Week 34

Our week began with a Monday missionary outing with a walking tour of Freiberg.  One of our sealers at the temple is Gottfried Schmidt, whose family has lived in Freiberg and surrounds since the 1300s. He loves this little Stadt and knows a lot about it that was wonderful for us to learn.

Freiberg tour with Bruder Schmidt 

He told us that Freiberg—free mountain—founded in 1186, was overseen for centuries by unusual aristocrats who owned the area's rich resources. Silver was found early on and rather than hoarding its rights, they opened it to any and all willing to dig for it. The town developed around a principle of cooperation and everyone worked together to help build a wonderful place to live—and there were “no poor among them.” Given that background it seems a fitting place for a temple of the Lord to have been built. 

Lunch at Stadt Wirtschaft Restaurant

We met in town before the tour and enjoyed lunch together at a wonderful old restaurant then met at one of the towers, still standing, in the old wall, only a part of which is still there. We love this little town with its clean streets and window boxes and flowers. 

Clean Freiberg with its flower boxes

John and I only joined for the first part of the tour—his energy and walking ability is pretty limited, so we got only a taste before turning towards home. We were most grateful when we were only two blocks into a long walk up Hainichener Strasse when Jim Chidester’s little blue car pulled up along side us offering us a much needed ride home.  We are grateful to be able to participate here and there though mostly we just conserve energy for our work in the temple.

Our work at the temple continues to bring us joy—as one of our elderly brothers, Bruder Müller says, “Ich bin immer Gesund wenn ich im Tempel bin.” (I am always healthy when I am in the temple). John echoes his view. Mornings are tough for him to get up but by the time we are dressed and headed into the tunnel he sets aside how he feels, focuses on the work at hand, and does feel better than any other time of his day. I think he is enormously courageous to be here serving given the way he feels and with his struggles with mobility.

Saturday we enjoyed some large groups of Czech youth who came for baptisms so things were hummin’. The rest of the week we also had a baptism every day, put together for just one young man who was baptized three weeks ago and who had traveled from Vienna to Freiberg to spend the week in the temple.  He arrived first thing each morning to participate in a baptismal session which required two workers as witnesses, one baptizer, and two others to record and confirm. Five brethren were there to help one young man have a wonderful experience each day.  The rest of the day he spent his time in the waiting room off the front entrance reading the scriptures, leaving only when the temple closed after the third session every day. On Friday night he came back, just to sit, feel the Spirit, and be in the temple (waiting room). Tomorrow he is going to Frankfurt to see that temple and to spend another week before heading home.  What a nice way to begin your new life as a member of the Church.  

Schw "Blue hair" Harzt

Sunday, one of our ward members, Schwester Harzt, invited us to join her and her non-member husband for dinner. We had a lovely time sitting in their garden before enjoying a nice dinner. John said the experience reminded him a lot of being on his mission.  Schw Harzt is a charming lady who is a very pretty but rather unique in having blue hair—not a bluish grey, but actual blue! 

Relaxing on a Sunday afternoon

Brent would have loved this yard with its gardens and trees. We enjoyed sitting and relaxing while our hosts fixed dinner.

Sister Harzt is a fun person who was born in the Church in about 1938, was sealed to her parents in the Swiss temple before the wall went up, and is very musical. Her father was a counselor to Henry Burkhardt, the first temple president in Freiberg.  She married her husband hoping he would accept the gospel. They have everything in common and are very happy, except for the fact that he has “keinen Glauben” (no belief). My heart goes out to her. Hopefully some day his heart will be touched with a desire for more.

Dinner and conversation

We are enjoying these lovely spring days with a hint of coolness in the air, beautiful billowy white clouds in the blue, blue sky. We received some pictures from John’s brother Mark from Cody Wyoming where they had just had snow! And were doubly grateful to be here.

May snow in Cody, Wyoming!

Hope you are happy wherever you are in your little corner of the world.

Week 33

Another week has zoomed by. I am boringly repetitious in saying so, but it has. Our service in the temple continues to bring us joy even though each day is a little difficult to get our stiff bones up and moving. I am amazed at John’s ongoing, day-in-and-day-out courage to get out of bed. It isn’t easy but he does it and I am reminded that “we can do hard things!”

John was busy training a brother, here with his wife, for several days from Leipzig, recently called as ordinance workers. Brother Ortlieb really appreciated John’s style of training—as others have, since he really encourages and builds those he trains. I’m sure he thinks often of the new worker who told him that the first time he was called to serve in the temple, he came once and was told so many times that he had done this wrong and that wrong that he went home and wept . . . and didn’t come back to serve for nearly 20 years. That kind of criticism would never happen on John’s watch. Instead people return home feeling as if they had really succeeded—maybe they weren’t perfect but they learned what was necessary and did so with joy. I think he is pretty awesome.

1985 Freiberg Temple

Thursday evening we enjoyed a FHE with our missionary group. This time Rolf Metzner, now 1st counselor to Pres. Husz, spoke to us about his experience as the architect for the renovation of our temple in 2002, resulting in the adding on of the baptistry as we now know it, the moving of the tower and the adding of the angel Moroni, the building of the underground tunnel, temple housing, and the president's apartment. It was interesting to hear and see the photos and drawings he showed--and I forgot my camera! Darn.

Our temple, when no large groups are here from Hungary or somewhere else, often could be a lot busier, but Friday that was not the case. The morning session was full but the second session, for which John was responsible for overseeing, was the largest session this temple has ever had—65 patrons attended in the endowment room which has seating for 48. Every available chair was brought in to fill every available corner. It was likely that every fire code in the country was bent on that one, but it was exciting to be part of it. Many who attended were young single adults who were also attending a YSA conference in our meeting house. The baptistry was also full to capacity so things were hummin'! We enjoyed it enormously. . . except for John’s having hauled chairs, which is a no no for him!

Kymora Joslin Perry--One year old!

Saturday was a bright spot in our week as we celebrated from afar, our little Kymora’s first birthday. She was born May 19 while we were still in China, and now is walking and talking—as precious as they come. We did get to actually see her while we were home between China and Germany but that was not enough. Her Opa is absolutely smitten with her big eyes. We look forward to talking with Chi and David every other week and being amazed at Chi’s managing all those cute little people at her house—usually all simultaneously on her lap while we chat on SKYPE.

Part of the Perryposse--no more room on this lap!

Patrick just returned home from his Fathers and Sons outing with his three boys. Patrick said of their outing, "We camped, cooked s'mores, slept in the tent, caught sand crabs and collected shells, played frisbee, played capture the flag, played on the sand dunes, ate Tillamook ice-cream, saw a light house, drove up the coast, ate beef jerky . . . and caught 25 TROUT!"

Patrick and his boys at their Fathers and Sons Outing

They all look like they had a super time, as they always do with their dad! He looks pretty happy too. He loves his boys . . . and his girls, and his wife. We love them all!

Today in our ward we had the privilege of hearing from the young men leaders—deacons, teachers quorum presidents, and priests quorum assistant, and three others who spoke with power, commitment, and faith. I didn’t understand much of what they said in their strong Sachsen accented Deutsch, but the Spirit with which they spoke was palpable. It was one time I longed to be able to capture a picture during church. Every one of them was clean and shining, with suits, ties, and crisp white shirts. They and their adult leaders had just come back from an overnight camp and had won some top honors both in sports events and in quizzes on gospel topics. Other people around their activity asked the YM president with them, "Who are these boys? What group is this that has such amazing young men?"

We think that the Church is going to be in great hands in the years ahead after they have served missions and taken on leadership roles they are surely destined to hold. The 12-year-old deacons quorum president, a good 18” shorter than the other Aaronic priesthood leaders stood tall (for him) with his hair all askew, and said it all when he spoke with courage, giving a talk an adult would have been proud to have given about the responsibility and honor that was his to set an example to those around not only in his quorum but also at his school or wherever he might be. It was hard, he said, but important for a deacons quorum president to speak up when friends said or did things that were not right. Good for him! What a power he will be in the years ahead.

John spoke today with a young professor from Guangzhou, China, teaching at Freiberg’s university, who has committed to being baptized in weeks ahead. The sister missionaries have been teaching him, in English, since he speaks little German. What an amazing gospel we are part of with its variety of peoples and languages, each one of which comes to hear that familiar ring of truth. We are so grateful to have a small part in it.

Our one non-temple, non-church activity for the week was to watch another good movie we had downloaded from iTunes. War Horse is one we can recommend as a powerful story, based on real events during WWI. I understand from my brother George that it is also a book and a London and Broadway play, though how it can successfully be the latter is beyond me.  Of the three media, however, he says the play was his favorite. In any event, the movie is worth seeing.

Have a wonderful week. We plan to.

Week 32

Our current favorite photo of our temple

Well, I spoke too soon about spring having arrived! We have had cold temperatures and wind the last couple of days and, after going to the market on my bike, pedaling against a headwind, I wished I’d thought to wear my down winter coat! Oh well, I imagine it will be only a short-term setback, but who knows? Life is good whatever the weather offers. (Sister Husz told me today that in May there are always exactly four cold days, so I suppose we have just experienced two of them.)

The big event for this week was John’s dad, Charles William (Bill) Laing’s turning 96 on May 11. What a milestone! We were happy to have been able to talk with him to tell him we love him and are grateful for his example to all of us of enduring well.

Pop Laing turns 96!

Today is Mother’s Day and we are grateful for all the mothers in our family. Our daughter and the wives of our sons bring us great joy for their goodness and commitment to their husbands and children.  We are also grateful for our own mothers. Mine, busy in the spirit world and John’s in the waning days of her mortal experience, though several years younger than Pop Laing. We keep thinking he can’t possibly hold out any longer but still he endures his cancer. He has lost so much weight he is a shadow of himself.

He just can’t bear the thoughts of leaving without her, we figure.  

Last week Sunday came and went without my even thinking about our blog, let alone writing in it. We had a busy, busy day after our meetings after a busy week where John frequently being involved in teaching a new worker who decided that he would come without notice to begin training. No complaints—that’s what we are here for and John does a great job at it.

We have really enjoyed our family’s having shared pictures of events in their lives and since we have been no where lately and have not seen anything for these two weeks, we will let their pictures serve for our purposes today too.

David’s graduation with his MBA with his commencement was a wonderful milestone in their family and we are as pleased as we can be with their achievements. Bravo David and Chi!

Hurrah for David--Commencement Day!

Adam had a life-changing experience in going to India with his work and came home really desiring to make a difference in that huge country of burgeoning growth and overwhelming poverty. It is so interesting to have him retracing ground his dad traveled 25 years ago. We were glad that he did make it to see the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Hotel guard.

Adam's picture of the Taj Mahal. How lovely

Their family has also been acting in a community commercial for Cache Valley Hospital. It was fun to see the first video cut he emailed to us. It showed Kimmy in the hospital with the family grouped around her in great concern. Adam said they had to shoot and re-shoot because they kept laughing through the process. We thought Kiki was the star performer as she held her mom’s hand and patted her compassionately. It was fun for us to see.

Fishing with Dad is the best!

This week Patrick took his boys fishing and then went to give a 95-year-old client of his a hand building a brick walkway. He told Patrick that he had been working on it for 6 months with very little progress, Patrick volunteered to bring his boys by to give him a hand. They spent part of their Saturday finishing the job for a grateful elderly man, who, by the by, had been named the healthiest 90+-year-old in Oregon. Good for him, and good for Patrick for his kindness.  

Making a difference in the life of a 95-year-old

Good will project completed

Saturday we kicked back a little and watched a movie from ITunes that we enjoyed. It is a true story called The Greatest Game Ever Played. It is always nice to see something that is uplifting with no garbage in it. It was a good one to watch close to Pop's birthday since he loved to play golf and up until a couple of years ago went with his sons golfing each year to celebrate his birthday. We especially enjoyed the 10-year-old caddy, Eddie, who reminded us of our Kaimani.

Today John played the organ in our Sacrament meeting and then went to substitute for part of Primary while the sisters sang in Relief Society, part of a special lesson on the temple. He always enjoys playing for Primary but has had few opportunities in recent years.

Our program at church was full of Primary and youth numbers—how do all those little kids speak such great Deutsch? Ah me!    

This afternoon we drove with Pres. and Sister Husz to Chemnitz to see a special Russian Realism Art Exhibit at the museum there. It was nice to ride down with them. We were all struck by the hard, hard lives so many live as were depicted in the art we saw. We came away feeling very blessed to live in this day and age, though, of course, it too comes with its hardships.  

May your week be full of fun and uplift.