So much has happened in the past few months that I have a lot to cover. In one more month we will hit our one year mark in Germany. That almost seems impossible to us. This spring and summer especially have raced by and have been filled to the brim with wonderful family and missionary experiences.
Back in May we took an official leave for two weeks to travel to Utah to attend the wedding of our son Tyler to Meggan McLean in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a true celebration and many of our family gathered together to be with them during this special time. We feel so fortunate to have Meggan in our family with her two children, Bucky and Sadie.
We were very lucky to be in town for Addie's 8th Birthday party. It's her big year to be baptised and we're so proud of her to choose to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Here she is with her cute friends.
It was wonderful to catch up on hugs and events in our grandchildren's lives. They are beautiful and amazing in every way. We're so proud of them and all the worthwhile things they are doing.
We have known the McLean family for years as Tyler and Meggan's dad, Micheal, have worked together in the music industry on many projects for a very long time. We not only get an incredible daughter-in-law, but we acquire an even closer tie to her beautiful family. We look forward to many fun times together in the future. Pictured here from left to right are Lynn McLean, Meggan's mom, me, and Meggan. Sitting in front is Marty, Lynn's dearest friend.
Addie has a deep love of horses just like her Grami Castleton and she takes weekly riding lessons and holds onto the dream of owning her very own horse some day. Watching her was truly a deja vous moment for me.
Brother Sam, who makes the big jump into high school this year, came with us to her lesson.
Here's the baby of the whole Castleton family, Parker, showing off some of his first steps for his Grandparents. They just grow up too fast.
Here's Asher, a budding performer in his own right, taking after Daddy Devin's musical talents.
Logan and McKay were absolutely mesmerized by this hour glass. You must admit they look pretty intense.
It's a good thing when your older cousin (or sister) will read to you.
Tyler, Sam and Addie on the big wedding day.
We were so happy to be able to attend Sam's last junior high school choir concert. It was wonderful! We couldn't believe how tall he is getting.
Our grandson, Braden, recently was awarded his Eagle Scout award after so much hard work and perseverance Hunter is coming right up behind him. I just smile when I see how these two older boys tower over their mom, Rosy, and might even inch past their dad, Bruce, before they're done.
Ellis turned 8 years old this Spring along with Addie and also chose to be baptized into the Church as well as joining the Cub Scouts as you can see in the previous picture. We feel so blessed to have these great kids in our family. They are our joy and it's pretty hard being away from them for so long.
This is looking out at beautiful Mt. Timp from Tyler's back porch the last day of our visit. I must say, it was a little hard to get back on that plane and leave family again. We made beautiful memories, didn't take enough pictures of ALL the grandkids, and felt so blessed to have such a wonderful family.
One of our Saturday Day trips took us to Hessen Park which is an historical "working park" that takes you back in time to what life was like centuries before in Germany. Most of these buildings have been moved from all different locations in Germany, restored, and organized into this delightful village.
A typical garden both from past times and typical of what you see today as well.
Here's the old basket weaver. I particularly loved the hanging cradle in the foreground.
A picturesque entrance into a nice medieval home.
We didn't expect to see a wind mill in Germany, but they were used apparently.
This picture was taken on one of our cemetery noon walks. We were impressed that this is a replica of the same Christus that is so widely used in our Church temple visitor centers all over the world.
This is the beautiful St. Elizabeth Kirche in the quaint city of Marburg where Elder and Sister Smith took us on another Saturday outing. It is huge and majestic as so many cathedrals are here in Europe.
This little rose bush in the corner or a vast concrete entry way continues to thrive and grow in St. Elizabeth's honor.
The paintings and statuary in her honor inside the church are truly beautiful.
I can never resist getting on a horse when the opportunity arises!
The beautiful round objects displayed on this bike are painted bike bells. So unique and colorful.
The uphill walkway as we climbed to the Marburg Castle.
Another beautiful church with gorgeous stained glass windows along the way.
Our dear friends the Smiths from Orem, Utah.
A view of the castle on approach.
This is St. Elizabeth's Kirche with the castle on the mountain in the background.
Elder Castleton and I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Brussels, Belgium to meet with our Belgium attorney and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on her retirement. She has been very helpful to the Church in getting our young missionaries into her country which has very strict and cumbersome visa requirements. We were there to honor her for this important service to us.
This is me with Sister Ruth Ann Hamilton, a senior public affairs missionary serving in Brussels. She was also in Hong Kong with us and is our very good friend.
Here Elder Castleton stands in front of the Brussels Royal Palace which is still the residence of the King and Queen.
Oh, the architecture!!
It was interesting to notice a completely different feel and style in a country so close. The people here speak either French, Dutch or both. Not as many speak English. The city itself did not have the cleanliness and order that German cities do. We saw many piles of garbage and littered streets which was surprising to us. The drivers are a little crazy here too. Still beautiful, of course.
The beautiful main platz.
Here's one of the famous Belgium Waffle stores. You can't be in Brussels and not have one of these.
To tell you the truth, I had ice cream instead. They were a little over the top sweet for me! Elder Castleton loved his!
Here it is!! The famous and very celebrated peeing boy in the heart of the city. Several legends of how it came to be. It's very small actually but there was a swarm of people trying to get his picture. The city folk dress him up for every celebration day in the year. They love him.
Here we are with the guest of honor and our attorney who works closely with her when she deals with the missionaries. We had the opportunity to tell her a lot about our beliefs, especially in relation to the importance of families during our lunch together. She's a very delightful woman who is very service minded. She has plans to start an organization to establish a reading program for the many under privileged children in Belgium after her impending retirement.
Notice the beautiful glass arched ceiling of this downtown mall where we went looking for and buying the famous Belgium chocolates. They're better than German chocolates if that's possible.
A group of us took a lovely break during the afternoon to go to the Monet exhibit downtown on the River Main. It's such a thrill to see in person the beautiful originals of the Impressionist Movement that you studied in school. The only downside was that it was a 100 degrees outside and the Museum wasn't air conditioned. Few German buildings are because the weather doesn't usually get this hot.
This is a little better picture of the Monet banner on the outside of one of the beautiful Frankfurt art museums.
Our next adventure was to the delightful city of Mainz. As is typical of so many of these places there was a lively Saturday farmer's market in progress. People of all ages gather every weekend to buy the delicious produce, cheeses, meats and plenty of local wine. The booths are colorful, the dining kiosks are delicious and there is usually always live music to put you in the mood.
A feast for the eyes and the tummies!
Who wouldn't want to shop here on the weekend?
The Germans love their herbs to eat and to use medicinally. Open herb gardens are commonly grown everywhere.
Most of our time in Mainz was spent in the fascinating Gutenberg Museum.
Here's our lively music group to entertain us.
Sister Sant and Sister Kemlage lead the way to the fourth floor flat and another visit our our investigators, Mike and his girlfriend, Micka. We were thrilled this Sunday to see that Heike had actually brought Mike to church with her. She's the one who seems very interested. She wanted to stay for all three meetings but he seemed anxious to get to other obligations of the day. Hopefully we will see them back again.
This is Elder Riggs, Lowell's fellow associate legal counsel missionary. He's such a character and is always good for a laugh. These are his newly purchased lederhosen that he tried on just for the office.
This is our 4th of July Family Home Evening with all the Senior Missionaries. You can see that we're quite a large group. We had a huge picnic buffet with all our favorite American dishes and then a patriotic program after we ate. It was a perfect evening and a pleasant chance to visit and relax.
On this lovely Friday evening, a large group of us traveled to Budingen to see a very traditional Medieval Festival. These are common during the summer months and take you back in time to the age of courageous knights, fair maidens and jousting duals. Seen above is one of our newer couple, the Caracenas from Wyoming who are ICS missionaries for the Area.
There were booths selling wares of the time, showing common trades like blacksmiths, wool spinners, leather goods craters, etc.
This is an impressive example of the authentic costuming that was being worn.
An interesting protective mask awaiting the upcoming jousting competition the following day.
A flute and bag pipe serenade.
After eating a delicious spit grilled pork steak, we took an evening stroll through the quaint streets.
Even the children got into the spirit of the festival.
Here's one of the townsmen showing off his trained ferret.
Our visit to Budingen was the perfect way to unwind from our office work and start the weekend.
Sunday dinner with our sister missionaries and another one of their investigators, Hannah. She speaks three languages, is in high school and lives in their apartment building. Both of her parents are doctors. For one so young she has traveled many different places in the world with her family.
.
We found a live English Theatre in downtown Frankfurt and bought tickets several months before. It was an original musical of Alice and Wonderland and it was truly THE strangest thing we had ever seen. It was definitely a contemporary interpretation with EIGHT Alice's and a pretty grotesque Mad Hatter. The only character I liked was the caterpillar. The rest of the evening was FABULOUS!
We had a wonderful patio dinner at The Meat Packer's Restaurant with delicious American food.
Such fun, wonderful friends to share a Saturday evening with!
Here we are in the subway waiting for the train.
Pictured here are some very talented young missionaries who performed at our Senior Missionary Devotion where the Mission President and his wife, the Stoddard's, spoke.
Sister Stoddard is in the middle of this delightful group. Sister Bangeter, on the far right, and her husband are the office couple at the Mission Office.
Sisters Castleton, Bausmann, and Smith all wore yellow on our Book of Mormon class day.
This was our two-castle day trip. This lovely town, Wertheim, is right on the River with the marina in the foreground.
Every place we visit has a flavor of its own and always some spectacular architecture.
There was a festival going on which featured an old man's band (with great voices, I might add) singing 60's and 70's American rock tunes. There was everything from the Beach Boys to Elvis. It was pretty great and the people seemed to love it.
We are starting the long and steep walk up to the castle.
I always try to imagine the great human effort it took to build these huge fortresses back in the day where there were no cranes and no large vehicles to transport the building materials.
Gorgeous view from part way up.
This stage is in one of the courtyards inside the castle. We are actually coming back here in a couple of week to watch the opera "Carmen" at this very place. They will fill the open yard with folding chairs and apparently have a wonderful sound stage. It should be a lovely experience if it doesn't rain!!
After coming off the mountain and listening to the band a little longer, we headed to a much smaller castle in Mespelbrunn, just a few minutes down the road.
This castle is,of course, a lot smaller but truly one of my favorites. Surrounded by a mote and nestled deep in a lush forest, it struck me as something out of a storybook. Members of the original family still live in this castle which seems to make it that much more charming. The grounds are beautiful and part of the castle is open for tours. Yes, I'd LOVE to stay, thank you! Please walk with us around the grounds..........
This picture is to prove to ourselves some future day that we were actually here. This site was untouched by the war and is in its original state.
Awwww, who wouldn't want to live here!
This is the beautiful hotel at the base of the walkway to the castle. It would be a wonderful retreat for any traveler.
Well, there you have a very long and overdue installment of our mission adventures in Germany. We hope you've enjoyed sharing with us the charm of this country and a small peak into the work we do. Unfortunately, the majority of our time, behind our two desks, is the part of our mission we love the most but which is pretty dull to take pictures of. Everyday brings new situations and new challenges, especially for Lowell and his involvement with all these European countries and their visa and immigration problems for missionaries, mission presidents, temple presidents and even members of the Area presidency. Every country has its own laws and restrictions and it's very fascinating to deal in the maze of protocols to get done what has to be done. It's a testimony builder everyday to realize that much of what happens in the legal dept. would not happen if it weren't for the help of the Lord. It's a very spiritual experience to have morning prayers (with a conference call to England to include their two Area attorneys) every day to petition the Lord's direction and discerning powers to help in this work that rolls forward in spite of considerable obstacles and opposition. We're fortunate and grateful
for the opportunity to serve in this way.
We're so thankful for you family and friends who we miss every single day and who are in our prayers always. Thank you for your great love and support. We will be back home before your know it!
