Sept 24, 2015....can't help counting down!

Looks pretty colorful around here......no gorgeous mountains, but plenty of color!

The intense heat has broken and so have the pretty sunny days.  We have rain almost every day now.  It changes from rain and clouds to a little sun and back to rain quicker than we can run from the car to our office or apartment!  It's back to carrying an umbrella all the time.  It's still warm and nice.

We've been a little down this week, so I will share some fun summer memories.

We have been so blessed to share our mission with a great group of  Senior Missionaries.  Our monthly Family Home Evenings are always fun......and this month was no exception.  It was a Book of Mormon mystery night.  We were all told what character we would be.  I was a maid and Keith was an ambitious brother......didn't sound very Book of Mormon-ish.  They divided us into 6 groups, each group made up of the 6 different characters.

Five of the 6 maids : Sisters Matheson, Saunders, Hanks, Riggs, and Bausman.

We were told to dress up like our character.

Here we are with the Judge in our group.....Elder Castleton is a judge from Boise....type-casting!

We were given our scripts, and as the evening rolled along, it turned out the Keith was the murderer!

Far from type-casting, but he was glad he had that devious looking moustach!  It was even more interesting when we found out our little play was actually a scene from Heleman 8 and 9.  Very clever!

Our monthly Devotionals are another highlight of each month.  In August we walked to the Frankfurt Cemetery.....it is just across the street from the Area Office.  If our office were there, I could go on the daily walk with a group of missionaries who walk every day at 11 a.m. They are very familiar with the huge cemetery and 4 of them were stationed by interesting sites. They divided us into 4 small groups.

Elder Galbraith told us about the plot set aside for Polish victims of a concentrations camp near Frankfurt.

Sister Ryser told about Doctor Alzheimer's life and studies.  Her husband is one of the doctors here.

Elder Greenwood told about the area dedicated to soldiers of WWI and WWII.

The final stop on our tour was the gravesite of many of the victims of the Hindenburg Disaster.

Elder Smith was our lecturer.  His wife is my dear Visiting Teacher.

It was an interesting and informative evening.  As was the Devotional when Elder Greenwood shared his experiences on his tour of duty with his Utah Army Reserves Unit 10 years ago in Iraq.  He reminded all of us remember our great country and the men and women who protect our freedom.

We took an afternoon trip with the Hanks to an arboritum by Wiesbaden, then to the great Mexican restaurant we enjoy.  This was one of the buildings by the restaurant.....love the statues around the top.

My next adventure happened without Keith.  A couple of Monday's ago, Hanks invited us to go with them, and their friend who was visiting from Utah, to do a tour of Frankfurt on the Hop On Hop Off Bus.  Keith had meetings, but I didn't......lucky me!!

See how nice and sunny it was!!  It was a fun tour and we saw a lot.  But we didn't know you had to tell the driver when you wanted to "hop off" to see something up close and personal.....so.....we did the tour a second time so could go to the top of the Main Tower.  By that time the clouds had rolled in and when we got to the observation deck it was raining.  We snapped a couple of pictures and saw some lightening and were quickly ushered back inside.  I need to go back on a good day...with Keith, as this is a must-see.  We tried to visit it with Chris in June, but it was closed because of the demonstrations that day.

By the way, the protestors that day didn't want any more immigrants allowed to come into Germany, but they are coming.....many, many of them.  The Senior Missionaries in charge of Welfare  are gearing up to help in any way they can.  They were expecting more direction from Salt Lake this week.

When our nephew Steve was here last year, he took us to Rothenburg......he said it was one of his favorite cities in Germany.  We enjoyed it in the winter, but wanted to see it in the summer and

go on The Night Watchman Tour.  Our friends from the ward went with us......Bob and Judy Palmer.....and Bob drove!  Yea!!

Here he is.....ye olde Night Watchman.  Very fun and informative tour.  

I would love to go back again, but my companion says twice is enough......sorry, LeAnn!

Vicky, Doug, and all my U of U friends.......this one is for you!  Close enough, huh!

Will close with a picture of the sign outside our office door.......

This makes it official .........about a year late, but better late than never, I always say!

Closing with our love and best wishes to our family and friends.  

Elder and Sister Saunders......just like the sign says!!

  

Are we having fun yet.....yes!

August was a hot month in Germany.  The office was cool and comparatively quiet because most Europeans go on holiday in August.  We get to the office about 8:30 and stay until 4 or so and go home to our hot apartment and move our 3 fans around to try and stay comfortable. 

One hot day our entire building was treated to an ice cream cone courtesy of a hotel the church uses.

Steve Saunders, here is the sister who remembers you fondly.......Berna.  She says she has changed a lot since she saw you, but I'm guessing you remember her.

While we're on the subject of food.........that same morning,

Jeanclaude von Tonder, our office manager, brought us a loaf of warm raisin bread to thank me for all the scanning he was having me do.  And our friend Marianna brought us grapes from

her garden.  Then the ice cream.......It was a great day!

By the way Steve, here is someone else you know......

For the rest of you, this is Elder Mazal.  He and his wife have been serving in Cypress as Assistant Area  Auditors.  When their mission was coming to an end, they decided they liked it so much they volunteered to be service missionaries. So they went home to Austria for a month and are now back in Cypress hoping to train someone to take over the calling in 18 months.  

The Frankfurt Temple closed last Saturday so that repairs can be made.  They are making big changes to the whole area.  They are constructing a new Stake Center, will tear down the existing Freidrichsdorf Chapel, make a bigger Distribution Center, and provided more parking area.  Our nearest temple will be the Swiss Temple, and we are hoping to go down there in the next month or two.  

The Senior Missionaries went to the temple every week in August and out to dinner at the Berliner for the last time.

Good food....great people.  

This is our garden this year.  Not much work!!  But no tomatoes or veggies.......just wait til next year.  That forest area in the distance is full of trails. 

There is an area right by our office that sells flowers.  It's called Blumen.  It is on the honor system, so you find the prices on each row, cut what you want, and leave your money in the box.  I got some zinnias to put on the refreshment table on August's Devotional night.  Keith asked me to take a picture of him in the flowers.....so he could say he buys me flowers all the time.  You will notice there is no picture of him buying me flowers all the tim

We invited the Hanks and the Mills for dinner and dominos a couple of weeks ago.  I'm not much of a game player, but we have enjoyed learning and playing "Mexican Train".  That particular night Keith won twice and I couldn't "win for loosing" as my Dad used to say.....even on the last game when everyone tried to help me!  

The church began their search for someone to replace us next May, and a couple from Sandy have expressed an interest in coming.  We don't know them.  They still have to send in their papers and qualify, but it's good to know someone will be ready to take over.  This is an easy assignment to fill, so if they don't qualify, someone else who likes the sound of serving a mission in Germany will get the opportunity of a lifetime.  We are so glad we had this wonderful experience.

Fourteen months down, nine to go!!