February 18, 2018

Another very busy week in the service of the Lord. The first big item as many of you, but not all, are aware, was a scary Valentines Day event. We didn’t even have the opportunity to wish Tim and Kathy a happy anniversary. Mom was talking to one of the other sisters in our apartment complex about 3:30 and sensed that she couldn’t express herself very well. The sister, who’s pretty good in German just thought she was telling her that she was having trouble in a different language. She came home but didn’t say a word to me, as the episode had passed, until a couple of hours later when it became obvious that she couldn’t adequately express what she wanted to say. We had planned on a Valentine’s day outing with the other couples when I became seriously concerned that something was really going on. I had her lie down as she described a little bit of a headache over her left eye and then later described a heaviness in her right arm earlier in the day which had subsided. There was a gathering outside our door as everyone was preparing to go out when I announced that I was very concerned about her condition. Our next-door neighbor came in immediately and helped me administer to her and then a member of the temple presidency guided us in his car as we followed in another brother’s car to the hospital. There she was taken into the emergency room where I provided some translation and she was evaluated by the doctor on call. The neurologist on call that night was scheduled to go home in about an hour but came to provide his expertise and we all agreed that she must be having what seemed to be a mild stroke. Most of her symptoms subsided within a short period of time but they recommended that she stay for further evaluation.When we arrived at her room, it turned out to be a “Uni-sex” room with a male roommate. There apparently was no other space available on the ward but they had a curtain between them. That didn’t help to decrease the sound of his snoring. This ended up being a three-day stay and she received an
ultrasound of the brain circulation, an echocardiogram, several blood tests and a
prolonged evaluation of her heart rhythm to make sure she didn’t have what’s known as atrial fibrillation which can be associated with strokes.  On her second day she received
a female roommate and her last day she was the only one in the room.

She had an interesting experience with German medicine as she was rounded on each morning by a doctor and possibly 5 or 6 interns. She found a very nice doctor who came from Sicily where he had learned English as a second language before coming to Germany to get his medical education.  He provided her with some English literature on some of the things going on. All of her tests came back normal. By Saturday afternoon everyone agreed she could go home and really hadn’t had any persistent symptoms since she was first admitted. I think her name got placed on the prayer roll a dozen times or so at the temple and we agreed that she had truly been blessed. No further problems have since arisen and she’s back in the normal swing of things. Thanks for your prayers as well.

As for the rest of the week, it was very busy. We had more people come from Poland and a brother speaking Hungarian with a sister speaking Russian. Languages seem to be our greatest challenge.  While Mom was in the hospital I was assigned to work with a Sister Dospil whom we knew in Vienna but who is a native Hungarian. So even though I don’t know the language she can help me pronounce things off a card that is available. Our most versatile brother, Brother Fillmore, who can read Hungarian, Polish and Czech along with a little Russian is going home in a little over a week from now and we will really miss him and his wife and their capabilities.

On another note, we are no longer the newies in the group.  Elder and Sister Lindsay arrived yesterday for 18 months. He served a mission in Bavaria and is a previous stake president. She speaks only a little German but apparently her mother had some German heritage or may even have originated from Germany. We’ll find out more about them tomorrow night at Family Home Evening.

Our assignments continue to be as veil coordinators and we were kept very busy throughout the whole week. Occasionally a session will be cancelled if there aren’t enough patrons but that didn’t happen this week though we did have a few sessions with only one couple and either an extra brother or sister. Then we have to provide some help with temple workers to augment out things happening around the altar. Sister Dospil really helped me out while Mom was in the hospital and I even had the opportunity of leading one of the sessions on Saturday, only the second time that has ever happened.  We were really helped out by the Bonners, the other veil coordinators who picked up the slack while I was occasionally running to the hospital as well as provided the use of their car to get back and forth, without which it would have been an hour long walk one way. 

Driving in Germany was a new experience, but it went fairly well after I inadvertently turned a couple of times into parking lots by mistake. I was able to pick up my new glasses on the first day out and we’ve also finally received a printer so we can start writing some things down that we want to preserve around here.

People have really been great while all this was going on.  Although Mom did get out our Valentine’s day gifts to everyone before everything started happening we have received goodies, and food and blessings galore from everyone here we know. A faithful Brother Schmidt who was helping out at the last session on Saturday, probably in his 80’s, stopped me as I was adding some names to the prayer roll. He carefully wrote out “Schwester Parker” and added it to the pack of names I was carrying.  As you can imagine, everyone has been concerned and made sure she knew of their love and prayers in her behalf. Two couples even visited her in the hospital and provided candy bars and a package of hot chocolate together with a mug to make it in. I have included a picture of our invitation to dinner tonight. To the right are the Fillmores who leave in a little over a week and the Mosses, our next door neighbors who graciously invited us so Mom wouldn’t have to fix anything today.

               Mom: Wow, that was quite an experience, I hope never to have again. It’s kind of scary to understand everything that’s being said to you but not to be able to find the words to answer back. While I didn’t like staying at the Krankenhaus, it was good to have the reassurance that all the evaluations turned out well. It seems like I’m still in pretty good shape, I just need more sleep and a little less stress. I was very touched by all the love and kindness extended to us, especially the prayers from the temple workers. Everyone reached out to help in any way that they could, and all our senior couples showered us with food and flowers on my return. It felt like the Relief Society sisters compassionate service without any coordination, but it was delightful. I can’t say much for German hospital food, but I survived. Thanks for all your love and prayers. I think that I could feel them coming from heaven upon me.

       Love you all very much,
Hugs and Prayers,
Grammy, Grampa, Mom, Dad, Elder and Sister Parker

February 11, 2018

Hello to our family and friends!

Another amazing week is done and we’re still at it with vim and vigor. The notable event this week was transfer time for the Berlin Mission. Although our official presiding authority is President Erlacher, President of the temple, we are also included as missionaries of the Berlin Mission.  President Fingerle, the mission president apparently has a format where all the newly arriving missionaries begin as their first activity, a temple experience. We talked with one of the sisters who had just arrived, and she said her travel itinerary had been a departure from Salt Lake City with transfers in Chicago, Frankfurt and Dresden! After four different flights one can naturally expect a great deal of fatigue and jet lag as we well remember from just a month ago. (Amazing that we arrived here on the 13th just 29 days ago!) The President brilliantly has concluded that a good way to stave off jet lag is to begin with a baptism. All of the missionaries began their mission experience by being baptized for the dead. I’m sure that would help keep me a little more awake for the testimony conference that followed after traveling for a full day or so.

A few days later we had another large group of missionaries, this time, those that were departing.  Each of them participated in a full endowment session and we thought that was really a great way to end one’s mission experience. So one begins with a temple experience and ends 18-24 months later with another mission experience. We occasionally see missionaries who attend at other times if they are working nearby and apparently, they are allowed to do so once a month if they’re within range.

We began this week with a trip with two other missionary couples to the site where Germany was dedicated again for the preaching of the gospel. This was performed by then Elder Monson though the sign pictured names him as President Monson. He may have been the area president for Europe at that time as it all took place on April 27, 1975. The Freiberg Temple was first dedicated on June 29, 1985 while Freiberg was still a part of the “German Democratic Republic” or the DDR, commonly known by the rest of the world as East Germany. The first pictures show us walking down the path to the dedication site, past the large water tower in the vicinity and then a shot showing the water tower with the dedication sign on the wall. We’ve then included a close up of the sign noting the dedication and then a few pictures with Elder and Sister Moss, our next-door neighbors at the overlook site where one can see the city of Dresden and the Elbe River passing through.

We have still been given the assignment of veil coordinators. We have five sessions a day and last week we were responsible for two sessions, with another couple, the Bonners taking the other three.  This week we had the three and they had the two. We alternate 8 AM, 10:30 AM and 1 PM with the other couple getting the 9 AM and 11:30 PM sessions. Friday there is a 7 PM session and the coordinators who have the two sessions get that last one in the evening as their responsibility.

This was actually a pretty straightforward week as we didn’t have to struggle with Czech or Polish.  Everyone spoke either German or a few who preferred English, but it was much less hassle. We actually had one day where one sister preferred Spanish but a member of our temple presidency and his wife, the Wadosch’s, whom we knew in Vienna, volunteered to handle that language so it went pretty smoothly.

The other fun thing that happened was the two groups were visiting the temple that day. One came from Berlin but it had been enough years gone by that we didn’t recognize anyone from back in the 60’s. The other group, however, came from Vienna where we knew quite a few. Several were not only just visiting the temple but came as ordained temple workers. We knew quite well two young adults, Claire Schäffner and Balasz Kiss, who were often at the YA Center where we worked for a year and a half. They had a fireside one evening at the church on the temple grounds and we went over to get a few pictures. We often met Sister Schäffner as we were walking toward one of the elders’ apartments. She would be walking home from a school where she taught kindergarten. She is in the picture with the other sister whose name is Diana and we’ve forgotten her last name. Brother Kiss recognized us when he first came in but thought we had been missionaries in Hungary, his native country.  I reminded him that we had first met him in Vienna where he attended institute as a returned missionary. His English then was better than his German (and still is!) but his German is a lot better now than it was. His mother, also a member, had then been living in Wiener Neustadt, south of Vienna, but both are now living in Vienna. He’s the one with dark hair between the two of us in the other picture. 

It was quite rewarding to us that both are now set apart temple workers and we worked with both for the whole week. I had the chance to work Bro. Kiss on initiatory ordinances and just about have all of that mastered. One of our rapidly departing couples in just a few more weeks are the Fillmores. He has been a real asset to us because he can read Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish and Russian and it cannot be emphasized enough what an asset that has been. So I decided while I had the opportunity, to learn to at least read Hungarian while I could spend some time with Bro. Kiss and he gave me a little help in learning to at least pronounce the Hungarian words, even if I didn’t fully understand them.  We have another sister here who is from Hungary and speaks quite excellent English and German and she has also offered to help now that Brother Kiss has returned to Vienna.

Yes, the work is sweet, and we enjoy working with all the temple workers and the patrons who come on a continual basis, sometimes every day. We are even learning many of their names, and they graciously greet us with a hug on each cheek. Still it is quite tiring to work 8 hours each and we come home feeling we need a short nap to refresh us, but sometimes a short walk is just as good. 

 

Mom: I think my German is getting better and then I don’t.  We always have someone translating in our meetings and I’ve tried it a few times with just one ear, but half the time I don’t feel like the translation is that great and I do better figuring it out on my own. There is so much to learn, and I am doing it a little at a time, even with trying to memorize the temple ordinances. 

Yesterday I was feeling a little homesick for some reason, but it seems that when that happens someone “Facetimes” me and all is well with our little missionary world. Love and pray for all of you on your missions and in everyone’s daily endeavors. 

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

February 4, 2018

We have completed our third week! I had to reread our entry from last week so as not to repeat things we’ve already said. It’s amazing, still, how much there is to do and even though we’ve kind of learned the ropes, it seems there are always a few curves they toss at us to keep us humble.

Our Polish brothers and sisters left at the end of last week and were replaced with a contingent from the Czech Republic. They were here all week from Tuesday through Saturday. We got pretty familiar with everyone who spoke Czech and learned quickly who could speak anything else. Few were proficient in German but there were some who were pretty good at English. Leading the group seemed to be Brother Canek (pronounced Chaneck) and his wife Sister Cankova (pronounced Chankova). We learned quickly that even though married, they had unique endings to their names.  Brother Canek was currently serving as a stake patriarch and had previously been a stake president.  We were grateful we’d spent a couple of days in Prague when we left Vienna in 2015 but I don’t think we’d made any attempts at learning the language.

It turned out that our two brethren who could speak a little Polish were also our go-to’s when we needed Czech. Whereas last week we had been assigned to three endowment sessions daily for our responsibility, the other couple taking two, this week we had it easy with only two sessions and the other couple got the three. That should have given us a little more free time but it turns out they kept us pretty busy in between sessions on a variety of other tasks. They had assigned us time to study at the end of the day following our last session, but I don’t think we were able to take advantage of it with other things to do. I ended up serving on the veil three or four times on sessions we weren’t coordinating and several times helped with initiatories. That’s still my biggest hang-up as I haven’t been able to memorize things in German very well and only got a portion of them learned in English in our four days at Mt. Timpanogos Temple.

Perhaps the biggest frustration of the week was yesterday on one session which had participants speaking German, Portuguese, Czech and English. It’s not just a matter of people helping at the veil who speak those languages but also figuring out who goes where once you’ve got them assigned.  We have learned that if you really don’t speak a language you just get a language card and do the best you can. That would have been the case for one Hungarian brother that came through but I had been told he understood German. He didn’t and ended up probably not understanding much that was said.

The other new thing is that we had “late service” and “early service” on Friday and Saturday.  Friday is the one day of the week they have an evening session, so you’re really not done until after 9 PM and then have to close up the temple and turn off all the interior lights. That’s usually when we’re trying to get to bed so we can get up at 5 AM. But the early service means you have to be there before 6 to open everything up so you’re at least up by 4:30 and it ended up a very short night.

    

                Mom: As hard as it is to get up early, it is kind of fun or a better word would be interesting to be in the temple before anyone else. Yesterday morning as we came down stairs to the beginning of the temple tunnel hallway, we met a family that had just come inside. There were about five of them, 3 adults and 2 young people, still in their coats and hats, excited to get started for the day. They had driven for 5 hours to get to the temple and wanted to change clothes and start with baptisms. Then when we got up stairs to the foyer we found, waiting at the door another group of people who wanted to come in somewhere and to change their clothes. They also had driven a long way thru the early morning hours and hadn’t wanted to dress in church clothes. Among them were two people for new endowments. We could only let them into the pre-foyer, but the President and his wife came to the temple about 6:10am and were able to send them downstairs to change by the temple hostel rooms. Interesting how the Lord provides. When we are alone in the temple early or late, a certain amount of awe comes over me as I help take care of the special needs that are required. I think back on those people in the Old Testament who were called to administrate and to take care of the temple. I think about Samuel and also, about Simeon and Anna, all temple workers with special blessings. I feel many of those spiritual blessings too, and feel it is a great privilege to work here, to be part of the Lord’s faithful.

We woke up this morning to a snowfall last night. See the first picture. It was Fast Day so we could sleep in and skip breakfast, but it was really pretty outside with a whitish fog that really looked good on a temple! The other pictures I’ve included, as I went outside after our meeting included the entire temple presidency walking up to our apartment building where they all live. That’s President Wagner on the left, President Erlacher in the middle and President Wadosch on the right.  Also included are pictures of our Herberg or hostel and the chapel right next door where the Freiberg 2nd Branch meets.

Love you all,  

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

January 28, 2018

                There are several highlights to report about our second full week in Freiberg. The first item that has really had an impression on us is how very strenuous it is to work full time in a small temple. We have a total of five missionary couples here and certainly there are a variety of other called temple workers who are present each day, but their assignments seem a little hit and miss. We start out each day at 7 AM with a prayer meeting of the entire temple staff. Each day one member of the temple presidency is assigned for the overall leadership responsibility and each of us picks up our daily work schedule as we arrive. There are naturally assignments for the baptistry, for initiatory ordinances, for sealings and for the endowment sessions. A couple is assigned to lead each session and we have two endowment rooms in the temple since the recent expansion was completed. There are five sessions a day at 8, 9, 10:30, 11:30 and 1PM with an additional 7 PM session scheduled on Friday night. These run from Tuesday through Saturday pretty much as the rest of the temples in the church are scheduled.  

For this past week, one couple pretty much took care of the baptisms as they took place and that was pretty much their only regular assignment. Another couple is assigned responsibility for the initiatory ordinances. Two couples are assigned the endowment sessions as “veil coordinators” and their responsibility is to be responsible for making sure that everyone is in place for the hour and a half or so that it takes to complete a session.  That turned out to be our assignment with another couple for this past week. We had three sessions a day and the other couple took two. That means we were in charge of the 8, 10:30 and 1 PM session and the other couple were responsible for the 9 and 11:30 sessions. Another brother and sister are assigned to actually lead the session itself. So, each day we had to first find out if enough people were present to actually conduct a session and if so make the determination that it would be held by pushing a button in the endowment room. For the half hour prior to the beginning of the session we had to make sure someone was available to assign names of the deceased to the patrons and assure that we had at least five brothers and five sisters in the session for the prayer offering.  Several times that was not the case and we then had to recruit available workers to join the prayer at the proper time. We had to select the witness couple. Another responsibility was to determine which languages were being used by the attendees. 

This week we had three brothers from Poland, none of whom spoke German. One spoke English and was set apart as a temple worker. One of our temple missionaries has learned enough Polish to handle assignments at the veil and the temple recorder, an employed brother, could also handle Polish. There were probably 8 or 9 times during the week when we had to make sure that we had people both in front and behind the veil who could handle that language. We also had one day where we had two French speaking sisters, one day with a Spanish speaking sister and multiple times with people who requested English. 

That was the easiest to handle! Then we had to have someone who could participate in a demonstration at the veil and then decide how many veil workers we needed at the end of the session both in front of and behind the veil. Each appreciated having a card to handle whatever language was needed going through and the veil coordinators told everyone when and where they were needed, and which language would be required for their position.

                There was maybe a half hour during each session where one might have a little free time and in those slots, we found it was necessary to grab lunch, do our laundry or memorize things we hadn’t yet learned in German. I think I’m actually going to lose weight on this mission! We’ve still got some time to see if we want to try and learn another language. Our Polish brethren have left and apparently this week they’re expecting a group from the Czech Republic. We generally are done by about 3 in the afternoon but by then it’s been a good 8 hours of steady running around to make sure everyone is in place. We expect to be taught other responsibilities in the coming weeks regarding the baptistry and the initiatories. 

We did have two interesting assignments this week. The first was to actually lead the Friday evening session, something neither one of us had ever done. As it turned out it was the biggest session we experienced throughout the past two weeks with one extra chair being brought in for the brethren and only one empty chair for the sisters. The other new assignment was to speak in Sacrament Meeting today! They really only wanted some comments to introduce ourselves and bear our testimonies, but we did it in German and I was proud of Mom for doing it very well. She also had the assignment to teach the Gospel Doctrine class in Sunday School to those speaking English but impressed everyone that she was technologically proficient by downloading some videos from lds.org and showing them on her laptop.

Of course, today is her birthday. As we got ready to leave for church and opened our door for the first time, there were four gifts from several of our colleagues, cards from the temple presidency and an invitation to join 11 of us in total for a birthday dinner tomorrow night at a local restaurant they all recommend. We really have developed excellent relationships with the other missionaries, the temple presidency and several of the local temple workers who are there frequently. It’s a delightful spirit present amongst us all and because we work together every day, the relationships are much deeper than they were in Vienna where we only saw the other seniors at Zone Conferences or other big mission events. 



I have included a few pictures showing Mom’s birthday gifts and various angles that demonstrate our huge apartment. Our beds are right adjacent to our dining area which is right next to our sitting area which is right next to our kitchen. When the temple president said our kitchen at home might be as large or larger than our entire apartment, he was pretty accurate!

Thursday after we finished our assignment one of the brothers drove us up to the city hall where we attempted to finally get officially registered. It was so crowded they informed us we’d never get through the line before they were going to be closing for the day and suggested we come back on Saturday morning. They managed to get by without us for about an hour as the temple matron, Sister Erlacher, drove us up and picked us up again after we got done. It’s about a half hour walk one way so we appreciated the lift and now we are officially registered. Our visa applications come up within the next 3-4 weeks and then we’re set for the long haul. 

Mom: It’s hard to believe we have only been here 2 weeks. With our early and long days, it does seem a lot longer and this week we had what is called “früh dienst” and “spät dienst” or early and late service, where we open up the temple, turning on all the lights etc. and just get things ready for the day. So then, we get up at 4:30 and begin the day. It makes 5:00 AM not feel so bad. Anyway, we’re learning how most things function in the temple and how the Lord helps everything come together. There is no slouching. You just jump right in and do whatever is asked or expected. At the same time, we have really come to appreciate and love our fellow workers and our temple presidency, all who jump in to help when necessary. It was sweet this morning to find birthday surprises right at our door. Such sweet sisters. Loved Facetiming with Tim the day before his MTC mission. Been thinking about you all.
              

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

January 21, 2018

Our first week serving in the Freiberg Temple is now complete and it has been an amazing experience. The first real adjustment began as we finished our first weekend here, got through our first P day and then went to work. Let me back up and talk about our first P day to begin with. The other temple missionaries have been extraordinarily helpful in getting us oriented to what’s happening. We really haven’t had much opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the city at all but our next-door neighbors, Elder and Sister Moss, offered to take us around the city in their car and show us what was what. They did take us by the city hall to show us where we have to register and this was a bit of a surprise because we were informed we would not have to apply for a visa. Not true. We have informed our daughter, Emily that we need a copy of our marriage certificate and have another week to register which is waiting for the temple recorder to get back from a short skiing vacation. He was apparently in church today so we should be able to get things going there quickly.  Then we had the chance to stock up a bit more on foodstuffs at a bigger grocery store than the one within easy walking distance and stocked our larder up a bit better. It turns out the Mosses are good friends with the Kinghorns who we met toward the end of our mission to Vienna so it’s a small world. 

The next big adjustment was changing our daily lifestyles. We needed to get to bed by 9:00 as opposed to our usual 11:00 or later in order to get up by 5:00 and be to the temple for the daily devotional by 7:00. Somehow with jet lag thrown in we were both waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning and by the time we were done at the temple, usually by 3 or so in the afternoon, we were thoroughly exhausted. There was lots to learn and especially German phrases to memorize and there just didn’t seem to be time to sit down and memorize much. All of the ordinance cards available are guarded very closely and I had a brother really get after me once for leaving a card for a short moment while I was pursuing someone to work in one of the booths. I was informed never to leave the cards where they might walk off unexpectedly and have hopefully learned my lesson.

Most of our assignments this week have involved working at the veil or organizing endowment sessions and we have been assigned doing demonstrations, presenting and receiving and especially making sure that enough workers were available. We had a Russian speaking couple for a couple of days and one of our brethren can handle Russian pretty well. I had situations where I was doing German, Russian and even Spanish which is more languages than I was prepared to handle but it seemed to come off OK. Our main assignment for Friday and Saturday was to learn the duties of “endowment coordinators” and I got involved as well in helping with the sealing rooms, augmenting prayer circles when there weren’t enough brethren and serving at the recommend desk. Mom helped with initiatories. Neither one of us have yet been exposed to the baptistry and it seems we still have lots to learn and memorize. One request that took me by surprise was to help with the visit of one of the counselors in the area presidency. He was here for a couple of days to assess how well we were functioning and had scheduled a meeting with the sealers. He doesn’t speak German, but his English is OK and his primary language is Spanish. I was asked by the temple president to translate the meeting into English for him and then translate his remarks into German as he spoke to the group. I guess the gift of tongues was at work though I don’t think I did that great, but he was very gracious in thanking me for my efforts. This next week we’re going to be initiated into what is called the “late service” and the “early service”, closing up after everything is done for the day, and opening up in the morning before everyone else arrives.  It doesn’t make sense to me, but the latter follows the former meaning one gets home late one evening and then starts early the next day.  I guess it will all come in time.

We had a lot of missionaries this week and apparently those who work in the area are allowed to go monthly or any time one of their new converts is going to the temple. Next week we apparently have a group coming from the Czech Republic. Everyone seems to feel they are a good group and often bring their own workers with them. I guess we’ll see how it goes. The temple presidency has been very helpful and encouraging. We served as a witness couple once and it sounds like I may be asked to lead a session this next week. We’ll see how that goes. 

We have loved associating with the other missionaries. One couple, the Bonners, invited us to go out with them to a restaurant for dinner, known as the Organ Pipe. The food was delicious. Today we were invited to Sunday dinner by the Ashbys. He is an architect and has been involved with helping design up to 25 different temples. His wife was a German language student and speaks the language extremely well. She and I attended the German Sunday School class while her husband and Mom attended the available English class. We just got another invitation to join a group for pudding tonight but had to decline as we had only been home for about 15 minutes.

Tomorrow is a day off and we may get someone to take us up to get some photos for our visas which we were informed by the church we wouldn’t need, but apparently we definitely do.

         Mom: Can’t believe we are into our second week. The time goes by quickly, but not if you know what I mean. Training is some what limited here as workers are needed badly and so you are jumped into the work immediately. It is stressful learning the ins and outs of managing the temple and then mostly in German, but the English-speaking sisters have done very well in memorizing the ordinance in German over a number of months. What we actually have here is a 5-day work period, working from 7am until 3pm, with additional evening time on Friday from 6pm to 9:30 +. A 7 hour a day work week doesn’t leave much time on week days for extra- curricular activities and we need to go to bed early so that we can be up by 5am. I should be changed into an early bird by the time our mission ends. I love all the temple sisters and brothers. They are sweet and helpful. It’s good to be challenged and to keep learning.

          We love all your Posts, so keep them coming. 

LOVE and HUGS, 

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

Revitalization of "It's a Besonderes Life"

Hello Family and Friends,

Saying farewell to some of the grandchildren

     It's been 26 months since the last installment of "It's a Besonderes Life" but we are back out in the field again, this time doing a temple mission in Freiberg, Germany. We started our preparations back in April of 2017 getting our mission papers ready and going through the required physical examinations. Because of our age and my problems with high blood pressure and diabetes as a past history, I was required to take a stress EKG where they put you on a treadmill and have you work out a bit during the exam. I flunked and had to be evaluated by a cardiologist. That resulted in a coronary artery angiogram that revealed I was a heart attack waiting to happen! The operation revealed I had three different coronary arteries that were about 85 to 90 percent occluded. I hadn't had any symptoms at all and figured I was in pretty good shape compared to my paternal ancestors.  My grandfather died of heart disease in his early 50's, my father 10 years later at the age of 63 and so my goal had been to make it at least to 73. I have always considered it a great blessing to have decided on serving another mission at the age of 72 as I might have fulfilled my expectations and not have been around much longer. But the cardiologist put some arterial wideners in my heart vessels, called stents, and I hope I'm good for a few years more. He wants me on blood thinners for a year which will be up this coming May. 

     So our papers went in and we received our call to our desired temple in Freiberg at the end of June, indicating we would start in early January, almost six months away!  Meanwhile, Mom in her workup was discovered to have a herniated disc in her neck vertebrae risking the possibility of slipping badly and paralyzing her from the neck down. That required surgery to slip the disc out and replace it with an artificial substitute, locking it in  place with a small metal retainer.  During that workup she also complained of pain in her left hand and was discovered to have a carpal tunnel syndrome which also needed surgery. I was having a little blurriness in my vision and my long time ophthalmologist was closing his practice and moving to Maine. So he referred me to a corneal specialist who noted I had a few "nodules" in my eyes along with something a little worse in the left eye which required a same day surgery.  He wanted me off my blood thinners to do the procedure for just five days but I didn't think the cardiologist would buy that until at least six months had gone by. So that procedure was performed on December 21st and turned out to leave me more visually impaired than when we started, at least temporarily.  I'm doing OK but my last visit was 4 days into the mission and I'll need to get some new glasses eventually somewhere here in Germany.  No wonder the Lord gave us six months to get ready!!

     Working with the bishop and our stake president we received a call to meet with the Mt. Timpanogos Temple President who set us apart on the spot to work as temple ordinance workers there every Friday for 4 weeks. Our mentor turned out to be Ralph Kmetzsch, Steve's brother. He gave us assignments each day as to where we would work. This was old stuff for Mom who had been an ordinance worker for 8 years and even a shift coordinator for awhile but I was the novice and spent some time witnessing baptisms and then an hour or so of study each day so I could participate in presenting and receiving at the veil as well as working in the new name issue booth. We even went over once to study many of the ordinances in German to give us a little advance preparation for what we'd be doing in Freiberg. 

     We had our farewell on New Years Eve and I had a hard time reading my notes on a three page talk I'd prepared. So I expanded the size of the print to a six page talk and then found it wasn't that easy to ready on Sunday morning so I temporarily quadrupled the print size to a 24 page talk!  But my grandson Tim administered to me with Benj offering the prayer and I found I could read the six page talk just fine when the time came. The following week, on the 7th of January, Fast Day, our Stake, President, Tyler Sheffield, came to our home and met with us and the local family for almost an hour in our setting apart appointment. He spent some time talking with the children and getting several expressions of faith and even a testimony or two from the grandchildren before setting us apart with the Melchizedek Priesthood sons also standing in the circle. It was a very special experience and we were grateful so many could be in attendance.

with grandson Tim after the blessing

 The next evening we reported to the Radisson Hotel for four nights while we underwent special training for 24 of us who were called as full time temple missionaries.  We weren't sure what to expect but it really was very special.  A couple from the Temple Department had been in contact with us preparing our travel itineraries, airplane tickets, shuttle to the airport, etc and they helped run the special training CD's the church has prepared for all temple ordinance workers. Our sessions were conducted with President and Sister Alldrege, at one time President and Matron of the Salt Lake Temple and who had also served as mission president in London, England.  We were asked to bring our own temple names if possible and Alicia Braegger, Aunt Sharon's daughter, graciously supplied us with 10 names each.

     Our first day we discussed the initiatory ordinances performed in the temple, providing great insight and meaning into what is accomplished. It was very interesting to see how the church is emphasizing making temple work an uplifting experience for patrons, encouraging workers to be friendly and helpful and minimizing problems with things that previously might have been somewhat nitpicky with some issues.  We then had the opportunity to actually go through initiatory ordinances and consider their significance after what we had learned.  The second day focused on the endowment itself.  Many of the missionaries, like mom, had previously been temple workers themselves and there were great contributions as people discussed the experiences they had had.  There were many recommendations that resulted, again trying to minimize concerns, answer potential problems that might arise and make the whole experience as meaningful as possible. Then we attended a typical live session, no films used and it was pointed out that the Salt Lake Temple utilizes only one language, English.  If you don't understand English, utilize one of the other nearby temples of which, of course, there are many.We both participated in the prayer circle and enjoyed some reverent conversation in the celestial room where we had the opportunity of visiting the actual sealing room where we were married and sealed.  We remember the spot where the Savior appeared to President Lorenzo Snow just outside the celestial room which I may have pointed out to any of you, who have attended the Salt Lake Temple at any time in the past.

     Thursday, our third day, we had the opportunity of discussing the sealing ordinances and their significance and especially how to handle ordinances where living children were being sealed to their parents. Of course its difficult to go into much detail because of the sacred nature of everything we talked about but it was extremely inspiring to talk about them in that setting. All of our sessions other than actually participating in the ordinances took place in the chapel just beyond the main recommend desk. That used to be the gathering and waiting area in days gone by but it has been outfitted with retractable screens for the training DVD's we watched.  We only took up about three or four rows so it was very roomy but had the opportunity to sing hymns and we had special visitors who spoke to us as well from the temple department and a brother from the Quorum of the Seventy.  Thursday was a very special day because after our instruction they took us on a bit of a tour through the baptistry and then divided us up into various sealing rooms. We were privileged to utilize a room we had never seen which is located behind the celestial room. We walked through the old sealing office which used to be open and accessible but isn't any longer.  We walked behind the two sealing rooms which bracket the Holy of Holys, one of which being our sealing room and then went further to a sealing room located on the east side of the temple directly between the two main doors that face the big fountain. There we had the opportunity to complete the names we had been working on though we still have several that we will complete here in Freiberg. Following our sealing session we were all taken up to the big Assembly Room on the fifth floor where we had never been since we were young missionaries.  We were privileged to sit on the east side of the room behind the four levels of podiums for the Melchizedek Priesthood where another wonderful question and answer session was held. 

Upon our completion of the training we had the opportunity of attending the viewing for President Monson.  It was just a little after three in the afternoon and although it was steady, the flow was very organized and it only took us about ten minutes to pay our respects to our beloved prophet. We had held onto our car during the week and left immediately for my last appointment with the ophthalmologist. Then we went back home,picked p a few items and left some others and Emily drove us back to the hotel to make our final preparations for departure. My car had previously been dispensed to Jeffrey at BYU-Idaho and we left Mom's car for use by Aaron this time around.  A shuttle picked us up just prior to the start of President Monson's funeral and dropped us off at the airport where our four pieces of checked luggage, with a little shuffling around ended up weighing 201 pounds which they let us get away with  without having to pay anything extra!  Our flight on Delta took about 10 hours, leaving at 2 PM and arriving in Amsterdam around midnight MST but 8 AM there. The plane had only 2 empty seats, one of which was right next to me. I thanked the Lord many times for such a blessing!

'We were impressed that the Amsterdam airport essentially ran on the English language with all of the attendants speaking very proficiently, all the signs basically being in English and passport control being very efficient and quick.  We had about a four hour layover and then just an hour and a half flight on KLM to Dresden.  I think we had only picked up maybe a couple of hours sleep in the 16 hours it took to make the complete trip and we arrived and were picked up by our temple president, Gunther Erlacher and his wife. They showed us to our apartment in the temple hostel on a floor utilized by several other temple missionaries. His two counselors are quite near us, one right across the hall and the other, the Wadosch's, whom we knew well while in Vienna, just down the hall. They gave us a few hours to unpack and get settled and then invited us to dinner with the entire temple presidency at the Erlacher's apartment.The temple daily devotional starts Tuesday morning at 7 AM and Pres. Erlacher asked if I would provide a short 3 minute spiritual thought. The new First Presidency won't be announced until 5 PM our time that day but I think I might talk a bit about my association with our uncle-in-law! By the time we were finished we were more than ready to get some real sleep.  Church started at 9 AM and we felt somewhat refreshed by then though still recovering from serious jet lag. Relief Society and Priesthood were both in German. It turns out they had an English speaking Sunday School class which mom attended with several of the other missionaries but I stuck it out with the German speaking class. The grocery store is within a very short walking distance and we were taken over there Saturday night to pick up a few items with one of the missionary couples taking us in their car on Monday to get better stocked up. We're here and ready to go and it sounds like we might be assigned right off the top to be endowment coordinators. Hopefully we'll be shown the general layout of the temple which has two endowment rooms and five sessions daily starting at 8 AM on Tuesday. 

Mom: The temple training sessions were very sweet and spiritually powerful and I wished it could last longer. The church leaders are working very hard to make the temple experience very loving and up lifting for every individual, helping them to feel the love of the Savior in his house.

 We love all the senior temple missionaries, who have been very welcoming, helpful and kind. We look forward to working with them. I am a little concerned that they have no real training in the temple and that we will be jumped right in to working with the German and other languages. But we trust that the Lord will provide the way. Going to church on Sunday was enjoyable, the German was easier to understand than Vienna, and the saints were very friendly. It will take a bit to settle in but I think this will be a great experience. We have had to speak German right off and I'm surprised at how much is still in my head. Also everyone is very patient.

We miss you all, but are glad to hear that Noah's eyes are doing better. 

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

It's Really Over!

To Our Dear and Wonderfully Supportive Family,

Somehow we can't end the saga of our mission without a few photos of the wonderful homecoming that missed the last installment.  Here are a few that nicely summarize the arrival at the airport as well as the Sunday of our homecoming talks. A picture is worth a thousand words.

These last two were of the first zone leader to met us as we arrived and one of our later zone leaders as we were ready to leave as well as three of the senior couples with whom we worked. Next to us are Elder and Sister Strong whom we replaced when we arrived. It was a marvelous experience which we recommend to all of you when the time is right and of course to all of you who have yet to serve while you're still young.

We love you all and hope to mingle and mix with you as often as possible!

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