March 30, 2012
Dear Family,
Just a quick note to wish you a very Happy Easter. I am so looking forward to conference this
weekend. We are going to another castle
on the Rhine this Saturday because we don’t get conference until 6 p.m. over
here. There are about 8 or 10 of us
going. I am so grateful for the
wonderful senior couples we are surrounded by.
They have become our family away from home and makes life so much easier
and definitely makes this mission a great experience.
Sorry that I don’t write more often but I guess because I
talk to the kids on SKYPE or the phone, I don’t remember to write everyone else
about the things going on in our lives.
I will try to do a little better now that we only have a few months
left. We are scheduled to fly out on
the 20th of July. Of course,
we don’t have any flight plans or final details yet but will let you know when
we know anything.
We are doing well.
The weather was nice this past week getting up to almost 70 and we had
blue skies instead of the common gray overcast skies. It is amazing how much better you feel when
there are blue skies. Marv kept saying
isn’t it great that winter is over.
Well the last two days and for the next week it is suppose to be in the
50’s and we have overcast skies with possibility of rain. I enjoyed last week hearing the birds sing
which lifted the spirits even more.
They don’t sing as much when things are overcast for some reason. I guess I thought it was spring because I
planted pansies in my flower boxes and a couple of other plants. Everyone else was planting and so I did
too. I don’t expect us to drop to
freezing so I am sure they are just fine.
The castles are starting to open back up again so we are
starting to go to them on Saturdays.
Most close in October and don’t open back up until April. I’m glad that there is so much to see in a
day trip. The fields are starting to
turn green and the trees are getting blossoms on them. I really do love Spring.
I am finally going to get to do some training with some of
our groups. I will be doing a financial
training for the support specialist in Europe (secretaries) at their meetings
close to Frankfurt the end of April. I
think they have given me three hours so I am working on a way to make it
enjoyable and still learn what they need to learn. Either the day that one ends or the next day,
I have been asked to do a training with a group of Coordinators that will be
staying in the same place.
The next
week, the first week in May, Marv and I will be traveling by car to Italy to do
a training for the coordinators from Italy, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czech,
Albania, Croatia, Moldova and the Netherlands.
The training is in a city 40 kilometers from Venice so we are planning
on spending a day in Venice on our way back.
We are also hoping to see Hitler’s Eagles Nest on the border of Austria. The travel time is between 8 ½ hours to 9 ½
hours because we will take one route down and another one back. We will probably stop in Salzburg and spend a
day there also. We will probably stop
in Munich on our way down and see Dauchau concentration camp. So we will be blessed to see things we
haven’t had a chance to see outside of our area. This is probably the only trip that S&I
will send us on. Originally I was told
we would be doing a lot of travel but that hasn’t happened so I am grateful for
this one little thing. We will be paying
for all of it except for the mileage to get there and back directly (gas) and
the hotel for two nights at the conference.
I feel privileged that it is working out that we can do this. I hope my training will be worthwhile to
those that are attending.
Bryan and Candalyn have found a wonderful 6700 sq. ft home
that they put an offer in on and are under contract now. I can’t wait to see it. We are so thankful that the other houses fell
through and that they are able to get this one for almost the same expense per
month it would have cost for the others because the interest rates are so low
now. It is in Enoch. It has 8 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms, I
think. It is on a half acre and has a
wonderful 2100 ft additional garage/storage unit on the property also. It has a
huge 3 car garage attached to the house.
It has 11 outside doors. I
think they got a great deal. Still cost
a lot but I think they will be fine. I
guess if we get old and can’t take care of ourselves maybe they can find a
corner in their house for us. Ha
Ha. They have been so good to take care
of house and we are so glad they have been there. Hopefully it helped them save the money they
needed to make this purchase. I really
think the Lord has blessed them because it has been quite the process of
getting this house but now everything seems to be right on track and a go. As soon as they get the appraisal back, they
can lock in the interest rate and everything else is good because the loan is
approved.
So if anyone has any extra furniture or beds you don’t need
– they might be able to use them because they have a lot of house to fill
up. Ha Ha
Our ward has loved having them there. They have been the Webelos leaders and have
worked hard to help the boys earn all they can.
They have one little boy that is leaving their group to go to the next
level because of his birthday and he has earned every single badge and thing
that is possible to earn because they have worked with him. He was
sad to hear they were moving but was glad they weren’t moving until after he
left their group. I know they have been
a great blessing to those young boys that have been willing to come and learn
from them. They both work really hard
at it.
Scott and Kristin have been working hard and have had some
setbacks with their property and business but are staying positive and feeling
like it is a good learning experience and that hopefully things will work out
in the end. Scott is working really
hard and Kristin is loving being home with the children which I am sure is
helping Scott with his business too.
She has joined a health club and is being determined to go every day and
exercise.
Christie and Scott are both very busy. Christie submitted a chapter of a book for
review by a LDS writers group that will meet in May. I hope they like it and encourage her to
continue writing. She is going to the
conference in May and we will see if she wins anything for it. If not, she will still get some feedback on
what to do to improve her writing. She
is very talented and needs to continue with that talent. She has just been called as the Compassionate
Service Leader in her ward and she is way excited about that calling. She was counselor in the Primary and was so
sad when she was released (the whole presidency was released). She has also been asked to write the Ward’s
History. Scott is busy with teaching at
school and his job as counselor in the bishopric. They are coming on June 6 to spend 9 days
with us and we are so excited. We are
planning on showing them as much as we can during that time so they will
probably go home tired.
We are going to England two weeks before we come home for 6
days and 5 nights and meeting up with Michael Hayes to have him show me around
the places that my Dad’s relatives came from.
He and his wife are also 80 so I think that is very kind of them to
drive from Wales to Mansfield where they told us to stay because we only have a
few days and it is close to where my relatives came from. June, his wife by second marriage, has a son
that lives there so they will stay with him and take us around during the
day. Then we will hopefully spend a few
days when we come back to see some more places that Marv and I have wanted to
see before returning. So as you can see
things are going to be very busy for the next few months.
We get the Friday before and Monday after Easter off
work. I don’t know what we will do but
hopefully something. There are a ton
traveling to the Netherlands but we don’t have anyone to go with and we don’t
exactly know where to go and we want to save our money for the other things
coming up in the next couple of months.
There are still a few couples not going and so we will probably figure
out some things to do with them during that time I am sure. The problem is all the stores are closed on
Friday, Sunday and Monday so you can’t go shopping to grocery stores or regular
stores during that time. Most of the
castles are open so we can do that and I think we can find some restaurants
open too. They really have tons of
decorations for Easter. They decorate
their trees outside with Easter eggs. I
am actually bringing some home because I think it is cute.
Lisa, thanks for the pictures that Baker took when he was
over here during World War II. We have
been doing some research and it appears a lot of those places are here in our
mission. We are trying to figure out if
we can go to any of those places and check things out. They are all within an hour to hour and half
from here. If you have any more
information, please send it our way.
This is exciting to realize he was here or close by so many years ago.
Well, I think I have rambled on long enough so I will
close. We love you and hope you have a
wonderful Easter time and a wonderful Spring.
May the Lord bless all of you.
Love,
Marv and Vickie
Elder and Sister Paxton
No comments:
Post a Comment