August 26, 2018

Working Out in the Temple

It is truly incredible how different each week can be considering that we’re essentially doing the same thing day for day. This past week was really very busy, and our primary visitors were from the Czech Republic. They have become very good friends and are almost as recognizable as the regular temple workers who are here virtually every week. But this time they really brought a very large number of members to perform a variety of ordinances. They had quite a group of young people prepared to perform baptisms, had a number of names ready for the initiatory ordinances and because the regular endowment sessions that would be performed in Czech were scheduled for the 9 AM and 11:30 sessions, they wanted to make sure that the preliminary work was completed before those sessions began. We usually start our initiatories at 8 AM and follow them with two potential sessions at 11AM and 1PM. Each session can easily require an hour of work and so if we started at our usual time of 8, we would not have been finished in time for them to make the 9AM endowment session. So, they requested that we be ready to go at 7:30 with the initiatories. Our morning preparation meeting starts at 7AM and usually finishes about 7:25 though it is not unusual to go a little over. So, we had to make sure that we were prepared and ready to start right off the bat. The actual physical stress of administering an ordinance proceeds as follows: The endowment leaders have virtually nothing they have to say because it’s all pre-recorded. Next comes the baptizing which does require a fair amount of speaking, but the baptizers change reasonably frequently. Confirming would be next in the order but again it’s easy to change periodically so your voice doesn’t wear out too easily. That brings us to our current coordinating responsibilities with the initiatories. There are three different compartments in which ordinances are performed and its pretty much steady talking. One gets a small break while each ordinance is sealed or confirmed by another worker but then you’re off again on the next patron. When we are fully subscribed with up to three patrons at a time, it results in a pretty continuous never-ending process. Not only are we always talking but we’re generally also standing up with our hands on someone’s head, so you can really get a pretty good back ache. Who ever thought temple work could be so physically demanding? We’ve decided, however, that the most physically demanding assignment in the temple is that of the sealer. He is virtually talking continuously throughout his entire calling. No wonder they are very careful to make sure he is supplied with a glass of water to ease the burden on his throat. I guess it’s a blessing that most of us don’t have that assignment, but we can appreciate the sacrifice that goes along with the work.

Speaking of sealings, that brings us to one of the special events of the week. It you refer back to our April 29th letter, we spoke of meeting a young engaged couple that knew Warren and Marilyn quite well, Gerrit Wellecke and Tanya Ilina. I had forgotten Tanya’s last name but was conducting several initiatory ordinances with Russian names on a brother Ilina as I reported last week. As scheduled, she had taken out her endowment at the Helsinki temple and they had all now gathered here at the Freiberg Temple to witness their governmental wedding which took place on Thursday, and then follow up with the sealing  that same day. It was very fortunate that I was able to free myself up for the sealing as it took place though Rusty wasn’t. They had a very interesting sealer that we hadn’t previously met who conducted the ceremony in Russian but also knew German very well and translated a good portion of his remarks for Gerritt’s family who all reside in Braunschweig, Germany. As I shook their hands in the reception line after the sealing, I passed along warm greetings from President and Sister Clark!

We’re slowly getting prepared for the temple maintenance closure in about three weeks. Our plans are gelling a bit, but we’ve found out that in spite of registering over a month in advance, they have no patron housing available in Stockholm for the week we’re planning on being there. So, we’ll start looking around for a hotel in the area. The plan is to drive to Berlin our first night and attend church in the chapel which still exists where the two of us had some joint missionary assignments while serving there. We found out today that two of our local young missionaries, one sister and another elder, have both been transferred next week to Berlin. One of them will for sure be there in Dahlem so we’ll have a friendly face to greet us when we arrive for services. We’re still finalizing our trip plans and it looks like we’ll probably rent a car for the trip as our partners, the Linfords, have indicated they’d like a car as well as they head to Prague, Budapest and Vienna, all of which we’ve seen.

So only a few pictures this time as we were not doing much sightseeing this past week and unfortunately, I couldn’t get any pictures of the sealing while I was otherwise still working after the ceremony. The first was a classic which I felt needed the available opportunity presented. Can you detect someone’s shadow blowing into my shadow’s ear?

The next is of us and Sisters Strong and Lewis, Sister Lewis (in the checkerboard dress) being transferred this week to Berlin.

The next is a picture of all of us who welcomed back the Bonners who left as temple missionaries back in March and have now returned simply as assigned temple workers on their own. We used it as an opportunity to say goodbye to the sisters as well. From left to right we have Bro. Lindsay, whose wife took the picture, next the Bonners, President and Sister Erlacher, the Ashbys behind the two sisters, followed by the Mosses, and then the Linfords and of course, us.

MOM: This last Monday I had a little adventure in which Grampa didn’t have any interest. I went with the Linford’s and another sister, Ellen Bonner, whose husband also didn’t have any interest. We had a great time driving thru little villages and getting lost and finally stopping and asking for directions. I was  the only German speaker, so I hoped I could get it all straight as to what they were telling me. After following a long, serpentine, winding road we arrived at the bottom of a hill, right on the spot. It was a small Mill, not run by waterwheel any longer, but water power for electricity. The Rolle family had owned it before DDR took it from them and the father offered to work for the government and to supervise. So, after the wall came down he was able to buy it back from the government for a nominal fee of around a 100 Euro, which the family thought was worth it to get it back. Most of their business is with bakeries and some local customers. They had all kinds of grains, health food and local honey. Just right for some of our senior missionaries.

     I, also, enjoyed working with some of our friends from Vienna, who had become new temple workers, and came with families who were related to each other and had daughters taking out their endowments and preparing to go on missions, one to the “Utah Ogden mission” and the other to the “England Birmingham mission.” Plus, we had the Czech sisters who were learning to be temple workers. There was a beautiful spirit present working with them all in such a sacred place. It really is a privilege to work in the temple.

        Thinking about all the grandkids going back to school. Loved the pictures and waiting for the pictures of Kenna and Makenzel starting Kindergarten. Such a fun time of year.

         Love and miss you all, Hugs and prayers, Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

PS. In the picture of the party, for one of the Sister missionaries, who is being transferred, she has been here almost as long as us.

August 19, 2018

Die Gabe der Zungenrede, bitte (the gift of tongues, please)

Another exciting week with lots of activities to report on. Although we were expecting some Hungarian members to be present (and I kept receiving ordinance cards with the Hungarian translations upon them) they didn’t seem to be present. I guess there may have been one or two sisters around, but they never made it over to the male initiatory area. On the other hand, we had a few from Rumania, Nigeria and even Russia. I had the assignment this week bringing people through the veil where I received the opportunity to speak Italian, Spanish, English and German. I, of course, don’t know any Italian or Spanish, but those languages follow good pronunciation rules so if you can read, most seemed to be able to understand what I was saying. Actually, the Spanish sister I worked with wanted Portuguese, but she handled Spanish OK. A great many people accepted English for their ordinances and that made it a little easier for us. I think it’s become the universal language in many instances, but I guess you can’t always count on that as a possibility.

The main challenge this week was in performing the initiatory ordinances. Unless one is a sealer, the initiatories require the most non-stop talking. Mom indicated they seldom did more then half hour stretches when she was working at Mt. Timpanogos Temple, but we find that we frequently can continue for an hour or longer and that gets to be really stressful on the voice, and in my case, the back when you’re standing up with your hands laid on someone’s head over and over for a long time. But our food prayers frequently ask the Lord to give us health and strength and He seems to comply with our humble request.

We have a daily work schedule that we attempt to follow but there weren’t really a lot of extra temple workers who came this week, so the load really fell on the six missionary couples to get everything done.  As we coordinate the initiatories, one must have at least two temple workers for one patron and if there are two or more patrons then at least three are necessary to move along efficiently. This week, with three potential sessions a day, seldom did I have more than one worker assigned and often no one at all. It really wasn’t uncommon to have two or three people appear wanting to have ordinances performed for their deceased ancestors, so I had to really scramble to find available brethren who could pitch in and help. Mom seemed to have more sisters available on her end, but I was often recruiting from the baptistry or the office if I could see someone who might have an extra 20 or 30 minutes available. Occasionally someone would need to be on the recommend desk or serve at the veil at a specific time, so we really had to keep our eye on the clock.

One truly special occurrence this week was a total of 6 brethren and 1 sister who were going through the temple for their own endowments. Usually the temple presidency handles those persons on an individual basis, but we are missing a member of our temple presidency who went home for a little vacation before becoming the next president at the end of October. So, I was asked to help out on their initiatory ordinances. I always try and remember that even when we are working for the deceased, it is very possible that they will be present as their ordinances are performed. But in the case of a living endowment, there is no question about their being present and it is wonderful to pronounce the wonderful blessings on their heads that are part of the temple experience.

At the very end of the day yesterday, I had a brother who had several ancestors for whom he needed to have the initiatories performed. It turned out he was from St. Petersburg but because very few of us can handle Russian, he indicated it would be fine to do it in English. All of the Cyrillic names on his cards had already been converted over to a Latin alphabet but it was kind of fun to bone up a little on my English. When I had my 4 days of training at Mt. Timpanogos Temple under the hand of Brother Ralph Kmetzsch, the initiatory ordinance was one area I never worked in. So it was always just a little tricky to have everything well memorized if English ever came up. German was long ago memorized but I actually very much enjoyed the opportunity of repeating everything ten times as I and another brother had the opportunity of switching our assignments every go around.

As you might surmise, coming from St. Petersburg, I asked him if he happened to know President and Sister Clark and of course, he did. I noted that all of the names on his cards had been baptized and confirmed in the Helsinki Temple where we hope to go on our break the fourth week of September. His name was Brother Ilina and of course he turned out to be the father of the young sister, Tanya, we met a few months ago (see our April 29th letter)  who is scheduled to be married and sealed next week to Brother Welleke. They were spending today up in Braunschweig where her fiancé lives, but they’ll be back for the ceremony next Wednesday. We’re going to see if we can work it out to be present for the ceremony. We had a chance to talk for almost a half hour after we were all finished, and I found out he’s worked in three different branch 0  Apparently, there are now 8 different wards in St. Petersburg Stake plus 4 branches. He couldn’t help us with where the new temple in Russia will be built😊

As we walk about in our apartment building and in the tunnel that leads from there to the temple there are a number of paintings hanging on the walls. A couple of weeks ago I decided I really wanted to study them a little closer and took the opportunity to wander about during any free time I had. I quickly realized how many unique things could be found in each painting and eventually decided it would be a fun game to present to the other couples. I really started paying attention and walking about in the hallways and offices to see how many pictures I found. Would you believe an even 100! Actually, initially I hand somewhere in the 80’s but I kept finding new places with pictures to add to my list. So I have now come up with a game that will be presented to the group tomorrow night. There are several duplicates. For instance, there are four pictures of Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene and although one of them is found twice, there are actually three different paintings. There are two different pictures of Christ calling apostles, one calling Peter and Andrew and another calling James and John. My favorite question is of a picture of the sermon on the mount in which a young boy is pointing at something. I’m going to ask if anyone can tell me what he’s pointing at. The answer: a butterfly! In all of the pictures there are a total of scores of angels. Would you believe that not a single one is wearing a beard. We have pictures of all of the presidents of the church. How many are photos and how many are paintings? You get the idea. We’re going to have a contest over a couple of weeks to see who can answer the most questions correctly. We’ll take the winners out to dinner as a grand prize.

This past week we went up to a pretty castle in the city of Moritzburg. It was at one time the abode of King August the Strong and is surrounded by a beautiful lake. We spent a couple of hours wandering the grounds and I’ll just submit a few photos to give you a bit of an idea how pretty it all was.

Mom: It’s been another good week organizing initiatories. It’s fun to become acquainted with the sisters from so many different places. They are so grateful to be able to read a card in their own language, even though we say the majority in German or English. This week we added cards with, Italian, Romanian, Hungarian, and Chinese with characters, instead of Romanized letters. As Dad said we are expecting Czechish this week and they come well prepared to take over with sisters in their own language.

   Interesting that school just started last week over here and that most of you have or will start school this week. I loved seeing pictures of Amy and Alex on their first day. I hope I get to see pictures of all the grandchildren. It’s the delight of the day to see all their cute faces, and I’m excited for Kenna’s first day. With school starting autumn and cooler days or nights can’t be far away and I’m ready, although I have adjusted to having fans blow on me all night.

    Enjoy the last couple of weeks of summer and Education Week, if you get a chance to go. I hate to miss it.

Love, hugs and prayers,

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

August 12. 2018

How to Glide out of a POW Prison

We remarked last week how hot it has been here and this week was no exception. I smiled when I noted that none of the branch presidency were wearing their suit coats that Sunday and so I figured I would join them the next week. Naturally just about everyone were not wearing their coats except me so I decided I need to listen more to the prevailing spirit and I’ll get on better.

Not only do we not see much air-conditioning here but the other prevalent thing in Europe is that the grocery stores never hire baggers. Nor do they provide grocery sacks or bags. Basically, when we proceed to buy our food one must provide his own method for getting everything packed up and home. When we use our car, it is possible to move the shopping cart to the end of the check-out counter and restock everything therein.Then one takes the shopping cart to the car and when it’s emptied one must return the cart to their storage lines. To use a cart, one has to use a coin to detach it from the group and you get it back when it is returned. Our temple president was kind enough to furnish us with a small plastic coin that works great for otherwise we’d have to hand carry everything. So naturally we have purchased some reusable grocery bags to take along with us whenever we go. If you happen to forget a bag, it is possible to purchase one at the checkout counter to carry things out. I think we have become accustomed to this method.

This week was special because the dominant group present came from one of the wards in Vienna and we found that we recognized just about all of them and they us. There were a few we were hoping would be along but they were not in the traveling group that arrived so we’ll be patient. We have mentioned Sister Dospil in the past who was a temple worker hailing originally from Hungary who then lived for a while in Ireland. Then they moved to Vienna where the family has lived since that time. She left because of health problems but was recuperating sufficiently to accompany the group that came along with several members of her extended family for the week.

It was fun to work with them and one of the special events was a new endowment for one of the daughters of the Krywult family. We knew them well and her older brother was a regular visitor in our young adult center in Vienna. He has now married and has a young child about a year old.His sister, Sophie, has received a mission call to serve in the Washington D.C visitors center. We understand it will be open while the temple is undergoing renovation. So she was here along with three other elders who all went through the same session. Other than that group the temple was pretty quiet this week and we didn’t have a lot of available temple workers other than the missionaries so with all of the escorts who arrived to attend the session we really had to scramble to cover our bases.  

As an initiatory coordinator, I was privileged to help there. Our future temple president has left with his wife for a three-month opportunity to enjoy home life until he is installed. So we are a counselor short and that gave me the opportunity to help out and it’s always special to perform these living ordinances. I only had the chance to talk with one of the three elders, all of whom are native Germans, but he has been called to the Calgary Canada mission and will be leaving soon for the Provo MTC.

Our P day activity this week was very interesting. About an hour away is the city of Colditz which contains an old fortress-castle dating back to the 12th century but naturally remodeled in more recent times. It was primarily used during the Second World War as a special prison for officer prisoners of war from Poland, Belgium, Holland, France and Great Britain. It was unique because virtually everyone there had already made an attempt to escape from a previous POW camp and it was supposed to have very special security. It was a little bit analogous to “The Great Escape” as many attempts (apparently over 160 in number) were still made to escape. Of the approximately 600 “opponents of Nazism” 30 actually succeeded in escaping and it has become a popular site to view the evidence of their efforts.We saw evidence of the dummies that were created to masquerade for people working on tunnels during a head count and the remaining evidence for the tunnels that were dug. Especially intriguing was an attempt to construct a glider behind a false wall in an attic. It was actually completed with an original photo noted below. They had provided for a small portable runway that would have been run out along a roof line at night, made from the tables in their rooms, and then launched by dropping a big can of cement over the edge to catapult it over an adjacent river and hence to freedom. Though never actually used, the castle being liberated prior to the attempt, a man was granted permission to construct a duplicate and it was successfully launched in a demonstration just a few years ago. There are several interesting videos on YouTube about the whole thing that we found quite interesting. Search for Colditz Glider and try the hour-long version from the BBC.

Here is the castle and me standing next to one of the dummy examples.They apparently only counted heads and not feet. A tunnel dug underneath the floor of the castle church and the only known photo of the original glider that was built behind a false wall. Below is also a photo of their homemade sewing machine.We took about 70 pictures so you’re seeing only a fraction of them. Don’t miss the slide show when we get home!

Mom: We had a pretty good week in spite of the record heat. At least the German members are saying it’s record heat, because no has ever needed air-conditioning, well, I could probably debate that one. I guess I’ve made too much of a point of my not wanting to be in the sun as the other senior missionaries now try to find me shaded places or the place with the least amount of sun. Still I hate hot cars. Anyway, after enjoying a visit at the prison camp castle in and out of the very hot sun we went down into the city to find some ice cream. Sure enough, I spotted one place right away and we all gathered under the large umbrellas covering the tables. Some wanted lunch, but I wanted ice cream relief, so I ordered a large strawberry delight, as you can see, and it tasted as good as it looks. I need to find another one somewhere in Freiberg.

         On the more serious side, it was great to see all the members from Vienna and some of my dear friends. It was a joy to work side by side with those who were temple workers and also to have the privilege of taking one of our past young adults through some of the ordinances. Its fun to see them all mature, either going on missions or getting married and having cute little babies and children. One of them had the cutest little, red-haired girl, chattering and running up and down the hallways in the housing. I could have kept that one for sure. Too bad, we don’t carry cell phones to take pictures. It was harder to say good-bye to a few who don’t expect to return until next year a month or so after we’ll be gone. But some are, truly, soul friends and I expect to see them again, if not now, in the eternal life to come at the feet of the Savior.

The kids, here, are starting back to school tomorrow. All excited. I guess most of our kids don’t start until next week, so enjoy those last few days.

    Love ya, forever, hugs and prayers,

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

August 5, 2018

Psalm 104:4

Well, I think the scripture for this week should be Psalms 104:4 for surely we experienced heat this week like never before. It was only the mid to high 80’s but with high humidity and no rain things have really been tough. I guess it all started last Sunday, a week ago when we noted that the entire branch presidency seated on the stand were not wearing their suit coats. We have known but not severely suffered from the fact that our chapel is not equipped with air conditioning. Until last week, at any rate. I guess we could survive that for a few hours on Sunday, but it is also a fact that neither is there air conditioning in the apartments of any of the missionaries. There are three floors in our building, counting the ground floor which is really in the basement. Apartments are on both the east and the west sides and we, of course, are blessed with an apartment that faces west. That makes for beautiful sunsets but also makes for the sun shining in our windows every afternoon and evening and the temperature really goes up. As we leave every day to walk to the temple, we go through a tunnel in the basement that connects our hostel to the temple and it is always heavenly. A few have commented that they’re tempted to place a few sleeping bags in the temple and sleep there😊. We have a large fan that we brought down from our attic storage and quite some time ago bought a small desk-top fan to handle the other side of our apartment where we work on our computers. So this week both were actively in use, even at night, with no blankets required as we slept.

We are greatly blessed that the temple is by and large air conditioned, but it was not always so. One of our long-term temple workers told us that when the temple was first built, back in the days of the DDR, there was considerable concern over whether the government would respect the sacredness of the building and so the church elected not to spend a great deal of money in that regard, should the temple eventually be desecrated. As a result, it was reported to us this week that one summer they had a total of over 500 temple attendees who fainted during their temple service. So we do feel extremely blessed that air conditioning was added as the temple was remodeled and expanded. I think we mentioned that we are currently coordinators for the initiatory ordinances of the temple and we have discovered that the small compartments where these ordinances are performed are not particularly well ventilated. So we refer you back to Psalms 104:4.

Otherwise it was a fairly quiet week with no big groups visiting. We’re looking forward to next week when Vienna will once again be present. Sister Dospil, about whom we talked a few weeks ago and who had to leave because of health problems, is returning along with her grandson, whom we knew. We also noticed that Brother Jankowsky will be among the Viennese temple workers.  He was on the high council and was assigned to take care of the physical facilities of the church. He often helped us with issues that came up in our young adult center as far as lighting, electronics, plumbing etc. So it will be good to associate with him again. We have only seen the assigned temple workers’ names and haven’t yet been told who else might be coming along.

Last Monday, for our P-day activities, we drove over to Meissen again to go through the world famous porcelain factory. We quickly decided that everything there offered, exquisitely beautiful, was way beyond our price range. We took a tour through which they described exactly how the various pieces of art are made and it was obvious that nothing was mass-produced.  Individual items were all hand made and the designs drafted and painted by trained, artistic craftsmen(women). Here, for example, the first woman is demonstrating how various colors are applied with examples behind her on the shelves.

The second woman is demonstrating how a metal pattern can be place on a dish and then the disk fired at 900 degrees centigrade, transferring the pattern to the plate. It is then further covered with a porcelain glaze which, though painted on, disappears with a second firing and becomes part of the finished product. They didn’t just do plates and other dishes but many other wonderful things.

For those of you familiar with our kitchen, you’ll appreciate why Grammy loved the rooster. I liked the eagle, for all of you scouters. Both of those items started around 4-6000 Euros apiece and there were works like that on the right that went as high as 60,000. That’s over twice as much as our first house cost!

After enjoying the factory and the many items on display, we left and drove over to the Albrechts castle, which had originally contained the Meissen porcelain factory. It was not a fortress like the other castles we have visited but was built as the seat of government for the entire state of Saxony, Germany. In fact on the date that West and East Germany were reunified, they had a special ceremony at the castle to reinstall it as the renewed head of Saxony. It was truly a beautiful building and one of the High points of the things we have visited here so far.  

Above you see a couple of the rooms, one of the heating stoves, the exterior of the castle and an intricate stone staircase that went from bottom to top and probably even beats the staircase in the Manti Temple!

We loved the package we received this week with all of the wonderful goodies and clothes therein. We were especially grateful for all the cards and good wishes that were sent along. We even received one that got mixed up and was intended for Kyle. So Kyle, if you read this know you are loved and appreciated for all the good work you’re doing. Today was fast day and we ended our fast by being invited for dinner to President and Sister Erlachers along with the Thornocks. It was a delightful meal and wonderful conversation with everyone. Less than three months more and they’ll be heading back to Austria. The first counselor, Pres. Wadosch and his wife, left today to return home for three months prior to taking on the assignment of being the new president. That leaves us one counselor short for three months and the Thornocks have been designated to fill in as day leaders twice a week in their place. They have previously served a temple mission in Boston, Massachusetts and call Hawaii their home where they also served in the temple.

Mom: This really was a beautiful castle, especially the interior architecture even comparable to Neuschwanstein. The windows and alcoves were delightful and medieval looking along with many murals of royal life. I was especially intrigued by the lavatories on every floor and a bench seat that went along most of the walls, always a place to sit, even if it was made out of stone. We didn’t have much time to really look at all things, as our group needed to catch a bus, so we feel the need to go back and walk through it again. Anyone want to come along, we welcome all who want to visit. The porcelain factory was also interesting, but far too expensive to be of practical use. Objects of beauty for kings and queens.

   We had 3 birthdays this week to celebrate, Becky, Lizzy, and Bryson’s. We wish them all a great and blessed new year. It was also exciting to have Bryson’s baptism, even though, we couldn’t see it we got to see the shiny, bright look he had on his face afterwards, clean and pure to begin his new life. We are very happy and pleased that he chose to take on the name of Jesus and to follow him. Grateful for the blessings of the temple and the beautiful spirit that we have the privilege to work in 5 days a week.

  Love all of you and enjoyed visiting with the ones we could see after Bryson’s baptism.

Hugs and prayers,

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