenburg door.  This particular day marks the 500th anniversary of that event.....a world upheaval sparked by Luther in 1517.  

Because of this historic event we decided to go the the Lutheran Church on the square in Frankfurt and join in the celebration.  It was very interesting.  It was held in a beautiful Lutheran church that had been bombed during the 2nd World War and renovated back to  it previous beauty.  The service was held by a Lutheran Minister and a Catholic Priest.  I could not understand much of it since it was spoken in German but I enjoyed the music and the spirit there.

This picture is Lori and Jeff Markel on the train.  Jeff was Tony's roommate in Provo back in 1972 when they were preparing to serve their full time missions as young 19 year old kids.  We were excited to have them here in Germany again.  Jeff is a Doctor and he and Lori serve in the Frankfurt Mission Office.

I ran ahead to get this picture of a group of Senior missionaries on their way to the Reformation Celebration down town.  It was a really cold day! About 1/2 of us went to the Reformation.....It was a fun day.  Some couples stayed afterwards to go on a walking tour (which we have already been on), around Frankfurt and the rest of us went to eat.

After the service, we had a group picture taken by Tony - as you can tell, I am "always" paying attention.......

This is a picture of the inside of the church which had been restored after the war.  Everything is the same as it once was except for the ceiling.  It had, at one time, beautiful paintings on the ceiling which are now gone.  It was really nice because the two men standing at the pulpit .... one was a Catholic Priest and the other a Lutheran Minister.

Here we are waiting for the train by our apartments.....Sister Julia Skoubye on the right and her husband on left with Carol Nelson in the middle....and the rest of our group behind them.

 On the train....Dorene Lear (Records preservation and Jill Roberts(Refugee and Elder Batesons secretary)

 Carol Nelson (Dr.s wife and Karen Orlowski (publicity)

 On Halloween, we had a banging on our door and when we opened we found all the young missionaries who live in our building standing there saying "trick or treat"..... they have a great sense of humor and I only wished I had some candy for them....The children here don't celebrate like we do in the states and it was funny and unexpected that the Elder's would come up to our door.  Some of these guys have already gone home after serving two years here in Frankfurt.  They are a great group of young people and we enjoy them very much!

Our last few weeks have gone by so quickly.  Is this what the rest of our mission will be like?  We are so busy with planning our Thanksgiving Celebrations (including 80 people) in our mission.  I am on the planning committee.  I have been kept busy with meetings such as Book of Mormon class on Wednesdays, and Conference talk review on Thursdays and driving out to Bad Hamburg on Fridays to work.  I am still plotting Stake Presidents travels on a spread sheet and just completed Cape Verde, Portugal and Spain and will be working on Slovakia, Slovenia, Germany, Romania and Switzerland this week.  It keeps me so busy.  

Tony is still busy with keeping missionaries in their countries of service with current Visa's.  One missionary has duo citizenship in America and another European Country (I cannot name the country for the missionaries protection) but this country is insisting that he must register for the countries Army.  (remember, he's lived in America all his life)  This is the kind of thing Tony works on (I think they've come up with a solution).  Tony also works on contracts which I cannot talk about in our blog.  

***So much of what Tony works on is not permitted to be spoken of because of Attorney/Client privilege.***

We had an interesting and very special experience this week.  The Carroll's, who work with Self Reliance in the European Area, were traveling and she had her purse stolen.  They were in Denmark.  Her purse had in it, both of their passports, and $450 Euro.  She was devastated!  They found the United States Consulate to help them.  They received temporary passports so that they could travel back to Germany.  The problem is, they have not gotten their residency papers here in Germany yet.  (they just arrived a month ago from New Zealand).  The Germany government told them that they will require their original birth certificates and other paper work in order to stay in the country.  They did not know how to get the "original" paper work that was required of them.  (This is the kind of problems that will end up on Tony's desk). After our Book of Mormon discussion class this past Wednesday, we were all asked to kneel down and pray together for this situation.  I don't remember who gave the prayer but we all knelt down and when the prayer was finished, Sister Carroll's phone beeped and she had a message from the secretary at the Germany registration dept. telling her it was not necessary to have the "original" papers, they could have a copy and they would be granted a new passport and residency paperwork.  These records are already in the office here in Frankfurt because they were required by all missionaries entering the mission.  The Lord watches over us, I am sure of this.  We have had so many miracles take place since we have been here.  It is a blessing to feel the hand of the Lord in our lives while we serve Him.

Fall luncheon at the Office of General Council

Our Fall luncheon at the Office of General Council was so good.  Gundren and Lynn planned it and we all brought dishes to share.  We ended up with so much yummy foods and desserts......just great!  At the head of the table is Jeff and Janet Nelson.....Jeff, the BOSS is wonderful to work with and very caring and Janet, his wife has made all of us feel so "at home" here.  She is just wonderful.  To her left is Christian Wolfort, he works a lot with Tony.  Then Lynn and Gundren.  Lynn is a Barrister from London and Gundren is Jeff's assistant.  Then Don and Jill Roberts.....Don does the litigation for the 40 countries he works with and Jill is doing refugee work along with working for the Area Presidency.  On the other side of Tony is Paula and Dave Thomas, who are our next door neighbors and Dave does contract work.  We are very blessed to work with all these people.

By the end of the week, we went to a chili cook off for our Ward, Frankfurt 2nd Ward and Tony was one of the judges......

Good-bye Sister Keyser and Thanksgiving

Sister Keyser has been the mental health advisor for the Frankfurt Mission.  She is a wonderful lady loved by everyone and will be missed by us all.  We had a luncheon with all the sister Missionaries and the wives of the area presidency at Sunflower restaurant, a beautiful garden store with a restaurant in the middle.  It was a lovely event that Janet Nelson organized.

Pretty Mona Bateson and her wonderful decorating talent made our Thanksgiving event for the mission so pretty!

 I was part of a wonderful six lady committee headed by Anita Canfield to put together a Thanksgiving dinner for our mission.  We met approximately 4 times to give assignments out and follow thru with Anita's ideas to make a wonderful Thanksgiving for everyone.  It turned out beautiful!

 This is Anita Canfield...a dear friend and fellow missionary.  She works with Refugee Aid and Humanitarian dept. in the church.  She is from San Clemente California.

 From left to right, Marlene Lindsay, assistant zone leader who works with Self Reliance, Carol Nelson, wife of one of our mission doctors, Dani Garrett, our zone leader and works with LDS family services and Pamela Done, the wife of another mission doctor.  Such wonderful ladies.

 And we are all ready for our 80 guests...........

 I think it came out quite nice.....

 Our center table where we put the main dishes.

 Mona Bateson and Pamela Done

 A lot of work and a lot of planning and wonderful woman to work with......it was a huge success and everyone had a wonderful time.  And now we move into the Holiday Season.........

Friends Serving in Ghana West Africa

When we left on our mission, the first week is spent in the MTC (mission training center) at BYU in Provo.  Because we are all there for 8 hours a day for an entire week, we become really close with others that are setting out to serve in all parts of the world.  These people, the Wakild's became our fast new friends!  He has been called to serve in Ghana, West Africa as an attorney for the OGC (office of General Counsel) just as Tony but in Germany.  Before we were called to Germany, we were asked if we would consider Ghana but I just didn't think I could do it.  We were then called to Frankfurt Germany.  But, when we got to the MTC, we met the couple that were willing to serve in Ghana and quickly became great friends.  I so admire their ability to serve where ever they were called.  Linda and Chris are having a wonderful time serving in Accra Ghana.  She is a school teacher and has been able to use her skills to teach children in Africa.  She is so suited for this mission.  I admire them both.  We just received an email from them, telling us all about their service there.  It is so wonderful to have this experience and meet all these wonderful people.  Even though we are giving service, it feels as though we are the ones being so blessed.

 Tony and Chris saying our good byes at the SLC airport.

 They arrived in Ghana and this picture shows the building (2nd floor) where they meet for church.

 A typical neighborhood in Ghana.  Apparently there is a lot of poverty.

We look so forward to meeting up with the Wakild's after we get back to America in January of 2019.  We will have many stories to share with each other.

Another week in the mission.........

Each Wednesday we have a Book of Mormon discussion for an hour at lunch time.  We really enjoy this time because it is low key and just a good discussion.  We all take turns leading the discussion and we all participate.  We serve with some wonderful people.  These people were doctors, lawyers, dentists, presidents of huge companies like McDonald Douglas in California, professors at major universities and other professions.  Such a wonderful, talented group of people we get to associate with.  We feel so blessed to be able to have this wonderful experiences.

 This is a picture from the Netherlands and although I haven't been there YET, I took this to show to Debbie (sister) because she is coming in April and I want to go there!

 On Sunday, if it's nice outside, Tony and I like to take a walk.  This is called the green gerdle, it's a pathway that surrounds Frankfurt and it's beautiful

 I look at these pictures of the two of us and I realize that we are getting old.  When did this happen, it was just "yesterday" that we were teenagers!

 I had to include this picture because it has been a very difficult week for Kerianne who had to put her little dog, Oliver down because he has been very ill.  She had the most difficult week.  After two weeks, she had been volunteering at an dog adoption kennel and took a real liking to this dog named Jaycee.  I called the kennel and asked the employee about the dog and then texted all the kids and asked if they would like to give in to help adopt this dog for Kerianne as a surprise...they all jumped at the idea right away!  My heart was so full.  I have great kids and they love their sister!  I was on facetime with her when the employee handed her a sheet of paper that I had emailed explaining how much we all loved her and that we had bought Jaycee for her and it listed all her family members.....all thirteen of us.. She dropped to the ground and cried.   I feel so much better knowing she has her to look after and love.

 I was walking home from the physical therapist office this day (I fell off my bike and broke my thumb) and I thought this was just beautiful with all the leaves falling to the ground.  Fall is so beautiful here.  It reminds me a lot of the East Coast of America.  I used to love the fall with all the different colors and the anticipation of all the holidays coming soon.