TWO OVERNIGHT MESSAGES

Last night after going to bed we received two messages, one good and the other not so much. One was giving us a link to view our grandson’s mission homecoming talk, something we are both looking forward to very much. The other message was from one of our managers. He was asking if we would be willing to go to Spain if necessary to help assist with the humanitarian effort there resulting from the forest fires. Currently there are large uncontrolled fires in both southwest France, near Bordeaux, and in Spain not far from Madrid. Our counterparts in Paris, Elder and Sister Kershisnik, have already been sent to Bordeaux. I guess we will see tomorrow, if not sooner, what management has in store for us. 

As I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning, Moroni’s words in verses 29-31 of Mormon chapter eight stood out to me. Prophesying about the “latter-days,” he says, “Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapors of smoke in foreign lands; and there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth …” It wasn’t just the comment about the fires that stood out to me this morning, but Moroni’s use of the word “heard” twice.  Last night on the news, we and people around the world heard about how over 200,000 people have been evacuated in France, the largest evacuation in Europe since WWII. There have been fires and wars in prior generations, now the world hears about them immediately, viewing the news on their phones and on the television.

Forty-eight years ago tomorrow, Eileen and I were married in the Provo Temple. I feel very fortunate that she accepted my invitation to be my wife. It doesn’t seem that long ago that were young, just beginning our life together. I am very grateful for her love and friendship, for her being the mother of our children, and my missionary companion. I look forward to spending eternity with her!

To celebrate our anniversary, we drove to Baden-Baden, a town two hours south of us in the Black Forest region and spent the night in an older, very nice hotel. Having learned a few things during our time together about what Eileen might like to do, we visited two local spas.  Baden-Baden is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its thermal pool baths, which date back to Roman times. One of the spas we went to was built around 1880 and was considered back then to be the best spa in Europe. That particular spa is “textile free” except on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We timed our visit to be missionary appropriate. 

While in Baden-Baden we learned of my uncle Lowell Carr’s passing.  He was 90 and had suffered a severe fall a few years ago, after which he went on hospice. Lowell has been a great influence on my life. I looked up to him as a great example of a husband, father, Church leader and senior missionary.  His call to France as a young man and ability to speak French probably led to his call as a senior missionary in the Congo (D.R.C.).  He later served in Russia, both very hard missions!  I look forward to seeing him “on the other side” someday.

Russell and Eileen were married on July 27th, 1978.  

A map of some of the fires in Europe. It is supposed to be over 100 degrees in Spain and France this upcoming week. This area desperately needs some rain to provide moisture to the parched land and provide relief to the firefighters. 

Russell's aunt and uncle Lowell and Toni Carr visited our family (five of our 6 children) in Belgium when the Carrs had to be evacuated temporarily from the DRC.  We love and admire the Carrs so much.  

There were 4 new couples trained in the Area Office this week to serve as Welfare Self-Reliance couples.  Ironically the couple across and one down from us (The Shultz couple) we trained 9 years ago when they were in Slovakia doing humanitarian. They are now going to Moldova.  The lady sitting next to us Sister Richards.  We trained Sister Richards sister and husband 9 years ago when they were serving in Modolva.  The Church can be very small once you have served multiple missions.

Eileen trained Sister White for 3 days.  The Whites have been called to serve in the U.A.E.  He will be serving in the legal department and she will be serving in a humanitarian role. 

The Friedrichsbad spa was built at the site of Roman baths from 2000 years ago.  This spa is 147 years old.   This is the spa which only allows swimsuits on Wednesday and Saturday.  Europeans definitely don't have the same mindset about nudity that Americans do. 

The Caracalla spa has 5 huge thermal pools. The spas are fed from underground springs 2000 meters below the surface. The water is mineral water and is supposed to be healing to the skin and joints.  At the Caracalla Spa it is like moving from one enormous jacuzzi to the next, each one having a different temperature thermal water. 

We visited the old castle in Baden-Baden.  It is on the top of a very high hill and was built around 1100 a.d. It is difficult to understand how castles were built so long ago. 

The little dot of green is Russell standing on a higher level of the castle than Eileen.