I am always so impressed with all the beautiful flowers that bloom around here,
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| FLOWERS AT TEMPLE ENTRANCE |
and the temple gardeners keep the temple grounds, and flowers so fresh and beautiful, that they just brighten our days. We now have the summer flowers all planted and blooming beautifully.
Now that Spring and Summer have arrived, we seem to be participating in a lot more activities. People are getting in the mood for Barbeques. In Germany they call Barbeques, Grill Parties. Our Branch President and his wife, Dario and Trisha Dzierzon, invited all of the temple missionaries to a cookout at their home on May 10. They have such a beautiful yard in the German countryside, and it is always a joy to visit their home. Dario is a good grill cooker. He does great bratwurst, sausages, kebabs, and hamburgers. We all brought a salad or dessert to share, and had a great time. The warm sunshine, the Dzierzon children, great food, and good conversation made this such an enjoyable event. Bill even enjoyed kicking around the soccer ball.
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| BILL AT DZIERZON COOKOUT |
Roulade is a German dish using beef. Sister Lindsay, a sister temple missionary, loves roulade, and she wanted to have an activity where she taught all of us sister temple missionaries how to make it. It requires a fairly thin slice of raw beef. The piece of beef is placed on a cutting board, a piece of bacon, and a pickle are then placed inside. The beef is rolled up with the bacon and pickle inside. You then place the roulade pieces in a pan and bake in the over till done. It is served with beef gravy. After the roulade was all cooked, we had dinner in their apartment with about 15 people in attendance. Roulade isn't my favorite thing to eat here in Germany, but it was fun to learn how to make it, and to taste it. It was kind of Sister Lindsay to teach us.
Mother's Day, May 13th this year,
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| TEMPLE MISSIONARY GRILL PARTY |
is also celebrated in Germany the same day as it is in the United States. During the Sunday School time, the Primary children of the Branch (Zweig) sang two songs, and presented a short program., It was really nice. The Branch Sunday School Presidency presented each woman with a beautiful Gerber Daisy. Later that day, I enjoyed talking to our children, or receiving a text from them. The best part of Mother's Day for me was being with, or talking to my family. I feel truly blessed to have a wonderful husband and family.
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| THE ROULADE COOKING CREW: KATHLEEN, ANN, RUSTY, LYN & MARIANNE |
Silver mining is what put Freiberg on the map. On May 14th, Dietmar and Ilona Harzt, who live in Freiberg, sponsored a tour, for the temple workers, of some of the mining facilities. Sister Harzt is a temple worker, and our Branch Music Chairman. Her husband, Dietmar, is not a member, but he was a blastings expert in the mining business. It is amazing what facilities
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| BEGINNING TOUR OF MINING INDUSTRY |
were developed to get water into the mine to power the wheels used in the mining process. We hiked a trail about four miles long, which was through some back woods area following a ditch built by the miners to carry water used in the mining industry. At the end of our four mile hike, we arrived at a camp ground for Rv's, and Trailers, etc. The campground had a restaurant, sports facilities, restrooms, and was very nice. The Harzt had made reservations for us at the restaurant, and we enjoyed a nice lunch together. We then had the four mile hike back to our cars, followed by a drive to see more of the old mining facilities. Freiberg is no longer a mining town, but the University of Freiberg does offer mining classes.
Healthwise, Bill and I have been very blessed. I still need to see a chiropractor periodically to put my spine and other bones into alignment. I have had a wonderful doctor in Dresden, but she had to quit to have a baby. She recommended another doctor to me who is, also, a woman, she speaks English, and uses the chiropractic method I like. This doctor practices in Markkleeberg, Germany, about an hours drive from Freiberg. Bill and I took a drive to see if we could find her office in Markkleeberg, before my appointment on June 18th.
We had never been to this area before, so were pleasantly surprised to find it crowded
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| FOUR MILE HIKE THROUGH WOODS |
with people who were swimming, boating, and picnicing around a beautiful lake. It had a boardwalk and a beach, and several restaurants on the boardwalk. After finding the doctor's office, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Markkleeberger See ( that means Markkleeberger Lake). It was such a pleasant surprise to discover this beautiful lake, that it got us into the holiday mood, too. It just happened to be a Catholic holiday in Germany that day, and all the children were out of school. That is why the beaches were so crowded, and all of the stores and shops were closed, except the restaurants. We enjoyed strolling along the boardwalk, and had a quick bite to eat before returning home.
Monday, May 28th, the Temple Recorder, Peter Schoenherr, organized a bike tour along the Elbe River. It
was about a 10 mile trail, starting in Pirna, Germany and ending in Rathen, Germany. About 13 people opted to bike. Bill and I, plus 5 other missionaries opted not to bike, and drove to Rathen from Pirna. Bill and I haven't ridden bikes since we were in our 30's, but the German/Austrian temple workers have been riding bikes for years. The non bikers were temple missionaries like us, from the U.S., who have either had knee replacements, or just didn't feel comfortable riding a bike.
While the bikers were traveling, the rest of us took a quick look at the town of Pirna. It is an interesting medium sized town that has an old European feel to it
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| MARKKLEEBERGER SEE! |
. I was interested to learn that our just released Stake President of the Dresden Stake lives in Pirna. We walked around the town square, and then drove in our cars to meet the bikers in Rathen. Rathen is a town divided into two parts by the Elbe River. The only way to get across the river is to take a ferry boat that takes about 7 minutes to cross to the other side. We met the bikers in Rathen, and crossed on the ferry boat to walk to a lovely restaurant where we had reservations. After dining, we walked 1/4 of a mile to a beautiful lake, surrounded by huge rock formations that are a part of the Saechsische Schweiz National Park. It was such a hot day,
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| BEGINNING BIKE TOUR IN PIRNA |
and the cool shade of the mountains and lake were so soothing to our souls. The Saechsische Schweiz National Park is in a part of Saxony that has a feeling of Switzerland.
To close this post, I want to mention that Bill and I had the wonderful experience of meeting a couple who came to the temple from Hamburg, Germany. When they saw Bill's name tag, they asked if he knew a man by the name of Todd Moss,
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| RIDING FERRY BOAT ACROSS THE ELBE RIVER |
who was a professor at Syracuse University. Bill told him that Todd was our son. Reinhold and Mathilde Wolff lived in the Hamburg Ward when Todd was a young missionary serving there. Reinhold had been the ward mission leader. When Todd returned home from his mission, he invited their daughter, Antje, who was Lanette's age, to come to the United States and visit at our home, which she did. We still remember Antje's visit and were so pleased to meet her parents. They are wonderful people!
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| RESTAURANT IN RATHEN |
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| HEIKE AND PETER SCHOENHERR - TEMPLE RECORDER |
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| REINHOLD AND MATILDE WOLFF, ANTJE'S PARENTS |
