From Mom 6/21
Dear Family,
Another wet week has come and gone. We’ve had rain every night and sometimes during the day. Last night there was lots of lighting and thunder to go along with it. Today it was overcast when we first got up and about noon it got really dark and the rain came like I’ve never seen rain come! Luckily we had just returned from the store and enjoyed watching the storm from inside instead of getting soaked running to or from our car somewhere. I’m glad this is P-day because I always worry about the Elders out on their bicycles or walking when it is raining hard. They are so diligent and don’t seem to complain even when they do get soaked. What an example they are to us and what good training this is for the rest of their lives.
Speaking of being in the store----last week a new store opened here. It was originally a Wal-mart but all the Wal-marts in Germany have been sold to another company, REAL, (pronounced ree-all). Anyway we were in the store the first or second day it was opened and people kept seeing our name tags and stopping us to ask where things were or what to do about this or that. I guess with our badges they thought we were employees of the store and knew what was going on. When I went to get something in another part of the store while Dad was waiting to talk to someone about some blank DVD’s, I took my badge off and put it in my pocket. I knew I would be in big trouble if someone stopped me to ask a question! My lack of the language is definitely a hindrance many times. I don’t know why I have such a mind block about learning it. How I look forward to going to the store and being able to read the labels and ask questions if I need help!
This week has been a little slower than last week was but it has been a good week. We met with our Muslim friend a couple of times. The first time when Dad asked him what he felt about God and bore his testimony to the reality of God, Abed said he wanted to talk more and that he thought we could come to see God the same. The next time, we talked about living with God before we came to the earth and that was a completely new idea to him. He didn’t reject the idea but we could tell he was giving it some serious thought. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he loved to read and would read it. Today when we saw him, he told us that he had read a few pages and told us that to him God was someone to be feared and respected but he has never seen Him as someone who wanted to help him in his everyday life. He was willing to pray about this and see if he could feel something about what we had told him about God. He is such a nice guy--so polite and respectful. He has experienced a lot of hurt in his life being raised in Iraq with the turmoil in that country but wants so badly to put that all behind him and move forward with his life. He told us again that we are always welcome to come and see him so we’ll just continue, “very slowly” as our mission president advised. We go to his internet café usually early in the morning before he’s real busy and talk to him between customers.
Michelle Adair is the young mother and friend of the bishop’s wife. Yesterday she invited us to her house for lunch. Sister Moffitt was there with her children and also another member and her two children who lives just a couple of streets over from her on the army base. Everyone brought something. She had made a delicious chicken salad and had hot-dogs to grill for all the kids. She had a little swimming pool set up for the kids and they had a lot of fun together. It was a beautiful DRY day and we sat outside at a picnic table. After we had talked for awhile and eaten our lunch, we talked more about the gospel. We talked about tithing and she didn’t even bat an eye at that. She thought it was very important. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and she doesn’t have any problem with that. We went over again the reality that there is a God and that God and Jesus Christ are two separate and distinct persons and she accepts that. We talked about the Ten Commandments. Then we talked about Christ being baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” and asked her how she felt about that. She feels baptism is important and we talked to her about the importance of it being done by someone having proper authority. Then Dad asked her if she would think about being baptized at the end of July. She said she would think about it but she needed to discuss this with her husband is in Iraq. We told her that after she was baptized she would be given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Both Sister Moffitt and Sister Thomas bore strong testimonies of how the Holy Ghost helps them in all parts of their lives, not just in spiritual things but with raising their families and dealing with the trials of being military families. It was a good meeting. We’ll just have to see what happens but Michelle wants to meet again next week. She was so relaxed and was such a great hostess to all of us yesterday. When we all started picking up things and helping he put things away, she was amazed. She said usually when she has people over, they just get up and leave when they’re done. Sister Moffitt said this is the way we do it in the church----everyone just pitches in and helps clean up. Michelle liked that!
We had a fun time at the medieval festival last Saturday. The little town was very interesting. Many buildings were built in the 1500’s. The people were dressed in the authentic dress of that period of time. I’m glad I didn’t live then! There was one display called “Preparing for Battle” where it showed men dressing for battle, putting on the mail and other armor. I don’t know how they even moved when they had all that stuff on. You could tell when they lifted the mail up over their heads to put it on that it was really heavy. Then they had 3 or 4 swords and their shield and helmet. It was pretty authentic. Then they had the sword fight. It was pretty interesting but again, those people had to be very strong to be able to carry all of their protective gear and swing those heavy swords. It makes those things we watch in the movies more real knowing that we are living in the part of the world that all of that took place. This little town is right across from the Main River which is one of the biggest rivers in Germany and two different times the river has flooded and from 4 to 6 feet of water ran into the city. People got around in boats and everyone moved to the upper stories of the houses. On some of the buildings, they have marked the waterline of those floods.
We never cease to be amazed at the beauty of this country. It is getting into harvest time for the grain so we see different shades of gold and brown instead of everything being green. All the hills are covered with grape vineyards. We’re looking forward to seeing how the grapes are harvested. They are used for making wine. Judging from all the vineyards, there should be plenty of wine! But judging from all the wine we see being bought in the stores, they need plenty of grapes.
Sunday Petra was interviewed by the bishop for her patriarchal blessing. She is so excited! She called the patriarch and has an appointment for the 22 of July and has asked us to go with her. We have to get permission from President Rakow but I think we will be able to do that. She is an amazing lady. She is going to give the lesson in Relief Society one Sunday next month and is excited about doing that too. Our experiences with her will always be a highlight of this mission.
One of the sisters in the ward wanted to take us downtown to show us where we could by day-old bakery products for half price. We met her at the place where all the busses and street-cars meet. It cost us $2 to park the car and $4 to ride the streetcar down into the center of town where this shop was. I’m not sure we saved a lot of money getting the bread for half price but it was another fun adventure. Downtown is very interesting. There a shops EVERYWHERE most of them just little shops. This bakery was down what we would call and alley but there were several other shops along there too. There are a few big department stores but as I mentioned, most of them are just little shops that just sell a certain item. They have what they call Italian Ice which is soft ice cream. It’s not “runny” soft but it’s not solid either and it is really good. It comes in several different flavors. Dad loves the nut flavor and I think the strawberry is very best. There are ice cream shops on every block. It is really quite an experience to go downtown.
We have an English class to teach in just a little while so I need to bring this to a close. I feel like I’ve kind of rambled but that’s just kind of how I feel today. I think all this moisture in the air is affecting my brain! Dad and I both commented that when we got up this morning we felt like our heads were really heavy. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to all the humidity. I checked on the clothes I had hung out on our patio earlier and they haven’t even started drying. It reminds me of the summer I spent in Detroit. Guess we’ll be bringing them in to dry later on.
Thank you for the letters and for making Father’s Day a very special day for Dad. He is going to really enjoy the short sleeved shirts and I will love his new hat for winter. His is more than just a little bit worn. Know that we love you with all our hearts and think of you many times each day. You are always in our prayers.
Much love,
Mom
Another wet week has come and gone. We’ve had rain every night and sometimes during the day. Last night there was lots of lighting and thunder to go along with it. Today it was overcast when we first got up and about noon it got really dark and the rain came like I’ve never seen rain come! Luckily we had just returned from the store and enjoyed watching the storm from inside instead of getting soaked running to or from our car somewhere. I’m glad this is P-day because I always worry about the Elders out on their bicycles or walking when it is raining hard. They are so diligent and don’t seem to complain even when they do get soaked. What an example they are to us and what good training this is for the rest of their lives.
Speaking of being in the store----last week a new store opened here. It was originally a Wal-mart but all the Wal-marts in Germany have been sold to another company, REAL, (pronounced ree-all). Anyway we were in the store the first or second day it was opened and people kept seeing our name tags and stopping us to ask where things were or what to do about this or that. I guess with our badges they thought we were employees of the store and knew what was going on. When I went to get something in another part of the store while Dad was waiting to talk to someone about some blank DVD’s, I took my badge off and put it in my pocket. I knew I would be in big trouble if someone stopped me to ask a question! My lack of the language is definitely a hindrance many times. I don’t know why I have such a mind block about learning it. How I look forward to going to the store and being able to read the labels and ask questions if I need help!
This week has been a little slower than last week was but it has been a good week. We met with our Muslim friend a couple of times. The first time when Dad asked him what he felt about God and bore his testimony to the reality of God, Abed said he wanted to talk more and that he thought we could come to see God the same. The next time, we talked about living with God before we came to the earth and that was a completely new idea to him. He didn’t reject the idea but we could tell he was giving it some serious thought. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he loved to read and would read it. Today when we saw him, he told us that he had read a few pages and told us that to him God was someone to be feared and respected but he has never seen Him as someone who wanted to help him in his everyday life. He was willing to pray about this and see if he could feel something about what we had told him about God. He is such a nice guy--so polite and respectful. He has experienced a lot of hurt in his life being raised in Iraq with the turmoil in that country but wants so badly to put that all behind him and move forward with his life. He told us again that we are always welcome to come and see him so we’ll just continue, “very slowly” as our mission president advised. We go to his internet café usually early in the morning before he’s real busy and talk to him between customers.
Michelle Adair is the young mother and friend of the bishop’s wife. Yesterday she invited us to her house for lunch. Sister Moffitt was there with her children and also another member and her two children who lives just a couple of streets over from her on the army base. Everyone brought something. She had made a delicious chicken salad and had hot-dogs to grill for all the kids. She had a little swimming pool set up for the kids and they had a lot of fun together. It was a beautiful DRY day and we sat outside at a picnic table. After we had talked for awhile and eaten our lunch, we talked more about the gospel. We talked about tithing and she didn’t even bat an eye at that. She thought it was very important. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and she doesn’t have any problem with that. We went over again the reality that there is a God and that God and Jesus Christ are two separate and distinct persons and she accepts that. We talked about the Ten Commandments. Then we talked about Christ being baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” and asked her how she felt about that. She feels baptism is important and we talked to her about the importance of it being done by someone having proper authority. Then Dad asked her if she would think about being baptized at the end of July. She said she would think about it but she needed to discuss this with her husband is in Iraq. We told her that after she was baptized she would be given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Both Sister Moffitt and Sister Thomas bore strong testimonies of how the Holy Ghost helps them in all parts of their lives, not just in spiritual things but with raising their families and dealing with the trials of being military families. It was a good meeting. We’ll just have to see what happens but Michelle wants to meet again next week. She was so relaxed and was such a great hostess to all of us yesterday. When we all started picking up things and helping he put things away, she was amazed. She said usually when she has people over, they just get up and leave when they’re done. Sister Moffitt said this is the way we do it in the church----everyone just pitches in and helps clean up. Michelle liked that!
We had a fun time at the medieval festival last Saturday. The little town was very interesting. Many buildings were built in the 1500’s. The people were dressed in the authentic dress of that period of time. I’m glad I didn’t live then! There was one display called “Preparing for Battle” where it showed men dressing for battle, putting on the mail and other armor. I don’t know how they even moved when they had all that stuff on. You could tell when they lifted the mail up over their heads to put it on that it was really heavy. Then they had 3 or 4 swords and their shield and helmet. It was pretty authentic. Then they had the sword fight. It was pretty interesting but again, those people had to be very strong to be able to carry all of their protective gear and swing those heavy swords. It makes those things we watch in the movies more real knowing that we are living in the part of the world that all of that took place. This little town is right across from the Main River which is one of the biggest rivers in Germany and two different times the river has flooded and from 4 to 6 feet of water ran into the city. People got around in boats and everyone moved to the upper stories of the houses. On some of the buildings, they have marked the waterline of those floods.
We never cease to be amazed at the beauty of this country. It is getting into harvest time for the grain so we see different shades of gold and brown instead of everything being green. All the hills are covered with grape vineyards. We’re looking forward to seeing how the grapes are harvested. They are used for making wine. Judging from all the vineyards, there should be plenty of wine! But judging from all the wine we see being bought in the stores, they need plenty of grapes.
Sunday Petra was interviewed by the bishop for her patriarchal blessing. She is so excited! She called the patriarch and has an appointment for the 22 of July and has asked us to go with her. We have to get permission from President Rakow but I think we will be able to do that. She is an amazing lady. She is going to give the lesson in Relief Society one Sunday next month and is excited about doing that too. Our experiences with her will always be a highlight of this mission.
One of the sisters in the ward wanted to take us downtown to show us where we could by day-old bakery products for half price. We met her at the place where all the busses and street-cars meet. It cost us $2 to park the car and $4 to ride the streetcar down into the center of town where this shop was. I’m not sure we saved a lot of money getting the bread for half price but it was another fun adventure. Downtown is very interesting. There a shops EVERYWHERE most of them just little shops. This bakery was down what we would call and alley but there were several other shops along there too. There are a few big department stores but as I mentioned, most of them are just little shops that just sell a certain item. They have what they call Italian Ice which is soft ice cream. It’s not “runny” soft but it’s not solid either and it is really good. It comes in several different flavors. Dad loves the nut flavor and I think the strawberry is very best. There are ice cream shops on every block. It is really quite an experience to go downtown.
We have an English class to teach in just a little while so I need to bring this to a close. I feel like I’ve kind of rambled but that’s just kind of how I feel today. I think all this moisture in the air is affecting my brain! Dad and I both commented that when we got up this morning we felt like our heads were really heavy. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to all the humidity. I checked on the clothes I had hung out on our patio earlier and they haven’t even started drying. It reminds me of the summer I spent in Detroit. Guess we’ll be bringing them in to dry later on.
Thank you for the letters and for making Father’s Day a very special day for Dad. He is going to really enjoy the short sleeved shirts and I will love his new hat for winter. His is more than just a little bit worn. Know that we love you with all our hearts and think of you many times each day. You are always in our prayers.
Much love,
Mom
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