Week 58--This chapter closes

Elder and Sister Clasen with Susan and John Cobb

After a wonderful breakfast and visit with the Cobbs, our friends and former missionaries in the Salt Lake 2^nd Branch, Larry and Barb Clasen, drove down from Baltimore to go with us to lunch at China Gourmet before driving us by Brookside apartments to try to find a friend of ours, now serving at the temple.

  

Dinner at China Gourmet--good food and good friends.

Twila Halbom is from Bucks County, where for many years she worked—actually ran—the family history center. She kindly opened her home to me when I went there to do research on John’s 2^nd great-grandfather’s book I was writing. She is now 81 and still truckin’ after losing her husband a number of years ago.

Joh, Twila Halbom, Sue

 As we pulled into the parking lot I asked a missionary where Twila’s apartment was then ran up to knock on her door. Meanwhile, with Clasens’ Washington state license plates, they and John were being mobbed by missionaries coming out to welcome them and move them in! It was pretty funny but certainly a glimpse into what a wonderful community of friendly, serving people anyone who shows up would find. Twila joined us in the parking lot to give John a hug and together we visited with the multiple missionary couples who had come to move the Clasens in.

Carlsons with John. Missionaries gathering behind.

Among them were the Carlsons, who, when they learned we were returning from a mission in the Freiberg Temple, asked if we knew the Huszes. Sis. Carlson is the sister of Elder Spencer J. Condie with whom Pres. Husz had served in various capacities; the Carlsons had stayed in their home in Deutsch Wagrum just a week or so before Pres. and Sis. Husz left there in November 2011 to take up their new assignment in our temple. What a small world the Church is!

Washington DC Temple--a reminder of an earlier era.

We bade farewell to all our old, and new, friends and drove with Clasens up to see the temple before driving over to Bethesda and NIH. Going through security was a first for Clasens and we had intended just being dropped off at the gate. They insisted on driving us right to Saffra Lodge so we could continue our visiting and so we wouldn’t need to walk. We admired Clasens’ wonderful friendliness to all the security folks, and everyone else we encountered while with them. They exude joy in the gospel and have love for everyone. We love them for it and their kindness to us.

They are a remarkable couple who joined the Church a few years back and determined that they would “tithe” their lives with missions. Barbara arrives at that achievement this month and Larry, who is a little older, in January. What a great idea!

We enjoyed showing Clasens the beauty of the lodge and then visited for a couple of hours in our room before they left to return to their mission responsibilities.

Leaving all our gear in our room we walked down to the gate to wait for Izumi and Tom Tamanaha to arrive to pick us up for our annual dinner together when we come to NIH. It is always a delight to be able to get caught up a bit and enjoy a good Asian dinner together.

John and Sue with Tom and Izumi Tamanha

Izumi is amazing in her determination to savor every day. She talks of her life as being chapters in a book, many of which have now closed. The current chapter is music! For the last ten years she has been studying a Japanese instrument called Koto. She is performing now, semi professionally, with her teacher. Izumi is a woman who since before she was a young mother has been nearly blind due to macular degeneration but who is a mother of six, holds a black belt in Karate, used to run 6-10 miles a day, then before her husband had a series of strokes that disabled him was prompted to study and become a massage therapist (I often served happily as her guinea pig while she trained). After graduating, she secured a wonderful position at the very posh Oriental Hotel in the district; she has also faced great financial difficulty, which she has shouldered cheerfully, saying she now has only 3½ years more to climb out of that hole—these are all chapters that she has completed in her life. Her determination to find joy in the face of hardship humbles me.

We returned to beautiful Safra Lodge and our room and climbed into bed, grateful for the blessing of so many wonderful friends who have enriched our lives with their goodness. Tomorrow we begin what we came here to do—John’s medical appointments at NIH. 

John getting blood work and other labs

Tuesday morning we made our usual rounds at phlebotomy for blood work and labs before heading to Clinic 11 for our appointment with Dr. Bennett, John’s doctor whom he has seen at least once a year since 1996. He wrote John’s protocol and has directed everything done for him during the years since. He is an important part of the miracles of our life, which are many.

Dr Bennett given John the work over!

Dr. Bennett, following his own careful exam, arranged for John to see a neurologist, who happened to be a young woman from around Stuttgart, Germany. The conclusion both came to is that John’s mobility problems likely originate from his syrinx, which they feel has not “disappeared” but which may be filling again despite the shunting done in 2009. All the symptoms seem to point to that and we will need to see John’s neurosurgeon in Salt Lake when we get home to see what, if anything, he recommends doing.  The good thing for John is just having some kind of an explanation to what he is going through. Somehow this new information is helpful.

John with the neurologist and her student.

Dr. Bennett was very pleased that we have made such an effort to walk every day and told John that without this effort he would be in a wheelchair—so told him to keep at it.  We intend to. In fact one of the recommendations is that we have him see a physical therapist to give him some gait direction and to assess what is best for him to use—his trusty Nordic sticks, a cane, or something different.

Dinner with Ed and Lois Scholz

When we finished we walked out to the gate again to meet Ed and Lois Scholz, our former temple president and matron at DC, with whom we have enjoyed an ongoing friendship since the time John retired. We visited with them over a yummy dinner at their favorite deli before they drove us back to Safra—braving security as Clasens had done. Though Ed’s Pentagon and military ID didn’t keep him from having to go through the usual checks, his car didn’t have to be searched as others do.

When we got back to the room John phoned Karoll Cortez, who wanted to come visit us while we were in DC.  In 1996, when John first came to NIH, Karoll was Dr. Bennett’s research fellow. We became fast friends and were there at her daughter’s 1^st birthday party. Sita came with Karoll to see us (she is now 10 and very cute). Amazing how fast time flies by! Karoll has been through some serious health and emotional challenges and has been helped greatly by Sylvia, after we suggested she call her. Recently Syl had suggested that Karoll might want to seek a priesthood blessing from John while we were in DC. We had the opportunity to tell her a little about what the priesthood is before John did provide that desired gift. Afterwards, we talked about the Book of Mormon and ended up leaving her with the soft-side triple we had had with us in China and Germany. It is pretty marked up with my notes but she was thrilled to get it and promised to read it. We pray that she will find the peace the gospel can give. It will be interesting to see where that goes. Her husband is from India and a wonderful man—a pretty important doctor in the area of hepatitis and aids research. He had just returned from a trip to Boston and was under the weather, so did not come with her but sent his love to us.

John and Karoll Cortez

 After hugging Karoll and Sita goodbye we were glad to climb into bed. Tomorrow means an early morning MRI and then a quick trip to the airport in order to hopefully be on time to catch our flight to Salt Lake City.

leaving Safra Lodge for MRI and then the airport

Wednesday morning we got to the hospital early after turning in our keys at the lodge and dropping our luggage at the travel office at NIH. John took the Valium pill we had gotten from the pharmacy to make it possible for his legs not to jerk while they did the scan. That is always a big problem because it blurs the images so they can’t be read. We hate to have him take pills but it was vital to get a clear scan, so he did. We got there 45 minutes early hoping he could be fit him in before his 8:00 am appointment. They did, the Valium worked, and because he didn’t have contrast both scans were completed in less than 1½ hours. After he was done, I put him in a wheelchair and wheeled him out to the travel desk, where a taxi was waiting for us and we headed for BWI arriving there in good time to get our flight to Denver—the next leg of our journey home.

We have been greatly blessed to have everything work out so perfectly. We will need to phone Dr. Bennett to get the results but it was nice not to have to change our flights. NIH even picked up the tab on the taxi. We got a wheelchair for John at the airport, in case he was still a little tipsy from the Valium and to avoid the long walk for him. John was in fine form and gave out pass along cards all along the way, telling everyone to bring their loved ones to the temple Visitors’ Center to see the lights and learn more about forever families.

I called Kathy from BWI airport to let her know that we were on target for our scheduled arrival and sat down to relax, catch up my journal, and wait. We feel very blessed and we are grateful. We arrived in Denver safely, grabbed some dinner, and then caught our flight to Salt Lake, our last leg of our long journey home. 

Arriving in Salt Lake City--We are home at last!

Kathy and Brent met us and took us by a grocery store on our way home before driving to Trevi. Goodness it is strange to be home, where we found everything in order, except for a thin layer of black dust over everything, due to our bathroom remodel that is ongoing. Hopefully we will see it done by Thanksgiving.

Pres. Stan Fitts with us as we came to be released

At 9:30 pm we dressed up and then went down to meet with the stake president to be officially released from our mission. We spent an hour with him reporting on some of our choicest memories of this year. When we left he asked us to come Sunday morning to report on our last two years to the high council. We got home and gratefully crawled into bed looking forward to starting to clean our apartment tomorrow.

Thursday morning John awoke to find an email from his cousin Rick Laing telling us that his sweetheart, JoAnn, had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We were heartbroken to think of their upcoming challenges. John wrote to them and Friday morning we had the chance to talk with both of them and be uplifted by their wonderful attitude and assurance that all is well. They are facing the future with faith. Our prayers and love are with them. (Rick and JoAnn had lived in our condo, serving their second mission, this time in Family and Church History, while we were in China. Through them we lined up the wonderful missionary couple who has been in our condo for this past year.)

We have been so grateful that our home was wonderfully cared for while we were away, but we have found that no one puts things in the same places we do and are thus finding ourselves rather disoriented in trying to locate everything so we spent Thursday and Friday cleaning our master bathroom and bedroom and going shopping to buy more groceries among other things. Kathy and Brent kindly had us to dinner each night—a very good thing since I had yet to figure out how to cook anything other than our daily granola, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast. Saturday I began on the kitchen, both cleaning and cooking—it is my way of beginning to feel at home. I made granola, nut bars, and homemade yogurt. What is it about cooking that helps my world come right side up again? In the late afternoon, we even went to line up our cell phone and to look at a car we might be interested in purchasing—getting something that will work for us is a high priority on our list of to-dos.

Sunday morning we went at 7:30 am to give our report to the high council then walked down to the Tabernacle for Music and the Spoken Word before coming home for John to have a nap before our 1:00 meeting block. It was pleasant to see many familiar faces and to be welcomed back into our home ward.

Removed name tags. Sigh.

Having been formally released, removed our nametags, and reported on our mission we recognize that this choice chapter of our lives has drawn to a close. We are grateful for having had this marvelous experience together and now look forward to whatever new adventures are ahead; whatever they are, we are content to put our trust in the Lord’s orchestration of our curriculum and look forward to closer interaction with family and friends.

Week 57--Getting Closer to Home

Together in Cádiz

Sunday evening we sailed on toward Càdiz, Spain, on a very smooth sea, hardly aware the ship was moving.

Monday morning we got up and got ready, in no rush to go ashore, but finally headed down the gangway for the shuttle bus to the cruise terminal and then took a city bus into town.

The weather was cool but we came prepared so didn’t mind and found walking pleasant, with no rush and no hurry.

When we got off the bus we turned left and walked up a long curved hill thinking we were headed into the old part of town. Later after quite a walk we turned down some little lanes and finally arrived in the old area with a lovely square.

Wonderful opportunity to walk

Had we turned right instead of left we would have found the same square that we had taken our long walk to get to. Ah well, it is good for us to move! We found it easily walkable and enjoyed seeing some of the churches and old structures.   

Cádiz square

We came back on board before lunch and spent the rest of the day on the ship trying out the exercise equipment, relaxing, and working on projects.

John working out on a nifty rowing machine

Tuesday we arrived in Portimao, Portugal--our first stop in that interesting country.

John was still nursing the cold he got from air conditioning pouring down on him in our room so decided to stay aboard while I went into the little town to look around and try to find a WIFI connection.

Tendering in and out

The town was small and walkable once I had tendered in on a small boat--the ship couldn't dock at the pier in shallow waters.

Portimao square

I spent only two or three hours in town and did find a cute little bakery with free WIFI so was able to post my blog from last week, checked emails, before heading back in to check on John, have lunch together, and go back to work on our computer projects.

In the evening we went to a show on board focusing on Broadway music that was kind of fun. Normally we are boring and don't go out much after dinner.

Wednesday was Halloween! We docked in Lisbon, Portugal early in the morning. Looking out at it from the ship we saw a huge city sprawled out before us. New York City, Portuguese style. John decided he was not very enthused about tackling a long walk that was likely to be part of the day and so stayed while I headed out to see what I could find, looking again for a WIFI site, assuming it would be easy to find. It wasn’t. After hiking through the dock--which seemed more like a freight dock than a cruise port—I hopped on a bus after asking someone how to get to the old section of town. Deciding when to get off that bus was the next challenge. With a three-way help from folks on the bus I found my way into a large square where I also found a city tour bus stop. I had not planned to take a tour, since we had only 10 Euros left.

Lisbon is a HUGE city. I saw a "City of Joy" only!

Given my penury I felt a little nervous about trying to get back to the ship in case I needed to take a cab to get there. I decided I would feel more comfortable if I had more euros so stopped at an ATM, got some funds, and then signed up for city bus tour.

On my own in Lisbon

I was glad John hadn’t come with me since what I saw was a bit like the "City of Joy." This is a big city. I shot photos from the bus and then walked a few blocks to see some handiwork shops offering Portugal crafts, none of which tempted me to carry home. I climbed aboard a street car and guessed about a stop to get off, walked back to the docks and found the Ryndham, glad to be back on our floating-home-for-now.

Lisbon bus tour

Hard to believe October concludes today. On board in the evening the crew offered Halloween parties, a murder mystery, and Ghostbusters at the movie theater—we stayed in our cabin and watched a movie on our own. A nice peaceful evening. We aren’t particularly in love with Halloween as a favorite holiday. We went to sleep being rocked by the swells in the ocean. I don’t mind it but it is a little scary in a way. 

At sea--rolling and breezy.

November 1 was an “at sea” day and it was beautiful and sunny but still pretty rolling. I walked as crooked as John did today. We did some planning about our desired schedules when we get home, sat out on the deck chairs and enjoyed the sun and the sea. In the afternoon we went to see the movie War Horse. A wonderful movie I enjoyed seeing again.

That evening, a formal night, we ate dinner and came back to catch up journals and watch the news reports regarding hurricane Sandy’s devastation in New Jersey and elsewhere and to get a little review regarding the upcoming election. It will be interesting to see what happens. I hope Mitt Romney can pull it off, but it will be a miracle if he does. Surprisingly, at least on FOX, it is reporting that they are nip and tuck. It will be very interesting to learn who comes out on top.  

Friday we were in Funchal, Madeira Islands, and we had a lovely day with 71 degrees, overcast skies, and the first day on the voyage that I have not worn my jacket! We went into town in a taxi, since no shuttle buses were offered and walked around the old town.

John disembarking in Funchal, Maderia Islands

Taxi transport

 I enjoyed seeing the old buildings, many of which had painted doorways—very artistic in some cases. 

One of many Funchal painted doorways

We found a pharmacy for some vitamin C (Airborne sort of thing), wandered through a huge farmers’ market where lace and embroidery shops in abundance were on the edges, and fresh produce in the center. Unfortunately, there was also a fish market on the lower level, so everything smelled a bit of fish.

Farmer's market fun.

It was fun to encounter a couple of our missionaries from the Salt Lake City area, happily going about their important work.

Portugal mission elders in Funchal

It was so nice to have John come with me today. We always enjoy it more if we are together.

A little foggy but lovely Funchal

When we returned we ate lunch and then got John’s computer and sat on deck chairs while I helped with his deletion of 1,000s of emails. We made good headway and tomorrow should be able to finish that project. We have only 1,247 to go.

Funny guy, he has such a difficult time throwing anything out—even emails he will never read again.

Once that project is done I’ll go back to trying to organize my photos—also a nightmare of disorganization. But these are projects that this kind of free time suits our getting done.

Tired of working on John’s mini screen we come back to the room, changed to swimsuits and robes and tried out the swimming pool (really quite warm—like Trevi’s), the hot tub, and the sauna again, to combat my feeling as if I were following in John’s footsteps with a cold and continuing to nurse his.

Provided terry-cloth robes

Saturday we completed the clear out on John’s emails! Hurrah. I began on my pictures again. I wish I had a clearer sense of how best to organize them. Maybe John can help me figure something out.

The trip has been a roller coaster ride, difficult for John to walk around, even with his sticks. I’m not much better. Friday night we wondered if we might end up in the water with the ship capsizing. We gained new respect for Nephi and his group, and for our ancestors, those hardy souls who set sail in the face of the unknown.

We did go to the gym and John did exercises and I walked on the treadmill while listening to the election reports on FOX. I am really amazed that Mitt Romney appears to be running neck and neck with Pres. Obama. Listening to Romney I begin to feel a little breath of hope for America. I think he could turn around the economy but more important, I think we could also see a shift in moral focus. I pray he can do both—but first that he can actually win the chance to try. I recognize that he is far from perfect in his own politics—he has shown himself to be changeable but given the choices I would not like to see four more years of what we have seen.

John and I have been reading a book I downloaded on my Kindle called The Covenant: America’s Sacred and Immutable Connection to Ancient Israel. We are both glad to be reading it. We find in it such a remarkable tracing of the hand of the Lord in America’s history from the early days of the discoveries by Columbus and others, to the founders and on. It is history our children do not learn in their schools, yet is heavily documented. We are about half way through it and are grateful to have the time and opportunity to read it. It was fun to be in some of the areas where Columbus lived and negotiated his remarkable trips.

Columbus local--he married a girl from Funchal

In the evening we ate dinner with Christie and Parkes Tanner, an LDS couple we met from Vancouver, Washington. She overhead us saying something to someone else about returning home from a mission for our Church. We were so happy to get together with them. They will join us for part of our Fast Sunday so we can listen to a conference session together. It is nice to have the chance to share with those with common bonds. We don’t relate a lot to many of the folks with whom we are traveling, I guess. Or at least we don’t make the effort to find the common ground that might be there, so much seems so unimportant to us.

When we came back to our room we watched (or I watched, while John slept) Gandhi. I had never seen the movie which I found very long and sad yet heroic. There have been great men who have lived willing to do whatever it took to bring about positive change. I stand in awe at that kind of courage.

Sunday morning John woke up with a terrible headache, the first he has had like that for many years. I did what I could for him with reflexology, Excedrin, peppermint oil—all the while praying that he would find relief. He is doing a little better. I am grateful.

I have also been reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, a book by Metaxas. I don’t remember who it was that recommended it to me but it is a powerful book that shows from one man’s history the horror of another nation’s poor choice of leadership and ideology when Satan gained a throttle hold on Germany’s throat and one man’s attempt to stop the horror.

John got ready for the day, having his pounding head ease up a bit, and then we phoned Parkes Tanner to ask if he’d be willing to give him a blessing. He came down, visited a bit, and then gave him a wonderful blessing. We will get together with them later in the day to watch a conference session.

Grateful for the priesthood blessing received!

To free our room up for the steward to clean it, we took our computers to the library to find a peaceful spot and read more in our Covenant book as well as to get journals caught up. It is nice to fast today. It feels so good to put spirit before food for a change.

We had a nice experience with the Tanners in the afternoon when we combined to listen to a session of conference. John had arranged for the Hudson Room so we didn’t need to perch on our bed. We felt very blessed to have these wonderful talks to be reminded of important principles.

Conference--a lovely Fast Sunday

Afterwards we changed, had our prayer to break our fast, and joined the Tanners for dinner. It was a nice conclusion to our fast day.

The week has slid by so quickly, one day blurring into another without anything to stand out to write about, except for the sadness that we felt in the outcome of the election. We had gathered hope in America’s love of country overcoming its love for personal benefit that were offered. We go on with watching from the sidelines as we see what will come in the years ahead for our nation.

As for us, we have been working furiously on our projects—it is a horrendous task but thanks to John’s help in designing a pattern to follow I am making headway—slow but sure.

We are saddened to see that the northeast has been again hit by a storm—this time snow and sleet. It is, I suspect, a harbinger for an ongoing very rough time of it this winter.

We have continued to have a delightful time with Parkes and Christie Tanner these last few days on board ship talking about the marvelous gift of the gospel in our lives, going to a couple of musical events on the ship, and watching a charming movie called The Magic of Belle Isle with Morgan Freeman.

It is amazing to think that in less than a week we will be home.

Fort Lauderdale--American soil!

Saturday morning early, the Ryndham docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, right on schedule. It was wonderful to be on solid ground again—American soil! We had arranged for expedited departure since we had a 10:20 flight for Baltimore so left, hauling our own luggage, hopped a taxi to the airport, enjoyed free WIFI there before boarding our flight.

Clyde Jupiter and John

We arrived without mishap to find Clyde Jupiter waiting for us at baggage claim, then gathered our bags and headed for his home, where we were tucked up in our usual lovely accommodation in their guest room and hugged Pat—who had had knee replacement surgery two weeks before.

It is such joy for us to see Clyde so utterly engaged in the gospel of Jesus Christ—after his many many years of resistance--to observe his deep, enduring conversion followed by baptism, and a year later their sealing. He and Pat are now both ordinance workers in the Washington DC Temple and Clyde honors his priesthood with utter commitment. He is 84 now but goes on splits with the missionaries, teaches any class he is assigned, and continues to be the wonderful man he always has been but with the layers of added goodness that fully living the gospel brings.

Saturday afternoon he left for stake priesthood leadership meeting while we stayed to recoup from our travels. We went with Pat to the evening adult meeting. (We seem to be professional stake conference attenders—Berlin, Vienna, and now Seneca Stake.) It was fun to see so many old friends from when we lived in the stake.

Sunday morning we loaded our bags in Clyde’s Pathfinder and went with him to the really marvelous conference session. It was an uplifting meeting, full of the spirit, focusing on the importance of teaching our children, on member missionary work, and on loving those around us. 

After the meeting Pres. Lawyer announced--in Brigham Young fashion when news arrived of the handcart Saints stranded on the plains--the need for 100 volunteers to stay after the meeting to sort and load the mountains of bags of winter clothing that had been donated from the stake for the Sandy victims in New Jersey and New York.  The stake had teamed with a local trucking firm and two large semi trucks were in the parking lot waiting to be loaded. Monday morning they would be driven to take the much-needed items to locations in those areas worst hit. We were touched to observe the gospel in action and I wished I could stay and help with the project.

Charlie and Barbara Whitney with John

Our focus was otherwise, however, since John had earlier arranged to meet his cousins from Connecticut who had made a special trip down to visit with us—it has been 20 years since we had seen Barbara and Charlie Whitney though John has carried on a good email correspondence with them all that while.

Brookside Gardens with cousins

We had a nice time with them talking, eating, and walking at Brookside Gardens, before they dropped us off at John and Susan Cobb’s, long-time friends in Olney, who have many times invited us to come stay with them. They had hauled our baggage home from Clyde's car and when we arrived we thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful visit and later a delicious dinner with them as well as Terri and Dave Peterson, another pair of our Washington-years’ friends.

Susan and John Cobb

It has been a marvelous, very full week, that has brought us ever closer to being home.