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
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
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