A GENERAL AUTHORITY'S EMOTIONAL GOODBYE

Each Monday morning we have a short devotional meeting to start the week with all the employees and senior missionaries that work or serve in the Europe Area office.  Last Monday Elder Kearon (Seventy and President of the Europe Area) spoke for the final time to us before his transfer to Utah for his new assignment.  He repeatedly told us how much he appreciated our efforts.  Speaking specifically to the missionaries he said, “. . . you even pay for the opportunity to serve!  You launch yourselves out of your Lazy-Boy recliners to come and live in an apartment smaller than your big screen televisions back home.”  After the closing prayer he quickly walked back to the pulpit and said, “I forgot to tell you how much I love you and will miss serving with you; I don’t want to go.”  It was a very tender moment, one that we did not want to end.   

Elder Patrick Kearon-a remarkable man, we love him and will miss him

Our replacements were called some time ago and they will be arriving in Germany mid-September.  Welfare Department senior missionaries only go out once a month due to their training schedule in Provo and SLC, Utah.  Our mission release date was October 18^th which would have had us overlapping more than four weeks.  We really only need a week or two but I (Russell) have been reluctant to initiate the needed change in our release date.  This week we finally decided to pick a date and start the official process; we will be returning home on Thursday, September 28^th. 

I have quite mixed feelings when thinking of returning home.  While I look forward to seeing family members again, I also know from prior experience that there will be a certain subtle feeling of loss that occurs when I am released from serving as a full-time missionary.  Knowing this I will appreciate even more the last three months we are here, the places we will visit on assignment, and the people we work with.  For the first time during our three missions I had the thought, perhaps I am actually, at last, “living the dream.”

Eileen got a “new” used bike last week and yesterday we took a ride to test it out.  It must be quite an improvement because Eileen wanted to ride further than we have in the past.  We rode 36 km, mostly along the Nidda River out to where it runs into the Main River.  The Germans have done a wonderful job of preserving green spaces around the perimeter of Frankfurt with walking and bike trails.  Probably only 10 percent of our ride was on public streets where we had to watch for cars. 

The river isn't big, however this family decided to go for a canoe ride

I never did see the duck water skiing however I loved the billboard

This beautiful house along the Nidda river looks more Swiss  than German

Poppies lined the road, I have a grandson whose favorite colors are orange and black. This photo is for you!

We are the Rueckert's home teachers and have been helping water their plants while they are out of town. This pigeon was just an egg 2 months ago, then last month was tiny, eating worms from it's Mom. He is growing fast, but is still a squatter.

This photo was taken by the missionary upstairs from us. Russell tending our "garden".  We bought a fake owl to put in our flowers to scare the pigeons away. 

FEELING BLESSED

We have experienced several tender mercies this past week.  Wednesday night some senior missionaries got together to celebrate Elfie’s 88^th birthday.  Elfie is German, and although not a member of our church, has close ties with the senior missionaries. After the birthday party I received a call from a close friend of mine who is also a senior missionary. She was in a total state of panic and asked if I would help her.  She had gone to a large store, similar to Costco in the United States, to buy food for the birthday party.  In her hurry to get home she had inadvertently left her credit card in the machine at the store. We hurried off to the store to see if anyone had turned it in. While she drove, I called the store. I spent 20 minutes on the phone and was told that no credit card had been turned in. My friend was beside herself with concern. I felt impressed that we should say a prayer before going in to the store and that everything would be ok.  A beautiful prayer was offered by my friend. She plead with the Lord that we might be able to find someone who could help us in English and that we could find the card.  Within 10 minutes she had her credit card in her hand. We were both filled with gratitude at the graciousness of the Lord in helping us find the card. Another prayer of thanks was again offered as soon as we reached the car.

There was a holiday in the office this week and we took the opportunity to attend the temple in Freiberg Germany. My sister had done some family history and found a number of direct relatives from the early 1600s who needed temple work done for them.  The story of these relatives is pretty miraculous in itself. The records indicated 10 children were born in this family, however something didn’t seem right to her. She found the death record for the mother listed and the mother actually passed away before five of the children listed on the records were born. Following promptings, she discovered that my grandfather (many generations back) had remarried a few months after his first wife died.  He had a total of 10 children. Three of the children have an identical name as their half-brother or sister.  In two of the three cases the older child which shared the name had died in infancy or as a toddler.  As I did some research on this family before going to the temple I felt very strongly that this family needed to be united.

While at dinner on Friday night I received a call from another of my sisters.  She told me that my father had experienced several symptoms of a stroke and was being taken to the emergency room. I was very concerned and asked her to keep in touch.  My father turned 93 years old 2 weeks ago. My mother is 89 years old.  I recognize that either could pass on to the next life at any time, however it will be very difficult for me when they do so. I love them both very much.  As it turned out many tests were done and he was sent back home without a serious diagnosis. This was another tender mercy offered to my family. As I was in the temple my thoughts turned to how gracious my Heavenly Father has been to me.  Today is Father’s Day. I feel truly blessed to have three very good father figures in my life, my husband who is the father of my children, my earthly father and also my Heavenly Father. 

Elfie and Sister Keyser,  I think someone got the amount of years wrong-I was told Elfie turned 88 years old.

On our way to the temple we had a quick stop in Prague. It is a beautiful city with tons of tourists

Eileen and Russell with Prague Castle in the background. We did not take the time to go to the castle.

 Theresienstadt concentration camp was established by the SS during World War II in the garrison city of Terezin located in German occupied Czechoslovakia. Tens of thousands of people died there, some killed outright and others dying from malnutrition and disease. More than 150,000 other persons (including tens of thousands of children) were held there for months or years, before being sent by rail transports to their deaths. 

This sign in German stating "works make you free" was very misleading

Russell, Eileen and Sister Keyser at Freiberg temple

RECEIVING TRAINING IN BRATISLAVA

Last Sunday we had our monthly testimony meeting where members of the congregation can share their feelings and love for Jesus Christ.  Sister Kearon related a beautiful story about a recent visit she and Elder Kearon had with  Elder Anderson and his wife.  They traveled to a Nordic country and viewed the original Karl Bloch paintings depicting the life of Jesus Christ.  She made the observation that many tourists quickly passed by the paintings to go see an alter which seemed to be the focal part of the room.  I  (Eileen) wondered if perhaps those tourists would have slowed their pace a little bit if they had known they were passing by a modern day Apostle of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday we drove home to Frankfurt from Bratislava, Slovakia, We met and did some training with the Schultz couple in Bratislava.  They will be serving as humanitarian missionaries in the Czech/Slovak Mission and living in the east end of Slovakia.  Usually we do our training in the couple’s apartment.  However, Elder and Sister Schultz were just finishing a mission couple’s conference in Prague and we wanted to meet with an NGO in Bratislava.  It also saved us 300 miles of driving of what would otherwise have been an 800 mile (one-way) journey.

Since we worked the last two Saturdays and Monday was a holiday, we decided to take a day on the way there to stop in Vienna.  We spent two nights in a hotel there (on our own dime) that was a bit nicer than what we stay in when the Church is paying for it.  The hotel was just across the street from the Schonbrunn Castle.  We both greatly enjoyed the opportunity to relax and learn more about the history of Austria.

The part of our mission duties we like best is getting to meet with the humanitarian missionary couples we serve with.  Each has a unique set of life experiences.  We find many times that these experiences have helped prepare them to serve in their various countries and circumstances they are called to. 

It is interesting how God sometimes answers our prayers through other people.  Eileen and I have been concerned for some time about how to best help one of our family members and praying for guidance.  Although the purpose of our trip to Slovakia was to train the Schultz couple in humanitarian/welfare principles, it was Sister Schultz who taught us.  During a relatively brief but very personal discussion over breakfast, I feel I got an answer to my prayers.  I am confident that God loves us more than we can comprehend and that he listens to our prayers.  His answers may not always be what we want to hear or arrive with the immediacy we desire, but he is always right!

Training in the hotel room-not ideal but Elder and Sister Schultz were great about being flexible

Elder and Sister Schultz-could they possibly be old enough to be senior missionaries?

Looking from the old fort across the Danube.  UFO Bridge in the background

Dinner in Bratislava

Beautiful church in Bratislava 

The architecture in Bratislava is very unique.

The homeless shelter we visited is run by a Catholic NGO. They had some beautiful artwork of the Savior's life lining the stairs.

The NGO would like to put a garden in this area for the clients to work in, which would also produce fresh vegetables for their consumption.

Missionaries look with NGO employees at the intended plot for the garden

Elder Trythall and Elder Whitney came with us on our NGO visit and helped with the translation. If the proposed project is passed they will also be doing a lot of manual labor as service.

St Stephens cathedral in Vienna built in 1147 AD.

View of Vienna from St Stephens

We hiked the 343 stairs to get to the top of the tower, and were able to look out over Vienna. There was an AED at the top of the tower, which would serve as a defibrillator when needed. The employee at the top of the tower told me  that a few weeks ago a firefighter ran to the top of the tower trying to see if he could run all of the steps in 3 minutes. He then collapsed at the top, and had to be let down through a panel in the floor which can be lifted out. 

Greenhouse at Schonbrunn palace built in 1882

The gardens were at Schonbrunn palace were lovely. They are open from early in the morning until late at night. We enjoyed going when there were not other tourists and walking the grounds. 

Beautiful fountains with water lilies

It started to rain and the palace grounds cleared out

Eileen in front of the palace at Schonbrunn.  The grounds were started in the 14th century. The historical Hapsburgs family lived here in this palace.

We were able to attend an evening concert with Strauss and Mozart played by the orchestra. Mozart played at Schonbrunn when he was only 6 years old. (photo courtesy of Get your Guide)

SICILY

On Wednesday we flew to Sicily to train the Scoville couple who arrived last weekend. The Scovilles are the second humanitarian missionary couple in Italy. Both couples administer aid for the refugee crisis.  Elder Scoville suffered a serious eye injury during their last mission in Ghana and we are all grateful that his eye has healed sufficiently to allow them to serve again.  It is truly humbling to see the sacrifice some of the couples make to leave the comforts and safety of home to serve the Lord.  Although our time with them was almost all spent in their apartment training on clerical type subjects, we did venture out for lunch on Friday and walked to an old fortress in their town.  From there we got a good view of the active volcano just a few miles away.

Russell teaching the Scovilles about finances

It was fun to watch the Scovilles in action.  Elder Scoville is very friendly and speaks Italian. He made friends everywhere he went. We bought some chicken from this family. They wrapped it in foil and cooked it over coals. When I asked if I could take a photo they all jumped in wanting to be photographed.

The flowering trees were abundant and beautiful.

We saw several roadside stands. Each consisted of many fruits and vegetables loaded into the back of a truck. Elder Scoville had a good conversation with this man about being a missionary for our church. I was admiring these red peppers and tried to buy them. This gentleman gave me two as a gift. 

Mount Etna is an active volcano. It erupted earlier this year

Sister Scoville and Eileen-we didn't have a dress code this day but we sort of matched.

Russell and I with Mount Etna in the background.

This old fort has been here for around 2000 years

Elder Scoville and Russell, the streets were empty on Independence Day.

It was Italy's independence day and we couldn't find a restaurant open. However we did find this pastry shop open. Yumm!

These fish at the pastry shop are all made of marzipan which is ground almond paste. It took a great artist to make this.

On our way home Saturday, as we were getting ready to land, the pilot came on to give connecting gate information.  When he got to “London” he said that the flight had been canceled.  In the Frankfurt airport we noticed a very long line – hundreds of people – at the customer service desk.  This would have been before the actual terrorist attack on London Bridge last night.  I (Russell) don’t know if it was just a coincidence or if there was a concern by the British authorities that something was about to happen.  In recent weeks both the UK and France have been on very high alert for terrorist activity.  It was just this morning we learned of the attacks last night in London.

The terrorist activities in Western Europe have caused some political groups in countries of the EU to encourage their citizens and politicians to withdraw from the EU, citing the refugees and immigration as the cause.  Over the past few decades much in the way of economic growth and political stability has occurred for millions of people due to the union.  It is a shame to see this progress impeded by the terrorist activity of a relative few. 

On a more positive note, Eileen harvested her first two tomatoes.  At her request I planted two tomato plants a couple months ago.  The container in which I planted them is too small so we have to water the plants every day.  I have been moving them back and forth from in front of our kitchen window to our small balcony depending on the weather.  We appreciate our fellow missionaries who water them in our absence.  Yes it is far easier and cheaper to just buy tomatoes in the store.  But somehow planting things, like making minor upgrades in the apartment furnishings or wall hangings, makes it seem more like home.

We arrived home to find that we had two ripe tomatoes on our plant. Russell has done a great job of nurturing this plant.