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
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
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