A BREATH TAKING SNEAK PREVIEW OF OUR SURROUNDINGS BEFORE WORK ON MONDAY

    
  Jean and Mike Jensen talked us into going on a part-day trip with them and Brooke, their daughter, just the morning after we arrived, on Saturday. We hadn't even unpacked our bags completely but we couldn't resist. They picked us up at 9am and we were off on my very first adventure in Europe. The destination was the quaint town of Ruedesheim, nestled on the picturesque banks of the Rhine River. It was only about 60 Km from Frankfurt.

   

 I'm sure I've seen this on a postcard somewhere, haven't I? I don't think it could have been a more perfect day considering the weather and the scenery. Maybe I'm dreaming. Too beautiful for words.

      This is the little two person gondola we took to the top of the lush green mountain. Below we saw rows and rows of concisely manicured vineyards of several colors of grapes. It seemed there wasn't a stick out of place anywhere in the landscape. Germans take great pride in their country's cleanliness and order.
   

       A view of the Rhine from above. Wish you could see more clearly that there is a castle or two across the way just to add more charm to the amazing countryside.

       This monument was built in 1874 in commemoration of the unification of Germany after their victory over France. It's massive and very very detailed in it's engravings and statues. It's quite a sight towering over the valley below.

 




      Back down the mountain we strolled leisurely through the cobble stoned streets and admired the quaint shops, restaurants and bakeries. Here we pause outside of their famous Christmas store where they sell every imaginable style of authentic nut crackers in varying sizes.

      More of the timeless, extraordinary European architecture that lures your heart and senses into thinking, "this must be home".

      We don't even look too jet-lagged, do we? My pictures of the outside restaurant we ate lunch at unfortunately didn't turn out. We enjoyed Schnitzel, Bratwurst and Sauerkraut (of course) while a delightful little red-faced local played his accordion and sang to us.

      As we walked back to the car we passed this huge midieval tower that in the day guarded the city.

                    And with this delightful start.........
                              our mission begins!

                                                           

Goodbye Salt Lake City and Hello Germany!

Goodbye Salt Lake City.......

     We had a great stay in Salt Lake while Lowell took his legal training. The weather was perfect and the flowers on Temple Square and in downtown were out in all their glory. We had a wonderful last chance to visit with some dear friends and family before our final departure. 

       I had mentioned in the last post  that we had met old friends in the MTC going to the Philippines, the Robinsons. Here I'm pictured with them (Teresa in the orange and her husband,Ray,in the back), Teresa's  mother, Eloise, who we've known for years as well. She's a vibrant 93 years old, by the way! And a real treat was also seeing her wonderful neighbors, Chloe Ann and Patrick Kelly, who were special senior missionaries with us in Hong Kong. A pretty amazing reunion, I would say!                                                                             

     While Lowell was slaving away in meetings on our last day, I had the pleasure of taking an early morning 6 mile hike up City Creek Canyon with Ruth Ann Hamilton,another Hong Kong missionary friend. The fall colors were just beginning to turn, making it a breath taking walk. Ruth Ann will leave on her second mission to Brussels, Belgium on Jan. 5th! We're hoping to see each other in Europe. She'll be in our Area.

    That last night Tyler and the kids came up to treat us to our last Cheese Cake Factory supper for 18 months. It was a tearful goodbye as we realized our beloved meeting-up-with-family 
get-together's were over for a while. Luckily we will have a phone in our apartment that allows us to call home any time. That along with Skype, Facetime and email will keep us in pretty close contact.


Hello Germany..............

        Our flight the next morning was supposed to take off at 11:30am. Unfortunately our destination, San Francisco, was fogged in and we were late taking off. That resulted in our missing the connection to Frankfurt.  Not a good start!   We hurried and got our names put on a standby list for a 7pm flight to avoid having to wait another day for another standby flight. Since our names were at the top of the list, we barely made it on the packed plane. We were even able to sit next to each other in seats with extra leg room! BLESSINGS!!!!

       We were both so tired we slept pretty well during our night which was Frankfurt's morning and awakened just in time to be served breakfast and get ready to land. It seemed surreal for me, a dream come true to not only be in Europe but to live there! Such a beautiful sight out the window. We touched down at about 2:30pm.

      Our Area Legal Counsel, Mike Jensen and his wife, Jean, were right there to pick us up when we arrived. The only problem was that three of our five checked bags didn't make it. We tracked them down in SF and they promised us they would deliver them the next day, which they did.


     We were pretty tired and so they whisked us off to our apartment so we could settle in and get our land legs on again. We were so pleased with where we will be living. The apartment, on the ground floor of a nice complex, is about twice as big as the one we had in Hong Kong. It's still pretty cozy but will be more than perfect for us. It's actually the first  residence we've had since selling our home back in 2012.


   
     We have about a four block walk to the Area Office building which we'll love for the exercise. Everything is lush green and, of course, very European and quaint. I can't believe we're actually here in this long anticipated place!

   

      Lowell is sitting in our living room/dining room combo. Then you can see our cute little galley kitchen with everything we need. The Jensen's went shopping for us to get us by for a couple of days until we can figure things out.

      Next, is the view from the front door of the complex out to our street, Schleswigerstrasse 12.

   

      This is our bedroom, a single bed frame with two mattresses and feather "ticks".  Lots of portable closet room about 18 inches from the bottom of the bed..........like I said.......COZY!

      This is our snug little bathroom which actually has a tub!!! It took a while to figure out the hot water  and heating systems, but Lowell finally figured it out. Hooray! It's pretty funny. To get into the shower you have to fold back the three paneled door into the tub area. Then to close it, you have to scruntch up near the wide end so you can fold them back around the tub. Not sure how those German minds work but we'll take it and be happy!

         This is our dining room table and our little hutch. It's all a completely separate room with a door. Great for guests! We are luckly to have an extra small room which will hold a twin bed and a small desk for both of us. Again, very nice for guests (hint, hint!). 

        Lastly, this is our little patio looking out onto the green between the buildings. We're looking forward to fixing things up a bit and adding our touch, but that will most likely have to wait a while. There is much to do and learn first. It's great to be here and we're so looking forward to the adventures and work ahead.

     

There Nothing Like Five Days of Training at the MTC

It's been an exhilarating and exhausting week but one that has filled us spiritually and has better prepared us to be effective missionaries. We have come to more fully appreciate and use our valuable missionary manual, "Preach My Gospel". We have been amazed at the wisdom and teaching abilities of our young instructors, Sister Frandsen (green sweater in middle picture above) and Brother Rowe (middle of bottom picture). Also in the middle picture are the other two couples in our district, Elder and Sister Cottle going to Eastern Europe as Member-Leadership missionaries, and Elder and Sister Wright serving as Member Leadership missionaries right in their own stake. The top picture is only half of our entire group. If you look closely, you can see Elder Castleton and I. It was hard to leave everyone as we made many new friends and renewed friendship with a couple who we had known before in Preston, the Robinson's, going to the Philippines. 

Two highlights of the week were walking in the footsteps of our sons who have gone before us here and attending a huge missionary devotional attended by over 2,000 young and senior missionaries all singing "Called To Serve" together. Our bodies are tired, but our spirits are ready!

First Day in the Provo Missionary Training Center

     Our mission has finally begun as we started our missionary training today in Provo Utah with about 100 other senior missionaries who are headed for destinations all over the local area, the US and around the world. They're a marvelous and fun group and will be doing a variety of responsibilities. There are doctors, several nurses and one mental health counselor. There are those who will be doing proselyting or member leadership, humanitarian or welfare services, perpetual education or legal work like Elder Castleton. Foreign country destinations in our group are Germany (3 of us couples), Slovenia, Slovakia, England, Zambia, the Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Thailand and the Philippines. We're all excited AND nervous but so excited to dive in.We will be here for five days and then after three days of legal training in SLC next week, we head for Frankfurt on the 18th. We feel blessed to be working for the Lord full-time for the next 18 months. We send our love to all of you and invite you to share this experience with us via this blog.