FFF - Fabulous Friends Forever

As a final post to this blog, I will post pictures of the wonderful friends we made throughout our 18 months in Germany.  First of all would be the dear friends with whom we served in the Public Affairs office.  And then there are the German branch members, whose wonderful friendships we will cherish forever. And lastly, there were many fellow senior missionaries,
many of whom whom we will  have the chance to see again. 

Here are our three Public Affairs "bosses,"  Ralf Gruenke, Gabrielle Sirtl, and Dinis Adriano

And here's our whole team at lunch, including the Walkers
and one of our our BYU Interns.


Carlene and Gordon Walker were not only our partners in the PA office but also best friends with whom we shared so much--like eating out, touring Germany, and serving in a German Branch.


Their office was across the hall from ours.

Elizabeth-Anne Ashby was one of our BYU Interns whom we enjoyed getting to know.

And here I am with Cara Wade, our latest BYU Intern.

This young man from Russia was an example to us all.  Despite his physical handicap, he was able to serve a 12-month mission in the Seminaries & Institutes office upstairs.  His forever-positive attitude and bright smile never failed to brighten our days.

The amazing family below is the Junior and Teresa Hoopes family whom we met (and who fed us often) while on our first mission in Tokyo.  They preceded us to Germany, where Jr. completed his tour with the Air Force.  Upon retirement, they then headed to Anchorage, where he now works as a civilian for the Air Force.  Two younger sons, Ty and Caleb, are missing in this photo.  It was taken at the Frankfurt temple, where we accompanied them while their daughter, Terry, went through the temple prior to her mission to Palmyra.

We accompanied the young Elders on a visit to a Church member, Meridee Young, only to find out she is the niece of our fellow ward member here in Midway, Valoy Eaton.  We were able to visit her a number of times, and we also treated her and her son to the Tabernacle Choir concert.

Petra and Bernhard Stadtmuller were a wonderful couple from the Offenbach branch whom we were so happy to be called as their home teachers.  They are a wonderful example of the devoted German saints and are are currently serving their second temple mission, this time in Freiberg.

Catherine and Heinrich Schott were dear friends from the branch.  (Carlene and I VT Catherine.) They invited us, the Walkers, and the Biddulphs to a wonderful Sunday dinner.  My first time experiencing quark as a dessert (like a cream-cheese pudding) gave me a new favorite!

This is Hannah, Andy, and Silvanus Wegner on the day Andy baptized his wife and her son.  We were blessed to serve as their Home Teachers.  They also have darling twin one-year-old sons.

We became very close to Hans and Nora Gehrig, whom we were also assigned to Home Teach.  They treated us to many wonderful German dinners in their home.  Nora was YW President and called me to be her counselor.  They are both returned missionaries and typical of the strong, dedicated third- to fourth-generation German saints!  We will truly miss them.

We were so happy to attend the wedding of Hans and Nora's daughter, Rebecca, to Milford Smith.  We were especially happy that Milford, a Brit, moved to Germany, thus ensuring this wonderful couple would remain in our branch.

Carlene and I both VT Eva Rohde, another strong branch member.

The Grasse family

Ralf & Anita Langner.  He called Elder G to be his 1st Counselor in the YM.

President Alexander Merkel, Rebecca, and their six children--Melodee, Vincent, Jessica, Sam, Ethan, and Liam.  Ethan was my sole nursery attendee for over one year.  

I think we both celebrated when he turned three!!!

Our awesome farewell cake made by Rebecca Merkel.

Happy recipients!!!

 We four couples and one sister were the senior missionaries who attended the Offenbach Branch: the Thomases, Sis Keyser, the Burts, the Walkers, and us.  

We probably made up 20% of the branch.

Remember our friend, Teresa Hoopes?  Guess whose cookbook is in her kitchen?  That cookbook is none other than one by the popular Food Nanny, Liz Edmunds, who (along with her husband Steve) served as senior missionaries in Frankfurt.

Liz was constantly doing food demonstrations throughout the mission--both for young missionaries, senior missionaries, Church VIPs, wards and branches!  I think we wore her out!  We were so happy to learn that she and Steve live in nearby Woodland.

One of our favorite pastimes while on our mission was eating out with other senior missionaries.  Here we are with our good friends, the Bausmans, at a nearby favorite Chinese restaurant.  

We went on two different trips with Jon and Janet Jensen.  Jon attended Murray High School along with me and was in the same ward growing up!  Such a small world!

Ah, two ex-Marines-turned-Elders, Elder G and Elder Biddulph

These are seven Senior Sister Missionaries who helped us complete the infamous rush mailing of 2500 VIP invitations for the Freiberg Temple Open House. Sisters Bausman, Jensen, Matheson, Biddulph, Swensen, Hacking, and Caracena helped us meet the deadline!

At the last senior missionary FHE we attended, it was The Senior Olympic Games.  

The Walkers won Gold Medals for...something.

Looks like the Healys won for the cotton ball shotput.

We and the Mills display our homemade airplanes.

Elder G shows off his Gold Medal won as best aeronautical engineer!  His airplane surprised everyone as it was airborne until it hit the far wall!  Everyone else's didn't even come close.

The Thomases, Sister Hacking, and the Bausmans competed in the paper plate discus throw.

The Swensons, Burts, and Mathesons served as judges.

Sisters Thomas and Jensen provided the treats.

Here is a photo of the last three couples to sit in our Public Affairs Office:  Martin and Elaine Craven,  Les and Dianne Feil, and Yours Truly.

And lastly, here is the fourth couple to occupy that space, our replacements,
Will and Elizabeth Cottam from St. George.  We truly enjoyed our time together while training them for one week before heading home.

This was the group photo taken on the last Zone Conference we attended in November 2016.

All in all, we count these many newly-made friends 

as one of the choicest blessings of our mission!!!

Odds & Ends

This post will be a collection of a variety of things,

all of which were unique and very interesting to me throughout our stay in Germany.

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Unfortunately, Americans have this "thing" about the German word "fahrt," which is pronounced the same as something else in English, but it actually means "travel."  Americans tend to snicker every time we see exit signs (literally "travel out"), or--following the end of highway construction--signs now wishing the traveler a pleasant trip.  Consequently, these signs are included as a good reminder of our constant chuckles.

 

This sign indicates that you can park two tires on the sidewalk,

while this sign indicates that all four tires can be on the sidewalk!

One amazing thing about Germany was the presence of Kleingartens, or "little gardens."

Right in the middle of a busy metropolis, like Frankfurt, you will find numerous areas dedicated to personal, private gardens. People rent the space and must plant at least
60% fruit, vegetables, or flowers.  

The remainder of the space can be taken up with grass, a shed, 

lawn furniture, outdoor stove--even a trampoline!

This kleingarten belonged to a friend, Erica Enger, who taught weekly German classes.  For a number of weeks in the summer, class was held in her beautiful kleingarten.

Although she could choose to spend a night in her little cabin, there are no bathroom facilities allowed in kleingartens, so camping is discouraged.

Here's yet another look at the amazingly beautiful fields of rapeseed (canola).

This is the view we had out our apartment living room window.  The trees were colorful in the fall and had beautiful blossoms in the spring.

I was thrilled to successfully grow geraniums on our deck.  Whenever I viewed the awesome Frankfurt skyline, I tried hard to blot out the ugly blue bank building imposing itself upon the sight!

The cemetery across from our office and apartment was quite a popular spot for the senior sisters.  For a while there, we had a group of us ladies--anywhere from 3 to 10--daily spending 45 minutes 

of our lunch-time walking briskly through the cemetery.  

Rain or shine, we were pretty dedicated!  Here we were leaving a box of Thanksgiving treats for a super friendly gardener, named Suso.  He was from Africa and had become a dear friend to us all.  He was always giving us chocolates, so we were eager to repay his kindness.

By the time we left for home, most of the sisters had become involved with the refugee camps and lunchtime walks through the cemetery had fallen off.  Still, it was one amazing place!  This grave marker noted the resting place of the discoverer of Alzheimers disease.

There were just thousands and thousands of interesting grave markers!

This marker and plot was for the burial of a number of Jews in Frankfurt who died during the holocaust.  Initially, Germany would not accept the marker, but Poland agreed 

to pay the high tax in order for it to be placed there.

On one FHE tour of the cemetery, Elder G told the history of this Jewish plot.

This was the WWI area of the military section.

This beautiful yellow tree was a pine tree!  

We were amazed at the number of yellow pines in the cemetery each fall!

Every year the cemetery hosted an event to advertise the various styles of plots and markers from which one could choose.  A burial plot is rented for a certain number of years, and those persons paying the rent are responsible for the upkeep.  If the plot is not well taken care of, the contents will be removed. At the end of the rental period, a new contract must be entered into
or else the contents will be removed.

This was one painfully awesome tree!  Gabi had one near her apartment, and so did the Jarretts.  The pine needles are like REAL needles!  Pretty to look at, but don't touch!

July 4th IS celebrated in Germany--at least by us senior missionaries and ex-pats. 

 The huge backyard of the temple missionaries made for a perfect venue!

Elder Caracena gave us a good history review.

And everyone enjoyed the sloppy joes, rootbeer, and chips of all kinds!  But most of all, we enjoyed being Americans and doing American things!

July also found us attending the MoTab Choir's performance in Frankfurt.  It was fun running into our Sandy neighbor, Carole Mikita, who was there covering the performances for later tv viewing.

We also got to take the Jarretts (Choir President and his wife) around for an afternoon drive past the Frankfurt Temple and their old apartment.They had actually served in Public

Affairs prior to his call to the Choir!

They introduced us to their favorite market, Kitz, and Gretl, the amazing owner, whom they hadn't seen for over four years.  This little market had the most awesome locally grown fruits and vegetables, not to mention an amazing lunch!  We eagerly introduced other missionary friends to this wonderful, totally German experience! 

See what I mean!!!

 Later that evening, Gabi treated us to a dinner at her favorite restaurant. 

I already posted one article about the thousands of items collected by Church members in Frankfurt and given to the refugees.  We were involved with that effort at least four different times.  In addition to that, sisters who weren't serving 8-5 in the Area Office began volunteering at a local refugee camp.  This camp was a Stage Two camp, where the refugees actually had graduated from group housing to actual individual living quarters. 

These two tents were for group activities.  

The sisters would go there and teach knitting and crocheting to the adults

 and do all kinds of crafts and games with the children.

One amazing project was when the brethren made benches,
and the sisters made lots of pillows to decorate the activity center.

Our little Offenbach Branch also did a number of refugee projects,  Twice we did hygiene kits and twice we did kitchen supplies.  

This time the Relief Society made fussball games for the refugee children.

The Relief Society in this same German branch held a Book of Mormon read-a-thon, and at the completion of the project, we had a little party to celebrate.  I thought this "fruit pizza" of the Tree of Life made by RS President, Anne Lise Obst, was the most clever thing ever!!!

One dear German friend from the branch, Rebecca Smith (she married a Brit!), asked Elder G to speak to her history class about the Viet Nam war.  Three other classes joined in.  Luckily, he was able to do his presentation in English since the high school students all spoke English.

Both he and the students really enjoyed the presentation. 

He said they asked a lot of good questions. 

One German practice that perplexed us all was "Moving Day." In Germany, it is a common practice to rent or buy a home in which the kitchen and bedrooms are nothing but four walls.  You are expected to furnish not only the closets, but the entire kitchen necessities--cupboards, sink, stove, refrigerator, etc.  Then, when you vacate, you take these all with you since the new renters will then be bringing their own.  

Consequently, there are often renters who, for some reason, have no plans for their removed furnishings.  Thus, the option is then to dump it all on the street and have the city pick it up!  For the life of us all, we could never figure out why someone wouldn't want to be able to use someone else's furnishings; but our German friends assured us that they want to select their own.  Truly there wasn't a day gone by that we weren't appalled to see items left outside apartments!

And here's one more German memory I hope to erase!

 All of us senior missionaries had a favorite wood carver, Tony Sauer.  His shop was 45 minutes away, and almost every missionary couple bought something from this store.  Tony's son and wife ran the store and spoke good English, so we especially liked doing business with them.

We bought popular Christmas decorations, Schwiboggens, for us and the Maxwells. On another trip we bough a hiker, similar to the hunter above.

 And because the shop did so much business with Mormons, 

they even made a wood carving of Moroni! 

Bembels are a real popular tourist item in Germany, and Frankfurt has one of the largest supplies.  We were so happy to receive a Bembel from Gabi as a farewell gift.

I loved "collecting" interesting castle doors! 

  

 

Look closely to see the small "man door" in the one side of the large castle gate.

I'll finish off this post with the interesting story of the Frog Legend of Budingen.  Apparently, when the young prince brought his new bride back to the castle, all she could hear were croaking frogs.  Apparently, the marriage could not be consummated until all the frogs in the village had been removed.  There are many references to frogs throughout the castle, and the many tourist shops sell a vast variety of "froggy" items!  The castle currently caters to a number of less-discriminate renters.