Getting Settled in Dresden

Here we are in romantic Dresden and just loving it!! Dresden is a beautiful old city with a lot of history. We are told that much of it was leveled during WWII. However, we still see many beautiful old buildings that are still around and in use. We live in one of those. We live in the basement of this older home that has been remodeled. The apartment is 2 feet below ground level so we have good light coming in. It is small but has everything we need. We love these incredible windows that are tight as a drum and open with such ease, both opening towards a person as well as the top opening in towards the person. We also like the "blinds" that roll down over the windows and keep light out when you need it and provides a lot of privacy. The floor has radiant heat underneath it so the tiles are always warm to stand on. Our kitchen is tiny but it works, and the living room is small but it takes care of our needs; the beds are European style namely, 2 twins together. The computer desk is in the bedroom and we only have one bedroom. The yard is beautiful and will be more so as better weather approaches. We have our own little secluded patio out the front door with brick lining the ground. Everything is so quaint and definitely Europeanish. We are very comfortable here. The food is inexpensive and there is so much of it and more varieties of meat, bread, cheese and juices than I have ever seen in my entire life! Amazing.

Driving! That is a trip and a half. Phil is doing a great job and we have a GPS so that's been really helpful. But we still can't seem to completely get where we think we are going. We've ended up in dead end allies more than once. The other day Elder Hoggan was looking for a certain store and when we arrived where the TomTom said we should be, it was nothing but a bunch of very old and very dilapidated buildings. I asked what was supposed to be here and he said, "Home Depot"!! He had googled for a hardware store and this is where the GPS sent him. We had a good laugh about it. Streets are so narrow! It's a good thing that everyone has small cars. We are driving an Opel. We find that despite the narrow roads, the cars drive fast, and pedestrians just step-out in front of you sometimes. We've had our share of near misses to them and cars and sidewalks, but Elder Hoggan is doing great and the Lord is protecting us. We also get honked at, yelled at, and the "finger" every once in awhile. I have to admit it is stressful and comical at the same time and sometimes tests the relationship. But we are getting better about just laughing about things and having a good time. Bottom line is... Elder Hoggan can drive all he wants....I don't want the job!

It took awhile to find a post office but with the help of Sister missionaries, ward members, people on the street and NOT google, we finally found one. With the help of google we NEVER DID find a wachsalon (laundromat)!!! Actually, laundromats are rare in Dresden. We have a washer but not dryer. Anyway, the mission office is rounding up a dryer. To dry our clothes, we've had to leave

them situated all over the house for several days before they dried. A little embarassing when folks come to visit. :)

The Sister Missionaries went with us shopping so that we would know what we were buying. :) They have saved us more than once over various things. We have great respect for their courage, knowledge and spiritual strength!!! The Elders have been super helpful as well.

The best part has been meeting with the Young Adults. We've been with both groups of them, in Dresden and in Chemnitz, and they are such great young people. Some of them experience great challenges. Some are university students. Some of them have been on missions and they are strong and can speak English. Many of them do not speak English, especially in Chemnitz and so... we are taking German classes from the Sisters. Imagine that. We want to be able to communicate, at least somewhat. Elder Hoggan is doing a great job and I am working my way through it. He uses the book and I use my heart. It works! We've included a picture of some of the youth in Chemnitz. We also included a picture of Elder and Sister Schwartz who have been in Chemnitz serving and will be leaving to take on an assignment as a mission president in July. They are Germans and they don't know yet where they well be assigned.

The weather is wet and cloudy most of the time. Not necessarily snowing or rainy, just wet. We are working on getting use to that. Elder Hoggan is doubling up on the vitamin D3. When we've driven to Chemnitz and back we have often run into snow over the "passes". In fact, twice we were held up by bad accidents and it made us very late getting home. It is an hour's drive from Dresden to Chemnitz under normal conditions.

President Pimentel said that he has another couple coming to our mission in February. He was not expecting them but he is very excited and hopes to put them in the Chemnitz center so both centers will get the help they need. In fact he has other young missionaries coming that he wasn't expecting and he is super grateful. There is much work to be done in the Germany Berlin mission; something special, and the Lord is sending servants to do that work. We can't tell you how good it feels to be here and how right it is. The Lord always knows what He is doing. We both have had some instestinal issues and even some anxiety but we are doing great. That was a lot of change in a short amount of time. But the Lord is blessing us. We know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is alive and well in these latter days. We are His servants. We know that Joseph Smith was appointed to open this last dispensation. We know that President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet and president of His church and that the Book of Mormon will get us closer to God than any other book on earth. (Joseph Smith).

We are grateful for the Lord's watchful care over our families and that the best angels in Heaven are watching over them. We thank our family and friends for your support, excitement and love. We miss you, we love you and are grateful for all you do to build the kingdom. Best Wishes!!! Herzliche Grusse!!!

Dresden here we come!

Our flight to Paris was uneventful and of course we got little sleep. Elder Jones is traveling with us to the Berlin mission. We arrived in Paris in good time and now we can say we've been to Paris. The flight to Berlin was fine and we mostly slept. We were picked up by the Elder Morris, a couple missionary, and 2 other missionaries at the airport in Berlin. He had instructions from President Pimentel, our mission president to take us to eat and get paperwork situated. They put us up at this hotel, since they have no rooms at the mission office, or the mission home. The couple below next to us is Presiden Pimentel and his wife.

It is reallly nice here. . We are just so glad to finally be here. After a rough night trying to sleep and adjust our sleeping schedules. Pres. picked us up at 7 am to go eat at his house for breakfast, then we took off for church in Potsdam. Their were only a few members there, but there were two beautiful women (30's)who sang like pros and I found out that the one was a profession singer in musicals in Germany. Anyway, the one who was the pro was interrpreting for me in RS. Afterward I spoke to both of them and bonded right away. They both have young families.

The other one is a single mother with 5 kids and I really connected with her and told her I was proud that she was so brave and courageous to bring those 5 kids to church each week by herself. We had a fun talk together. You see them in the picture. After church we had some missionary training and meetings for us and 2 Elders. Then we went back to President Pimentel's and his wife, for dinner. After much prayer and thought, President decided we were to go and serve in the Dresden part of our mission!!! We are really excited because we heard it is a friendly city and beautiful too. It is on the east near the Frieberg temple. Part of the week we will be at Chemnitz, just south east of Dresden. Both of these are the Centers for Young Adults. We felt so good about this!! So tomorrow we leave to go there and be trained. The couple who are currently there are leaving to be a mission president in 2 weeks.

Wow! It's so great to be here. I'd forgotten just how beautiful it is here. We can hardly wait to get settled and get to know the fine young men and women of Dresden. Thanks for all your prayers. Oh and by the way, we are 8 hours ahead of you, we will have a car, we will have a mission only cell phone, and a land line. When we get settled we will be in touch. Love to all!!

Our distict and Elder Holland

This picture is our senior couple's district missionary group: Elders and Sisters Christensen, Jarvis, Parkinson, and Dugal. Really nice people who are eager and ready to serve. We have been studying Preach My Gospel together and doing role-play. Today we gave our first discussion to an investigator (actor). It was fun and nerve-racking at the same time. Tomorrow we give another lesson. We are learning a lot and truly admire those young missionaries. They do a mighty work. Thanks to all of you who have already served. You did a great work. And don't stop. Thi is an eternal work, right!

Last night we had an MTC devotional and Elder Holland was the Speaker! It was powerful, dynamic, emotional and passionate. We came away with a burning in our hearts to do the Lord's work. We will never be the same. He spoke mainly to the young missionaries, but it certainly applied to us. I know he is a phophet of God and I know that we have much work to do and that our full commitment, for not just us, but every member of the church, is to bear witness and testimony of this church and Jesus Christ. All 2600 of us left that devotional hall in silence, and pondering much in our hearts.

In two days we leave for Berlin Germany!!! Can you believe it! I'm really starting to get butterflies. Of course Phil is calm cool and collected as usual, but he is excited. What a great companishsip we have. We are blessed. So the next time we blog it will be in Germany. Auf wiederzein :) Love you all!

Our Farewell December 26th 2010

Almost forgot to post these fabulous pictures Tricia took. We had such a wonderful time. 51 of our 61 children and grandchildren came to sacrament meeting to hear us speak. We also had many good friends and other family who came, some from long distances. We so much appreciate the efforts you all made to share that time with us. We actually didn't even know where we would be going at that time, because our visas to NZ were denied. But we had faith the Lord had a place for us. The luncheon afterward was held at the Comfort Inn near our home in Pleasant View. It worked out great and we had an enjoyable time together. The only problem was the weather. It turned really bad and the roads were awful, but the Lord blessed everyone to get back to their destinations safely. So grateful for the support of wonderful family and friends. WE LOVE YOU!! Mission experience is going great. Learning a lot and having many spiritual experiences. The Gospel is true and Jesus is our loving Savior.

Called to Serve -- The MTC in Provo UT

Have you ever been to Kansas in the late summer and driven past waves and waves of wheatfields? Well, that's just what it's like here only it's all in black and white. I have never seen so many missionaries in one place in all my life. What a unique place and unique experience!! Such power in one place makes me feel... happy! By the way, the food is good and they have a wide variety. I can't believe how much they must go through in one day!!! I was told there are about 2600 missionaries at the MTC right now. To hear them sing "Called to Serve" was amazing!!!! Wow!

We finished our 3 days of CES training on Wednesday. What a great experience. We learned so much and hope now we can remember it all. We had the class with other missionary couples going all around the world; Sri Lanka, Guam, South Korea, Norway, New Zealand (not us), Samoa, Tonga, San Diego, Washington DC, Virginia, Boliva, Salt Lake City Headquarters, Germany (us)and other places. How wonderful that the Lord's work is circling the globe. We enjoyed a special devotional Tuesday night given by Elder Baxter and his wife from the seventy. He bore a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and that, contrary to some beliefs, we DO believe in Jesus Christ!

We are actually staying in the Marriot Hotel downtown Provo. They only have so much room at the MTC for the couples and so the church must have contracted with the Marriot to house us here. So our room is a suite, with a couch, chairs, a kitchenette, and a king size bed. We are very grateful!!

We are having a great experience here and looking forward to Germany and wonderful opportunities to serve the youth there. They will be the future leaders of Europe and so we have a great work to do. We love you all and hope all is well in your lives. We miss you and would love to hear from you. We still have our regular email address so feel free to write.

The Lord Needs Us in Germany

Happy New Year 2011!

Most of you know our visas were denied to New Zealand because of some health issues, but we trusted that the Lord was in charge of this. And He is. We are now going to serve in the Germany Berlin Mission as CES instructors and more than that. We will be shepherds for the wonderful young adults in the area. Our mission president, President Pimentel, said that we will also be working with the young missionaries and will be attending district and zone meetings. We are very excited about our assignment and we know the Lord has a reason we for serving in Germany instead of New Zealand.

We hope you all are looking forward to the NEW YEAR 2011 and will enjoy much success and joy. We love you and thank you for you support. Best to all of you.

Here is the Berlin Germany Mission Blog: http://germanyberlinmission.blogspot.com