From Mom 3/15
Dear Family,
I’m a day late getting this written. Yesterday we spent most of the day “cramming” for our driver’s license test. We’ve had 56 booklets with 4 pages in each which contained 30 questions. If I figured that right, that’s 1800 questions. Of course, by the time we got through some of them, there were a lot of questions that were repeated but on nearly every page there was a new question. The test only had 35 questions but we had no idea what questions they would be. We both had different test so we couldn’t even cheat but we did okay. I missed one and Dad missed two. We now have a German driver’s license in our possession. We had to surrender our Idaho license but were told that these will do for identification at the airport or where ever we need ID and that they will be good for 6 months after we get home. What a hassle it has been! I think I told you we had to get our eyes checked, take an 8 hour Red Cross course and then all this material to study. We are relieved it is over and that we passed the test.
We’ve had a good week----haven’t done as much missionary work as we would have liked to because of this license thing hanging over our heads. We’ve done a lot of studying. I had to teach a Sunday School class on Sunday and an Institute class on Wednesday. Dad teaches the Deacons every Sunday and had to prepare his Seminary lesson for Wednesday plus we both prepared an English lesson that we taught to two people from here that are moving to Canada and want to know some English. I think helping teach that class will help me some with learning German. We worked mainly on greetings and names for family members. It was actually kind of fun. This is a fairly young couple who are just really nice. We hope we can get them interested in wanting to learn about the church. All that and then squeezing in the information for the drivers test every spare minute has pretty much burned out our brains!! We’re a day behind. Yesterday was P-Day and when our cleaning and washing and letter writing were to be done but we’re cheating a little and doing some of that stuff part of this day. I did manage to get the washing done yesterday. It gave me a good excuse to get away from the books once in awhile.
Petra met with the bishop Sunday and was called to be the Secretary in the Relief Society. She told us about it after church and is so excited. She will be sustained this coming Sunday. Both the Relief Society president and one of the counselors went with us on member visits while we were teaching Petra and they really hit it off well with each other. One of Petra’s big concerns has been what will happen when the army base closes and when we leave and I think this new calling has settled that issue in her mind. We are still meeting with her twice a week. When she has to go to work at 1 PM, we meet at 8:30 in the morning. That has been her schedule the last couple of weeks so our days start early. She is a lot of fun. She is a health foods nut and eats some meat but very little. She likes the “natural” things. She has a juicer and almost every time we go, she mixes us up a healthy drink. Fresh pineapple is my favorite so far. But carrot juice and some other things mixed with it isn’t too bad either. When the juice is red, I kind of hold my breath and just drink it. It has fresh beets and I don’t know what else in it but it isn’t one of our favorites. She took us a little ways out in the forest after church on Sunday and showed us some white garlic plants. You just eat the leaves and they are best when they’re young. She told us to come over at 5 o’clock that day and she would have some soup made. It was bright green but was really good. She just cooks a few potatoes until they are well done and then puts the garlic leaves in and blends it together. She said it is really good for you---cleans your blood and makes you younger. She said by the time she gets through with us our family won’t know us when we get home because we’ll look so young and be so healthy!! Those leaves are also good mixed in a green salad. You want to brush your teeth real well and maybe have a few breath mints before you go visit someone but it really is pretty good. She likes to tease Dad about his hat. Sunday was such a nice day. I just had a jacket on with my skirt but Dad had his hat and coat on and she really rubbed it in. Monday was also a nice day and we went for a walk and Dad actually took his hat and coat off. I called and left a message for Petra telling her that Elder Price went outside without his hat and she got a kick out of that. Now she calls us every day to ask us if we went for a walk and if Elder Price wore his hat. What a dear friend she has become. I hope this friendship will last for many years.
When we first got here to Wurzburg we were given the name of an inactive woman. It took us two months to get our first appointment with her and she told us she just didn’t know if it was really important to have religion in your life. She has been a member for about 20 years but has been inactive for quite awhile. We read some with her in the Book of Mormon and she seemed to enjoy that. We asked her if we could come back and she said we could but it was nearly 3 weeks before she could see us. Dad gave her a reading assignment and when we got there she told us she had read what he had asked her to read. When we asked her if we could come again, she said we could and this time was just 10 days. Yesterday she really got into the discussion and mentioned that she felt that knowing these things in the scriptures was really important and that she enjoyed reading in the Book of Mormon. We have another appointment with her next week. Yesterday when it was time to leave, she offered to say the prayer. That was the first time since we have been meeting with her. What a joy and privilege it is to meet with people and discuss the gospel with them. We are so thankful for this opportunity.
We met with another inactive man this week. He was married for over 35 years and then divorced. He said his ex wife and him are still good friends and get along better now that they are apart. He asked us how long we have been married and when we told him nearly 45 years he was really surprised. I guess the divorce rate here in Germany is really high and not many people stay married that long. He is such a nice man and we had a good discussion with him. Again, we read in the Book of Mormon together and he enjoyed it and has asked us to come again. What reading in the Book of Mormon does for people is a wonderful thing. Dad is so well read and knows right where to turn for the answers that people have. I’m so thankful for that. I’m more than happy to keep his clothes washed and his shirts ironed. He has to do double duty most of the time. I do most of the driving and feel maybe I’m contributing a little bit that way.
Our young friend, Thomas, from our FHE group is probably going to be baptized next week. His parents decided not to make his wait another year. He turns 17 tomorrow and this is their birthday gift to him----giving them their consent for him to be baptized. I think I told you about the former Seminary teacher who left and was looking into Scientology. Well, he decided he didn’t like that so he came back and attended church regularly, blessed the sacrament, came to FHE and helped teach the seminary class with Dad. Then all of a sudden he disappeared again. Thomas got an e-mail from him this week and he told Thomas that he was going to join the Old Catholic church again. He said he didn’t think people in the ward cared about him but this Catholic priest he had been talking to him had offered to give him the help he needs. Little does he know how many people care for him and have asked about him and been concerned for him and how many times the bishop has offered to help him. I think what it boils down to is that he was converted to the missionaries who taught him and to people who lived in the ward at that time who have since moved instead of being converted to the gospel. He e-mailed Dad this week and asked him what he had to do to get his name taken off the records of the church. Dad forwarded his e-mail to the bishop and the stake president. We don’t want to be involved in that decision and we hope and pray he will really think about things. Anyway, this has really shaken Thomas. He was going to have this man baptize him. Dad has talked to him (Thomas) every day this week and he seems to be doing okay. His testimony is still strong. He just thought so much of this man and is having a hard time accepting what he is doing. How important it is to keep our testimonies strong. We never know how our actions will affect others.
Spring is coming. This week has been beautiful every day----a bit chilly in the morning but in the 60’s by afternoon. We have enjoyed our walks in the sunshine. It sounds like you’ve getting some nice weather too. It seems impossible that the last quarter of school is coming up. The longer we are here, the faster time seems to be going.
I will close with a thought from our Institute class this week. So many people ask why our church has so many laws and commandments and I thought this was an excellent answer. It is from the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Although God’s laws are exact and immovable, they are revealed and given to mankind for one purpose---to bring to pass their ultimate joy. The Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and parental regard. He never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become recipients of his law and ordinances. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.”
That was kind of a long thought but I thought a good one. If people could only understand that there is a lot more to life than what we can acquire in this life, how much more meaning and purpose would life have for them.
Know that we love you, we miss you and you are always in our thoughts and prayers.
Much love,
Mom
I’m a day late getting this written. Yesterday we spent most of the day “cramming” for our driver’s license test. We’ve had 56 booklets with 4 pages in each which contained 30 questions. If I figured that right, that’s 1800 questions. Of course, by the time we got through some of them, there were a lot of questions that were repeated but on nearly every page there was a new question. The test only had 35 questions but we had no idea what questions they would be. We both had different test so we couldn’t even cheat but we did okay. I missed one and Dad missed two. We now have a German driver’s license in our possession. We had to surrender our Idaho license but were told that these will do for identification at the airport or where ever we need ID and that they will be good for 6 months after we get home. What a hassle it has been! I think I told you we had to get our eyes checked, take an 8 hour Red Cross course and then all this material to study. We are relieved it is over and that we passed the test.
We’ve had a good week----haven’t done as much missionary work as we would have liked to because of this license thing hanging over our heads. We’ve done a lot of studying. I had to teach a Sunday School class on Sunday and an Institute class on Wednesday. Dad teaches the Deacons every Sunday and had to prepare his Seminary lesson for Wednesday plus we both prepared an English lesson that we taught to two people from here that are moving to Canada and want to know some English. I think helping teach that class will help me some with learning German. We worked mainly on greetings and names for family members. It was actually kind of fun. This is a fairly young couple who are just really nice. We hope we can get them interested in wanting to learn about the church. All that and then squeezing in the information for the drivers test every spare minute has pretty much burned out our brains!! We’re a day behind. Yesterday was P-Day and when our cleaning and washing and letter writing were to be done but we’re cheating a little and doing some of that stuff part of this day. I did manage to get the washing done yesterday. It gave me a good excuse to get away from the books once in awhile.
Petra met with the bishop Sunday and was called to be the Secretary in the Relief Society. She told us about it after church and is so excited. She will be sustained this coming Sunday. Both the Relief Society president and one of the counselors went with us on member visits while we were teaching Petra and they really hit it off well with each other. One of Petra’s big concerns has been what will happen when the army base closes and when we leave and I think this new calling has settled that issue in her mind. We are still meeting with her twice a week. When she has to go to work at 1 PM, we meet at 8:30 in the morning. That has been her schedule the last couple of weeks so our days start early. She is a lot of fun. She is a health foods nut and eats some meat but very little. She likes the “natural” things. She has a juicer and almost every time we go, she mixes us up a healthy drink. Fresh pineapple is my favorite so far. But carrot juice and some other things mixed with it isn’t too bad either. When the juice is red, I kind of hold my breath and just drink it. It has fresh beets and I don’t know what else in it but it isn’t one of our favorites. She took us a little ways out in the forest after church on Sunday and showed us some white garlic plants. You just eat the leaves and they are best when they’re young. She told us to come over at 5 o’clock that day and she would have some soup made. It was bright green but was really good. She just cooks a few potatoes until they are well done and then puts the garlic leaves in and blends it together. She said it is really good for you---cleans your blood and makes you younger. She said by the time she gets through with us our family won’t know us when we get home because we’ll look so young and be so healthy!! Those leaves are also good mixed in a green salad. You want to brush your teeth real well and maybe have a few breath mints before you go visit someone but it really is pretty good. She likes to tease Dad about his hat. Sunday was such a nice day. I just had a jacket on with my skirt but Dad had his hat and coat on and she really rubbed it in. Monday was also a nice day and we went for a walk and Dad actually took his hat and coat off. I called and left a message for Petra telling her that Elder Price went outside without his hat and she got a kick out of that. Now she calls us every day to ask us if we went for a walk and if Elder Price wore his hat. What a dear friend she has become. I hope this friendship will last for many years.
When we first got here to Wurzburg we were given the name of an inactive woman. It took us two months to get our first appointment with her and she told us she just didn’t know if it was really important to have religion in your life. She has been a member for about 20 years but has been inactive for quite awhile. We read some with her in the Book of Mormon and she seemed to enjoy that. We asked her if we could come back and she said we could but it was nearly 3 weeks before she could see us. Dad gave her a reading assignment and when we got there she told us she had read what he had asked her to read. When we asked her if we could come again, she said we could and this time was just 10 days. Yesterday she really got into the discussion and mentioned that she felt that knowing these things in the scriptures was really important and that she enjoyed reading in the Book of Mormon. We have another appointment with her next week. Yesterday when it was time to leave, she offered to say the prayer. That was the first time since we have been meeting with her. What a joy and privilege it is to meet with people and discuss the gospel with them. We are so thankful for this opportunity.
We met with another inactive man this week. He was married for over 35 years and then divorced. He said his ex wife and him are still good friends and get along better now that they are apart. He asked us how long we have been married and when we told him nearly 45 years he was really surprised. I guess the divorce rate here in Germany is really high and not many people stay married that long. He is such a nice man and we had a good discussion with him. Again, we read in the Book of Mormon together and he enjoyed it and has asked us to come again. What reading in the Book of Mormon does for people is a wonderful thing. Dad is so well read and knows right where to turn for the answers that people have. I’m so thankful for that. I’m more than happy to keep his clothes washed and his shirts ironed. He has to do double duty most of the time. I do most of the driving and feel maybe I’m contributing a little bit that way.
Our young friend, Thomas, from our FHE group is probably going to be baptized next week. His parents decided not to make his wait another year. He turns 17 tomorrow and this is their birthday gift to him----giving them their consent for him to be baptized. I think I told you about the former Seminary teacher who left and was looking into Scientology. Well, he decided he didn’t like that so he came back and attended church regularly, blessed the sacrament, came to FHE and helped teach the seminary class with Dad. Then all of a sudden he disappeared again. Thomas got an e-mail from him this week and he told Thomas that he was going to join the Old Catholic church again. He said he didn’t think people in the ward cared about him but this Catholic priest he had been talking to him had offered to give him the help he needs. Little does he know how many people care for him and have asked about him and been concerned for him and how many times the bishop has offered to help him. I think what it boils down to is that he was converted to the missionaries who taught him and to people who lived in the ward at that time who have since moved instead of being converted to the gospel. He e-mailed Dad this week and asked him what he had to do to get his name taken off the records of the church. Dad forwarded his e-mail to the bishop and the stake president. We don’t want to be involved in that decision and we hope and pray he will really think about things. Anyway, this has really shaken Thomas. He was going to have this man baptize him. Dad has talked to him (Thomas) every day this week and he seems to be doing okay. His testimony is still strong. He just thought so much of this man and is having a hard time accepting what he is doing. How important it is to keep our testimonies strong. We never know how our actions will affect others.
Spring is coming. This week has been beautiful every day----a bit chilly in the morning but in the 60’s by afternoon. We have enjoyed our walks in the sunshine. It sounds like you’ve getting some nice weather too. It seems impossible that the last quarter of school is coming up. The longer we are here, the faster time seems to be going.
I will close with a thought from our Institute class this week. So many people ask why our church has so many laws and commandments and I thought this was an excellent answer. It is from the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Although God’s laws are exact and immovable, they are revealed and given to mankind for one purpose---to bring to pass their ultimate joy. The Great Parent of the universe looks upon the whole of the human family with a fatherly care and parental regard. He never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become recipients of his law and ordinances. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire.”
That was kind of a long thought but I thought a good one. If people could only understand that there is a lot more to life than what we can acquire in this life, how much more meaning and purpose would life have for them.
Know that we love you, we miss you and you are always in our thoughts and prayers.
Much love,
Mom
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