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.

Week 22

Today already marks the first Sunday in March! That comes as no surprise to anyone, but having already begun the third month of 2012 reminds us just how speedily our days slip away into oblivion and how important they are to use well.  We have enjoyed a peaceful Sunday, made more so uncluttered as it was by the morning rush to fix and eat breakfast. The opportunity to fast, and feed only the spirit is a gift in and of itself.

Our English SS class focused on the Atonement, reminding us of the most important blessing we each have—to look to the Savior and live.

From II Nep 9:50-52 come these wonderful verses:

50. Come, my brethren, every one that ^athirsteth, come ye to the ^bwaters; and he that hath no ^cmoney, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

 51 Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your ^alabor for that which cannot ^bsatisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and ^cfeast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness.

 52 Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give ^athanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts ^brejoice.

Whatever we face in life is made better because we “have been bought with a price” by Him “who is mighty to save.” We do indeed have reason to pray continually, give thanks, and rejoice!

Today in our Fast and Testimony meeting I felt that familiar spiritual nudge to stand up and bear witness of Him. Grateful to recognize that prompting from the Spirit despite my inability to do so in German, I did so in English and felt at peace for responding to its urging.

The very best part of the meeting was a glimpse of goodness in action for which I longed to have a camera with me (with permission to use it) to capture one of our young Aaronic priesthood boys, helping a stocky, blind man, shorter than his slender young guide, lead him, tapping with his white cane, down the aisle, up the stairs, and to the pulpit, so he could bear his fervent testimony, before the boy himself did so. It was a picture of such accommodation and love that the image, though not recorded digitally, was captured in my heart.  We have watched this boy and others many times perform their priesthood duties with dignity and reverence (in their strong Sachsen accents). With youth of such gentle goodness growing up in the church today, I feel great peace regarding its future in East Germany.

Whatever we face in life is made better because we “have been bought with a price” by Him “who is mighty to save.” We do indeed have reason to pray continually, give thanks, and rejoice!

Shopping expeditions

Our weather here is still cold but the snows have gone—at least for now—and there is just the slightest hint that spring is out there somewhere. I have been able to go shopping on my bike again, such a help to my getting around. It serves the double purpose of giving me transportation and limiting the amount I buy to what fits in my big Chinese purse and my bike basket. It works.

We are working through finding a better way to further streamline our family history project. It is so much bigger than we are but such a marvelous thing to be engaged in. We know that we will be led along, though we don’t always know exactly what path to take. It is an unfolding process.

This week was made special with our being able to participate in a sealing session Saturday afternoon to have the last two of their 9 children sealed to Daniel Easton and Elizabeth Laing (the youngest daughter of John’s 3^rd GG parents and sister to the little Euphemia we had just found word of)—John had just finished the last of the endowments.  We love putting families together—it is the crowning touch to our efforts. We don’t do a lot of family temple work but each card is more than just a name for us.

The one other card we did of ours on that sealing session was for Catherine Laing, the eldest daughter of William and Julia Ingles Laing. We didn’t know of her existence, thinking that her younger brother John was the eldest, until we found her as a 3 year old in the 1861 Canadian census. With the help of John’s cousin we discovered in family records that she had died of an accidental head wound. We were thrilled to be able to have her sealed to her parents. 

Reenactment of the Last Indian Raid--1931

Theirs is a sad history: after losing Catherine they left Ontario for Nebraska, one of three Laing brothers who did so, among them John’s 2^nd GG father, Charles Grierson Laing.  Later William and Julia went to homestead in Kansas where, in what is referred to as “The Last Indian Raid” William and his three boys, aged 17, 16, and 14 were massacred and Julia and the girls were brutalized before finally being freed by Chief Dull Knife.

Monument to the victims in the Last Indian Raid, Kansas

We are delighted that Gary Laing, John’s cousin, has joined us by now taking on the project to research this part of our family’s history and then write a brief story about William and Julia, before,
during, and after their migration to Nebraska. We have forwarded to him masses of information John received from his Ontario cousin and look forward to Gary’s part in pulling this story together for the benefit of the whole extended Laing family.

We talk of family history as putting “meat on the bones” of just dates and places. It is what makes history come alive. John likens this process to a miniature of Alex Haley’s research to learn his family’s history. The result for him was Roots where he, and we, came to know his slave ancestor, Kunte Kinte. We have also always loved Joseph Fielding Smith’s statement that even if all the temple work is complete for our ancestors, we have the responsibility (and opportunity) to come to know our forbearers.

Laing headstones

This week we focused on seeking a confirmation to know whether or not to extend our mission. We have seen obstacle after obstacle to our not doing so removed and finally made the decision to extend for 6 months—a compromise between the extra year the president suggested and the 12 months of our original call. This puts us home in early April, 13 months from now. We will miss being with family but feel the opportunity to serve here is a precious one that won’t come our way again.

We had a delightful visit over SKYPE with Steve and Corinne Sorenson, in Moscow, who had just returned from a mission presidents’ seminar in Istanbul, Turkey where amazingly missionary work is just beginning. Not since Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, had the opportunity to hear the gospel preached. Most of the people are Muslim but the country does guarantee freedom of religion (thought the Christian elders are having a time of it, trying to find someone who will rent to them).  Despite the many challenges in the world, as Satan rages in the hearts of men, the Church goes forward. How grateful we are to be part of it, even in a tiny way.

We were happy to hear from Patrick and Tessha that they were enjoying a wonderful weekend—this one without his children—though they did attend Madeline’s Beauty and the Beast junior high school play. Hard to believe she is growing up so!

Patrick and Tessha

Madeline is growing up beautiful

Patrick and Tessha met up for breakfast with Patrick taking a turn cooking yummy steak leftover fritata and cinnamon rolls, before going to a nearby beauty-school spa where she enjoyed a $10 facial and he got a $5 haircut. Saturday night was spent at dance party at the Arthur Murray dance school they attend—Tessha had given him lessons for Valentine’s. They are having fun and planning out their life together. 

May your week be full of happiness too.

Week 21

I think I begin ever week’s entry amazed at how fast time has flown by. I won’t say it again, but it hasJ.

This week's highlights, beyond our usual temple opportunities, revolved around board meeting, goodbyes, family history, and a wonderful area conference we attended today.

Thursday began early for me at 4:30 am for a Trevi Towers Association board meeting—8:30 pm in Utah. I continue to serve from afar as secretary. It is a remarkable world we live in that allows me to serve as secretary and legal liason, listening and contributing in a meeting some 6,000 miles away. Our last two years have been in Germany and in China allowing me to attend just one meeting at home while we were there briefly this fall. We are gearing up for our annual meeting in March. We will see if the folks at Trevi vote to have me continue my long-distance mode of service. It all works with the inconvenience of getting up in the wee hours once a month!

Goodbye to the Wenkes with a sailing theme

The goodbyes  were for the Wenkes, who left for their home in Lübeck, near Denmark, having concluded their six months’ mission. We had a delightful send off for them Thursday evening. Then they worked all four sessions Friday and left Saturday morning. Those who have served missions understand, I’m sure, how close you get to those you work along side. Pres. Husz used the analogy we all know of how sad we are at parting from loved ones who die, but how joyous it is for those on the other side at the homecoming, relating that to how happy the Wenkes' grandchildren and children will be at their return, though we are saddened to lose them. It was a good reminder of a true principle.

John by the Wenkes

We wish them well and look forward to welcoming the new missionaries who will soon arrive from Switzerland and from Bozeman, Montana. We knew from our temple president that the Despains were coming but then received an email from John’s brother Mark, who lives in Cody, Wyoming, telling us that they had just learned that one of the couples on their shift at the Billings Montana Temple, had announced that they had been called to serve as Ordinance Workers in the Freiberg Germany Temple and would be headed this way just after conference in April. What a small world it is in the Church. We look forward to meeting them. It is lovely that they come already knowing temple work—in English. And nice that he, at least, speaks German, having served his mission in Northern Germany.

Sue with Marikka Husz--die Oberin (matron)

We have had a wonderful time doing family history research this past week. Our Christmas gift to each other of our Ancestry.com membership has been such a boon for us in fleshing out information that we had previously only had alludings to from some of the things that John’s cousin has emailed us. We love the process of connecting families and solving puzzles. The need for this important work is very clear to all of us familiar with D&C 128:15 that reminds us that “they without us cannot be made perfect, neither can we without our dead cannot be made perfect.”

Euphemia Hellen #1 and #2--Children number 9 and 10 for William and Euphemia Laing

But beyond all that, it is just plain addicting to try to unravel the mysteries. I love a good mystery book. Trying to figure out who dun it is fascinating, but that holds little real joy compared to the discovery of a lost child of a great-great-great-grandparent! Last night we had just that kind of experience when I found a reference in an email to a child who had died at six months in a family whose next child, also a girl, was named after her. Family records, as so often they do in such instances, record only one of the two, or a mixture of dates. With the help of an old entry in her brother’s ledger we got the details of her birth and death. It will be a great joy to be able to participate in having little Euphemia Hellen Laing #1 (born 10 Oct 1837 and died 15 Apr 1838) sealed to William and Euphemia Grierson Laing this week. John’s sister Rebecca Burrows, mother of 12, should enjoy learning that her third-great-grandmother, Euphemia also was month to 12, not just the11 of which we had record. The great hunt is afoot. Our greatest challenge is to stop and stand up occasionally to avoid the sititus that so easily sets in!

 

Our area conference today was a marvelous witness of the blessings of the Gospel in our lives with encouragement to move to higher ground in these dangerous times we live in in order to save our families from the threats to them and us so prevalent in our world. We were reminded of the very real blessing that is ours to have the conduit to our Father that prayer provides each of us. 

Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke eloquently of the Atonement and the sanctification that comes through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost in cleansing us as we repent daily and strive to keep ourselves on course. I loved the image he spoke of the Savior’s reaching down to our reaching out to him. Truly he is mighty to save! 

President Erying spoke of his own German/Swiss ancestry, telling the stories of the divine choreography (we have recognized repeatedly in our own lives) as the Lord guides the footsteps of those who look to him to bring about the blessing of eternity to them. We loved this opportunity to hear from our leaders in this choice meeting and felt inspired to try a little harder to be a little better.

Have a wonderful week.

Week 20

Twenty weeks! Good grief, time flies by. Especially for us because we always make the temple-work plans a day ahead—for us, Saturdays always seem like Tuesdays because that is when we do Tuesday’s plan.

The week just past has been a big one for us hearing news from Patrick that he had called and spoken with Dan, Tessha Thomas’s, father, to ask, and receive, his permission to marry his daughter. For the second time, they are engaged—with a 10-year gap since the first. We are happy for their happiness. All those years ago we spent time with Tessha at Depot Bay and were pleased with his choice then.

Welcome Tessha! Congratulations to you both--no, to you all.

We were sorry to learn, not long afterwards, that she had not yet felt ready to get married and had broken their engagement, thinking she was putting a “comma” at the end of their relationship. Patrick, however, thought she meant it as a “period” so moved on with his life. He met and married Emily, a widow with three children. In the following years they added two more to their Laing Gang. Then last summer Emily and Patrick decided to take different paths and focus separately on just being good parents. 

In Patrick and Tessha's romance, it seems as if she has been preserved just for Patrick and their renewed friendship has rekindled into a sweet second-time-around love story.  One of its happiest facets is how quickly the children, who are with Patrick every other weekend, have grown to accept and love Tessha. All five children were part of the proposal as Patrick asked her to marry the six of them, giving her six lilies and a homemade ring he and Anderson had fashioned from a dollar bill, ribbon, and a cute four-petal flower Anderson had made of paper.  All of them cheered when she said “Yes.” The real ring will come later. They plan to marry soon and begin the next phase of their life, working together to create a home for one another and for their five part-time children. We have been pleased to hear that Emily has been supportive and happy for them. We wish her well on her own journey. 

On our own home front, besides our temple work, John and I continue to plow ahead on our Laing line family history sourcing. We have been delighted to have the help of two of John’s cousins in extracting details from documents into our Laing chronology to help us sort out all the people and events. Helen Follmer, in Montana, has been a working dynamo in moving through massive amount of materials. Gary Laing, in Central Utah, has now joined in and is likewise contributing greatly. Many hands do make lighter work. It was fun this morning to ship off a number of names to Gary, now cleared for temple work, before continuing my preparation for my Gospel Doctrine class on II Nep 3-5. What awesome chapters those are. Our faith in the role of Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration was reaffirmed as was our gratitude for the Savior's role in rescuing us and helping us move forward in our lives--we do indeed know in whom we can put our trust!

Valentine Dinner at der Ratskeller

Tuesday was Valentines Day but we didn't celebrate until Wednesday with a outing in a snow storm to have dinner with the Chidesters at the Ratskeller downtown (a nice restaurant in Freiberg, located beneath the courthouse). We are still very glad to have each other and look forward to the millennia ahead together. We still hold to our motto "We such a team!" and are glad we are.

Talent among the members

Music at the Husz's

Saturday we attended a musical evening at our temple president and matron’s apartment next to the temple to which the temple missionaries, part-member ward families, young full-time sister missionaries, and some of their investigators attended. We more than filled their rooms and it was a fun event.

Two of our missionary couples will be leaving soon. One at the end of this week, the Wenkes, from northern Germany, and another, the Larsons, from Spanish Fork, next month. We have bolstered our depleting ranks with the Schmidts, who, though originally from Austria, have lived in Utah for many years prior to their call here. I envy their fluent Deutsch. Another new couple arrives in March. This will be the process over the next few months since most of our current eight couples are concluding their missions before we do.

May your week be filled with bright memories, happy thoughts, and lots of love.

Week 19

 It has been a wonderful week. John is over his muscle spasms; I am over my cold and all is well in our little winter world.

We have been very grateful for our tunnel all week because the snows have been heavy and the air frosty. It is remarkably simple to just not go anywhere or do anything that requires braving the cold. We have said a 1,000 times how grateful we are for that tunnel!

Our temple tunnel

This week we were warned that workmen would be coming in to drill holes in our ceilings—front room, kitchen, and bathroom—to provide better ventilation and air circulation. We were instructed to cover up furniture and equipment for the dust that would be over everything. Wednesday we came home to find the ventilators in place and our apartment clean—no dust. I have never experienced construction that was so beautifully cleaned up. Only in Germany! (We can’t help but draw a contrast between this and our Xi’an “hovel,” where the junk pile from last year’s construction project is very likely still there and the Gobi dust is omni present.)

Clean Construction! Remarkable.

The sad point of our week was learning that one of our branch members in China, Amanda DeLange (whose mother’s maiden name is Laing and came from the same area of Scotland that our Laings came from), has been in the hospital in Xi’an, just diagnoised with level 4 cancer. Amanada is a remarkable woman who a number of years ago began a foster home in Xi’an, called Starfish, for “broken” babies—those who were unwanted because of physical problems spanning the gamut from cleft pallets to heart problems and anything and everything in between. What will become of the little ones who will be left without Amanada’s care for them, I don’t know, unless a miracle of miracles comes about to preserve her life. She has surely been part of the Lord’s own work of caring for the one. Our prayers are with her and we invite anyone reading to join us in her behalf. We do believe in miracles if it is in the Lord’s plan for her life to continue . . . but if not, we know she will be welcomed “home” with open arms for her goodness.

Amanda and Starfish 

Have a wonderful week reaching out in love to make a difference for someone!

Week 18

John working with Sis Metzner--assistant to the matron--on German nuances

We are well into February as this week ends and have been busy in our assignments despite both of us struggling with health issues. John was hit with low back muscle spasms that set in Wednesday evening making it next to impossible to stand up on his own. Such days have made us very grateful for the simple things, like putting on one's own shoes, that we too often take for granted.

We have had a lot of use from our massage table as I have done reflexology on John’s sciatic nerve each night and again each morning. We are very grateful for the different things we have learned that help keep us moving forward and found opportunity to laugh a lot at our technique of getting him dressed in the morning since he has been unable to bend without setting off painful spasms. I worked out a clever mostmostechnique of putting on garments bottoms, socks, trousers, and shoes all on in one bunch before trying to have him stand up and pull everything up into its proper place.

He has courageously gone each day to the temple, walking by faith and he has been blessed. He gave his training to the brethren from a chair and then trained new workers, hobbling with their help to the recommend desk or other places they needed to learn. Once he was seated at his desk to work on our training guide project he did quite well for an hour or two—while I did my work before taking him home.  We felt very blessed to have gotten through a day when it would have been much easier to stay home. Each day has brought new adventures in learning to cope. By tonight, Sunday evening, he is doing well enough to stand up on his own! That’s progress.

Dr. Kleinert--House Call!

Two particularly bright lights in our week have been the kindness of those around us. We had called a medical supply place to see if we could buy a back brace to give John some additional support only to discover that such a purchase required a prescription! Nearly everything does. Dr. Klinert, a member of our ward, is our man to go to whenever the missionaries run into a health issue. He is the epitome of a consecrated life. He doesn’t just write the prescription—he also pays for them—and delivers it to you. If you thought the days of house calls had ended, you haven’t encountered Dr. Klinert!  When John called, he said he was coming by to check on him and within the hour he was there with his bright smile, silly jokes, and unending willingness to help.  On another occasion John asked if it were possible for us to arrange through him to have some of his drug sent from NIH to Germany. (Germany is notorious for blocking anything like that from entering.) Dr. Klinert said it would be too much trouble to try to ship it in and instead just gave me a prescription to pick up at the Apothecary. Out of curiosity I checked it out to see what it would cost in Germany but had no intention of having it filled, knowing that Dr. Klinert had an understanding to have the bills sent to him. The cost for 100 pills was  over 500 Euros.  I took the prescription back and said thanks for the information and left. The following Sunday, Dr. Klinert handed John a packet with the 100 pills I had refused to pick up! What an example of freely giving.

I had my own hurtle to overcome this week by contracting a rotten cold that left me with no ambition to do anything but sleep. I was glad to come home with John and crawl into a warm bed. In the Herberg is one handicapped bathroom with a deep wonderful tub. Because of John’s back problem we were given a key to use it. We stayed home from the temple Friday evening and I headed for the tub with my cold, leaving John to rest at the apartment. After a long hot soak I was just ready to climb out when there was a knock on the door. Scrambling into my robe, I opened the door to find Sister Husz, our matron, there with an orange wool blanket and the instructions to wrap up in it and get some extra rest. She had been at the temple all day long and had come on her errand of mercy to succor the sick and afflicted. She and President have both been wonderful to John and me.

John still at work, despite muscle spasms!

It doesn’t sound as if we could have been too productive for the week, but we have actually made good headway on our training guide. John doesn’t seem to ever go anywhere without his being enlisted to write, edit, and perfect materials, so we are up to our ears in writing each day and are enjoying being able to work together.

Happy Birthday to Xavius!

We were delighted to hear from Chi and David and enjoyed seeing the pictures of  Xavius’s birthday event this past week. What a boy. Two years old with a head full of curls and an unstoppable personality.

Our genealogical project is moving forward, step-by-step. We are getting faster at cataloging and entering documents. I am so impressed with John’s skill in putting a plan together that works well.  We are enjoying getting acquainted with many of these ancestors that were here-to-fore just names. If that.

Have a wonderful week.