From Dad 11/17

Good morning everyone,

Each day is a blessed new day. Each day is getting colder and yet we feel the warmth. Being family is the greatest blessing of life. We are so thankful family life does not need to end with our turn on earth.

Each of you who are old enough holds the authority to do things in the name of our Father in Heaven. What a great gift! Coming to appreciate such a gift is one of the tests of life. Nothing we have blesses lives more. After the closing prayer with brother Vollrath he said he was beginning to feel good feelings when he prays now. He said after we leave he wants to just sit and think about the things we talked about and let the good feelings work in his heart. Today is Gunther Jindre’s birthday. He is 45. He has been a vagabond of the earth. Sometimes he feels no one really has liked him or cares what happens to him. He has resisted the teachings of the Church ever since we met. He is so lonely. The only way in life has been his way. He knows he has to give up his anger and hatred for those who have been unkind or have abused him over the years. He knows only then will he be able to feel the redeeming power of the atonement, the power to become free from all troubles and sorrows from the past.

It was fun watching the Shelley/Fruitland game yesterday morning. Mom was in her hey day seeing the home team. We saw Michael a couple of times too. We thought about many from the family being there and enjoying just being together (even though for some of you it was on a small screen from far away). We are thankful for all the times you have been together since we have had the blessing of being so focused on the Lord’s work. The caring you give each other strengthens our testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and how it blesses our lives as we live it.

Yesterday we watched a soccer game and rode an “old time” street car with a part member family. The member husband was one of the members of the association for preserving street car use in Germany. There was a lot to eat and drink along the way. The member explained to the person offering us something to drink we did not drink alcohol. He provided juices for us and his family. Later the same person came by unconvinced we really didn’t want at least some alcohol seeing how “merry” everyone else was becoming and said, “I can give you just a little bit in your glasses”. So is the arm of temptation. We are never too old nor too far away for the adversary to find us and test our commitments. Mom has developed such a good relationship with the wife and the little girls. Their being in Church the past two Sundays has to be one of the greatest rewards mom has realized to date since being away from home.

We love you guys. You are daily in our prayers. We feel your closeness and are thankful for that. May this Thanksgiving be very special to each of you. It is such a great time of year for remembering how much our Father in Heaven does for us from day to day.


Love always,


Dad and Grandpa

From Mom 11/15

Dear Family,

It was exactly one year ago today that we arrived in Wurzburg. It doesn’t seem possible that we’ve been here for a year. We were promised “at least 6 months----maybe a little longer” by President Rakow. It turned out that the “a little longer part” won out. And we’re glad. I think it has really helped to get to know everyone so well and to work consistently with people over a longer period of time. We’ve definitely had our ups and downs here but are thankful for the progress we have seen and continue to see in some of the people we are working with. Sometimes I get a bit envious of the Elders and Sisters getting to go to Austria and other cities in Germany. It would be nice to see some new sights but seeing the sights isn’t the purpose of our mission and we’ve just thankful for the opportunities we have had here in Wurzburg.

We spent the evening with a sister who had her birthday today. Sunday she asked us if we could come and have dinner with her because her husband was out of town and she would be alone on her birthday. We already had another commitment but she looked so sad and disappointed when we told her that we were busy that we got on the phone and moved things around so we could go be with her. She was so excited when we called her and told her we could come and as we walked into her home this evening, she gave each of us a big hug and told us how much it meant to her for us to be there. Her husband is not a member but she was telling us tonight that the other night he told her that after he retired it would be okay for them to go on a mission. She told him that was fine with her but that he would need to be baptized and then go to the temple before they could do that. He said he was thinking about that so we’ll see what happens in the next few years. They are both just really nice people. He drives her to church each week but doesn’t come in. Their two sons both served missions and they both talk of the blessing that was to them to have them serve. He has a very demanding job-----travels a lot and has a lot of responsibility and the thoughts of joining the church and having more to do just boggles his mind. Tonight she said she thought it would make a big difference when he retired. We’ll hope so.

Earlier today we had lunch with everyone in our district. One of the Elders here in Wurzburg got a call late last night that there was “an emergency” transfer and that he, Elder Lee, would be going to Austria. He is really bummed about the whole thing! He was hoping to be here until after Christmas. They have finally got things really going and just last night got a baptism commitment from one of their investigators. The Elders and Elder and Sister Meng came over from Schweinfut and the eight of us went to a Mongolian restaurant for an “all you go eat” buffet. Those Elders can really put away the food. Elder and Sister Meng love to go out to eat and we’ve done a lot of that since they came in July. Dad and I knew we had another eating appointment later in the day so we just filled our plate once. It was a lot of fun being together. I really don’t life transfers. We get so attached to the Elders in our district and it’s like sending one of our own kids away when they leave. But that’s just missionary life-----transfer day comes around every six weeks whether we like it or not. The regular transfer day was just two weeks ago so this was a big surprise to everyone.

Do you remember me telling you about the lady whose husband no longer wanted to be a man? She hadn’t been to church since we got here and when Dad called her as he was going down the inactive list she told him he would need to talk to her former bishop and find out what the problem was and see what he recommended before she would come back to church. That bishop was the one who told Dad about this woman’s husband and he recommended that she talk to the bishop here. That was arranged and he wasn’t sure what to do so took it to the stake president who didn’t know what to do either so asked the bishop to write to the First Presidency and explain the situation to them and see what they recommended. This woman felt like she wasn’t worthy to even come to church but the bishop encouraged her to come and she has come a few times. Dad talks to her on the phone at least once a week and last week she told him that the stake president had called and wanted to visit with her. He had received a letter from the First Presidency and was able to tell her that her status in the church was not affected by the actions of her husband. This is something that happened after they were married and she knew nothing about this problem previously to their marriage and that she should not consider herself a part of it in any way. The stake president advised her to get some more training and get a good job and just gradually “move out” of her husband life. She was very happy and relieved after the interview and seems ready to get on with her life again. Isn’t it sad what some people have to go through but at the same time, isn’t it so wonderful that a way has been provided for them to overcome these obstacles and move on with their lives? Oh, the things we get involved with on this mission!!!

Well, I learned that my power of discernment is not very good. Last week I told you about meeting Sister Reynolds’s mother-in-law and how excited I felt as she responded so positively to everything we said. Dad was a bit suspicious but I thought we had a good new investigator. Well, I was wrong. We talked to her daughter-in-law a couple of days later and she said that after we left this lady told her that there was no way she could believe all that “stuff” and there was no way she could live the way Mormons are asked to live. And this is the kicker: she said, “I don’t want to give up smoking and lying.” The daughter-in-law told us that she lies about everything and that she doesn’t trust anything this lady says. We do meet some “choice” people out here!!

Today we looked up another member on the inactive list. There was a note to go during the day and ring the doorbell three times, and then she would know it’s someone from the church. It said that her husband doesn’t like Mormons calling on them----that’s why we were to go during the day. We rang the doorbell three times and her husband came to the door. His wife is taking a class at school and was gone. We told him who we were and that we knew his wife was a member and just wanted to come and get acquainted. He told us we were welcome to come anytime and when we asked if tomorrow would be okay, he said, “We’ll be looking forward to your visit.” Now I don’t know if he’s planning on giving us a bad time tomorrow or what. He was just so nice and made us feel so welcome. After my last experience of judging people, I hope I’m not wrong about this man. Anyway, we’re going back tomorrow afternoon and will see what happens. In one of our conferences, President Rakow said, “When you leave notes for the next missionaries coming in, don’t give too much information. Let them find out for themselves.” I’m glad Dad is bold enough to go forward with things like this. I just kind of stand behind him hoping and praying that we don’t get kicked out! I’m the brave one!!!

Tim Palmer is struggling. I think he knows there are lots of changes ahead with his family situation and also if he is sincere in wanted to get active in the church again. He needs lots of encouragement and support. Isn’t it interesting how hard Satan works on people when he knows they are trying to make changes for the better in their life and move toward a better life? It seems to us that that is happening to Tim right now. We’ll continue to hope and pray that he stays strong.

We just found out they have cancelled the Thanksgiving Feast in the ward. Most of the Americans are leaving town because they have a four day week-end and Thanksgiving really doesn’t mean much to the German people. So we’ll have to try to figure out something to do. The Elders were talking just today about this being their first Thanksgiving away from home and how glad they were that the ward was doing something. Our district is good at eating together. Maybe Sister Meng and I will have to fix dinner for the Elders. I can hardly wait for next Thanksgiving!!!!

Tomorrow we’re doing a service project. One of the sisters in the ward whose husband will be getting home from Iraq in a couple of weeks wants to do so heavy duty cleaning in her house and also wants to get her Christmas decorations up. She has five children and has carried a lot of responsibility alone for a long time and we told her we’d like to come and help her. She was very grateful for the offer and has a list of things she needs done. Elder Zern, who is the other elder here, will be with us waiting for his new companion to arrive so we should be able to get a lot done.

I just read this letter and I’ve rambled a lot. I’m tired. This has been a long day. We had a wonderful zone conference on Tuesday but the hour and half drive over, seven hours of instruction and then another hour and half drive back home wipe me out for a couple of days. We’ve had some good meetings this week. None of them were earth shaking but we feel like if we can stir even a little bit of interest in some of these inactive members, maybe we are doing some good. Sunday there were three inactive families at church. We are always grateful for things like that. Saturday we are going to a soccer game one of the boys of an inactive family is playing in and then we are going for a ride on an old tram with the family after the game. Fellowshipping seems to be an important part of this work. I remember working in the Primary and hearing the phrase: “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I think that is an important part of missionary work.

We love you all. We are looking forward to Michael’s game on Friday. When we read Zach’s letter, Dad commented, “Zach sounds like a real missionary!” We’re so glad he loves his work. Take good care of yourselves and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for all of our blessings----especially our family.

Much love,
Mom

From Dad 11/10

Good morning,

Last winter we experienced only one snow day in Wuerzburg. If predictions hold true this winter will be way more blustery and full of snow days. I have lived in constant fear of driving in heavy traffic in snow. Mom has since all but taken over the driving for us. She is a great driver and much more cautious than I. Heavenly Father just kind of looks out for old men and little children.

We have felt the Spirit in our work very strong this week. Mom has battled maintaining good health but she honestly never complains. She feels bad when she can’t physically do all she feels in her heart the desire to do but truly never complains. We continue to meet and talk with new people for the first time and this is always a plus in our day to day work. After 14 months a lot of what we do does become somewhat routine and new life is always a breath of fresh air.

We called Tim Palmer on Friday letting him know we were thinking about him. Probably more than he had ever understood before earlier in the week he saw clearly there were many changes he yet needed to make in his life in order to have a new direction take hold and gain momentum. The sheer weight of the responsibility and the work that would be involved was forming feelings in his mind it was time to cut and run! He had lost major ground! We talked about where he was and where he was coming from and what did he want to do. He wasn’t ready to say he wanted to just quit and go back to drinking and arguing again and we were grateful for that. He also wasn’t ready to say he didn’t “need” or want us to come and visit any more. As we said goodbye he said he would see us in Church on Sunday for sure. That is the most positive he has been. We hope today is a good day.

It was fun watching the last quarter of Michael’s state semi-final football game early yesterday morning. We saw to awesome blocks by # 62! One of them allowed the runner an open door down field for a touch down! That was great fun!
Mom quotes names, teams, statistics, and highlights of game action for all sports on all levels of play. Its great having my own personal DJ keeping me in the know!

We are working with Sister Metzner, a third generation member of the Church from East Germany. Her greatest desire, a desire promised to her in her patriarchal blessing, is to become an eternal family. Her biggest challenge is her self doubts. There was a long gap since the last time we met with her. She made another appointment with us and we are encouraged. She has two grandchildren, a daughter in law, four children, and a husband who has known only work and who is one of the nicest and friendliest men we have ever met. We have great hopes for the future for this family. We know much of what we are now doing will still be in process when we return to our family and that is what it is all about. It’s the Lord’s work and we are here to do our part and then get back in step with our own family.

“Sister” Meyer, bless her heart, lives today in much confusion at the ripe age of 82. Her husband has little patience but a great love for her. The apartment building where they have lived for 30 years has been and still is being remodeled down to the stud walls. They can see an end to this confusion and it helps. For the first 33 years after Brother Meyer joined the Church “Sister” Meyer did not go to Church with him. The past 7-10 years she has been in Church regularly. Now the teachings of the two churches all run together in her mind. She has a very big challenge to sort everything out and know what she wants to do. Thursday she told us she doesn’t know all that much about what her church teaches. We are trying to sort through and give her a summary comparison so she can better understand which church teaches what. She is one of the nicest persons we have ever met. She is an awesome wife, mom, and grandma. She calls and talks with her daughter in North Carolina every Sunday afternoon. That is the highlight of her week.

It has been interesting to see and feel all the growth in our family these past months. Mom is surely ready to hold little Cade in her arms and give and receive hugs from all of her children and grandchildren. Absence does make the heart grow fonder! We hear about gangily Tommy and are sure the other 10 year olds are experiencing the same growth spurts. It’s fun to hear about the teenage years and the “want to be” teenagers. What an awesome time for Zach looking forward to Dana’s baptism this coming Saturday! Life is truly wonderful and we are thankful for each and every one of you.

Have a great week.

Love always,


Dad and Grandpa

From Mom 11/8

Dear Family,

We’ve had a busy week and have seen a lot of people. Last Friday we met a 35 year old inactive member. He has three children but is divorced and sees his kids every other week-end. He hasn’t been active in the church for 14 years and we’re the first people who have contacted him since he went inactive. He is such a nice guy. We visited with him for awhile and then he said he wanted to fix us something to eat. We told him not to bother but he wouldn’t hear of it. He talked and talked and several times became quite emotional and said he knows he is really lacking spiritually and needs to get back into church. He is from Russia and had his Russian and his German Book of Mormon sitting out. When I looked at the Russian book, I thought I had better quite complaining about this language. We could have been sent to Russia!! Anyway, we had a nice visit with him and he thanked us over and over again for coming to see him and hopes that we will come again. We’re planning on it. He said that while he was active in the church was probably the best time in his life but when he moved from where he had been attending church, he became disconnected with the church and just got involved in other things. We want to stay in touch with him. He has a girl friend right now. She has one little boy but on the week-ends that he has his kids and this other little boy is there, things don’t go at all well and he isn’t sure what to do about it. By the way, the meal he fixed us was delicious. It was a one pot stew and he just kept putting things in to it but he knew the right spices to add and it was really good. It was fun watching him at work in his kitchen.

We met another lady for the first time this week. This is the mother-in-law of Sister Reynolds who was recently baptized. We went there Wednesday morning with Sister Pinder to do another new-member lesson and this lady was there. Sister Reynolds husband is not a member-----yet, but is so pleased with how happy his wife is in her “new church” and is looking forward to learning more about it. He works two or three jobs and is just about impossible for the Elders to catch up with. Since her baptism,Sabina and her husband have prayer together every day and their life is much better than it was a short time ago. The mother-in-law told us that she has seen such a big difference in her son that she wanted to come and see what this church was all about. We, mostly Sister Pinder, gave the first discussion which is on the restoration and she really listened and asked a lot of questions. Dad felt like she was almost too cooperative. She agreed to everything we said. She asked when we were coming back to see Sabina again and we told her next Wednesday and she asked if it would be okay for her to come again. Sabina said it would be fine. She asked if it would be okay to come to church and Sabina told her she would pick her up. I had a good feeling about her but both Dad and Sister Pinder were a little cautious so I guess we’ll just see what happens. I guess she has caused some grief in her son and Sabina’s marriage and even Sabina was a bit concerned about how she would be during the discussion. So, hopefully that story will continue and have a good ending.

Saturday we met Elder and Sister Gardner. He is the mission doctor and they live in Frankfurt. Actually, he is the doctor for 16 missions! President Rakow had called and asked if it would be okay for Dr. Gardner to bring the flu vaccine here to our place and then if we would take it to the Zone leaders because they, the zone leaders, were going to Munich for some meetings on Monday. When we saw them, Dad thought he looked really familiar and as we visited for awhile, we found out he had been in the South German mission the same time Dad was here so Dad got his journal out and he had actually worked with Elder Gardner for a few days during times when missionaries do splits. Small world, huh. Dr. Moody, who was the mission doctor a year ago was also one of Dad’s companions-----his very favorite companion. The Gardners are so nice. He practiced medicine in Ogden for 35 years and when they retired, they moved to Highland, which is somewhere close to Alpine, Utah. I had fixed some corn chowder and we got some good rolls from our handy bakery across the street and just spent a nice hour together. Dr. Gardner had worked here in Wurzburg on his mission and wanted to see the church so we went over with them and showed them our nice church building. When he was working here, they met in the upstairs of a store downtown so he was very pleased that we had just a nice meeting place.

Tim Palmer is making progress. He didn’t make it to church on Sunday. His live-in wife was away with her new boyfriend and he had their three boys. He just wasn’t up to getting them ready for church. He is still on crutches from breaking his heel nearly two months ago. He was very frustrated and when we visited him on Tuesday, he seemed really down. His hair was a mess again and he hadn’t shaved and we were more than a little concerned. But he is hanging in there with no drinking and is still reading in the Book of Mormon. It is such a difficult situation in their home. I feel bad for the boys because of all the contention between the parents. What a mess people get themselves into. We took him the Priesthood/RS manual and he called us the next day and said he had read the lesson on forgiveness and feels like he needs to make some peace in his family with a sister who he had a falling out with several years ago and asked what he should do. Dad told him if he could take full responsibility for the bad feelings, whether he was fully responsible or not, he could let it go and feel guilt free. He told Dad he thought he could do that. He’s really been “unloading” on us. He’s had a hard life and has made a lot of mistakes but seems sincere in wanting to make things right and move forward. We met with him again this morning and he looked much better and sounded much more positive about what he needed to do.

Mary Durhman is an inactive sister who lives in this building. We have visited with her quite a few times. She works every week-end so can’t come to church but hopes to get a job that doesn’t require Sunday work so she can start coming to church again. Her husband is not at all interested in the church but is willing to see that she gets to church if she wants to come. We started teaching her 13 year old son but the Dad has more influence in his life than we do and said he doesn’t have to learn about the church if he didn’t want to. Mary has been quite depressed lately. She has some health problems with high blood pressure and our visits with her have been pretty irregular. But she acts like she wants us to come. We didn’t go last week and when we went there this week, she asked us why we hadn’t come last week. I don’t know why we didn’t make it, but we didn’t. Anyway, we had asked her to try to read just a little bit in the Book of Mormon each day. She told us that she had been too busy to read and she just didn’t seem very interested in doing anything. Dad asked her if it would be okay if we read one chapter in 3rd Nephi so she went and got her book and we took turns reading. She really got into it and it was amazing how her mood changed by the time we had finished reading chapter 11. She really warmed up and was so friendly and thanked us time and time again for coming and that she looked forward to next week.

As you can tell, we have a variety of experiences and a variety of people we work with. It takes every bit of patience we have to work with some of them. The progress is so slow but the fact that they want us to come back is an indication that they still have feelings for the gospel. If we can help them move even a little bit closer to the blessings they will have with the gospel in their lives it will be well worth it. I think many times of the different things we do in a week and as hard as this mission is, we just plain wouldn’t be having all these experiences and meeting all these people had we not come on a mission. I will always be thankful for these experiences and for the opportunity of meeting so many great people. We love the other missionaries in our district. It is so nice to have another couple that we meet with each week and we really get attached to the Elders. Transfer day is always a sad day when one of them leave. I am so impressed with their dedication and their tireless effort even when we don’t see a lot of success. They seem to always stay positive and up beat. Next week is Zone Conference again and that is always a boost. This time it will literally be “a shot in the arm” as we will be getting our flu shots.

Sunday in Relief Society, we had time for a few testimonies and one of the sisters who gave her testimony told of an experience her husband recently had in Iraq. He is due back the end of this month after having been there for 15 months. He was the bishop of this ward before he was assigned to go to Iraq. He told her of teaching and baptizing two women from Peru who he works with. The interesting thing about this is where the baptism took place. All the churches hold their meetings in one of Sadaam Hussein’s palaces in Baghdad. Our church has one hour on Sunday for their meetings. The baptism took place in the swimming pool in this same palace. Sister Merkley said she was sure this was not what Sadaam intended his swimming pool to be used for but was thankful there was a place for them to be baptized. I thought that was interesting.

It was a funny feeling yesterday to receive a telephone call from the mission secretary asking us for our bishop and our stake presidents addresses as they are getting our release papers started. We asked him when the date was and he told us it is March 6th. We will be flying in to Salt Lake so we can pick up the car. When we get more information on flight numbers and times, we’ll let you know. I guess with all the comings and goings, they have to start early to keep up with everything. Today we went downtown to try to find a sweater for Dad. All the stores are decorated for Christmas and there are LOTS of people shopping. That will be here before we know it and then we will have just over two months left. The ward is having another Thanksgiving Feast. That was such a fun event last year right after we got to Wurzburg. I guess as long as there are still Americans here, they will do that. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens to the ward next year. The base is to be completely closed by the end of June. I guess we won’t have to be worrying about that though but we’ll always be interested.

Take care and remember how much we love each one of you. Someone asked me Sunday how much longer we had on our mission and when I told them 4 months, they asked if I was getting excited about going home. I told them I’ve been excited to go home ever since I got here! I just love being home with my family.

Much love always,
Mom

From Mom 11/1

Dear Family,
The last two mornings we have had heavy fog. Yesterday it burned off by noon but today it stayed all day. We had an appointment tonight in a little town about 9 miles out. We didn’t want to drive out there in the dark plus the fog so we drove out while it was still light to find out where to go. We’re so glad we did because tonight it was really thick. I’m not sure we would have found it. And to top it off, the family had forgotten we were coming and had gone to bed. Bummer! I don’t handle those kinds of things well. Today was another holiday in Germany and they probably thought we had taken the day off too. Yesterday was a holiday celebrating Martin Luther and the reformation when he posted the 95 points that he considered not correct about the Catholic Church. Today was a Catholic holiday beginning Fasching and it goes until the 20th of February. It’s similar to Mardi Gras. It starts out mild but the last two weeks it turns into “living it up” and carnival type activities and they have a big parade where everyone dresses up in crazy costumes. This part of Germany is predominately Catholic where northern Germany has more Protestants and they have LOTS of Catholic holidays. School lets out and all the stores are closed. With it being on Thursday this year, most places are closed tomorrow too and I think everyone was in their cars going somewhere. Last night it took us 45 minutes to get out to an appointment that usually takes us 20 minutes to get to. Seventeenth street is going to be a piece of cake after driving over here!

We had some interesting news about the mission this week. They have taken the whole Stuttgart zone, which is 30 missionaries, and put it in the Swiss mission. That mission has only 70 missionaries and is really struggling. We have had two combined zone conferences with the Stuttgart zone, both when general authorities were visiting the mission and they were very nice occasions. We will miss those missionaries and that association. There were two couples in that zone.

Daniel Ewert is a student here at the university and faithfully comes to FHE and institute. Last week-end his parents came to visit and we had the opportunity to meet them. His Dad told us about his conversion to the church 53 years ago. He said he was an alcoholic and smoked about 2 packages of cigarettes a day. One day when he was in town he saw a street display the missionaries had set up. He stopped and looked and they gave him a Book of Mormon and also made an appointment with him for the next day. He had no intentions of reading or keeping the appointment but he started reading it that night and he didn’t put it down until he had read into 3rd Nephi where it tells of Christ appearing to the people. When he read that, he decided to keep the appointment with the Elders. He liked what he heard at the appointment but came away feeling confused and that he just wasn’t sure he could measure up. But he decided to pray and ask for help that he would be able to make the changes he needed to in his life to be able to live the gospel. Shortly afterwards he had the assurance that he would be able to. The following Monday he met with the missionaries again and when they introduced the Word of Wisdom to him, and he told them he was sure he could live that. Once he told them that, he completely lost his desire for drinking or smoking and has never had that desire since. The missionaries charged full speed ahead and gave him all the lessons and he was baptized 10 days after his first meeting with the missionaries. He said he has never had a doubt about the truthfulness of the gospel and feels he has been so blessed because of accepting it. We thought that was just an amazing testimony. Now we know why Daniel is such an awesome young man. He served a mission to England and is so much fun and such a good example to the other young people in the ward. He translates in Sacrament meeting and does such a good job. It’s amazing how he can switch from German to English so well.

Last night as we were coming home for the last time, we talked about all the different things we had done that day. We picked up Sister Pinder and took her with us to give the new member lesson to Sister Reynolds. The Pinders don’t have a car and she asked if we had time to stop at a store on our way home as the stores were going to be closed today. We were glad to do that. It was fun shopping with her. She has two small children and it was fun seeing “real” food going into the shopping cart. Ours is the same thing week after week. We’re not very creative with the cooking. When we got to her house and helped her carry her things in, she told us she had to go pick up her little girl from kindergarten so we offered to take her there. That was fun too. Then we stopped at the nursing home to see Sister Mohr. We had been told she was not responding to anything any more but when she saw us she took hold of our hands like she was never going to let go. She smiled and her eyes shined. She loves for us to sing to her and we sang three hymns. Tears came to her eyes when we started singing, “I Know that my Redeemer Lives.” That was a very rewarding experience. We came home and had some lunch and got things together for institute and then left for our appointment before institute. That’s the one that took us 45 minutes to get to. Bro. Vollrath, the tennis player, is coming along-----ever so slowly but we see progress. He actually prayed twice this week. He has just never gotten into the habit of praying and we’ve spent a lot of time talking to him about that. Then it was off to the church for institute but because of the holiday and the kids being out of school no one showed up. (When we got home there was a message that they weren’t coming) While we were there, a car drove up behind us and it was the Elders with three members of the ward who wanted to go on some splits and visit some members. They didn’t know where one of the families lived so we told them we would show them. When we got there, the husband wasn’t home and because two men can’t visit a woman alone, they asked if we would stay. So we did and it was a good experience. It’s good for the Elders to get to know more of the members and it’s good for the members to feel of the Elders spirit. It wasn’t a typical missionary day----or maybe it was with all the changes---but it was a good day.

Sunday we had stake conference. Thomas Beck was presented to be approved to become an Elder and they invited Dad and I to go with him when he was set apart. The stake presidency were standing by him and asked Dad to come join them and then the stake president asked Thomas who he would like to set him apart and he asked if it would be okay for Elder Price to do it. Dad felt very honored and gave Thomas a wonderful blessing. Their next step is to get to the temple and President Fingerli asked that we spend some time talking to them about the temple. Elana, his wife, just wants to be sure that Thomas is ready and wants to go for the right reasons----not just because he knows how much she wants to go. We’ve worked with them for nearly a year now and it has been such a great thing to see them progress in the church and get to this point. We are really going to miss them when we leave here.

Tim Palmer is still making progress. We met with him today and he still looks good. He hasn’t had a drink for a couple of weeks now. He says he loves the taste of beer but knows he won’t be drinking it anymore. He has read a lot in the Book of Mormon and still loves that. When we left, he said he’s see us at church on Sunday. We told him it was fast Sunday and he said he would like to fast. We talked about the importance of having a specific thing to fast for and he wants to fast for the strength to keep on the course he is on right now. He sounds very sincere. We’ll see where this goes but we are encouraged.

Anna Berner consented to read in the Book of Mormon. We showed her in John 10:16 where Christ said, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must visit.” Then we turned to 3rd Nephi 15:21 where he says, “ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice----“ This seemed to really catch her interest and when we asked her if she would read some from the Book of Mormon, she asked where we wanted her to read. We asked her if she would start in 3rd Nephi 11 and read about Christ teaching the people there and asked her to pray before she read so she would understand it. We also told her that she’s going to find the teaching very similar to what she reads in the Bible because Christ didn’t say something to one group of people and something else to another. She wrote it down and said she would do it. She hasn’t wanted much to do with the Book of Mormon. She says her religion is the Bible. She is a sweet, sweet lady.

That about wraps it up for our adventures for the week. The kids at FHE love to play Scum. We try to have a variety of things to do and take turns being in charge of the game but every time it’s the Elders turn, they ask us to bring the cards so we can play Scum. We have a lot of fun with them. They love the home made goodies. This week it was Reeses peanut butter chip cookies, apples and bananas and milk. We went through nearly 5 dozen cookies!

We thought about all of you a lot on Sunday. We’re glad for those who were able to be with Nate and Cindy for Cade’s blessing. We’re anxious to see some pictures and are anxious to see him. We’re grateful for the little children in our ward. A lot of them call us “Oma” and “Opa” which is grandma and grandpa and we love that. We’re thankful for all that all of you are doing. Life is just plain busy for everyone but we’re so thankful that you stay in touch with each other. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving------next year.

Let us know if you’ve thought of anything that might remind you of Germany. Christmas is a big thing here and they have beautiful decorations. They have beautiful cuckoo clocks too and you can turn the cuckoo off at night! Be thinking of some things. We’re like to bring something for everyone from Germany.

Have a good week. Happy Birthday Janie, Justin and Henry. Yikes! Henry is going to be a teenager! Where does the time go?

Love you lots,
Mom