Frohe Weihnacht!

I suppose December would be a good time to explain some of the German Christmas traditions we're experiencing here. On December 6th they have a tradition that if your put your shoes out in front of your door at night, and if you have been a good little boy or girl, that Sankt Nicholaus (Saint Nicholas) will put goodies in your shoes. So, as instructed by our temple presidency, ReNae and I  put our shoes out by our door and sure enough, the next morning he left us goodies!!! 

Then, on Christmas Eve the Weihnachts Man (Santa Clause) comes to fill stockings hung "By the chimney with care" while the children are anxiously waiting in their bedrooms. Then they open all their presents Christmas Eve. After the presents are opened they wait until midnight when the Christ Child comes to their home, representing the greatest of all gifts. (We could maybe take a lesson from this midnight welcoming-of-Christ.)

Then December 25 and 26 are holidays when friends and families come together for food and visiting and drinking. They do a lot of drinking here during any holiday and in between.

Our apartment is too small for a regular tree, so we decided to decorate our window seals with traditional German things - including an Schwibbogen on the right and the tree is a form of the same thing.  

The dishtowels are a gift from our friend Sue Schroyer.  



We are getting together as temple missionaries on Christmas for a dinner and we'll try to help each other from getting too home sick. We actually do get feeling somewhat like a family here, though. We spend 8 hours a day with each other and you do indeed get quite close. But, then again, our families are irreplaceable. We also sing in the ward choir and get to learn all the traditional, American, religious, Christmas songs (and some others) with foreign words. That is really interesting and different!

They have a great big display called a Weihnachts Markt (Christmas Market). It is located in the center of town and reminds me of our 4th of July booths. It is fun to walk around and taste the different Christmas traditional foods and listen to the music and tempt ourselves with all the crafted items.

A very tall Traditional Christmas Pyramide

One of the many booths at the Christmas Market

It is cold here but it is still fun to walk through the Market

A 1/2 meter long Bratwurst!

We have bin hier about six months now, and feel ve ar gettink pretty used tu sinks hier. Sum of se peoples in our familie haf sed dat since ve got hier in Jermany, dat our English hat bin schlipn a leetel. We haf twyed to imers ouselfs in dis languish, und ve don't tink it haf hat a lot of affects on our schpeeking oder schpellink. Vat du u sink?

View of the Elbe River from the Koenigstein Fortress

Today we traveled east for a little more than an hour to Koenigstein Fortress.  Wow!  This is one of the almost 100 pictures we took.  It was a little cold today and overcast, so it is hard to imagine how beautiful it would be on a clear day in the spring or fall.  The workers were preparing for big Christmas Market there so the area was full of workers, but we still enjoyed it very much.

This past week at the temple we had patrons from Hungary and Poland, as well as all of our German friends. It is always exciting to have more than two languages.  These Saints are so dedicated and fill the Temple everyday. I have made good friends with a sister from Hungary who is a Temple Worker. She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Hungarian but we can still communicate. It is probably pretty funny to watch us! Occasionally we get a “translator” to help us - I am so grateful for all of the translators who come to the Temple!  Many of them actually work for the Church and they speak excellent English.

A new missionary couple arrived on Friday – Kent and Janice Jones – from Colorado. They are very prepared and have been serving in the Denver Temple for three years. They will be a great asset to the Temple. He was a high school Music Teacher and plays the organ and piano and loves to sing. We are looking forward to getting to know them better.

Last Saturday we decided to go back to Dippoldiswalde and go to the Museum. It was actually a leather-making museum, but it also had great Christmas displays including some things we hadn't seen before. It was interesting and fun. We then decided to go to the town Markt and maybe go to the Castle Museum – but it was going to close in about 45 minutes so we didn't go. However, the Church is right next to it and we began to hear Messiah music – awesome – and went to investigate. Sure enough, there was a full Handel's Messiah performance scheduled that evening. The orchestra was from Dresden and the Choir was the Dippoldiswalde Kirche Choir. They were rehearsing some of the numbers. We were contemplating staying, but it would have been pretty late because it was the complete work – 2.5 hours worth – so we just listened for a minute and then headed home. Maybe next November......

Display in the Dippoldiswalde Museum

Dippoldiswalde Kirche

This past Sunday was the Primary Program for Sacrament Meeting. I cannot explain in words how watching these precious children touches my heart.  All the familiar melodies only sung with big voices by young German saints.  A cute little 3 or 4 year old girl sang the first verse of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief – Acapella!  It was amazing.  I was blessed to accompany a few of the songs for them.

Speaking of Christmas, it is celebrated here in Germany in a BIG way!  I look forward to posting here on our blog as we enter the Holiday Season!     

Koenigstein Forstress

LEGOS, LEAVES, AND CHANGES

Hansel and Gretel in LEGOS

Scharfenstein 

This past Saturday ReNae and I drove to a town called Scharfenstein to see the old castle built in 1280 AD. Most of it has been rebuilt and turned into a museum. There was a section of the castle that featured a Lego display of fairy tales from several different countries. We recognized several from Grimm's fairy tales, It was an especially pretty trip as we traveled along the rolling hills of forests and trees displaying their autumn colors. 

This last week we had a change in our temple presidency. President and Sister Husz served faithfully for three years and will now return to their home in Vienna, Austria. We enjoyed their sweet spirits and strong testimony of the Lord's work. They taught us many things that will help us to continue our work here in the Freiberg Temple. They were replaced by another Austrian couple, President and Sister Erlacher. They've only been here two days and have already made some pretty big changes.We'll see how the changes work out as time goes on. 

It is now November and is the beginning of the slower season for temple attendance. The winter weather will make it more difficult, especially for the elderly and those travelling from other countries. Winters here in Freiberg, so we are told, can be very different from year to year.  We were given a picture recently of the Temple grounds on December 1, 2012.  There was a lot of snow - so much that the missionaries were unable to even move their cars from the parking lot for quite a while. We are hoping for one of their "mild" winters this year.

There is a tree in the front of our chapel that stands about 30 feet tall. It is a different tree than all the others planted here within and around our temple grounds. When I asked about it, an older member said he helped plant the tree and then told me the story behind it. Sometime in the 90's, during the winter, they had a real cold spell. It was so cold that it froze most of the plants here in the surrounding area. It even froze the plants in all the green houses in the nurseries. When Spring came, it was soon apparent that the only place where the plants were not frozen were on these temple grounds. The nurseries discovered it and came to the church asking if we would sell them some starts from our plants that survived. The church leaders said," No, but we will let you have some for free". After they collected some plant starts, they gave the church that tree as a token of their gratitude. Even though it stands out as a different type of tree, it means a lot to the members and it reminds them of that winter miracle every Sunday as they pass by it to the chapel doors. 

The Scharfenstein Castle

The Tower

View from the top of the Tower

LOVING TEMPLE WORK

Making New Friends

After returning to the Temple a few weeks ago ( after the Temple Break) we found a renewed enthusiasm for this work we are doing.  We are so grateful for this call and the opportunity we have to be in the Temple five days a week.  We do meet so many wonderful people including this young man who lives in Italy but grew up in Ghana.  Their stories of conversion and their journey to the Temple are inspiring.

Since the weather is changing and winter is around the corner here, our traveling and sight seeing have really slowed down. Days are shorter - Sunrise at 7:30 and Sunset at 6:00 - and it is so different than summer time here.  But we are looking forward to Christmas in Germany and the fun times ahead.

Trip to Zschopau Castle

Marching Band - ReNae's Favorite!

The Dungeon

Dale climbed to the Top!

Typical street and building in rural Saxony

MISSIONARY "ZUG" TRIP

Dale and I are the Social Directors and today we planned a train trip and lunch for all of us.  We had a great turnout and the weather was beautiful.  It was quite a bit like the Durango Train in Colorado and was fun and we also had a great meal in Doppildiswalde and then headed back to Freital on the train.  The drive to start this adventure only took about 30 minutes.  We live in a beautiful part of this Country and have enjoyed seeing so much of it these past few weeks.

The Engine!

Around the Bend

Beautiful view from the Train

Kirche in Dippoldiswalde

TEREZIN' - CZECH REPUBLIC

The famous entrance to Terezin' Concentration Camp in the Czech Republic

Those who know me best know that I have waited a long a time to go to Terezin' where 15,000 Jewish children were sent during World War II and only 100 survived. While the Drama Coach at South Sevier High School, I was fortunate to produce two one-act plays about this concentration camp. Rather than go into details about the camp here, I would refer myself and other readers of this journal to several books and plays about “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” or “Can You Hear Them Crying” or any other materials about this Nazi “show” camp.  It is very sobering to see and feel the spirit of the past and remind us all to never forget!

One of my favorite parts of doing this plays was the impact it seemed to have on the kids. I'm sure it was so much more meaningful to them as they acted out scenes that were actually taken from journals and other information. I know the last one we did just this past spring was so touching that it took us weeks to get through rehearsals without someone crying. It is so important that the world never forget what happened in these camps, even if it is hard to think about or see. Some of these pictures are of places that were the most meaningful to me. The sign means “Work Makes You Free” even though it was just the opposite. I do want to say that the German citizens were not responsible for the Holocaust – the majority of them were victims of the propaganda fed to them from their leaders.

These pictures are in the center of Terezin' where the children were actually “kept” and some of the women. There is a museum in this building where you can find copies of some of the poems and pictures that the children were able to “smuggle” out at the end of the War. Most were destroyed by the fleeing Nazi soldiers. It was very moving to see and read the stories about some of the individuals who were kept here for many years. At first, the people actually worked in big tents on this square until the Red Cross was coming and then the Nazis had them plant flowers, do plays, play music – and many other things to make the place look like just a good place to raise a family. After the Red Cross visit, many of the adults – and some of the children – were sent to other camps for extermination.

The above pictures were taken at the Small Fortress which was more of a prison than a work camp and a memorial that you reach after walking 500 meters "through" a tunnel in the fortress wall. 

The Cemetery was heavily damaged during flooding in 2005. Many German and other European youth came to Terezin' and cleaned and restored the grave sites.

OTHER TRAVELS

The Castle ruins in Frauenstein - We went to the top!

The Wall of Royalty in Dresden - Massive!  24,000 Separate Tiles

The Frauenkirche in Dresden - Completely destroyed during World War II and now restored

We ended our day in Dresden by eating at an outside Australian restaurant where Dale ordered Kangaroo – and I also ate some – and it was pretty good. Kind of tasted like – wait for it – Elk? 

We walked to our car on top of a wall around the city – it was a beautiful and wide boulevard and there was a wonderful street band playing everything from polka music to the Hallelujah Chorus. Outside of the rain – it was a fun day.

We enjoyed our break but are very happy to be back to a full schedule at the Temple.  It is a beautiful place to serve and we meet so many wonderful people.  We have enjoyed watching Conference on the Internet and are so grateful to be able to have the Gospel in our lives.

View from the Lichtenwalde Gardens

ON A SAD NOTE

There is sadness in our hearts because Dale's sweet sister Dorothy Willis passed away last Wednesday night. It is hard to be so far away right now.  We will miss her but so grateful she is no longer suffering.  

ENJOYING SAXONY GERMANY

Kriebstein Castl

We have decided that the speed of the time passing is directly related to “laundry day” coming around every Thursday. We always say that it can't be time to do the wash again already! 

Two weeks ago we had a wonderful visit from Larry and Pam Gay. They are serving a mission in Poland – about 4 hours from Freiberg – and have been unable to come to the Temple because of Mission Policy. But there was a young lady who was coming for her own endowment and they were able to bring her themselves. It was so great to see them in the Temple and they were glad to be here.  We were able to spend a couple of evenings with them as well.  It was great to see friends from home.

  

We are officially on “Maintenance Break” from the Temple until September 30. However, we did help clean all of the Chandeliers in the Temple before officially starting on our "Day Trips". Wow.. we will never look at a Chandelier in the same way – literally thousands of parts! We had to carefully wash, rinse, and dry each piece and then they had to be put back on one piece at a time. It was very interesting and I am glad we were able to help.

Rather than go into detail about our travels during the past week, I am going to post pictures with captions.  However, before doing that, we do want you to know we love serving in the Temple and love the faithful Saints of Eastern Europe.  We spend 40-45 hours each week in the best place to be on Earth - any one of the beautiful Temples of our God.  We are excited to serve in Freiberg and learn more about the people here and their history and hope we will learn to love these members even more through our travels.

Just over the border in the Czech Republic

A Christmas German Pyramid in Olbernau



Now that's a Nutcracker!  Seiffen Toy Museum

Find "Dale" - Nossen Castle

                                            

Just a few words about Dresden.  As many of you might already know, Dresden was pretty much destroyed during World War II.  It is amazing how it has been brought back as much as possible to it's former state.  We were able to visit the Military Museum of Germany - the largest museum in the Country. We ate lunch there and then took a couple of hours to see a small portion of the exhibits. It would take more than one entire day to see it all! It was the history of War in Germany from 1300 to the present. It's main focus was to shift the world's perception of Germany to a Peace Loving country. The front has a NEW structure that appears to be cut into the building which represents the end of an era of War for the country. You could walk out onto it on the 5^th floor and there was only a grated floor between the ground and you with a beautiful view of Dresden.  These people have been through so much.

TEMPLES 

AND 

CASTLES

I, being a man who enjoys history, mystery, Disney and tales from the "Knights of the Round Table", am enjoying our visits to the many castles that are still standing in this part of Germany. Unfortunately, many of the castles have been refurbished, modernized and made into museums. However, there are a few that still hold their original basic design. 

In studying the intent of their original design and purpose, I've noted that all of them have a few things in common. First off, most of them are built on top of a hill or high plateau. This was obviously intended to be a look-out point in order to see the enemy coming from a long distance, giving the king's guard time to prepare for battle. Being on a hill also made it harder for the enemy to reach and storm the castle. 

Secondly, most castles had moats surrounding the castle, complete with a customary draw bridge to be drawn up when the enemy approaches. Another point noted was that the king and his royalty always wore the latest fashion of the most expensive clothing materials and jewelry available. 

Castles also came complete with a dungeon and the most modern tools of torture known to man, guaranteed to loosen the tightest of tongues and reap incriminating information from the enemy or the common criminal. Also, only the rich with royal blood could possibly darken the door of any respectable castle.

With these characteristics in mind, I couldn't help but observe the differences between castles and our temples. Yes, we do build temples on hills and other obvious places, but we place them there to be seen by all and welcome one and all to our temple grounds. 

Unlike castles, we have an angel posted on top of our temples, giving a loud and clear clarion call for all to gather at the temple. Unlike castles, everyone in the temple is dressed in white with basically the same clothes so as not to categorize the class or financial status of those attending. We also discourage extreme jewelry and outlandish makeup. In God's eyes, all deserve his blessings, no matter what their financial status or standing in life may be. 

Like castles, we do have an army, but it is quite a different type of army. For example, in the Manti Temple there are about 950 worthy temple workers who serve by choice. They give of their own time and means to attend and help wherever needed. The enemy is also quite different from castles.The enemy is anything that causes addiction, demeans or keeps one from reaching their God-given and preordained potential. 

Also, unlike castles, we do not have chambers that cause death. Rather, we have chambers that are dedicated and sanctioned to redeem the dead. And last but not least, castles didn't have electricity or lights, except the light they could get from a few candles placed strategically around the rooms. Our temples accentuate and radiate the light of Christ and stand as lighthouses to guide all who are lost in the tempest of life to the safe shores of the Gospel..........

TEMPLE WORK, PARTIES, AND CASTLES

I cannot believe how fast time flies now. We are so busy at the Temple and we are pretty tired when we get done for the day. Two weeks ago we were busy preparing for the Dittli Farewell-Wagner Welcome party which we were in charge of because of our new assignment as “Social Directors”. Brother and Sister Dittli had that responsibility and they returned home on September 2 and we have now been given that wonderful opportunity.

Albin and Ada Dittli from Mapleton, UT

The party was a big success thanks to a lot of help. We had a “Mexican” theme with chicken burritos with the fixins', Bean dip (of sorts), Spanish Rice plus the usual wonderful desserts, salads and drinks. Dale and I had found some decorations in the “missionary room” and we bought some cute planters which we gave to anyone who wanted one. President Husz gave a wonderful farewell and welcome “speech” and gave the Dittlis a memory book – which we had all given pages for – and gifts. I think everyone had a great time.

  

The Food!

Monday was a wonderful day.   The weather was overcast but not rainy, so it was cool and delightful for sightseeing.  We went to Meissen again and this time we toured the Church and the Castle which is the Albrechtsburg Schloss. We also ate at a wonderful Restaurant.  Monday was a wonderful. We went to Meissen again and this time we toured the Cathedral and the Castle which is the Albrechtsburg Schloess. We also ate at a wonderful Restaurant.   

The Church Gardens

A Gargoyle on the Church

We got to Meissen in time to enjoy the Organ Music at Noon for about a half hour. It was very classical and Dale actually almost fell asleep – but I enjoyed it! I actually did a video of two of the songs – but pretty much just did an audio recording.  We climbed very narrow and winding steps to get to...... this view of the Organ! There was a beautiful Garden at the Church and it was all very peaceful.  The outside of the Castle is awesome and white in stark contrast to the blackened church.

A Mural of the Kidnapping of the Prince

The Outside of the Castle

to this view of the Organ!

Climbing these steps to get......

View from the Restaurant

..