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
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
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