GOD IS IN THE DETAILS OF OUR LIVES, BUT DO WE NOTICE?

 The mild temperatures of September have been a welcome relief from the heat we felt on many days this past summer. Without air conditioning to cool things off in the apartment, we stopped using the oven and minimized cooking for much of the prior three months. Last week we resumed our practice of inviting another missionary couple over to share Sunday afternoon dinner with us. Bruce and Rebecca Johnson are serving in the Area Welfare Department with us as Self-reliance specialists. Their desks are quite close to ours. We were all surprised to learn that like me, they had both graduated from Murray High School. Elder and Sister Johnson are both three years younger than me (Russell), yet we knew may of the same people from years ago.

Tuesday morning Eileen told me, “Do you realize that our last two Monday’s and the week in-between have gone well?” Mondays, with the many meetings we have to attend, are sometimes challenging. I did indeed recognize it and am grateful for it. That evening, Eileen was contacted by Sister Sommerfeldt (mission leader from Independence MO) saying that she was getting ready to hear a devotional at BYU and that our prior stake president, Elder Alexander Dushku was going to be speaking. With the aid of modern technology, we were able to quickly connect on-line and watch the devotional live. It was comforting to hear from two people that we both greatly respect.

Within an hour after the devotional was over, we received some news that was quite unexpected and initially fraught with emotion. I couldn’t help but think that God was aware of what was coming our way and had given us a couple of small signs to let us know that He was mindful of us.

Later in the week, we were pleased to be contacted by two of our daughters, and a granddaughter that we have not heard from recently. Life is good! God does answer our prayers. Perhaps not in the way we expect or on our desired timetable. But I know that He hears our prayers, He loves all His children, and with His infinite wisdom and knowledge He answers our prayers appropriately.  

                           

We attended an endowment session in the Frieberg temple with Elder and Sister Richards. They are our car sharing pals and also serve doing humanitarian work.   The session and prayer were done in Hungarian. Interestingly enough, the Richards served their last mission in Hungary. 

Monday evening for FHE we played celestial jeopardy. Despite the fact that I (Eileen) got 3 answers correct my team came in last place. As Russell said, you can't carry the team by yourself. 

The Germans love a good excuse for a festival.  They were getting a jump start on Octoberfest by having a Kartoffelfest or potato festival. 

Eileen with the Martin Luther statue in front of the Frauenkirche.

The Frauenkirche in Dresden is a protestant church which was built in the 1700s.  It collapsed after a bombing raid in 1945 weakened the structure.  Between 1994 and 2005 work was done to reconstruct the church.  In the April 2016 conference, Elder Uchdorf talked of the destruction of this church and  the beautiful job of restoration which was done. He compared this church to that of our lives.  He said "“As I pondered the history of Dresden and marveled at the ingenuity and resolve of those who restored what had been so completely destroyed, I felt the sweet influence of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Surely, I thought, if man can take the ruins, rubble, and remains of a broken city and rebuild an awe-inspiring structure that rises toward the heavens, how much more capable is our Almighty Father to restore His children who have fallen, struggled, or become lost? ”It matters not how completely ruined one’s life may seem — destroyed by sin, loneliness or a broken heart. Even those who are without hope, who live in despair, who have betrayed trust, surrendered their integrity, or turned away from God, can be rebuilt,” he said.

The inside of the Frauenkirche is quite ornate. 

One of the recommended things to do in Dresden is to watch the sunset over the Elbe River. We didn't time it right to get the photo of the river and sunset, but it was an incredible sunset on Friday evening.

Eileen and Russell in front of the Zwinger Palace complex. We didn't have enough time to go through the number of museums they had here. 

Overlooking the Elbe River. 

The Processional of Princes is a mural made up of 23,000 tiles depicted the 800-year history of rulers in Saxony.  I was amazed at the beauty of tiles, but also very intrigued at the street artist who posed as a waiter. He held that exact pose without even blinking until someone dropped a coin in his can. They he would move robotically to acknowledge their contribution. 

The man on the right came and introduced himself at the museum we were in. He joined the church in Bulgaria 25 years ago. 

The children watching this man perform were fascinated by the bubbles he produced. 

This VW bug with stripes painted down the back just like in the Disney movies about the Love Bug, was driving back and forth through the strictly pedestrian zone. It even had #53 painted on the back.