From Mom 1/19/2008
Dear Family,
It’s 5 o’clock Sunday morning. We were “wiped out” when we got back from our couples conference. We had to go to the store to pick up a few things and when we got home from the store, I couldn’t even think straight. I was trying to read the Sunday school lesson that I have to give today and could hardly keep my eyes open so decided to quit fighting it and go to bed. So here I am----still not fully prepared for the Sunday school class but need to put first things first and get this letter off to you.
We had a wonderful time at the couple’s conference. It was very relaxing and at the same time very uplifting spiritually. Saturday afternoon we went on a 3 hour tour of an art museum in Munich. The building is huge and there are hundreds of paintings but after awhile they all started looking alike. It was interesting though. Each area of the building featured art from a certain period or from different countries. I guess I’m just not cultured enough to appreciate all of this. Many of the pictures were numbered and we had headphones and could put in the number of the picture we were looking at. When we could hear the explanation it made it more interesting. Of course not nearly all of the pictures were numbered but as I said, it was an interesting experience. One thing for sure is that while being here in Germany we’ve seen a lot of “old” things. Most of the artists lived in the 16 and 17 hundreds. The pictures have been beautifully preserved. During the war all of the pictures were taken out and stored somewhere then put back up again afterwards. Last year we visited one of the “Residences” in Munich which was the place where the leaders lived and conducted the business of the country. That too was a very extravagant place with lots of painting on the ceilings and walls as well as huge pictures hanging on the walls----lots of gold trim in the rooms and all of this paid for by taxes the people paid and just few enjoyed the luxury of living there. It’s all a part of German history.
Friday evening we went to the mission home and had a wonderful dinner and then had a very relaxing evening. President Rakow asked each couple to take two minutes and tell how they met, which was a fun thing. There were lots of, ‘we were both attending BYU”. Then we played some fun games. It is fun to see this side of President and Sister Rakow. There was a new couple that had just arrived in Munich from Salt Lake that afternoon. They didn’t go to the museum. They were taken to the motel where they got to sleep for a couple of hours but they were with us in the evening. I don’t know how they even kept their eyes open. I remember our first day here and going to sleep in the meeting we were in and having the Elder who said the closing prayer say “Amen” three different times to wake us up. That flight from west to east is grueling! There was also another couple that we hadn’t met before. He was a mission president in Switzerland from 1989-1992. Both couples are just so nice as are all the others. They will be life long friends. How grateful we are for our association with them.
Saturday was workshop day. We were all assigned a chapter in “Preach My Gospel” and asked to adapt it to missionary couples, not that we are trying to re-write the book but how can couples apply these things to their work. Our topics were “How do we as missionary couples find people to teach?” and “How do we as missionary couple prepare people for baptism and confirmation or help bring them back into church activity”. We all shared experiences on each topic and it was very interesting. We learned a lot. Sometimes I feel we as couples have an advantage over the young missionaries because we usually stay in one area for most of our missions and have an opportunity to work with the same people longer. Getting to know them better and having them know us better builds trust and friendships and hopefully we are able to influence them in their decisions regarding the church. As much as I would have like to have seen Austria, which is part of our mission, I’m so thankful that we’ve been here in Wurzburg for most of the time. I don’t think I realized how big Munich was while we were there at the beginning of our mission. It seemed like such a huge city when we were there this time. I guess it is a huge city----nearly 2 million people is not a small city!
All in all, it was a great conference. The train ride there was very enjoyable. We were with Elder and Sister Meng going and then Elder and Sister Holzer and the Mengs on the return trip. We were on a really nice train which at one time was traveling at 300 KMS which is around 200 MPH. But it was such a smooth, quiet ride and it was nice not to have to be worrying about the driving. We will miss these kinds of events. This is our third and last one. There are getting to be a lot of “lasts”-----and that’s okay.
We have a full day today. After church we have a teaching appointment with the Elders at the church then we have appointments at 3, 4, and 6 o’clock. Tomorrow should be a little more calm. We have district meeting in the morning and just one appointment in the afternoon before Family Home Evening. Sometimes we just need time to catch our breath! We have pretty much a full schedule the rest of the week and that’s how we like it. One of our appointments this week is with Ron Peterson and his wife AND her Jehovah Witness friend. I’m not sure how much I’m looking forward to that day but it will come and we’ll make it through it but I’ll be glad when it’s over. Dad loves these kinds of challenges. He’s been looking up a lot of material about what they teach and believe and has been busy studying to prepare for it. It’s best for me to just stay quiet during times like this because I get frustrated and then can’t think straight. I’ll be praying for Dad and quietly cheering him on!
Last week in Relief Society the teacher was telling us about the first time she met the missionaries and how she gained her testimony. That morning a couple of Jehovah Witnesses had come to here door and she had spent a couple hours talking to them. The rest of the day had been “one of those days” for her where she felt like she was being pulled in many different directions at one time. Later that afternoon her doorbell rang again and it was a couple of Elders. As frazzled as she was, she felt impressed to invite them in. At the time, they didn’t have any children. She was nervous about being home alone all day so her husband had bought her a dog and this dog would not let anyone between her and the dog and he wouldn’t let anyone touch him. The Elders came in and started talking to her and she noticed the dog going toward them and was a little bit worried about what he might do but one of the Elders reached out and to pet the dog and the dog let him pet him. This was a first. Then when the Elders stood to leave, they shook hands with this lady and the dog didn’t do a thing. This lady said this was a strong indication to her that there was something very special about these young men and that she should listen to them. She made a return appointment with them and they taught both her and her husband and eventually they came into the church and are strong faithful people. She claims that it was her dog that helped her get interested in the church. I thought that was a fun story.
I need to go work on my lesson for today. I’m glad we’re in the Book of Mormon again. I don’t teach that often but this lesson is much easier to prepare than the last one I taught, which was from Revelations or some of the ones from the Old Testament the year before. I love to listen to the lessons from them and read them but don’t do very well teaching them. Next week we both are speaking in Sacrament meeting. Never a dull moment!!! My brain will be ready for a rest.
Know that we love you. We got lots of comments from the other couples about our time being nearly up. Many asked what our plans were when we got home. We told them our only plans right now are to just spend time with our family. That’s what we’re looking forward to the very most. You are in our thoughts and prayers many times each day and will always be most important in our lives.
Much love,
Mom
It’s 5 o’clock Sunday morning. We were “wiped out” when we got back from our couples conference. We had to go to the store to pick up a few things and when we got home from the store, I couldn’t even think straight. I was trying to read the Sunday school lesson that I have to give today and could hardly keep my eyes open so decided to quit fighting it and go to bed. So here I am----still not fully prepared for the Sunday school class but need to put first things first and get this letter off to you.
We had a wonderful time at the couple’s conference. It was very relaxing and at the same time very uplifting spiritually. Saturday afternoon we went on a 3 hour tour of an art museum in Munich. The building is huge and there are hundreds of paintings but after awhile they all started looking alike. It was interesting though. Each area of the building featured art from a certain period or from different countries. I guess I’m just not cultured enough to appreciate all of this. Many of the pictures were numbered and we had headphones and could put in the number of the picture we were looking at. When we could hear the explanation it made it more interesting. Of course not nearly all of the pictures were numbered but as I said, it was an interesting experience. One thing for sure is that while being here in Germany we’ve seen a lot of “old” things. Most of the artists lived in the 16 and 17 hundreds. The pictures have been beautifully preserved. During the war all of the pictures were taken out and stored somewhere then put back up again afterwards. Last year we visited one of the “Residences” in Munich which was the place where the leaders lived and conducted the business of the country. That too was a very extravagant place with lots of painting on the ceilings and walls as well as huge pictures hanging on the walls----lots of gold trim in the rooms and all of this paid for by taxes the people paid and just few enjoyed the luxury of living there. It’s all a part of German history.
Friday evening we went to the mission home and had a wonderful dinner and then had a very relaxing evening. President Rakow asked each couple to take two minutes and tell how they met, which was a fun thing. There were lots of, ‘we were both attending BYU”. Then we played some fun games. It is fun to see this side of President and Sister Rakow. There was a new couple that had just arrived in Munich from Salt Lake that afternoon. They didn’t go to the museum. They were taken to the motel where they got to sleep for a couple of hours but they were with us in the evening. I don’t know how they even kept their eyes open. I remember our first day here and going to sleep in the meeting we were in and having the Elder who said the closing prayer say “Amen” three different times to wake us up. That flight from west to east is grueling! There was also another couple that we hadn’t met before. He was a mission president in Switzerland from 1989-1992. Both couples are just so nice as are all the others. They will be life long friends. How grateful we are for our association with them.
Saturday was workshop day. We were all assigned a chapter in “Preach My Gospel” and asked to adapt it to missionary couples, not that we are trying to re-write the book but how can couples apply these things to their work. Our topics were “How do we as missionary couples find people to teach?” and “How do we as missionary couple prepare people for baptism and confirmation or help bring them back into church activity”. We all shared experiences on each topic and it was very interesting. We learned a lot. Sometimes I feel we as couples have an advantage over the young missionaries because we usually stay in one area for most of our missions and have an opportunity to work with the same people longer. Getting to know them better and having them know us better builds trust and friendships and hopefully we are able to influence them in their decisions regarding the church. As much as I would have like to have seen Austria, which is part of our mission, I’m so thankful that we’ve been here in Wurzburg for most of the time. I don’t think I realized how big Munich was while we were there at the beginning of our mission. It seemed like such a huge city when we were there this time. I guess it is a huge city----nearly 2 million people is not a small city!
All in all, it was a great conference. The train ride there was very enjoyable. We were with Elder and Sister Meng going and then Elder and Sister Holzer and the Mengs on the return trip. We were on a really nice train which at one time was traveling at 300 KMS which is around 200 MPH. But it was such a smooth, quiet ride and it was nice not to have to be worrying about the driving. We will miss these kinds of events. This is our third and last one. There are getting to be a lot of “lasts”-----and that’s okay.
We have a full day today. After church we have a teaching appointment with the Elders at the church then we have appointments at 3, 4, and 6 o’clock. Tomorrow should be a little more calm. We have district meeting in the morning and just one appointment in the afternoon before Family Home Evening. Sometimes we just need time to catch our breath! We have pretty much a full schedule the rest of the week and that’s how we like it. One of our appointments this week is with Ron Peterson and his wife AND her Jehovah Witness friend. I’m not sure how much I’m looking forward to that day but it will come and we’ll make it through it but I’ll be glad when it’s over. Dad loves these kinds of challenges. He’s been looking up a lot of material about what they teach and believe and has been busy studying to prepare for it. It’s best for me to just stay quiet during times like this because I get frustrated and then can’t think straight. I’ll be praying for Dad and quietly cheering him on!
Last week in Relief Society the teacher was telling us about the first time she met the missionaries and how she gained her testimony. That morning a couple of Jehovah Witnesses had come to here door and she had spent a couple hours talking to them. The rest of the day had been “one of those days” for her where she felt like she was being pulled in many different directions at one time. Later that afternoon her doorbell rang again and it was a couple of Elders. As frazzled as she was, she felt impressed to invite them in. At the time, they didn’t have any children. She was nervous about being home alone all day so her husband had bought her a dog and this dog would not let anyone between her and the dog and he wouldn’t let anyone touch him. The Elders came in and started talking to her and she noticed the dog going toward them and was a little bit worried about what he might do but one of the Elders reached out and to pet the dog and the dog let him pet him. This was a first. Then when the Elders stood to leave, they shook hands with this lady and the dog didn’t do a thing. This lady said this was a strong indication to her that there was something very special about these young men and that she should listen to them. She made a return appointment with them and they taught both her and her husband and eventually they came into the church and are strong faithful people. She claims that it was her dog that helped her get interested in the church. I thought that was a fun story.
I need to go work on my lesson for today. I’m glad we’re in the Book of Mormon again. I don’t teach that often but this lesson is much easier to prepare than the last one I taught, which was from Revelations or some of the ones from the Old Testament the year before. I love to listen to the lessons from them and read them but don’t do very well teaching them. Next week we both are speaking in Sacrament meeting. Never a dull moment!!! My brain will be ready for a rest.
Know that we love you. We got lots of comments from the other couples about our time being nearly up. Many asked what our plans were when we got home. We told them our only plans right now are to just spend time with our family. That’s what we’re looking forward to the very most. You are in our thoughts and prayers many times each day and will always be most important in our lives.
Much love,
Mom
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