Friday, March 18, 2011
Elder and Sister
Paxton
Frankfurt Mail
Pouch
Church Office
Building
50 East North
Temple
Salt Lake City,
Ut 84150
Dear Quayde,
I hope this finds
you doing well. You are so very close
to getting out. I hope that your
schooling is coming together and that you will be able to graduate in May like
you were planning. Do you have new
Family Home Evening Parents? Do you
like them? Are you able to keep smiling
and making the best of your time? Do
you have any new boys? Have you played
UNO recently and did you win?
Sorry this has
taken so long to get to you but I can’t believe how crazy things have been for
us. It has all been good and a learning
experience also. The MTC kept us really
busy from about 7:00 a.m. until about 8:30 p.m. and then we usually had reading
assignments for the next day. We
learned a lot while there but we were definitely tired at night. I (Vickie) ended up getting sick with a bad
cold while there and just today, I am finally feeling much better. I usually don’t get sick but this bug hung on
for three weeks. So far Marv is staying
well and hope he stays that way.
Well, we flew out
on March 5 early in the morning and made it to Dallas and after a 4 hour
layover we were back on the plane heading to Frankfurt, Germany. Both flights Marv and I were not sitting by
each other so we got to talk to new people but I really would have liked to
have sat by him. The 9 ½ hour flight to
Germany was not as bad as I expected except it was hard to get up and move
around because the chairs were so close together and I would have to make those
sitting by me get up and I didn’t want to disturb them. We did have movies we could watch on a
screen in front of our seat. The
earphones weren’t the best but when I remembered I had some, I put those in and
for the last half of the flight was able to hear the movies better. I think I was just too nervous to sleep so I
didn’t. I only had about an hour of
sleep from Thursday morning until what would have been Saturday night there for
you because we stayed up when we got here to try to adjust to the jet lag. We actually did pretty good but by about 4
p.m. here each day, I would feel really tired.
But now I think we are adjusted and things are great.
Let me tell you a
little about Germany. First, the put us
in an apartment temporarily that is used for visiting General Authorities and
it was really nice. After about 5 days
there, we had to move because one of the couple’s husband had a stroke and they needed our
apartment because it had an elevator so they found us an apartment in a town
nearby but that required us to get approval for a car to use, which they
gave. We are living in one of the
nicest apartments for senior couples in the Area apparently. It is very nice. It has two bedrooms, 1 ½ baths, a dishwasher,
microwave, washer and dryer, a TV and DVD player. It does cost more than the others but I
guess we will just pay the difference and go without something else. It is about 15 to 20 minute drive from our
office so fairly close. This is located
in a very cute town, we call it the Park City of Germany. We understand a big portion of the
millionaires live in this town and it is a town with hot mineral waters
apparently.
Now the driving
over here is very interesting. You
definitely have to have a GPS to get around.
There are a lot of one way streets and you can’t always go one way to
get somewhere and take the same route to get back. There are street lights all along the roads
and each lane has its own light so you have to watch carefully to know if you
can go in your lane or if you have to stop or turn. The drivers are pretty nice over here. I would say most people will use public
transportation to get around instead of using their cars because it is hard to
find a place to park. The streets off
the main streets are very narrow maybe wide enough for one car and then cars
are parked on the side and somehow some of these streets are two way so you
have to pull over and let each other by.
It can be very stressful. I
drove today for the first time just from our apartment into work and I did
fine. We drive on the autoban but it
does have speed limits contrary to what people in the states have been
told. There may be sections that there
are not speed limits but so far on the parts we have driven there have been
limits and there are not very high limits – less than what we drive in the
states. For example, the sign may show
80 but that is really 50 miles per hour in the states.
Food is expensive
to buy in the restaurants. We went with
another couple to a restaurant the first week we were here, one they really
liked and we ordered a cheeseburger and fries and a drink and it cost us 20
Euros or $30 American. It was a good
hamburger but I thought it was pretty expensive. Also you have to buy water at restaurants,
they do not serve free water and of course none of your drinks are free
refills. A drink in a restaurant is
typically around $3.00 US dollars and they aren’t very big. The food has been good. Marv and I have actually split a meal a
couple of times and it was plenty for us.
We have had lots of pizza since we have been here because that is what
people have ordered to feed us. We
actually went to a Pizza Hut and it was like back home but with more
variety. We have had Croatian food,
which has been my favorite restaurant so far, we had Chicken Cordon Bleu with a
salad and vegetables and it was all very good.
We have had Thai, Mexican and a hot dog from a vendor. I have bought food to cook at home and that
has been fun guessing a little about what I am buying but so far we have liked
most everything.
The weather was
beautiful when we got here. The sun was
shining for the first two or three days and you really noticed all the spring
flowers beginning to break through. We
have gone into a little cold spell the past few days and I have decided my coat
is not going to be warm enough in the dead of winter so I will need to buy
another one before we enter winter next year.
There are a ton of apartment
buildings here and most people live in apartments because it is too expensive
to own land and your home like we have.
The buildings are really close to each other. We learned how to ride the train and go
downtown. The shopping places are
huge. I have never seen so many stores
in one place. We didn’t shop but just
walked around.
The people have
been so kind to us and treated us as royalty.
We are both trying to learn our new responsibilities. Marv is doing Finances for the Centers For
Young Single Adults and I am doing the Finances for the Seminaries and
Institutes in all of Europe. Marv may
have to do some traveling with his position so I am hopeful they will let me
tag along.
This Saturday we
are going to Wurzburg and I believe see a castle over there with a group of
people. I will let you know what we see
and how it turns out. It will be a new
experience.
Quayde, now I will
give you my missionary pitch. Please
read the Book of Mormon because I know that you will find answers and peace in
your life. I would love to hear what
you are reading about and how you feel.
Moroni 10:3-5 (last book in Book of Mormon) is a promise of how the Book
of Mormon can bless your life. I
challenge you to read this and take the challenge to read it. You have a couple of months before you are
out and if you read a little each day you might get it read before you leave
but then I encourage you to read it when you are out every day. It will bless your life.
I best get this in
the mail. We are hoping and praying for
you. Take care and we miss our Monday
nights with you but we love what we are doing and the people we are meeting.
Sincerely,
Elder and Sister
Paxton
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