Friday, September 16, 2011
Dear Family and Friends:
It seems
that it has been forever since I have written.
I know we have talked on the phone or on SKYPE to some of you and have
done some e-mailing to the others. I decided to write and do a quick overview
of some of the things we have been doing sorry if you already know all of
this.
We have both
been busy with our jobs and that makes us tired when we go home at night but
that is okay. I think I am adjusting to
the culture a little better all the time and the German or European way of
thinking and doing things. Of course,
that doesn’t mean I always agree with it but I am trying really hard to
understand.
On the 7th
or September we had a sisters night out and it was really fun. Each of us had to bring three things that we
had found unique to Germany. It was
interesting the things we all came up with.
Some of us that the same things but others had things I didn’t know
about. We had a light dinner with chicken
salad sandwich and a drink and a cake that someone made with icing (kind of)
from things she found here, Very interesting.
Their cakes and pastries are not as sweet as ours back home. We had to tell one lie and one truth about
ourselves and they would guess which was true.
We all had a good laugh. Some of
the stories were pretty good.
Last Sunday,
we picked up Randy Hulbert and Steve Marshall from Salt Lake FM from their
Hotel in Frankfurt and took them to our International Ward for church and kidnapped
them for the day at our house where I fed them dinner and then we took them for
a ride down the River Rhine, of course, it had to rain and rained hard but at
the end it did stop raining and they could see a few castles from the road. We got them back to their hotel around 8
p.m. that night. It was fun to visit
with them and get to know them. We
picked them up on Monday morning to bring them into the Area Office.
Monday
morning we had to go to the airport and pick up three men from BYU-Idaho and
take them to their hotel in a town about 30 minutes away. When we got there, we realized the Area
Presidency had put them up in a beautiful castle. Apparently it was the castle that Queen
Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria from England had built and lived her life
in after her husband had died. It
apparently is a very exclusive place to stay.
There were about 4 or 5 Jaquer out front when we drove up and a bell man
came out to help them. It cost them
over 400 Euro per night and the Area Presidency reserved two nights for them so
they could go there after they flew in that morning. This is out of their normal price they pay
for motels so they were shocked and had to get hold of their supervisors to
tell them about the situation and cost.
On top of all of that breakfast was not included. They did talk them into giving them
breakfast because they didn’t use the room the night before. It is a good thing one of them spoke
German. Apparently the breakfast was
really good. The best they have ever
had.
After we
dropped them off we had to go to Friedburg about 30 minutes from that location
and pick up our German driving license.
We had gone in about 4 months ago and paid for it and filled out papers
and took them our mug shot for the license but had to wait until we had been
here 6 months. We hit our 6months in
that county on the 10th of September but because it was a Saturday,
we had to pick it up on Monday.
Apparently you have to get it that day or you are driving
illegally. They don’t give you a break
at all. Then we had to stop in Ober
Erlenbach about 20 minutes from that place and pick up a key for Erik’s pool
car and we thought we were going back to the airport to pick up the car but
Peter Meiser said for us not to try and get the car because we don’t speak
German and the papers might not be in the car.
We brought the keys back to the Area Office and said they would have to
figure it out.
We had to go
back early Tuesday morning and pick them up and take them to the office. By the way we had a van from the Office
because our little Corsa couldn’t hold them or their luggage so Marv was
driving around a huge van all this time.
He did really good. When we got
them to the office, we then had to take Heidi out to the airport to pick up a
car that was in long term parking because Erik, the Assistant to the Area
Director ended up in the hospital in Rome and so someone had to get the pool
car. Thank heavens they got her all the
paperwork she needed and she had no problems getting it taken care of.
Then at about 1:30 we took the 3 BYU-Idaho guys
and the Asplunds to the Ronneburg Restaurant for lunch in the van and back to
the office for 15 minutes while they downloaded their e-mails and Asplunds got
their luggage to travel with them. Then
we were office to the airport again for the 2nd time that day. Each trip takes us about 30 minutes to get
there. We dropped them off and came
back and filled the van with gas and turned in the keys. By then the day was gone so we went
home. We were both so tired. Marv slept for about 2 hours. It was a good day, a different day, and a
tiring day. Now they are off flying
around Europe for the next 5 days giving a fireside on the internet degrees
available through BYU-Idaho and the Asplunds are just their traveling
companions. I can’t remember every
place they were going but I know that they were flying to Sweden that day and
then to Albania the next day.
This Sunday
Marv has to pick all of them up at the airport again with the Van and then try
to get them 40 minutes away to a sacrament meeting, then 30 minutes after
sacrament ends get them back to Frankfurt (10 minutes not enough) to another
meeting and then they will do a fireside that night and then we have to take
them to a motel in Bad Homburg for the evening. I figure Marv will get home after 10:30 or
11 p.m. I wanted to go to the fireside
for the Senior missionaries that night but I will see if that works.
One thing we
did a couple of weekends ago was go to another castle (surprise,not) but when
we got there they were only doing a tour in German and told me we had to
schedule things ahead to get it in English like 3 days and for a group. We had the Asplunds with us but they had
been on the tour and didn’t want it again so it was just the two of us. We paid the price and signed up for the
German tour. When we got to one of the
rooms I noticed that there was another group of people with a guide (5 of them)
and it appeared to me that he was talking in English. I made my way across the room and sure
enough he was. I listened until he
stopped talking and then I asked the group and him if it would be possible for
my husband and I to join then because I didn’t understand the German. He and the people graciously said sure. He
told our tour guide he had us. The
group we left had about 40 people in it so it was nice to be in a small group
and he was wonderful. I felt this was a
little tender mercy from Heavenly Father because I was getting so discouraged
in the other group not understanding anything.
The Asplund’s went into the town and were waiting for us. We had a huge bowl of ice cream and headed
back to Frankfurt. We ate in a castle
place in Frankfurt that there was all kinds of construction around. It was good food. Normally priced for here but not enough room
for a group of 25. We were looking for
someplace to feed the people coming for a training on the 29th and
30th of September.
The weather
here is unpredictable. One minute if we
are lucky it is sunshine and then later one it can be raining. It is hot and then it is really cold. No wonder I keep getting a cough and sounds
deep. It seems to be worse on cloudy
and rainy, cold days. We still like
where we live. We like the people we
work with and the time is going fast.
I love the
scriptures and they have helped me so much to see the Lord’s hand. It seems when I read them I found an answer
to some concern and feel the love of the Lord or feel a resolve to try harder. I know why we are told to read them because
we can find answers. I know the Lord
hears my prayers and he answers them sometimes through thoughts, sometimes
through the scriptures and sometimes through other people. Sometimes he lets me try to work things out
on my own but I always know he is aware of me.
I really have been so blessed and I think I am going through some
challenges because they will make me a better person. Everyone has their challenges and I don’t
want anyone else’s because when I look around, I am so grateful I don’t have to
walk in others shoes. I am so grateful
the Lord gave Marv and I this opportunity to come and serve here. We have the best of all worlds. We have lots of other couples to interact
with, time to see things on our P-Day and work to further the temporal affairs
of the church. We have the time to be
together and enjoy, lean and build our relationships even more. I have the very best companion in the world
and am so blesses to be with him.
We love all
of you and hope that you see the tender mercies of the Lord in your lives. I know that he is aware of each of you and
that He loves you. May you have a
wonderful week.
Love,
Mom and Dad,
Marv and
Vickie
Elder and
Sister Paxton
No comments:
Post a Comment