Week 56--On the way home

Monday I woke up early to do our laundry, finish the last packing and weighing of a last box to ship home (with the temple clothing we are keeping and everything else we aren’t giving away or which can’t fit into our one roller duffle bag), finalize the packing of our hand luggage, and clean our apartment.

A 10:30 Antje and Norbert came and helped us haul our box to the post office—I was so relieved that it was a ½ kilo under the maximum so I didn’t have to open the box this time! We came home and I continued my to do list while John got off the last of our farewell letters emailed to friends and ordinance workers all over the temple district, most of whom we will not see again this side of the veil. We want them to know how much we have loved coming to know them.

Antje and Norbert fixed us all lunch in the kitchen downstairs and in the evening John and I finished the remaining left overs from our little fridge but for a few items for our granola breakfast Tuesday. Our apartment is looking very empty now our big box is gone and the massage table has taken up residence across the hall at Suckows’, until Brother Hauck comes from Hungary to pick it up. Our clothes are laid out for the temple in the morning to be worn and then given away. The only thing remaining is the last trip to the recycle and rubbish bins in the morning and to load the car after we finish at the temple. Every thing I do seems so final. I guess because it is.

Tuesday morning we got up early and called Paul Millard who will do our bathroom remodel to fix our master bath so it is safer for John when we get home, before we got ready for the temple. We dressed in our whites for the last time here--another last!

We arrived in good time for preparation meeting. As I entered the room Sis Husz whispered that she had a present for me and took me to her office and there gave me a package with a beautiful red-toned, scarf she had designed and hand painted for me. I was touched by its beauty and the love and effort it represented.

It was a busy morning in the temple. We had a group of 20 Romanian Saints here bringing with them eight new endowments. John, in his last official act as trainer, quickly give Br. Geambasu, our one Romanian brother ordinance worker, a last-minute update—he was to lead the second session, before leading the first session with me as his follower. We had a good-sized session, full of marvelous familiar faces in the room. I loved concluding our assignment here by presenting—for what will likely be the last time—at the veil in Deutsch. How I will miss that. The thought brought tears.

When we finished we began making our way toward the president’s office to meet with him for our release. It was a slow process with workers and patrons alike, wanting to hug and kiss us, wish us well, and tell us we will be missed. Pres. Husz was so patient as he waited for us, telling me at my concern for making him wait that leaving can’t be rushed.

Their he spoke with us about D&C 76:5-6 asking us to read the verses (handing me an English bible: We read 5 For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am ^amerciful and gracious unto those who ^bfear me, and delight to honor those who ^cserve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end.  6 Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their ^aglory. He counseled us to read the whole section viewing it as a “pre-endowment” section with this marvelous promise at the beginning.

Sunday in my talk I had spoken about Mary and Martha and of my being a Martha who needed to better learn to choose the “better part.” He said rather than focusing on Mary or Martha he would turn my thoughts to Emma and after speaking to the theme of her being commanded in her dual tasks asked me turn to D&C 25 and read the last verse, assuring me that what pertained to Emma pertained also to me: 16 And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my ^avoice unto all. Amen.

We spoke longer of things that meant a great deal to us in his pleasure in the work we have done on our mission and of his appreciation for both of us. It was a very sweet time for all three of us. Then he officially told us that we were released as ordinance workers in the Freiberg Germany temple but that it would be our stake president who would release us as missionaries—we were aware that would be the case and had already been in email communication with Pres. Fitts at home. 

We left, again working our way through those who wanted to bide us farewell and finally walked through the tunnel back to our empty apartment, changed our clothes, hanging them on the doors of those to whom they were being given, hauled our suitcase, with Norbert’s help, to his car and drove away from Freiberg, heading for Munich.

Antje, of course, had packed us sandwiches—it is her compelling need to feed us!—and John ate them while I ate our left over cheese, ham, and crackers, accompanied by carrot and celery sticks, and apple quarters to finish the last things from our little fridge. How satisfying to have left everything cleaned out and clean, turned in our keys and paid Br. Maschke 2 Euros in case there were phone calls we owed for.

As usual we get their room. Dear souls!

We arrived in München at 4:30 in the afternoon, Norbert being the intrepid driver he is, driving straight through but for WC stops along the way. It was good to get there and get out of the car. Since they live on the 3^rd floor up with no elevator it was a job to haul everything up but once there it was so nice to have a day to relax and reorganize our bags. We had hoped to have only one bag to check and carry everything else in hand luggage but Vueling weighs everything—checked and hand bags and we were 1 kilo over. Primases to the rescue: Antje pulled out a lightweight bag and we put everything heavy in it and redistributed so that now we have two bags to check (which are free) but our hand luggage is under the 10 kilos allowed. That will at least get us to Barcelona.

2nd hand and more. Fun outing.

Wednesday we enjoyed a fun day with Norbert and Antje with a visit to her Second Hand and More store, with its fun Bayern dirndels, leather jackets, and other items that were fun to see, but not to buy; rode the U-Bahn, walked in the famous downtown Marienplatz (where we saw a marvelous mime), ate a currywurst—our first—and came home for a good nap before leaving for dinner at a Mongolian grill restaurant for our (as Norbert put it) “hangman’s meal.” We came home and got ready for morning and our leaving again, really on our way tomorrow morning early.

Spiffy Bayern duds--but too much $ for what would feel like a costume at home

Dinner at the Mongolian Grill--our Hangman's meal

Hard to say goodbye to dear friends--likely for the last time.

Thursday morning we got up early, ate a little granola and yogurt and loaded all our stuff in Norbert’s VW and headed out to the Munich airport. As is our usual pattern, we left early so that there would be no stress or worry. After a few mis- turns and stops at Terminal 2 we finally arrived at Terminal 1 and unloaded all our gear. Norbert and Antje wanted to come with us to see us off, but we told them that an airport isn’t like a train station where they can come to the train, see that we are comfortable, before waving us off with her white hanky. Dear, dear souls, both. (Antje has flown only once—under duress and with great angst—after Norbert booked and paid for a tour to Israel with Daniel Rona for them both. He has gone twice to Israel and once on a church history tour in America. It has been wonderful to be with them—probably for the last time in our lifetime.

A choice era has ended in our lives. Ahead of us now is our slow return home and the formal end of our mission experience together. How blessed we have been and how grateful we are.

We arrived in Barcelona in just under 2 hours, glad not to be flying for 10 hours home in these seats with no knee room. Airplanes now are adapted to cram in as many people as possible by fitting in extra rows of seats but for the forward rows that require one to purchase seats if comfort is desired. Gone too, apparently, are the days of passing out free drinks or even peanuts—at least with Vueling. But the flight went well and we arrived safely, collected our luggage—all 40 Kilos of it, ugh!—and headed to the taxi stand.

On the plane for Spain

Our funny little Spanish hotel, Hotel Lloret was right in the heart of the middle of town on La Rambla and brought back memories of the Red Wall in China. We far prefer a place that is part of the locale. This one was. Tiny room with a tiny balcony and the busy sounds of Barcelona out our window. The air is fresh and cool, humid, but pleasant.

After (happily) dumping our stuff off we went out to find a late lunch and found ourselves a bit adrift in struggling to read menus in Spanish. We managed to eat and then go wander down La Rambla, planning to walk down to the pier but found the narrow walking-only allies off the main drag absolutely delightful with their quaint shops, restaurants, and wonderful old architecture. Following our map we found the old Basilica where there would be a flamenco guitar concert at night but, knowing we wouldn’t have energy for a 9:00 pm concert we bought a CD to listen to at our leisure.

Amazing. Lace-like stone

One of our favorite discoveries was the Gothic cathedral built in the 1300s. It was amazing with its lace-like towers and stone, rose windows. We returned back to our hotel, stopping to buy some crusty rolls, cheese, and fruit for our dinner, neither of us wanting to go back out at night. Though it has only been a tiny taste of Barcelona, it has been delicious to our visual pallets.

We boarded the Ryndham at 11:30 on Friday after a rather expensive taxi trip to the pier. Everything went really well with getting right into our room (moved up from the 5^th to the 9^th floor). We ate a little lunch and then our bags arrived and we were able to unpack for a couple of weeks. How nice that is.

The ship is far smaller than others we have been on, holding only 1200 passengers and we like the feel of it very much. The clientele is older, though there are some families with children, but the pace is unhurried, and uncrowded. Just right for our taste.

I have been working daily on my blog book of our year in Freiberg. It takes a lot of time to handle the pictures and reedit the text but it will be wonderful to get it done along our way. I’m sure when I get home I would find it difficult to devote the time necessary to do it.

Saturday was a quiet day at sea. The skies were grey with billowy clouds and a touch of sun breaking through a bit here and there.  We enjoyed the meals; we are asking for ½ portions, and they are most accommodating. We did try the hot tubs (which aren’t crowded), the fitness room (which is gratis), and walked the deck (a wonderful way to breathe the sea air and enjoy just being together).

Not as warm as Trevi's --we look forward to it!

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast delivered to our room, wanting to have the Sabbath different than every other day. After scriptures and breakfast we did go into Málaga by bus to quietly walk the inner city and enjoyed seeing the old fortress, the cathedral that had its bells pealing just as we walked up to it. We entered and enjoyed a little of the service that was going on, particularly the organ and choir. We also saw the Picasso museum along our way.

I brought my computer with me and we stopped and used a restaurant’s wifi to ship off emails, after ordering a fruit smoothie to share. This is a wonderful approach to have occasional contact, rather than the ship’s pricey Internet for $.75 a minute.

Intrepid--with sticks!

It was nice to return to the ship and get warm—the wind was blowing and we were glad for our jackets. We ate lunch and then put in an order for dinner to be delivered again to our room to enjoy after our listening to a session of conference for our church today. It is the best we can do for Church today, but it is pretty wonderful really.

We are grateful to be on our way, heading home.