Our church in freiburg, Germany.

FEBRUARY 22, 2009 SUNDAY

This morning we were up early and to the Church at 6:45 to meet Jona, his parents and Brother Klaumunzner to go to Freiburg which is in Germany. We were hoping for a good day, but it was snowing pretty heavily all the way up there. Bro. Klaumunzner didn’t mind driving on the slushy roads faster than he probably should have. Instead of following in the most used lane that had car tracks in it, he would zoom around into the lane with 3 or 4 inches of slush to pass and every time he did this, the car would kind of slide around. It was also very hazy so we didn’t get to see much on the way there. We arrived all in one piece and with a minute or two to spare. The first meeting was Priesthood/RS followed by Sunday School and then Sacrament Meeting. It’s comforting to know that the Church is the same wherever you go and it was no different here. The main speakers in Sacrament Meeting we a couple who had just returned and were reporting on their mission experiences. They served in Stuttgard, Germany. They gave almost the same talk we would have given, if we ended our mission today. Their main assignment was to use the ward member list and search out the less-actives. Their experiences mirrored our experiences and their main message was to encourage home teachers and visiting teachers to be diligent in carrying out their responsibilities. If someone would of been there when they started to have problems, they could of helped them through the rough spots and helped them keep their covenants.

The fireside where Jona was the featured speaker was supposed to have been held right after Sacrament Meeting, but those who were going to attend were hungry and didn’t want to wait until after the fireside to eat. So everyone went downstairs and partook of the food that had been set out. Rolls, various types of lunch meat, cheese, condiments, lemon cake, apple bread, pumpkin bread and little cupcakes were on the menu as well as mineral water and hot Rosehip tea. It was all very good and soon we were back upstairs in the chapel for the fireside. Jona told the same conversion story as he told in the fireside in our ward a couple of weeks ago when the featured speakers didn’t show up. He’s going to make a wonderful missionary in Paris.

The weather was much better on the way home, but the scenery was much like what we are used to driving through some of our rural communities along the freeway. It was fun getting to know the Neidharts a little better and Jona is always fun to be around.

After we got home we got a call from Sister Locher who we tried to visit on her birthday. We left her card/gift in her mailbox. She didn't find it until Saturday so, when I called her the next day, I should have told her it was in there. She was going to thank us at church today, but we weren't there. Anyway, she thanked us and invited us to lunch on Tuesday. We've been there twice before and she she is a good cook. We got busy making the cookie base for a fruit pizza that we want to serve for dessert tomorrow night at family home evening. We got done just in time to run down to the hospital to visit Suwang before closing hours. Yesterday we thought she was on the road to recovery. This evening we discovered she was being given blood because of internal bleeding. She can’t have any food or water until tomorrow because they are going to scope her insides to see what the problem is. We stayed as long as we could, but then we had to leave because visiting hours were over. We found out her home is a mess because she was so sick for many days and couldn’t do much to keep it up. We’re trying to work with her daughter and the ward to set up a cleaning day to put things back in order.

We came back home and Diana tried to SKYPE our kids, but no one answered. Soon after, however, Brad, Roxsan and the kids called back and we had a wonderful conversation. It’s fun getting brought up to date on the things going on in their lives. All good things must come to an end so we finally hung up. While I’m writing this blog, Diana is putting the finishing touches on our concentration game for tomorrow night’s FHE.