Week 25

John at Kwisa 2

Magnetic treatment. Oh boy!

We just returned from our Poland adventure this afternoon having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with our first-ever week at an “old folks” Kurort.  We enjoyed all the interesting and unusual Behandlungen (treatments) and just having the opportunity to relax together. When we weren’t having Moorpackung (peat hot packs—lovely deep heat to a sore shoulder or back) or Trockenmassage (Why this should have been called a „dry“ massage I don’t know, since the therapist uses oil on your back, but I guess it distingquishes this from Unterwassermassage (underwater massage, which we didn’t have). Going to soak in the Radonbäder (Radium baths) for 20 minutes a day was delightful, if you didn’t mind the Polish attendants popping in on you once or twice a session!

One of our favorite things (besides the foot massages) was to take a nap at one of the local Salz Grottos with their beach chairs and blankets in a salt cave with soft light and Salzluft (salty air being blown in with the positive benefit of getting a 45-minute nap on a beach as the sun slips over the horizon, to the power of 10—great for improving one’s breathing and combating hayfever—I loved it!).

Salz Grotto--ah salty air and a nap!

When we weren’t eating, or having Behandlungen, we went for walks and laughed and then came back to our room to do a lot more of processing of genealogical sources, still ploughing through the basketfuls of items Hugh Laing has sent us. We made good progress but we still have a lot to do.  

Saturday morning we ate our last breakfast at Kwisa 2, dragged our suitcase down to the lobby and climbed aboard the motorbus that ferried us from Swieradow-Zdroj to Görlitz—the nearest point where we could catch a train home to Freiberg the following day.

We were excited to have the chance to visit Görlitz, a little town half in Germany and half in Poland, straddling the Neisse River, which figures so importantly in Church history in this area. The branch president, Thomas Lehmann, met us and enthusiastically showed us around his city. We saw beautiful churches, and old buildings that reminded us of St. Petersberg, Russia, in their grace and beauty. For us, however, it wasn’t these lovley sites that captured our attention most but rather a stop at the location where the Saints met in former years reaching back to the ’30s, and on through WWII, and then the hard years of the Cold War that followed.

First meeting house--2nd & 3rd floors, this end

Not now occupied by the Church, Thomas asked the present owner if he could show us upstairs where the Saints had met for all those years, though empty now but for the old hand-made podium. It was here that the young Apostle Thomas S. Monson came and, having been touched by the sincerity of the faithful Saints living there in that then bleak, grey country behind the Iron Curtain, prophesied of great and marvelous blessings that would come.

The pulpit from which prophesy was given!

Pres. Monson said of that time: “I was humbled by their poverty. They had so little. . . They had no patriarch. They had no wards or stakes—just branches. They could not receive temple blessings—neither endowment nor sealing. No official visitor had come from Church headquarters in a long time. The members were forbidden to leave the country.”

He stood at that pulpit, and with tear-filled eyes and a voice choked with emotion, promised the people: “If you will remain true and faithful to the commandments of God, every blessing any member of the Church enjoys in any other country will be yours.”

That night as he realized what he had promised, he dropped to his knees and prayed, “Heavenly Father, I’m on Thy errand; this is Thy church. I have spoken words that came not from me, but from Thee and Thy Son. Wilt Thou, therefore, fulfill the promise in the lives of this noble people. There coursed through my mind the words from the psalm, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’”  

President Thomas Lehmann was a young boy of eight years old, baptized just the month before this historic visit, and he has never forgotten the feelings he felt that day. This place we were privledged to see was still full of the Spirit and we felt as if walked on sacred ground.

President Monson continues, “Little by little the promise was fulfilled. First, patriarchs were ordained, then lesson manuals produced. Wards were formed and stakes created. Chapels and stake centers were begun, completed, and dedicated. Then, miracle of miracles, a holy temple of God was permitted, designed, constructed, and dedicated. Finally, after an absence of fifty years, approval was granted for full-time missionaries to enter the nation and for local youth to serve elsewhere in the world. Then, like the wall of Jericho, the Berlin Wall crumbled, and freedom, with its attendant responsibilities, returned.”

A chapel of promise

As of 1995, “all the parts of the precious promise given twenty-seven years earlier had been fulfilled, save one. Tiny Görlitz, where the promise had been given, still had no chapel of its own. Now, even that dream became a reality” with the construction of a chapel.

Dedication day dawned and President Monson with his wife, and Elder and Sister Dieter Uchtdorf, returned to Görlitz. There they were greeted by a young branch president, Thomas Lehmann, serving the first time in that calling.

His face glowed as he told us of the joy everyone felt that day, knowing as they did the significance of the occasion, marking the total fulfillment of the promise. We toured that little chapel with him, which was being prepared for a missionary open house later that afternoon. It sparkled with new paintings just hung and everything polished. We read from the guest book of the dedication in which President Monson and Elder Uchtdorf and their wives had written and we listened as President Lehmann told stories of many others who had returned to see this building, so much the fulfillment of prophecy.

Spring is in the air--and the plum cake was yummy!

Beautiful buildings in Goerlitz

Saturday afternoon we were dropped off in the old town to eat a late lunch and savor the sunshine with its promise of spring just around the corner. We enjoyed slowly meandering the old streets before returning to our hotel close by. John and I had been asked to bear our testimonies in Church Sunday morning so turned in early with our heads swimming with the thoughts of the day.

Morning came and we showered and dressed then headed downstairs to eat breakfast to be ready when our ride arrived at 8:35 for the 9:00 meeting. We were devastated to learn that someone had already been by for us 30 minutes before and would come again. We were not aware that Daylight Saving had come to Germany—No one had mentioned the change over to us the day before!

John and Rudi Lehmann

Fortunately Sacrament Meeting was last so we still made it and had the honor to bear our own witness of the blessings of the gospel in our lives and testify of our own knowledge of Christ. The last speaker on the program was President Lehmann’s father, Rudi Lehmann, another of the stalwarts of the Church in this area, who spoke of the light of the gospel and of the Savior, while he himself glowed with that light. What a wonderful blessing it was for us to meet him. Both he and Brother Maschke and his wife, whom we also met, knew my Uncle Joel who had served as mission president in Berlin during the ’60s and my Uncle Burtis before that. What a visit full of wonderful stories we have had.

Headed home to Freiberg

We traveled by train back to Freiberg Sunday afternoon feeling as if we could hold no more but so grateful for the experiences that had made these two days precious to us. May we be found as faithful and exude like determination, light, and joy in our own lives despite challenges that come. We will never forget our visit to Görlitz.

Today is March 25 and our 25th week. We have received word that our mission call has been officially extended with a release date of March 25, 2013. 

Week 24

Swieradow-Zdroj--Cure town

I write this week from Swieradow-Zdroj, Poland, where we arrived yesterday to spend a week at Kurhotel Kwisa II for relaxation and therapy for both of us, though especially to help get John’s legs, hopefully, working a little better. It is quite an experience. One we have heard about for years from German friends (who seem to go on “Kur” one or two times a year, at least) but have never experienced for ourselves.

The Chidesters once again came to our aid with their little blue car and their GPS and drove us here Saturday and dropped us off before heading south to Prague and then on to southern Germany. We are most grateful since Swieradow-Zdroj is tucked away in a mountain region that doesn’t have especially easy access.

This is a most interesting place with its huge hotel mansions and charming old town with salz grottos and Radon therapy centers here and there. Those of you who know Leavenworth, Washington, would find this place similar, but the real thing. It is nestled in a triangular corner just over the border from both Germany and the Czech Republic. I am grateful for John’s German because it is for sure nobody speaks English here! Polish is an impossibly foreign language. Nothing about it sounds like anything else we know.

It is rather interesting to feel in a sense as if we are on a cruise on land—complete with a tour director who promotes side excursions to the surrounding areas (for an extra cost), and with the majority of participants being in the geriatric age group. We had to laugh as we looked around us in the dining room about our having just registered for a vacation in an assisted living facility for a week—laughing mostly that we fit right in. John says it is about like going to Samp Park in Long Beach. Swieradow-Zdorj has a population of 5,000 but has entertained some 12 million visitors last year, most of whom come for at least two weeks. Most of those, I’m sure, are as old or considerably older than we are.

Our Kurhotel--Kwisa 2

Besides going for our interesting treatments each day we are working on our family history. We were delighted to learn that we had Internet connection which we did not plan on so we are able to work on Ancestry.com and New Family Search to our hearts content in between mud packs and massages. We were excited, yesterday to finally pinpoint the little spot in Scotland where John’s second great grandmother, whose birth isn’t in the Old Parochial Registers, was born—Redford Green (or Redfordgreen). Such fun to go hunting.

At the temple this week we have been very, very busy after having some 80+ Hungarians arrive Monday night to spend the week. We love it when they come bringing their enthusiasm and joy to be in the temple. John has been a busy camper, training new workers all week after President Husz set them apart on Tuesday. It is an adventure for him to do so when some of them don’t speak much, if any, English or German. My creating the daily work plan was a challenge as well to determine who could do what and in what language. Planning the veil with its multiple languages was fun too! We loved their being here but were glad that we have two weeks with the temple closed for maintenance so we can recuperate before going at it again.

Thursday morning I was up at 2:30 to call in and listen to our annual meeting at Trevi Tower’s homeowners’ association. I have been serving on the Committee since before we went to China and this year since we have been in Germany. Except for losing a bit of sleep as I listened in, all went smoothly and three of us on the committee were reelected for another two years. We live in an amazing time where it is completely possible to serve as secretary anywhere in the world, tuning into meetings and participating from afar.

Our big event from this week is to announce that our son Patrick and Tessha Thomas were married Saturday—appropriately on St. Patrick’s Day—just after we arrived in Poland. They called us from the airport as they left on their honeymoon to tell us all about their day. We were sorry not to be able to be with them but will look forward to being there for their sealing in the future. For now it was wonderful to talk with them and hear their happy report of their wedding, held in his home with his bishop performing their marriage. Patrick had prepared a brunch for the few who were with them to witness the ceremony. We are grateful for Tessha’s wonderful support to Patrick and to his children and are happy to welcome her to our family. We loved her 10 years ago the first time they were engaged and are happy to have them find one another again and actually get married this time! Marrying your best friend is a happy thing.

We hope your week is full of laughter and love. 

Week 23

Our week was so busy I didn’t get a moment to write about it so will do a quick catch up before this week has flown by completely.

We celebrated two more birthdays among our ranks—one was our matron’s, who with her usual grace, greeted everyone who came to greet her, with cake—at 6:30 in the morning! The second was our next-door missionary neighbor, Linda Meyers, whose door was decorated with a music staff made of balloons.

Linda is a super accompanist.

We had a relatively busy week after the slow, slow weeks over the winter and enjoyed the Czechs, part of the Prague Mission, who came to work in or attend the temple for the week. We love having the temple humming with visitors and workers. This was our warm up for next week’s onslaught of Hungarians. We can’t wait!

Saturday evening we had another of the Huszes' musical evenings, this time held at the church.  It was a last opportunity for us to hear Margaret Larson play violin as she and her husband, Carl, conclude their mission with a celebration next Monday evening.

At the first of the week, on Monday afternoon, we drove with Jim Chidester and Margaret down to the Czech border to visit a violinmaker to see if he would “rent” a violin for a weekend for Margaret to play. At the last of the music evenings she had performed using a student violin and synthetic bow and, though she did well, the instrument left a lot to be desired.

 

Agreeing to rent one—for only 15€—the violinmaker showed us several used violins, which Margaret tested out, having come prepared with music to play. We all decided on one that had a nice tone and had agreed to take it when he brought out a case with a new one he had crafted and handed it to her to try. The difference was stunning in the richness of the tones. John, always good at negotiations, asked if she could rent that one!  He pleasantly agreed and we went away taking with us his 8,000€ violin and 2,000€ bow—still with the same agreement. It was a fun outing to see his workshop and find such a welcoming when we arrived.

Thursday night we were responsible for the missionary FHE so John taught a wonderful lesson on family history and I provided the refreshments. 

FHE with the missionaries

The musical evening was delightful. We especially enjoyed Margaret’s "Meditation from Thaïs" and the cello solo by a young man in our ward. We hurried home so I could prepare my Sunday School class on II Nephi 11-25. Thanks to items my brother, George, had sent and some materials I had, the preparation came together quickly leaving us time to throw some things in a suitcase for our trip with the Larsons to Leipzig on Sunday afternoon to attend a Daniel Rona fireside at the ward building there.

Larsons, as we had, traveled to Israel with Daniel—in fact they went twice. At home Daniel is our home teacher and lives, when he isn’t on the road to Israel, next door to us. It was such fun to see him in Germany and to hear his presentation in Deutsch. He did really well—even I could tell. Steven, his son, who also leads tours, was with him. Steven now lives in Kaufbeuren in Bavaria, where his wife is from.  It was a delightful evening, particularly because we knew so many people attending. A lot had traveled from Freiberg for the event, among them the Huszes, who also, we learned, went on tour with Daniel, just before their call to serve here.

Dozens of those in the audience were folks we knew from the temple—both as workers and patrons. It is always like coming home to be with them.

Christian and Gabby Fischer with John 

After the fireside we connected with Siegfried & Ursula Schmidt (a former member of the temple presidency and one of our sealers) whom John has gotten to know well, and Christian and Gabby Fischer. We had trained them and were in Leipzig partly to see Dr. Fischer to have our teeth cleaned the next morning. Schmidts dropped us at the Fischers for a little Abendbrot and visit about their city, about their ancestry—some 4 generations in the Church in East Germany—before dropping us off at our pension. 

John in the chair with Connie Schmidt's providing good treatment

The next morning, we had wonderful attention at the dental offices, attached to the Fischers' home. Siegfried turns out to be Dr. Fischer’s uncle and the dental hygienist is his daughter-in-law. In fact the whole little community around them belongs to their interconnected families, all members.  After unsuccessfully trying to pay for the services we had received—they would not charge missionaries for the work done—Siegfried came and picked us up for a delightful visit around the highlights of Leipzig.  What wonderful kind people we have gotten acquainted with.

The "Völkerschlacht Denkmal"

We visited Leipzig's impressive monument to the Neapolitan slaughter of the nations, the Nickoli and St. Thomas Church's (where Bach is buried) and to see where the university was where Grandpa Christenson attended (now rebuilt after being destroyed).

Bach's resting place in St Thomas Kirche

After all our adventures, we went to lunch together, and then were escorted to the Bahnhof to catch our train to Freiberg. As we pulled out there was Siegfried waving us off, beaming.

We arrived back in Freiberg, caught a taxi home, and quickly put our week’s wash in before joining everyone for the Larsons' farewell party.   

We have been warmed by a lot of love both given and received this week for which we are most grateful.

We hope you feel ours for you too.

Week 22

Today already marks the first Sunday in March! That comes as no surprise to anyone, but having already begun the third month of 2012 reminds us just how speedily our days slip away into oblivion and how important they are to use well.  We have enjoyed a peaceful Sunday, made more so uncluttered as it was by the morning rush to fix and eat breakfast. The opportunity to fast, and feed only the spirit is a gift in and of itself.

Our English SS class focused on the Atonement, reminding us of the most important blessing we each have—to look to the Savior and live.

From II Nep 9:50-52 come these wonderful verses:

50. Come, my brethren, every one that ^athirsteth, come ye to the ^bwaters; and he that hath no ^cmoney, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

 51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your ^alabor for that which cannot ^bsatisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and ^cfeast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

 52 Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give ^athanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts ^brejoice.

Whatever we face in life is made better because we “have been bought with a price” by Him “who is mighty to save.” We do indeed have reason to pray continually, give thanks, and rejoice!

Today in our Fast and Testimony meeting I felt that familiar spiritual nudge to stand up and bear witness of Him. Grateful to recognize that prompting from the Spirit despite my inability to do so in German, I did so in English and felt at peace for responding to its urging.

The very best part of the meeting was a glimpse of goodness in action for which I longed to have a camera with me (with permission to use it) to capture one of our young Aaronic priesthood boys, helping a stocky, blind man, shorter than his slender young guide, lead him, tapping with his white cane, down the aisle, up the stairs, and to the pulpit, so he could bear his fervent testimony, before the boy himself did so. It was a picture of such accommodation and love that the image, though not recorded digitally, was captured in my heart.  We have watched this boy and others many times perform their priesthood duties with dignity and reverence (in their strong Sachsen accents). With youth of such gentle goodness growing up in the church today, I feel great peace regarding its future in East Germany.

Whatever we face in life is made better because we “have been bought with a price” by Him “who is mighty to save.” We do indeed have reason to pray continually, give thanks, and rejoice!

Shopping expeditions

Our weather here is still cold but the snows have gone—at least for now—and there is just the slightest hint that spring is out there somewhere. I have been able to go shopping on my bike again, such a help to my getting around. It serves the double purpose of giving me transportation and limiting the amount I buy to what fits in my big Chinese purse and my bike basket. It works.

We are working through finding a better way to further streamline our family history project. It is so much bigger than we are but such a marvelous thing to be engaged in. We know that we will be led along, though we don’t always know exactly what path to take. It is an unfolding process.

This week was made special with our being able to participate in a sealing session Saturday afternoon to have the last two of their 9 children sealed to Daniel Easton and Elizabeth Laing (the youngest daughter of John’s 3^rd GG parents and sister to the little Euphemia we had just found word of)—John had just finished the last of the endowments.  We love putting families together—it is the crowning touch to our efforts. We don’t do a lot of family temple work but each card is more than just a name for us.

The one other card we did of ours on that sealing session was for Catherine Laing, the eldest daughter of William and Julia Ingles Laing. We didn’t know of her existence, thinking that her younger brother John was the eldest, until we found her as a 3 year old in the 1861 Canadian census. With the help of John’s cousin we discovered in family records that she had died of an accidental head wound. We were thrilled to be able to have her sealed to her parents. 

Reenactment of the Last Indian Raid--1931

Theirs is a sad history: after losing Catherine they left Ontario for Nebraska, one of three Laing brothers who did so, among them John’s 2^nd GG father, Charles Grierson Laing.  Later William and Julia went to homestead in Kansas where, in what is referred to as “The Last Indian Raid” William and his three boys, aged 17, 16, and 14 were massacred and Julia and the girls were brutalized before finally being freed by Chief Dull Knife.

Monument to the victims in the Last Indian Raid, Kansas

We are delighted that Gary Laing, John’s cousin, has joined us by now taking on the project to research this part of our family’s history and then write a brief story about William and Julia, before,
during, and after their migration to Nebraska. We have forwarded to him masses of information John received from his Ontario cousin and look forward to Gary’s part in pulling this story together for the benefit of the whole extended Laing family.

We talk of family history as putting “meat on the bones” of just dates and places. It is what makes history come alive. John likens this process to a miniature of Alex Haley’s research to learn his family’s history. The result for him was Roots where he, and we, came to know his slave ancestor, Kunte Kinte. We have also always loved Joseph Fielding Smith’s statement that even if all the temple work is complete for our ancestors, we have the responsibility (and opportunity) to come to know our forbearers.

Laing headstones

This week we focused on seeking a confirmation to know whether or not to extend our mission. We have seen obstacle after obstacle to our not doing so removed and finally made the decision to extend for 6 months—a compromise between the extra year the president suggested and the 12 months of our original call. This puts us home in early April, 13 months from now. We will miss being with family but feel the opportunity to serve here is a precious one that won’t come our way again.

We had a delightful visit over SKYPE with Steve and Corinne Sorenson, in Moscow, who had just returned from a mission presidents’ seminar in Istanbul, Turkey where amazingly missionary work is just beginning. Not since Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, had the opportunity to hear the gospel preached. Most of the people are Muslim but the country does guarantee freedom of religion (thought the Christian elders are having a time of it, trying to find someone who will rent to them).  Despite the many challenges in the world, as Satan rages in the hearts of men, the Church goes forward. How grateful we are to be part of it, even in a tiny way.

We were happy to hear from Patrick and Tessha that they were enjoying a wonderful weekend—this one without his children—though they did attend Madeline’s Beauty and the Beast junior high school play. Hard to believe she is growing up so!

Patrick and Tessha

Madeline is growing up beautiful

Patrick and Tessha met up for breakfast with Patrick taking a turn cooking yummy steak leftover fritata and cinnamon rolls, before going to a nearby beauty-school spa where she enjoyed a $10 facial and he got a $5 haircut. Saturday night was spent at dance party at the Arthur Murray dance school they attend—Tessha had given him lessons for Valentine’s. They are having fun and planning out their life together. 

May your week be full of happiness too.