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.