May 5, 2011
Dear Vauna, Lisa, Ron and Karen:\
Happy Cinco de Mayo if any of you are celebrating that
Holiday. Also I hope Vauna and Karen that you all had a wonderful Mother’s
Day. I’m sure mine will be different
but I know it will be good.
We have had a busy week so I haven’t done very good at
writing emails and such. Last Saturday,
we had meetings with the Centers for Young Adults. We left our house around 7:45 a.m. on
Saturday morning and arrived back to our apartment at 8:15 p.m. We had Elder Wright at the meetings and he
was kind of running the program. He is
the Area 70 over the Centers and he is from Wales.
We meet some couples from France and Finland, Great Britain,
and the Perle’s from southern Germany.
Brother and Sister Perle were released from their calling on the day
before but came in smiling and very upbeat.
They have loved their calling.
They were asked to share their testimonies and it was very
touching.
After all the meetings which were over about 4:30 p.m., the
Asplund’s and us visited more with Elder Wright and then we went to dinner with
him. We were all so tired when we were
done but it was a pretty good day.
Asplund’s received permission for Marv and I to be trainers to some of
the Centers. Right now we will probably
be Advisors to the Centers in Hungary and Poland and possibly to some in
Northern Germany. Everything hasn’t
been totally decided on that. We will need
to travel to these centers and meet with the Center couples that are running
the programs, meet with the Stake or District President and attend an activity
or two of the Young Adults to see how things are going plus give some training
to the Center couples and to the Student
Council members. We will probably leave
on a Friday and return on a Wednesday.
The Asplund’s want us to go to YSA Conference with them the first of
August for a few days in Munich. I
think that should be interesting. So it
sounds like me might get to do a little traveling with Marv’s assignment.
Sunday we were invited over to the Davies for dessert and we
had a wonderful visit and dessert was strawberry shortcake. They are another Senior Missionary
Couple. They have been on 4 missions I
believe and he is the Executive Secretary to the Area Presidency. I really needed that visit and it was fun
hearing about their missions and how the Lord has blessed them in their
lives.
I went to a Sister’s Night out last night and they had a lot
of things from the sisters going home because their missions are done and they
decided to leave some things behind.
There was clothes, shoes, purses, and cooking supplies. I picked up a couple of packages of onion
soup mix and a box of something that I was told was pudding. It was all free. Then we had a sister that taught us how to
make an apple strudel and a vegetable strudel.
It was really easy because you can buy the dough already made at the
store and then you throw the other things in it and cook it for about 20 to 25
minutes at 200c.
Then they had a book review of some of the favorite fiction
books of three of the sisters, two of them are the doctor’s wives. They don’t really have much to do so they
can spend a lot of time reading I guess.
One of them loved historical based novels, one loved the mystery type
books and the other one loved just a good feel good book. One of the doctor’s has written two books
that are published on Amazon and she shared how he writes. Sounds like he has always loved to tell
stories and he spend about an hour a day writing down his story line and even
when they go on vacation he can come home and start where he left off. I guess his books are good and clean. His name is Steven Dahl. They are going to be here until January so
maybe before then I can check out his book and read at least one of them. This winter would be a good time to do
that. I am trying to read President
Monson’s book on my Kindle but I really need to spend more time doing that. I can’t believe how fast the time is
going. I never seem to have enough time
to do everything I want to do.They also told us that there is a small library
where we can check out the books and apparently some games and DVD’s in our
office building. I guess I will have to
check it out. Then we got to eat the strudels
and clean up and go home. I got home
about 8:30 p.m. that night.
Things have been really busy for me at work this week. I have been dealing with a few new
challenges but I think we have been able to work through most of them. We had a couple that has not paid for their
mission car, which costs $150 US dollars a month but now they rather
reluctantly will start to pay for the car.
They got away without paying for it for 9 months. There is always something that comes up that
I have to figure out who I need to talk to and how to resolve the issues. This definitely keeps me hopping and there
is never a dull moment.
Today
Marv and I along with Asplund’s,who are the CFYA Leaders, and who we have become
good friends with got to travel to a town that is about 2 ½ hours away from
here to pick up a computer, filing cabinet and files for Marv’s job from
Brother Perle. It was a very nice drive
and I did notice a couple of castles on the hills on our drive but of course we
couldn’t stop. Sister Perle fixed us
lunch and it was very good. Her table
was beautifully set and her home was very lovely. It is in an apartment building where they
have lived for the past 36 years. They
pretty much raised their children there.
As I looked around, she had decorated it very lovely and she shared
stories about a lot of the things she had.
Sister Asplund and I loved visiting with this sister. I was amazed that she raised her children in
this small of a place. We are truly
blessed to have such large homes. I
felt so guilty that I thought I should really move to the smaller apartment and
save some money. But we will see if
Marv is wanting to do that or not. He
is tired of me talking about it but I’m not really sure how he feels. Our apartment is nice so it might be hard to
go down to something a lot smaller but it would be less expensive.
Brother and Sister Perle shared with us their story of how
they met. She is a convert and Brother
Perle baptized her. She saw the name of
the church on the outside of a church and decided to attend a meeting and check
it out. She then got interested in going
to the dances and activities there on weekends. During that time in Stuttgard there were a
lot of soldiers here and so a lot of the girls married the American soldiers
but she didn’t. Brother Perle when he
was 23 and a newlywed was made a Branch President. Then he was a Bishop, Counselor in Stake
Presidency 2 times, Bishop again and I think they have been on 6 missions. They have served in the temple a couple of
times, in Dresden proselyting, and
Trainer for the CFYA. He is around 75
years of age.
Sister
Perle became sick and the sickness paralyzed her from the waist down when they
were on one of their missions so they had to be released. Brother Perle gave her a priesthood blessing after
she had suffered some time with this and the doctors didn’t know what was wrong
with her. She was healed enough that she
can walk around now. After this healing
and getting better they went back and finished their mission but they feel they
can never pay back the Lord enough for healing her. Her legs are still kind of weak but she said
she can get around and she is not complaining.
They shared some beautiful stories for us. She told us we need to go to Dresden and see
all the history that is there. This is
where the wall was put up and divided the East from the West. She remembers this time very well. She is actually from Czech and she remembers
the night that Dresden was bombed by us.
She was close to the border and they could see the glow of the fires
from the bombing. She was kicked out of
Czech Republic but was sent to Stuttgard which was a blessing in disguise so
that she did not have to stay behind the wall.
This is where she and Brother Perle met. Anyway we learned so much from them and the
Spirit was so strong. If only we could
have experiences like today every day.
We had a prayer before we left for guidance and safety and
for a nice time of getting to know and love the Perle’s. We were able to travel up there with no
problems and traffic was even decent. I
had been a little concerned because Marv was having to drive a big van and I
know how hard it is to get around in the little car we have – I hoped he would
not have any problems. We didn’t get
lost and the ride went smooth. Coming
home we couldn’t get the car to start because we could get the key to turn so
Brother Perle tried to help us and finally after reading the manual, he got the
car started. It was kind of funny but
then we left after they gave us some sweet rolls from the bakery for our trip
home. The Perle’s are the most
wonderful and faithful people I have ever met.
They are loved by Heavenly Father and you can feel that they know that
and how much they want to serve the Lord.
Our trip home took us an extra hour because of traffic. We left around 8:15 a.m. and got home at 7:00
p.m. I felt the Lord did bless us
totally today.
I did see a cool looking castle on a hill and we saw a
nuclear power plant on our way. There
were other castles and lots of churches but we didn’t have time to stop and
look at any of them. I think that this
is outside our mission boundaries so I don’t know if we will get back there
again.
Sister Asplund and I talked nonstop both up and back. Every time I get with her I want to move
over to the other apartment but I think Marv is content to be here. I am so confused as to what we should
do. Hopefully we will make the right
choice.
My flowers look beautiful and I am so glad that I can see
them on my porch as I leave for work.
They make me feel happy.
Marv shared his story of why he is on a mission today with
the Perle’s. Brother Asplund asked him
to do that. He has told his story many
times. I always want to add what I felt
and saw but I let him tell it his way and don’t interject anything. He always gets choked up and he says he
knows the Lord saved his life and this is a small thing he can do to give back
a little to the Lord. I am so proud on
him. He is truly doing a great job
here.
I love all of you. I
want you to know that I love the Lord and I am glad that I too have listened to
the Spirit and made choices in my life that have given me this opportunity to
serve here. I have come to know that the
Lord knows the end from the beginning and he knows what we are capable of
doing. I know that he loves each of
us. I know that he wants us to obey the
commandments and as we do, he blesses us beyond measure. He never breaks his promises to us. It is us that break our promises to
him. I love my Savior, I love each of
you with all my heart. I miss you but I
know this is where we are suppose to be right now at this particular time. I believe as time goes on we will even learn
more on how we can serve him even better and why he wants us here. Even if it is for us to be stronger, to love
each other and our family even more, even if it is to make some new and dear
friends, even if it is to touch the heart of someone somewhere, there is a
purpose and we need to do our part.
What a wonderful opportunity to learn to serve and to serve with all our
heart. May the Lord bless all of you
with the blessings that you need and desire.
May you feel his love for you and that his love will fill in for us
while we are gone. May all of you feel
that we are where Heavenly Father wants us and that you will feel our love for
you is my prayer. The gospel is true
and if we follow the commandments we will find happiness in all our lives. Keep up the good work. Remember to smile and be grateful for the
little tender mercies that happen in each of our lives each day.
Karen we are keeping you in our prayers and hope that you
heal quickly from your surgery and that it will be successful.
Love ya,
Marv and Vickie
