From Mom 2/22

Dear Family,

I’ll start this letter while Dad is playing with his new “toy”. He convinced President Rakow that we could use a cell phone and it came today. It has all the bells and whistles you would ever want. He told the company he got it from that he wants just a basic phone. This one you can do e-mails on, it has a camera on it, an alarm clock, you can put in appointments----just everything and he’s busy figuring it out. It will be nice to have one when we’re out of town a ways and needing to be to an appointment and running late which happens quite often. And if we do the apartment inspection again this spring, it will be good to be able to call the missionaries and have them tell us where they live. Here they call cell phones “Handys”. We had to sign a two year contract but the payments are just $20 a month with unlimited minutes and you can call anywhere in Germany. We’ll just pass it on to the couple who takes our place when we leave next year.

This week has been a little slow as I’ve been a little slow. I guess I had a bad sinus infection. I had a whopper of a headache and was so dizzy I could hardly stand up. At one time we thought it was an inner ear infection and it may have been but today I’m feeling much better. We stayed in all day Saturday and Sunday but we’ve had appointments every day this week. Monday we had district meeting. Out district leader finished his mission this week so Sister Holzer made pizza and I made a big green salad and took some drinks and we had lunch together for a little farewell for Elder Boos. That night we found out that one of the Elders who work in our ward here was also transferred so we were extra glad that we had made our district meeting a little extra special. One thing that’s consistent in missionary work is change. We’re so hoping that we will be here until the end of the school year at least. President Rakow told our bishop here that we would be here for at least 6 months. That would be the end of May. Our president doesn’t like anyone getting too comfortable in one place.

Petra is still our # 1 priority for time. We feel it is so important to meet regularly with people right after they have been baptized. Petra has had a lot of questions asked her about the church since she joined. The one on polygamy is one we’re happy to have behind us. Another things she has been bombarded with is why she would join a church that puts so many restrictions on its members----“Mormons can’t do this and they can’t do that and on and on”. She went to stake conference on Sunday with some people in the ward. (We missed it because Sunday I could hardly sit up without getting sick to my stomach.) Anyway when we went to see her on Tuesday she said she got the answer to what to say to these people when they start in on all the restrictions. Elder Hilbig was at stake conference and he told a story of when he and his family were in Switzerland where he served as a mission president. Two of his sons had been asked by their friends to go to a movie with them. The Hilbigs talked it over and decided their boys could go. But when the kids got to the theatre and saw some of the posters about the movie, they decided it probably wasn’t a good idea for them to see it. They told their friends they weren’t going to go but that they would be their waiting for them when the movie was over. The friends didn’t believe they would be there but they were. Later on one of the friends asked one of the Hilbig boys why they would want to belong to a church that told them you can’t do this and you can’t do that to so many things. The boy answered, “Oh, we can do those things but we don’t want to do them.” Petra was so impressed with that story and said that’s how she can answer those questions put to her. When she has a question, she really tries to find the answer in the scriptures and is very diligent in her studies. We talked to the bishop last night about home teachers and visiting teachers for her and asked that he would see if some dependable people could be assigned to her. He agreed that that’s very important right now.

We’re off to the grocery store. I’ll finish this later.

Well, we made it back from the store. We ran out of everything this week! Then we had dinner and went to another appointment. This was with a family who lives in this building. It is a part member family. The mother is a member and has wanted their 12 year old son to be baptized. She is inactive because of having to work every Sunday. The father is Catholic. He told us tonight that he was forced to go to church when he was young and now has no interest in any church. He also said it was up to his son if he wanted to go to church and if he wanted to be baptized. I think Dad was very wise when he asked if we could come when both parents were home so they, especially the father, would know exactly what their son was being taught. They both agreed to that and the father said it would be no problem getting his son to church if he really wanted to go. Dad is very bold. He doesn’t beat around the bush------well, some of the time he doesn’t beat around the bush, especially when it comes to talking about the church. He likes to get things out in the open so there are no surprises when it comes to the church. We have an appointment to start teaching him, Christopher, next Tuesday. I think my job will be to keep his “chatter box” little 3 year old sister entertained! She is a character and is so cute. So all in all it has been a good day. We have clean clothes, we have food and best of all, we have another person to teach the gospel to. Christopher is a really nice young man. He will be in Dad’s deacon’s quorum class and all the kids from 12 to 18 meet together for Sunday school so he will have a good time with them. We’re hoping this will be a good experience for him.

Our dear friend Stephanie, who has been in the hospital-----the one who told Dad what to say when she wanted a blessing----is struggling. The doctors wanted to give her some very strong medicine and she didn’t want to take it. Her argument was, “this is my body and you can’t force me to take it.” When they insisted, she called the police. They came and she told them what was going on so they called her guardian and a judge and the decision was made to move Stephanie to another hospital. I don’t know what will happen now. It is out of our area but is still in our district so we’re going to try to get permission to go see her. She is a character! She thinks she knows what is best for her when in reality she really doesn’t. She has some serious emotional problems and is kind of in and out of reality a good deal of the time. Last night the bishop counseled us to be her friend but not to get too taken in with her. That was wise counsel because I have worried so much about her. We’ve visited her regularly while she has been here and have taken her little treats. Tuesday we didn’t take anything and she asked us why we didn’t bring her anything. That’s when doing favors for people isn’t enjoyable anymore. Yesterday we took her some Jelly-Belly’s and some batteries for her CD player. She was taken to this other hospital today so it will be a few days before we can visit her, that is if we get permission to do that. Some people have so many challenges in life. Stephanie has certainly had her share.

Last night we both had good experiences with seminary and institute. Dad had five young people in his class and he said they did most of the talking. That’s what a good teacher does, get the class discussing things. In my class, I’m always self conscious of the fact that I don’t speak German but the three sisters that were there who do speak some English were very kind. I kept asking if they understood what I was saying and they said yes they did. I never cease to be amazed at what the Spirit does. We discussed the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants on the degrees of glory and we had a very interesting discussion. The teacher always learns more than the students and I am grateful for the opportunity to study for and teach this class. I don’t know if I told you that I have been asked to teach the 3rd Sunday in Relief Society while we’re here. I love the teaching of President Kimball and am looking forward to that. It will be a new experience to have to say a few things and wait for it to be translated but having to do that means I have to prepare just half as much material!! How thankful I am to have this time to study the gospel. Because we can’t study anything else, it’s a good reason to not get sidetracked by all those great church history novels but I do want someone to send me one of those in about a year so I can read it on the plane on the way home!

I’ll close by sending you this funny little thing written by a black man in Texas. Uncle Jay sent it to me and I got such a kick out of it.

When I born, I black,
when I grow up, I black,
when I go in sun, I black,
when I cold, I black,
when I scared, I black,
when I sick, I black,
and when I die, I still black.

You white folks…..
when you born, you pink,
when you grow up, you white,
when you go in sun, you red,
when you cold, you blue,
when you scared, you yellow,
when you sick, you green,
when you bruised, you purple,
and when you die, you gray.
So who you callin’ colored folks?

With that “spiritual thought”, I’ll call it good for this week. How we do love every one of you. I’m grateful for the experiences we are having and for the people we are meeting but you will always be the most important part of my life.

Much love always,
Mom

From Dad 2/22

Good morning priesthood holders,

It has been totally amazing to see the growth and new strength that has come into our family the past few months. It is amazing to realize mom and I have almost been on our mission for 6 months! You would continue to also be amazed at mom’s growth and confidence in the work. There are so many times she adds a testimony or a scripture that is just what is needed to support and strengthen the individual we are teaching. We learn quickly the Spirit is the one doing the teaching. It is so fun to see individuals progress and grow in their faith to live the gospel.

Our institute class is fast expanding into a full institute program. Mom and I are only two and we have many responsibilities on our mission. The ward understands for the full activities to take place their further involvement in working with the young single adults is necessary. We are thankful for the willingness they have expressed to step in and provide some of the services and hours needed to make this possible. This will be the first year Especially For Youth will be offered the young people here in their own language and country. There will also be a gathering for a young single adult conference this summer as well. These have been taking place for the past three years. We had 5 at institute last night and 1 has been encouraged by the bishop to begin processing missionary papers. We think of Zach and Michael and Clark to follow. What an exciting time for Zach! Chris’s letter to us this week told the story of how such a call that will surely come to Zach has already started to pull on her heart strings.

How good it is to see the growth in the other young men coming up in the family. Michael has had such a good year. It will be interesting to see what adding girls to the mix for Michael and Clark will bring (if my word order seems a little weird it is the same reason I had to take “bonehead English” the semester after returning from Germany the first time).
Each priesthood holder has unique gifts and opportunities in life. We enjoy so much knowing what is going on and how everyone is progressing. We encourage each of you to keep us posted. We want your successes and challenges to be felt, shared, and loved by everyone.

It scares me to death each time I walk into an institute class and realize each one there can teach as well or better than I. They need take no backseat to anyone. Mom encourages me to follow the rule of listening at least as much of the time as I spend talking. It takes more confidence (I am learning) to listen than it does to talk. The results are always amazing to me. Probably the most important thing I have learned is when others are talking the Spirit can coach me what it is I should be doing or saying next. Mom continues to be my best teacher as all of you have already experienced and accepted. The Lord made no mistake when mothers were placed in charge of nurturing in the family.

We are glad Nate was protected though being very sore for sure. We continue to be grateful and blessed for the many protections each one of you is given in your activities. We look forward each week to new events and moments of progress and adventure in each of your lives. Thanks for your letters and pictures. Mom will continue to keep her role of being the glue that holds our family together. I love her letters. What I am interested in pursuing is our looking at family and life from the blessings and responsibility for leadership our Heavenly Father has chosen to give to the men side of the family. Your input is always welcome and appreciated.

Love always,

Dad and Grandpa (to those who have or are in the process of going out on their own after high school)

From Mom 2/15

Dear Family,
This has been a long but wonderful day. We had to get up extra early to be ready to leave for Stuttgart by 7 o’clock. It’s about a 2 hour drive. Elder and Sister Holzer rode with us and it was a very enjoyable trip. They are from Bountiful and have worked in the temple there the past 6 years. They are just wonderful people. I hope our friendship continues long after we are done with our missions. This is their second mission to Germany and they lived here with their family for three years while Brother Holzer was working as a civilian for the military here. Brother Holzer has had lots of experiences and has lots of stories to share.

There were four zones together for the meetings today. Elder Hilbig is a member of the 2nd quorum of seventy. He served his mission here when he was young and served as a mission president in the Swiss-Austria mission. Then he was the legal counsel for the church for all of central Europe so he has some strong ties here. The whole theme of the conference was on the Holy Ghost. I think we all came away with a new feeling of how important the Holy Ghost is in our lives and especially in missionary work. This is just one quote he gave: “In short, the Holy Ghost is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.” Regarding missionary work, it is the Holy Ghost that teaches and testifies. Our challenge is to so live our lives that we can have the Holy Ghost with us at all times. These few words don’t even begin to explain the feelings and spirit that were in that meeting. It was a spiritual feast. Sunday he will be at our stake conference in Nurnberg. He and his wife are just a wonderful team to motivate missionaries. They are so friendly and so personable.

Sunday was another great day. Petra was so excited about being confirmed and receiving the Holy Ghost. Sitting by her during the sacrament service was another very special experience. She was so looking forward to being able to partake of the sacrament. She watched so closely everything that was done. As the tray came to her, she partook of the bread and of the water ever so reverently with tears in her eyes. I realized how much I had taken that for granted. Watching her and feeling her spirit reminded me of what a special and important part or our Sacrament meeting that is.

We got past the big “P” (polygamy) issue with Petra Tuesday night. One of the women she works with had heard she had joined the church and asked her if she knew the Mormons practice polygamy. She was shocked and was sure that wasn’t true and the minute we got in the door she started pumping us with questions. She just couldn’t believe it when we told her it had been practiced at one time in the church. We told her the purpose of it and Dad spent about 2 hours talking to her----all in German. But I could tell by the look on her face and the body language that she was not impressed. She just couldn’t believe that Heavenly Father would permit that. I thought we were going to have to undo everything that had been done. Then she turned to me and said something like, “Sister Price, you’re a woman. Do you really believe Heavenly Father would ask people to do that?” When I said I knew he had asked that of some of the members of the church and that it was a very difficult thing and a very trying time in the church. Then she said, “How would you feel if your husband was married to another woman and one time was living with you and another time living with her.” My answer was, “I guess it would have to depend on how committed I was to following the prophet. If he asked me to do it, I would do it.” That answer seemed to settle her feelings. She could accept that and that was the end of the discussion. By then we had been there three and a half hours and she needed to be to work in a half hour. Today when we got home from our meeting, there was a message on the answering machine from her, “Can you come over tomorrow afternoon. I’m ready for a “hot” discussion over the scriptures!” We don’t know what to expect but we better get a good rest and spend some time on our knees before we go. She loves to study from the scriptures and she wants to know a lot about the churches stand on things. She will be a wonderful member of the church. She is looking forward to stake conference on Sunday and has asked some people in the ward to ride over with her. We are taking the Elders with us.

We are giving the new member discussions to two men on our ward. One was baptized a year ago but there was no follow up. The other one was baptized in September and the same thing happened. We have been meeting with the first one ever since we came to Wurzburg. They are the ones we helped move. They have been talking about getting ready to go to the temple. We talked to them about the importance of setting a goal of a time to go and Sunday they set a goal of going on August 21. That is the anniversary of their first date. They we almost completely inactive and were not happy in their marriage or with anything else. Now they very seldom miss church and that is only when they have to work. They told us not long ago that since they have been going to church regularly everything is better for them. Their marriage is better and things are going better with their jobs and they are just happier. What a testimony! Sunday he helped administer to the sacrament and she gave a wonderful talk on the importance of being an example of what we believe.

The other man we have been meeting with is really smart. He has a doctorate in German literature and philosophy. In some ways he is too smart. He has a few “far out” ideas about the scriptures. We just started all over with the first discussion and will go through them reviewing those basic principles of the gospel again with him. Monday was our second meeting with him and the spirit during our meeting was completely different from the week before. The week before it seemed like he was trying to impress us with his great knowledge of the scriptures, and he does have a good knowledge of them. But this week he seemed to enjoy just sharing his testimony of the truths that were being presented about our Heavenly Father and the restoration of the gospel. We are having lots of wonderful, spiritual experiences.

When we got home today, the Valentine video was in the mailbox. We got out of our missionary clothes and put on our relaxing clothes and put the video on. What a lot of fun it was to see you and hear from you! Thank you so much! The only problem was that it made me even more lonesome for you. Sister Holzer told me today that she was homesick the whole time they were on their first mission and she’s finding the same thing is happening this time. We both shed some tears as we talked about our families on the way home from Stuttgart. I was glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one who is still battling homesickness.

Last night we had our first planned activity for the young single adults. We had a pizza party after seminary and institute. The kids brought pizza to be baked in the kitchen at the church. I made a big green salad and we brought some drinks. It was fun just sitting around a big table eating and just talking. They want to do this once a month and already are planning a bowling party for next month. There were just 5 kids there but they had a good time and were talking about who they will invite next time. I guess it’s good to get going even when the numbers are small and hopefully build a bigger program.

It has rained for a week but today was a beautiful day. Maybe spring really is coming. Everyone talks about how beautiful Wurzburg is in the summer. We’re looking forward to seeing that for ourselves. I hope we will be here for the summer. Our mission president is one who doesn’t like anyone to get too comfortable in a place so we could be here or we could be somewhere else. Only time will tell.

We are studying for our drivers test. We don’t have to drive but we have to take the written test. We’ve finally made it through the book the first time. Now we want to go back and review and then take the practice test and see what we still need to work on. This is costing us a bunch of money. So far we’ve spent $260. It would be just our luck to get transferred to Austria when we finally get through all this. Idaho driver’s licenses are accepted there. We’ll be glad to get this all behind us. We have until the 19th of March to get everything done.

We are all anxious to hear where Zach will be living the next couple of years. Once those papers are in, in becomes a real thing. We hope everyone is over the “crud”. There sure has been a lot of sickness in our ward here. We need sunshine! We also hope the weather is good wherever Russ and Camille might be at this time. Where are the Gold kids staying?

Know that you are loved and missed and prayed for every day. Thanks for the letters and the prayers and the encouragement. We need it and we appreciate it

Much love,
Mom

From Mom 2/8

Dear Family,

I’m glad to hear it’s warming up a bit for you. January sounds like quite the wintry month. We just keep getting rain. Yesterday we had to go to Nurnburg for interviews with the mission president and it rained hard all the way there and back. We were just thankful that it was warm enough that it didn’t snow. We’ve had three straight days of rain. It’s no wonder that the fields and grass everywhere is so green. I hope all this rain now doesn’t mean no rain in the summer. There is no sign of any kind of irrigation other than what they get from the rain.

This had been a week of mixed experiences. Petra’s baptism was a high point for us. We met with her Monday and again today. She just glows when she opens the door to her apartment. She is very happy about the decision she has made. Today she told us today that she has never relied on faith before and that she always had to have things proven to her but she realizes now that she has to rely on faith. The specific thing she is referring to is that the man she wants to confirm her is an older man and had a partial stroke a few years ago. The bishop was a bit concerned about him confirming Petra because of this but then said he would be there and prompt Bro. Meyer if he needed help. Petra said she had the faith that Bro. Meyer would be able to do this. Brother Meyer is 82 years old. His wife is the one who is still not baptized. Petra asked her to give the closing prayer at her baptism and she did it. She had her prayer written down and she went to the pulpit, put on her glasses and read it but it was a beautiful prayer. They dearly love Petra and she loves them. We really think that Petra will be the one who convinces Sis. Meyer to be baptized some day. Another thing she told us today was that she can hardly wait to get home from work so she can read in the Book of Mormon. She has been reading in 3rd Nephi and she loves it. Regardless of what has gone wrong in the day, visiting with Petra just brightens the day for us.

On the other end----we have been meeting with an active couple ever since we came to Wurzburg. In fact, they are the ones we had Christmas dinner with. They hadn’t been to church for over a year but have attended a few times since then. We have met with them almost every week. He works out of town and is gone all week and we told the wife that we would be glad to come and visit her once a week so every night she wasn’t alone. She liked that idea so that’s what we have been doing. We read in the Book of Mormon with her and have really enjoyed our visits with her. Last Friday night she called and asked us if we would have some time for them the next day. We told her we would and we went over Saturday evening. We talked for a few minutes than she told us the reason she had called and asked us to come was to tell us that she didn’t want us to come anymore and that she didn’t want any kind of contact from the church and to tell the Bishop and R.S. president that. She told us it was nothing personally against us but that’s what she wanted for the time being. Then she left the room. Her husband said he didn’t want it this way but felt like he had to support his wife in her decision. He asked us if we would be willing to come and visit him when he’s home on weekends and his wife is working. We told him we would as long as his wife knew that we were doing that. She told us a couple of months ago that she just wanted to go inactive in the church----she still wants to be a member but just an inactive member. But from the discussions we’ve had with her we felt like things were coming along for her. It was a total surprise to us. I should say it was a shock to us and we’ve talked about it every day wondering what brought this about and what we could do. I guess praying for her and leaving it in the Lord’s hands is all we can do at this point. We come home from appointments like that just completely exhausted.

Another thing that has happened is with one of the young adults who meet with us for FHE. She has some emotional problems but has seemed so good. But ever since Christmas we’ve noticed a change in her. She has become afraid of everything. We have to walk with her to her bus stop which is just down the hill from the church and she has called real late at night telling us that she’s afraid and that she can’t sleep. At our FHE a week ago, she wanted to leave early and asked if I would walk to the bus stop with her. She just seemed really agitated and angry and I tried to talk to her but she just wouldn’t listen to anything. We called her the next morning and asked her if we could meet with her that evening. We even told her we would take her out to dinner and talk then and she sounded pretty happy about that. Then just before we were going to leave, she called and said her guardian had come to see her and felt like she needed to be hospitalized for awhile to get her medications straightened out and that he was taking her to the hospital right then. We were advised by the guardian not to go see her until he called and said it was okay. So that’s what we did. Then she called and asked if Dad would come and give her a blessing and proceeded to tell him exactly what she wanted him to say. The main thing was that she wouldn’t gain a lot of weight with the medicine they had her on. I guess this had happened once before and she gained 60 pounds. Well, when we got there she was very agitated again and when Dad asked her if she still wanted a blessing she asked him if he would say what she wanted him to say. Dad told her that he would say what the Lord wanted him to say and that really upset her. She told him she didn’t want the blessing and said we could leave. I put on my coat and walked over and sat down on the bed beside her and tried to reason with her, telling her that we don’t tell the priesthood what to say and those priesthood blessings come through inspiration. She was still pretty belligerent. But we just kept talking and finally she consented to receiving a blessing. The first thing Dad did was rebuke the evil spirits that were inside her and the minute he did that, she relaxed. He went on and gave her a beautiful blessing. No, he didn’t bless her that she wouldn’t gain weight but did bless her that she would get the proper nutrition and that she would be able to control her appetite. He also blessed her that she would have a clear mind but to be patient and willing to let those taking care of her give her the care she needed. She was really tired then and just wanted to sleep so we helped her get settled in her bed and left. We went to see her today. It is her birthday and we took her a gift. Her mother and sister and her boyfriend we there and she was in much better spirits and didn’t want us to leave but we had an appointment we had to get to. We were encouraged about the progress we saw in her and will try to visit her at least every other day. She has come to rely on us for a lot of things. She is really smart. She translates the lesson in Relief Society. If the lesson is given in German, she translates to English and if the lesson is in English, she translates to German. She is really good about making sure that everyone understands when different languages are used.

Oh, for the life of a missionary. Look at all these experiences we would have missed had we not come on a mission. As hard as it is, we are thankful we are here and are having these experiences and meeting so many wonderful people. It’s so nice to have another couple in our district that we get to be with every week in our district meetings. The Holzers are such nice people. Next Thursday we are driving to Stuttgart together for the meeting with Elder Hilbig from the seventy. We got our orders to have clean suits, haircuts, shined shoes and look our very best. It sounds like it’s going to be a wonderful time.

We are so excited about Zack getting his papers in for his mission. We’ll be as anxious to find out where he is going as we were to find out where we were going. And what a great thing to be on a mission at the same time and be able to share our experiences.

We’ll be thinking of Russ and Camille sunbathing on the deck of the ship while we’re walking with our umbrellas in the rain and overcast skies. But like I said, all this rain sure makes everything beautiful.

We love all of you so very much and we really miss you. We love to hear of all the goings on with all the kids and everyone else. Know that you are in our prayers daily. Thank you for the love and support we feel from you. It’s past our bedtime so I’ll close for now.

Much love,
Mom

From Mom 2/4

Dear Family,

It happened! It really happened!! Petra was baptized this evening and it was a wonderful experience. We honestly didn’t know if it was going to happen until the very last day.

We visited her every day this week and Friday she told us she didn’t think she would have made it without our daily visits. When we went to her home to meet her to drive to the church for the baptism, she said Satan had really been working on her today and she was really nervous but she was ready to go. Here daughter who lives a couple hours away from here had come on Friday to be here for her Mom’s baptism. Last night we had a long talk with her about the church. Today Peta’s best friend was at her house when we got there and had lots of questions. At the baptism she talked to several members of the ward asking questions about the church and seems very interested. She is from Poland originally and has had a rough life. She is Catholic but is open to new ideas. She was very impressed with the baptism and the friendliness of the people.

After she had been baptized, Petra just kept saying, “I’m clean. I’m clean. I’m just like a newborn baby.” She said she had such a warm feeling and was just overwhelmed with the number of people who attended the baptism. Everyone brought food so we had a nice meal afterwards and everyone seemed to enjoy just staying and visiting.

We had asked Petra if she would like to bear her testimony and she said she would. But she had prepared a wonderful talk to introduce herself and to tell her experience of coming into the church. She has a strong testimony. She told of being brought up in East Germany where religion was not even talked about. Even 5 or 6 months ago she didn’t even believe in God but it was about then that she came to church the first time with her American boyfriend. She enjoyed the feeling she had in Sacrament meeting but didn’t care for Sunday School and went home feeling like she didn’t have any idea what was being talked about. It was 3 months later that she started feeling something for the church and that was about when we first met her. We feel it was a real privilege and blessing to be able to teach her and we also feel like it was the efforts put forth by the whole ward that helped her come into the church. People have been so friendly. Petra is such a friendly, loving person herself so it isn’t difficult to get acquainted with her and to love her.

We’ll send another E-mail with pictures. The younger girl in black is her daughter and the blond is her best friend and the gray are your parents!

Love ya lots,

Mom

From Mom 2/1

Dear Family,

Sometimes it seems like we have been here forever, not for just 5 months and yet the weeks seem to just fly by. We’ve had a busy week and a variety of experiences. The couple’s conference in Munich was a wonderful experience. There are 7 couples and 2 adult single sisters in our mission. If I remember right, another couple is due here this week. There is only one couple going home this year. The rest of us came within just a few short weeks of each other so a year from now there will be a big turnover. It was nice meeting and sharing experiences with senior missionaries. We rode to Munich on a train and President and Sister Rakow and the two assistants met us then we went directly to “The Residence”. This is a museum that was once the palace of the king and queen way back in the 15 and 16 hundreds. As we walked through it and saw all the gold and silver and beautiful paintings and beautiful dishes and silverware, statues, etc., I couldn’t help but think of how the Book of Mormon describes the things King Noah had built with the taxes he imposed upon the people. That’s probably how these buildings were built and I’m sure there were very few people at that time who had much to do with the palace and all its elaborate decorations but who paid a high price to have it built. There is so much history here. The couple in Vienna, Austria has enjoyed many wonderful music concerts there. Couples we have been working with here in Wurzburg have told us that as soon as the weather warms up a bit they will be our personal guides on a tour of some of the historic places here. One place we are looking forward to seeing is a castle that sits up on a hill overlooking the city. It is lit up at night and is a beautiful site. It is 1300 years old and was the home the arch bishop who was the religious as well as the political leader of this area.

Back to the conference. After the tour at the museum, we checked into the hotel and an hour later were driven to the mission home for a nice meal and then a wonderful evening with President and Sister Rakow. They had asked us to think of a clever way of introducing our companions, telling a little about them and how we met, etc, etc, etc. That was fun and interesting. Then President and Sister Rakow surprised us with a musical number. President Rakow plays the base fiddle and Sister Rakow plays the piano very well and they did a jazz number. No, it was nothing out of the hymn book or anything the Tabernacle Choir sings. It was fun to see them in this role. Then it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep and a really nice, but early breakfast before going to one of the chapels (the one we went to when we were in Munich) for a variety of workshops and instructions.

It’s nice to know that we all share the same frustrations and concerns and to share ideas and feelings. We ended with a testimony meeting. We find that there isn’t one couple who hasn’t had challenges in their family and has felt their family has been blessed by their being on a mission. Munich had a lot of snow and it snowed most of the day on Saturday. It looked so different that it did when we were there in the fall. I had a hard time figuring out where we were a lot of the time. But then that’s how it was most of the time we were there, so what’s new! Then it was back to catch the train. President and Sister Rakow were at the train station with us until the last couple left Munich. I am so impressed with the dedication of mission Presidents and their wives.

Sunday morning we panicked when Petra wasn’t at church. We went straight to her place after church and found her in tears. Her boyfriend, who had introduced her to the church, had called her the night before and told her how much he loved her and during the same call became verbally abusive to her and really upset her. She hadn’t felt like she could pray or read her scriptures and told us she just couldn’t be baptized because she felt so confused. We spent three hours with her. She was exhausted and said she wanted to sleep. We called her later that night and she said she was feeling better and had had a good rest. Then the next morning, she called early and told us she had read in her Book of Mormon until 11:30 and had prayed and had had a “fine” sleep. We met with her that afternoon and have met with her at 8:15 every morning this week. This morning she said that she really appreciated our daily visits and didn’t feel like she would have made it without them. We will visit her again in the morning and then at 5 o’clock on Saturday. This morning she told us what songs she wants to sing and who she wants to give the prayers at her baptism. She has also chosen the ones who will talk on baptism and the on Holy Ghost and seems very excited about her baptism. It looks pretty promising that this is really going to happen.

We have to get a German drivers license by the end of March. This is really quite an ordeal. We have to take a 6 hour Red Cross course. We have had to have an eye examination. We have about 240 pages of information to study. It show pictures of different driving situations and then asks the question, “What do you have to reckon with in this situation”. One of the questions was what we have to “reckon” with when we see a sign indicating there may be farm animals on the highway. One of the correct answers was, “a dirty highway.” By the way, the Red Cross course is NOT in English so Dad is going to have to listen for both of us and translate for me. Luckily, it is a hands-on course so hopefully we’ll be able to get by. There are only two states that Germany won’t honor the license and Idaho and Indiana are to two.

On the 15th of this month we will be going to Stuttgart with all the other missionaries in this part of our mission for a meeting with Elder Hilbig of the 2nd quorum of seventies. We have heard so many good things about him and are looking forward to that. He served a mission here and also served as a mission president here. He was the mission president of our stake president here and will be speaking at stake conference on the 18th. Next week we go to Nurnburg for interviews with the mission president. It seems like we’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately! We told the Elders we were going to give them the map and the Map-quest instructions for Nurnburg and they were going to be the navigators this time. We haven’t found the right way out of there yet!

We’ve been visiting a lot of part-member and inactive members and are so pleased with the response we are getting when we call. We visited a lady today who has been a member for 6 years but has been inactive most of the time. She has gone through a divorce but has remarried and wants to get back to church again. She asked us if we could bring her a Book of Mormon and wants us to teach her 9 year old daughter about the church. We have a return appointment next week. We have an appointment tomorrow with a man who has been a member of the church for about 15 years and was very active but when his sisters found out he had joined the church they were very angry with him and he just quit going. But he said he missed the church and feels like his only real friends have been the friends he had when he was active. We’ll see what happens there. Every day and every week is something new.

All the snow has melted and the last two days have been really nice. It feels like spring but I’m afraid it is a little too early for that! I guess they had lots of snow and cold weather last year and people are really surprised how mild this year has been. There is a lot of sickness though, especially with babies. We need some good cold weather to kill some of the germs that are floating around. We hope you are all feeling well. We’ve been doing a lot of walking and our backs are feeling better. We don’t seem quite as old as we did last week.

We hope all is well with all of you. I know that’s wishful thinking because life just doesn’t go that way very often but at least we’re all trying to make the best of everything. We must just keep trying to do our best and put our faith and trust in our Heavenly Father and everything will work out. Know that we love you and that you’re in our prayers many times each day.

Much love,

Mom

P.S.

I forgot to tell you about a fireside we had last night. The couple who wrote the song, “Nephi’s Courage” are friends to some people from this ward and were visiting and they gave a fireside on music and how it can help you get through rough times. They also told about the experience of writing that song about 15 years ago. The whole family helped and they made up all kinds of words and music until they got it right. It was really interesting and very uplifting. We’re grateful for the good music the church has