More Local Happenings

Our landlord who owns our office building is named Herr Wilhelm Shäffer, or Willy (Villy) as many of his friends call him. Herr Shäffer is a very friendly, happy man who has a thriving business in our building of a machine shop which makes metal parts for many kinds of machines. We posted an article about him and his shop in an earlier blog entry. Three weeks ago, we invited him and his wife over to our home for dinner. All the other people we invited to come couldn’t make it so it was just the four of us, but it was a very nice evening. Neither Herr Shäffer nor his wife could speak English so Pat had quite a time trying to understand the conversations. Grant talked a lot to them and mostly Herr Shäffer did the speaking for them. Grant would usually interpret the conversation so Pat could understand what was being discussed. She understood some of the words, but could not keep up with all the ideas. However it was a very pleasant evening with a cool summer menu of potato salad and green salad, melon fruits and pork steaks.

About a week later was Herr Shäffer’s birthday party and he had invited all the staff of our office along with his family and many friends. The Shäffers have a beautiful old home and large beautiful yard. Herr and Frau Shäffer work very hard at making their yard and garden a lovely place with flowers of all kinds and several fruits and vegetables growing in well kept plots. We spent a lot of time talking to him and his family. In this picture you can see his very busy wife and Herr Shaffer talking to Grant. During the evening we learned that he has lived in that house all his life, growing up as a little boy and later raising his own family of 2 girls and a son there as well. He said that his town was bombed during World War II one time when some British or American plane either missed a target or wanted to unload their bombs before flying back to their base. All the homes around his house were destroyed but for some reason his home was not touched. Though they have had to remodel many parts of the home over the years, they can say that it is still the same place he grew up in.
We all enjoyed the tasty dinner supplied and lots of great visiting.

Some places here in Europe, especially in large cities, have a lot of great people but they are also filled with crime. Of course, this isn’t new in the world, even in America, but we Americans seem to be more vulnerable here because we are too trusting, or not savvy enough of the many ways pick pockets can steal from us. Just to give a few examples of some problems our senior missionaries have had. While the Lunds were in Paris picking up the FamilySearch display cartons they had to spend a night in a hotel. They were given a room on the ground floor. The weather was very hot and there was no air conditioning in their room, so they had to leave a window open. During the night someone sneaked into their room and stole Sister Lund’s purse with her German driver’s license, her passport, her credit cards, temple recommend, money, their camera and all their flash drives. What a time they have had trying to replace all those things, though they are grateful it was only things they took, and not a life.

Another missionary couple was on assignment in Paris. Once when they were stopped at a stoplight someone walked right up to their car, opened the front passenger door, grabbed Sister Gardner’s purse and ran off before the Gardners even knew what was happening. Another sister missionary in Frankfurt, Germany, had laid her purse down on a picnic table and turned around to do something. While she was turned around someone grabbed it and ran off. Luckily someone else found her purse in the trash and returned it to her, therefore she was able to get several important things back. So we are learning to request upper floors in hotels, lock our car doors as we travel and always keep our purses and wallets in safe positions. It is too bad that we have to worry about these things but some people in the world are becoming more wicked by the minute. The world is polarizing. The good people are becoming better and gathering together while the evil ones are becoming more evil and gathering their forces together also. We are heading for the “show down” before the coming of our Lord. May we all be able to be on the “right”side. By staying close to the Lord and obeying his commandments, we can make it.
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Elder Lynn Hansen and his wife Faith have now gone home. He was the missionary who was gathering all the stories he could of members who lived through World War II and wanted to tell of their experiences. President Uchtdorf had asked for this project to be done and Elder Hansen was the person who was called to do it. He was able to gather over three hundred stories, some of which we put in an earlier blog entry. With his wife’s help he got them all typed up in German and the manuscript was finally printed and bound. The completed books were delivered just before leaving for home at the completion of their mission. He was so grateful to get the project done in time, as you can tell from his smile. The books are all in German and we don’t know if or when it might be printed in English, but it would be a shame if the members of the whole church don’t get a chance to read at least part of the stories.

When the Hansen’s left, a lot of things they had used were parceled out among the rest of the missionaries. One of the precious things that Pat was given to take care of was one of the Bernina sewing machines for use by the missionaries. She was very excited to get that to use. Now if she could just find a place to buy cloth that isn’t too expensive, she could make a few special items. In the meantime she can use it for repairs and patching. Up to now all such things have been done by hand taking lots of time. It will be a wonderful tool to have for use.

It’s now mid-summer, and we’ve
been quite interested in the farm work that goes on around us. We can see some pretty extensive farms from our windows. We’ve enjoyed seeing the work progress, from soil preparation to planting, on to the care and harvesting. The German farmers seem to do a better job than the American farmers at taking care of their farms, at least the ones we have seen to compare with. Most of the German farms are really beautiful in all seasons of the year.

We haven’t yet had much “HOT” weather; we get a lot of rain, and the sky is usually cloudy. That has been good for Pat. It is our understanding that bouts of her MS might come back if she had to endure too much heat stress. The office where we work is cooled, and we now have fans to use at home. The car is air conditioned. So as long as it doesn’t get too hot we will be alright. Pat did have a health problem, however, as her shoulder started to hurt. The Mission medics had her get an MRI and then an injection to control the pain. The diagnosis was “rotator cuff” but it is not causing much problem now. Grant is having a little problem with back pain – likely a pinched nerve, but it has mostly gone away.

We hadn’t had much success getting acquainted with our neighbors. Germans live very privately. Finally Grant found some opportunities to help some neighbors with things they were doing outside. He helped one old man carry firewood, and at first the family seemed to be very tense about it. But then a few weeks later he was able to help another neighbor who was moving some rocks and dirt. Another time, when trying to go upstairs to our apartment, Elder Howlett was able to just wait patiently as a woman maneuvered her invalid husband into the house. He started up a casual conversation with them to make them know he didn’t feel imposed upon by the waiting. Each of these little things has had a positive result, and now all of the neighbors treat us differently. It is now a pleasant occasion to meet them somewhere. A good lesson learned.

We had a home evening with a missionary sister, Jeanie Martin, who had earlier sung with the Tabernacle Choir. We had no idea it was so hard to get into the choir. They must first pass national tests on music theory before they can even start the auditioning process, and the auditioning has several phases. Only a very small percentage of those who start the process make it. Those that do make it have to spend about 20 hours a week studying and memorizing the music and keeping their voices in trim – that in addition to the practices and performances. We also learned that the Church has no budget for the Choir. They are totally supported by the sale of their albums, the tickets for their concerts, etc. She opened up to us some of the human side of being in the choir. Sister Martin and her husband, Elder Melvin Martin, are here in Germany serving a temple mission in the Frankfurt Temple.

Next month, August 2009, we will have our new Europe Area Presidency take over. Our former president, Robert C. Oaks of the Seventy is being released and will go back home to Utah. Our new president is Erich W. Kopischke from Germany, who was the first counselor to President Oaks. The first counselor in the new Europe Area presidency is Gerald Causse from France, who was the former second counselor, and the new second counselor is Jose A. Teixeira from Portugal. All are from the Seventies. It is very exciting that this is the first time that the Europe Area Presidency has consisted of all leaders from countries of Europe. This is a major step forward to see these good men coming from the strong membership of their countries and leading out in the area here. It demonstrates the growth of the church in Europe very well.

Last week we spent some time with Elder Harold and Sister Ima Jean Oaks. His cousins include Apostle Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Robert C. Oaks of the Seventy. Harold Oaks was a professor at BYU where he worked primarily with puppets in the drama department. They told of their previous missions and assignments in which they supported Church objectives (particularly Word of Wisdom) through puppet shows, which worked cvery successfully with the children. Their assignment here in Europe is in connection with enhancing the public image of the Church.

Our image is important. In Cyprus (an island in the Mediterranean near Syria), a missionary couple in the Family and Church History work like us were deported because they ”became too friendly” with both sides of the population – the Christian Greeks and the Turkish Muslims. Their interactions with both sides looked like it could be used for espionage. So they were deported to Greece, but they can’t get a permit to stay there either. We are not sure what will happen to them there, but the Lord will work something out. As you see, we get to work with some very interesting people.


A surprise this week was the transfer of Elder and Sister Lund, who have been working in our office. We have enjoyed working with them, but they are going to leave the Family and Church History area and go work with the young single adults in Würzburg. They will be a couple of hours away from us, if there isn't a traffic Jam - German roads, including the Autobahns can really get conjested. We'll miss them very much.