From Mom 12/27
Dear Family,
There isn’t a lot to report since Christmas but we want you to know how much we enjoyed talking to each one of you. We are really getting anxious to be home again. To hear some of the grandkids say, “I really miss you” or “I want you home right now!” was music to our ears. We are looking forward to seeing all of you again.
We had mostly just a fun, relaxing week. Today we have two appointments and tomorrow we are going to check out a referral we received. When Dad called the referral, the man seemed very nice and looks forward to meeting with us. That will be an interesting experience. Most of our appointments this week have been eating appointments! Yesterday we took the Elders with us to do a service project. Brother Vollrath, who we have been meeting with for some time, needed some furniture re-arranged and some things taken out of his apartment----some to be put in storage and others just needing to be disposed of. I mainly sat while the men did the work. Then after the work was done, we had a good meeting with him. I think he enjoyed hearing the testimonies of the young elders and hearing their experience with their prayers being answered. He is struggling with wondering if his prayers are even being heard. I think he wants to hear a voice or see a vision to be sure his prayers are answered. It was good to hear the elders say it was just a feeling in their hearts that was witness to them that Heavenly Father did know them and hear their prayers. It was a good experience.
When we finished there, we took the Elders to Pizza Hut. Oh, it was so good! The German pizza is so flat and so dry. We all enjoyed that and then we went bowling for a couple of hours. I’ve never bowled so badly! The Elders had a good time beating up on Dad and I. All in all it was a good, fun, relaxing day. Now it’s time to get back to missionary work.
I just wanted to share some feelings I’ve had over the past few days. People have been so very good to us. As I told you, we are well supplied with cookies and fruit. But putting those things aside, being in their homes most of this past week has brought such good feelings. On Sunday, the Braithwaites had us over for lunch after church. Brother Braithwaite was the ward mission leader until just recently when he was put in as Young Mens President. He was a great mission leader and is still very much interested in missionary work. They are such a nice family. They have two little boys, Sam and Jack, who are so great. They are just good people to be around and there is always such a feeling of peace and love in their home. Then on Christmas Eve we were with the Bacon family to celebrate their little Lucia’s second birthday along with Christmas Eve. It has been so fun watching her throughout this year and thinking about Kaitlyn and what she is doing. Lucia has much more hair than Kaitlyn! Each time we see her, she is talking more and doing such fun things. They too are a wonderful family. Brother Bacon is in the bishopric. They both served missions in Italy and have traveled a lot while being here with the Army and he is a great story teller. It’s always fun to be in their home. They acted out the nativity and it brought back many good memories of doing that with you throughout the years. It was just such a warm, very much at home feeling being with them. On Christmas Day, we went to the Merkleys. Brother Merkeley recently returned from spending 15 months in Iraq. He was the bishop in this ward before he left and it goes without saying that there is a wonderful feeling in their home too. They have five children. Sister Merkley is an amazing lady. I admired her so much for the great faith she displayed while her husband was gone. It was a very difficult time. She was pregnant when he left so she went through having the baby without him being here. He did come home on a 2 week leave in April and blessed the baby then. They too made us feel very welcome and very much at home. It was fun sharing some of their family experiences and especially hearing some of Brother Merkley’s experiences in Iraq. How grateful we are for those who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedom. I have so much respect for the wives and families left at home while their husbands and fathers are away. It has been a real eye opener to be associated with this kind of life. The day after Christmas we were invited to lunch at Sister Shusters. She is a single Mom with a 5 year old son. When she invited us, she was apologetic about what she had to feed us. Her income is very limited but she made a delicious vegetable soup and had some of this wonderful German bread and it was all just great. We played some games with them and then Sister Shuster just needed to talk. She is struggling so with being a single mom and wants so badly to do what is right by her son. She asked if we would come and have Family Home Evening with her so he would hear something taught by someone other than his mother. (She is also his Primary teacher) We told her we were busy on Monday night but have it set up to have FHE with them on Thursday evening. The little boy is Luca and he really likes Dad so I think this is going to be another good experience for us.
All in all, it has been a good week and I’ve thought many times how thankful I am for the experience of being on a mission for the last two Christmas’s. We had planned to be in town when the stores opened on Monday morning to pick up a few things for Christmas. We wanted to take some things to the Gogan’s as we know this has been a difficult time for them with their mother being in the hospital but is now home but on bed rest. But with the strong feelings of the true meaning of Christmas that we had received with our Christmas program at church and with our time that afternoon with the Braithwaites then an investigator and then with Thomas and Elana Beck and then coming home and just thinking about the real significance of the birth of Christ, when I woke up on Monday, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in town with a lot of people and material things. Dad had to go meet a member who had called and wanted a copy of the “Joy to the World” DVD to share with a non-member neighbor and while he was out, he stopped and picked up a couple of boxes of oranges and a couple of bags of apples and some candy and we took that to the Gogans instead of the “things” we had talked about getting for them. It was so good to have that real Christmas spirit all that day and Christmas Day too. I think the greatest blessing to me personally on this mission has been realizing more fully what Jesus Christ really means in our lives and how important His birth really was. We are truly blessed to have His gospel in our lives and to know of His love for us and to know that through Him we can be forgiven; we can have our burdens lifted and that He has given us His gospel as a means of helping us prepare to live with our Heavenly Father again. How grateful we are.
A year ago, the year 2007 seemed like a long time to still have in Germany. But it has gone so fast and now we are to the point that there are just days left on our mission. It will be with mixed emotions that we leave Germany. I’m so anxious and excited to come home and see everyone again but I think a part of me will always be here in Germany. Can you believe I am saying that? It’s hard for me to believe it with how I felt a year ago. Thank you all for the love and support we’ve felt through your letters and through your prayers. You have been a big part of our success and of how much this mission has come to mean to us.
Have a fun New Years Eve party and may this New Year be full of wonderful blessings for each of you. We love you dearly and can hardly wait to see you!
Much love always,
Mom
There isn’t a lot to report since Christmas but we want you to know how much we enjoyed talking to each one of you. We are really getting anxious to be home again. To hear some of the grandkids say, “I really miss you” or “I want you home right now!” was music to our ears. We are looking forward to seeing all of you again.
We had mostly just a fun, relaxing week. Today we have two appointments and tomorrow we are going to check out a referral we received. When Dad called the referral, the man seemed very nice and looks forward to meeting with us. That will be an interesting experience. Most of our appointments this week have been eating appointments! Yesterday we took the Elders with us to do a service project. Brother Vollrath, who we have been meeting with for some time, needed some furniture re-arranged and some things taken out of his apartment----some to be put in storage and others just needing to be disposed of. I mainly sat while the men did the work. Then after the work was done, we had a good meeting with him. I think he enjoyed hearing the testimonies of the young elders and hearing their experience with their prayers being answered. He is struggling with wondering if his prayers are even being heard. I think he wants to hear a voice or see a vision to be sure his prayers are answered. It was good to hear the elders say it was just a feeling in their hearts that was witness to them that Heavenly Father did know them and hear their prayers. It was a good experience.
When we finished there, we took the Elders to Pizza Hut. Oh, it was so good! The German pizza is so flat and so dry. We all enjoyed that and then we went bowling for a couple of hours. I’ve never bowled so badly! The Elders had a good time beating up on Dad and I. All in all it was a good, fun, relaxing day. Now it’s time to get back to missionary work.
I just wanted to share some feelings I’ve had over the past few days. People have been so very good to us. As I told you, we are well supplied with cookies and fruit. But putting those things aside, being in their homes most of this past week has brought such good feelings. On Sunday, the Braithwaites had us over for lunch after church. Brother Braithwaite was the ward mission leader until just recently when he was put in as Young Mens President. He was a great mission leader and is still very much interested in missionary work. They are such a nice family. They have two little boys, Sam and Jack, who are so great. They are just good people to be around and there is always such a feeling of peace and love in their home. Then on Christmas Eve we were with the Bacon family to celebrate their little Lucia’s second birthday along with Christmas Eve. It has been so fun watching her throughout this year and thinking about Kaitlyn and what she is doing. Lucia has much more hair than Kaitlyn! Each time we see her, she is talking more and doing such fun things. They too are a wonderful family. Brother Bacon is in the bishopric. They both served missions in Italy and have traveled a lot while being here with the Army and he is a great story teller. It’s always fun to be in their home. They acted out the nativity and it brought back many good memories of doing that with you throughout the years. It was just such a warm, very much at home feeling being with them. On Christmas Day, we went to the Merkleys. Brother Merkeley recently returned from spending 15 months in Iraq. He was the bishop in this ward before he left and it goes without saying that there is a wonderful feeling in their home too. They have five children. Sister Merkley is an amazing lady. I admired her so much for the great faith she displayed while her husband was gone. It was a very difficult time. She was pregnant when he left so she went through having the baby without him being here. He did come home on a 2 week leave in April and blessed the baby then. They too made us feel very welcome and very much at home. It was fun sharing some of their family experiences and especially hearing some of Brother Merkley’s experiences in Iraq. How grateful we are for those who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedom. I have so much respect for the wives and families left at home while their husbands and fathers are away. It has been a real eye opener to be associated with this kind of life. The day after Christmas we were invited to lunch at Sister Shusters. She is a single Mom with a 5 year old son. When she invited us, she was apologetic about what she had to feed us. Her income is very limited but she made a delicious vegetable soup and had some of this wonderful German bread and it was all just great. We played some games with them and then Sister Shuster just needed to talk. She is struggling so with being a single mom and wants so badly to do what is right by her son. She asked if we would come and have Family Home Evening with her so he would hear something taught by someone other than his mother. (She is also his Primary teacher) We told her we were busy on Monday night but have it set up to have FHE with them on Thursday evening. The little boy is Luca and he really likes Dad so I think this is going to be another good experience for us.
All in all, it has been a good week and I’ve thought many times how thankful I am for the experience of being on a mission for the last two Christmas’s. We had planned to be in town when the stores opened on Monday morning to pick up a few things for Christmas. We wanted to take some things to the Gogan’s as we know this has been a difficult time for them with their mother being in the hospital but is now home but on bed rest. But with the strong feelings of the true meaning of Christmas that we had received with our Christmas program at church and with our time that afternoon with the Braithwaites then an investigator and then with Thomas and Elana Beck and then coming home and just thinking about the real significance of the birth of Christ, when I woke up on Monday, the last thing I wanted to do was to be in town with a lot of people and material things. Dad had to go meet a member who had called and wanted a copy of the “Joy to the World” DVD to share with a non-member neighbor and while he was out, he stopped and picked up a couple of boxes of oranges and a couple of bags of apples and some candy and we took that to the Gogans instead of the “things” we had talked about getting for them. It was so good to have that real Christmas spirit all that day and Christmas Day too. I think the greatest blessing to me personally on this mission has been realizing more fully what Jesus Christ really means in our lives and how important His birth really was. We are truly blessed to have His gospel in our lives and to know of His love for us and to know that through Him we can be forgiven; we can have our burdens lifted and that He has given us His gospel as a means of helping us prepare to live with our Heavenly Father again. How grateful we are.
A year ago, the year 2007 seemed like a long time to still have in Germany. But it has gone so fast and now we are to the point that there are just days left on our mission. It will be with mixed emotions that we leave Germany. I’m so anxious and excited to come home and see everyone again but I think a part of me will always be here in Germany. Can you believe I am saying that? It’s hard for me to believe it with how I felt a year ago. Thank you all for the love and support we’ve felt through your letters and through your prayers. You have been a big part of our success and of how much this mission has come to mean to us.
Have a fun New Years Eve party and may this New Year be full of wonderful blessings for each of you. We love you dearly and can hardly wait to see you!
Much love always,
Mom
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