Frohe Weihnachten, Ya'll

We have been extremely busy at work.  We have been pushing hard to get the Technology Groups up and running; often holding meetings until 10:00 at night.  Our stress levels have been overwhelming as we worry about accomplishing everything we want to get done before we leave our missionary assignment.  To make things worse, we just got our 90 day departure letter. NINETY DAYS?????  That is hardly enough time to finish.

However, we have done our best to enjoy our final German Christmas.  Let us fill you in on some of the things we have participated in.

The rain dampened (sorry for the pun) the attendance this year.

Early in the month of December, our International Ward went down to the Zeil (middle of Frankfurt) and sang English hymns.  It was rainy.  So instead of positioning ourselves at the fountain like last year, we got under the overhang of a nearby store.  The crowd was not as full as it was last year but we sure had great fun in singing to the people.

After singing, some of us took the advantage of being downtown and walked through parts of the Christmas market nearby.

Notice the high rise buildings of Frankfurt in the background.

Fancy booths.  This place had shingles and all.

Most Christmas Markets are not so fancy.  

A week later, Sister van Hoff went to Texas to be with her family.  It was her mother's birthday.  The family felt it would be best that they be together this year.

While she was away, our ICS Department(Information and Communication Services) went out for a Christmas dinner.  I now can say that I've tasted roasted goose.  All the spouses were invited.  That made a total of about 20 of us.  There are three others in our department that work from other countries and were flown in.  Our department is so international, we have American (me), German (east and west), French, Spanish, British, Scandinavian, Italian, and Portuguese.  Guess what one of the topics at the table was?  That's right, languages.

Bro. Santos our department head is on the right.  What a great 

example he is of leadership.  He never has an office meeting 

without opening the scriptures.

The brother with the glasses is our immediate supervisor. 

This man is so knowledgeable when it comes to technology.

The brother on the left is our newest member.  He is from France.

Last Tuesday, we attended our German Culture class at the teacher's apartment.  Sister Enger had everything prepared.  She had stories.  One was about the Nutcracker and the Mouse King.  Sister van Hoff and I played some German music with our recorders followed by a friend of hers, Frau Steinkamp, who took the place of St. Nikolaus.  She read from a book which told something personal about each person in the room.  Then Sister Enger presented each with a gift.  Sister van Hoff was told about how well she does speaking German and how good she is with music.  I was told what a good baker I was and how I was able to make delicious chocolate cakes out of zucchini.  

Sister Johnson, the wife of the Europe Area President, is reading

the story of the Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Sister Enger lit this tree.  Those are real candles.

Frau Steinkamp is reading St. Nikolaus's notes

 about one of the missionaries 

Sister van Hoff is conversing in German.   

She learned a lot about Frau Steinkamp

Finally, just yesterday we went to a Christmas market in Michelstadt -- a town about an hour away.  What a quaint little town.  It was daytime so it probably wasn't as busy as when it gets dark and they turn on the lights.  It was great seeing the eyes of the people coming to the market. Especially the young children.  There were little rides for them to go on.  The smell of food and other fragrances was wonderful.  They had beautiful Christmas music being played from speakers all over town.  Here are some of the sights we saw.  

Bill Price, if you see this, eat your heart out.

 It was great to see the nativity scene in the middle of town.  Something you don't see in America.

Life size nativity scene in the middle of town.

You can't see from this angle but there is no Christ child.

He comes on Christmas Day.

Busy Christmas market

As you can tell, it's pretty chilly.

We wish every one of you a very Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!.  We love you.

Wonderful German Christmas Season

A transformation happened overnight yesterday. November 30th was like any other day. Then on Saturday, December the 1st, there were Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas markets opened, Christmas events activities posted, and people were everywhere greeting everyone else with the Christmas spirit. It was the 1st day of Advent.

Last night we attended a Christmas concert at the ward building in Friedrichsdorf. Unbelievable.  The decorations in the chapel were absolutely beautiful and the choir sang a variety of Christmas songs in both English and German. We loved it.

Thong & the sister missionaries who taught him 

A couple of weeks back, Sister van Hoff and I had the opportunity to help the sister missionaries teach a young man from Vietnam. Yesterday he was baptized into the church. Here was a guy who had almost no understanding of God and now he not only understands who Heavenly Father is, he also has a testimony that this is Christ's church. He spoke at his baptism telling everyone how he was guided by the Spirit and felt the witness of the Holy Ghost letting him know that this is the Savior's church.

He asked me to be the spokesman to bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost on him. What and honor that was. I wanted to pronounce his name correctly, so I kept asking him to say it over and over again. I was just not getting it right. Eventually I had an idea. I asked him to say his name twice while recording it on my phone. I practiced all evening and most of Sunday. I still don't think I said it correctly, but I'm sure I got pretty close.

After his baptism

He is so happy. I remember when we helped teach, he was somewhat expressionless. He is smiling nearly all the time now. Unfortunately, his smile was not captured in the photos.

Before the baptism, I went for one last ride on my bike. Riding a bike has been like a new world to me. Whenever I feel stressed or just need to relax, I get on the bike and ride. I have enjoyed seeing places in the area that I could not have seen by walking or driving a car. I will miss my bike, but I know someone who desperately needs it more than I do. Hopefully I will be able to get a bike when I return to the States. I just hope that the area I live in is suitable for riding. Mountainous areas would probably be too difficult for me.  Here is a link to my last bike ride here in Germany. I warn you, it is 5 minutes long.  https://youtu.be/nddBUoG6F-k

Earlier this week we did some gardening. We had a peace plant that grew more than we expected, so we split it up and planted several sections into different pots.

Having fun in the dirt

Our plan was to give out plants to others. In fact, Friday evening we gave out two of the seven repotted plants. Five more to go. It felt good to get our hands into dirt again.

I want to share one more thing. We have been talking about the technology groups we are forming here in Europe. To refresh your memory, the groups are formed of stake and district technology specialists from different stakes and districts in a geographic area. The organized groups have different communication channels to use for staying in touch and provide support when needed.

This past week we spoke with the facilitators overseeing the three pilot groups we used. Two of the three had almost no communication going on. The facilitators reported that they felt frustrated and that their groups were not functioning.

We reassured them that their groups were functioning just fine. If there are no problems, typically there will be no communication going on. We encouraged the facilitators to periodically send something out in their text group. This could be done monthly or every couple of months. The idea is to help the other members of the group to remember that they have a group to call on if an emergency arises.

The Hungary-Romania Technology Group was one of them that had no communication. We encouraged the facilitator to send out a message on his group text. His meeting was the last video-conference we had that evening. After we ended the meeting and put things away, we left the office to walk home to our apartment building. No sooner than we stepped out of the door, my cell phone began to ding over and over again.  I checked the phone to see what was going on. There was all sorts of texting going on back and forth with the Hungary-Romania TG. Of course, it was initiated with the facilitator. What a wonderful testimony that was. The Lord is truly blessing this program and it is wonderful to be able to see it happen.

We only have 4 months left. It may seem like a long time, but for us it is hardly enough time. There is still so much to do. Lord willing, we will be able to complete all that we want to accomplish.

We love you and pray for you.