Saying Goodbye Is So Hard To Do

This is a very hard post to write. For the past week or so, we have been saying our "goodbyes." This has been emotionally straining for us. We have developed close, personal relationships with a lot of people. Sure, there is always video conferencing, but as we've experienced with our families, it just isn't the same as being there.

A couple of weeks ago, we visited our chiropractor for the last time. He has taken amazing care of us over the past two years. He is originally from California and has been here in Germany for several years. Diane had it all planned out to give him a Book of Mormon with our picture and testimonies in it. As we said goodbye to him, she handed him the book and told him how it had changed our lives. He seemed quite sincere in his appreciation of our gift.

A week ago last Friday, our floor in the office building was closed for electrical work. We decided to take one last quick trip. I wanted to see a different country, so we went to the Czech Republic. It was quite a distance for a day trip and on top of that it rained all the way there and back.

But, what an incredible time we had while in the Czech Republic. We visited two towns just over the border. When we arrived in each town, the rain became a light drizzle. The beauty of their buildings and the landscape was well worth the trip. I am grateful for Diane's willingness to go. She had been to the Czech Republic before, but she wanted to go on this long trip just for me. Here are some pictures we took there.

Once homes and now hotels.

River through town

Colorful buildings.

A recently restored Orthodox church.  They were

painting the inside during our visit.

Church up close. 

Colorful city.

The next day, we ministered to one of our assigned member families. They are a young couple with three small children and another on the way. The parents very seldom have down time from the kids and have been struggling to work on fixing up their home. We took the kids for a two-hour activity in a nearby park. The activity involved picking up trash in the park and woods.

It had been raining earlier in the day, but during the activity it cleared up. We had such a great time and the kids were wonderful. It was a bit hard to communicate. The oldest sister knows German and English quite well. The middle one is the brother. His German is much better than his English. The youngest sister only knows a very little English. That little girl would just talk to us and talk to us as if we knew what she was saying. Every once in a while, we'd have to ask her older sister what she was saying. From their smiles, I think the kids enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. I know, for sure, that the parents were grateful for the time away from the kids.

We had so many invitations for dinners before we leave that we decided to invite some of the people to our place and have one big dinner. That is what we did last Sunday evening. It was wonderful. To have those we have been close to come together for the meal was truly memorable. We had our good friend Jan, whom I baptized a year and a half ago; Thong, whom I confirmed as a member of the church just recently; Eva, a church employee who lives in our apartment building who we have helped out a number of times; the sister missionaries; and the Elder and Sister Mellor, whom we minister to. What an enjoyable evening, but after they left, the reality of us leaving Germany made our hearts heavy.

Last Wednesday, there was a farewell luncheon for the four senior missionary couples who are leaving in the next few weeks. The night before I suddenly came down with a bad cold. Still, I got dressed and made it to the part where the departing missionaries say a few words to the other 14 missionary couples. Diane spoke before me.  She struggled through her words, but ended with by bearing a beautiful testimony by reading hymn titles from the hymn book. Interestingly enough, we both focused on the same thought--how senior missionaries give service. That is just what they want and that is just what they do, they serve. It was extremely hard to talk. Both of our emotions surfaced which made it hard to speak. Of course, the tears that came to the other missionaries listening didn't help either.

Tomorrow, we are confident that we will be called up in sacrament meeting to give our testimonies. This will be the last goodbye to a group. I anticipate that it will be just as hard as our missionary farewell luncheon. We are both prepared with what we will say, but we are far from being ready to speak the words.

View of Frankfurt from our temporary apartment.  Temporary

until we leave Germany.

Our good friend, Jan, will come over after church. That will be another hard goodbye.

As much as we are looking forward to be surrounded by friends and family, saying goodbye is extremely hard. How can you leave where your heart is?

This will probably be our last post on this blog. Soon we will be adventuring out on a new assignment. One in which we expect to grow even more than what we did these past two years;  grow closer to the ones we love, grow closer to each other, and grow closer to our Heavenly Father.