ONE CHECK OR TWO?

Last night Eileen and I went out to dinner.  As neither of us had eaten all the food we had ordered we asked our waitress for carryout boxes.  She asked us, “One box?” To which I replied, “Two.”  Since what each of us had ordered was quite different, putting them in the same box would mess with the flavors of our respective leftovers.  When time came for our bill, our waitress asked if we would be paying together or separate checks.  That made Eileen laugh and may have embarrassed the young waitress. Eileen told we have been married almost 48 years.  I guess as neither of us were wearing wedding rings and we had asked for separate boxes, she didn’t want to assume we were married.  While I felt bad that our waitress was a bit embarrassed, it was good to see Eileen smile and hear her laugh.

Four weeks ago, we were in Berlin, attending church with a former missionary to Indonesia I had served with over 50 years ago.  His wife is serving as the Mission Health Advisor (MHA or nurse) for the Berlin mission and is also serving remotely as the MHA for the mission in Poland.  When Eileen told her that she had served in that role during our last two missions, Sister Stephens said maybe they should have Eileen take care of Poland after she leaves in September.  The fanciful thought pleased Eileen, but the improbability of it ever happening caused her to dismiss the thought.

Less than two weeks ago, Eileen was coming into work a little later than I did.  She happened to get a ride to the office with our Area Medical Advisor, Elder Boud and his wife.  During that short car ride, Elder Boud mentioned the great need the Area had for MHAs.  He said we had half a dozen missions which didn’t have one.  Eileen mentioned her brief conversation with Sister Stephens about Poland.  

Since that short drive to the office, one thing has led to another and now Eileen, in addition to her Welfare/Humanitarian role will also be the MHA for the new France Paris South Mission when the MHA in Paris goes home in early September.  Eileen is thrilled!  I will carry most of the load up of our Welfare/Humanitarian duties and Eileen will travel with me when needed.  As she says, she can work remotely from the road as easily as she can work remotely from our office in Frankfurt.  I believe we have found the “reset” we needed, something I mentioned searching for just three short weeks ago.  I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who hears and answers our prayers.

Once it looked like there was a possibility of Eileen becoming an MHA, she told another sister in our group who is also a nurse.  It turns out she had tried a couple of months ago to purse such an arrangement but had abandoned the effort once confronting internal department challenges.  She quickly followed Eileen’s efforts and is now going to be the MHA for the Romania and Hungary missions.  Elder and Sister Sutterfield’s Welfare/Humanitarian assignment countries are Romania. Bulgaria and Greece, so the Romania overlap is beneficial.  With our other two couples doing Welfare/Humanitarian in Frankfurt (Johnsons and Muellecks) going home soon, Elder Sutterfield and I will be the only experienced missionary resources we have in Frankfurt.  It will be busy, but our wives are happy!     

We had Elder and Sister Hoffmeier over for dinner and then Russell did some training. They are our new Welfare-Self Reliance couple in southern Germany. 

 

The battle of the sexes FHE was well attended. 

Elder and Sister Parks did one last FHE on Monday night with a fun game of Battle of the Sexes.  The Elders won by a couple of points.  We will miss them. Sister Parks has been a great friend to me (Eileen).  The Parks have been transferred to the Philippines where they will help with the mental health needs of the missionaries serving there. 

One of our missionaries snapped this photo right outside our apartment.  There were guesses if the planet by the moon was Jupiter or Venus.

Elder and Sister Richards arrived in Frankfurt this past week. They have previously served in Hungary and will be replacing the Johnsons who go home within the next week. 

We had the Richards and Muellecks over for dinner this past week. Russell prepared bruschetta, Caprese and avocado salad, tortellini served with sauce containing fresh herbs from our garden, and Sister Muelleck brought a huge salad and strawberry torte.  We don't typically eat like this, but it was a fabulous dinner. Well done, Russell and Sister Muelleck!

This was not one of the smarter things I have seen. These boys were on the autobahn where cars were going past at freeway speeds. 

We did a quick getaway trip for 24 hours to Rothenberg.  The hotel on the left is where we stayed. It was pretty warm as there is no AC in most of Germany and it was in the mid 90s.  Hitler dined at Hotel Eisenhut on April 16, 1935.  

Rothenberg is a medieval town.  This house is called the Plonein and inspired the house in the movie Pinocchio. The town was enchanting. 

The city wall with towers.

The medieval wall in Rothenberg stretches for 4km around the city and has over 40 towers.  The wall dates back to the year 1142.

A view of the city from the city wall. 

Rothenberg at dusk.  It seems odd to have a ferris wheel in a city know for its medieval architecture.

The night watchman tour is a popular tour around the city where this man describes life in medieval times.  It was very crowded the evening we were there. Four LDS families from the US  approached us and told us they were on a family European vacation and talked with us about our mission. 

One of the towers in the city with a man in armor below.

This cage was used by the "Child Catcher" in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which was partially filmed in Rothenberg.

These Schneeball pastries look delicious but taste awful.  They are pastry dough covered with yummy toppings. Russell thought the sign saying Schneeballentraume (trauma) was appropriate. 

I bought this painting of Rothenberg from the man who painted it. He is 86 years old. 

Russell was excited to find this map of Germany. The original was made in 1742. The store owner said this was an etching made between WWI and WWII. 

This was the parking lot for our hotel. I think it is a former stable converted to parking lot.

This great violin player was playing in the park near the castle tower.

We heard organ music and out came the bride. A fairytale wedding, reminds me of the movie The Princess Bride.