What a great week we have had. We started the week out with a trip to the city of Pirna and a small village on the other side of the river Elbe named Rathen. The trip had been in the planning stages for a while but was really organized by our temple recorder, Brother Schönherr. He was also our previous High Priest Group Leader and now has been recalled as the Elders Quorum President. He thought it might be a lot of fun to organize a bicycle excursion in the first city which was about 30 minutes away from Freiberg and then cycle over to the village which was expected to take about another 45 minutes. There were several of us who hadn’t been on bikes for years or who had other health problems who decided to make the entire trip by car and then meet at Rathen where a delicious luncheon was prepared at a restaurant near a beautiful national park in the area.
It was a wise decision. We were a little surprised at some who decided to attempt the bike ride, especially one sister who can’t even climb the steps up to the temple foyer and always takes an elevator. She did have some problems and had to stop about half way along with another brother who developed some serious shortness of breath and also had to be helped over the final distance. But all of that aside, it was a beautiful trip through the countryside to see some of the lovely sights in the county of Saxony, Germany.
Pirna had this cute little fountain right outside the city hall and advised us that there were about 12 total fountains in the city. We saw three of them as we wandered about the city. Most were just normal water sources, but I did like Billy’s Old English Pub for a quick photo. Then it was on to what is called the Saxony Switzerland National Park. It was a little bit of a hike to see the truly beautiful mountains and trails and so we’ve saved that for another time but the pictures we saw reminded us somewhat of Bryce Canyon if it was all decked out with a true forest. Apparently, there’s another approach where you don’t have to climb 900 steps to get to a fantastic bridge but can walk along a level path, so we’ll show you that later in the summer. But we did hike up to a beautiful little lake with a hint of the mountains up behind it.
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We’re standing in front of the “locomotive” with the nest and the beehive not visible in the picture.
This week finished up our assignment as baptismal coordinators. We had a number of sweet experiences as always. I have the opportunity to finish up with all of the groups as they are finished with the confirmations, a member of the temple presidency usually greeting each new group as they first start. I guess it’s my background delivering babies that always leads me to make some comments about what the Savior said to Nicodemus, “Unless a man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” We then talk about birth and our clean and pure state as we are infants and the fact that when we are baptized, we can again receive the assurance that we can become clean again, just like newborn children. I then usually discuss the covenants that we make at baptism and hint that these covenants are renewed each week. Someone in the group then invariably realizes that the sacrament brings those covenants back in our memories every week. It’s a nice opportunity to make something memorable out of an experience that for many is just too repetitive to have the significance it should. It was special to participate in Alex’s baptism.
So, with the beginning of the new month, our assignment has been changed again and we are back coordinating the endowment sessions. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were very memorable as the Relief Society seemed to have the upper hand. We had a busload of sisters arrive and our usually quiet sessions filled up with 30 or more women each time, on one occasion with only a couple of brethren but usually never more than 8. We had groups come in from Berlin, Frankfurt and Prague and especially the latter made things interesting as we sometimes had 6 or 7 veils where we needed people who could speak Czechoslovakian. It kept the entire temple busy as we were not only doing endowments, but also baptisms, initiatories and sealings. Felt like we were right back at Mt. Timpanogos Temple though we had far fewer workers available to us. Friday and Saturday both we had extra endowment sessions scheduled that are not on the normal daily routine, so we were kept hopping from 7 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. Friday’s late schedule went until 10 PM.
Mom and I did have a chance to take a walk around an area pretty close to our apartment and enjoyed the little robot in one of the neighbor’s front yards as well as the pretty pond filled with lily pads. Unfortunately, no frogs could be seen or heard.
Mom: Today instead of Fast Day, we had a multiple stake conference which was broad cast from somewhere in Salt Lake to all of Western Europe. Elder Uchtdorf was presiding and talks were given also by Elder D. Hallstrom, Joy D. Jones, and Elder P. Kearon. The focus was of course on our ministering by increasing family togetherness in studying scriptures, building testimonies in Christ, following Him, serving as He did, and choosing to do good for someone else. The underlying theme was “choosing to be on the Lord’s side and not the world’s”.
As Grampa said we are back to Endowment coordinators. We will miss the baptisms, especially, first time 12 yr. old’s, and the sweet spirit of those people who choose to participate. It’s a wonderful place to serve. But I also enjoy working in the endowment rooms, lining up all the languages and serving with all the brothers and sisters who come from various cities in Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, etc.
The highlight, of course this week was Alex’s baptism and that we were able to watch the whole meeting on “FaceTime”. We love you Alex and are glad that you chose to follow Jesus and to be baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost. What a wonderful day to remember, always. I hope we all think back on that day in our own lives and remember those special feelings we had.
Love, Hugs, and Prayers,
Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad,
Elder and Sister Parker
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