OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 27, 2017 FREIBERG, GERMANY

OUR FIRST SNOWFALL

     Winter has arrived in Freiberg.  We have only had one snowfall, but the trees have lost almost all of their leaves, we have a lot of rainy days, and I am finding it more difficult to go on my walks because it gets dark by 4:15 PM.


  We don't get home from the temple much before three, so we have such a short window of daylight.  I can't wait until December 21st so the days can start getting longer. 


     Christmas preparations are in the works.  Out on the temple lawn a manger has been set up. So far nothing has been put inside the manger, but I am excited to see it.

PYRAMIDES & SCHWIBBOGENS IN SEIFFEN

    Bill and I spent a couple of weeks buying and wrapping and packing Christmas gifts to send to our children and grandchildren.  We wanted to send them something authentically German, as a memory of our time on this mission.  We ended up having seven boxes to send.  We hope they arrive in good shape, with nothing broken.  We purchased 98% of these gifts in Seiffen, the town where they are made.  It is a super place to visit and shop!  The boxes were all in the mail by November 13th.  It felt so good to get them on their way!

   


    Bill's brother, Neil, died on November 10, 2017.  He was 74 years old, way too young to die!  Neil lived in Boise, Idaho and was walking back to his car following an event.  He tripped over a speed bump in the road and fell, bumping his head severely.

NEIL AND LIBBY MOSS

  This caused him to get a subdural hematoma in his brain.  He was in the hospital for several weeks, and was unable to recover from the physical complications that resulted in his body.  His funeral was held November 16th in Boise.

     Bill flew home to attend Neil's funeral, and was gone from Freiberg for one week.  He was so sorry to lose his brother, but felt peace about going to be with his family members as they celebrated Neil's life.  I was very happy to get him back in Germany again!


     The past three weeks in the temple were super busy with people from Hungary, Poland and the Czec Republic.  The people from each of these countries stay 4-5 days and attend the temple throughout all those days.  We are able to get to know them much more personally than if it was just a one day visit.  That's the joy of it!  They stay in the Herrberger, or patron housing, and many of them bring their children, and take turns tending for each other so they can serve in the temple.

BILL & ANN WITH CHRISTOPER SOUTHWICK

   


We had a wonderful experience meeting the Stake President from the only Stake in the country of Hungary.  His name is Christopher Southwick, and he is from SUGAR CITY, IDAHO!  Chris is the son of Neil and Marilyn Southwick.  He served a mission in Hungary, and married a girl, Nora, from Hungary.  They have three young boys.  Chris teaches in an international school in Budapest.

He came to our apartment and visited with us for an hour.  It was so enjoyable to talk about things from home, and people we knew in common.  Actually, Bill's sister, Joy, taught Christopher when he was in Elementary School.  Neal Southwick, his father, has passed away, but his mother is still alive, and lives in Meredian, Idaho with one of Chris's sisters.

ANGELA & VOLKER DIENER

     Temple workers come and go, and we have recently lost five of the workers we have served with for the past six months.  Volker and Angela Diener, from Hamburg, finished their service and returned home.  They were such enjoyable people to work with, even though they knew little English and I knew little German.  We were still able to communicate quite well.

ANN & KARIN SPIZZIRRI

   











Karin Spizzirri, from Italy, also returned home.
  Karin had been here for six months.  She is a native German, but married a man from Italy, and moved there to live and raise a family.  She joined the church after the death of her husband, and only she and her daughter are members of the church.  It was so fun to serve with her.  She taught me a few German words, and we enjoyed saying "Ciao" to each other.  David taught me that "Ciao" is the word for good bye in Italian.

     Our Assistant Temple Recorder, Robert Saitz, and his wife, Edith Saitz, our Temple Office Secretary, completed their assignment at the end of October.  We miss them. 

ROBERT & EDITH SAITZ

They were so effective doing their work, and so far we have no one to replace them.  The temple presidency and their wives, plus our permanent temple recorder, Peter Schonherr, are trying to handle all the work.



     Thanksgiving Day in America this year was Thursday, November 23rd.  Germany doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving Day, so we worked in the temple just as we do every Thursday.  We American Temple Missionaries, decided to cook a genuine American Thanksgiving dinner for our German and Austrian fellow temple workers.

ANN'S HOMEMADE ROLLS

We divided up the menu, and Bill and I ended up cooking a turkey, making homemade rolls,  making gravy, providing ice cream for the pies, serving jellied and berry cranberry sauce that Bill found in our pantry in Rexburg when he went home for Neil's funeral.  We spent most of that P-day Monday, November 27th ,cooking.

TABLE DECORATIONS

    It really did seem like Thanksgiving Day, because we spent most of it cooking.  We all told of something we were thankful for, we listened to Thanksgiving jokes, told by Larry Bonner.

ENJOYING THE FEAST

At one point I was able to tell a few of the people the story of the Pilgrims and the Indians, because the Germans and Austrians had no idea why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was a very enjoyable night, and the guests told us that they enjoyed the dinner very much.

     The weather is cold, every one's thoughts have turned to Christmas, but I feel that I have so much to be thankful for.  I'm so thankful to be serving this mission here in the Freiberg Temple.  I am so thankful for my missionary companion (Bill).  How blessed we are to have our wonderful family, and to have three grandchildren in the mission field.  Life is Wunderbar!