Week 37

This week has been a very big one for us for multiple reasons so I was unable to write until today—Tuesday, 19 June! No way was Sunday possible. Can it really be mid-way through June already?

It has been wonderful to be past our flu and colds and feeling a little more “normal”—though normal is definitely a relative term these days. I suppose it is a good thing to get really sick for a bit and thereby feel really grateful for doing better.   

Nearly done with our projects!

John and I have worked long hours during and after our shifts at the temple to complete projects for the president and matron. Last night we put nearly the finishing touches on months of work and did the final printing and collating. It has been a combined effort with John’s incredible organizational vision and meticulous attention to detail, Bruce Harper’s editorial skills, our Giesela Metzner’s translations into really wonderful German, and my initial drafting, leg work, and follow through. There are a few small remaining items but the bulk is completed and delivered this morning.

Look how far Romania is from where we are in Northern Germany!

This week we saw our first visit of the Romanian saints. Formerly they had been  assigned to the Kiev temple. They traveled for more than 17-19 hours to get here (formerly it took them 30 hours to Kiev--but they went!) and then last night five of them—one couple and three single sisters were set apart as ordinance workers in our temple. John began training Br. Geambasu this morning—who fortunately speaks good English, while the assistants and matron worked with the sisters! It is a wonderful thing to help them in any way we can.

Saturday we welcomed our friends, the Primases, here from Munich. They arrived in good time for the last Saturday session and are staying until Friday to enjoy a week in our temple. It has been fun to get together with them for dinner and long visits about old times. Our first stop was to go to Kaufland--we rarely get there because you need a car so it was a treat for us.

Shopping at Kaufland!

Antje brought her scrapbook from their combined South German mission years and it was fun to see John as a 19-20 year old missionary—that Antje assures me was a bit of a rebel! That doesn’t sound like John to me! But who knows. Funny memories for them both to remember.  Norbert also knew 

John, very unlike a missionary, goofing off in Germany 1964

Sister Antje Koschmieder (now Primas)

Norbert & Antje 

John at the time since he was a construction missionary working on one of the buildings where John spent his P-Days. Antje can’t help but shower us with German goodies—we call her Mrs. Santa Claus—at any time of the year. They brought us my favorite wurst—only made in Munich—fresh peppermint tea, and on and on. We are so happy to think of being able to leave them all our 220-volt electrical appliances and other items we have purchased here that we won’t take home.

Speaking of which, we had, you may remember, requested a six-month our mission until next March but in the last couple of months John feels like his mobility and general health has seriously declined so we have spoken with the President today about shortening that extension, projecting a return before the end of this year. Though it is sad not to be able to complete what we had anticipated we know that all things are in the Lord’s hands and we will leave the future to Him and meanwhile enjoy our remaining months here and do our best to serve as well as we can for as long as we can.

Arriving at the hard-to-find Meissen Branch building

Sunday we had a nice experience, quite different from what we expected.  This coming weekend the Dresden stake has a temple weekend and the numbers for the youth baptisms we were getting were a bit puzzling so Pres. and Sis Husz asked John and me to come with them to Meissen to meet with the priesthood advisor over Aaronic priesthood, who had charge of the baptismal groups.

We thought we were just going up to the 7:30 am meeting and then would shoot home for part of our own meeting block, but we ended up staying for the whole block in the Meissen branch and thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday School, taught by an English fellow who is married to a Meissen girl as well as the Young Women sacrament meeting program.

Beautiful Meissen near the Karl G Maesar house with Pres and Sis Husz

 When we finished the meetings, President Husz arranged to have Br. Ortlieb take us to see where Karl G. Maeser was born. I thought the house was absolutely charming. It was beautifully kept with its lace curtains and well-kempt yard.

Karl G Maeser House

Afterwards take us to see where President Thomas S. Monson dedicated East Germany for the preaching of the gospel. It was a place we hadn’t hoped to get to, since it is rather remote. The location is stunning, just at the base of a huge picturesque water tower located in a sacred-grove-like setting overlooking the Elbe just at the juncture between Meissen and Dresden. 

Peaceful site of dedicatory prayer.

Even better to hear the prayer read on site

Plaque on wall re the Church

While there, Pres. Husz read us the journal account and remarkable dedicatory prayer that President Monson pronounced on that ground in 1975. What a wonderful thing to have been privileged to see and hear. The walk into the area taxed John’s energies to the limit but we both felt it was well worth the effort and we were grateful for the umbrella that provided a convenient walking stick for him to lean on.

The only downside to the day was that we were to have Primases to dinner right after our morning meeting block, having assured them we were just zipping up and back for the meeting, not knowing ourselves what our day would consist of. Having no way to phone them and let them know what was happening, we just had to hope they would go ahead an have a bite to eat and we would get together in the evening.

We finally got home about 2:30 pm and had Antje at the door worried that we had had an accident or something. All was well, John crashed for a long nap while I fixed dinner and we could continue our delayed plan for the day.

Monday while Primases went to Leipzig to see friends and visit our mutual dentist, John and I finished our printing and collating project. When they returned we went to dinner together at a fun Freiberg restaurant then came home to crawl gratefully into bed!

Dinner with Primases

We are thankful for the Lord’s multitudinous kindnesses to us in so many ways. We are content to put our trust in him for whatever he has in store for us in months ahead. May you have a wonderful week.