From Dad 7/28

Hi everyone,

Mom and I let our hair down for a while last n night and watched “Fiddler on the Roof”. It is a great movie. There are some perks senior missionaries have which are not available to young elders and sisters. We felt so many heart strings being pulled. Especially when they were leaving Anedevka. The Jewish people have paid a terrific price for the legacy of being those who crucified the Son of God and yet have remained more true than any other people. Their being gathered has not come without much pain and sorrow. We are thankful for faithful forefathers who gathered with the Saints through many hardships as well. The trek Jason and Cathy and crew experienced with their ward has renewed many good feelings about the price our pioneer forefathers gave so we can enjoy the bounties of life. To day I am also thankful for mom as a present day pioneer working out a life from day to day among a people and a lifestyle far from what is familiar and dear.

Anne Berner, who taught religion in the Catholic schools for 35 years, surprised us on Thursday. We had forgotten she had studied for a while with the Jehovah Witnesses. She said, “With God, Jehovah, why was it necessary for there to be a Son of God?” When sister Kempe met with the Catholic priest at the café for informal conversation and answers earlier in the week, he expressed to her he was unsure if the Bible was written for our day. So much of the world has turned away from Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. Without Him there is no way for us to return to God. The adversary knows this. He has no problem with people believing in a god, as long as it is not the true and living God who sent His Son to open t he door to return to Him. Anne indicated this could be our last meeting as she had no interest in changing churches. We asked her what she knew about where she was before she was born. There was a complete blank look on her face. We began teaching the plan of salvation with answers to: Where were we? Why are we here? and Where are we going when we leave this life? She was amazed and at first wanted to reject everything. We kept moving back and forth between the Bible and things revealed in our days and she stayed with us. When we finished we planned to leave a brochure talking about the plan of salvation with a few illustrations and questions and answers. After our explanation of the brochure she asked, “What is my reading assignment in the Book of Mormon?” We gave her Alma 32. Then she asked, “Who is Alma?” Mom suggested she read Mosiah 27. When we asked for another appointment there was no hesitation giving us one next week. Mom will prepare some help for her to better understand why Jesus Christ as the Son of God is so important in our lives. When she gave the opening prayer we felt the Spirit very strongly. We feel she does want to know the truth and continues to overcome feelings and reservations keeping her from making the effort necessary to know (not just believe) that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He lives and because He lives the promise that we too will one day be resurrected will also be true.

Each week we see mom participate a little more including with the language. She is even willing sometimes to venture words she is unsure whether pronunciation or spelling is correct but the word is always right. Outwardly I don’t know she is comfortable making the steps to learn the mechanics of the language. This too is a blessing for our generation. Young elders and sisters of necessity know the only option for them is to learn and use the language as best they can. From a comprehension level and moms common sense she has learned much of the time to know what is going on as we speak and work with families. Sometimes she will nudge me with a scripture or a suggestion of what needs to be done next that is just what needs to happen. I am a little slow and sometimes it takes a while for her suggestions on time and what to do next is a little slow in registering but nevertheless helpful and correct.

Abuse is more far reaching in people’s lives than we ever realized before coming on a mission. Not passing judgment on those who have caused injury in the past in order to leave the door open for them too to repent and change is a very big and important step for someone who has been abused. Such a mountain can only be climbed on step at a time. The view at the top is so awesome all the effort to get there and experience the relief and vision of where you are and what you are capable of doing is well worth it. As we see healing start to come into people’s lives and they begin to build their own eternal families are hearts are warmed and we feel content with what we see and experience.

We hope you have a great week. We love your letters, blogs, prayers, and everything else you do to build and strengthen your own families as well as our growing family.

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 7/26

Dear Family,

I’m feeling a little old thinking that I have a son who is 44 years old today. Where does the time go? I hope Boyd and LeAnn and the youth of the ward are having a wonderful and safe time at their youth conference. What fun and what a lot of memories of youth conferences gone by.

Today is our P-day but we have had e appointments. We had one more but just as we were ready to walk out the door, she called and had to help out while a daughter took a sick grandchild to the doctor. That gave us some time to get some washing and cleaning done and prepare for the rest of the day. We just finished a game of 3-13. When we got home about 7:30, I told Dad I needed a change of pace for a little while. I couldn’t read one more word or study one more thing until we had had a break.

Sunday we are going to take Thomas Mueller to Nurnberg for his Patriarchal blessing. We had hoped his parents would change their minds and go with him just for the wonderful experience it would be for them and also for Thomas’ sake but they won’t do it. We felt honored that he would ask us. He is just an amazing young man. He is leaving on the 10 of August for California where he will live and attend a junior college there. We hate to see him leave the ward but he has had his heart set on this for a long time and is excited about going. He did admit the other night though that he has never been away from home for more than a month and never alone and is a little concerned about getting homesick. This will be good training for his mission.

Car wise, it has been a rather uneventful week. We haven’t had any breakdowns or flat tires or run out of gas. It was a welcome change from the week before. We are just hoping Sunday won’t be anything like the last Sunday we traveled over there.

Tuesday we had our interviews with President Rakow. He said that he didn’t have any plans to move us and then he added, “But I’m not the one running this mission. The Lord might have other plans for you.” I would love to just stay here and not have to worry about packing, moving and getting acquainted in a new area. But if we do get changed, we will know who wants the change. He is such an awesome leader and has so much concern for everyone. We have been getting some calls from people in the ward asking us to come over and talk to them about some of their problems. We asked Pres. Rakow how much time we should take with active members and he said to do anything we needed to do to help and strengthen the members of this ward. Just don’t turn into a taxi service or babysitters!! That was good news. Sometimes I worry when we’re not spending all our time with investigators, inactive or part member families. He said it is also important to help the active members stay active and to always teach a gospel principle when we are in their homes. Gaining the confidence and trust of the members is a good missionary tool.

We continue to run into really bizarre situations. Dad was going down the list of inactive members and called a woman to try to set up an appointment. She said she would like to talk to us but that we had better talk to her former bishop and stake president about a situation she has before we came. It took awhile to get ahold of both of them but we finally did. The situation is that this woman’s husband doesn’t want to be a man anymore. She still loves him but worries about her standing in the church living with someone like that. We decided to just leave it alone but the other day Dad meant to call another inactive member and dialed this woman by mistake-----her name was just below the one he was going to call. Dad was a bit surprised when she told him who she was but thanks to quick thinking, he told her that he had talked to her bishop and stake president and they had recommended that she talk to the bishop here and asked her if she would like to do that. She wanted to so Dad called the bishop and they set it up for last night. The bishop had talked to the stake president about the situation and he didn’t have an answer but called the area presidency and their recommendation was for the bishop to go ahead and talk to this woman and then write a letter to President Hinckley explaining things to him. Bishop Moffitt is moving back to the states the end of August and last night after he and Dad had talked to this woman, he commented that he’s going out on flying colors-----he has a church discipline court and a letter to write to the prophet within the next couple of weeks. I’m sure he will be relieved to have this job behind him. He is such a great bishop. We all hate to see him leave but lucky for us, he is moving to Twin Falls so maybe we’ll get a chance to visit them sometime. Anyway, I don’t know why we keep digging up all these problems for the bishop but we seem to find some real winners!! This lady is so nice though. It just breaks my heart thinking how torn she must be. She used to be really active in the church and has a strong testimony but is more than a little confused about what to do right now.
It will be interesting to see what happens.

Monday morning we had an appointment with Petra. When we got there, she was in tears and told us she couldn’t go back to our church anymore. When we asked her what had happened she said she couldn’t afford to belong to this church. She had had a rough week with her finances with the expenses with her car breaking down and then having to get new brakes. The Relief Society president had told her to go in and talk to the bishop. They started talking about tithing and what a full tithe was. Petra was paying on the net and not on the gross income and the bishop told her she needed to pay on the gross. That about did her in and she was ready to leave the church over that issue. She talked to a non-member friend who quickly agreed with her that our church asks for too much money------a common complaint we hear from inactive and part-member families too. Then this friend told her to read the parable of the unjust servant in Luke 15. She had interpreted this to mean that you didn’t have to pay the full amount and “the lord commended the unjust servant” for figuring this out. WRONG!!! But Petra wouldn’t listen to us. This friend also told her about a Priest who had an office downtown and people came to him anytime they had a question about the scriptures and he would answer their question. So Petra went to see him. He had interpreted it the same way as her friend but didn’t have an answer for the last part of the parable. He just said, “Jesus taught a lot of things that no one understands.” Then Petra asked him about the verses in Malachi which talk about tithes and offerings and he said he had never heard of that. That was a great experience for Petra because she said she was so thankful for the church and for her understanding of the scriptures and that she knew that somehow she could work her finances out so she could pay her tithing. Then last night we went with the bishop to visit her and he said he had been in a training meeting with the stake president the night before and the training was on tithing. They were told that tithing is a personal thing between us and our Heavenly Father. He also learned that in Europe, where people pay 50% and sometimes more in taxes, they can’t always be expected to pay on the gross so the bishops instructions were for her to continue to pay as she has been paying and when it came time for a temple recommend interview, she could say she was a full tithe payer. He said she had to feel good in her heart about what she was doing. It was something between her and her Heavenly Father and if she felt that what she was doing was right, that how it would be. President Rakow had said there isn’t such a thing as “gross” blessings and “net” blessings with regards to tithing and that if we do all we can do, that’s enough for the Lord. So we’ve crossed another hurdle with Petra. She’s happy. Our dear bishop was so kind. He thanked her for giving him this opportunity to learn more about this. He said he knew she was upset when they talked on Sunday and was thankful that they had been able to talk and get this worked out. He felt at peace in his heart. Petra felt at peace and we felt at peace. We had hardly been able to think of anything else since our visit with her on Monday. Its wonderful how things work out when there are people to go to for help. How grateful we are for Priesthood leadership at all levels.

We have meetings set up with one inactive family and one part member that we haven’t met with before. Dad is an expert at finding things for us to do but we are thankful for the opportunity. The wife is the non-member and has come to some of the Relief Society activities and also to ward parties. She would like to start coming to church but her member husband is the one dragging his feet so our work is cut out for us. We don’t know a lot about the other one only that he was at one time really active. We called him when we first got here and he was working weird hours and couldn’t meet with us but the last time Dad call, he has a new job and regular hours and invited us to come over. It’s always a bit scary wondering what we’re going to find but I’ll just tag along behind Dad and we’ll see what happens!

We met the new couple from Rigby the other day at interviews. Oh how well I remember just how they are feeling! They’re almost over the jet lag but have spent a good deal of their time lost in their assigned city and they don’t even know where to start. To make matters worse, the bishop of the ward is in the states for the summer and the counselors don’t act like they know much what is going on. Their apartment was a disaster when they got there. They were told the Elders had cleaned it before they moved but Sister Meng said their idea of clean and hers were a long ways apart. They are really nice people and I hope I can help her like so many people have helped me. They have 7 children---4 girls and 3 boys----and 14 grandchildren. They signed up for 23 months. They’re a lot braver than I am!!

We have a meeting in the morning with a young mother of two active boys whose husband was unfaithful to her and no longer is a member of the church. She is trying so hard to hang on but sometimes it is almost more than she can do. Sunday she was crying after church. I walked to her car with her and she asked if we could come over and “just talk”. I’ve decided I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life. We’ve seen many sad and very ugly situations since being here. Satan is doing a number on people. He’s trying so hard to get his last licks in. How very important it is for us to stay strong and true to the things we know are right. We need each other as family and we need to be good friends and neighbors. How thankful I am to know who is going to win in the end. The challenge is to live so that we’re always on His side. I know we can do it but not without commitment and hard work. May we ever be true to those things we know are right.

Much love to all of you,
Mom

Correction

Dear Family,

I must have been really tired when I wrote the family letter last night. The parable I was referring to when talking about Petra and her problem with tithing is in the 16th chapter of Luke, not the 15th , and it is the parable of the unjust steward, not the unjust servant. Petra’s friend read just to verse 8, emphasizing verses 6 and 7 especially but she or the priest who Petra talked to could not explain verses 9-13 saying that those are things that Jesus taught that no one can understand. The real message of that parable is in the last part of it. Anyway, she is finally at peace regarding tithing. She told the bishop that as her circumstances improve she will continue to pay more tithing because she recognizes the blessings that come from it.

Next time I’ll read the letter BEFORE I send it instead of the next morning. I made a lot of mistakes and I rambled a lot. Sorry about that.

Have a good day. Know that you are loved and missed.

Much love,
Mom

From Dad 7/21

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all of your letters. They are like oil to the machinery. What an awesome experience a mission is to spend 18 months day and night with someone you love! How could life be better than that? Yet when we are home again and busy with family and friends we will be happy to be back in our element again. Mom’s adjustment to missionary life and life in another country has been nothing short of amazing. I will always remember the first time seeing her out of her element when a brother and sister on the Placement Program needed to go home to South Dakota for the funeral of an 18 year old brother. When we went into the teepee and sat cross legged on the dirt floor to eat a meal before returning to Idaho mom expressed on the way home such radical changes were beyond her ability to handle. Last year when we put our mission papers in we left the part blank when asked if we had any preference where we would be called to serve and after we opened the call to go to Germany, mom told me her preference would have been to go to Africa. You have a pretty gutsy mom.

Our Muslim friend is facing likely the most difficult decision of his life. He started an internet café business with a partner (who put 1 thousand Euro into the business to get it started). He finds himself very much in love with a very pleasant and nice looking young German girl. His partner said, “Abed, it is either the girl or the business. You can’t have both.” Abed is so frustrated and angry. He would do almost anything to obtain 1 thousand Euro and be able to buy out his partner. The business has gone well. Things with his girl friend have gone even better. Having to choose one or the other is more than he is willing to do. We said we will come back in two weeks. If his desire to do good and have good be the basis for how he decides to conduct his life continues to be the basis for how he will make his decisions, we told him an answer that would be acceptable to him and that would bless his life would still be possible. He told us yesterday how cruel and unbending life was for him when he was very young. You could see the horror register on his face as he thought back on those horrific experiences in his early life. Although he was from a large family he still had to grow up on his own without the support and influence of his family. We hope he felt hope was possible and the nightmares he lived with for so many years and the anger and the hate do not need to return and are not a true reflection of how life is meant to be.

Our 74 year old tennis playing friend and less active member called and wasn’t able to meet with us this week. We talked for quite a while on the phone about prayer and answers to prayer and how important it is when someone begins to search for answers to consistently approach our Father in Heaven in prayer in order to experience for themselves that He is really there and for them. When they first feel someone was listening and what that can mean to them, we experience some of the greatest moments during this mission. Brother Vollrath welcomed the idea we could actually speak and hear a prayer together from our hearts over the phone. He was content and there was a good Spirit when we knew it would be two weeks before we could see him again. He did agree to continue to seek a connection to our Father in Heaven in prayer.

Yesterday we met with Gunther Jindre who has wandered over much of the world in his 45 years. It is unclear whether he can hold still long enough to get a grip on life yet or whether he will move on again. Some very mean things were said to him and about him in the foyer of the Church two weeks ago. His heart has softened much the past two weeks. Tonight he said he would see us in Church tomorrow. We will hope. It will take great courage and forgiveness of others on his part. He too experienced much of abuse as a young child going through orphanages and foster care homes. He has many gifts and when he is happy he is very, very happy. Each time he keeps coming back one more rough edge has been loosened or dropped off to the side.

We are getting our second wind. Our momentum, regardless or whether obtained through the successes or failures of daily missionary work, is gaining. We can do so much more in a day than we could in almost the first 11 months of our mission. Mom is so patient. When it is necessary to speak German and there is no one who can translate for her and the situation calls for my full attention, she is so accepting and supportive. Of course she would love to know everything that is going on and to be able to express openly and freely her own desires. She still has and continues to develop an ability and an interest to use the German language. She has such great courage. Neither one of us will be proficient but at least we can make ourselves understood. Mom’s cooking is still the # 1 influence (outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ) on this mission. People just love her and so do I!

Have a great week,

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 7/19

Dear Family,

Summer has finally come. The weather is HOT but there is still rain about every other day so the humidity is crazy. My hair is so frizzy with all the humidity and tomorrow I’m going to get it cut----a little bit. Speaking of hair, Dad’s is getting very sparse. I told him he is rubbing it all out wearing a hat at night (yes, even in the summertime). Every time I cut his hair, there is less and less on top to cut. Last night when we got in the elevator, he looked in the mirror and said,”I think I forget to comb my “hairs”. Just want you to be prepared for that change when we come home.

We’ve had a wild week. Saturday Dad had run to the store to pick up some groceries for a man we’ve been trying to help get back on his feet. He was gone a LONG time and I was beginning to get worried. Then he came in with a very red, hot face carrying two sack of groceries and said the car had quit and he couldn’t get it started. We called a member in the ward and he came over and got Dad and took him to deliver the groceries. The people at the store had told Dad it would be okay to leave the car there until Monday. Sunday we went with Petra to get her Patriarchal blessing. It was another hot day. We left to come home about 3 o’clock and we hadn’t been on the road for more than a half hour when all of a sudden her car lost power and then just died. We called the company which is similar to AAA road service and they said they would be there as soon as they could but they had a lot of calls. They told us to get out of the car and put the warning triangle up and just wait. We walked through so pretty tall weeds and grass and found some shade in the trees just off the highway and waited for 3 hours for a truck to come. They loaded her car on the truck and drove to their shop in Nurnburg but couldn’t find out what was wrong so they loaded it on a trailer and off we went to Wurzburg. We got home a little after ten. The next morning we called the towing service and they met us at the parking lot and loaded our car on a truck and drove us to the Opal dealership. These wonderful little electronic devices are great when they work but when they quit, you don’t go anywhere. They had to order the part so they gave us a rental car for a couple of days until ours was done. It took the shop where Petra took her car 10 minutes to fix it and $10 for the part but they also found out she had no brakes at all. As we talked about it later, she said how much worse this could have been had we gone on in all the traffic and had to stop with no brakes. So in spite of the long wait and the frustration of a broken down vehicle, we feel the Lord’s hand was in it and we were all safe-----a bit frazzled but safe.

It was a wonderful experience being with Petra as she received her blessing. We attended all three meetings prior to her receiving her blessing. The bishop came and sat down by us and visited for a few minutes before church started, asking us all about our mission and our family and just being really friendly. When he stood up to go up to the stand, he asked if it would be okay if he called on us to say a few words during Sacrament meeting. Everything is in German but they have a young man who translates and the bishop said he would translate for me. So, we each gave a short message and bore our testimonies. After Sacrament meeting we went with Petra into the bishops office where she received her blessing. It was a beautiful blessing. The Lord has many things for her to do and she was told she would be a great missionary for the church and would be given many responsibilities. She was also promised that she would be given a companion to go to the temple with during her life here on earth. She was very happy about that. As we talked about her blessing a little bit, she told us that the moment the Patriarch put his hands on her head, she felt like she had a direct connection with Heavenly Father. She said it seemed like He had forgotten everyone else and had given her His full attention. She realizes now that she does have a relationship with our Heavenly Father, that He is someone who is real and knows her and how much more meaning prayer will have for her since that experience. After our “nightmare” trip home, she said, “It was still a wonderful day, wasn’t it?”

We’re not sure where Sister Meyers is with her testimony. She said she wants to have her “own” testimony of the gospel. Petra invited her and Brother Meyers and us over Wednesday afternoon and we talked a lot about prayer. Sister Meyers still has a hard time thinking of offering a personal prayer and asking for something just for her. I think Petra helped her understand that it’s okay to do that and that personal prayers are very important. She also encouraged her to pray out loud, telling her that it is easy to not get distracted when you are speaking out loud. We asked Sister Meyer if it would be okay if we called her every day to just see where she was and she said it would be fine. I guess at this point, only time will tell-----time and lots of prayers. She has a good understanding of the gospel but wants to “feel” it in her heart.

Do you remember us telling you about the family we visited shortly after we got here who had a big blowup when we asked when we could come back? I was scared to death but Dad didn’t give up on them. He and Brother Peterson, who has not been active for many years, had talked on the telephone every week. His wife is against the church and especially the Book of Mormon. She told us we could teach her out of the Bible but not the Book of Mormon. Well, we haven’t been back for several months and my heart sank when Dad got off the phone the other day and said the he wants us to come out to their house again. With fear and trembling, I went with Dad. I think the Lord must have heard my prayer and sensed my fear because his wife wasn’t home. We had a wonderful meeting with Bro. Peterson. What a change in him since the first time we met. He has been studying the scriptures and reading in the Book of Mormon and he wanted to be taught from the Book of Mormon that day. He was raised in the church and he showed us the inside cover of his Book of Mormon where his mother had written when she gave it to him as a gift. If hasn’t had a lot of use and doesn’t have the ready references in like the new one does so we are ordering one from the mission office to take to him next time we go. He said he hopes his wife is home next time. I’m not too sure I like that but we’ll go. He has been talking to two of his sisters who live in Utah more than he has talked to them for years and they always ask him if he is going to church. He says, “Not yet. But I’m going to.” He is such a nice, personable man and would be a great help to this ward. Again, we’ll try to do our part and then wait to see what happens. He offered the closing prayer on Tuesday and it was so heartfelt and sincere, asking that he would be a better husband, father and man and that the leaders of our church would be strengthened and guided as they direct the church.

We hadn’t seen our Muslim friend for a couple of weeks. When we went to see him last week, he was on a little vacation. His brother was minding the store. When we stopped in yesterday, he said, “Where have you been. I’ve missed seeing you.” With zone conference and everything else, we had been a little extra busy. Then he said he hadn’t balanced his books for three months and was in the middle of doing that so asked us to come back. We have an appointment with him at 9 o’clock in the morning.

So life goes on. It seems like we are always “preparing” for classes. Tuesday and Thursday are English classes and Wednesday is Institute. Then there is always FHE on Monday night and we always prepare treats and sometimes the lesson for that. Monday night there were 10 at FHE. We had a fun evening. We had invited everyone who plays a musical instrument to come and participate. There were a couple of guitars and a young adult who plays the piano beautifully. It got hot in the church and we had filled about 20 water balloons and taken towels with us so we went out to the back of the church and had a water balloon toss until the balloons were gone. I think everyone got pretty much cooled off. It was a lot of fun. Then we went back inside and the music started up again. We brought in the refreshments, (zucchini brownies) and just sat and talked and sang songs. Some of them had to leave and the rest of us went into the chapel where this good piano player played hymns and we sang. The kids would just call out a favorite hymn and she would play it and everyone would sing. We were there until 9:30 and Dad said it’s probably time to wrap things up. These are just amazing kids. It’s just a privilege to be associated with them.

We gave a new missionary couple in our district. They are from Rigby. Their last name is Meng. We haven’t met them yet but have talked on the phone. They are still trying to recover from the trip over. We will see them on Tuesday when we go to Nurnburg for our interviews with President Rakow. Elder Meng served his mission here the year after Dad went home from his mission. They had the same mission president for a short time. We are looking forward to getting acquainted with them. It will be nice to have another female in District meeting.

I guess that’s it for now. It seemed like this was kind of a slow week but when I got writing about things, I guess it wasn’t so slow after all. The other night on the way home from our English class, Dad mentioned that we need to work on our lesson for Institute for the next night. We’re never done. There’s always something else to be working on and that’s good. It’s much better to stay busy than having time on our hands. Sometimes we have to just take some time to let it “all hang out.” This is not easy work. Emotionally it can be very draining and physically, sometimes we just plain get tired! But luckily, we were told that if we need to take a rest in the middle of the day, do it. And we do. I usually go in and lie down on the bed and feel guilty because Dad is studying. But when I come out, he’s usually asleep in his chair so he gets his rest too.

Thank you all so much for your good letters. We look forward to hearing from each of you. It’s nice to know what’s going on in the family. You all sound like you are not lacking for things to do. You are in our thoughts and prayers each and every day. We love you very much. Time is marching on. Soon that little Peterson boy will be here and then it will only be a few months before we will be with you again.

Much love always,
Mom

From Dad 7/14

Hi family,

Even as the rain makes things grow so this work helps us grow as well. Through disappointments, no one home’s, and seeing and feeling the difference in the lives of those we teach who are willing to consider how living the gospel Jesus Christ teaches helps, we begin to get a picture of what a mission is all about. Life is going on.

Brother Vollrath, our 74 year old tennis buff, who had a serious infection in his left leg a few months ago, has the same infection again in its early stages. He was very humble when we met the other day. He was trying to figure out if this was a way Heavenly Father was trying to get his attention since he still had not yet ventured his own first personal prayer. He was not sure if that would be a right thing to do. He wanted to know if he needed to be sincere and really want to know whether God lives before he should ask for help. The question alone explains he has humbled himself considerably. We offered a priesthood blessing. We explained through the power of the priesthood he could be healed if he was willing to show some faith. We explained showing faith meant when his leg was better he would still pray and ask for help to know how to conduct his life and what God wanted him to do. To just say “thank you, I’ll see you around sometime. Have a nice day” and never venture further to get to know Him would not be pleasing to a Heavenly Father who had just helped him through a serious, life threatening problem. After the blessing he said he would make the attempt to talk with and listen to his Heavenly Father in prayer. We hope both things go well for him.

Ron Peterson is really struggling. Two weeks ago as we were talking on the phone it was important to look something up in the Book of Mormon. He left the phone for a minute to go and get his. In the back ground we heard his wife say, “Who is Alma? I don’t read about him in the Bible.” When he came back on the line he was so shaken he said we need to end our conversation. We were concerned. Two weeks ago he had expressed his wife seemed to have some concerns about the Jehovah Witnesses and most likely would not become a member. She loves the Bible and attends a Lutheran Bible study class each week. Tuesday when we talked we offered to only refer to scriptures in the Bible. He said no we needed to do both. Then he said, “I think what is bothering Martina right now is she can’t hear what we are talking about. I want you to come to our home again for our next visit next Tuesday.” This will be a challenge for mom especially. Martina is cordial with me when she answers the phone for which we are grateful. We hope that will be the case when we are once again in their home.

Mom is doing a super job with the English classes. Her training in the schools is coming through loud and clear. Her practical nature cuts through all the fluff and fuzz. She is loved by the students. It is almost funny to see people older than we are as well as those who are younger acting like grade school kids teasing, laughing, and bantering back and forth. Its just fun. I have no vision in these things. I would be totally lost without mom. In the preparing for an eternal marriage class it is the same thing. I have never been much of a teacher. It has and always will be something that takes great effort on my part and produces minimum results. It is awesome to see how mom functions working with people. She has an instant connection and knows how to build on those connections. It is a joy every time we are in a class setting together to learn from her.

Grandma Berner said both prayers, by her choice, when we met on Wednesday. She worked hard to get a grasp of what the Book of Mormon is all about. She is working through the difficulty so many people face. At first people just want to reject the Book of Mormon. Then they are concerned we are trying to replace the Bible. When they stay with us eventually they come to see how the Book of Mormon supports, defends and strengthens every teaching of Christ in the Bible. Anne Berner is somewhere between the first and second step. Her prayers are sincere. She asks to know what direction she should go. We know there is no other way but what Heavenly Father shows her. We can point the way. They will walk together whatever way is right for her. She treats the teachings in the Book of Mormon as truth but cannot yet see how the two were meant to work together. The names and places are so foreign. We are thankful she continues to make return appointments with us.

Yesterday was a long and hard working session with sister Kempe. We had mentioned there were many important teachings of Christ that are no longer included in the Bible. She is a person who requires knowledge. She wanted specifics. We referred to Isaiah 48:1 as mentioned in the Bible and the same chapter and verse quoting Isaiah found on the brass plates in 1st Nephi 20:1. The first reference does not mention baptism. The second one does. Then we were off to the races. She wanted to know why it doesn’t talk about baptism in the Old Testament. Since she does accept the restoration showing her the answers how the gospel of Jesus Christ was taught to all of the Old Testament prophets was not difficult. It just took time. She had so many questions. She wanted to know what happened with Moses and the house of Israel when they were stranded (spiritually) in the desert for 40 years and why Moses was taken away from among them when they entered the promised land and why they had such a strict law code given to them. What makes us the most happy about the growth we see in sister Kempe is knowing she now understands that continuing to work, understand and live the basic teachings Jesus Christ taught is a life long process. We remember a time when she said, “I know we have a Heavenly Father but I don’t feel anything for this Jesus you tell me about.” It is a great day when people recognize Jesus as the Christ the one who gave us the atonement.

Today the sun is shining. We will have a great day. I love mom. She warms my heart every day. This mission is a great sacrifice for her. She has made it willingly but through much pain. I hope to become more like her. She teaches by her example little things every day. We can still laugh. The other day riding the elevator from our car back up to our floor we were talking and had to smile as we noticed her name badge had been upside down while we were out. There are times life just feels upside down but OK anyway.

Have a great day and a good week. We love hearing about all of your adventures.

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 7/12

Dear Family,

Thank you for your letters. It is so good to keep posted on all your activities. It’s good to hear about Zach’s experiences. He’s sounding more like a real missionary all the time. Wondering if you’re doing any good at all is a normal thing for missionaries to feel. We have many days like that but thank goodness there are a few successes thrown in there that keep us going. The other day, Dad was at the bank and gave the woman who had been helping him a “pass-along” card. She looked at it and then said something like, “Religion just doesn’t have very much meaning to most people in Germany.” I believe it! Last night one of the young men at institute told us that the Catholic Church has made a statement to the news media that they were the only true church. We have much work to do and it is only through the Lord that people will be able to find out the truth for sure.

I think the issue with the man I told you about last week is pretty much over. Dad and the Bishop met with him Friday night. He admitted that there are some things in his past that are not right but he has already talked to the bishop about these things. He seems to have a testimony of the gospel. One of the “less stable” members in the ward was the one who told the Elders he thought this guy had problems. Then on Sunday this guy came into church and saw this “less stable” member and really lit into him telling him that “the things I told you were supposed to be just between you and me.” Then he started yelling at him and causing quite a commotion. One of the members took his arm and said, “Let’s go outside and talk” and kind of pulled him out and as he was leaving this other guy said, “Ya, why don’t you just leave.” Not a smart thing to say to anyone----especially someone who is investigating the church. He did leave and his final words were, “I want nothing to do with this church.” Dad tried to call him the next morning but he hung up on him. He has been over to his place a couple of times but when he rings the clinger, this guy answers and then when Dad asks if they can he more or less “hangs up” again. We can’t help but feel that if he wasn’t guilty of something, he wouldn’t be acting this way. I guess only time will tell. Oh for the adventures of a missionary!

Stephanie is still very unstable. She called and asked if Dad and another member in the ward would come over and cast out the “evil spirits” that are in her apartment. That has been an ongoing problem with her. I don’t know how long her marriage will last. Her poor husband seems totally frustrated with some of the things she’s doing. He asked if they could come to the Eternal Marriage class that is starting up so we could teach Stephanie what it means to be a married person. They didn’t show up last night so we don’t know what’s going on. Time will tell on that one too.

Sister Meyers is coming along. She told us yesterday that she has never prayed personally. She has prayer with her husband every day but to pray alone for something she has concerns personally about is something she has never done. She knows a lot about the gospel. She knows the right answers to give but she doesn’t “feel” it in her heart yet. We challenged her yesterday to pray herself and we talked to her husband about it and asked him to encourage her to. She said she would try so we’ll see. Petra has a very close relationship with them. Brother Meyers is the one who confirmed Petra after she was baptized and they always sit together at church. Next week we are taking Petra with us when we meet with them. Petra has a beautiful testimony of prayer. She had never prayed and didn’t even know how when we first started meeting with her but that has changed.

Our Zone Conference was this week. President and Sister Rokow are just amazing. They have so much energy and enthusiasm for this work and so much good council for us. We feel of their love and concern for us. I felt so badly for one of the Elders from here in Wurzburg. Monday night we took the Elders home from FHE and this Elder, Elder Blackburn, said, “Tomorrow is going to be the worst day of my life.” That was Zone Conference day and I asked him if he had to give a talk. He said no, he didn’t. The problem was that he took his suit in to be cleaned on Saturday. Most of the time it just takes one day but on Saturdays, it takes an extra day. When he went to pick it up Monday, he was told it wouldn’t be done until Tuesday. He has another suit but he tore the sleeve when he wrecked on his bike. He only has a few weeks left on his mission so with warmer weather and not having to wear a suit coat all the time, he felt like he could get along okay. We all hoped that Tuesday would be really warm so everyone could take their coats off but it was exactly opposite. It was raining hard and it was cold. Poor Elder Blackburn was the only one without a suit coat. As soon as he sat down, our zone leader asked him where his coat was and acted really disgusted with him. He told us that President Rakow has said something to him but didn’t tell us what. He couldn’t even eat lunch, he was so upset and he went downstairs and just sat alone while we were eating. Then his companion went down and got him and he took his coat off for the rest of the meeting. I thought that was very kind of him. When I told him that, he said he just wished he had done it sooner. Elder Blackburn has had many challenges on his mission. He has a hard time expressing himself and struggles with the language still. (I know how that feels!) He is very small and has been the brunt of a lot of jokes. We’ve tried to put our arms around him and encourage him and I think he appreciates every kind word we say to him. I think he will be glad when the next few weeks are behind him. When we got in the car to come home from the conference I asked him if it really was the worst day of his life and he said it was. I felt so bad for him.

Next month, Elder Kopichke, a new Seventy, will be at our Zone Conference. He is in the new Area Presidency here in the Central Europe area. He was a mission president in Berlin when President Rakow was a stake president there so they are very good friends. We are looking forward to that conference. They are all so good.

Last night in our Eternal Marriage class we were talking about the importance of families. One of the young men, who is a native German, told us that the laws in this land discourage large families and the smaller your family is, the more benefits you get from the government. That is one way they have of discouraging large families. Now is that contrary to Heavenly Father’s plan, or what? How thankful I am for all seven of you-----all 14 or you plus all the grandchildren. We’d probably get kicked right out of this country! But I wouldn’t give any one of you up!!!

We wish you, well at least you Idahoans and Utahans, had some of our rain to help with all the fires we are hearing about. Every week we think it’s going to start being summer. It’s SUPPOSED to start this week. We’ll see. It was pouring rain this morning when we were out but is looking a little better now. It has stayed in the mid 60’s and low 70’s for most of the week. They’ve had so much rain that it has ruined the grain crops. The fields look awful---just brown and beat down. They needed this rain earlier in the season.

We love you dearly. I think Dad is thinking about home a bit more than he admits. When we were talking about the August Zone Conference, he said, after that one we’ll only have 4 more zone conferences. Yes, we will both be glad to be back with you. I look forward to being able to talk to people I see in the store and on the street instead of ducking my head and hoping no one talks to me.

Take care. Thank for all you are doing.

Much love,

Mom

From Dad 7/7

Hi family,

The sun is shining and everyone has a little bigger smile, is a little more talkative, and sees hope for a great day. Life is good.

The family we visited on the base the other day have a 6 year old son with some developmental problems. We are not sure if he is partially autistic and ….? He goes to a special school. Every fast Sunday he wants to bear his testimony and goes to the pulpit alone. The family were having a birthday party for the mom. Mom took them some cookies. They invited us to stay for ice cream and cake. They had little gifts, journals and notebooks, for us too. Isaac, the 6 year old, wrote in them from memory our names, the date, and a scripture and the scripture reference. It was pretty amazing.

Last night the bishop and I met with the Elders investigator mom has spoken about. It appears to be a series of assumptions made by a less active member who had a similar situation this spring with several active members where assumptions were made and feelings were hurt. There appears to be no evidence of any wrongdoing. Fortunately the investigator appears to be quite strong and forgiving. The bishop leaves for Twin Falls to look for a home He is a pediatrician and will work with a group of doctors there. He was also born and raised in Twin Falls. This story will be continued hopefully on Wednesday the 18th when he is in Wuerzburg again.

We have a fun musical family home evening coming up on the 16th. It is a mix between a going away activity for Thomas and brother Clement. Alex and brother Clement had a lot of fun “jamming” at our last expanded family home evening. They will be the main attraction for the one coming up. We will add some more guitar and piano players and it should be a fun evening with good food to top it all off. Its always a challenge finding the activities the young people enjoy and knowing how much to do. But it is fun.

We had a hard working teaching discussion with sister Kempe on Tuesday. She called Wednesday and said things were still spinning in her head and asked if we could meet again on Friday. Yesterday there were many tears. Her daughter was home for a visit and was experiencing much pain through the lifestyle she currently had chosen with a middle aged man with whom she was living. Sister Kempe seemed very meek and teachable. The Spirit was very strong. Shortly before we left her daughter had woken up and came in to say hello and good morning. She was not the same person we had known 6 months ago. Life had taken its’ toll on her. The love for her mom was still very evident. We commented on this love and the strength it brought to both of them. The tears came to Carrie’s eyes. Her mom moved over and sat next to her with her arm around her. Sister Kempe asked mom to say the closing prayer. After the prayer Carrie said she might move back to Wuerzburg – alone. We will hope.

You are all in our thoughts daily and in our prayers. We love you and need you to know how important you are to us. Whether we will go on other missions remains to be seen. Grandma and Grandpa Price were home only for 6 months at a time. This is not our desire. We will be home for at least 18 months and then we will see. HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 7/5

Dear Family,

It’s 9:30 and we just got in from our last English class for the week. We left for our first appointment this morning just after 9:30 and we’ve been in and out all day. This is supposed to be P-day. I did manage to get a couple batches of washing done between appointments and Dad took the garbage out but that was about it for our domestic chores. Dad and I were just talking on the way home about some of the things that have happened today that make it a day that we won’t soon forget and hope we don’t have too many like it. The first call we got when we came back from our first appointment was from the Elders. They have a strong feeling that one of the investigators they are working with is gay and wonder what they should do. This guy is supposed to be baptized in a couple of weeks. Elder Lindsey asked Dad if he would go with them for their appointment tomorrow night to see what he thought. Dad has called the bishop and the bishop called our mission president so hopefully he’ll have an idea what to do. When we got back from our next appointment, there was a message from Stephanie’s husband that Stephanie had run away and asked Dad to come over. We went over but I stayed in the car. They talked for quite awhile and then Dad gave Christian a blessing. Stephanie is having a hard time accepting that now that she is married, things have changed. We have very clear instructions that the married and singles and not to mix in FHE or in the institute classes. There is a “Building an Eternal Marriage” class that is available but Stephanie can’t see why things have to be different just because she’s married. She has had so much attention being in the hospital for such a long time and then getting married and all of a sudden, she’s just another member of the ward and is not getting as much attention and she can’t accept it. We were happy when we called her husband when we just got home and she is back but has a friend with her so we didn’t find out much. Oh, the messes we get ourselves into. As I said before, I hope we don’t have too many days like this one!

Our couple’s conference last Friday and Saturday was another wonderful experience. We were treated like royalty again. We rode on the train to Munich so we didn’t have to worry about driving. President and Sister Rakow met us at the train and we drove to a beautiful lake south of Munich where we got on a big river boat and just enjoyed the beautiful clear, warm weather, the beautiful scenery and getting acquainted with the other couples for nearly 3 hours. President and Sister Rakow made the rounds stopping to visit with everyone. There were other people on the boat and some of the men had some good discussions with a priest from another church and a few other people who wondered who we were and what we do. The women mainly just enjoyed visiting while they were being good missionaries. After we got back to Munich, we checked into the Holiday Inn and got ready for the evening at the mission home. We had a wonderful meal prepared by Sister Rakow and Sister Laudenbach who helps at the mission home. One of the new couples both taught music at BYU. He has been over the opera music department and just listening to him talk, you can tell he is an opera singer. They did a couple of “light” numbers for us that were beautiful then we played a couple of silly games. It was just a very relaxing, informal evening. The next morning we were picked up the motel and went to the church for breakfast and then some good instruction from our mission presidency and some workshops. After lunch, which was a potato bar, we had a testimony meeting which was a very spiritual time. It was good to be together and learn that everyone shares the same frustrations about being a senior missionary with no specific program but we were all encouraged by President Rakow to carry on with the good work that was being done. Everyone does things a little differently and it was good to hear what others are doing.

Dad just got off the phone with the bishop. President Rakow wants the bishop and Dad to meet with this man tomorrow night. He doesn’t want the young elders involved until the issue is cleared up. He, Pres. Rakow, said that if people are willing to repent, we want them in the church and if this man is sincerely interested in being baptized, that he would personally interview him. He said that he would know if he was worthy of making this covenant of baptism and if he’s not ready, he will tell him what he needs to do to get ready. I’m glad the Elders don’t have to be involved and I’m glad that the bishop will be there with Dad. We’ll know “the rest of the story” later on.

We’ve had a lot of cancellations this week. I think this weather is affecting everyone. We’ve had lots of rain every day this week and a lot of people have cancelled because of sickness. But we’ve had some good meetings too. We are working with an inactive member. She was raised in the church but started smoking when she was 17 and then she became an alcoholic. I think that is behind her but she hasn’t been to church for years. When we called to see if we could come and visit her, she seemed okay with it. We’ve been there three times now and each time she sets an appointment for another visit. We have a nice discussion on very basic principles of the gospel. That last time we were there, she asked us if we could help her understand the mission of the Holy Ghost better so that’s what we talked about this time. She has told us about a neighbor who she thinks so much of and thinks she is as good a Christian as anyone she has ever known. This neighbor was going on vacation and the member we have been visiting gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her if she would read it while she was on vacation. The neighbor said she would. There must still be a little “flame” of testimony in her if she’s being a missionary to her neighbor. She is just a nice lady. When we told the Relief Society president we had visited her, she could hardly believe it. She lives quite a ways out of town and I guess no one has really made much of an effort to go see her. But it’s such a beautiful ride out there and we love going there!

Sister Meyer, who isn’t officially “Sister” Meyer yet because she’s not a member, has been coming to church with her member husband for 43 years. She has gone through dozens and dozens of missionaries. The young Elders were working with her but were just frustrated so the ward mission leader asked Dad and I if we would work with her. We started at square one, the Godhead. She didn’t understand that they are separate and distinct persons but we’ve read enough scriptures together that she is finally realizing that there are 3 separate members of the Godhead. That was a big step. She knows a lot about the church. Her husband wants more than anything to be sealed to her in the temple. This week in our meeting the spirit was very strong. We talked about the love her husband has for her and wants her to be sealed to him. She shook her head and said that she wanted to be with him too. Then we talked about what needed to happen for that to happen and baptism is one of those things and asked her if she would consider being baptized on the 28th of this month. She didn’t say no and promised that she would think about it. When Dad shook her hand before we left, he commented that we had given her a big assignment and her comment to him was, “Yes, and we’ll see if we can’t take care of it.” At one of our meetings with them, I felt the spirit so strongly and told Dad I wanted to bear my testimony and asked if he would translate it for me. I bore my testimony and when Dad started telling her in German what I had said, she shook her head and said, “I understood every word she said.” There is no language barrier with the spirit. She is 81 years old and he is 78. She has so much life in her. It’s just wonderful to know them. I’ll try to send a picture of them next week. Also some pictures of our trip to Munich.

We are having to slow down with the busy little mother whose husband is in Iraq. She talked to him and told him she wanted to join the church and he said it was okay but that he wasn’t planning on changing churches. That was last week. Then Monday when we talked to her, she told us that she had talked to him again and that he’s quite upset that she’s thinking about changing churches while he’s over there and knows nothing about what’s going on. She feels it would be better to wait until he got home, which will be in September or October, then he can learn about the church too. We both feel that this is the right thing to do. Michelle told us we could still visit her and that she would continue to read and study about the church. We’ll take her cookies and just stay in touch with her. She knows all the wives of the members who are still stationed her and we’ll encourage them to continue to be a friend to her.

We visited an inactive sister today who feels she is a failure because she can’t get her 12 year old son or her non-member interested in the church. She works all day on Saturday and Sunday and hasn’t been able to go to church for several years even though she was quite active before that time. We assured her that she was not a failure and told her we would like to come and just visit with her once a week and help strengthen her testimony again so she would feel better. She liked that idea so that’s what we are going to do. Working with part-member and less active members is one small step at a time but Sunday there were two less-active members we have been working with to church and that makes it all worth it. I think I’ve told you about the Becks, the young couple we have visited each Sunday since we came to Wurzburg. They are the ones who are now preparing to go to the temple. She was put in as a counselor in the Young Women’s presidency on Sunday and he is secretary in the Elders quorum. The gospel really does make a difference in peoples lives. There are many bright spots in this work to offset days like today.

As I have mentioned, we have had rain EVERY DAY for a week! It was so nice to be in the sunshine in Munich but the closer we got to Wurzburg on our way home, the darker the clouds were. Sunday is supposed to be sunny and warm. We’ll see. I know lots of people besides just me who would welcome that.

Know that we think of you many times each day. You are in our prayers. We love you so much and we miss being with you. I think we miss you more in the summer months because of all the fun we have had together during the summer so I’m glad we will be gone just one summer. The 4th of July is just another day here in Germany. Today we went to see a member who lives on the Army base and there were lots of flags out in front of the homes so we’re guessing that they didn’t forget what day it was. It was good to see all the flags.

Until next week,

Much love,

Mom









(some of the traditionally dressed people who shared the boat)