Ain't nothin' gonna break our stride...nobody gonna slow us down, we've got to keep on movin'.

Here are some fun pictures. We have been so grateful for the things you all have sent. You are awesome. Also, there are pictures of Renee's 2 friends. Doesn't the Mortizburg Castle look so Fairy Tale like? It is currently under re-consturction, but it still was really cool! The picture of the soccer game was one of our YSA youth. He is very good. The players all had to help scrape off the snow the day before so they could play. Whew. It's up in the "mountains". The group shot is of us with our district at the Freiberg Temple. Fun day!

A New Couple for Chemnitz and other Exciting Things

Last week President Pimentel called us to let us know that the Lord is sending a missionary couple to the Outreach Center in Chemnitz. We have come to love the youth in Chemnitz but the load of caring for two centers has been incredibly taxing and unfair to each center to not have someone there full time. So the Worle's from Idaho Falls, ID arrived last Wednesday and Monday we did some training with them. They are wonderful people and he speaks German because he was born and raised here then left to go to BYU. We are having a great time getting to know them.

We also had an opportunity to help the missionaries teach a Spanish mother and her son (yes, she is the mother :). The Elders asked us to come along so Elder Hoggan could translate for them and help the mother feel more comfortable and understand things better. Elder Hoggan was able to relate the First Vision of Joseph Smith and bear his testimony of the truth that Jospeh Smith did in fact see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It was a great experience.After that apointment, we hurried over to the YSA FHE night where they were doing Kareoke and pink pong. We had 14 YSA there which included 3 investigators. Wow!! They usually only have 5 or so. Of course we joined in. Elder Hoggan won his round at the Kareoke and Ping Pong. Sister Hoggan just had lots of fun. We are sitting with Bruce, the Chinese investigator, who is so amazing. He has an incredible spirit about him, eager to learn. We hope some day he will join the church. He reads the Book of Mormon with us once a week and it has really helped him to grow. We will miss him greatly as he leaves this weekend for Dusseldorf Germany. The missionaries are lining him up with contact people so he won't get lost. The other pictures are of some more of the Dresden Youth. Much of the music the youth listen to in Germany is American tunes by American artists. And they know the words. I asked why that was so and the person said becasue German music is not all that great, so they listen to American music. What a great bunch of youth these are!

Elder Hoggan's Adventure

Elder Hoggan can verify it is not fun to get sick outside the US. We are grateful though for good doctors here in Germany and also for the Elders who got us to the Hospital and back after he spent the night there. They were so good to translate for us. It was a urinary tract infection and so he is on anti-biotics. He is doing better and has been out and about some. But he still needs to take it easy. The Elders gave him a blessing before they took us to the hospital and so we know he will be fine and he will finish the mission. The Lord is truly blessing us with tender mercies and even miracles. The Savior Lives and loves us and watches over us. The one picture is of Phil in the hosptial (no hospital gowns in Germany) and the other is Elders Ruchaur and Ellsworth, from Germany and California, respectively.

Getting around and getting to know People

The pictures are all down below. Still need some help on how to arrange things on this blog. Maybe one of our intelligent YSA kids would know how. Or one of you. :)

The Freiberg Temple is small but beautiful. Such warm and friendly people there. We've been able to go twice since we've been here. This was the first trip to Freiberg, and we were so suprised to see so much snow. We hardly had any in Dresden. Freiberg is higher in elevation than Dresden as Dresden sits in a valley on the banks of the famous Elbe River.

The shot of Elder Hoggan is on our P-day and we went for a walk in our neighborhood. Love the little stores and the bakery. That's what he has in his hand, some pastries. Sisters Swendsen and Stewart in our apartment. They are awesome and have been trying to teach us German. They are such sisters. Swendsen is from Oregon and Stewart is from South Jordan, UT

The four-story white building is the apartment building in Chemnitz. It is 2 large flights upstairs with no elevator. (most apartments don't -- we are grateful for our cute little easy-to-get-to apartment.) You can see that it is much bigger than ours in Dresden and very nicely done. The next building is the Meetinghouse in Chemnitz. It is a very nice building, uniquely done, and very efficient. The center there is nicer than the one at the stake center in Dresden. We are working on that. :) Later I will post a picture of the Dresden building. It is awesome and well done except not enough classrooms. More later on that. Sisters Lederer and Malan are with us in a shot in Chemnitz. Sister Lederer is from Vienna, Austria and Sister Malan lives about 2 or 3 miles from us in Pleasant View, UT. So cool. She is awesome and they all are. They are sweet energetic and we just love being around them. They take good care of us. :)

I just had to include the McDonald's. It is a swankey place here where the classy people go to eat and hang out. Besides it's delecious burgers and such (it's true!!! The Big and Tasty really is Big and Tasty! Germans wouldn't settle for anything less) they have a section devoted to special coffee's and fine pastries. The inside has nice lounge-type chairs and tables and classy people come and sit, eat, and hang out. Go figure.

The road pictures show the scenery. That is much what it looks like in the area outside of town. The roads and fields are kept nice and neat and clear of weeds. Very impressive. This was on our way home from Leipzig on Tuesday. We went there to check out the Center for Young Adults. The Larkins are the couple there and they showed us part of the city since the center is only a block away from these 2 shots. One is the Church of St. Thomas where the famous Boys Choir of St. Thomas are. The church is about 600 years old. Johanne Sebastian Bach lived much of his life and died in Leipzig and thus the shot with his statue. The Center is the perfect example of what a center should be. It is in a building right down in the center of town where most of the youth reside and go to school. It has a lounge area, 2 class rooms, a kitchen, a computer room, a meeting room, a receptionist desk, a library and a game area. The couple are there from 3 pm to 10 pm Monday- Friday and so the center is open most of the time for the youth to come and go. We got some good ideas and hope to improve things in Dresden.

The group shot is of some of our Dresden youth. They are awesome, fun, and down right great kids. We just need more of them. That's Antja and I cleaning up the kitchen. She spent 7 years in the states, USA, attending BYU-I and working. Her and I are kind of buds. She went with me to get my hair cut so she could interpret for me. Then she got her hair cut. So that's her and I showing off our new do's. (after the wind blew mine to pieces).

The next few pictures are of letters and drawings the grandkids did, as well as pictures and other items of decoration that we brought from home. Oops, I forgot to take a picture of our bags of chocolate chips! Well most of us know what they look like. Anyway, we are grateful for all these things and love to hear from you. We hope alle is gute and thanks for your love and support.

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!!!