Switzerland II

Well it's not as good as the first version, but it's legal and you can

watch our video HERE

Paris!

I LOVED going back to my mission area with a former companion, Carol Harris Zabriskie. Her two daughters and two granddaughters came along. Here's what I put together from our photos:

Paris video

My favorite was visiting the Versailles apartment where Carol and I had served. 38 years later there are still sister missionaries there!  1977:

2015:

I wasn't sure how Rand would feel about going to Paris since he had never expressed an interest when we'd been in Europe before.  So we watched the "Is Paris Burning?" movie before we went to whet his appetite. He likes WWII history and it was about the conclusion of the 4-year German occupation and almost-destruction of Paris. It has historic footage mixed in with the movie, but the newer movie "Diplomacy" is better. However here's the happy ending of:

Is Paris Burning?

Easter Eve Bells

Here's what happens for 30 minutes in downtown Frankfurt on Christmas Eve, 1st Advent Saturday, the day before Pentecost and Easter Eve.

Watch a little video

here

Blackmer Adoption

The event of a lifetime occurred last week and we were home for it!

Bella's picture says it all.  I love them!

Made this video for them. 

Sorry it's long but I've saved up not posting pictures of the girls for over a year.

Blackmer video

Vielen dank an Condies

    I have been amiss in not recognizing who is back home holding things together, calling us when we receive mail, sending us a copy of our marriage license (why would Germany care about that but they do?), petting and walking Millie, housing and feeding our children over the Christmas holidays, shoveling our walks, and so on. All this from my wonderful older sister who I admired and followed around as we were growing up.
    Cheri and John have been house hunting in SLC for years without success so staying at our house was a step to facilitate looking from Utah instead of Idaho. At least that's what they say. So until they find something, they're taking better care of our house than we did. Thank you very much! We love you more than we can say.

In appreciation, I made them a little video:

Thank you Condies!

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year.

Germans can be creative too. We buy some of these things, especially the Maggi mixes.

Clever clerks

Staying busy

Sister Enger's culture class had a surprise last week. Rand made the first craft of his life. It was a beaded star. Neither one of us made a masterpiece - Rand's holding the teacher's.

A little skiff of snow

 We turned on the TV once and saw something familiar

We went to the Alte Oper with the medical and mental health team. They're amazing people who care much about the European missionaries.

Here's a video of some of the

performers

More walks in the cemetery. This was a recent gravesite.

Ate dinner with the Fiels. Cravens took these photos and left them in the apartment - nice!

The highlight of the week was caroling on the Zeil with some ward members. It's a 14-year old tradition. Passerbys would take pictures, listen and some even sang with us. One German couple was very friendly with Rand and me and invited us to their apartment which isn't too far from us.

Went to a zone conference in Offenbach. Rand's great at finding our way on public transport since it wasn't our day for the car.

Our loved ones are staying busy where they are too - Julian's not quite sure about this Santa stuff.

Afton and her shark-fin hair in our basement. 

Merry Christmas videos

We feel the importance of proclaiming our faith in Jesus Christ especially at Christmas time. We love Him and worship Him. 

He Is The Gift video

and another video:

Angels We Have Heard On High

Week Zwei

We had medical training downtown this week. The Church loves our missionaries and does everything possible for their well-being. I learned so much that I even diagnosed some scenarios correctly (it helped that I've overheard a lot of Rand's phone calls over the years).

We wondered if we'd be hauling his old medical textbooks to Germany but no, we have access to 15 up-to-date, on-line medical websites and other links to address missionary concerns, including orthopedic and gynecological issues that Rand hasn't dealt with since medical school. We were so good at navigating the information that we were the second ones to finish our final test (after a couple who had already served a mission). Yea us!

The website includes Power Point presentations for educating missionaries about good health practices. They're almost as good as the 

10 Commandments of Good Health

Today started with the Tabernacle Choir broadcast.Great way to say good-bye to SLC for 18 months.

Next Sunday we'll be posting from

(Thanks for the cute stickers, Cheri and John.)

Ryser Mission Blog

Called to serve - together!

MTC November 10 (Grandpa Ryser's birthday), arrive in Frankfurt Germany November 29th.

You can enjoy reading our Eine kleine Mission (a little mission) blog while you listen to

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik