Missionaries in Action

Janice took this darling picture of Rand in Sharing Time.  What a great man, eh?

Sweet neighbor Elfi celebrated a birthday at the Sharpes' apt and she demanded each set of missionaries to kneel down and sing to her - in German as she critiqued their performance. 

We helped the Palmers clean their apartment before their move- Sister Robertson, Tuesday, Janice, young sisters,

Sister Perez, Sharon, me, June.

New Public Affairs couples, the Walkers and Galbraiths will oversee the European visit of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir next summer. Great duty! 

Darling Porthstrasse elders. Elder Jack, bottom right, is the grandson of our Holladay neighbors, Joe and Elaine Jack.

The FIEF (Faith In Every Footstep) Funf (5) K crew for Pioneer Day. Elder and Sister Reukert by Rand, Elders Reuker and Amundson, Frankfurt Mission President Stoddard, translation employee, Coraline Giraud-Carrier (we ate Christmas dinner at her parents' house in Paris 38 years ago - small world!), race-organizer Dale Greenwood, Margit Ezard, Debbie and Richard Riggs (kneeling), Steve and Liz Edmunds, Silke Langner,  Ann and Richard Smith, me, Marsha Castleton, Yvonne Bausman. 

Around Frankfurt

One holiday when there wasn't much traffic, I jogged downtown.  

Cities on rivers are so picturesque.

Especially when summer comes. This is one of the first blue-sky days. 

Look at everybody enjoying themselves.

Within walking distance of us is this house with a moat - right near the city!

Here's one of many fun sculptures in a wading pool

And Preungesheim Prison, right in a residential area. They even have a section for mothers of children aged 3 and under. They like to keep them together.

 

Some of us went to the Monet exhibit downtown. Jack and Vonnie Sharpe, June Smith and I loved it.

Wonderful!

Brother Blacoe gave us his last tour of downtown Frankfurt.  Born in Ireland, married to a German woman, he has educated missionaries and others for years.  Nickname  "Blacoe-pedia."

He showed us where the original Jewish synagogue was downtown. When it was burned down, after the war, young men salvaged the bricks and walked them out to our cemetery to build these walls around their Jewish section.

Cute Bella and Mia (via Rachel) sent us these "hugs" for Mother's and Father's Day.

We love thinking of their hugs when we go to bed every night.

 Here's our address. You can send us letters using a US stamp through the pouch anytime.  (hint hint)

Outings near Frankfurt

We've had some great day trips but the Greenwoods diagnosed me with the ABC's. Another beautiful cathedral, another big city, another baroque castle, another battlefield cemetery.

Here are most of the European area Medical/Mental Health team members at Draconburg castle.

Great group who cares much about missionaries.  Stevens who are based in England, Greenwoods, Purdy and Hawkins (Biddulphs weren't in photo), and Rand.

Janice, Abby McKeon, intern in Office of General Counsel (she knows Mike Price!), and us at The Residenz in Würzburg. 

Mespelbrunn castle with a wet moat.  Elder Riggs has seen hundreds of castles and says that wet moats are rare.

We rendezvoused with Jill and James Kennedy and Karen and Richard Nelson in  Saarbrucken.

Holladay 28th Ward lives on in Germany!

I ran in a community race called the Church Run. We ran on cobblestones, through farms and parks to five different churches. Very fun. 

(1st place in my age group - but how much competition is there in for us older women?)

Rand and I rode bikes to Bad Vibel.  In Germany, we can walk and ride on paths off main streets for miles. 

After traveling in Europe, we have noticed over the years that each country has its distinctive personality.  Marlene Matheson found this in Sweden and we must agree.

Switzerland II

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

watch our video HERE

Switzerland

One of the most wonderful countries on earth...

I made a fun video about our trip but I received these notices every time I tried to upload it to Vimeo, Youtube, Facebook.

We can’t post your video "Switzerland" just yet because our Copyright Match system detected third-party copyrighted material

Unfortunately, this video is not available in your country because it could contain music from UMG, for which we could not agree on conditions of use with GEMA.

Apparently the Swiss yodeling song that I bought on iTunes is not allowed in Germany. They forbid a lot of Youtube and Netflix videos too.  I'll try to post the video next time I leave the country.  If you don't hear from me, you'll know I'm in a German jail. :)

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?

Hey Rysers finally posted something!

 What's up in Frankfurt?

Our darling Primary class of 4-year-olds. Yes, we let them paint in their church clothes

and dig up "golden plates" in the garden.

Each of these children is at least bilingual. English plus French, Russian, Spanish, and/or German. The leaders were inspired to call us because one girl only speaks German and Rand is one of a few missionaries who can translate for and speak to her.

 At a Mission Presidents' Seminar we heard a wonderful message from Elder Bednar. His wife, Susan, was happy to pose for a picture with us. I didn't want to embarrass him so I just sneaked one.

Holladay South Stake Missionaries - Craig and Lois Stevens the AMA couple in England plus Anne Marie and Mark Pace, MP in Barcelona. 

Great to see old friends...

... and new friends. Liz Edmunds, the Food Nanny, willingly did refreshments with/for me last month.  Check out her show:

Watch here

Our walking group took a new route and stopped at the Anne Frank home.

Our first house guests - Jill and James Kennedy and Emily Myers. 

Sisters Freschnect and Packer came for a week from Kiev, Ukraine. Sister Packer is the mission wife and needed medical treatment that couldn't be done in Ukraine. We found a great Thai restaurant thanks to Margit Ezard whom we also adore.