March 18, 2018

Has it only been a week since our last letter? So much has happened in just this one week. Mondays always start out really well as we receive the letters from Myles, Kyle, Tim and Ellie Broughton as they report on their mission activities. We are inspired by their reports and the activities they pursue. The work is going well whether in Hmong, Spanish or even Korean. We pretty much gave you a detailed description of what we planned to do for this first week and it pretty much came off as we described up to today. We actually didn’t drive by Markus Wiese’s home but instead drove by the church where Heinrich will be confirmed, primarily just to time out the trip as it will be a Sunday morning in April when we visit for that event. That church is our first photo.

Next, we drove to Erfurt and the Augustinian monastery where Luther was ordained a priest and spent some time doing monastic things. We learned quite a bit about his life and discovered that his father was quite a disciplinarian and wanted Luther to be a lawyer. One his way home one day, a bolt of lightning struck right next to him, knocking him down and he felt an impressive spiritual experience that convinced him he should continue to pursue the priest’s career.  His father eventually supported him in that desire. The next photos reveal what a monk’s room looked like, one of their study desks as they spent up to 12 hours a day praying and reading, and a Latin bible with some handwritten notes he made in the lower margins. 

He apparently became a real Latin ace while in school and graduated second in his class. He then moved to Wittenberg which we won’t visit until later this coming week. That is where he became very concerned over the Catholic practice of selling indulgences to receive the Lord’s forgiveness for a variety of sinful practices. There is a lot more detail, of course, in his history but after posting his 95 theses, a copy of which we obtained, he made an appearance before a special conference of high Catholic officials, cardinals, etc. and attempted to explain how church practices could not be defended in the Bible. He was branded a heretic and had to go into hiding. We have a lot of other pictures which we’ll send along in separate emails showing the Augustinian cathedral and the library which has been restored with several ancient texts.

Luther came under the protection of an Elector named Frederick the Wise. He appeared in disguise at a place known as Wartburg Castle, our next stop. Here he lived for about 10 months during which time he translated the Bible from Greek into German, making the scriptures available to the general population in German for the first time. Our next photo is the small room he lived in for these 10 months. 

The castle itself was very impressive with impressive paintings that often told the story of the castle, particularly of an heiress named Elizabeth who lived a very short life, dying at the age of 24 but still regarded highly because of the many wonderful things she did to help other people. A whole hallway of pictures was dedicated to how she visited prisoners, clothed the naked, fed the hungry and housed the homeless. She apparently holds the record for being declared a saint, just two years after she died. Photo of the hallway included.

From Wartburg Castle it was off to Frankfurt to visit the renovation site of the temple there. 

Lots going on and we got the definite impression that the Rome Temple will likely be finished before they’re done with the Frankfurt Temple. That’s no doubt why we get a little more business in Freiberg and we noticed yesterday that they schedule several German sessions at The Hague Netherlands Temple as well. From Frankfurt we travelled one of our favorite stretches thus far, up the Rhine River valley. We drove along in a nice relaxed manner noting medieval castles around every bend, clinging to the hillsides and inviting us to linger. We resisted the temptation but when we arrived at a little village on the river known as Oberwesel we couldn’t holdout any longer. There was an ancient wall one could climb if you ignored the warning that you were taking your life into your hands. See the steps. 

Once up on top, the Rhine was visible to the right, old guard towers in front of us and you could walk along the top for about three blocks past the towers, a hospital still in use and look down into the remains of old buildings. 

It was a nice break from a lot of driving. Then we headed for the town that became famous for perfume, “Eau de Cologne” or Köln, as the Germans name it. Located there is a beautiful cathedral with enough stained-glass windows to apparently cover three football fields.  We probably took twenty pictures there but will favor you with just one from the outside.

Then we were forced to leave a country where we could speak the language and we were off to Belgium, specifically Brussels. We did pass the capitol building of the European Union which we didn’t photograph but spent the night there trying to figure out whether Belgian was closer to French or Dutch. Apparently, it’s a close call. Fortunately, we found that when the chips are down, English really is the universal language and we got through pretty well. In Belgium the Lord must have literally guided us to the site of the Flanders Fields where poppies traditionally grow, though they weren’t out yet even though we were only a few days away from spring. 

But we almost literally stumbled on it when our GPS wouldn’t identify it and even a store clerk where we stopped to gas up wasn’t familiar with the name. There are over 150 cemeteries of those killed in World War I and we did finally see a huge museum known as the Flanders Fields Museum, but it must have been the spirit guiding us there as it wasn’t on our map anywhere.

A bit easier was our brief drive into “Dunkerque” France as the map spelled it.  We figured we’d just head in the direction of the English Channel and literally drove right to the memorial and the beach where “Operation Dynamo” took place. 

We considered trying for the Normandy beaches but they were quite a ways away and we needed to be in Rotterdam by that evening.  We found the hotel where we had reservations and it was only about a half hour away from The Hague Netherlands Temple.

  

That was where we spent yesterday going through two sessions with a break for lunch in between. The first session was a special session for German-speaking saints which we understood pretty well. The second was in Dutch and we used ear phones for that one, remarking, however, how similar spoken Dutch is to German. I had the same brother take me through the first session in German assisting in front of the veil and he also took me through in English from behind. Both went really well, and we became instant friends. We had about two hours between the two sessions so decided we had better change and head out to find some lunch as there was no cafeteria in the temple. We finally found an India Indian snack shop that had several offerings on display in a buffet type arrangement and we found that English really is the universal language as they were able to help us out fairly well. The temple president was from Holladay but had a Dutch background. They had also lived for a while in Germany. He was able to give us the address of the nearest chapel and we ended up in the expatriate branch where people from around the world gathered and all spoke English. Our Sunday School teacher was from Scotland, the bishop was a native of Mexico and most of the members were there working for a variety of business concerns. Grammy recognized a sister sitting a few rows in front of us with five young children and remembered that they were on our plane as we landed in Amsterdam.  We spoke to her and her husband, verifying the fact that they had been there at that time and remarking what a small world it can really be at times.

Dad at the storm surge wall in Rotterdam

Mom: It’s been really quite an amazing week. We’ve driven thru 
heavy rain, fog and steamy areas where visibility wasn’t that great. 
To top it off Grampa is driving a stick shift for the first time in years and there are a zillion truckers on the Autobahn with speeding cars whizzing by. I know the angels have been with us, protecting us and guiding us into these unknown places. GPS is only good up to a point, but we couldn’t get along without it. However, Grampa is getting really good again at stick shift driving. I don’t think Grammy is going to give it a try.

I loved going through the Rhine river valley with all the castles on both sides of the river. I had to pick up a few more knights and castle souvenirs.  I was also impressed by the sacred feelings I had while visiting Flanders Fields and the beaches of Dunkirk, such a great sacrifice of lives for the cause of Liberty. Let me just share one more thing that touched my heart about Martin Luther. He is quoted as saying: Marriage is a better school of character, as it rubs off all the sharp points.

HUGS AND PRAYERS, 
Grammy, Grampa, 
Mom, Dad, 
Elder and Sister Parker