From Mom 9/20
Dear Family,
The weeks go flying by. I can’t believe this is nearing the end of September. It was exactly a year ago this week that we landed in this beautiful country. It has been quite a year!! I don’t think anything we could ever do would bring the ups and downs, the highs and lows that this mission has brought. It’s quite an experience being in a different country but one I’ll always be thankful for. Tonight in our English class, one of the members who is about our same age told us that we work too hard. We’re getting older and we need to slow down. I don’t think we work too hard but compared to the German people, we go at a pretty fast pace. They are much more relaxed and just take their time doing things. Yesterday a lady in our apartment building that lives just across the hall invited us in for “tea and cake.” We went and we had lemonade with our cake but we were there for nearly 2 hours. She just wanted to visit and so we stayed and visited. Her father was a priest in a Protestant church. She really had very little interest in hearing about our church but we have developed a friendly relationship with her. Sometimes that’s an important part of missionary work-----helping people see that we are just normal people and not “weird” like some many people picture members of our church to be.
Remember the lady I told you about last week who was just disgusted with me for not praying in German? We went to her house yesterday. She called a few days after we had been there last week and asked us if we had given her Book of Mormon away yet. When she gave it to us last week, she asked us if we had someone who could use it and we told her we did if she really didn’t want it. She was certain she didn’t want it so we took it but we hadn’t given it to anyone yet. She asked if we would bring it back to her. We had a nice visit with her. She told us a lot about her background. She remembers the war years so well and remembers how hungry she was so much of the time when she was growing up. She remembered the CARE packages that came from America and what a good feeling that gave her. She had fixed a lovely meal for us and we had a very pleasant visit during the meal. We even talked a little bit about religion. She admits that she has just been away from it for such a long time that it is just not much of a part of her life anymore but that it would probably be good if it was. We take that to be a very small step but in the right direction.
Tim Palmer called us the other day and said he wants to be connected to the church again and asked if we could make an appointment for him with the bishop. He says he needs to know just where he stands in the church because of living with someone and not being married to her. He wants to do what he needs to do to make that right and get back into the church. He will meet with the bishop on Monday. He is just such a nice guy and seems sincere about wanting to turn things around.
Today we’ve felt like “service missionaries”. One of the members who is in the military called and asked if we could meet him at the medical/dental building on the base and take his wife home. He had to be back to work. His wife had hurt her back and could hardly get around and he had brought her into a doctor to get checked. So we did that. Then another member asked if we could go to her home and stay with her niece for just an hour after school so she wouldn’t be alone all the time until she got home from work. Another member had asked us if we could get a nice triple combination for him and have a name put on it for a young woman he is very interested in. She is a member but has been very inactive. She is a student studying music here and has just started coming to the ward. We had the book but it took a bit of time on the phone to find someone who would put the name on it. We took it to the place and they couldn’t do it right then but would have it done later so that was two trips. We’ve just done a lot of running around today. Between trips I did get some washing done and Dad got the garbage out but that was our P-day. One thing that really made us feel good was what this young mother said to us as we were driving her home from the doctor. She said that with all the turmoil in the ward with the base closing and people moving it’s nice to have the stability of a missionary couple. That made up for a lot of frustrating times we’ve had lately.
By far the highlight of our week was the news of the arrival of Nathan Cade Peterson. I want to tell you about that. Cindy called at 2 AM our time to tell us she was on the way to the hospital. I was so “out of it” that I’m sure I didn’t make any sense to her as I tried to tell her when we would be here and when we wouldn’t be here the next several hours. Anyway, I was so excited that I couldn’t go back to sleep for a couple of hours. We had a meeting with the bishopric regarding seminary and institute at quarter to nine so just before we left I called the hospital to see how things were. Cathy answered the phone and said things were moving along and didn’t think it would be a whole lot longer. I could hear Cindy in the background dealing with some pretty strong pains. Well, we went to the meeting but I was determined that I was coming home right after. The Elders had had a baptism Saturday night and the lady had asked Dad to confirm her. We’ve spent quite a bit of time with her too so I wanted to stay for the confirmation. Then I decided that I would stay for the sacrament and then go home and call. As the music began for the sacrament hymn, I had a very distinct feeling that I needed to leave----NOW. So that’s what I did and when I called, Cathy said it should be just anytime now. So I stayed on the phone and I heard the nurses counting, “Push Cindy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” then saying, “One more push should do it.” Then, “Okay, Cindy, push.” Then Cathy said, “Oh, there’s the head” and then, through a teary voice, “Oh, he’s here and he’s beautiful.” I heard the first little squeaks and then a very loud cry. Cathy and I were both crying by then----tears of joy! I got to talk to Cindy for just a minute and she was thrilled to have that little boy already in her arms. What a miracle birth is and how thankful I am to have been able to be as close as I could possibly be to share that moment. I don’t think there is ever a time that we feel closer to our Heavenly Father than at the birth of a baby, knowing that he so recently came from our Father in Heavens presence. It’s a very spiritual, sacred experience. I’m so thankful for the promptings. I know our Heavenly Father knew how much I would like to have been with Cindy at this time and made it possible for me to experience it from far away. It’s another testimony to me that our Father in Heaven knows us intimately----he knows our wants as well as our needs. What a wonderful day it was!
Fall is definitely in the air. The days are beautiful and sunny but much cooler. The leaves are turning and with all the trees here, it is a beautiful sight. Many days when we first go out, I comment to Dad, “This feels like spud harvest weather.” That is the best way I can describe fall. We’ve seen loads of sugar beets being brought in but so far, no spuds, or “kartoffels” yet. How I look forward to a good Idaho baked spud!
Not a lot of news this week. Pretty much same old, same old but that’s how missionary work goes. We are concerned about Petra. She has cancelled our last two appointments and wasn’t at church on Sunday. She sent us an e-mail and said she needed to “clear her head” and needed some time away from church to think things through. She asked us not to come over or to call. That has been very hard. She did say that she would call us when she got some things clear in her mind and assured us that she still has a testimony and that she loved us. I guess when you’ve lived a certain way for nearly 50 years, all the changes are very difficult. About all we can do is hope and pray, pray, pray for her. This has been a very hard thing for us. I think this is the first week since we’ve been in Wurzburg that we haven’t met with her.
Thanks for the good letters and keeping us posted on the family and other goings on. We appreciate the support we feel from all of you. Thanks for your vote of confidence in what we are trying to do. We’re so happy about the great experiences Zach is having and the spirit that we feel from his letters.
Much love always,
Mom
The weeks go flying by. I can’t believe this is nearing the end of September. It was exactly a year ago this week that we landed in this beautiful country. It has been quite a year!! I don’t think anything we could ever do would bring the ups and downs, the highs and lows that this mission has brought. It’s quite an experience being in a different country but one I’ll always be thankful for. Tonight in our English class, one of the members who is about our same age told us that we work too hard. We’re getting older and we need to slow down. I don’t think we work too hard but compared to the German people, we go at a pretty fast pace. They are much more relaxed and just take their time doing things. Yesterday a lady in our apartment building that lives just across the hall invited us in for “tea and cake.” We went and we had lemonade with our cake but we were there for nearly 2 hours. She just wanted to visit and so we stayed and visited. Her father was a priest in a Protestant church. She really had very little interest in hearing about our church but we have developed a friendly relationship with her. Sometimes that’s an important part of missionary work-----helping people see that we are just normal people and not “weird” like some many people picture members of our church to be.
Remember the lady I told you about last week who was just disgusted with me for not praying in German? We went to her house yesterday. She called a few days after we had been there last week and asked us if we had given her Book of Mormon away yet. When she gave it to us last week, she asked us if we had someone who could use it and we told her we did if she really didn’t want it. She was certain she didn’t want it so we took it but we hadn’t given it to anyone yet. She asked if we would bring it back to her. We had a nice visit with her. She told us a lot about her background. She remembers the war years so well and remembers how hungry she was so much of the time when she was growing up. She remembered the CARE packages that came from America and what a good feeling that gave her. She had fixed a lovely meal for us and we had a very pleasant visit during the meal. We even talked a little bit about religion. She admits that she has just been away from it for such a long time that it is just not much of a part of her life anymore but that it would probably be good if it was. We take that to be a very small step but in the right direction.
Tim Palmer called us the other day and said he wants to be connected to the church again and asked if we could make an appointment for him with the bishop. He says he needs to know just where he stands in the church because of living with someone and not being married to her. He wants to do what he needs to do to make that right and get back into the church. He will meet with the bishop on Monday. He is just such a nice guy and seems sincere about wanting to turn things around.
Today we’ve felt like “service missionaries”. One of the members who is in the military called and asked if we could meet him at the medical/dental building on the base and take his wife home. He had to be back to work. His wife had hurt her back and could hardly get around and he had brought her into a doctor to get checked. So we did that. Then another member asked if we could go to her home and stay with her niece for just an hour after school so she wouldn’t be alone all the time until she got home from work. Another member had asked us if we could get a nice triple combination for him and have a name put on it for a young woman he is very interested in. She is a member but has been very inactive. She is a student studying music here and has just started coming to the ward. We had the book but it took a bit of time on the phone to find someone who would put the name on it. We took it to the place and they couldn’t do it right then but would have it done later so that was two trips. We’ve just done a lot of running around today. Between trips I did get some washing done and Dad got the garbage out but that was our P-day. One thing that really made us feel good was what this young mother said to us as we were driving her home from the doctor. She said that with all the turmoil in the ward with the base closing and people moving it’s nice to have the stability of a missionary couple. That made up for a lot of frustrating times we’ve had lately.
By far the highlight of our week was the news of the arrival of Nathan Cade Peterson. I want to tell you about that. Cindy called at 2 AM our time to tell us she was on the way to the hospital. I was so “out of it” that I’m sure I didn’t make any sense to her as I tried to tell her when we would be here and when we wouldn’t be here the next several hours. Anyway, I was so excited that I couldn’t go back to sleep for a couple of hours. We had a meeting with the bishopric regarding seminary and institute at quarter to nine so just before we left I called the hospital to see how things were. Cathy answered the phone and said things were moving along and didn’t think it would be a whole lot longer. I could hear Cindy in the background dealing with some pretty strong pains. Well, we went to the meeting but I was determined that I was coming home right after. The Elders had had a baptism Saturday night and the lady had asked Dad to confirm her. We’ve spent quite a bit of time with her too so I wanted to stay for the confirmation. Then I decided that I would stay for the sacrament and then go home and call. As the music began for the sacrament hymn, I had a very distinct feeling that I needed to leave----NOW. So that’s what I did and when I called, Cathy said it should be just anytime now. So I stayed on the phone and I heard the nurses counting, “Push Cindy, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” then saying, “One more push should do it.” Then, “Okay, Cindy, push.” Then Cathy said, “Oh, there’s the head” and then, through a teary voice, “Oh, he’s here and he’s beautiful.” I heard the first little squeaks and then a very loud cry. Cathy and I were both crying by then----tears of joy! I got to talk to Cindy for just a minute and she was thrilled to have that little boy already in her arms. What a miracle birth is and how thankful I am to have been able to be as close as I could possibly be to share that moment. I don’t think there is ever a time that we feel closer to our Heavenly Father than at the birth of a baby, knowing that he so recently came from our Father in Heavens presence. It’s a very spiritual, sacred experience. I’m so thankful for the promptings. I know our Heavenly Father knew how much I would like to have been with Cindy at this time and made it possible for me to experience it from far away. It’s another testimony to me that our Father in Heaven knows us intimately----he knows our wants as well as our needs. What a wonderful day it was!
Fall is definitely in the air. The days are beautiful and sunny but much cooler. The leaves are turning and with all the trees here, it is a beautiful sight. Many days when we first go out, I comment to Dad, “This feels like spud harvest weather.” That is the best way I can describe fall. We’ve seen loads of sugar beets being brought in but so far, no spuds, or “kartoffels” yet. How I look forward to a good Idaho baked spud!
Not a lot of news this week. Pretty much same old, same old but that’s how missionary work goes. We are concerned about Petra. She has cancelled our last two appointments and wasn’t at church on Sunday. She sent us an e-mail and said she needed to “clear her head” and needed some time away from church to think things through. She asked us not to come over or to call. That has been very hard. She did say that she would call us when she got some things clear in her mind and assured us that she still has a testimony and that she loved us. I guess when you’ve lived a certain way for nearly 50 years, all the changes are very difficult. About all we can do is hope and pray, pray, pray for her. This has been a very hard thing for us. I think this is the first week since we’ve been in Wurzburg that we haven’t met with her.
Thanks for the good letters and keeping us posted on the family and other goings on. We appreciate the support we feel from all of you. Thanks for your vote of confidence in what we are trying to do. We’re so happy about the great experiences Zach is having and the spirit that we feel from his letters.
Much love always,
Mom
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home