SUNDAY, March, 22, 2015

I thought I would spend the afternoon "blogging"......never thought I would say that.

Sundays are 3 things for us.......1...battery charging in one of the most outstanding wards in the world, 2...very quiet and restful....and we appreciate the break, and 3...lonely.  We will try to facetime with our kids later, and that will be the highlight of the evening.

 The Frankfurt 2nd ward is very unique in that it is an ''international ward.  It is English speaking and comprised of dozens of nationalities and languages.  Ocassionally, like today, someone will pray in their native tongue, but everything else is in English.  There are enough young Aaronic Priesthood holders, but often we will have the sacrament blessed by a new member.  Last week Eric offered one of the prayers and because English is new to him, and he was nervous, it was a very spiritual experience listening to this humble man say words that mean so much to him, and the congregation.  It reminded me to never be complacent about the blessing it is in my life to attend church and renew my covenants.  This ward utilizes the youth, in that there are 6 or 7 teenagers who play the prelude music and accompany the hymns.  A 16 year old girl leads the music while her "mentor" is recovering from hip surgery.  It's very exciting to see these teenagers step up. The three talks last week were given by a Portegues, an Irishman, and a German.  Today is was sister from The Netherlands, a brother from the UK, and the youth speaker....., I never could place his accent.  He ended his talk on "following the prophet" by saying, "I'm going to close my talk by singing Follow the Prophet......just kidding!"   Cute kid...I was really excited to think he was going to sing the song written by my cousin Duane Hiatt.  I know the Primary children are learning it.....I substituted last week.

Sacrament meeting is pretty big.....goes back into the cultural hall.....not as big as a stake center.....about the size of our home ward. 

There is just one class for Sunday School .  The 3 teachers rotate and each one is good and always teaches great lessons.  Relief Society is just the same.  The teachers are amazing and wonderful.  It is a feast every Sunday.  We feel so blessed and enriched.  The ward includes most of the Senior Missionaries and church employees from all over the world.   Our bishop is young (no children yet) from Italy.  He works in our Audit Office in Bad Homburg.  The counselors both have young families and they work for the church, too.  We have made many friends.....including the Palmers who drive an hour each way to attend this ward.  They are the only "elderly couple" in their home ward and have received permission to attend a ward with some people their same age.  The Senior Missionaries have adopted them and we enjoy their company very much.

The 20 minute drive is easy for us now.  The autoban is not crowded on Sundays, but there is always a couple of cars taking advantage of the high sped tolerance.  We stay in the right lane!  We pass many fields on our  way to and from church.  It always surprises us how many people are walking the paths that cut through the fields and trees.  Bicycles, baby buggies, people with their walking sticks.  We saw them all winter, but the milder weather has brought more and more out to get their exercise. 

Another thing we have noticed is what I have been calling " shanty towns".  There are areas all over that have little sheds that we couldn't figure out what they were.  We didn't think people lived in them, but during the winter we often saw smoke coming out of a few chimneys.  They are fenced with trees and shrubs.  Most of them have the German flag flying on flag poles, and there are usually cars parked outside the fences.  Are you as curious as I was?  We found out that because people don't have yards, they rent these little sheds and plant gardens.  There is one we pass everyday that has a playset and a bird-bath.....I hope I get to see those renters some day.  I noticed people putting plastic coverings on small structures that I am guessing are green houses.  We learn something every day.

We send our love to family and friends.

A blog without pictures.......March 11, 2015

My card reader won't work anymore and a new one is in the mail, so this will be a blog without pictures......I'll try to make it interesting.

I want to tell you about grocery shopping.  We usually go to Reve.....there are two close by our apartment.  One is in a small mall and we usually go there because it has underground parking....nice in rainy weather.  Another reason we go there is because there is a "variety store" and several food shops.  The  noodle shop guy knows us and what we usually order, so he asks if we want the same as always and I always do....Keith is much more adventurous.  The other shop is a doner (meat sandwich) shop.  It has a variety of things including pizza, and it has a big hunk of beef and another big hunk of pork turning in front of an upright hot wall.  They slice off the meat kinda like Arby's does.  Pretty good.

Back to shopping.....to get a cart, you have to put a Reve token or a euro in a slot on the handle of the cart.  That unlocks your cart from the other carts and off you go.  When you return your cart, you push it into the cart in front of you and use that cart's little thing that is attached to its handle and push out your token or euro.   Now the fun begins......everything is in German.  I know, I know....but it is frustrating!  We buy basically the same things over and over again.....stuff to make sandwiches for lunch, eggs, bread, paper products, soaps and stuff.    We eat pizza or pasta several times a week.  Luckily, Keith's  blood sugar numbers are staying low, we we can do the easy dinners.  We can buy Colgate toothpaste, but everything else is in German ....this is where picture reading comes in handy.....not always accurate, tho.  I have a hard time with the meats, but we usually get pork chops and hamburger, along with brots for Keith.  We usually buy a roasted chicken, but we have found it never tastes very good the next day; so we sometimes we just get a half.  Things are more expensive than at home.  Occasionally I spluge and buy an avacado for 1.75 euros......not very often, but I am worth it.  We always buy mandarine oranges and bananas.

I really miss the brands I used to buy.   I haven't found dill pickles I like,  the mayonaise isn't as good. neither is catsup or mustard, and the cottage cheese is yucky!  And we can't buy cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup.  I have made my  own.....cooker that I am!!!  The salad dressings are not good, but Kim gave me all the dry ranch dressing her mother-in-law had sent her.  It's funny but all the missionary couples have dry ranch dressng....either someone from home has sent it or a visitor has brought it.  There are a lot of things I haven't been able to find at all.....stuffing mix, cheddar cheese, 

canned pumpkin.....and no pumpkin pies in the bakeries to name a few.  

So then comes check out.   We unload our purchases onto a belt.  The cashiers are all sitting down.   They ring in the items and push them down a little ramp and we put them in the bags we brought with us.  If we forget and leave our bags in the car, we have to purchase a bag or 2 or 3......we can also just put everything back in the cart and put the groceries in  bags when we get to our car.  I usually bag the groceries while Keith pays.  He charges everything he can.  Paying with paper money is very much like at home.....one euro, five, ten, etc.  I don't quickly recognize the coins yet, so I usually pay with a bill.....and we get lots of change that way.

Then we get home....and I wonder what to fix for dinner.  Some things never change.

Hope my card reader gets here soon, don't you?  It's a lot more fun to include pictures!  Sending lots of love from our house (apartment) to yours!!