The Advent of Advent

Last Saturday evening the senior missionaries were asked to sing at the adult session of stake conference. Sister van Hoff played the piano for our song. I was one of the singers and not part of the audience, but from my perspective, I think the choir sounded pretty good.

I guess we actually did, because on Monday we all received an email asking us to sing at the Europe Area Christmas Devotional broadcast to all employees in Europe. Maybe we should go on tour.

Last week we experienced a mold problem. Upon arriving on our mission, we were instructed to open our windows at least twice a day for ten minutes each. Until the cold weather came, we had our windows open all day.

It is very humid here - most days 80-90%! Sometimes when you get in bed, it feels slightly damp under the covers.

We discovered the mold early one morning. I guess it could have been there for a couple of days unnoticed. It seemed like it just suddenly was there--up one corner of the wall and spreading out onto the ceiling and along the wall behind the headboard.  The maintenance guys at work gave us some chlorine spray. I took it home to clean the wall. In the process, we found mold starting to develop in each of our four rooms. The smell of chlorine was so bad I had to do one section of the apartment at a time. We slept for five nights with our mattresses on the living room floor. As we cleaned the bed frame and under the box springs before bringing the mattresses back in, we discovered wonderful storage areas under each side of the bed. We put a bunch of rarely used things in there and now have more closet space.

It even went behind our bed.

Last weekend we went out and bought a dehumidifier.  It isn’t large, but it seems to be doing the job. We no longer see condensation on our windows.

Since that incident, we have heard of other missionaries having mold problems.  Some just leave their windows open all the time with their radiator heater running.

December is full of holiday celebrations here in Germany. Advent starts on the 3rd of December this year. Advent begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas. An evergreen wreath (Adventskranz) is placed on the table with four candles. Each Sunday a candle is lit while a song and/or a prayer is offered. The wreath symbolizes the Crown of Christ and also the fulfillment of time when Christ returns. The candles represent the prophets who prepared the way for Christ.

A more recent development in the celebration for Advent is the Adventskalendar (Advent calendar). It is typically a sheet of cardboard or a card with little window doors numbered from 1 to 24.  Each day, beginning on December 1st, a door is opened. Inside there are words or pictures symbolizing the coming of Christmas. We've seen some very elaborate and large Advent calendars with candies or gifts behind the doors. We also saw some that were postcards that could be mailed.

Earlier this week we visited Sister Enger, our German Culture teacher, at her home. We helped her with some family history work she was involved with. She is truly a German pioneer. She and her husband worked very hard and sacrificed a lot for the Church here in Germany. About two years ago she lost her husband to cancer.  We knew her to be very humble and dedicated to her Savior, but until we visited her apartment, we didn't realize the magnitude of that spiritual strength. You know how when you walk into a home you can feel the power or weakness of peace and comfort that abides there? I think the feelings we felt while in her home were the feelings one would feel in the temple. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with her.

Before we left, she gave us an Adventskalendar she personally made for us. She gathered fir branches and attached small slips of paper with beautiful quotes tied with a red ribbon.  Each quote is numbered from 1 to 24.  I will be sharing those each day on Facebook.

We love Christmas season here in Germany, especially while on a mission.  We are more focused and involved with the recognition and worship of Christ this year than in years past.  With December being filled with the Advent, Christmas markets, beautiful lights, and two days of Christmas (25th and 26th), the whole month is full of reminders of Christ and His love for us.

We love you all and pray that you will be surrounded by family and friends and enjoy the peace and beauty of this special time of year.

We deeply love the Savior and are so happy to be here serving Heavenly Father in what ever way we can..