From Dad 8/25

Hi everyone,

Even the medical community goes on vacation in Germany in August. There are very few left to sustain emergency services. Yet life goes on. We have had to scramble to find people to visit. We have had several cancellations. It’s all in the life of a missionary.

Gunther Jindre has come through many trials by fire as far as the Church is concerned. Friday the elders and I met with him again for the first time in six weeks for a normal discussion about the Church. We felt the Spirit and he was teachable again. For several weeks the door had been closed. His business is starting to show signs of positive life and even some strength. Time will tell whether he will actually make it all work.

The young father who lost his membership in the Church through his actions who also is a returned missionary shows a clear path of what happens in our lives when we turn away from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. We met this week and when I asked him his feelings about Jesus Christ, he said he was unsure who he was. I know from the many examples of men who have let the cares of the world crowd out their working at living the gospel, that faith and knowledge about Jesus Christ is one of the first things they lose. After this young father and I had talked for about an hour sitting in a parking lot I offered to give him a ride back to his barracks. He asked to just walk back. He wanted time to think. I look forward to next week to learn more about what he has been thinking.

Tim Palmer who has three boys, no job, and the mother of these three children now has someone else in whom she wants to spend her time and wants him to move on. He has no claim on his children. The past fifteen years have been for naught in his life. He is interested in learning more and becoming more involved with the Church again. We hope life will turn a corner for the better for him. He is very likable and we hope through strengthening his testimony he too will find work again and start a new life at 50.

The resistance to living prophets comes from the heart. When all the true prophets in the Old Testament times were alive there were those who loved them and followed them and those who fought against them and when possible killed them. The same was true for Jesus Christ when He lived on the earth. There have always been false prophets and false Christ’s since the beginning. Today there is much resistance to listening to and following the voice of a living prophet. Many reasons are given. None of these will hold water in the end. We make choices every day who we will follow in life. Pride simply says, “I’m my own man. I don’t follow anyone.” The sad reality will one day not always so gently inform us none of us is so strong as to stay aloof from either the Lord’s or Satan’s influence. These two are the only two forces at work in t he world. We do have the power, the right, and the responsibility to choose who we will follow. Only after our time of probation is past will we fully be aware of who we chose to follow and why. Our prayer as mom and dad and grandma and grandpa is that each of us will make every effort every day to exercise faith in Jesus Christ and build into our lives His teachings in how we live. None of us are perfect. We can always look at the holes in our armor. We can also look at the strength the armor provides and go forward in faith and each of us fulfill the mission in life we were foreordained to fulfill before we were born.

We love each of you with all of our hearts. Thanks for being family. Thanks for caring.

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 8/23

Dear Family,

Guten Tag---or in other words, good day. How are things at your house? I’m sure it has been a mad rush getting started in another school year but it’s always a relief to get back on more of a routine again too. We hope everyone is happy with their teachers and with their classes and have lots of new friends to enjoy. We’d love to hear all about it.

We have two elders in our district going home soon. In fact, our district leader has just 6 days left. He is leaving 3 weeks early so he can get back into school. The other one will leave on regular transfer day which is in three more weeks. Anyway, with the two of them leaving, we decided to have a district P-day and got permission from President Rakow to all go to Rothenberg. The Elders had never been there and if you’re in Germany, you must see Rothenberg. That’s the city we went to with Petra a few months ago. When we went with her, it rained all day but today was beautiful. It’s like stepping back in time about 600 years to walk into that city. We enjoyed just walking around and seeing the sights and going into all the little shops. The streets are cobblestone so it’s not the easiest place to be walking around. Its fun thinking about what it was like in the 16th and 17th century. Many buildings have when they were built carved into the stone. I think the earliest one was sometime in the 1400’s. This is the area where knights in shining armor fought to defend their country. It’s called the medieval city. There is a wall clear around the city and it’s interesting to be up on that wall and see the evidences of many battles fought. The Elders seemed to really enjoy it. They took lots of pictures and seemed to enjoy doing something completely different. It was having Elder and Sister Meng in our district and having them there today. It was just a good day.

This has been a week of “service projects”. Elder and Sister Mengs car was due for a 75,000 mile service so they asked us if we would meet them at the shop and spend some time with them while their car was being serviced. That ended up being nearly an all day thing. They hadn’t been to Wurzburg and wanted to see some of the sights so we went for a walk along the river toward town but instead of going into town, we decided to walk up to the big castle on the hill. It’s a long ways up there!!! We spent quite a bit of time at the castle and then walked back to a floating restaurant on the river and had lunch then took them to get their car. By then the day was pretty much gone as far as time for real missionary work goes but we did have an appointment with our 74 year old tennis player and that turned out to be a really good meeting. It’s always interesting to teach people how to pray and to hear their experience with it. Brother Vollrath hasn’t prayed in years but he has tried to pray a few times since we’ve been meeting with him and he said he is feeling something different than he has ever felt before and likes what he is feeling. He has tournaments the next two weeks but said he would continue to try to pray. We’ve seen his interest in the gospel grow so much since our first meeting with him.

We had an interesting meeting Sunday afternoon. It was with an inactive sister that we’ve tried to meet with ever since we got here. She’s either never home or she doesn’t answer her phone. Dad left several messages and last week she called and said she would like us to come and see her. This has to be one of the most unhappy women we’ve ever met. She was divorced from her first husband and her second husband died of lung cancer. She has been a member of the church for nearly 50 years and told us what it was like when this ward was an all German ward and when the chapel was closer to downtown. She liked going then. But she didn’t like it when the American soldiers and their families came and they combined the German and English speaking wards. That’s when she quit coming to church. When we brought up the Book of Mormon, she didn’t want to talk about it. She said her religion is what comes from the Bible. She isn’t sure there is a God anymore. She doesn’t believe that prayer does any good and she came right out and told us that she just wanted to die----that she was just plain tired of living. What a sad condition to be in. So she doesn’t want us to talk about religion but she wants us to come and visit her because she is so lonely. So we’ll go and we’ll hope we can help bring some happiness.

The bishop has asked us to work with a couple of very troubled families in the ward. One is a situation where the mad is on disability. He has MS and it has affected his brain. If he stays on his medicine, he does okay but for some reason he doesn’t think he has to take his medicine all the time and when he doesn’t he becomes very violent. They have a 4 year old and a 1 year old and when he gets into one of these moods, he’s very abusive to his wife and to his children. They are fairly new in the church but have been to the temple and they love going to the temple. They live quite a ways out and don’t have much association with people from the ward so the bishop has asked if we would go there on a regular basis and be their friends and talk about the gospel with them. He said they are hungry for the gospel but they need someone to talk with them about it.

The other family is the one I’ve told you about where the husband was unfaithful to his wife. Bishop Moffitt has met with the husband every week for over a year and felt like he was coming along with his repentance process but his wife just can’t forgive him and is trying to “get even” by doing things to hurt him. A couple of weeks ago she decided she wanted a separation and told him to leave. So he left and then she was mad all over again. She just let this whole thing eat on her to the point the she just had to do something that would really hurt him so she went to his commanding officer and told him what had happened. As a result, he can only see the kids 2 hours a week and can’t be alone with them. Those two little boys absolutely adore their Daddy. He is a good man who has made a serious mistake but has been trying to rise above it and because of her not being able to forgive and try to help him, she has caused more pain to both of them. The Army is in the process of making arrangements for her to go back to the states. We have tried to befriend both of them. Dad met with him for a couple hours last night and he is so confused. He didn’t want the separation. He wanted to try to work things out. He regrets so much the mistakes he made but really wanted to put his life in order again. He asked Dad if they could meet and talk again next week. Oh, the messes that people get themselves into. And it seems like somehow we get right in the middle of them too. But the bishop asked us to do anything we could do to help and encourage them. My heart goes out to both of them.

A mission is a mixture of a lot of different experiences, especially for senior missionaries. Sometimes it’s hard to feel like we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. I think the mind set of a missionary is “teach and baptize” and when we spend most of our time doing other things, it’s hard to feel like we’re really missionaries. But when we came to Wurzburg, President Rakow told us to do whatever Bishop Moffitt needed us to do. We worry about what will become of the ward. By this time next year the army base will be completely shut down. By the end of this year, three active families will be gone. That’s 16 people. We have plenty of work to do to try to activate people again so this ward can stay a ward. Bishop Moffitt will be leaving the end of September. I don’t envy the new bishop! I don’t envy any new bishop but with this ward shrinking, it will be extra challenging. We’ll continue to work hard and do our best to try to help the people here.

We got a letter from some friends we met at the MTC. These are his thoughts about a mission:
“If anyone tries to tell you that a mission is not work, don’t listen to them. Not so much hard work, but daily work, does not go away work; must be there work; study the scriptures daily and pray for the spirit work.” I think that’s a pretty accurate description of what a mission is like. It’s no vacation. I can’t say it’s fun but is very rewarding.

Thank you for being who you are. Know that we love you and we pray for your well being every day. President Hinckley said in a recent article that there has never been so much wickedness in the world as there is right now. How very important it is to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and resist the many temptations that are out there. If we do that, we will be okay and will find peace even in a much troubled world.

Much love to all of you,
Mom

From Dad 8/18

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your letters. Mom checks email before she does anything else as we come and go during the day. We appreciate the flexibility senior missionaries are given when it comes to communication with home. Mom is so good to not abuse this privilege but we use it daily. Keep them coming.

We can feel the change of seasons in the air as we approach the third and final month of summer. This is an interesting month. It brings school again. There will be lots of football games and other related sport activities. It would be interesting to see Sam in his fencing class in action. For Brian school again has a special meaning. We are so excited for him and for Kathy! His youth will bring many blessings to their family. Many dreams may still come to fruition. The nights and sometimes the days are showing distinct signs of cooling down. We love seasons and the changes they bring. We are excited for Camille. We are interested in the final happenings in the Hatch clan next Tuesday and little Jenny.
We look forward to Nate and Cindy’s new arrival in the next few weeks.

Last night we met with Brother Vollrath. He is headed to northern Germany to participate in two major senior tennis tournaments that will finish the season for him. His health is good and his spirits are high. We talked about prayer. He reviewed the two times he has attempted personal prayer. We talked about the importance of daily, morning and evening. Mom mentioned it is good to talk about our day early in the morning and at night to discuss how we handled the day and its events. Prayer is a powerful tool. Brother Vollrath seemed committed to exercise this new found form of communication and to learn from it. Another thing he shared with us last night is what he has done to patch up estranged feelings between him and an older brother. They had not spoken, written or been in any contact for many years. Brother Vollrath’s heart softened this summer and he has reestablished contact with this brother and they now communicate and remember each other with the events and general interest about what is happening in their lives. The Spirit affects us in ways often we are unaware it is even happening.

Anna Berner had her Book of Mormon on the table and had been reading in it when we came to see her on Wednesday. She is much more familiar with the Bible and we spend most of our time teaching from it. Her overall faith in God seemed less in doubt this week. When she spent six weeks in the hospital this spring for depression had she the faith then that we feel from her now, we don’t think the hospitalization would ever have been necessary. The comfort from the Spirit is real. It blesses our lives in ways we can feel in no other way. She was more accepting of where we were before we were born and the plan our Father in Heaven put in place to guide us while we are here on earth. As we talked about the resurrection and glorified state of Christ’s body as the apostles touched Him and He ate with them along with the others who were resurrected and went into the city of Jerusalem and appeared to their own families to confirm the reality of the resurrection, Anna asked, “So where did they go after they were resurrected?” We said we will talk about that next time we meet in September when she is back from vacation with her family.

Sister Kempe was amazed to learn that other Christian churches do not see members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christians. When Jesus was standing in the water after His baptism next to John the Baptist and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Beloved Son”, the question needs answering how many persons were there when someone from heaven spoke? We know the Father spoke from heaven. We know the Father and the Son are two separate individuals. This is not acceptable to other Christian Churches. This is the reason great numbers converge on the Salt Lake area one or two times a year and great amounts of brochures are printed and placed on every doorstep inviting LDS people to consider becoming Christians. We love the people in these other churches. There are so many good people seeking to follow Christ. We are thankful for that. The Church can never change from teaching what has been revealed when the Father and the Son appeared and answered Joseph’s question. Sister Kempe has a great understanding and love for people. She can talk with her friends at work about things few others can. Her example opens so many questions in people’s minds. There is a new young female doctor at the hospital. She invited sister Kempe to go and have a beer with her and just talk. Sister Kempe was willing and explained she would drink something other than beer. Many questions followed. Sometimes people say to her, “A church has no business telling you how to conduct your life. That’s a personal thing.” She simply smiles and shares her testimony of how thankful she is for the changes that have come into her life since she has been willing to accept the commandments as a way of life.

This has been a hard week. Losing Uncle Rulon and feeling he was unprepared for what he is now experiencing was a difficult time for me. Then I thought about Lea and Grandma and Grandpa Price and his own mother waiting for him and now having the time to work together with him and answer many questions that before could not be answered was reassuring and comforting. Should Uncle Rulon now choose to seriously consider repenting of some feelings, thoughts and actions he had and felt while he was here on earth, then the real work begins. Only now the difficulty to change is really uphill. When we have our body it is much easier to learn to control and discipline it. We can stop doing things to or with our body. After this life comes another question. How do you learn to discipline and control a body that is now only a memory? That will be much, much harder!

From Mom 8/16

Dear Family,

This has been another “different” week----a few cancellations and a variety of things to do and think about.

We were sad to hear about President Faust. I think his talk in conference in April on forgiveness was a classic. I’m sure it will go right along with President Benson’s talk on pride as memorable speeches. We got to watch his funeral at 8 PM our time. It was broadcast into our building here over the satellite. It was so very good----no long speeches and everything said was so heartfelt. And the music was beautiful! What a wonderful example he has been for everyone. He will surely be missed.

We were also sad to hear about Uncle Rulon. It has been very hard on Dad. He was a kind, gentle and very intelligent man and we will probably never understand why his life took such a turn. We can be thankful we don’t have to judge. I just remember many good times with him and his family when their kids and our kids were young and that’s how I want to remember him.

(Mom & Dad's mission car... just kidding)

We finished our apartment inspection last Friday. It was a long day and we drove over 500 KM.
We were supposed to go to an appointment when we got back but about an hour out of Wurzburg, Dad said he just didn’t have any more to give and asked how I felt about canceling the appointment. I felt much the same way and thank goodness, this lady understood. Again, it was great meeting with the Elders. We saw a couple of Elders we had known earlier in our mission and it was fun seeing them again. I never cease to marvel at their dedication and their attitude toward this work. It just boosts our spirits to be around them.

We were very happy on Sunday when one of the less active members we have been meeting with was a church. He hasn’t been to church for over a year and he seemed to really enjoy being there. He said he’s never lost his testimony and has no idea why he quit coming to church. His non-member wife has come to some of the ward activities and to some of the Relief Society enrichment activities and told the Relief Society president that she would like to start coming to church but her husband has been dragging his feet about coming. We just hope he will continue to come and start bringing his family. They are an awesome family. It’s amazing how excited we get when we see someone we have been working with take steps to become active again. Makes us feel like maybe we’re doing some good.

Petra is so fun to work with. We had an appointment with her Wednesday morning because she had to go to work in the afternoon. She called and said she was baking bread and that it would be out of the oven at 9:15 and wanted us to be there then. When we got there, she was waiting for us in her car. The bread and other goodies were in a picnic basket and we headed out to her favorite place in “nature” and had a good discussion on a number of things. She had brought butter, honey, salami and tomatoes to go with the bread. We were sitting at a table in an apple orchard out from town a little ways. It was very peaceful and turned out to be a very enjoyable meeting. She has so many questions and we are so thankful for the opportunity to help her find answers to them. She is such a help to people who come to the investigator class in Sunday School. Sunday, a young man the Elders are working with asked her to tell him how she became acquainted with the church and how she came to know it was true. It was a thrill to hear her testimony and to hear her testify to him that he could gain a testimony if he would study and pray to know that what he is being taught is true. A lot of the questions she asks us when we meet with her are questions people she works with have asked her and she doesn’t know for sure how to answer them so she tries to find the answers for them.

Today was our Zone Conference in Stuttgart. We woke up at 4:30 so we would be ready to catch a bus to go to the train station. It was about a two and a half hour train ride. We were on the train with one other couple and 6 Elders. It was nice not having to drive and fight the morning traffic and it was nice to have the time to just visit with this other couple and talk about what we’re both doing. The conference was great. Elder Kopiscke (?) and his wife were there. I think I mentioned that he is a new Seventy. He was a stake president for 9 years, a mission president in Berlin, and area authority and is now in the Central Europe area presidency. He loves missionary work and gave us a lot of good things to think about and to put into practice. He said if we’re not finding joy and having fun being a missionary, we need to step back and see what we need to change. He cautioned about becoming to intent on what we think we should be doing that we fail to hear and feel the promptings of the Spirit that are trying to tell us what we really need to be doing. His wife is so enthusiastic and full of energy. She too loves missionary work and loves to member teach with the missionaries. She says she has to remind herself that she is still a mother to 12 year old twin boys and another 14 year old boy and can’t spend all her time out with the missionaries but that’s what she loves to do. She was very complimentary to the senior couples telling us that our experience in life teaches and reaches places that the regular missionary lessons can’t reach and assured us that we are needed and are valuable to this work. President Rakow was very emotional as he told us how much he loved each one of us and hoped we knew that but was going to try to do a better job of telling us more often. What a great opportunity to be taught by these inspired Priesthood leaders.

We rode a street car from the train station to the stake center where the conference was and as we were coming back to catch the train after our meeting, Dad and I sat across from a really nice lady. She looked at my badge and asked what Sister meant. I told her that we were missionaries and that while we served as missionaries we went by Elder and Sister. Then she asked about the name of the church on our badge and asked if it was a Protestant or Catholic church. We told her it was neither but was the restored church of the church that Jesus Christ organized while he was on the earth. We also told her that we were Christians----that the name of our church showed that. She seemed interested and we asked her if she would like someone to come and tell her more about the church, to which she said she would and she wrote down her name, address and telephone number. So we have a referral to give to the Stuttgart missionaries. She was such a nice lady. We’ve had several people look at our badges. Some almost turn and run! Others are curious enough to ask questions. It’s an interesting life.

So life goes on for us here in Germany. I hope you don’t get too tired of hearing pretty much the same thing each week but we do pretty much the same thing each week so that’s all I have to tell you about. We feel very much a part of this ward. I hope we will be here for the rest of our mission. It’s almost seems like it has taken the people most of the time we have been here to really feel like we want to be a part of their lives. Some days we’re almost too much a part of their lives but we’re glad they feel like they can call and ask us for help when they need it. I’ve gained a whole new appreciation of how important it is watch out for and try to be friends to everyone. There isn’t anyone who doesn’t need other people in their lives.

We hope all is well with everyone at home. We’ll be anxious to hear about the first few days of school for everyone. It’s an exciting and busy time of the year. Know that we love you and are so thankful for you. You are in our prayers every day.

Much love always,

Mom

P.S.

A new Elder is here in Wurzburg now. We were talking about learning the language and he showed us some funny things about how difficult the English language is. Here are a few of them.

The bandage was wound around the wound.
He could lead out if he would get the lead out.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
Why doesn’t “Buick” rhyme with “quick”?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth beeth?


(Sister Schoenfeld, 86, whom Dad taught on his FIRST mission to Germany, Fall 1959!)

From Dad 8/12

Hi everyone,

This past week has given us a lot to think about. There is so much of what is good in the world. We know also there is so much that comes from the influence of him who would dethrone our Father in Heaven and rule by force and all that is not good. Knowing our Father knows everything including the thoughts of the destroyer we are at peace. I know the Father will win this battle. I know Jesus Christ lived without subjecting himself to the adversary in the minutest detail. His offer was unblemished and perfect. The adversary had and still has no hold over Him. He will complete the work the Father gave Him to do and then deliver this world in its perfect form to the Father and step back of His own free will and choice and submit Himself to the Father, along with all those who also have loved the Father enough to work hard daily to keep His commandments, and allow the Father whose right it is to rule and reign for ever and ever. Such a love for our Father in Heaven is the greatest example we can ever receive of the worth and the blessing daily to understand and to live the commandments. I know it will be worth it. I pray every day for the help I need to so live that the Spirit can feel welcome in my heart.

Abuse is a hard subject to think about and more difficult to talk about. The key to overcoming the affects of abuse comes through our ability to withhold judgment from those who have abused us verbally or in other actions. Leaving the door open for someone to change is all our Father in Heaven has asked us to do. Judgment is a very, very difficult act to perform and the Father has encouraged us to stay away from it. In talking last night with a mother of two who is 31 whose husband has been unfaithful to her she could see how her anger toward her husband had begun to make her want to hurt the feelings of her 6 and her 3 year old boys. She cried and we hope it will be the beginning of her loving her two sons enough to let the unfaithful family member go unless and until he chooses a better way. We assured her in time her two boys through her unconditional love of them and for their father who has chosen another way she will be able to teach them also to continue to love and forgive their father with the hope someday he too will want to love them unconditionally. Consequences of actions can close doors and sometimes permanently, but they need never close out our love for the one who is being left behind to find his or her way alone in a troubled world.

We are happy to report Sister Meyer (the one who attends every week and has the honorary title of “sister”) has been given more room by a sometimes impatient husband to begin to ask the questions for which she needs answers in order to find her way and know what she wants to do about the Church. It is interesting. She has the dilemma of looking at her own church (Catholic) which recently declared it is the only true church on the earth and at the Church Jesus Christ and the Father have testified is the Church they have restored to complete the Father’s work before the return of Jesus Christ to the earth. Her handshake is becoming more firm and she is showing more interest in everything, not just the Church.

This Tuesday they face a second move in 2 months at their advanced age. They are amazing people. This has been a difficult time at best and to include weekly meetings with us has been humbling for us. They certainly have had every excuse to simply say, “We have no time right now”.

Our vagabond friend, Gunther Jindre, showed up at Church last Sunday. After almost all of the members were gone one member approached him as he was talking with the young elders and feeling Mr. Jindre was less than friendly told him he didn’t need to come to the Church or be around the members any more. That was a moment that would have derailed most people from ever even talking with another member in the Church. Instead, he made an appointment with the bishop and met with the bishop and the member who had spoken so harshly with him on Wednesday and told us yesterday he was content with how the bishop had handled things on Wednesday and he would see us in Church tomorrow. There is truly room for everyone who wants to do better in the Church of Jesus Christ. We hope this coming week he will have regained enough strength spiritually to once again allow himself to be taught how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change his life for the better.

Whew! Tough week! Mom whopped me good in 3 to 13 the other night. Yesterday we stopped across the street and each had a “Doener” for lunch. It is like pita bread sandwich that you need two hands to hold it with. Mom still prefers a bun with a meat patty and a little cheese and a few French fries. When I went to bed last night mom was sitting up in bed with her German language study materials in hand and she was hard at it. All day yesterday she had been asking details about how you pronounce certain words and is this the meaning of a certain word or what does that word mean. Sister Kempe asked her to be more involved in our discussions. She really relies on mom. Mom is a great companion and is working hard every day to be the best missionary she can. Life couldn’t be better for us. In a little over six months we will be ready to be home again. Nothing will ever take the place of family in our hearts and in our lives.

We will miss President Faust. He is a great leader and Heavenly Father needed him more on the other side. It is always a miracle how smooth changes in Church leadership take place. We are thankful for the strength we feel from those who preside over and guide us. We know they love our Father in Heaven and are obedient to the counsel and guidance He gives them in our behalf.

Have a good week.

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 8/9

Dear Family,

Hello again from Germany. Another week has flown by, a week full of a variety of experiences. We spent all day last Friday and Saturday checking apartments. We have 3 more to do and we’re going to do them tomorrow. We drove over 500 miles doing the ones we did last week. Dad is as good as any GPS system. I just tried to turn when he said turn and go straight when he said go straight and we were able to find all 12 of the apartments. We learned one thing for sure and that is that the Elders don’t use a lot of their time on their missions cleaning. I think the apartments are a place to eat, sleep, shower and do the laundry. In one of them, the tile floor was really dirty and they said they didn’t know how to clean it. They said they vacuumed but the “dirt” didn’t come up. I rubbed my foot across the “dirt” and rubbed it away so we told them they just need to get a bucket, some warm water and soap, a rag and wash the floor. They hadn’t even thought of that! Oh well, they’re 19 and they’re boys. I’m thinking that to them, that isn’t the kind of thing they do. Some of them were really clean. Some should be condemned! Missionaries shouldn’t have to live in some of the conditions the apartments are in. We’re hoping our reports will bring some action but our job is just to inspect and report so that’s what we’ll do.

When we got to one of the apartments there were two plates of food on the kitchen table. We apologized for getting there just when it was lunch time and they told us that food was for us. And it was really good. The problem was that our next apartment was the Holzers, the couple we think so much of and they had told us they were planning lunch for us whenever we got there. So we had two good lunches about an hour apart. We didn’t have to bother about eating the rest of that day. The next day, our last appointment was with Elder and Sister Meng who just recently got here. After we looked through their apartment, Brother Meng asked us if we’d like to go with them to get something to eat. He said the food was good and reasonably priced. We went---it was good and the price was good but there was way too much food to be eating that late in the evening. We were stuffed and neither one of us slept very well that night. Sunday we were invited to lunch at our Relief Society president’s home. That too was very good and we enjoyed our time with them. We had another appointment a couple hours later and when we got there, they had dinner on the table for us.

Another sleepless night! And then came Monday, district meeting day. Transfers were coming up. Our district leader is going home. We had planned to all go to lunch together. We went to a restaurant famous for big servings of schnitzel. BIG is right! The meat covered the whole plate and hung over the sides. Dad and I got one order for the both of us and we still brought about a third of it home. It was delicious and it was fun being together. Elders can put away a lot of food and its fun watching them enjoy it. If we have many weeks like this, we’ll have to get new clothes!

Thomas Mueller is leaving this week-end to go live in California and go to a junior college there. Monday was his last Family Home Evening with us and he had asked if it would be okay for him to invite some of his friends and if we could have kind of a party before he left. He wanted to watch a movie and have treats and we told him that would be fine. We were running a little late because of the extra time district meeting took and when we got to the church, they had the TV set up in the cultural hall and there were 18 non-member friends there. They had brought chips and candy and I had told Thomas I would bring whatever he wanted me to bring. He wanted banana bread, chocolate chip cookie bars and zucchini brownies. I made the banana bread before we left for district meeting and did the other two after we got home. Thomas wanted to watch “Mobsters and Mormons” and a member had let him borrow the DVD but before we started that, he had asked the Elders to show “The Restoration”. Those kids really paid attention to that and when it was over, Thomas stood and bore his testimony to his friends. After a treat break, they put on the other movie and just watched and ate and talked. After it was all over, Thomas was sitting with 8 or 10 of the kids he had invited and answering their questions about the church. We had the opportunity of talking to one of the girls. She is very dissatisfied with her church right now and had a lot of questions about what we believe. Two of the girls asked for a Book of Mormon. We felt like it was a very successful evening. We just wish Thomas wasn’t leaving. He is such a missionary and people are just drawn to him. We tried to convince him that he was needed here more than in California but he’s been planning this for too long of a time for us to be able to get him to change his mind. We will really miss him.

We had another 3 ½ session with Petra earlier this evening. She has met someone who is looking for a wife. She’s looking for a husband so this looked like a good thing to her. One catch though----he thinks our church is a sect and he doesn’t think any church has a right to tell people how to live. Petra was confused. The world thinks that it’s okay to live together before you get married and decide if you really want to marry the person. While we were teaching Petra before her baptism, she learned that that isn’t the way it’s supposed to be and she knows that but she wants someone in her life so badly that she had almost convinced herself that it would be okay. It took a lot of talking to remind her that we don’t pick and chose the commandments we will live. We try to keep all of the commandments. She finally came around but it took some time. It’s interesting to watch her expressions as she works these kinds of issues through. You can tell just watching her when she finally realizes that what she was thinking of doing was not right and that keeping the commandments was the way she really wanted to live. She’s still fairly new in the church and it’s easy to be swayed by “the world” still. She did say when we left that she learned a lot more about the importance of the atonement and felt a much closer feeling toward Jesus Christ so that was good. She has struggled feeling a strong relationship with Him. She has no problem with our Heavenly Father but the Saviors role in her life has never been clear to her. We are so grateful that when questions come up, she is willing to work them through. I can see more all the time the importance of working with new members for a good period of time after they are baptized. A lot of things are so new to them.

The young mother of two active boys whose husband has been unfaithful to her is about at the end of her rope. Yesterday we went over and stayed with the boys for a couple of hours so she could go to the gym and exercise to relieve some of the stress and just get away for awhile. She looked better when she came back and appreciated the break. Its one day at a time for her. We are trying to stay in touch and it’s hard seeing her go through this and not being able to do more. Satan is having his hay day but we know it won’t last forever. But he sure is doing more than his share of damage to families.

We’ve had rain the last two days. Yesterday before it actually started to rain, you could just feel the humidity in the air. I had done some washing but decided it was no use trying to get it dry outside. We have a little patio out our back door that I like to put the drying racks on but the clothes would never have dried. Today it was raining when we got up and has been raining all day. It has been a very different summer. Everyone we talk to says that. Here it is the 9th of August and the high temperature is 61”. From what we hear, that’s quite different from the weather you are having.

We have a full day tomorrow with apartment inspections and then an appointed with a part-member family in the evening. Saturday and Sunday and full days too. Saturday we are meeting with an inactive member and his non-member wife. We’ve been trying to get together with them for several months. She answered the phone when we called and gave us an appointment. We are happy about that. She’s a bit skeptical about Mormon missionaries but when she found out we were couple missionaries she decided it would be okay for us to come. We have two other appointments that day too. Sundays are usually long days with our weekly missionary meeting before church and then a couple of appointments in the afternoon. But that’s how we like it. Time goes faster when we’re busy.

I better get to bed. Our first apartment appointment is at 9 o’clock and it’s a two hour drive to get there. Know that we love you and we miss all of you. You are in our prayers every single day. I mission is a great experience but there’s really nothing like being with family. We look forward to the day we will be together again.

Much love,

Mom


P.S. I forgot to tell you one of the best parts of our travels last week. When we took Petra to get her Patriarchal blessing, Dad was talking to the stake patriarch and asked him about a sister he knew while he was here on his first mission. The Patriarch knew her and told Dad that she now lived in Nurnberg. We were hoping we would get to see her when we took Thomas over there a couple of weeks ago but found out she had just had surgery so wasn’t able to be at church. But we got her phone number and Dad called her and told her we were going to be in Nurnberg on Friday and asked if we could come and see her. She seemed very happy to have us come so after we were done inspecting for the day, we went to he apartment. She is 86 years old and is so full of life and is just a happy person, a delight to be around. When Dad met her, she has just been baptized. She lived in the first city Dad served in. She has stayed active all these years and is just so enthused about the church and being a part of things. She walked with us to the elevator when we left and when Dad said, “bis spatter, which means, “see you later”, she said in English, “No, it’s see ya later alligator” and then she started laughing. It lifts your spirits to just be around her. She usually helps with the lunch we have when we are in Nurnberg for Zone Conference but hasn’t been able to because of health problems but she assured us that she would be helping at the next conference. What a treat it was to meet her and visit with her.

When we were set apart for our mission, Dad was told he would have the opportunity of renewing acquaintances from his first mission. Elder Moody, our mission doctor was one of his companions. Sister Wenzel, who lives here in the Wurzburg ward was in one of his districts when he was a district leader and now seeing Sister Shoenfeld is the third one. What a great experience it has been for both of us to meet these people again.

Gotta run. Have a good day. Hope you are all well and prepared for another school year.

Love ya much,

Mom

From Mom 8/2

Dear Family,

It’s hard to believe that it’s August already----time to get ready for another school year. Where did the summer go? The school year here ended just last week. They will start up again the middle of September. They have several long vacations during the school year so it seems like it’s year around school to us. So far we’ve had very few days of summer like weather, unlike there. It has been an unusually cool summer. Most days we are happy to have a sweater or jacket close by. We are still getting a good share of rain too. Last summer they had record breaking heat for most of the summer. We read about the flooding in England and the crazy weather in different parts of the states and it makes you wonder if more of the prophesies regarding the last days aren’t becoming more evident. Sunday in the combined Relief Society/Priesthood, the bishop talked about the need food storage and other preparations for what may be ahead for us---not trying to frighten us but just to make us aware of some of the things that are going on around the world and to be prepared. The big problem here is where to store things. Most people live in apartments and there is very little space but I’m sure people can find a place if they need too.

I think I’ve mentioned how small the kitchens are in most of the apartments we’ve visited and I found out the other day why they are so small. It a room is under a certain size, they don’t have to call it “a room”. The taxes are figured on how many rooms there are so if they have small kitchens and no utility rooms, they pay less taxes. Most washers are either in the kitchen or in the bathroom. There are very few dryers. If people have dryers, they are on top of the washer. They know how to make the most of the space they have here. It’s interesting to learn some of the rules. In the building we live in, there is a rule that it’s supposed to be quiet between noon and 3 o’clock and children are not allowed to go outside during those hours because they aren’t always quiet. You can’t use your washer before 8 in the morning or after 8 at night. No more getting up and doing the washing when I can’t sleep. Oh, how I look forward to being back home where I can run the washer when I want to and when the kids can be outside and be as noisy as they want to be anytime of the day!! I really don’t like living in an apartment in a big city and am glad we’re out and about most of the time.

Early tomorrow morning we leave on another apartment inspection trip but this time we only have 17 apartments to do instead of 45 like we did last year. We still have quite a distance to travel so we will be gone tomorrow and Saturday and then again Friday of next week. It will be a nice change of scenery but I’m a bit nervous about finding all those apartments again. This is when I wish we had a GPS system in the car! But we did it last year and we’ll make it again this year. Dad is a good map reader and if I can just pay closer attention and learn right from left, we’ll be okay. Never a dull moment!

We had a great time with Thomas on Sunday when we took him for his patriarchal blessing. He is just an amazing young man and has such a strong testimony of the gospel. He invited us to sit in with him for the blessing. Of course it was all in German so I didn’t understand much of it but he shared a few things with us afterwards. The thing he was most excited about was that he would one day bring his parents into the church. Another was that he would be successful in bringing many people into the church as a missionary. He was also told that he would be a leader and many would follow him. He’s already a great missionary and is a natural leader. He is the one who introduced Alex to the church. He told us that a lot of people made fun of him and of the church when he talked about the church to his friends at school and that Alex was probably the one who had the most to say against the church. But he is a close neighbor to Thomas and Thomas just kept inviting him to Family Home Evening until one night he came and he had a great time. Then he came to church with Thomas and loved what he felt there. At that time his hair was down to his shoulders and, as Thomas put it, was just a mess. Soon after he started coming to church, he cut his hair and shaved his beard and has been that way ever since. His parents weren’t real happy with his interest in the church and when he told them he wanted to be baptized, they told him he couldn’t until he was 18. That was nearly two years ago. He was baptized the day after his 18th birthday and has such a strong testimony. We are teaching his grandmother right now. Today she told us that Alex had been over and they talked about the church and that he bore his testimony that he “knew” the teachings of the church are true. She said she didn’t believe we could know they are true-----we could believe that are true but couldn’t “know”. Today we thought for sure this would be our last visit with her. She was so negative about everything we were talking about. Dad told her that there is only one person who wants her to believe that she can’t “know” the truth and that was the Satan. We have our free agency and we can still choose but the truth is out there and she can know. The idea of having eternal life is interesting to her and she wants to know how to get that. She gave us another return appointment. She is a challenge and Dad does a wonderful job of explaining things to her. I don’t understand much that is going on but can feel the spirit and can tell when she’s really trying to understand. She is a sweetheart. I think I told you that she reminds me very much of Grandma Price.

One of the women we teach in an English class invited us to her home for “tea”. She asked us if we preferred tea or coffee and we told her we don’t drink either one. Then she asked about Herbal tea and we told her that would be okay. She is from Russia and wanted to make a traditional Russian cake to have with our tea. So now we have officially been to tea. The cake was good----much more moist than any German cake we have had. And the Peppermint tea was good too. They asked us why we didn’t drink tea or coffee so we had a brief discussion about the Word of Wisdom but she was not interested in anything else about the church and that’s okay. We can be friends and maybe one day she will want to know more about it. Every week in class she asks us how much longer we are going to be here. I told her after our interviews with the president that there is a good chance we will be here until March and she seemed very happy. She is expecting a baby in January and wants us to be here to see her baby. She is really smart and speaks pretty good English. She knows the grammar really well and what she wants most is just the opportunity of speaking to someone in English and to be sure she is saying things right. Her husband is really nice too. We enjoyed our time with them. They have an 11 year old daughter but she was away to a music camp so we didn’t get to meet her but they asked if we would come back sometime so we could meet their daughter.

Our first visit on Sunday with the part-member family, the husband a member but doesn’t go to church and the wife wants to go, turned out to be a good visit. They are such a nice family. They have a 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son and a really cute little 3 year old daughter. When we got there, they had supper prepared for us so we spent the evening around the table. We talked about their family and what a nice family they had and then talked about the Proclamation to the Family. They promised to read it together and they invited us back again this coming week. The company he has been working for is closing down because they did a lot of work for the military and with the military base here closing down, they no longer needed this company. So they are quite concerned about what they’re going to do. They seem very humble about their situation and I couldn’t help but feel that maybe this has opened their hearts to a need for some spiritual help. Anyway, we had a really nice time with them and are looking forward to our next visit. Their kids are just so nice and so friendly.

Ron Peterson is the man who has a wife who doesn’t like Mormons. They are the ones who got into a big fight one time when we were there and I’ve been scared to death to go back. Dad has been talking to him on the phone each week and then he asked us to come out again. The first time we went back, his wife wasn’t there----(I was so glad!). We had another appointment with him his week. She wasn’t there when we got there but he told us that she would probably be coming in any time. We had a really good discussion with him. We see such a change in him since the first time we met him. He has really softened and really wants to learn about the church again. About 10 minutes before we had to leave, his wife came in. She walked right by us. Dad said, ‘Hello, Martina.” She didn’t even look our direction but did say hello and then went in the other room. Ron was shocked and really embarrassed. I don’t know what is going to happen there. He says he wants us to keep coming. He really wants to continue studying the gospel but it sure is hard to feel the spirit when someone is as bitter as she is comes in. He said he would call us and set up another appointment.

It has been another week full of different experiences. Dad got another call from Stephanie’s husband saying she had left again and asked him to come over. The young mother we mentioned last week who’s husband has been unfaithful to her called this morning and told us that last night while they were in talking to the bishop, her husband told her that he wanted a divorce. She is devastated. What do we say? They have a six year old and a 3 year old. She is planning to go back to the states and be near her family there. We’ll try to be her friends and help her at least while she’s still here. The wife of another young couple we’ve been meeting with told us she’s not sure she wants to be married to her husband any more. Whew!! Problems, problems, problems. Wednesday night our institute lesson was on the importance of the family and how Satan is trying to do everything he can to destroy families. That’s how he “thinks” he can destroy a nation. How very important it is to work at keeping our marriages and families the most important things in our lives and recognize the opposition that is out there.

It’s late. We’ve got to be on our way early in the morning for our first day of apartment hunting. Know that we love you all very much. You are in our prayers every day. We live in a troubled world but are here at this time because our Heavenly Father knew we could withstand the many things that are going on. May we all be faithful to those things we know to be right and true.

Much love always,

Mom