From Dad 5/10
Good morning!
What a great week! We are thankful for two from the heart letters from men in our family. Having life’s experiences shared is the glue that holds families together. There will always be challenges. The question we answer over and over again almost daily is will we succeed? As Paul Harvey defines it: “When I fall down, I get up again”.
So now there are three! Welcome to the mission field Zach. Some of the choicest days of your life lie straight ahead. How do you like the food? It is so nice how the elders are courteous to the sister and senior missionaries at meal time. Then of course there is the reward. No one ever asks or questions how many times an elder comes back for more food or what he puts on his plate! 750 people sharing a meal in one room rotating with another 750 two more times moves a lot of people and a lot of food through the mill. Mom talked with Chris for a few minutes and was happy to hear Zach was very excited to get started this week.
Tomorrow will be a fun and interesting work day for most of you. Some of us will enjoy your “work day” on Brent’s home from a distance. Please take lots of pictures and share. It is great how the family is becoming good at making lemonade out of our lemons in life. What a fun and exciting day for you Brent when all is in place and you are back in a “new” environment. We have loved hearing about some of the changes planned and look forward to seeing how it will look in the end.
We have spent most of our time this week with less active members. Mom mentioned our tennis friend, brother Vollrath. We have discussed Brother Peterson and the challenge he faces with his wife’s interest with the Jehovah Witnesses. We have a third man from England who has been a member for about 20 years. He and the mother of their three children have never married. He has been without work for several weeks now due to his weak understanding of the language and that he is 52. The mother, a school teacher, has found another “friend” and Tim is facing having to move to somewhere and to figure out what he will do for income and how often he can be with his three sons (13, 9, & 5). Brother Vollrath and Tim in the past week were amazed to learn we lived with our Father in Heaven before we were born. King Benjamin (Mosiah 1J taught his sons an interesting principle. He said, “Were it not for these (scriptures) that we might read and understand and always have before our eyes, even our fathers (Lehi and Nephi) would have dwindled in unbelief, knowing nothing of these things”. At one time both of these men had a strong understanding and witness of the truth of where we were before we were born.
Ron Peterson and I have been talking on the phone each week. This week we were able to pray together. Before our time came to a close this week he said, “I can feel and see a difference in how I am treating the other members in my family. The contention is decreasing. It is more pleasant being around home. The influence of the gospel has made me a lot happier and I feel more at peace with my life.” He too has some financial challenges ahead and how he will handle them. We hope enough of a base for living the gospel can be rebuilt in his life that none of these challenges will become too much for their family. He is within a few years of retirement and out of work at present. We hope he will continue to work toward allowing the Lord to help him find answers. For Tim it is losing his family. For brother Vollrath it was facing the loss of a leg to a serious bout with infection. Windows come into our lives when we can see further than before. Our hope and prayer is these three men will allow the window to remain open when life settles back down again for them.
Weinhold is 18. He has some heavy addiction issues. He accepted a Book of Mormon on Sunday and seemed interested in reading it. He has many difficult challenges ahead. As long as the door remains open we will work with him and hope to bring the Spirit into his life often enough that he will begin to recognize it and want it to remain with him. He is very intelligent. He has a good command of the English language and our discussions are in English. We saw so much improvement in his attitude and interest in what we talked about between the first and second meeting we are hopeful that good can come from meeting with him. It is not certain how long he will remain in the hospital in Wuerzburg. He does not seem strong enough to handle everything on his own when released. We don’t know what his family situation is yet but hope to know more soon.
Mom’s humor keeps us going and especially on rainy, slow days. She is so spontaneous it is just fun being around her. Sorry you have to wait a while longer to have her fun little quips be a more regular part of your every day lives. She is doing an awesome job as a missionary. You will never have to wonder about her holding up her end. Many times it is a miracle to me how much mom understands when she is listening and responding to what is going on in another language. There have been many examples of how the gift of tongues has worked for her in our mission here. May you all have such an enjoyable experience yet ahead of you in your lives as well.
Have a fun week end and a great week!
Love always,
Dad and Grandpa
What a great week! We are thankful for two from the heart letters from men in our family. Having life’s experiences shared is the glue that holds families together. There will always be challenges. The question we answer over and over again almost daily is will we succeed? As Paul Harvey defines it: “When I fall down, I get up again”.
So now there are three! Welcome to the mission field Zach. Some of the choicest days of your life lie straight ahead. How do you like the food? It is so nice how the elders are courteous to the sister and senior missionaries at meal time. Then of course there is the reward. No one ever asks or questions how many times an elder comes back for more food or what he puts on his plate! 750 people sharing a meal in one room rotating with another 750 two more times moves a lot of people and a lot of food through the mill. Mom talked with Chris for a few minutes and was happy to hear Zach was very excited to get started this week.
Tomorrow will be a fun and interesting work day for most of you. Some of us will enjoy your “work day” on Brent’s home from a distance. Please take lots of pictures and share. It is great how the family is becoming good at making lemonade out of our lemons in life. What a fun and exciting day for you Brent when all is in place and you are back in a “new” environment. We have loved hearing about some of the changes planned and look forward to seeing how it will look in the end.
We have spent most of our time this week with less active members. Mom mentioned our tennis friend, brother Vollrath. We have discussed Brother Peterson and the challenge he faces with his wife’s interest with the Jehovah Witnesses. We have a third man from England who has been a member for about 20 years. He and the mother of their three children have never married. He has been without work for several weeks now due to his weak understanding of the language and that he is 52. The mother, a school teacher, has found another “friend” and Tim is facing having to move to somewhere and to figure out what he will do for income and how often he can be with his three sons (13, 9, & 5). Brother Vollrath and Tim in the past week were amazed to learn we lived with our Father in Heaven before we were born. King Benjamin (Mosiah 1J taught his sons an interesting principle. He said, “Were it not for these (scriptures) that we might read and understand and always have before our eyes, even our fathers (Lehi and Nephi) would have dwindled in unbelief, knowing nothing of these things”. At one time both of these men had a strong understanding and witness of the truth of where we were before we were born.
Ron Peterson and I have been talking on the phone each week. This week we were able to pray together. Before our time came to a close this week he said, “I can feel and see a difference in how I am treating the other members in my family. The contention is decreasing. It is more pleasant being around home. The influence of the gospel has made me a lot happier and I feel more at peace with my life.” He too has some financial challenges ahead and how he will handle them. We hope enough of a base for living the gospel can be rebuilt in his life that none of these challenges will become too much for their family. He is within a few years of retirement and out of work at present. We hope he will continue to work toward allowing the Lord to help him find answers. For Tim it is losing his family. For brother Vollrath it was facing the loss of a leg to a serious bout with infection. Windows come into our lives when we can see further than before. Our hope and prayer is these three men will allow the window to remain open when life settles back down again for them.
Weinhold is 18. He has some heavy addiction issues. He accepted a Book of Mormon on Sunday and seemed interested in reading it. He has many difficult challenges ahead. As long as the door remains open we will work with him and hope to bring the Spirit into his life often enough that he will begin to recognize it and want it to remain with him. He is very intelligent. He has a good command of the English language and our discussions are in English. We saw so much improvement in his attitude and interest in what we talked about between the first and second meeting we are hopeful that good can come from meeting with him. It is not certain how long he will remain in the hospital in Wuerzburg. He does not seem strong enough to handle everything on his own when released. We don’t know what his family situation is yet but hope to know more soon.
Mom’s humor keeps us going and especially on rainy, slow days. She is so spontaneous it is just fun being around her. Sorry you have to wait a while longer to have her fun little quips be a more regular part of your every day lives. She is doing an awesome job as a missionary. You will never have to wonder about her holding up her end. Many times it is a miracle to me how much mom understands when she is listening and responding to what is going on in another language. There have been many examples of how the gift of tongues has worked for her in our mission here. May you all have such an enjoyable experience yet ahead of you in your lives as well.
Have a fun week end and a great week!
Love always,
Dad and Grandpa
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