October 28, 2018

Are There Enough Farewells Going On?

I guess it’s not too surprising on October 28 to find out that the summer is over and cold weather has arrived. We’ve really had a very lovely fall season with reasonable temperatures but that all seems to be over now, and it was even predicted that it might snow today. It hasn’t yet but as we walked to church (only a 60 second walk) it did seem like there was a bit of frost in the air.

Speaking of church, we had our Primary program today which was truly excellent. Our Primary is fairly small, and we had perhaps 12 or 13 kids participating but they sang a dozen songs which they all had well-memorized as well as each of them participated in a few remarks which they had also learned and it was truly lovely.  Our Primary pianist has been sister Ann Moss, who accompanied the children throughout the program. She and her husband are finishing up their missions and departing for home near Rexburg, Idaho this Wednesday morning. What a Halloween event! Both had the opportunity to bear their testimonies at the end of the program today and Sister Moss even did it in German, which she doesn’t usually speak.

We’re also losing the Bonners from Midway this coming Saturday and the Ashby’s from Draper in a little over 2 weeks.  Without these three couples out of our seven, work in the temple is really going to be a challenge. Ashbys leave on the 16th and we are apparently receiving the Stapleys on the 19th, so we’ll really only be down two for a couple of weeks. Then in late November we are receiving a missionary couple, the Fiedler’s, from Berlin and things will be a little closer to normal. I’m sure by Thanksgiving we will have plenty to be thankful for again as our numbers return to near normal. We do have several other temple workers from our local region who are there pretty regularly including Brothers Wengert, Kux, and Hans as well as numerous sisters, Sisters Brosch, Hartz, Riedel, and 2 sister Jaehns. I mention their names primarily for our records as we review all of this in the future.

We had a formal farewell dinner last night for the three couples departing soon and all fourteen of us went to a pretty little restaurant known as “ Zur Orgelpfeife” which we organized but which all 14 of us attended. The name means “At the Organpipes” and is decorated throughout with numerous pipes retrieved from various organs. Unfortunately, none of them are attached to a keyboard anymore even though we tried to convince our waitress that it would be really nice to arrange a little music over a speaker system.  Ah, well.

 

 

The sociability and food were great. Just about everyone is visible in the first two pictures but unfortunately, the organ pipes aren’t. This evening, in the third picture, we got together again with the Mosses, Bonners and Linfords with whom we share our car and had a little more intimate farewell with those leaving this week. Apparently, the Bonners have scheduled yet another get-together for tomorrow night with all 7 couples again, so the sociability never seems to end.

Naturally, the big event of the coming week will be installing our new temple presidency. Tuesday night, all of the temple workers are holding a farewell party for the Erlachers and Wagners which will be held in our ward house. The Erlachers have been here for several years, not just as the President and Matron but formerly also as a counselor and assistant matron. They have moved out of the President’s home next to our apartment and have been living where formerly President and Sister Wadosch were living. They have been on a three-month sabbatical which included their training time in Salt Lake City as they prepare to be our next temple president and matron. Again, he was stake president in Vienna prior to our serving there but we worked a lot with Sister Wadosch who was on our Institute Council. We haven’t seen them back yet but assume they’ll be moving back in within the next two or three days. The other counselor and assistant matron, President and Sister Wagner are already packing up. They live about 45 minutes away from Freiberg but will be getting new callings, we’re sure, in their home ward. As part of the business today they released Bro. Dzierzon as Sunday School president and his wife as one of the Relief Society teachers as they will both be installed in the new temple presidency. They live very close and will not be moving into the temple apartments, so we’ll end up with a vacant place for a while until a new couple are called to serve. Our other new counselor and his wife, the Bartches, are coming from Berlin. They’ll get one of the two vacant apartments and we’ll be ready to go again as November rolls in. That will leave us as the senior missionary couple for a short while. We still haven’t gotten the details but there are a few hints that they might be releasing us around the 8th or 9th of January which is now just a little over 2 months away!

So, a lot of personnel changes. As far as the past week went, it was also quite special as the visiting group came from the Vienna 4th Ward. That was the ward we were actually assigned to when we served there and is the international, English-speaking ward in the Vienna Stake. There were very many old friends we were able to greet and reminisce with and it proved to be a very busy week. We were not involved, but the busiest was the baptistry as they had an average of three sessions a day with about 20 or 30 young people who were steadily serving. In addition to them we had four or five new endowments during the week as well as about five sealings for couples and families, all of which were of course very special. One sealing we have been anticipating for quite some time were the Lipke’s about whom we spoke a few months back. They had indicated to us that they planned on being sealed in December at the time of their wedding anniversary. But I guess they decided they wanted President Erlacher to perform the sealing before his release and so that was accomplished at the end of yesterday’s activities with virtually all of the missionaries in attendance. It was very sweet to see them make their eternal covenants. Her parents are not members but waited in the waiting room and helped take pictures afterwards to commemorate the event.

The rest of the week was also very busy with several endowment sessions filling all of the seats and extra chairs placed in the aisles. We found we were also dealing with Hungarians, Czechs, and even Spanish-speakers which kept us on our toes to make sure everyone was helped using the right language. We commented to one of our Viennese acquaintances that we found the work in the temple much more physically demanding than was ever the case while serving with them as young adult reps in Vienna.

Mom: It seems that the past couple of weeks in the temple have been very active. I think many members have come to spend their last time with this presidency,  Erlachers and Wagners, as both weeks we have had members from Austria and this week, especially from Vienna. It’s always fun to welcome members who we knew back in our other mission, even some of the parents of our young adults. It’s fun to watch all the sisters who sit waiting in the foyer, as they are all busy reading the Book of Mormon.(Interesting, Faithful)  But there were two very special times. One was being able to witness the sweet, sealing of the young couple, that Dad referred to in his letter. They were the same family that I wrote of watching in the celestial room, standing in front of the eternal mirrors. Now, they have all been brought together for eternity. The senior missionary couples have become like grandparents to them. The other special time was the primary program in sacrament meeting today. What sweet joy it brings to your heart to  watch these beautiful children speak and sing about Jesus. It makes me think about all of my grandchildren and how much I miss them all. Well, it won’t be too long before we will be back home, only a little over two months.

    Be faithful, be true. We love you all with prayers and hugs, Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

October 21, 2018

Missionary Opportunities Abound

What an incredibly interesting week we have had. We had no particular group that was being represented but the sessions were very large and busy. Actually, there were a number of sisters who came toward the end of the week from the Berlin Relief Society, but in general, we felt it a probable response to President Nelson’s admonition that we prioritize our schedules in order to be able to spend more time attending the temple. While there was good activity in the baptistry, initiatories and sealings it seemed like the emphasis was being placed on completing endowments. It was quite noteworthy that almost all week the brethren were outnumbering the sisters, but Friday night and Saturday all that changed as Berlin arrived and the brethren’s numbers were totally overwhelmed. Our single biggest session that we have experienced in the 9 months we’ve been here took place on Saturday’s 10:30 session with 24 sisters and 23 brethren. Our rooms are normally able to handle 19 of both so we had to set up 5 extra chairs in the aisles and in spots normally reserved for wheel chairs and 4 extra for the brethren. As a general rule, the sessions leaders handle all of the ordinances where we typically have two workers in each session in the states. But this gave us the opportunity to assign a second brother and sister temple worker to help move things along more efficiently. It was actually very heartwarming to participate in such great work for so many people.

One of the things that has been impressed upon us by many of the local members, is the relative drought we are experiencing here in Germany. Although everything to us seems nice and lovely and green, apparently the water supply is dwindling. We were told today that our nearest river, the Elbe, is so low that a person could walk across it without going underwater. It is really having an effect on river traffic, so we’ll see if this is one of the signs of the times. Speaking of droughts, we had the opportunity to go with several of our fellow missionaries to hear Mendelssohn’s Elijah Oratorio performed by an orchestra based down the road in Chemnitz but a chorus  that originates around here. It was all sung in German, but they had a great program with all of the words printed out, reviewing in detail the whole story of Elijah and the drought brought about for three years, his interesting confrontation with the priests of Baal and his being taken care of by the widow, whose son he raised from the dead. When it came to the part where the prophecy is made that he will return to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers lest the whole earth be wasted with a curse, it was all I could do to refrain from telling the lady sitting next to me that that prophecy has been fulfilled! The concert was performed in an old church that was heavily damaged during the war but has since been restored but never used again as a church. Here is a picture taken as the chorus was beginning to file in.

The next picture was just an interesting shot of the temple one night when, despite the drought, everything was very misty and foggy, and I thought the lights were quite pretty.

Today, President and Sister Erlacher gave their departing talks in sacrament meeting as they will be released a week from Wednesday. It was wonderful to hear their reports and I especially enjoyed President Erlacher’s remarks as he did a beautiful summary of the significance of the temple ordinances as they pertain to our individual lives and the principles of the Gospel.

 

The other great event of the week was the arrival of Scott and Cathy Smith and Mike and Jesse Schoenfeld from our home ward. They came in late Saturday night to the train station here in Freiberg, coming from Munich and had less than 36 hours to stay with us before leaving on Monday morning for Leipzig and other destinations. We got the help of Bro. Moss to pick them up at the train station as our car only holds a max of 4 people and is pretty limited as to luggage carrying as well. They were supposed to come in about 11PM but had apparently a number of changes, moving from train to bus and back to train again. The final result, however, was to arrive thirty minutes sooner which we all appreciated. We set them up with rooms in our temple hostel and they were able to participate in our Sunday meetings. It was fun to be able to translate for them in Sacrament Meeting and I even provided them a little translation help in Priesthood meeting. Whereas I usually attend the German Sunday School class while Rusty goes to the English-speaking class (she has the responsibility of selecting the weekly teachers), I elected to join them all in the English class . Then we invited the Lindsays to join us for our Sunday dinner as they had connections to both families, some of which were only discovered as the conversations went on. I never knew that Scott had received a master’s degree in public health and that was an area Gordon Lindsay had worked in. They knew many of the same people who had helped train them or had worked with them.

We decided that the best activity for our Sunday afternoon would be to make a visit to the site where Elder Monson, in 1975, had rededicated East Germany. I took along a copy of his dedication prayer and the Lindsays accompanied us. It was our fourth visit there and previously we have always been the only ones present so we anticipated a time of peace and reverence as we reviewed the prayer that had been given. But when we arrived there turned out to be a fair number of young adults who were enjoying the view and looked to be a bit of a rowdy group. We noticed that the sign previously posted commemorating the event had been removed since our last visit, we’re not sure by whom. So, we went ahead and took a picture near the entry gate to the area and then decided that it would probably be OK if we asked the others if they wouldn’t mind moving aside for a bit while we took a picture in front of the area with a view overlooking the city.

They turned out to be very gracious and even offered to take the pictures for us, so all of the group could be included. From that point on everyone became very friendly and we got into three or four little discussion groups. Mike and I started talking to a very nice young man who came from New Zealand and had actually been on a few missions for his church. His girlfriend, who was German but spoke excellent English, was in a separate discussion with Scott and Rusty. The Lindsays were carrying on another discussion and we all really got into missionary work in a big way. I talked to our fellow and asked him how he had met his girl friend and he indicated that he had met her in Thailand while he was serving there. She was coming out of a restroom just as a very poisonous snake slithered across her path. He called it a “cowkiller,” but he warned her to be careful and they got into a conversation that became very extended as they developed a friendship. Both were very warm and friendly but upon my questioning, apparently not yet married. It gave us the opportunity to talk about our mission, the purpose of temples, and the opportunity to be married eternally!

That was pretty easy as it all took place in English. The next fellow I talked with, though, was definitely German and claimed he was an atheist. I was impressed, and he emphasized that he thought he was living a good life but felt no need for the concept of God. I explained to him how many evidences and witnesses there were that God does exist and how much more he could do with his life once he found that out. I talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon, how it was written by a young man about his age with no formal education and could be a great evidence for him that God existed and was interested in him. The Lindsays were organized enough to get a few names and email addresses so they could follow up while the rest of us just encouraged them to look for young men or ladies wearing name tags like mine. All in all, it turned out to be a delightful Sunday experience and perhaps the best we’ve ever had at that location.

The fellow on the right in the lighter blue shirt was the one from New Zealand and his girl friend is behind the glass on the left. The atheist is wearing the white shirt in the middle. The sun was directly behind us and washed out the back row a bit!

Mom: Sometimes its strange how experiences change and turn out. As we approached the Dedication site these young adults were drinking and acting a bit crazy, as young university students sometimes do. The spirit about them, and their music wasn’t conducive to us reading a spiritual dedication and having a spiritual moment, so we moved through a little archway around the wall and read the dedication prayer. However, after we moved back around the archway we felt like we should move to the overlook and take some pictures. Immediately the rowdy atmosphere changed, their music changed to American Oldies, and the students became helpful and wanted to talk with some Americans. They were mostly engineering students with some studying teaching and psychology. We found out that when they have a school break they go out hiking and stop to drink alcohol with mineral water at certain points along the way. They were actually very nice and friendly and enjoyed talking with us about what we were doing in Germany and about the Freiberg Temple. I’m sure we were there for someone in that group that needed to be touched by religion.

It was fun and challenging handling such big endowments groups, but there is such joy and love in all who come to participate. It really is a holy work and we’re glad that we are able to participate. While there were many times where the brothers outnumbered the sisters this week, on one session we had 39 sisters and 5 brothers, just making things able to come together from all procedures. Loved it. Hopefully, the weather will remain somewhat nice and people will still be able to travel long distances to come to the temple.

Come to the temple is ever our call.

Love, prayers and hugs,

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

October 14, 2018

Record Setting Temple Work!

It has been a very busy week. We had a very large youth group from Hamburg come for the entire week. The largest part of the group did baptisms on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, three sessions a day, while many of their leaders also performed initiatories and participated in many other ordinances. They were extremely well organized with the names of many their deceased loved ones to complete and we found out at our prayer meeting yesterday morning that the temple exceeded their previous greatest number of ordinances performed in one day. If I got the number right, I think it was 2,163 ordinances performed in one day, not bad for a small to average size temple!

We had it a little bit easier, being assigned to the intervening two of five endowment sessions, the 9 AM and 11:30 AM sessions and it seemed like the big groups were on the 8, 10:30 and 1PM sessions with smaller “leftover” groups on the sessions we were coordinating. But we all got involved in just about everything whether we were coordinating or helping out on the other ordinances as we were needed.

A lot is happening in this next couple of weeks. Our current presidency’s term is fast coming to an end and we will be commemorating them as they prepare to leave. President and Sister Wagner, the current second counsellor and matron will be providing us with an evening this coming Tuesday to discuss the history of the church during the DDR years and the history relating to the building of the Freiberg Temple. Then on the 30th, a farewell evening is planned to say goodbye to the Erlachers and Wagners who will be finishing up not just their terms in the presidency but many additional years of temple service as well. We will also be saying hello to President and Sister Wadosch, previous first counselor and matron who are currently in Salt Lake receiving training as they take on the presidential responsibilities for the next three years. That all officially takes place on the first of November.

We will also be losing three missionary couples. The Mosses leave on the 31st of October to return to Rexburg, Idaho and the Ashby’s leave two weeks later to return to Draper on the 16th of November. A previous couple, the Bonners from Midway came back in September, not as missionaries but simply as temple workers but they’ve had some problems at home that necessitate them leaving again, so they’ll also be leaving in early November. We do have two new couples assigned, the Stapleys who will arrive on the 19th of November, and the Fiedlers who will arrive in late November. So, for two to four weeks things might get a little hectic as we’ll be down by a few but somehow we’ll get through it I’m sure.

Today was our Fast Day and our branch met at the same time as the other ward in the building to have the sacrament and hear testimonies from the Branch President and the Stake President who lives in the ward. Then we all had the opportunity to hear the Sunday afternoon session of general conference from last week. Later on this afternoon we finally finished listening to the Sunday morning session of conference which we heard while we were in Poland but we listened to that session in German as a help to the Erlachers who were with us. We got a bit more out of it by listening today in English. As I’m sure you all recognized, the talks were powerful and revelatory and seemed to me to be just what was needed in response to the times in which we live. Enjoyed Connor Clark’s post where he noted that he guessed he wasn’t a Mormon anymore. I guess we’ll have a couple of weeks here in Germany to try out the new 2 hour church sessions before we get home but it sounds like we’ll have 10 minutes less to fill for our homecoming talks!

We haven’t been having typical conference weather here this past week. Whereas earlier it was really getting chilly, this week the temperatures have been running in the 70’s pretty consistently. Our days are definitely getting shorter and the sun rises after we’ve already started in the temple and it’s setting mostly before we’ve eaten dinner. But we have had the time to take a couple of long walks through the forests and parks around here which are really getting gorgeous as the leaves are finally changing colors.

Last night we attended an organ, violin and soprano concert with the Ashby’s, who drove, recommended by one of our German temple workers who was distantly related to the performers and we just loved driving through all the beautiful Saxony landscapes en route to the church where it was being held. So today we went for a bit of a drive along the same route. As we really looked at the map to decide how to get there, we discovered that it was very near to the “Christmas City” of Seiffen where we’ve been before but never realized how close it was to the Czech Republic border. So, we had a lovely drive through lovely but very narrow roads and went right along the border. I would’ve stopped to take a few more pictures but we decided there wasn’t a lot of time, so you’ll have to make do with the ones above which are around here in Freiberg.

I guess we’re getting used to some of the unique things here in Germany. There are never baggers provided at the grocery stores. You have to put it all back in your cart at the check stand and then bag them up yourself. If you didn’t bring your own bags, you can purchase them at the check stand, but you still have to bag your own.The other thing that was quite interesting was the car we rented when we traveled to Scandinavia last month. It was really quite nice, but the engine shut off whenever we came to a stop sign or stop light. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, it immediately started up again, but it was very unique. Great on mileage (or perhaps kilometerage)  and probably keeps air pollution to a minimum. Anybody seen that in new cars in the States.

I did have the opportunity of reading the new church history book. “Saints”, which is available for free on Gospel Library. I thought that it was very good and covers a few items in a much more open fashion than perhaps previously. I remember that one of you was concerned once about the many different versions of Joseph Smith’s first vision as it was related to different audiences over the years and those differences are taken into account as it is related in the new history. I’ve also taken the time to look at the new resource, “Come Unto Me” as it will be used in our homes, at Sunday School and in Primary. Sounds like we’re all going to have more responsibility for teaching ourselves and our families at home than we used to have.

Mom: Interesting, that even temple work can become routine. The differences come with the  groups of people who come from so many different places and countries and the sweet personal experiences we have with them. There is so much love and joy that is shared each day. I noticed that a number of times we were admonished by apostles to go to the temples, to help our ancestors and to find peace and inspiration for ourselves. Truly the prophecy of “temples will dot the earths” is coming true before our very eyes.

I also, love the Book of Mormon and bear testimony of its truthfulness. I have felt its power in my life and the need to read it consistently. After having taught Relief Society for the past few years, I have felt that the Lord and church were trying to prepare us to be more faithful disciples, and families. Now, I can see why, in preparation for our new prophet and the many revelations he has received for the church and moving us forward to thinking more on the second coming of the Savior. I loved conference and every speaker seemed to have an important message to share. I hope you felt the inspiration and encouragement for your personal life and are looking forward to the new programs.

   Our love and prayers are always with you, no matter where you are in the world,

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

October 7, 2018

Mines, Castles and General Conference too!

Well, we’re a few days late this week for reasons I’ll explain below but suffice it to say that this letter started out being typed while in the back seat of a car being driven by our temple president Erlacher as we traverse the western regions of Poland with a beautiful sunset on the horizon. It turned out to be really difficult typing in the dark on bumpy roads so its being finished the next day after we finally arrived home.

We began our new month and new season after the two weeks break by being reassigned as veil coordinators which follows working on initiatory ordinances and in the baptistry for a few months, but brings us back to a task we did for a couple of months already, so we felt well trained and ready to go. Two couples get the assignment and one gets three out of the five sessions scheduled daily and the other gets the remaining two, each session alternating coordinators. So, we lucked out with the three sessions at 8, 10:30 and 1:00. The two other sessions at 9 and 11:30 were reserved for a group of members who come every couple of months from Czechoslovakia. They are lovely, dedicated saints who we have come to know very well. The new challenge, however, this time, was that they only brought 4 temple workers with them, each couple leading one of the sessions so that left a bit of a dearth in people who could work at the veil speaking Czech. Having gotten a bit of a reputation in Hungarian and Romanian, it was decided to see how I’d do reading Czechoslovakian! I’d had a little bit of help learning how to pronounce Hungarian, and Romanian didn’t seem to be too bad. It’s also pretty easy to read Italian and Spanish as they pretty much pronounce the way they’re written. But that isn’t exactly the case with Czech and even after several attempts, I’m afraid I was really slaughtering the language. But fortunately, they seemed to be able to recognize what I was attempting to say and most appreciated the effort to say things in their own language.

So, our first day back was Tuesday, October 2, a great German holiday, The Day of German Unification. It celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as the reunification  of East and West Germany back in 1989, A little bit like the 4th of July, right?  Of course, no temple is open on the 4th of July in the States, right? So, we might have expected to get an extra day of vacation, right? Wrong! A holiday is a holiday, nobody has to work, and it makes for a great opportunity to come to the temple! The day was as busy as we’ve ever seen it. Every session was stock full to the point of putting extra seats in the rooms. And instead of just doing five or six attempts at Czech, I probably had the wonderful opportunity of doing it a dozen times or more!

Which brings us to the past weekend. We did get the opportunity for a day off from the temple on Saturday because of General Conference. Of course. the Saturday morning session doesn’t begin here until 6:00 PM so we could have had our normal Saturday hours without disturbing the conference sessions at all, but apparently the decision was made to close the temple for the entire day. It was therefore decided by a few of us, 4 couples exactly including our temple president and matron, to take the opportunity of a three-day weekend to travel to Cracow, Poland. Here are the famous Wieliczka Salt Mines as well as the original middle ages castle, Wawel, where the Polish kings ruled the country until attacked by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

We got away Saturday morning early by 7 AM with tour reservations in English scheduled for 2 PM. That gave us time to get to a very nice reserved apartment/home with 4 bedrooms, eat lunch and have a delightful tour through a huge salt mine that shows itself off to over a million people a year. It was about a 2 ½ hour tour plus an additional guided tour through a portion of the mine labelled as a museum. It is quite a fascinating attraction dating back to the 1500’s. We’ve been through a few salt mines in the past including Hallstatt and Salzburg but this one really has been outfitted for the tourists. There used to be over a thousand miners who worked here and the tour starts by walking down about 200 steps. From there it gets steadily deeper and deeper. The upper parts of the mine date back the farthest, and the deeper one goes, the more recent the excavations. Huge caverns have been excavated and there were even two or three worship rooms where they no doubt could worship before otherwise breaking the sabbath. Interestingly, there was quite a bit of memorializing to Pope John Paul II who originated from Poland. He apparently visited the mine at least three times and probably conducted services while there. They have created several unique displays to demonstrate the work of the miners and there are apparently still over 500 workers assigned to maintain the mine though mining operations apparently ceased around 2007.

Here are a couple of displays demonstrating how the miners worked and even one depicting men gathering salt prior to the real start of the mining operation in the early middle ages. Here is one of the worship room displays

and a memorial to Pope John Paul II who was clearly their patron saint.

We got back to the house in time to tune in to President Nelson’s opening remarks about the changes in the Sunday schedule and the new emphasis on correlation with our home study programs. We enjoyed the whole session and reserved the Saturday afternoon session for Sunday morning. We tried to watch the Women’s session after that, but it hadn’t yet been set up, so we had to wait a bit, but we did hear the entire Sunday morning session and the “Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square” broadcast later that day. We will get the Sunday afternoon session next Sunday at our chapel, but we did get the news about the 12 new temples. I’m not sure if the 10 day fast for the sisters includes normal emails, so you might have to get this from your husbands, brothers, sons or other brethren in the meantime. At any rate, we all went for a nice Sunday walk in the afternoon, so we didn’t seem to find time to write our normal epistle on Sunday with all of the other general conference activities going on.

It took us about five hours to drive from Freiberg to Cracow, so we figured if we left by 12 or 1 on Monday we’d get back in good time by around 6 or so that night. We decided to spend the morning after breakfast seeing Castle Wawel mentioned above. We were further blessed to find out that admission to the castle is free on Mondays. So after packing up our two cars, we headed over to the castle and learned a little bit by hanging out around English speaking tour guides. There was a nice statue of a terrible dragon that used to threaten the inhabitants of castle Wawel and retired into a deep cave beneath the castle which we didn’t make an effort to explore.  Every few minutes the dragon emitted a fiery blast from its mouth, but I never was able to catch it.

 

The dragon was apparently not to be defeated by multiple brave knights and armed groups of men. But the hero of the legend was a young shoemaker who filled a lamb with Sulphur and when the dragon devoured it, it exploded and saved the endangered city. Lots of dragons were for sale all around every souvenir shop but I guess we weren’t motivated enough to obtain one. Pictured next is the exterior of the main castle complex.

After enjoying the morning exploring the castle and its many charms, we opted to try for a genuine Polish restaurant for lunch. We should have been wiser for Polish restaurants are a lot like what we experience in Germany. While the food is delicious and well prepared it can take up to an hour to get service, especially with a large group. So we finally hit the road about 1:30 PM.

Even so, we felt we’d probably make it back home by 6:30 or so. Not so. Traffic was terrible and the German word for a traffic jam is perfect, “Stau”. We found plenty of it. We did have a GPS in the car and it was tuned in to what highways were blocked and how to get around them. So off we went on several little tangents and side roads. Referring back to the beginning of this epistle, it got darker and darker with little relief from the highway congestion and by the time we finally, gratefully arrived home it was 10 PM and this letter is being completed on Tuesday afternoon after a full day back at work in the temple.  In spite of the hassle and major delays, we were all still grateful for the experience and are looking forward to finishing the rest of the General Conference as we get the time.

Mom: Let it be said that in spite of all the terrible traffic, (I’ve never seen so many lines and lines of trucks of every kind on the freeways), we had a great time with the other senior missionary couples traipsing around salt mines and castles. You would never know that we are all supposed to be in our older years of life, as we have so much fun with each other. After so many hours on the road we were grateful to get back to our temple haven.

Loved the parts of conference we got to hear and are excited for the new programs to start in January.

Love, hugs and prayers,

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