From Mom12/20

Dear Family,

Are you all ready for the big day? We keep seeing winter storm watches for Bingham and Bonneville County in Idaho. What kind of weather are you having? I hope there’s lots of snow so there is plenty of water next year.
This morning it was -8C. That’s about 18*F. It’s bright and sunny but very cold. Thank goodness there is no wind. These people just can’t believe that we’re not freezing clear to death! We just tell them we come from Idaho where the winters are REALLY cold. I’m glad we don’t have to be out too long at a time though.

We have eating appointments every day, starting today, until the day after Christmas. These people are so good to us. Everywhere we go, people give us goodies. We are well stocked up on candy and fruit. We’ll have some extra treats for FHE and Institute. Those kids can put away the food! Last night after institute class, we had a little party. There were only 7 people there. We baked 6 frozen pizzas and had lots of drinks and candy. There wasn’t a thing left. We also watched the movie “Charley”. The kids here had never seen it and they loved it. It was a fun evening. Monday we had a short lesson and then a party. The Elders brought a young man they have just started teaching and he seemed to have a good time. Everyone brought treats. We had banana bread, Rice Krispie treats, cookies, brownies, and drinks. We did the same thing we did last year and got 12 packs of Root Beer for everyone. Thank goodness for good friends on the base that can get us this American Food. You can’t buy Root Beer here. The young people loved getting it. We played 3-13 and had a lot of fun. We have a two week break from FHE and Institute for the holidays. It will be nice to have that break.

We’ve had a good week with some interesting experiences. We had made an appointment for Sunday afternoon with an inactive man we have been working with. He and his wife have separated and when Dad called, he told us he has a new girl friend and said we could come over to her house and meet with them. When we got there he told us that they were going to call and cancel the appointment but wanted us to come so they could tell us personally that they didn’t want us to come anymore. That always makes you feel good! He said that his new girl friend was Evangelic and that that was good enough for him. She said I’m just telling you the truth---- this is the way I was raised and that’s good enough for me. Dad said we would respect their wishes and asked if he could ask just one question before we left. She said it would be okay so Dad asked her if she remembered reading about Christ’s baptism. She said she did. Then he asked how many people were mentioned. She said there was only one voice. When Dad said, “And who was standing in the water”. She didn’t answer that question but did say that Jesus Christ does not live today. They agreed that they both wanted to know the truth and as long as truth was being taught, she would feel okay about us coming back. We have another appointment with them this coming Sunday. It’s interesting how opportunities to teach the gospel come up.

Ron Peterson was to church on Sunday. We met with him yesterday. The last time we were there he said he wanted to talk about his smoking problem so we went prepared to talk about that. There is some good information on overcoming addictions in “Preach My Gospel’ and we had also found some things on the church website. When Dad asked him what his thoughts were about smoking he said he’s already decided what he’s going to do. Then he told us that his gift to Christ this year was going to be giving up smoking. What good news to hear! He really enjoyed church. Everyone was very friendly to him. He’s just such a nice guy. He said things seem to be going better at home. Even though he and his wife don’t see eye to eye on religion, he said there isn’t nearly the contention there used to be. He said he found a Book of Mormon and some of the pamphlets we had left up by their bed and he hadn’t taken them there. She makes sure she isn’t there when we get there and is sure not to come back until we’re gone. I wish things were different but at least Ron seems to be warming up to the gospel again. If that becomes a real part of his life, no telling how much he will be able to influence his family.

We met with Sister Meyer a couple of times this week. She’s coming along but is not ready for baptism. Today our Relief Society president went with us. She was raised Catholic and was baptized about 18 years ago. She could really understand the teachings that have Sister Meyer confused. The main thing is still the Godhead. Sister Meyer acknowledges that they are three separate persons but then goes right back to “but it is just one God”. Then she said,”That’s what I have been taught and they wouldn’t teach me something that’s not true.” It will take more time and lots of prayers but I think eventually she will come around. She has a lot of knowledge of the church. It just seems to be this one issue that she’s hung up on. We’ll just keep working with her. We discussed some scriptures about the importance of baptism and she made the comment, “I’d better not put it off too much longer or someone will have to do it for me when I’m dead.” She’s thinking about it.

We enjoy working with part-member and less active members. We’re so thankful to have a car because a lot of these people live quite a ways out. I feel bad that the young elders don’t have cars. They are pretty limited on where they can go. Sometimes we take them to appointments and sometimes some of the members take them but they spend a lot of time walking.

I’ve made 8 loaves of banana bread this week and still have a couple more to do. We also want to make cookies to take to the families we are spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with. The Bacons have invited us for Christmas Eve. They are the family who have a little girl exactly Kaitlyn’s age. They invited us out for dinner and a birthday party. They are just great people. On Christmas Day we are going to the Merkleys. Brother Merkley recently returned from a 15 month stay in Iraq. They are an awesome family too. We are really going to miss these wonderful people when we leave Wurzburg. They have been so good to us.

I guess that’s about it for this week. We can hardly wait to talk to everyone on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Do you have a time that would be good for us to call? We don’t know what your plans are and what time you’ll be home so try to let us know.

Have a great time!

Much love,
Mom

P.S I’ve got to share this little story. It’s not very spiritual or Christmas like but it’s kind of fun.

An 80 year old woman was recently married. This was her 4th marriage. She was being interviewed about getting married again at this age and was asked what her new husband did. She told him that he was a funeral director. Then she was asked if she would tell a little about the other men she had been married too. She told the interviewer that first she had married a banker when she was in her 20’s. Then in her 40’s she married a ring-master from the circus. In her 60’s she had married a preacher. The interview was intrigued with the diversity in the men she had been married to and asked if she would comment on that. She thought a minute and then answered: “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go.”

Love ya all!
Mom

From Dad 12/16

Hi everyone,

We are so thankful for the many countless blessings that have come to our family this past year. We look forward to this Christmas time remembering the love of our Savior and His Father for us personally. To know to see their glory we would have to be changed (Moses 1: 9-11) to withstand the glory of their presence is seen through the eyes of those who have witnessed the wonders of crystals @ 150 degrees Fahrenheit in South America. Their love for us is legend. No greater story can be shared with each rising generation. No story is reviewed and thought about more often than the great love and sacrifice the Father and the Son gave for us. When the Son feeling the pain of our sorrows and our rejections of His Father’s love and teachings felt He could no longer bear this burden, He asked our Father to lift it from Him but only if it would not keep His from fulfilling the assignment from the Father He had been sent here to fulfill. No one else had sufficient love and faithfulness to carry our burdens. He loved us. He continues to love us today and continues step by step to fulfill all the Father set out to accomplish for us His children.

The Father will one day send Jesus Christ to the earth again. No one, not even the Son, knows when that day is but the Father. We trust the Father. There is no need to fear. The most blessed times lie ahead as well as the most difficult this world will ever see. We cannot survive on “borrowed light”. Each will need to have deep in their hearts the knowledge that God, our Father, lives and that all evil influences will one day be subjected to His ways. Our agency is always His first thought. As painful as life some days will be He will allow us to experience pain in order to find our way safely back into His arms and the strength that comes with each individual commandment we accept and live with all of our hearts. We do not need to fear what lies ahead. Peace is given and will remain with us. Even in Gethsemane Jesus Christ was at peace. Trials, challenges, not knowing if we can endure are moments to bless our lives and draw us into the arms of a loving Father. This trust exercised by Jesus Christ, this great faith He exercised in our Father, is there as a guide. Following His example no experience in life is too difficult, is more than we can master. After the trial of our faith come the blessings.

May this Christmas season bring the greatest comfort and peace to our hearts as a family. May we know nothing can separate us from the love of our Heavenly Father. May we remember living with our Father and His Son offers more of everything our hearts yearn for than any other possibility after this life. May we open our hearts to the Father that He can send His Holy Spirit to comfort and to guide us safely back to Him. May there be no empty chairs around our table.

We look forward to talking with each of you in another week. We love you always,

Dad and Grandpa

From Dad 12/9

Good morning to some very fine young men in our lives,

We love missionary work. We love being with family. We are thankful we will have the opportunity to spend more time with family again. The work we are here to do is such a privilege. Having a calling where the Lord guides the path of our feet and our hearts is so awesome, but then don’t all of us have this same privilege?

Sister Meyer, who we truly hope one day will be a “sister”, opened her heart for what felt like the first time to consider does she want to be baptized. At the Christmas social Friday night one of the young missionaries, Elder Zern, told us later she came up to him and talked with him for a long time. He said she has never done that before. Daily Sister Meyer is opening her heart a little more. There is no longer a question in her feelings who Jesus Christ is and that He lives. We are now working on her understanding of who the Holy Ghost is. When she thinks about being able to know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost, she knows this great gift is what she wants. This coming Wednesday we will discuss more about Him.

In doing some home work for our meeting this coming week with Sister Meyer we visited yesterday with Thomas Mueller’s (the young man baptized in March who is going to school in California) dad about the Gift of the Holy Ghost mentioned several times in the New Testament. He and his wife are professional counselor’s working with priests and nuns in the Catholic church and are themselves very “catholic”. They are also very, very nice people. We asked what their church teaches about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He thought for a long time and then he began to explain. It is sad. So many people in the world today live as Amos described, “a famine in the land of hearing the words of the Lord: they shall seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it”. He truly wanted to answer the question. Since they only believe in God they have no way to comprehend the mission of Jesus Christ or the mission of the Holy Ghost. The synergy (2 or more working together have the power and the strength to do three times the work what each individual working alone can ever accomplish) of the work of the three members in the Godhead has been lost to the eyes of the world. They have no way to understand what the thousand years of the millennium after Christ comes a second time is all about or what it is for. To understand how our Father in Heaven will be fair and just with all of His children since His first sons and daughters were born into this life is important. He has provided a way for each one to choose for him or herself whether they want to return and live with Him or not. This knowledge lies beyond the understanding of those who have not yet accepted that Jesus Christ personally under the authority given Him from our Father in Heaven has restored the fullness of His gospel again for us to review and make the necessary decisions daily with our lives.

Tomorrow we will meet with Anne Berner again. Last Monday she said her religion consists of trying to live the 10 commandments and that she accepts evolution is the way God created us and all living things in the earth. We also asked Thomas Mueller’s father about the acceptance of evolution by the Catholic church. He said they respect the work of Darwin and others and encourage their members to give God the credit for their work. So is the danger when men begin to mingle their ideas with the truths revealed by our Father in Heaven. In the German version of the Wikipedia encyclopedia on the internet it gives Darwin and those who have followed who planted the idea of a new beginning to create a better world than God had made the credit for originating in the hearts of men the power and the authority to seek to rule among men through Communism and Nazism. Giving God the credit for the atrocities committed under the leadership of the men bringing those two world powers into being in Russia and Germany is something I know our Father in Heaven does not want to receive.

Brother Vollrath said he will come to Church today. Yuka Matsumoto will play her violin today for ward conference. We hope it will be a good Sunday here. We hope your Sunday has been a good day too.

We love you guys and are thankful each day for everything you do to magnify your priesthood each of you carries before your fellowmen that they will want to glorify our Father in Heaven. The work as priesthood holders we are called to do needs no specific call or instructions other than those given in the Doctrine and Covenants. There we learn how best to walk each step of t he way with our Father in Heaven and how in the end without compulsion all that is good, all that we could ever hope to receive comes to us for ever and ever. Is it worth the effort to keep the commandments? How blessed we are not to be forced to make a choice one way or the other. We will be blessed for each good thing we do. We alone choose how many of our Father’s blessings we desire to receive from Him.

We pray daily for your happiness and that the spirit of love will dwell in your hearts and that you will always know you are your Father in Heaven’s son.

Have a great week.

From Mom 12/7

Dear Family,

Sorry I didn’t get a letter written yesterday. I didn’t have any more energy when we got home from our meeting last night. I’ve had a full blown sinus infection this week that has about done me in. My whole head hurt. The night before last, I woke up with a terrible ear ache. I can’t remember having one of those since I was a little kid. Yesterday, things started loosening up. My challenge now is to make sure I have Kleenex handy to keep up with a runny nose. We were supposed to go on an outing with the Elders and Elder & Sister Meng for P-day. They were going to Rottenberg again but the thoughts of walking around outside all day just didn’t sound very good so we backed out-----but we didn’t lay around all day either. The Relief Society president called and asked us if we could go pick up some clean clothes for a sister who is in the hospital. Her husband is sick too and they won’t let him in to see her. Then another sister called and asked if we might have time to take her niece to her Karate lesson then take her home, so we did that. Then last night we had an appointment with a part member family. The non-member boyfriend of their daughter was there and he started asking questions about the church and it turned out to be one of the best teaching experiences we’ve had. Nicco is 19 and at one time he had a firm belief in God but for the past few years, he really hasn’t felt a need for religion in his life. But this member girl friend has a very strong testimony and we don’t think she will back down. He has come with her to church a few times and has come to some of our Young Single Adult activities and has seemed to really enjoy them. He wants to talk to us again and said that maybe he will come to church with Katrine and we could talk some more there. He is such a nice and very smart young man. We first met him at their home early this summer and he was very friendly but not interested in talking about religion at that time. We never know when opportunities to share the gospel may come.

The sister I mentioned who is in the hospital is Sister Gogan. She had her 10th child last Friday. Her delivery went well and she and the baby seemed to be doing fine then Sunday morning when the nurse helped her get up to walk around a little bit, she collapsed on the floor. They got her back in bed and she had a high fever. They ran some blood work on her and discovered she had a serious infection in her uterus. She told Dad yesterday that she really thought she was going to die and had asked her husband to promise her that he would re-marry so the kids would have a mother. He was so sick that they wouldn’t let him come and visit her and having her tell him that was just about more than he could handle. Luckily, things are improving for both of them. She had an allergic reaction to the anti-biotic they were giving her but have found something that seems to be working. He is feeling better too. She hasn’t been able to have her baby with her since Sunday and can’t nurse him because of the medication she is on so it has been a very frustrating time for all of them. People in the ward have been taking meals in to them. Our Relief Society President called me Saturday about 7 o’clock and asked if I could take dinner into them on Sunday. Luckily the stores don’t close until 8. I didn’t have enough of anything to feed 10 people so went to the store and got some chicken breasts, cream cheese and some makings for a green salad and some zucchini for zucchini brownies and put together some chicken Alfredo, salad and brownies. It feels good to be asked to do things. It makes us feel a part of this ward. Because they live on base, there have been several people who have called us and asked us to deliver their goodies to this family too and we are happy for that opportunity too. We have enjoyed having passes to get on base.

Sunday I really felt a part of the ward. I had been asked to lead the singing in Sacrament meeting and to teach a Sunday School class and when I walked into Relief Society, they said, “Oh, here’s Sister Price. She can help us learn the alto part of this song.” (A Christmas song the sisters are singing for the ward Christmas party) That was also the day we had been asked to take a meal into the Gogan’s so it wasn’t exactly a day of rest but it was a very fulfilling day.

My limited German caused a near disaster this week. There has been a beauty shop just a block away from us and I’ve been there a few times to get my hair trimmed. The woman who owned the shop had to give up her business because they raised the rent on the building so much. But she said she is going to have a “mobile” business and that she would come to our home to do hair cuts or anything we needed done. My hair was looking pretty shaggy. I had trimmed it a few times but couldn’t do much with the back so called her. I told her I wanted just a little bit taken off all over and indicated “a little bit” with my fingers. I think she took that to mean that I wanted it really short. When I saw the hair on the floor, I was scared to look in the mirror. All I can say is that I’m glad I have three more months before I come home. It is really short. I think that’s why I caught such a bad cold-----I no longer had hair to keep my head warm. Next time I’ll find someone who speaks English. I have really liked the way she trimmed my hair before and had full confidence that she would do the same. Maybe she forgot. Anyway, I’m glad my hair grows fairly fast. But I must say, it’s easy to take care of. It would be great for a summer haircut.

Tim Palmer is struggling again. We can always tell when he doesn’t want to talk to us when one of his kids answers the phone and he tells them to tell us that he will call us back. But he never does. Dad called him the other day and Tim thanked Dad for not giving up on him and that he still wants us to come and that he wants to get active in the church again. He even said he wants us to teach his 9 year old son and wants him to be baptized. Dad told him that would be fine after Tim got things sorted out in his own life so he could support his son. He made another appointment with us then changed it for the next day, which was today. He just called and cancelled again. Those are not good signs. It’s amazing how quickly the adversary works on people who are moving toward the truth. We’re not giving up on Tim. He’s a very nice person. We hope we can help him overcome some of his fears.

We had a good meeting with Ron Peterson. He is the one with the unpleasant wife. Wednesday he told us that he couldn’t come to church this Sunday but promised us he would be there on the 16th. When we were about to leave, he told us that he really appreciated us coming and that he really enjoys our time together. He said that through the years, they have had several young missionaries call on them. They gave them the lessons but didn’t take the time to just talk to them and answer some of his questions. I’m not saying anything against the young missionaries. They are wonderful and do a great job but I think that one advantage us “seniors” have is years of experience. We’ve been through some of the challenges these people are going through and can understand their feelings. He is working on his smoking problem and is praying more regularly. He asked us about prayer---if you are supposed to just memorize something or what you are supposed to do. We told him about the steps of prayer, addressing our Heavenly Father, thanking Him then asking Him for things we need then closing in the name of Jesus Christ. We encouraged Ron to think about things he would like to know and then just ask in prayer as if he were asking a person about something because he is asking someone about things. He is asking our Heavenly Father. He seemed quite amazed that he could just talk to our Heavenly Father like that. We’ll see that happens. It was nearly a year ago that his wife scared the heck out of me when we were there and I vowed I would NEVER go back! But Ron wanted us to come and she is usually not there, (thank goodness) so it works out well. He said, “She has her friends come and talk to her about religion and I’m going to have my friends come so I can talk about my religion.” He said he can see a change in his family since he has been reading and studying with us.

Tonight is our ward Christmas party. I’m supposed to make Heavenly Potatoes, or Funeral potatoes, as they call them here. We have invited several of our inactive people and I think some of them are planning to come. Last year it was a lot of fun and there was tons of food! That’s one thing this ward is plenty generous with. When people bring food, they bring lots of it. I don’t think it has fully sunk in that Christmas is less than three weeks away. And speaking of Christmas, some of you have asked what we would like or what we need. The people on base keep us pretty well supplied with anything we need for food. We’re fine on clothes and I think just about everything else. To be honest, I don’t want anything I have to pack up and carry home. We would love pictures or letters from the kids, maybe a CD----things like that. Save the money you would spend on gas to come and see us when we get home. Thinking how soon we’ll be home with you again is the greatest gift of all !!

Every year our Relief Society President offers to have parents bring their children to the church to be tended so they can go Christmas shopping. This goes from 1 until 5 in the afternoon. She taught kindergarten for several years and always has lots of fun things planned for them to do.

Tomorrow is the day for that and she has asked Dad and I to help her again this year. We did it last year and it was a lot of fun and a good way to get acquainted with families. Missionary life is never boring---exhausting but not boring.

I guess that’s it for this week. I can just imagine how busy all of you are with all the preparations for Christmas. It will be so fun being there next year. This is a hard time to be away from family. Know that we love each one of you very much. You are in our thoughts and prayers every day. I’m going to forward a neat Christmas e-mail we received from Doyle and Karen Judy. They are serving a mission in Palmyra, New York. It has been fun sharing stories with them.

Love you lots,
Mom

From Dad 12/1

Hi everyone,

I know it’s a little early but it’s fun to share the warmth of the season every chance we get. Last night was a clear night and the stars were out in their full glory. Cassiopeia, the “W”, Orion (I think) and others were visible. The angle of our building made the big and little dippers hidden from view. I love the consistency of the North Star!

Anne Berner loves our Heavenly Father. She just hasn’t yet been able to understand Him enough to know how real He is and how much He truly can and wants to help her. She has been taught all of her 75 years that the Bible is correct as long as it agrees with what the Catholic Church teaches. To her and to many what is in the Bible is only figurative and not literal. She has made great strides. She went to school to become an accredited religion teacher and taught religion in the Catholic schools for more than 10 years. Sometimes when we say things like our Father in Heaven is a real person with feelings who can hear and speak, she just shakes her head in wonderment. Such a thing has been beyond her grasp to understand. We retold the Joseph Smith story and how important this knowledge is to us and to the entire world. We bore our testimony of the truthfulness of this event. We began reviewing some of the times when the voice of the Father was heard introducing and declaring His Beloved Son to be His true representative and spokesperson in the earth. Anne said where does it say in the Bible someone has seen God? We have a list of 85 different persons who are mentioned in the Bible who have seen and talked with God. We look forward to tomorrow. As unbelievable as the truth sometimes seems, nevertheless it is the truth.

We have a sister in our ward whose husband has decided to become a woman. She still loves him and feels this is a sickness by him. This week it was almost too much for her. She was not sure she would make it one more day. We reviewed the truth in the Proclamation on the Family wherein it describes gender is a part of who we were before we were born, who we are today and will be who we are in the resurrection. We discussed no matter what he does to physically change his gender in this life, in the resurrection he will be a man and he will be glad. We said we would call daily to see how she was doing. Each day she has been a little stronger and yesterday she was at the Church to help the relief society president with something. We love seeing the healing power of the gospel in people’s lives.

Yuka Matsumoto who is here studying to become a concert violinist has accepted an invitation to play for our ward conference next Sunday. Her whole person moves with the music when she plays. She will play a medley of Christmas hymns. When she obtained her undergraduate degree in London she had drifted a long ways away from activity in the Church. We hope she will rediscover the light in the gospel and how it will make her ability with music greater than what is ever possible to do alone. She loves her music and her family and we hope in time she will come to realize how much she loves the Lord too.

Gundo Vollrath has reached a point where his prayers are prayers of thanksgiving and we think he is coming close to being able to ask for the help he needs. When he reads or when we meet he growth is so rapid that everything he learns adds more questions. These are not questions of doubt as they were in the beginning months. They are questions seeking answers and believing the answers when they come. The Spirit has a lot of room in his heart right now. We are very hopeful he will continue to progress.

Mom remains the practical person in our area. We had a key yesterday to unlock the garage behind the Church so the elders could do some service. We were trying to figure out which way we still needed to turn the key to open the door and mom said, “Have you tried turning the handle?” You know the rest of the story. She is great. Her sense of humor and her ability to tell stories adds wonderful flavor to the work. In these two areas she needs take a back seat to no one.

We are excited to see what BYU is offered for a bowl game. With the work being somewhat slow during the holidays we may be able to watch some or all of it on a delayed basis or if not it will still be fun to hear how they did. Mom is excited thinking the Jazz will still have three months of basketball when we are home again. She is a true sports fan! I like cheering along with her as well. It’s a good life.

We hope the coming weeks will be full of warm and lasting memories. We hope to do the same. This will be our last Christmas in Germany. We are happy wherever in the world we are as long as we can stay in touch with those we love.

Have a great week!


Love always,


Dad and Grandpa

From Mom 11/29

Dear Family,

It was so good to hear about all of your Thanksgiving feasts. Sounds like pie was definitely most plentiful. That sounds so good----pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We’re glad you all enjoyed your day and had some time to relax and take a break from your normal, busy schedule. We enjoyed the day with the Elders and Gunter Jindre and have enjoyed the leftovers. Saturday afternoon the Young Single Adults had another Thanksgiving dinner. I did another turkey, potatoes and gravy and sweet potatoes. It was quite the “international” meal. I think I’ve mentioned that we have quite a few people from the Philippines in the ward and 5 of them are in the YSA. So along with turkey, we had some rice dishes, egg rolls, and some oriental vegetables. We had corn bread and then carrot cake for dessert. It was all very good----a bit different but good. But I’ve about had my fill of turkey! Next Friday is the ward Christmas party. I saw that turkey and ham was on the menu for that. I’m glad we’ll have a couple of months after the holidays to work off the extra pounds all this good food is putting on us.

Gunter Jindre, the man we have been working with and had over for Thanksgiving is causing the elders and us much grief right now. He “acts” so interested in learning about the church but acting is about all it is. Last night the four of us met with him and it turned into a shouting match, lots of insults and offensive remarks and finally I just got up and walked out before I said something or did something I would regret. Dad told me later that I did the right thing. This guy lit into the Elders then into all the American missionaries “who think they can come over here and change us” with this religion. He said if the temples are God’s houses, then why can’t just anyone go into them. God wouldn’t keep anyone out of His house. Then he said “how can you PROVE to me from the scriptures that this church is true?” We all told him we can’t prove it, but that through study and prayer we can come to find out for ourselves that it is true. Elder Zern was telling him about his own conversion. He has been a member all his life but decided if he was going to go on a mission and teach the gospel, he needed to have his own testimony and not rely on the testimony of his family. He read and studied the Book of Mormon and other scriptures and really gained a testimony of everything. He tried to tell Gunter that he has never had a feeling like he had when he prayed and asked about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. You could tell it was something very close to his heart but Gunter interrupted him and said that can’t happen. Things have to be proven. Elder Zern was so frustrated and offended. Then he started complaining about how we are always trying to change him. Yes, when you are dishonest and have a serious word of wisdom problem, you do have to make some changes if you really are interested in accepting the gospel. It was not a good experience. Just before we left the church, he asked Dad to call him when we got home. Dad put it off for awhile but finally mustered up the courage to call and Gunter “yelled” at Dad for an hour. I was clear across the room from the phone and could hear him. You know Dad and his patience. He never raised his voice but was completely exhausted when he got off the phone. While they were talking, some of the neighbors came to his door and told him to quit yelling or they were going to call the police. A few minutes later, Dad suddenly hung up and I asked him what had happened. He told me that Gunter told him the police were at his door. We’ve tried to help this guy but I think our days of helping are over. Dad went over to get him to sign a paper authorizing him (Dad) to get some information so maybe he could get some kind of government help so he’d at least have a place to live and food to eat. He is being ousted from his apartment next week. When Dad asked him to sign a paper giving him authority to get some information, he told Dad he didn’t trust him and wouldn’t sign anything. Dad just turned and left. Gunter just bit of the hand of one who has been feeding him the past few months. We don’t know what’s going to happen to him. He’s absolutely the most unteachable person we’ve ever met. He knows everything and he wants to do everything his own way. The most frequent words out of his mouth are “I know it”. Oh what a frustrating experience and what a frustrating person!

We had a good meeting with the new family I mentioned last week. She is a member but he isn’t. They are so nice. He is from Philadelphia and they had had a big Thanksgiving dinner and had lots of pie leftover so we had pie and a very nice visit before we started. We taught the lesson on the restoration and he seemed very interested. We told him that central to our religion was the atonement of Jesus Christ and as Dad taught him the Christ voluntarily gave up His life even though he had the power to live forever, Joe was amazed. He said he had never heard it explained that way and realized that any other way, Christ’s death would be just another human sacrifice. He was very interested in the Book of Mormon. We told him about Christ’s visit to the America’s and showed him where that was found if he wanted to read about it. He said, “Can’t I just start at the beginning?” He just seemed so pleased when we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him it was his to keep. We have another appointment with them tomorrow. I hope it goes as well as the one last week did. They have two cute little girls, one 4 and one 6. The six year old had a friend over and they were leaving the four year old out and kept coming and tattle on the little one and Joe would say, “Oh that’s okay. She doesn’t like you anyway.” They would just look at him then go back to playing. He did that two or three times and each time it left the other girls speechless. Quite the psychology. No one likes to hear that someone doesn’t like them!

We had our interviews with President Rakow on Monday. He asked us if we knew anyone who would be interested in coming and taking our place. He said senior missionaries are few and far between but if we knew someone, he would let the area presidency know and they would make a direct contact with them. He asked Dad if he had anyone he knew on his mission who might be interested in coming back to Germany. Dad sent an e-mail to a few of them. One wrote back. He was divorced for quite awhile then remarried so they still have kids in college. He hasn’t heard from anyone else. We’re down to just 7 couples now and President Rakow really doesn’t want to move anyone. Oh well, we’ll do our best while we’re here and he and the Lord will work something out. We’re so thankful for our time here in Wurzburg.

Sister Meyer is still coming along. We crossed a big bridge with her yesterday. She has always maintained that the Godhead is three persons in one. Yesterday Dad asked her about it and she said God and Jesus Christ are two separate beings. Then she said, “No, that’s not right. There are three separate beings. The Holy Ghost is part of the Godhead too.” That is major progress. She is so steeped in the tradition of her church but admits that she knows very little of what they really believe. She asks more and more questions. She also said that to her, the Book of Mormon was much easier to understand than the Bible. Every little step is so important.

Zero degrees here is like 32 degrees there. Today it has stayed around -3 so that’s around 28 but with the humidity it seems much colder. It isn’t really raining but it just feels like a soft mist in the air all the time. We’ve had a couple of days with snow showers but nothing that stayed on the ground or even lasted for very long. It has already been colder than it ever was last winter. It makes us wonder what we might be in for before it’s over.

It was so fun listening to the BYU game last Saturday night. We had the Elders come over after the YSA party. They were very obedient though and left at 9:30 to go home. Elder Zern called just after 7 AM Sunday morning to see what had happened. I had “taken notes” the whole second half and when I told him about the Utah touchdown with 90 seconds left, he was so disappointed. Then I said, “But listened what happened in that last 90 seconds.” He just let out a bit yell when I told him about the BYU touchdown and then knocking down the Utah pass in the last play of the game. I told President Rakow at our interviews about having the Elders over to listen to the game and how impressed I was at the obedience of the Elders----going home at halftime of a BYU game. President Rakow said, “Well, who won the game”? When I told him BYU did, he clapped his hands and said, “Good for them!” I’m glad I got that confession off my mind before the end of our mission!

Today was another service day. Sister Merkley’s husband will be home from Iraq on Saturday after being gone for 15 months. She has been trying to get her Christmas decorations up and keep up with everything but was really behind with her laundry. I helped carry Christmas decoration boxes back downstairs, folded four baskets of clothes, vacuumed and dusted, and emptied then filled the dishwasher. I thoroughly enjoyed it. A change is as good as a rest. Dad was not feeling well so opted to stay home and stay warm. He has had a sore throat and didn’t feel like he should be around her little one. She is just an awesome lady and is so excited about seeing her husband again on Saturday. We’re glad that doing service is a part of missionary work.

I guess that about wraps it up for his week. We’ll be thinking about all of you this week-end. Enjoy being together for Janie’s baptism. I can’t believe she is 8!! Enjoy the Nachos and pie. Janie is my kind of girl! Know that you are loved and are always in our thoughts and prayers. We are so thankful for each one of you and for the good things that are happening in your lives and with how well you are dealing with the not so good things too.

Much love always,
Mom

From Dad 11/25

Hi to the great men in our lives,

How are you all after an awesome BYU/U of U game win for BYU! The last two minutes were so amazing! Electronics and being a senior missionary couple is a different way to live on a mission. It was great!

The young single adults wanted their own version of a “Thanksgiving Dinner” last night. It was a fun time with a good turn out. There was even a non member there to whom the elders were able to teach a first discussion and get to know better. Mom added enough of the good usual ingredients (such as the turkey, potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes) to make it very much an American experience. Afterward we played games and sang songs. There was a gratitude among the youth to be able to just spend time together doing things they would have only good feelings about themselves and about the gospel afterwards. The youth in the Church are leading out toward better and happier times in the Church.

With the adults we teach, sexual purity and obedience to the laws of the land are our two strongest traditions we work to unravel from their lives and to replace them with the light offered in the gospel. It is amazing when you think about the comparison used in the scriptures of being wrapped around by “chains”. There could be no more clear explanation about what is going on in their lives. Joseph Di Dinato and Alicia Antivo are two young parents responding to the light of the restoration. Joseph remarked Friday, “I have never understood the Atonement they way it was taught today”. He saw something in the atonement. He saw the Savior doing what He did solely and only because he wanted to do it. He felt a new attachment to Jesus Christ. This gives us hope. Great effort is required to make changes in our lives. Joe loves his two daughters, April and Katey, ages 4 and 6. He told us the second time we met him his whole life centers around them. This love is what we hope will have enough strength to help he feel in his heart the direction to follow to eliminate the chains that have bound him for so long. Tradition is something when we become used to it, it seems more natural and easier to live with than the truth and its resulting blessings. We have a new appreciation for the great struggle our forefathers experienced breaking free from the chains of 400 years of captivity in Egypt.

Ron Peterson quietly is taking one step at a time to bring the light of the gospel into his home. Martina has had struggles in life we may not ever fully understand. Ron’s love for his family helps him move straight ahead not stepping to the right or to the left. Friday he met with his wife, Martina, and her friends from the Jehovah Witnesses, perhaps for the first time and as far as we know at least for the first time in the past year. He has learned enough about the teachings of the Church as a young priest and they have been sufficiently refreshed in his mind that he is ready to go to work to “reclaim” his family. Their daughter, Jennifer, 23, and their son Erik, 17, and their grandson, Dustin, 2, are worth fighting for in Ron’s eyes. Bless mom’s heart. She is a woman who wants to live without contention of any kind. It has been difficult for her to separate out the contention in other people’s lives and the blessings of bringing the light of the gospel into their homes from the contention to which we contribute by our own thoughts and actions. Light always chases away darkness. It was the light of the gospel, our pure testimonies of its truthfulness and our live for our Father in Heaven that brought Satan and a third of our Father’s children to decide there was no longer a comfortable place for them to be found in our Father’s presence and they wanted to leave. Love was and remains the only thing the adversary does not and cannot understand or fight against.

We are thankful for our family. We are thankful for every member who feels the stirrings in his heart to be or become loyal to the priesthood which we hold. Only good will come from it. It is a privilege to be alive and experience heart ache, loneliness, sickness, setbacks, and all of the other good experiences bringing growth and a reaching out in our hearts to get to know our Father in Heaven better and to learn to follow His ways and taste of His miraculous blessings. He looks forward to bestowing eternal life on all those who want it with all of their hearts and gain sufficient trust in Him to allow Him to guide our lives and family safely home to Him.

We look forward to coming safely home to our family in three more months. Nothing takes the place of family. You are the center of our lives. We will love each one of you forever!

Have a great week.

Love always,

Dad

From Mom 11/22

Dear Family,

This has been a different Thanksgiving for us. The ward cancelled the dinner they had planned because most of the Americans were going to be gone and because Thanksgiving is just another day for most of the people here, there was just not enough interest in putting it together. The lady who put it together last year is about a week away from having her 10th child and obviously was not up to doing it again this year. We were invited by one of the families on base to be their guests at the dinner on base but neither the Elders nor we were very enthused about eating with a lot of people we didn’t know. So I told the Elders I would fix dinner for them. We also invited a man both the Elders and us have been teaching. We did the whole Thanksgiving thing----turkey, dressing, spuds and gravy, cranberry salad, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. I missed my Bosch mixer!! The rolls weren’t very good. This man and also the new Elder who is from East Germany had never had a Thanksgiving dinner. They seemed to enjoy the food. The new Elder was a bit suspicious of the pie. He had never eaten pumpkin and especially in pie form. I told him he didn’t have to eat it but he did anyway and said it was just a new taste he had to get used to. We played a couple of games----3-13 and Scum and they had a lot of fun with that. It was a good day but a day my thoughts were of all of you. How I look forward to next year!!

I hope all of you enjoyed the day and enjoyed being together with family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for. We are most grateful for our family. We know each of you have had some big challenges and will continue to have challenges but we know too that with the Lord’s help, you can get through them. I think the thing I have come to know and appreciate the very most on this mission is the Saviors love for us. I love teaching about the Atonement and I love what that does for each one of us in our lives. Knowing that our Heavenly Father knows each one of us by name and that he cares for us more than we can even begin to comprehend is a great blessing and a great comfort. We aren’t alone. We don’t have to be alone in anything we do. He knows our needs and He is there for us. He isn’t going to give us everything we want when we want it but He will support us as we turn to Him for help to work things out. I have come to love and appreciate the scripture in John 3:16 so very much: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoso believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s hard to comprehend that great love but I know it’s real and that it’s for each one of us.

This has been a week of many cancellations. There is a LOT of sickness here right now. Sister Pinder, who goes with us to member-teach Sister Reynolds, the new convert, is in the hospital and so are both of her children. One is 3 and the other is just 1. They all have bronchitis. Brother Pinder said they are all in the same room. I’m not sure Sister Pinder is getting a lot of rest but at least they are being cared for. There is so much of that around right now. Again we blame it on to the weather. It is pretty cold and the high humidity makes it even colder. Everyone here wears a neck scarf and I’m becoming converted to the idea too. No one has their homes very warm (with the exception of us) and a lot of the time we leave our coats on when we are visiting with people. I’ve had some earaches and sore throat but just keep plugging along. Dad’s back is a bit sore so he’s moving a bit cautiously. I think both of us are feeling a bit “battle worn”. So many nights we wonder why we feel so tired. Physically this isn’t that hard but mentally, emotionally and spiritually it can be very draining. Sometimes it’s hard to be nice to people when they aren’t nice to us. But that all goes with being a missionary.

We found another new investigator this week. We have a standing appointment with Thomas and Elana Beck on Sunday afternoon and when we went there Sunday, there was a friend there with them. She is also from the Philippines, like Elana is. When Elana introduced us to her she said she had met with some missionaries a few years ago so we asked her if she would like to continue to learn about the church. She has a great faith in God but said she doesn’t belong to any church and would be interested in learning more. We have an appointment with her this Sunday. Last week I told you about the part-member family we visited whose husband was said to not like Mormons but we met him and he invited us back. We went back the next day and the wife was there too. They were both so nice and she told us she had joined the church about 16 years ago in the Philippines. (There are LOTS of Philippines here!) Her husband is from Philadelphia and was stationed in the army here for quite awhile and has since retired from that but loved Germany so they are living here. We asked him how much he knew about our church and he told us that he didn’t know very much about it so we asked him if he would like to learn more about it. He said he thought he would so we have an appointment with them tomorrow afternoon. They met with some young sister missionaries a few years ago and thought so much of them. It’s interesting that the last comment in the area book about this family was “husband met us at the door and said we don’t need to come back.” Sometimes you just have to ignore those comments and go in like you didn’t even see them. We’re very happy to have some new people to teach. That too goes with being a missionary.

Sister Meyer has made some real progress lately. She is much more involved in the Sunday School class and on Sunday when we asked if we could come sometime this week, Brother Meyer said they just didn’t have time and Sister Meyer was the one who wanted us to come and said they would change their home teachers appointment so we could come. We had a good meeting with them last night and have a standing appointment with them each Wednesday. We talked about her being baptized on December 22. She didn’t say no but she hasn’t made a real commitment either so we’ll continue to hope and pray and work with her. We told her we didn’t know of anyone more worthy to be baptized than she was and we really meant that. She is just a lovely person. Brother Meyer’s greatest desire is for her to be baptized so they can go to the temple.

The new Elder who came last week is Elder Tilgner from Leipzig which is close to the temple in Freiberg. He won’t be 19 until April. Every young man is obligated to spend 9 months with the Germany army when they graduate from school but Elder Tilgner has some health issues and the army didn’t want him. By the time this was decided, he really didn’t have time to go to a year of school so he got permission from the area presidency to go on his mission. You wouldn’t know he’s not 19 or even older. He’s very mature and very outgoing. He talks to everyone everywhere they go and they already have several teaching appointments because of that. He has a beautiful tenor voice! Sunday we had our first choir rehearsal for the Christmas program and he came. He loves to sing and he is very good----not overpowering but very good. His companion says he is either singing or whistling all the time. His mother is an opera singer and he gives her the credit for his voice.

We had a fun Saturday with the Wenzel family last Saturday. We watched a whole soccer game. Soccer is the big thing here in Germany and these kids really get into it. It was fun to watch even thought it was freezing cold! (Then I wonder why I have an earache and sore throat!) Then we went on a two hour trolley ride on an old trolley car that is just used for special occasions. People can rent it for parties and at Christmas time, “Santa” rents it to ride around town. We went all over the city---to places we’ve never seen. It was a fun afternoon and a good time with this family we are trying to get active. The oldest daughter had been invited to a Young Women’s activity the night before and had had a great time. The YW president is a professional photographer and they learned a lot about that a had fun dressing and posing for pictures. Every little thing helps with this work.

Saturday the Young Single Adults are having another Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve been asked to cook the turkey. Everyone is bringing something. When we went over the menu with them last night, I realized their Thanksgiving dinner is not the same as ours. Turkey is about the only similar thing. It will be interesting! But I know it will be fun with those kids. There should be around 20 people there. I will really miss the association with these young people. They are great!!

I guess that’s it for this week. Chris called early this morning and it was so good to talk to her and all the family. Brian called tonight and that was great too. We had talked to Cindy on her birthday so we feel very blessed to have contact with the family. I’m so grateful for the internet and for the phone. It makes it seem like we are not so far away.

Have a good week. I’m sure you’re all in the thick of getting ready for Christmas. What a fun time of the year----busy but fun. We’re sending candy again but are planning on bringing something for everyone when we come home so forgive us for not doing more for Christmas. Speaking of that, we’d still like some suggestions of what you would like to have from Germany.

Know that you are loved and very much in our thoughts and prayers.

Much love,
Mom