Revitalization of "It's a Besonderes Life"

Hello Family and Friends,

Saying farewell to some of the grandchildren

     It's been 26 months since the last installment of "It's a Besonderes Life" but we are back out in the field again, this time doing a temple mission in Freiberg, Germany. We started our preparations back in April of 2017 getting our mission papers ready and going through the required physical examinations. Because of our age and my problems with high blood pressure and diabetes as a past history, I was required to take a stress EKG where they put you on a treadmill and have you work out a bit during the exam. I flunked and had to be evaluated by a cardiologist. That resulted in a coronary artery angiogram that revealed I was a heart attack waiting to happen! The operation revealed I had three different coronary arteries that were about 85 to 90 percent occluded. I hadn't had any symptoms at all and figured I was in pretty good shape compared to my paternal ancestors.  My grandfather died of heart disease in his early 50's, my father 10 years later at the age of 63 and so my goal had been to make it at least to 73. I have always considered it a great blessing to have decided on serving another mission at the age of 72 as I might have fulfilled my expectations and not have been around much longer. But the cardiologist put some arterial wideners in my heart vessels, called stents, and I hope I'm good for a few years more. He wants me on blood thinners for a year which will be up this coming May. 

     So our papers went in and we received our call to our desired temple in Freiberg at the end of June, indicating we would start in early January, almost six months away!  Meanwhile, Mom in her workup was discovered to have a herniated disc in her neck vertebrae risking the possibility of slipping badly and paralyzing her from the neck down. That required surgery to slip the disc out and replace it with an artificial substitute, locking it in  place with a small metal retainer.  During that workup she also complained of pain in her left hand and was discovered to have a carpal tunnel syndrome which also needed surgery. I was having a little blurriness in my vision and my long time ophthalmologist was closing his practice and moving to Maine. So he referred me to a corneal specialist who noted I had a few "nodules" in my eyes along with something a little worse in the left eye which required a same day surgery.  He wanted me off my blood thinners to do the procedure for just five days but I didn't think the cardiologist would buy that until at least six months had gone by. So that procedure was performed on December 21st and turned out to leave me more visually impaired than when we started, at least temporarily.  I'm doing OK but my last visit was 4 days into the mission and I'll need to get some new glasses eventually somewhere here in Germany.  No wonder the Lord gave us six months to get ready!!

     Working with the bishop and our stake president we received a call to meet with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple President who set us apart on the spot to work as temple ordinance workers there every Friday for 4 weeks. Our mentor turned out to be Ralph Kmetzsch, Steve's brother. He gave us assignments each day as to where we would work. This was old stuff for Mom who had been an ordinance worker for 8 years and even a shift coordinator for awhile but I was the novice and spent some time witnessing baptisms and then an hour or so of study each day so I could participate in presenting and receiving at the veil as well as working in the new name issue booth. We even went over once to study many of the ordinances in German to give us a little advance preparation for what we'd be doing in Freiberg. 

     We had our farewell on New Years Eve and I had a hard time reading my notes on a three page talk I'd prepared. So I expanded the size of the print to a six page talk and then found it wasn't that easy to ready on Sunday morning so I temporarily quadrupled the print size to a 24 page talk!  But my grandson Tim administered to me with Benj offering the prayer and I found I could read the six page talk just fine when the time came. The following week, on the 7th of January, Fast Day, our Stake, President, Tyler Sheffield, came to our home and met with us and the local family for almost an hour in our setting apart appointment. He spent some time talking with the children and getting several expressions of faith and even a testimony or two from the grandchildren before setting us apart with the Melchizedek Priesthood sons also standing in the circle. It was a very special experience and we were grateful so many could be in attendance.

with grandson Tim after the blessing

 The next evening we reported to the Radisson Hotel for four nights while we underwent special training for 24 of us who were called as full time temple missionaries.  We weren't sure what to expect but it really was very special.  A couple from the Temple Department had been in contact with us preparing our travel itineraries, airplane tickets, shuttle to the airport, etc and they helped run the special training CD's the church has prepared for all temple ordinance workers. Our sessions were conducted with President and Sister Alldrege, at one time President and Matron of the Salt Lake Temple and who had also served as mission president in London, England.  We were asked to bring our own temple names if possible and Alicia Braegger, Aunt Sharon's daughter, graciously supplied us with 10 names each.

     Our first day we discussed the initiatory ordinances performed in the temple, providing great insight and meaning into what is accomplished. It was very interesting to see how the church is emphasizing making temple work an uplifting experience for patrons, encouraging workers to be friendly and helpful and minimizing problems with things that previously might have been somewhat nitpicky with some issues.  We then had the opportunity to actually go through initiatory ordinances and consider their significance after what we had learned.  The second day focused on the endowment itself.  Many of the missionaries, like mom, had previously been temple workers themselves and there were great contributions as people discussed the experiences they had had.  There were many recommendations that resulted, again trying to minimize concerns, answer potential problems that might arise and make the whole experience as meaningful as possible. Then we attended a typical live session, no films used and it was pointed out that the Salt Lake Temple utilizes only one language, English.  If you don't understand English, utilize one of the other nearby temples of which, of course, there are many.We both participated in the prayer circle and enjoyed some reverent conversation in the celestial room where we had the opportunity of visiting the actual sealing room where we were married and sealed.  We remember the spot where the Savior appeared to President Lorenzo Snow just outside the celestial room which I may have pointed out to any of you, who have attended the Salt Lake Temple at any time in the past.

     Thursday, our third day, we had the opportunity of discussing the sealing ordinances and their significance and especially how to handle ordinances where living children were being sealed to their parents. Of course its difficult to go into much detail because of the sacred nature of everything we talked about but it was extremely inspiring to talk about them in that setting. All of our sessions other than actually participating in the ordinances took place in the chapel just beyond the main recommend desk. That used to be the gathering and waiting area in days gone by but it has been outfitted with retractable screens for the training DVD's we watched.  We only took up about three or four rows so it was very roomy but had the opportunity to sing hymns and we had special visitors who spoke to us as well from the temple department and a brother from the Quorum of the Seventy.  Thursday was a very special day because after our instruction they took us on a bit of a tour through the baptistry and then divided us up into various sealing rooms. We were privileged to utilize a room we had never seen which is located behind the celestial room. We walked through the old sealing office which used to be open and accessible but isn't any longer.  We walked behind the two sealing rooms which bracket the Holy of Holys, one of which being our sealing room and then went further to a sealing room located on the east side of the temple directly between the two main doors that face the big fountain. There we had the opportunity to complete the names we had been working on though we still have several that we will complete here in Freiberg. Following our sealing session we were all taken up to the big Assembly Room on the fifth floor where we had never been since we were young missionaries.  We were privileged to sit on the east side of the room behind the four levels of podiums for the Melchizedek Priesthood where another wonderful question and answer session was held. 

Upon our completion of the training we had the opportunity of attending the viewing for President Monson.  It was just a little after three in the afternoon and although it was steady, the flow was very organized and it only took us about ten minutes to pay our respects to our beloved prophet. We had held onto our car during the week and left immediately for my last appointment with the ophthalmologist. Then we went back home,picked p a few items and left some others and Emily drove us back to the hotel to make our final preparations for departure. My car had previously been dispensed to Jeffrey at BYU-Idaho and we left Mom's car for use by Aaron this time around.  A shuttle picked us up just prior to the start of President Monson's funeral and dropped us off at the airport where our four pieces of checked luggage, with a little shuffling around ended up weighing 201 pounds which they let us get away with  without having to pay anything extra!  Our flight on Delta took about 10 hours, leaving at 2 PM and arriving in Amsterdam around midnight MST but 8 AM there. The plane had only 2 empty seats, one of which was right next to me. I thanked the Lord many times for such a blessing!

'We were impressed that the Amsterdam airport essentially ran on the English language with all of the attendants speaking very proficiently, all the signs basically being in English and passport control being very efficient and quick.  We had about a four hour layover and then just an hour and a half flight on KLM to Dresden.  I think we had only picked up maybe a couple of hours sleep in the 16 hours it took to make the complete trip and we arrived and were picked up by our temple president, Gunther Erlacher and his wife. They showed us to our apartment in the temple hostel on a floor utilized by several other temple missionaries. His two counselors are quite near us, one right across the hall and the other, the Wadosch's, whom we knew well while in Vienna, just down the hall. They gave us a few hours to unpack and get settled and then invited us to dinner with the entire temple presidency at the Erlacher's apartment.The temple daily devotional starts Tuesday morning at 7 AM and Pres. Erlacher asked if I would provide a short 3 minute spiritual thought. The new First Presidency won't be announced until 5 PM our time that day but I think I might talk a bit about my association with our uncle-in-law! By the time we were finished we were more than ready to get some real sleep.  Church started at 9 AM and we felt somewhat refreshed by then though still recovering from serious jet lag. Relief Society and Priesthood were both in German. It turns out they had an English speaking Sunday School class which mom attended with several of the other missionaries but I stuck it out with the German speaking class. The grocery store is within a very short walking distance and we were taken over there Saturday night to pick up a few items with one of the missionary couples taking us in their car on Monday to get better stocked up. We're here and ready to go and it sounds like we might be assigned right off the top to be endowment coordinators. Hopefully we'll be shown the general layout of the temple which has two endowment rooms and five sessions daily starting at 8 AM on Tuesday. 

Mom: The temple training sessions were very sweet and spiritually powerful and I wished it could last longer. The church leaders are working very hard to make the temple experience very loving and up lifting for every individual, helping them to feel the love of the Savior in his house.

 We love all the senior temple missionaries, who have been very welcoming, helpful and kind. We look forward to working with them. I am a little concerned that they have no real training in the temple and that we will be jumped right in to working with the German and other languages. But we trust that the Lord will provide the way. Going to church on Sunday was enjoyable, the German was easier to understand than Vienna, and the saints were very friendly. It will take a bit to settle in but I think this will be a great experience. We have had to speak German right off and I'm surprised at how much is still in my head. Also everyone is very patient.

We miss you all, but are glad to hear that Noah's eyes are doing better. 

Hugs and Prayers, Elder and Sister Parker, Mom and Dad, Grammy and Grampa