From Mom 10/21

Dear Family,
If you could see us now you would never believe we are on a mission. We are sitting in a bar with very loud music blarring in our ears writing this email.

We have been "on the road" the past two days and have one more day to go.
We left Munich Thursday morning at 7:30 and by 7:30 that night, we had driven 360 miles and inspected 6 apartments. Our first inspection this morning was at 8:00 and we have driven another 300 miles. Today we've done a lot of outlying cities and have seen some beautiful country and very beautiful small cities. Tomorrow we have just three more to inspect but they are all many miles apart. We called the mission secretary and asked him if it would be alright to stay overnight Friday so we didn't have to drive clear back to Munich every night. He said he would ask the president and when he called back, he said Presiden Rakow wanted us to take three days and that they would arrange the schedule with all the Elders and Sisters and would get a motel for us both night we would be gone. So we weren't at the Outreach Center last night to write our letter and we couldn't figure out the internet at the hotel we were in last night. So tonight when we checked in we asked if they had internet service and they told us it was through the bowling alley and in the bar. But we're here absorbing lots of smoke into our clothes and lungs writing this letter. Your letters mean so much to us and we just want to stay in touch with you too.

This little job is very stressful. Getting to the cities isn't too bad but finding the apartments is something else. Then when we do find the apartments, finding a place to park is another thing. We usually end up walking 2 or 3 blocks back to the apartment from where we can park. Dad is amazing with the maps though. I've been driving and he tells me where to go. A few times I've been tempted to tell him where to go!!! Especially when he keeps telling me to turn right at the next corner. After about four right turns, you've gone around in a circle and you end up at the same place. Tuesday night we just kept doing that and I just blew my cork! I stopped the car, got out and told him to drive -- I hated this country, I hated this mission and I wanted to go home. You know Dad. He calmly got behind the wheel while I was bawling my eyes out and said, "As soon as we get back, we'll call President Rakow and tell him we're leaving and will pay our own way home." Well, I'm not going to do that even though at that moment I just wanted to quit. We had a good talk the next day and I think Dad
realized how really stressful this thing has been for me. It was good to talk it all out and I feel better. Dad is amazing with finding all these apartments. I just try to stay going straight or turning left or right when he tells me to and eventually we find where we are to be. We both give the Lord a lot of credit too
but it's that sticking to it that Dad has when I'm ready to give up that has helped us on this little venture.

Next week we'll be doing another 3 day trip and that will finish all 45 apartments.It has been such a great experience to meet the Elders and Sisters and three couple missionaries. Each day I admire these young people more. Europe is a hard place to serve a mission. The work is very slow and difficult and some of their living conditions leave a lot to be desired but their spirit is so good and they are thankful and happy to be serving a mission.

A mission is definitely a "refiners fire" and a wonderful preparation for life. I know we couldn't do this without your prayers and support and love. We feel it every day and are so thankful for all of you.It's so good to hear about all the activities going on with the family. Thank you for sharing the stories and activities of the kids. Sounds like everyone is busy as ever. We've had some great meetings with part member families. They really share their feelings with us. I think that's one advantage of being old! They act like we're their grandparents. We've visited all 5 families the bishop asked us to visit and Wednesday night he asked us if we would visit the 5 black members who are here as political refugees. They are all men who have had to leave their families. We've visited one of them and he has just a wonderful spirit and is always so friendly when we see him at church. It's amazing how one good visit and discussion about the gospel can make all the frustrations of a mission worth while.

My lungs are filling up with smoke and my clothes are going to stink forever if I don't get out of here so I'll close for now and try to write again next week. Thank you so much for keeping in touch with each other and looking out for each other. That means a lot to us. Family becomes more important to us every day. There's nothing Dad and I want more than for our family to love each other and work together to be an eternal family.

Until later--Wir lieben Sie. (We love you)
Mom

From Mom 10/5

Dear Family,
We're taking another turn at the Outreach Center today. Ususaly on Thursday the only paople who come in are the Elders and Sisters who work in this area. They come to use the internet to write their letters. So far, none have come so I'll go ahead and start a letter. If they come, I'll stop and do more later. They
have priority on Thursday We still don't have internet service. It is so frustrating! But I know where every internet cafe is within 3 blocks of our apartment so I will keep in touch that way. Every Monday morning we have district meeting at the mission office and the sisters who work their are good about letting us use their computers to check our e-mail after the meeting.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTERS!! I can't even begin to tell you how much they mean to us. Camille, everytime I try to send this to more than one of you something weird happens and I lose the letter so will you please forward this to everyone else until we get our computer set up in our apartment? Also, will you call Aunt Velma and Uncle Jay and get their addresses for me. I have sent them two letters and they were returned saying there was no such address. It sounds like you only have a million things going right now so what is a couple of more things to think about? Thank you so much.

Well, we have the first month of our mission behind us. It's still a huge
adjustment. Everyone says it just takes time. I'm not the patient kind of
person I need to be. The language still just puts my stomach in knots. I need
to be patient with that too. Last Monday we had a zone conference. I could
tell by what he was saying that the zone leader was introducing us---he was
speaking German. We sang and opening song in German, the prayer was said in German and he was saying everything in German. I put my head down and the tears just ran down my face. "What am I doing here?" was the thought going through my head. This dear zone leader could tell I was very uncomfortable and announced that the rest of the meeting would be in English. I was grateful but also somewhat embarrassed. I seem to just have a mental block when it comes to learning more. I have a hard time understanding what is being said because they talk so fast and then it sounds like they have mush in their mouth when they speak, so I'm struggling with that. President Rakow keeps saying, "Sister Price, don't worry about it." But I do and I will but I'll also keep trying. I've got to sign off for now but will write in a few more minutes.

Hello again,
All the church computers have a timer on them and after that time is up, the message disappers so I have to watch the time. When we stop and talk to someone, the timer just keeps going.

This week has been a different week. After we made it though the zoneconference, we had an interview with our mission president. He encouraged us towork closely with the bishop of the International Ward and to get acquaintedwith everyone in the ward and visit as many as we could. That has been a goodexperience. We had our first math lesson with our 12 year old Elly. It'samazing how she has warmed up to us. Her mother invited us our to meet thenon-member father on Saturday and said he was going to fix lunch for us. We areanxious to meet him. He adores his two daughters and is a wonderful familz man.We will be praying to have the spirit with us to know what to say and how toapproach talking about the church.There are several political refugees from Gahna and Nigeria here in the ward. Most of them are just men who have had to leave their families behind. Theylive in refugee camps which are very humble indeed. But their spirit is sostrong and their testimonies of the gospel help make this time away from theirfamilies bearable for them. One of them has his family with him. He wasbaptized while he still lived in Gahna and was married there too but Germanydoes not recognize their marriage. His wife is not a member and he has beenquite inactive but the Elders here were given the name of his 12 year old sonand they taught him and baptized him. They have been coming to church and hiswife is now taking the lessons from the Elders. When we went to visit them, thewife was not at home. The son had a friend there and he want to start coming tochurch and learn more about it. We didn't go there to take over what the Eldersare doing but only to give support. He (the father) told us that he loved thecouple missionaries to come to his home because they were a good example to himand inspired him to continue to do what was right. He said, "Please come often"as we left. He lives on the 6th. floor of an apartment building and we firstwent up to the 6th floor of the wrong building then down again then up to hisapartment. The next day we both could hardly walk because the calves of ourlegs hurt so badly! But it was a good experience. If all we do here is helpstrengthen members and encourage them to stay active, we will have done somegood.

President Rakow asked Dad and I to go to Nurnberg on Tuesday and to Stuttgart onWednesday to inspect the bikes the Elders were using. So now I have labeled Dad"The bicycle czar"! Those bikes are in pretty sad condition. Most of theElders don't even use them. They would rather walk or spend their money on busor train fare. But it was a good experience. We met a lot of Elders and theride was beautiful. Germany is beautiful with lots of rolling hills and lots oftrees. The farms go right up to the trees. There aren't homes on every farmlike we have it. You see miles and miles of nothing but farm and then there isa little village of white houses with red roofs. They all live their togetherand drive out to their farms. It is like a picture post card to drive throughthe country It took us about 2 hours to drive to Nurnberg and 3 to drive toStuttgart. We did great finding the church the first day but in Stuttgart wegot lost bit time and were 2 hours late getting to the church. President Rakowwas there interviewing missionaries and we were to inspect the bikes while hewas interviewing. He ended up having to inspect the first batch of bikes but wedid make it for the second session. I was so upset and frustrated and ready tocome home, but we did what we could do and that day in another day in history sowe'll move on.Gotta quit again. More coming.

We were to happy to be able to watch 3 sessions of General Conference plus theRelief Society broadcast and Dad got to watch the Priesthood session. It didn'tseem like we were quite so far away from home. When Elder Bowen talked andshowed pictures of Idaho Falls, especially when he showed the temple, I couldn'thold the tears back. (Notice how often I talk about the tears. I have plentyof them!) Conference was so good and so practical. We just need to get back tothe basics and firm up our testimonies and help others with theirs. One thingI'm grateful for is the time we have to study our lessons and the scriptures. We should be so grateful for what we have and know. It's wonderful to knowwe're on the Lord's team but it's also a reality that a battle is going on. Satan is trying so hard to keep people from knowing the truth and creating somany things that keep the spirit away from people. I know he has been workingon me. Discouragment and feeling depressed are certainly not from the Lord. Ihave to work every single day to convince myself that I'm supposed to be here. Monday in our interview with President Rakow, I told him I wasn't sure why I washere because I couldn't do a lot of good when I can't even talk to people. Hisreply was, 'You were called by the Lord to be here and you will come to know whyat some time." Who can argue with that?

We enjoy hearing about all the activities going on at home. We will be there inspirit on Saturday for Meg's baptism. I talked to another couple missionarysister who said she has had two daughter get married while she has been here. They are both second marriages but just the same, she had to miss them. Butthey said they will be home to go to the temple when these marriages are sealed. I guess that's part of the sacrifice of a mission.There are Elders here to use the internet so I'll sign off for now. Know thatwe love you and pray for all of you many times every day.

Much love always,
Mom

From Mom 9/28

Dear Family,
I've written several e-mails on these church computers and I don't know whathappens, but all of a sudden they just disappear and I can't find them.It's so frustrating. Another frustrating thing is this German keyboard.The Z and the Y have traded places so if you get some weird words, that'swhy.

I mentioned to you that we are in an international ward. There are peoplefrom all over here but they all speak English in some form or another. Wehave several black people, a few Oriental, quite a few from England, Russia,and quite a few from the states who are here on work assisnments. Did Itell zou that one of the families from the US is the Manning family. CarrieManning is Mark Pugmire's sister so is Karen Risenmay's sister in law.They, the Mannings were also close neighbors to Dave and Jeri Gill whilethey were both stationed in the Air Force in Ohio. I was so surprised whenshe got up in Relief Society and said, "You're the one related to theRisenmays, aren't you?" Then when I asked her how she knew the Risenmaysshe told me who she was. They moved here in June. He works for Boeing andthey will be here on assignment for two years. It's nice to feel like Iknow someone from home.

The boundaries of this ward are huge. From North to South is two and a halfhours and from East to West is two hours. The bishop is one and a halfhours away. The ward mission leader is nearly an hour away and we'vevisited both of them. There is lots of pretty country to see along the way.I have an idea we'll use our milage quota up each month if we visit eachfamily, as we've been asked to do.

Last night we visited a part member family. The wife is a member and theoldest daughter has been baptized but the husband is not a member. He comesto church regularly but still has lots of questions to ask. They are a nicefamily. The 12 year old daughter is having a hard time with some things inschool right now. They have had a tutor working with her but have recentlyhad some financial setbacks so the bishop asked if we would be willing tooffer to help their daughter. She is very outspoken and when we talked withher and her mother about helping, she said she didn't want us to help herbecause we were too old! But before the evening was over, she warmed up tous and as we left, she apologized for talking to us the way we did and wehave an appointment to work with her Monday afternoon. I think what warmedher up was when her mother told us how much she loved sports and she saidshe like softball best of all. Well, that's my favorite game to play too sowe started talking about it and her whole attitude changed. We're hoping tobe able to work with the Dad too. They are a very nice family.

Saturday we will be watching the morning session of conference at 6 PM.Before that, we will be able to watch a rebroadcast of the Relief Societýbroadcast. Then on Sunday, we will watch the rebroadcast of the Saturdayafternoon session and Priesthood session and then the Tabernacle Choirbroadcast at 5:30 and the Sunday morning session at 6. The Sunday afternoonsession will be broadcast from 10 until midnight. We may just pass on thatone and read it later on when we get our internet going. We're just thankfulwe can watch what we can.Things are starting to pick up slowly but surely. We still have plenty oftime to study and plan because most people work during the day so ourappointments are in the evening. Hopefully we'll be getting busier as timegoes on. We're not used to this much free time. Maybe retired people areused to not have too much to do but we have never retired and it's hardslowing down this much. I'm starting to getting used to the different timeschedule too. I still wake up at night but am getting back to sleep in ashorter amount of time.

This is definitely a stretch of my faith. I've wondered several times whywe are here but then who am I to question the inspiration of our GeneralAuthorities in issuing a mission call. I don't know that I will ever getthe language down but hopefully will learn enough that I can carry on ashort conversation-----like "I don't speak German." The other day we got ona streetcar and a lady motioned for me to come and sit down by her and shestarted talking to me and I just sat there, feeling like a real dummy.Sister Manning said when that happens to say, "Sprachen Sie English?" thanthey will know I can't speak their language. So much to learn!Dad is the driver and I'm the navigator. I know both of those are a bitscarry! I'm usually 180' turned around but somehow, and we know it's withthe Lord's help, we've been able to make it to all of our appointments andback home again. That in and of itself is a miracle!

I'm going to send this before it disappears again. Know that we love you.We think of you probably too much of the time. I didn't know I had so manytears! I miss my family! Take care. Will write more later.

Love,Mom

From Mom 9/25

Dear Family,We are an internet cafe because we still don't have our internet hooked up. It has been a bit frustrating to say the least. I know the Elders are busy so must be patient. Getting used to a German keyboard is a bit of a trick too so if there are weird things in this letter, that's why.This has been quite a week. After being so very busy at home getting ready to leave and then going from 8 in the morning until 8 at night at the MTC, not having things to do for most of the day had been a hard adjustment. We met our mission president on Thursday and he suggested we just get oriented and catch up on our rest for now. He is having us stay here in Munich for the time being and has assigned us to an Ènglish speaking ward. (YIPEE!!!) It is called the international ward as there is a military base within the ward boundry so there are people from all over the world in the ward. We will be working closely with the bishop with part member and inactive families. We are to do anything we can do to help the ward out.We are impressed with our mission president. He reminds us of Uncle Bob in his looks, the way he talks and in his mannerism. He definitely has things under control but at the same time is very laid back and doesn't seem ruffled about things. After our interview with him, we went over to his home and met his wife and some of his family and had a very good meal.His daughter was visiting from Heidelberg with her baby. This is the first grandchild in the family and we were impressed with how involved President Rakow was with that baby. When he had finished eating, he got up and sat in a chair by her highchair and fed her. Sister Rakow is a beautiful, gracious woman. We have a picture of us with them and will send it to you when we get our computer up and going.We were given a mission car. It's a little red Opela gutless wonder but it gets us around. We haven't driven it much but it will be nice to have when we start finding and visiting members. This morning we did drive to the mission office and got lost in a big way! We were over an hour getting there and it took us 15 minutes to get back home when we finally stayed on the right roads. We have a lot to learn.Oktoberfest is going on in Munich right now and the park where it is held is about 5 minutes from where we live. There are literally thousands of people everywhere and by evening they get really loud. They seem to get a bit too much liquid refreshment too and some have a hard time staying on the sidewalk! It's like a glorified Eastern Idaho State Fair and it will be going on until the 3rd. of October.We've done lots of walkina-----lots and lots of walking! Yesterday we went out to find a new curling iron then decided to look for a rubber stamp so we could stamp our name and phone number on the pass-along-cards and we didn't know where we were going. Everyone we asked for the place told us a different direction and we ended up a long way from home. We were probably walking for nearlz 4 hours. The worst part was that when we found the place, it was closed on Friday. Oh well, kind of fits into the rest of the week.Munich is a huge city of 2 million people. The buildings are huge, most of them 5 and 6 stories high and are close together with big poplar trees growing in front of them that are almost as high as the buildings. All the stores are on the street floor. There are no big stores like Wal-Mart or stores in the mall. They are just little shops----everywhere. Even the grocery stores are inside a big building. You go in and walk down the hall and come to the grocery store. The biggest one we've seen is probably about the size of Saving Center. Our apartment is on the second floor of a big building with shops on the street floor. Out our back window is a huge office building. Quite a stretch from looking out the window across a big lawn an fields.I wouldn't be absolutely honest if I said right now that I'm happy to be here. I hope that will change but this has been a rough week. Not being able to understand what people are saying or to read what things say is more than just a little difficult. I will look forward to Sundays when we can understand what people are saying. I'm working on the language but it is coming very slowly. When I expressed my concerns about the language to President Rakow, he said not to worry about it and that other couple missionaries had gotten along just fine without learning it. He does expect the young Elders and Sisters to learn it though. It just sounds like they are talking so fast that it's hard to pick up many words, but I'll keep trying.We appreciate your love and support and your confidence in our being hereand will do our best. That's all we can do. It's hard. It's a real test of my faith and I'm way out of my comfort zone. The tears have come easilz but I'll "buck up" and get through this hard time.We love you and miss you. Your are in our thoughts and prayers every daý.
Much love to all of you,Dad and Mom

The First Letter, 9/19/06

Hi everyone,
just a quick note to let we know we made it. It was a short night. We were
late leaving New York so it was 10 o'clock before we ate dinner and the next
thing I knew, the lights went on in the plane and it was time for a breakfast
snack. It was 7 o'clock but my watch said 2 o'clock.

We've been in some meetings with the assistants to the president. Our mission
president is out on zone conferences so we won't meet him until Thursday. Dad
and I both went to sleep during the closing prayer of our meeting just now. How embarrassing! Some way to make a good first impression, huh. This place is beautiful and green. The elders are taking us to our apartment so we can get some sleep. We'll write more when we know more and are a bit more alert.

Camille, will you forward this to the rest of the family. I don't have time to
look up all the addresses.
Love you all,
Mom

From Mom 10/12

Dear Family,
I'll send the letter to Cindy this week and have here forward it to everyone. Our district leader who has been trying to get the internet set up in our apartment told us this week that he talked to President Rakow about getting permission for us to have the internet and President Rakow told him that we wouldn't be staying here a lot longer so he didn't want to go to the expense of installing the interent for us. Where we will be going no one knows yet. Elder Clyde said the president has an idea but wants to pray about it some more. It won't be until the end of November anyway so we'll have access to the Outreach Center and there are internet cafe's all around us. Also, we go into the mission office every Monday morning for district meeting and the sisters there always tell us to check for e-mails on their computers before we leave. We so appreciate your letters and hearing about what's going on with everyone. You are very close to our hearts even if the miles between us are many. I don't even know how many miles it is but I know it's a lot! Last weekend was a hard weekend with the news of Uncle Eldon's passing. It has taken a toll on my already struggling emotions but each day gets a little bit easier. Even though we know what we know about what happens at the time of death and that it can be a lot of comfort knowing it, when it's someone close to you it still hurts a lot. I'll always be thankful for that Friday night before we spoke in church when the brothers and sisters went out to eat and then over to Eldon and Velma's to just talk and then to have prayer together before we left to come home. That will always be a special memory, especially now. Thank you who could go to the funeral for going and supporting their family. That was another hard day----knowing that everyone was together and we couldn't be there, but we made it through. I feel so badly that Uncle Dee was gone. I'm sure it was probably even harder on him than on us. I'm going to close this for now and send it and start on another one. After you type for 20 minutes, this thing just shuts down and I don't remember when I started. So here's page 1 with more coming. Mom Hello again, This time I looked at the clock so I'll know when I need to stop. We received another "service project" assignment from our mission president on Monday. But I'm not complaining. In fact I'm very happy to have something definite to do. He is so busy and the assistants and mission secretaries are busy too and he needs the apartments inspected so he asked Dad and I if we would go to all of the aprtments of the Elders and Sisters in the German part of our mission. That's 45 apartments. We will be traveling quite a bit. Stuttgart is about as far away from Munich as Salt Lake is from Idaho Falls and some of the other cities we will be going to are a couple hours drive from here. Dad has it all organized for us to have it done by the second week in November. It really is kind of fun. I imagine most of our visits will be on Friday and Saturday as Thursday ia P-day in the mission. Sister Rakow gave us some definite things to look for and to tell the missionaries. Like clean the oven, clean up after every meal, don't polish your shows on the carpet, watch for mold, fix things when they break or let someone know they need fixing. She said the last time they went, there were some pretty terrible looking apartments. We went to a set of sisters apartments this week and the apartment was just plain dirty. Their excuse was they don't have time to clean. Sister Rakow's answer was, "Take the time to clean, even if you have to take a couple extra hours somewhere." They are emphasizing the importance of being able to have the spirit with you at all times and if your apartment is dirty and messy, the spirit cannot be there with you. I'm not sure we're going to be very popular but we'll do what we've been asked to do. Should be a lot of fun. We had a meeting with our bishop on Sunday, just Dad and I and he gave us the "lowdown" on 5 families he wants us to work with. These are part member families and there are some major problems. We visited one last night. She is from Equador and has been a member since she was 10 years old. Her husband is from here. She and her husbands brother don't get along very well and he did something that was really offensive to her and she just can't forgive him. Because her husband loves his brother, this has kind of put a wall between them and he tries to find things wrong with the church instead of listening to the truth. He wasn't home when we went there last night and Dad did a beautiful job of expaining the importance of forgiving others and by doing so, the love we need to be able to share the gospel will come. She had a hard time swallowing all of that but promised she would pray about it and try to get past this issue. She is such a sweet person. They have two beautiful little girls, ages 4 and 2. She has been through the temple and she goes whenever she can. She's just "stuck" on this one issue which has caused some problems in their marriage. Out of time again. Dad keeps talking to me and I can't talk and type too! Part 3 coming up. Hello again, I'll be so glad when we get our own internet service and can use our own computer! Another family that we've been assigned to is living together but aren't married! He is from the US and is married but his wife won't give him a divorce until he comes back. He has a crimanal charge against him so he know if he goes back, he will end up in jail so they are just living together. He has been excommunicated from the church because of the nature of the crime and the bishop has tried to explain to her that what they are doing in wrong and if she doesn't stop the relationship, her membership is at risk. Whew! We have an appointment with her next week. I can hardly wait! Dad is so good and so patient with these kinds of things. I don't know what will come if it but we'll see what happens. The last one was a woman whose husband cheated on her and was excommunicated. She has a testimony of the gospel but just needs lots of support right now. When we called to set up a time to come visit her, Dad asked if there was something special she needed help with and she said, "Help me to know how to handle a 3 year old." Our work is cut out for us. In addition to this, we are to visit 12 members of the ward and show the new video "By Small and Simple Things" which is about the Book of Mormon. It shows a lot of people bearing their testimony who came into the church through reading the Book of Mormon. It is really a neat video. Most people work and it's hard to get them during the day so we'll check apartments during the day and visit members in the evening. We have plenty to keep us busy and I'm much better off when I'm busy and don't have time to think how far away from home we are and worry that the people here don't know how to talk right! The language is still an issue with me. It's like I have a mind block against learning it. I guess my problem is that I just don't want to take all the time I know it's going to take to learn it. Maybe while we're doing all this traveling around would be a good time to practice. There is so much to learn and to study and to know. My poor old brain is on overload most of the time. Dad is a great missionary. His knowledge and grasp of the scriptures is amazing. He has been so patient with me while I'm trying to adjust to all this new stuff. I'm always amazed at hos lost we can be and how calm he is figuring out where we are and where we need to go and pretty soon we are on the right road again. Know that we love you. We thank you for your faith and confidence in us and for the support we feel from you. You are what makes our lives complete. Much love always, Mom

Letter from Dad 10/24

Dear family,
Mom said I have not been carrying my fair share of the letter writing. Thatmay not change anytime soon, but I do want to stay in touch.Thanks for all of the letters, cards, pictures and stories. Each one helpsmake our days as missionaries a little brighter.A mission is quite an adventure. Where neither of us had "retired" nor satback and rocked gently into our later years, a mission is a "big"adjustment. For Zach and those who follow in his steps as younger elders andsisters the way each day is spent is mapped out pretty well and you usuallystep into missionary life on the run with a companion and in an area where alot is already going on.We have no set schedule. We have no required study schedule or subjectsother than becoming as well versed in "preach My Gospel" as possible. We hadno existing families with whom someone had already been working.Fortunately, each day we have a little more structure and a little moreroutine developed so we don't feel quite so lost!We love the Spirit and His influence with families and individual memberswith whom we come into contact. The Spirit is so gentle. Seeing people'slives touched for good and their desire to do better grow stronger is justfun to become a part of and to feel what they are feeling. Last night ayoung lady who will be a member for one year next month and who wants to goon a mission then, was telling me about how sometimes she argues more thanshe shoud with her non-member dad. Then she said, "but, I am working on it".I encouraged her to tell her dad as well that she is working on it. Shestopped, thought about it, and swaid, "I will." That was a good feeling. We love you guys.Go to go.
Love aways, Dad

From Mom 10/25

Dear Family, Cindy, I'll send this to you to forward to everyone this week. Thank you for the picture of Kaitlyn. What a doll! I wish we were more computer literate and could post something on the Price family fridge. We enjoy looking at that and seeing all the pictures and reading the comments. Maybe when we good "hooked up" on our own place, we will try to get something on there. We are leaving again tomorrow on another 3 day trip to finish up the apartment inspection assignment. This time we go to the Stuttgart area and outlying cities. Zone conferences start next week and President Rakow----or I should say Sister Rakow wants the information so she can talk to the Elders and Sisters about their apartments. Most of them are okay. Elders don't think much about wiping spots off the walls and it's like a novel idea to them when we encourage them to do that but they seem to appreciate the suggestion. We've met some awesome missionaries. One of them was #1 in his class at West Point and left here to serve a mission. He's a #1 missionary too. I've never met anyone so incerely interested in people as he is. I'm betting that he will be an assistant to the president before his mission is over. We haven't had a lot of time to work with people in our ward but have done some vsiting with them. It's interesting the things we take for granted that they don't think of, like praying together as a family and as a couple and reading scriptures. They do that on Sunday. The other night we met with a family who have lots of challenges. We asked the member part of the family if they pray together about these problems and she said she said her prayers and she thought h prayed but no, they hadn't prayed together about them. As we left, she said, You can be sure we will be praying together tonight. Thanks for the suggestion." I feel more all the time our job here is to encourage and to strengthen. We'll leave the baptizing up to the young Elders and Sisters and try to offer support to those who are new coming into the church. I'm going to stop for now and write more in just a minute. This computer lets you write for just a few minutes and then everything disappears so part 2 coming right up! Hello again, just wanted to tell you a neat experience we heard in the investigators class on Sunday. There is a family of 5 who are scheduled for baptism on the 3rd of December. The teacher asked the mother of this family if she would like to share her thoughts about this decision. The mother is a member and has been for a long time but has also been very inactive for a long time. They were sent here to Germay with the military. Her husband is a pilot. They live on base in military housing and one day she was out with her little girl in the play ground and heard a little girl singing, "I Am a Child of God!. The song sounded familiar to her and for the first time in a long time, she started thinking about the church. Then one day, she saw the same little girl and this time she was with her mother. This woman said she knew this mother was a member of the church because she could see a "glow" about her and a sparkle in her eye that she recognized. So she went up to her and asked if she was a Mormon. The óther mother said she was and was curious why she would ask. Anyway, to make a long story short, they struck up a friendship and the members asked if she would like to come to church. For a long time, this inactive members said she wasn't ready to start going to church but through just being kind and friendly and genuinely interested in this inactive family, they decided to come to church with them. And the rest is history. Everyone in the ward was so friendly to them. They have 2 teen age boys and the boys in this ward are just great welcoming new people. The father felt very much accepted and interested and soon the missionaries we asked to visit the family and now a date has been set for their baptism. And it all started with a 3 year old singing, "I Am a Child of God" as she was out playing. They are a wonderful family and this mother just regrets that she has stayed away for so long. She said she feels like she has "come home" again. I don't know that we will have any baptisms and that's okay. It's just a wonderful feeling sharing these experiences and being there to love and support people coming into the church. I realize that being so far away from the center of the church and being so spread out compared to our wards at home is a challenge and how important it is to have any contact with members to help keep us strong. The bishop asked us to visit any members of the ward we could for that very reason. Thank all of you for your letters and pictures and stories. It's so nice to hear about everyone and everything that is going on. I'm sure you're all looking forward to Halloween and all the fun that brings. How is the football team doing in playoffs, Michael? And Nate, any word on graduate school yet? Zach, you look like you're having way too much fun!!! Go for it! What a pretty girl you have! Congratualations Owen on the good job you're doing in soccar. Everyone is just great and very much loved. I'm so glad you're all working hard and doing well in school and with you're other activities. Know that you are in our thoughts and prayers every day. I think I'm going to be homesick for the full 18 months! Love, Mom