July 29, 2018

First Indian Baptisms in this Temple - And these Indians aren't from America

Hello to our beloved family! This has been a relatively quiet week compared to last week when we had a large group from the Czech Republic. But what made this week special was that those who did come were from Vienna and we knew many of them from our time there a couple of years ago. One couple in their midst were the Wondra’s. W being near the end of the alphabet, I still remember at our last General Conference in April, very near the end of those who were being sustained as new Area Seventies, the name of Helmut Wondra. He was our stake president when we were in Vienna, and he and his wife were among the group that came. It was special because they remembered us and we had several opportunities to work with them. Our current assignment being in the baptistry, that was where we started, and they had a son who was among the youth. They were assigned to three different baptismal sessions, one each on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. As we may have mentioned in the past, a member of the temple presidency will usually speak to each new group and it is most commonly President Erlacher himself who takes that assignment. We alternate our responsibility with Elder and Sister Moss and they ended up with the group on Wednesday but we had them on Tuesday and Thursday. Often there is more than one baptism scheduled per day if other groups are present, so we had other work to do but had the privilege of working with the Viennese those two days.   

Often at the end of a session, after all the baptisms and confirmations have been completed, the group will remain in the area where the font is located, and we have a chance to talk with them about their experience. I took the opportunity to speak with them on Thursday and usually like to take the time in making their baptismal experience a little more meaningful than just witnessing it a few score times. It’s always fun to see the young people respond to questions I ask them: “What are the symbolic elements of a baptism? What are the requirements we have to fulfill before we are baptized? What is the baptismal covenant we make with the Lord? What do we promise to do and what does He promise us in return? How do we renew our baptismal covenants? I’ll let you guys figure out the answers but let me know if you need help. Parents, these questions might make a good family home evening.  I usually give them the hint of the 4th Article of Faith and also mention that we have the opportunity of renewing this covenant almost every week.

Several other special experiences occurred this past week.  We talked about the Lipke family last week who invited us to their new home being remodeled. Michel and Catharina were back yesterday for another session and we had opportunities to work with them again on the veil. They left yesterday to return back to their home but promised they would be back. They are still planning on being sealed around the time of their anniversary in December and I stressed how much we would like to know about it so we can arrange our schedule to be present when it takes place. They assured us they would keep us informed. They will likely be back a few times before then. The other unique experience was a group who came yesterday from the Gorlitz branch which is located in Germany but right on the border with Poland. They were accompanied by their branch president and three-fourths of the group had just been baptized within the past month, all of them India Indians. Most spoke only Hindi but the best translator in the group was a young 12-year old deacon who couldn’t have been more than three feet tall and looked like he still belonged in Primary. But he knew German and served as the translator both when President Erlacher spoke to the group as well as when I spoke to them at the end of the session. For all of them, baptism was a very recent experience and it was a high point of the week to talk to them about what they were doing for the deceased persons for whom they were officiating. We had about 4 sisters and 2 brothers from India with the rest all being Germans, but they definitely had a great spirit of togetherness. It was wonderful to see them respond to the invitation they had received to attend the temple.

We live on Hainichener Strasse, a street which leads to a small city north of us called Hainichen. I have often wanted to visit it just because it’s there and on our last P day, somewhat late in the day as we took care of other things, we decided to drive the 20 kilometers and found a cute little village with a beautiful Lutheran church which was all remodeled way back in 1899. Unlike Catholic churches, the Lutheran churches are usually locked unless a worship service is taking place, so we couldn’t get inside.

The pictures don’t do it proper justice, naturally, but we loved the intricacies of the red and black bricks and the exteriors of the beautiful stained-glass windows. Still trying to figure out exactly who was being depicted around the front door, but one was clearly Peter because he had keys in his hand. Not visible behind the trees but carrying scriptures we figured had to be Luther. The other stop we made was in Meissen, headquarters for a favorite porcelain factory. We were so late that it had already closed for the day, so we might try again tomorrow.

After six months, I have finally finished reading the entire Triple Combination in German! Together we have read the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price and I’ve also read the Doctrine and Covenants. I think we’re now going start on the New Testament. The last page of the Triple Combination is the Articles of Faith and I decided to spend this past week memorizing them in German. I can pretty much still remember them in English from my days in Primary but they’re a little tougher because of German grammar which puts everything in a little bit of a different order.  But I’ve got the basics down and during idle times it gives me the chance to go over them.

We finally got the temple presidency to let us get a photo of us all in our whites in front of the temple and here it is.  That’s us, the Lindsays, Mosses, Wadosches (our next temple president), Erlachers, Wagners, Linfords, Ashbys, and Thornocks.

Mom: Well, it looks like the pictures have taken over, which is fun. There is only one other thing I wanted to mention and that is that we had a mostly red-haired family in for baptisms on Friday. Just the father had brown hair. They came in the afternoon, so they were the only ones getting baptized. The family was from the Olympus High school area and SLC was their temple. The father left with his family to the states when he was 13, but has kept his German citizenship, and still has family here. The father baptized his 2 daughters, his 12-yr. old son and his wife. What a sweet experience for them and for us.

The last photo is of the event Saturday night. Beware, the moon is turning to blood and that’s a clear sign of the last days!

Love, Hugs and Prayers,

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

July 22, 2018

Temple Shoes, Barbecues and other Miracles

It has been a truly wonderful week. As our title suggests, it has been full of outdoor dinner invitations as well as an interesting report on a couple of miracles that were reported to us. We were favored with visits from the Czech saints this past week and are looking forward to a visit from many of our friends from Vienna next week. I don’t think we ever reported on one family that we met in Vienna who were here a couple of weeks ago. Richard and “Baggi” are wonderful supporters of the missionary effort and invited us with several other missionaries to their home for special occasions.  We spent time with them for a great Thanksgiving dinner with about six or eight other missionaries and were invited several times to share their generosity. “Baggi”’s name is difficult to spell and pronounce as she comes from Mongolia, so she told us to call her by that name. She is his second wife and is about 25 years younger than him. He is an attorney and told us how he had been all over the world in his career. When we attempted to find a major city anywhere that he hadn’t been in, we were unable to do it. He is now virtually blind, and this was their first trip to Freiberg since we have been here. Interestingly, the Linford’s with whom we share our car, were also at one time serving in Mongolia and it turns out they were able to connect with mutual friends they both knew. It was a wonderful reunion and I had the pleasure of helping him into one of the endowment sessions where two brethren seated on either side of him volunteered to assist him during the presentation.

But back to the Czech saints. We have gotten to know Brother and Sister Canek and Cankova. The women in the Czech Republic always had the “ova” to their husband’s names. Pronounced Tschanek and Tschankova, I received the opportunity to start reading Czech like I tried to do with Hungarian a month or so back. It’s giving me a bit of a reputation to help out with these interesting languages when people present at the end of an endowment session. I’m sure they smile a lot at my poor pronunciation, but I get the impression they appreciate the attempt. As I have now done it several times, I think I’m saying things a little bit better. The gift of tongues comes through once in a while.  Brother Linford and I were working together on one presentation where we did Czech, German and English all in one session. I’m still humble as I was working in front on one session and the German brother who was working behind told me later that he had everything memorized in German, English, Spanish and Italian. I have found I can do better in Spanish than either Czech or Hungarian because it’s easier to read but haven’t had the opportunity to try it in Italian yet. Six months or so and we’ll have a temple ready to go in Rome!

So now for another attempt to stay on track. Sister Cankova was assigned the spiritual thought yesterday morning at our prayer meeting prior to their leaving for home later in the day. She talked about an experience she had had years ago while they were working as full-time temple missionaries just as we are now. She reported that she was having severe difficulties with her feet because of the white shoes she had been asked to wear in the temple. They just didn’t fit properly and were really giving her problems. She had made several attempts to replace them with a better fitting pair and just had not been successful. They had prayed earnestly and even fasted to see if the Lord could help them with solving her problem. In a corridor leading past our freezers and to the back driveway stands a small table which has been designated as a castoff place for materials and objects that people are leaving behind when they leave their assignments. We occasionally had found boxes of cereal or other foods there as other missionaries have left. With no one scheduled to leave, Sister Cankova noticed a pair of white temple shoes on the table as she was going out to do some shopping. She checked them out and realized they were a perfect fit for her.  “When I come back, if they are still there, I’m going to claim them!” They were, and she did and she still feels it was a direct answer from the Lord to her earnest prayers. We’re not precisely sure but we think Bro. Canek is serving as a stake president in the Czech Republic. They are a wonderful couple who return every two months or so to do temple work.

Last Wednesday, we were invited by our temple recorder, Brother Schönherr, to a backyard BBQ.  His home is immediately behind the temple apartments where we all live and he is our newly called Elders Quorum President, having previously served as the High Priest Group Leader. It was a wonderful opportunity to socialize with all of the temple missionaries as well as the temple presidency and their wives. It is interesting to see how tight-knit the members are here. One of the old temple presidents, now a sealer is Brother Apel.  His daughter is pictured above in the kitchen, Bro. Schönherr’s wife. Her sister is our Relief Society President, Sister Fröbel who is also our Friseur or beautician. His son, previously in the stake presidency, is also the one who rents us our car.  They are all wonderful people.

The fourth picture above shows Brother Michel and Sister Catharina Lipke with a story about the second miracle.They are both students in Medical Informatics and his studies got in the way of his being able to serve a mission. We met them both as they have been in the baptistry several times. She was baptized just a little over a year ago and was now ready to complete all of the other temple ordinances. That took place Saturday morning. Thursday night, her father-in-law had invited us to an open house Saturday afternoon to celebrate the event and we later found out that all the missionaries, the temple presidency and a few of their neighbors were also invited. The address we were invited to is located in a small village nearby known as Kleinwaltersdorf, perhaps 5-10 minutes away. As we had a chance to visit with the family when we arrived, we discovered that the house on the property had been built in 1870! We discovered that the whole family actually lives in the town of Ham, near Dortmund which we drove through in March between Frankfurt and Cologne. They had been looking for an opportunity to purchase a home near the Freiberg Temple and there were two listed, to be sold at auction. They went to the first auction and found about 20 groups in attendance. It eventually sold at a price that was way beyond their resources. Somewhat crestfallen they attended the second auction which had about the same number of people present. But interestingly, there were several pieces of land being auctioned off. They saw a few people there who were obviously “cowboys” and were interested in buying available pastures and lands for their livestock.  By the end of the auction everyone else had purchased what they wanted and left, and they were the only ones left to bid on the house they were interested in. And it ended up being available for about half the suggested list price.  They considered it a true miracle and were please to make the purchase of a home that was perfect for their needs. They drive over about 2 or 3 times a month for several days each, which is why we saw them often in the temple and they work on the home whenever they come. Of great interest is that Brother Lipke was just called as the Bishop of his Ham Ward about 4 weeks ago. He is a wonderful dedicated brother and feels that he can fulfil his new calling while they are still fixing up the home.  They are making good progress but still have a long way to go before it will be ready. Their plan will be to make it into a type of additional rental offering for visitors as it has enough room for them to live in and also have several other rooms. Michel and Catharina were married last December. They will return to the temple often but have planned to be sealed around the time of or on their anniversary.





Above is the layout for the second barbecue and a group picture of the family and invited visitors. About the only thing left to talk about is our last Monday P-day activity. It turned out to be one of the highlights of all the places we have visited. You may remember a while back when we visited the Saxony Switzerland National Park and the Bastei rocks that reminded us of Bryce Canyon with trees and lots of greenery. Visible from there was an old venerable fortress dating back into the 1300’s though renovated several times since, known as Königstein. In the area are three very large stone mountains, the largest of which became the site for the Königstein fortress. We took over a hundred photos of the scenery in the area and cannot truly do it justice but will send along a few pictures to give you a little bit of an idea. 

The first here is a model of the whole fortress followed by a shot of the nearby Elbe River and another but smaller version of the stone upon which this fortress was built.



Next is a shot through one of the turret windows at the third stone mountain, (remember we are on the highest of the three) as well as the church steeple which you might be able to pick out on the model. Lots of pictures to show you when we get home.

Well, we’re just a little bit over half way through out mission. We’re looking forward to Amy’s talk in Sacrament Meeting today as the newest of our young women and have been enjoying the broadcast of the Tab Choir’s Pioneer Day concert celebrating Rogers and Hammerstein.

      Mom: I am really grateful that Dad or Grampa loves writing our blog letters. I just don’t have the energy to write so much, but this was a very full week of baptisms and new adventures. I’ll just share one special moment of the week. Off and on we, sisters are assigned to the celestial room, and Saturday, I was assigned for a period of time. It happened to be the time the newly endowed came into the room with their families, one of which was the family, described above. I watched them gather in one corner, on all the chairs available. The new endowed included the son going on a mission and the wife of the other brother. Also, with them were the father, mother, sister and her husband, and the sister missionary, who had worked with the wife in giving her the missionary discussions. They quietly talked about the special things going on in the temple, as they enjoyed the special sacredness of the occasion. There was so much joy and love on their faces, it radiated around the room. The father then had them gather close together in front of the eternal view in the mirrors. For a few moments they rejoiced, with smiles and love at this eternal family. It is a picture I’ll never forget. It was a blessing to share in this eternal moment of families. 

Love you all, as part of our big, eternal family, hugs and prayers,
Grammy, Grampa, mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

July 15, 2018

The Morning Breaks, The Shadows Flee

Hello, everyone.  We have just finished listening to the 89th anniversary broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  They are now beginning their ninetieth year having started broadcasting on July 15, 1929.  Hence the title of our weekly letter to you all which they sang then and today. As always, it has been a wonderful week full of many heartwarming experiences.   

Before getting into the particulars, let me digress for just a moment and say how much we enjoy the weekly letters from Elder Myles Parker, Elder Kyle Parker, Elder Timothy Parker and Sister Elle Broughton.  Collectively covering both hemispheres, half of them in the United States and the other half out of the United States and yet none of them called to share the Gospel in English! How inspiring their epistles are!  We have saved all of them in our files and they will be a rich legacy to remember and reflect on their experiences. I had to smile at Sister Broughton’s comments that she ate “live octopus” in her last letter even though the picture she sent reassured us that it wasn’t really alive when she ate it.  We went out to dinner last night at the Favola Italian Restaurant (Pizzeria) with Elder and Sister Linford, with whom we share our automobile, and I couldn’t help but try out the octopus when I saw it on the menu. I agree with Ellie that the taste was good though the texture was a little strange. I think it was because of the suction cups that were evident😊.

As baptistry coordinators, we tend to be a little freer in our assignments and hence are available to be helpers in lots of other areas. Grammy is often asked to supervise in the Celestial Room and we both are frequently involved in initiatories as well as on the veil at the end of endowment sessions. This past week we had the opportunity to lead two sessions which went well although last week we were also scheduled twice to lead sessions, at 11:30 both days. Both sessions were cancelled for lack of patrons. Those of you who have been endowed know that a prayer is offered, and it is always interesting to see how my grammar is occasionally subtlely corrected☹.

But back to the baptistry. This week we had a few groups here, but all were from Germany. We had people from Berlin, Munich, and several from Vienna that we remembered and that remembered us.  The Vienna group was particularly interesting because most that came to work in the baptistry were young adults. Their bishop and his wife were with them whom we remembered well, and we had opportunities to work with them in several areas in the temple.  Some of the groups were extremely well organized with lots of brethren to serve as witnesses, recorders and baptizers. They often brought many of their own names of deceased relatives who needed the work done. But others sometimes came in smaller groups hoping to get included into a baptismal group that was already scheduled and often there weren’t any. But if we could we scrambled a little to try and accommodate them. We have a daily plan that tells us what we should be doing when, and often when we try and get a baptism session going that isn’t scheduled it is interesting to see where we can pick up the needed people to move ahead. We had, at different times, a father, mother and two sons; two English speaking young women who were studying here in Germany but in a location we didn’t recognize; an African couple; and others who just appeared.

We were all geared up for a scheduled baptism for a group from Nuremberg that didn’t show up, but we had a few others mentioned above, just no assigned workers other than us. One brother was particularly memorable as he was sitting in a hallway outside our waiting room and before one enters the temple itself, dressed only in Levi’s and a work shirt. He was reading the scriptures, but I had to ask him if he was a member or just an investigator and was he interested in doing baptisms? His name was Brother Brandt and he indicated that he had done a baptismal session earlier that was coordinated by another missionary couple but was willing to do it all again. I asked him what priesthood he held, and he indicated he was a priest. He was in his late 20’s or early 30’s so we assumed he was a recent convert. I asked him if he had had the opportunity to perform any baptisms as the baptizer and he said no. He seemed a little hesitant, but I told him we could give him any training he lacked, and he’d had the opportunity to see several. As it turned out, he was baptized for about 10 individuals and then switched with his baptizer and performed 4 more on him as well as about 10 for our final sister who was the last in the group. I am sure he was very appreciative of the opportunity.

Usually, the temple president takes the opportunity to speak with all of the new groups as they begin a session, but it hadn’t happened this time and as we finished the confirmations with about 12 of us in the room, I took the opportunity to ask the group a few questions. What do we have to do to qualify to be baptized? What covenants do we make with God when we are baptized? I was pleased to see Bro. Brandt answering many of the questions and I felt he had been well trained by his missionaries. We talked about faith, repentance and the promise of receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We talked about the sacrament as a renewal of our baptismal covenants and I think it gave them all the opportunity to think a little bit deeper about what they had accomplished in their service. Brother Brandt later expressed how grateful he was for the new opportunities he had been offered and I think we were all similarly rewarded.

For our P-day activities this past week, we had planned a cruise on the Elbe River which runs through Dresden and on up to the Czech border. We weren’t going to go that far but had planned on sailing up to a beautiful castle at Pillnitz. But we have been having a bit of a drought here lately (not by Utah standards to any degree) but apparently the river was a bit low and we couldn’t sail up to the castle. But they did let us sail for an hour and a half up the river and back in what was described as a city-sail. It was pretty and gave us all the chance to take pictures of each other and the passing scenery. Here are the Linfords and two of our missionary sisters along with a typical view of some of the mansions along the riverside.

After we finished the cruise, we decided we would still drive up Castle Pillnitz. We knew the castle itself was closed on Mondays, but we wanted to walk around the gardens that surrounded it and enjoy the ambience. It turned out to be worth the trip. The fountains and pathways were beautiful. We were interested to see the history of the Elbe River floods of the past and went past one building where they showed the river heights at particular dates when it had flooded and which would have left us all 20 feet underwater where we stood.

 

Our final event of the week was a visit by the Utah Baroque Ensemble, a choir that apparently makes occasional excursions to Germany to promote their love of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. They were around for about 10 days or so and invited us all to our local chapel next to the temple for a free concert. They sounded OK, but we decided we wanted to spend 8 Euros apiece the next night to hear them perform at the Freiberger Cathedral which we pictured several weeks ago. We were very impressed at how good they sounded with the great acoustics present in the cathedral and felt like we definitely got our moneys worth. Only one or two of the pieces were the same as the program the night before so it was a great experience. They had strings, a woodwind and an organist with them as well. Their organist had taught Sister Kathleen Lindsay how to play the organ and after the second concert was over, she was given the opportunity to ascend up into the high organ loft and try her hand at the pipes. This was sheer dedication as Kathleen usually takes the elevators around here, but she was devoted and climbed all the way up for the opportunity.  This is a picture taken at the chapel as photos weren’t allowed at the cathedral. That balding fellow in the striped shirt is our temple president with his wife sitting next to him.

    Mom: I certainly did immensely enjoy hearing this choir in the cathedral. The music being all very religious and focusing on Christ brought a reverent, holy feeling, resounding through the high domes. I would like to hear a religious Christmas concert there.

   It is fun on Mondays to go out and see a bit of Germany in one way or another, as we did the past week. I have never thought of Germany as lacking water, with the usual green meadows, forest and rivers everywhere. But it was evident in the river and on the castle grounds where brown spots had taken their toll. Even on the temple grounds I notice some dry brown areas. However, on Thursday we had a huge down pour that lasted all day and some into the next. It looks much better already. It is interesting that the rain is so cold you need jackets; nothing like our warm summer rain storms or cloud burst. I hope that it rained so hard up by Dresden.

    Boy, I am getting muscles on my muscles again as we have taken up coordinating the baptisms again. This week I didn’t always have as much help cleaning up in the dressing rooms and often had to heft heavy wet towels into the laundry chutes. But I don’t mind as it keeps me in shape. We just enjoy being with the youth and families, and even the single very older sister who wanted to be baptized for her sister and then complete the rest of the temple work all in one day. So, we help out and move things right along, so they can get to the next ordinance.

What I’m really going to miss is the sweet loving spirit that is evident throughout the temple as we all seek to help the patrons have good experiences. Some temples are more formal than ours, but the sweet peace and spirit is still present. Go to the temples.

 Love, Big Hugs, and Prayers,

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

July 8, 2018

Who is the most published of all German Authors?

We’ve had a pretty quiet week as things go. We had no big groups here from other countries though we did have several smaller groups from around the temple including one group that came from Berlin and its surroundings. I spoke to one brother who lives in Neukölln and told him that I had served there three different times; once as a junior companion-my first area, then again as a senior companion, and finally as a district leader. I even remembered my addresses and he remembered the chapel that was once there but since has been sold and moved to a different location. We did have a lot of live ordinances with a couple of young elders awaiting their opportunities to serve, one going to Novosibirsk which includes Siberia, and the other to Ukraine.  There were also a few sealings of young couples being sealed for time and all eternity and they usually brought quite a few attendees. But otherwise things were definitely down. We were assigned twice to lead our 11:30 endowment sessions and both days they were cancelled for lack of attendees. We did have two other chances, however, to lead sessions and they both went well. We had one scheduled baptism that we coordinated and another, that although scheduled actually took place later than we anticipated and for which we had to do a little scrambling to get enough workers so it could take place. There was a group of Spanish-speaking elders who are assigned to the Berlin Mission but definitely carry out their work in Spanish. Several members from their branch were also here, so having demonstrated my skills in Hungarian, I told them to read Spanish was a cinch and they gave me a card to read on the veil. I had one session where I did three languages—German, English and Spanish. It keeps your brain clear and active.

The big extracurricular activity of the week was an invitation by President and Sister Wagner, one of the counselors and matrons in the temple presidency, to attend a special event at their home which is located about an hour away. They invited us to attend the museum of the most published German writer of all time who was born in their city of Hohenstein-Erstthal. Anyone care to guess who that was? If I gave you a clue that he wrote about the American West and the great Indian Winnetou, or that one of his famous books was known as the Treasure of the Silver Sea, does that help? They even made films of his books and stories back in the 50’s and 60’s, and one of them even starred an American actor though they were all in German. If you’re still in the dark as I was, his name was Karl May and he is as well known here as Mark Twain or James Fenimore Cooper are in the states. He never visited the West though five years before his death he did get to visit New York. He even made a few comments about the Mormons and we happened to note this announcement posted on a fence at the museum about an upcoming lecture in September which promised to clear up Karl May’s fiction vs the reality about these strange people. Note the picture of the temple. None of the temple presidency recognized the name of the man giving the lecture. We thought it might be interesting to attend and make sure they really were clearing up any misstatements. We got a picture of all of us at the sample teepee erected outside the museum.

 

After that we took a brief trip to a famous raceway here in Germany, the Sachsenring or Saxon Ring, that vies with the Indy 500 in the states, that’s also located nearby and then went to the Wagner’s home for a yummy dinner.  As you can see, it was mostly the brethren who were interested in the raceway though we all enjoyed the delicious meal that was offered.

Here we are all assembled again at one of the best meals we’ve enjoyed while here in this amazing land.

A few were taking pictures but that’s Bro. Lindsay to our right, Sister Ashley to our left, the Mosses, Thornocks, Linfords and to their left, the Wadosches (our next temple president and matron), then in the white blouse Sister Wagner and her husband bracketing one of their daughters-in-law who was a big contributor, and finally Sister and President Erlacher, our current president and matron.

Hope you’re all enjoying the summer get-together.  We’ve enjoyed all the pictures and an occasional Facetime or two.

Mom: As your father or Grampa says there has not been much going on this week. Spanish was the extra language in the temple and I helped three sisters go through, but I spoke not a word of it. Somehow, we all manage to communicate, anyway.

    I loved all the pictures of the family get- together and seeing everyone in the back yard. Still need to work on getting a backyard patio. I’ve seen some fun backyards over here, especially Pres. and Sister Wagner’s. “Oh, meine Gute”, they have a small outdoor train set up with tracks and stations, and it is lots of fun to run. It stays out in all kinds of weather, (rain & snow), except for the train cars themselves, which they carry in and out. I think we should try and set something up, but it can wait until I get home.

 

    Lately, I’ve been reading the pearl of Great Price in the temple and found a new scripture I like to ponder and will memorize. I’ll share it with you. It will be awesome to see it fulfilled.  Joseph Smith Matthew 1:26: “For as the light of morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”

     Enjoy your fun times together, we miss being there with you, but we try to have some fun adventures too. Give each other a hug for me,

Love and Prayer, always,

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

July 1, 2018

A Third Hungarian Goulasch

Well, it is Sunday afternoon and we are awaiting the telecast live of the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast which we can get online.  9:30 AM there is 5:30 PM here but it’s always fun to hear the choir for an hour prior to the live broadcast, especially with pictures of the family still mixed in. We see Aunt Kate quite a bit, Laurel a little less, our missionary co-worker Kathleen Lindsay quite a bit and many others. It always provides a nice spirit to our Sundays.

Of course, it’s Fast Day today and we had a wonderful testimony meeting. I still have the opportunity of translating everything that is said into English and sometimes that can be pretty tricky. Most of the members speak distinctly enough but there are a few where it’s pretty tough to keep up with what they’re saying, at least to hear it while still speaking about their last sentence. I’m always impressed with people who do this for a living. I don’t know that it was a blessing for the others, but the microphone gave out the last 10 minutes or so and was just broadcasting static, so it gave me the opportunity to just listen and enjoy. Two of the members, one a sister, and the other a brother, spoke about members of their families who are struggling with their testimonies, in both cases their children. I thought of our family as there are a few who, to differing degrees, no longer believe or accept everything they once did. We pray for all of you on a regular basis. Life certainly provides challenges and our many imperfections make others struggle as we interact with them in less than ideal ways. Nonetheless, rest assured that we know the Gospel is true, that we have eternal covenants that bind us together and we stand ready to answer any questions one might have.

I was thinking the other day of how little we understand about infinity. Our lives have beginnings and endings, bounded by time. We really can’t comprehend an end to space, or that there really is no end. An eternity of progression makes it possible for God to tell us what is required to live as He does. Working in the temple makes that a daily reality for us as we review over and over again all the promises and blessings He has given us if we will simply make our best effort to live according to the covenants we have made with Him.

As to the past week’s activities, we had our third group here from Hungary which gave me many opportunities to try out my ability to at least read Hungarian, if not pronounce it very well. Opportunities were present to participate in just about every activity from baptisms and confirmations through initiatory ordinances and endowment sessions. Last week we were coordinating the sessions which were conducted in Hungarian whereas this week we got the German sessions. But only one of the films shown is able to be shown in Hungarian and none of the others has yet been translated into other than German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian etc. are all waiting for their temples to be constructed before they make other translations available for the newer films. So we found that many of the Hungarian saints started attending the German sessions or else listened to them in English even though they still wanted to go through the veil in their own language. Ah, well, the work is still true no matter what language you pick it up in.

Well, they have just notified us yesterday of our assignments for the new month. We thought it likely that we would move toward initiatories as we have never had that responsibility yet, though we have often participated in the work. But our assignment will be to return to coordinate the baptisms and confirmations again! I did have the opportunity yesterday for the first time since we’ve been here, to be voice in the confirmations so that was fulfilling. Just finished listened to the choir broadcast. I guess the choir is underway on the west coast this week, so it was fun to hear the repeat from two years ago what was done at West Point. Having had direct exposure to the Army, Navy and the Marine Corps it’s always great to hear the Armed Forces Medley!

As to the other activities of the week, our car needed a little work, so I drove that over to our rental agency who perform all the necessary maintenance as part of our rental agreement. That left Mom with some free time, so she went with several others to the “Christmas City” of Seifen where she picked up some goodies that some of you may appreciate in the future. But no pictures from that trip. But yesterday they had a combined Freiberg Ward/Branch activity at one of the local soccer fields known as the “Platz der Einheit” or the Place of Unity. It was pretty fun as there were lots of kids both young and old who were playing on a variety of bikes and scooters, a mix of games including both soccer and a little effort at American football, and an amazing buffet that was partly pot luck but primarily provided by the bishopric and branch presidency. Most of us brought salads or desserts and it was very interesting to note that when time came to eat, everybody dove into the desserts first and then finished with the main course and salads afterwards. Everything was yummy! Here we are lining up in the shade watching whatever version of football was being perpetrated. And then a glimpse of the offered repast we all loved.

 

  

Our temple just about sunset.

By the way, we love the weekly reports we get from Myles, Kyle, Tim and Ellie as they serve the Lord. You are also always in our prayers and frequently mentioned, though not specifically by name, in the prayer circles of our endowment sessions. We know the Lord is with you and witness that truth in the letters you send to us.

Mom: Happy 1st of July and Ruslana and Andrew’s Anniversary. This week has just sort of blended into the rest of them. The weather has been great and cool, if we can keep having a few cool days all summer it will be perfect. I did have one sick day but, regardless, of what the father person says, I’m sure it was food poisoning as I know what it feels like, even if he never gets sick. I seem to have become more sensitive to foods, as I have also had two episodes of allergic response to foods. Has anyone had a reaction to fresh peas (besides Myles who I know is allergic to them)? It was a very strange reaction. Perhaps I ate too many, as I love them, but I started feeling a kind of stingy or prickly sensation in my mouth and throat. Then, I started sneezing for about 5 minutes straight, my head felt congested and I became very flushed on the face and in my eyes, and the palms of my hands felt flushed and itchy. I felt a little light headed, so I laid down for a few minutes, but I was coordinating the veil, so I hurried back to the temple. The symptoms slowly went away, and I was just fine.  About a week later I began to get a similar reaction to some breading on fish, so I just stopped eating it and again the symptoms went away. I’m not sure what is up with me, maybe it’s in the water or air over here, but we still love it and it is beautiful driving through the countryside and forest. Much more beautiful, when it is green and lush.

        We’ll miss being with you all at the family reunion or get together and will think of you as you get up to go to the balloon fest. It’s one of my favorite times, watching everyone smile as they look at the floating balloons and then going out for breakfast. We haven’t found any place to go out to eat breakfast so enjoy for us.  

Hugs, Loves, and Prayers,

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