It is snowing lightly and there is a dusting of snow on the ground. Anina just said it is to cold too go for a walk, so we are comfortably settled in our nice warm apartment.
At church we had a fairly good turn out. Maybe, it was because of family that came to see a baby blessed. The testimony meeting was good, for the Spirit was felt to point that I moved to bear my testimony. After church we visited one of our young adult investigators that is sick. She is one of our American girls that has been coming out to our institute classes and activities. She was so sick that we received a call at 2:30 AM this morning. We calmed her down and gave her some medication. She felt somewhat better this afternoon and we will take her to a Doctor in the morning. We have not quite figured out the medical system here in Germany, but we will learn a little more tomorrow.
New Years Eve was quite peaceful for us, that is , until the midnight hour. At twelve midnight, one would have thought that the Third World War had broken out. The noise and display of fireworks all around us was more like the 4th and 24th of July and more, but all at one time. Only it did not come from a park or stadium, but from many individual homes and many groups of people that got together and put on a display of fireworks. It was close to an hour before things got back to normal.
In our mission there is a rule that all of the missionaries had to be in their apartment by 6:00 PM on New Years Eve. Anina made sure that we had some good things to eat in the house for the duration. We even departed from our gospel study and watched the seven part series of the HBO presentation of "John Adams", based upon the book "John Adams" written by David McCullough. (We watched the last two series on New Years Day). I read the book just about a year ago.(Thanks for the Henries for loaning me the book). It was as rewarding to relive the life of John and Abigail Adams for the second time. (Thanks Phil for sending us those disks.)
As you know, John Adams was called upon to live for extended periods of time over seas (Europe). His wife Abigail was able to join him for a short period of time. There is a scene right after John Adams was called to be the ambassador to Great Briton and the Adams lived in relative comfort.Yet being away from home and Family was almost more than they could bear. Abigail at that time made a statement that we can relate to. She said:"Sometimes I feel like my body is in one place and my soul in another."
These past few days that feeling has come over us many times. Thanks to all of your support and prayers, we were able to bridge that gab. We loved receiving your Christmas cards, your letters, your gifts of remembrance, your e-mails, your phone calls and from the family the pictures and DVDs of each of the grandchildren.
Our stay was also made bearable by the many invitations by the good Saints in this part of the World. Some have included us in their family traditions as we ate with them, sang songs with them, played games with them, shared stories of our favorite Christmas and even read the scriptures with them. --It was almost like being at home.---
It is our time to be here among the Saints in Germany. We pray for continued health and strength and courage so we can be of service to a people who need the Gospel in their lives.
We are looking forward to a great year,
At church we had a fairly good turn out. Maybe, it was because of family that came to see a baby blessed. The testimony meeting was good, for the Spirit was felt to point that I moved to bear my testimony. After church we visited one of our young adult investigators that is sick. She is one of our American girls that has been coming out to our institute classes and activities. She was so sick that we received a call at 2:30 AM this morning. We calmed her down and gave her some medication. She felt somewhat better this afternoon and we will take her to a Doctor in the morning. We have not quite figured out the medical system here in Germany, but we will learn a little more tomorrow.
New Years Eve was quite peaceful for us, that is , until the midnight hour. At twelve midnight, one would have thought that the Third World War had broken out. The noise and display of fireworks all around us was more like the 4th and 24th of July and more, but all at one time. Only it did not come from a park or stadium, but from many individual homes and many groups of people that got together and put on a display of fireworks. It was close to an hour before things got back to normal.
In our mission there is a rule that all of the missionaries had to be in their apartment by 6:00 PM on New Years Eve. Anina made sure that we had some good things to eat in the house for the duration. We even departed from our gospel study and watched the seven part series of the HBO presentation of "John Adams", based upon the book "John Adams" written by David McCullough. (We watched the last two series on New Years Day). I read the book just about a year ago.(Thanks for the Henries for loaning me the book). It was as rewarding to relive the life of John and Abigail Adams for the second time. (Thanks Phil for sending us those disks.)
As you know, John Adams was called upon to live for extended periods of time over seas (Europe). His wife Abigail was able to join him for a short period of time. There is a scene right after John Adams was called to be the ambassador to Great Briton and the Adams lived in relative comfort.Yet being away from home and Family was almost more than they could bear. Abigail at that time made a statement that we can relate to. She said:"Sometimes I feel like my body is in one place and my soul in another."
These past few days that feeling has come over us many times. Thanks to all of your support and prayers, we were able to bridge that gab. We loved receiving your Christmas cards, your letters, your gifts of remembrance, your e-mails, your phone calls and from the family the pictures and DVDs of each of the grandchildren.
Our stay was also made bearable by the many invitations by the good Saints in this part of the World. Some have included us in their family traditions as we ate with them, sang songs with them, played games with them, shared stories of our favorite Christmas and even read the scriptures with them. --It was almost like being at home.---
It is our time to be here among the Saints in Germany. We pray for continued health and strength and courage so we can be of service to a people who need the Gospel in their lives.
We are looking forward to a great year,
The beautiful "Rathause" in the old village of Allendorf. Please note the 24 numbers in each of the windows and bottom door and the top tower. It is a 24 day advent calendar. The countdown starts with the lid 24 and ends up with 1 on Christmas Eve.
Anina on a very scenic and snowy/cold highway
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