From Mom 5/10
Dear Family,
It’s early afternoon. We have one non-member to visit before a dinner appointment. I thought it would be nice to write this letter while it is still daytime and I’m not quite so worn out.
We have had most of a week of rain and that is good. Everything was looking very dry. April was an unusually hot month and the spring flowers that should still be around are long gone because of the heat and no rain. Everything is greening up again and is so beautiful. Saturday was the first day of rain. That was the day we had permission to go with Petra to Rotenberg, the old city that is such a tourist attraction. It’s very interesting. When you drive into the city you don’t see that it is much different than any other German town but then you drive up to the top of the town where the historic part of the city is and it’s a different story. You park in the parking lot and then walk on cobblestone streets into what looks like the entrance to a castle and you step back in time about 500 years. On the wall of one of the buildings is 1482. That was 10 years before Columbus discovered America. Nothing has been changed except probably some of the buildings have been painted and the houses and shops kept up. The streets are all cobblestone and very narrow. It’s too bad there even has to be any cars there but some people still live in the city and there has to be a way for all the shops to receive their merchandise. There are lots of gift shops and bakeries. One of the stores is called the Christmas store. We were told it had the biggest assortment of Christmas decorations in the world and after going in, I believe it. It seemed like it never ended. You were either going up a few steps to something new or going around a corner where a whole new area opened up to you. It was incredible but it made me tired seeing all that stuff. It’s pretty spendy too but I imagine it does a great business just because it is such a famous tourist attraction. It was interesting to see the tall buildings with a loft door at the very top. We were told that the people were required to store a two years supply of wheat in the attic of their homes. And here I thought our church was the one that started the two year supply thing! Through the history there have always been wars and this older part of the city is surrounded with a thick, high wall that was used for protection. It’s kind of fun seeing a place where Knights of the Roundtables and castles and drawbridges, etc. once existed. It was a fun day, in spite of the rain. Every store we came to Petra would say, “Oh you’ve got to see in here. This is my favorite store!” I’m not sure how much Dad enjoyed that part of it but he was a good sport and we did see a lot of things. We took some pictures and will send some on another E-mail soon.
I forgot to tell you about the Saturday before last. We helped another family move. This time we didn’t have to paint before hand but I don’t think both Dad and I have ever been so tired and almost crippled as we were when we finished with the move. This was an inactive family we have been trying to work with. They’ve come to church a couple of times lately and they came the day after the move but someone in the ward said the only time they come to church is when they need help to move. We hope that’s not the case. They didn’t ask for help. When we were talking to them they mentioned that they were going to have to move in the next couple of weeks. The young Elders had been asking us to help them find some service to do so we told this couple that we (the missionaries) would help them move. Unlike last time, there weren’t very many people from the ward available to help that day. There was a big all day youth activity that took all the bishopric and everyone who works with the youth----which is nearly all the active people. But we did find one member who offered to help and these people said they had two or three friends that were going to come and help. We didn’t know for sure where they lived and when we finally found their place and got out of the car, we heard, “Good Morning” and looked up to the top floor where this lady we were going to help was leaning out of the window. That’s four floors up. They told us that their new apartment was on the 1st floor. Unlike the houses there, the first floor is not the floor you first go to. That’s the “Erde” (earth) floor. There are stairs up to the first floor. The building was an old building with high ceilings and it was 21 steps up to the 1st floor. I counted them to be sure. And their friends that were supposed to be there didn’t show up so there were the Elders, Brother Thomas, us and this couple. We started at 9 o’clock and we left to come home at 4:30. We needed to stop at the store but were too dirty to stop before coming home and cleaning up. We looked like a couple of crippled, old people walking into the store. We didn’t do anything after we got home but sit and moan and groan. The calves of our legs hurt for about three days. Going up and down stairs was wickedly painful! By the next day our backs were so that we could stand up straight but we were glad that we only had one appointment that Sunday afternoon. It was the next Tuesday that we walked up to the castle with Thomas and Elana Beck but by then we were doing pretty good.
We got a real taste of missionary work the other morning. We have met with a lady who lives in this apartment building about three times and have enjoyed our visit with her. She is from Russia but speaks pretty good German and she is just so nice. She was happy when we told her we had a Russian Book of Mormon for her but when we gave it to her, she couldn’t read it so we took her a German one. A sister who lives close by went with us one day and we had such a good meeting with her and she and Sister Wenzel seemed to really hit it off well. Then Dad and I went to see her and made an appointment with her and told her Sister Wenzel would be coming with us again. She seemed happy about that. So the day came for the appointment and when we rang her doorbell, she opened the door but her son, who was very large, was standing behind her told us in no uncertain terms that they were Catholic and didn’t want to hear about any other religion. So that was the end of that. We’ve seen her a couple of times since then and are friendly to her and she is to us but I don’t think we’ll be talking about the church anymore to her-------unless she asks us too. It gives you a funny feeling when people talk to you like that. I’m sure the young Elders and Sister have that kind of experience on a regular basis but it was a new experience for us on this mission.
One of the inactive members we are working with is Gundo Vollrath. He is 74 years old. He hasn’t been active at all in the church for about 20 years but we meet with him once a week and he is reading in the Book of Mormon. We realized last week that he knows very little about anything religious. He is even wondering about the reality of there being a God. I think he’s getting beyond that though but with no church activity at all, it’s easy to forget about ever learning or knowing about those important things. He is such a nice person----such a gentleman. When we go there, he always shakes hands with me first, even if Dad is in front of me and when we leave, I’m always the first to go out the door. He is very active. He is on a tennis team and last week he told us he had a match this week (yesterday) and invited us to come and watch him. When we went there Tuesday for our appointment, he had a detailed map drawn for us so we could find where he would be playing. It was raining off and on but we took our umbrella and watched him for about an hour. As I said, he’s 74 but you would not know that watching him play tennis. I couldn’t help but think that he’s not a whole lot older than we are and wondered if we would be up to doing something like that in another 6 or 7 years. I hope so.
Sunday at church we had a very spiritual experience during our Sunday School class. The Elders have been teaching a man who is about 45 years old. He had come to church with them the week before and during Sunday School it seemed like all he wanted to do was argue with everything that was said. I couldn’t understand much what was going on but didn’t like the feeling I had just being there. He came again this week and as we walked from the chapel to where we have Sunday School, he told Dad that he didn’t think he could stay because he wasn’t feeling well. He has a heart condition and has been concerned about that. When Dad told me about it, I suggested that he ask him if he would like a blessing. At our Zone conference last month President Rakow had told us that Priesthood blessings were not reserved for just members of the church. When Dad asked him and then told him what it was, he thought it would be okay to have one. They explained a little bit more to him what all was involved, the oil and who would be giving the blessing, etc. and then Dad anointed this man and Elder Penrod gave him a beautiful blessing. The spirit was so strong. After the blessing, the Elders and Dad and I bore our testimony to him of the reality of the Priesthood being the power of God here on earth and that the things Elder Penrod said in his blessing were what the Lord would want said to him. He had tears running down his face and all of us had tears in our eyes. Petra was there and was especially touched by the whole thing. After this man left to go home, Petra said she was sorry that she couldn’t say anything but was just too overcome with the spirit to be able to speak. But then she said that she knew that those young Elders had the authority of God with them and that she would always feel safe in the church knowing there was that authority and those kinds of people in it. She talks about what it will be like when we leave and has been concerned about it but after that experience on Sunday, she said she knew she would be okay. We never did get to the Sunday School lesson. We just sat and shared feelings about what had taken place. It was an unforgettable experience.
It quite an experience being in a ward attached to a military base. Last week the man who was the former bishop of this ward was here on a two week leave from Iraq. His wife had a baby in middle of January and they have waited until he got home to bless the baby. Because it was the 5th Sunday, they had him speak in the joint Priesthood/Relief Society meeting. He didn’t tell about a lot of his experiences in Iraq but he talked a lot about the church there. They meet in one of Sadam Hussein’s old castles. All the different churches meet there so they have only an hour and a half to meet but he said it is really something they all look forward to each week. Not just soldiers come. There are a lot of contract workers there who meet with them. They have had several baptisms. They are not allowed to proselyte but people come and hear the teachings of the church and ask what it takes to become a member. He said one of the members who comes is a high councilman of the United Arab Emirates Stake. Isn’t it interesting to know there is an actual stake in that area of the world? He felt like a lot of good was being done but the United States being over there. It’s sad that so many lives have been lost but think how many more would be lost without our involvement. These dear wives who are here while their husbands are serving over there have just got to have extra blessings coming to them. One of the men from this ward is in Special Services so he is out where all the action is. Brother Merkely is an audiologist so his wife feels that he is not quite in so much danger. Most of the men in the military in this ward are involved in some sort of medical work. It gave us a funny feeling the other day when we were supposed to go to our regular meeting of the Council of Religious Affairs on the base and got an e-mail saying the meeting would be rescheduled due to a memorial service that was going to be held in the chapel that day. This war is real and being here knowing and talking to people that are involved with it every week has made us realize just how real it is.
I’ve gone on long enough. Know that we are with you in our thoughts and prayers. This week was a bit difficult thinking about Zach leaving. I remember how hard it was going to the MTC with Boyd and Cindy and leaving them to start their missions. My heart goes out to Chris. I’m so thankful Boyd and Cindy had the experiences a mission brings and I’m thankful for the experiences Zach has ahead of him. And I’m thankful for the experiences we are having even though there are times that we both wonder what we’re doing here and if we are doing any good at all. Progress is so slow but we do see progress with some of the people we are working with. Yesterday Petra asked if I wish I had gone to an English speaking mission and right off, I said yes but then I told her no because if we had gone somewhere else, we wouldn’t have met her. She will always be the shining star of our mission.
We’ll send another e-mail with some pictures probably later today.
Much love,
Mom
It’s early afternoon. We have one non-member to visit before a dinner appointment. I thought it would be nice to write this letter while it is still daytime and I’m not quite so worn out.
We have had most of a week of rain and that is good. Everything was looking very dry. April was an unusually hot month and the spring flowers that should still be around are long gone because of the heat and no rain. Everything is greening up again and is so beautiful. Saturday was the first day of rain. That was the day we had permission to go with Petra to Rotenberg, the old city that is such a tourist attraction. It’s very interesting. When you drive into the city you don’t see that it is much different than any other German town but then you drive up to the top of the town where the historic part of the city is and it’s a different story. You park in the parking lot and then walk on cobblestone streets into what looks like the entrance to a castle and you step back in time about 500 years. On the wall of one of the buildings is 1482. That was 10 years before Columbus discovered America. Nothing has been changed except probably some of the buildings have been painted and the houses and shops kept up. The streets are all cobblestone and very narrow. It’s too bad there even has to be any cars there but some people still live in the city and there has to be a way for all the shops to receive their merchandise. There are lots of gift shops and bakeries. One of the stores is called the Christmas store. We were told it had the biggest assortment of Christmas decorations in the world and after going in, I believe it. It seemed like it never ended. You were either going up a few steps to something new or going around a corner where a whole new area opened up to you. It was incredible but it made me tired seeing all that stuff. It’s pretty spendy too but I imagine it does a great business just because it is such a famous tourist attraction. It was interesting to see the tall buildings with a loft door at the very top. We were told that the people were required to store a two years supply of wheat in the attic of their homes. And here I thought our church was the one that started the two year supply thing! Through the history there have always been wars and this older part of the city is surrounded with a thick, high wall that was used for protection. It’s kind of fun seeing a place where Knights of the Roundtables and castles and drawbridges, etc. once existed. It was a fun day, in spite of the rain. Every store we came to Petra would say, “Oh you’ve got to see in here. This is my favorite store!” I’m not sure how much Dad enjoyed that part of it but he was a good sport and we did see a lot of things. We took some pictures and will send some on another E-mail soon.
I forgot to tell you about the Saturday before last. We helped another family move. This time we didn’t have to paint before hand but I don’t think both Dad and I have ever been so tired and almost crippled as we were when we finished with the move. This was an inactive family we have been trying to work with. They’ve come to church a couple of times lately and they came the day after the move but someone in the ward said the only time they come to church is when they need help to move. We hope that’s not the case. They didn’t ask for help. When we were talking to them they mentioned that they were going to have to move in the next couple of weeks. The young Elders had been asking us to help them find some service to do so we told this couple that we (the missionaries) would help them move. Unlike last time, there weren’t very many people from the ward available to help that day. There was a big all day youth activity that took all the bishopric and everyone who works with the youth----which is nearly all the active people. But we did find one member who offered to help and these people said they had two or three friends that were going to come and help. We didn’t know for sure where they lived and when we finally found their place and got out of the car, we heard, “Good Morning” and looked up to the top floor where this lady we were going to help was leaning out of the window. That’s four floors up. They told us that their new apartment was on the 1st floor. Unlike the houses there, the first floor is not the floor you first go to. That’s the “Erde” (earth) floor. There are stairs up to the first floor. The building was an old building with high ceilings and it was 21 steps up to the 1st floor. I counted them to be sure. And their friends that were supposed to be there didn’t show up so there were the Elders, Brother Thomas, us and this couple. We started at 9 o’clock and we left to come home at 4:30. We needed to stop at the store but were too dirty to stop before coming home and cleaning up. We looked like a couple of crippled, old people walking into the store. We didn’t do anything after we got home but sit and moan and groan. The calves of our legs hurt for about three days. Going up and down stairs was wickedly painful! By the next day our backs were so that we could stand up straight but we were glad that we only had one appointment that Sunday afternoon. It was the next Tuesday that we walked up to the castle with Thomas and Elana Beck but by then we were doing pretty good.
We got a real taste of missionary work the other morning. We have met with a lady who lives in this apartment building about three times and have enjoyed our visit with her. She is from Russia but speaks pretty good German and she is just so nice. She was happy when we told her we had a Russian Book of Mormon for her but when we gave it to her, she couldn’t read it so we took her a German one. A sister who lives close by went with us one day and we had such a good meeting with her and she and Sister Wenzel seemed to really hit it off well. Then Dad and I went to see her and made an appointment with her and told her Sister Wenzel would be coming with us again. She seemed happy about that. So the day came for the appointment and when we rang her doorbell, she opened the door but her son, who was very large, was standing behind her told us in no uncertain terms that they were Catholic and didn’t want to hear about any other religion. So that was the end of that. We’ve seen her a couple of times since then and are friendly to her and she is to us but I don’t think we’ll be talking about the church anymore to her-------unless she asks us too. It gives you a funny feeling when people talk to you like that. I’m sure the young Elders and Sister have that kind of experience on a regular basis but it was a new experience for us on this mission.
One of the inactive members we are working with is Gundo Vollrath. He is 74 years old. He hasn’t been active at all in the church for about 20 years but we meet with him once a week and he is reading in the Book of Mormon. We realized last week that he knows very little about anything religious. He is even wondering about the reality of there being a God. I think he’s getting beyond that though but with no church activity at all, it’s easy to forget about ever learning or knowing about those important things. He is such a nice person----such a gentleman. When we go there, he always shakes hands with me first, even if Dad is in front of me and when we leave, I’m always the first to go out the door. He is very active. He is on a tennis team and last week he told us he had a match this week (yesterday) and invited us to come and watch him. When we went there Tuesday for our appointment, he had a detailed map drawn for us so we could find where he would be playing. It was raining off and on but we took our umbrella and watched him for about an hour. As I said, he’s 74 but you would not know that watching him play tennis. I couldn’t help but think that he’s not a whole lot older than we are and wondered if we would be up to doing something like that in another 6 or 7 years. I hope so.
Sunday at church we had a very spiritual experience during our Sunday School class. The Elders have been teaching a man who is about 45 years old. He had come to church with them the week before and during Sunday School it seemed like all he wanted to do was argue with everything that was said. I couldn’t understand much what was going on but didn’t like the feeling I had just being there. He came again this week and as we walked from the chapel to where we have Sunday School, he told Dad that he didn’t think he could stay because he wasn’t feeling well. He has a heart condition and has been concerned about that. When Dad told me about it, I suggested that he ask him if he would like a blessing. At our Zone conference last month President Rakow had told us that Priesthood blessings were not reserved for just members of the church. When Dad asked him and then told him what it was, he thought it would be okay to have one. They explained a little bit more to him what all was involved, the oil and who would be giving the blessing, etc. and then Dad anointed this man and Elder Penrod gave him a beautiful blessing. The spirit was so strong. After the blessing, the Elders and Dad and I bore our testimony to him of the reality of the Priesthood being the power of God here on earth and that the things Elder Penrod said in his blessing were what the Lord would want said to him. He had tears running down his face and all of us had tears in our eyes. Petra was there and was especially touched by the whole thing. After this man left to go home, Petra said she was sorry that she couldn’t say anything but was just too overcome with the spirit to be able to speak. But then she said that she knew that those young Elders had the authority of God with them and that she would always feel safe in the church knowing there was that authority and those kinds of people in it. She talks about what it will be like when we leave and has been concerned about it but after that experience on Sunday, she said she knew she would be okay. We never did get to the Sunday School lesson. We just sat and shared feelings about what had taken place. It was an unforgettable experience.
It quite an experience being in a ward attached to a military base. Last week the man who was the former bishop of this ward was here on a two week leave from Iraq. His wife had a baby in middle of January and they have waited until he got home to bless the baby. Because it was the 5th Sunday, they had him speak in the joint Priesthood/Relief Society meeting. He didn’t tell about a lot of his experiences in Iraq but he talked a lot about the church there. They meet in one of Sadam Hussein’s old castles. All the different churches meet there so they have only an hour and a half to meet but he said it is really something they all look forward to each week. Not just soldiers come. There are a lot of contract workers there who meet with them. They have had several baptisms. They are not allowed to proselyte but people come and hear the teachings of the church and ask what it takes to become a member. He said one of the members who comes is a high councilman of the United Arab Emirates Stake. Isn’t it interesting to know there is an actual stake in that area of the world? He felt like a lot of good was being done but the United States being over there. It’s sad that so many lives have been lost but think how many more would be lost without our involvement. These dear wives who are here while their husbands are serving over there have just got to have extra blessings coming to them. One of the men from this ward is in Special Services so he is out where all the action is. Brother Merkely is an audiologist so his wife feels that he is not quite in so much danger. Most of the men in the military in this ward are involved in some sort of medical work. It gave us a funny feeling the other day when we were supposed to go to our regular meeting of the Council of Religious Affairs on the base and got an e-mail saying the meeting would be rescheduled due to a memorial service that was going to be held in the chapel that day. This war is real and being here knowing and talking to people that are involved with it every week has made us realize just how real it is.
I’ve gone on long enough. Know that we are with you in our thoughts and prayers. This week was a bit difficult thinking about Zach leaving. I remember how hard it was going to the MTC with Boyd and Cindy and leaving them to start their missions. My heart goes out to Chris. I’m so thankful Boyd and Cindy had the experiences a mission brings and I’m thankful for the experiences Zach has ahead of him. And I’m thankful for the experiences we are having even though there are times that we both wonder what we’re doing here and if we are doing any good at all. Progress is so slow but we do see progress with some of the people we are working with. Yesterday Petra asked if I wish I had gone to an English speaking mission and right off, I said yes but then I told her no because if we had gone somewhere else, we wouldn’t have met her. She will always be the shining star of our mission.
We’ll send another e-mail with some pictures probably later today.
Much love,
Mom
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