A TYPICAL SUMMER WEEK IN FREIBERG

Our Daily Temple Work and Week

A Post from Dale

The Hauck Family from Hungary

Our daily temple schedule starts out with a 7:00 a.m. training meeting with all the temple missionaries and the other workers from the country or countries that were assigned for that day or week.  Following the training meeting we all go to our different  assignments. The temple missionaries take turns making assignments for the next day. It gets very challenging to decide who goes where and who does what because of the different languages involved. Sometimes we have members from 4 or 5 different countries in the same session. Luckily, we have some temple missionaries who speak more than one language and can accommodate some of the different languages needed. Sometimes the countries bring their own temple workers with them, which helps us out a lot. We hold 3 sessions a day, Tuesday through Saturday, beginning at 8:00, 10:30 and 1:00, with a special session Fridays evenings. Our days are 8 to 11 hours long, but seem to go fast because we are so busy. It's entertaining to sing hymns in our training session with the many different languages being sung. (you always feel like you are singing the wrong verse).

On Sundays we attend our local German ward and our chapel is right next to the temple. Luckily, we have a temple missionary who translates the talks for the English speaking members. We live in an area of Germany called Saxony, and they have their own special dialect, different from the rest of Germany. It is nick-named "Machine Gun Deutsch" because they talk fast and run their words together. It's kind of like going from England to Texas; they both speak the same language, but not really. 

On Mondays we are free to go shopping or take care of other needs. With our car we are able to take short trips to the different towns and villages in our area. The country is green and beautiful, but the roads are skinny and the Germans drive fast everywhere they go. 

We go out to eat with some of the other missionary couples from time to time, and are quickly getting attached to all of them as dear friends. We are a bit homesick after one month away from our loved ones, but skype has helped us stay abreast of their news and activities.

Beautiful Old Church - Probably Lutheran

Cemetery by the Church

A beautiful church and cemetery in Rechenberg about 5 miles from the Czech Republic border.  We traveled there last Monday just to see how to get to Czech.  











(Note from ReNae:  We are planning a trip to Terezin in September.  For those of you who have followed SSHS Drama over the years, you will remember that we have performed two one-act plays about this World War II Nazi Concentration Camp.  "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" and "Can You Hear Them Crying?") 

Looking over the beautiful valley by the Church and Cemetery

DAILY LIVING IN FREIBERG

Laundry day comes every Thursday evening for us.  Days are assigned to each missionary couple to use the machines.  It is really pretty nice.  There are three sets of these machines.  They are small but it is enough for our weekly needs.  It also has an ironing board and iron for our use.  We are also assigned a week, every 6-8 weeks or so, to clean the room itself.  We also are responsible for the hallways and other rooms in our complex that same week.

Our Mentors took us to a Mall in Dresden last week.  It was fun!  We ate at this Chinese Buffet in the food court, got some ice cream and shopped.



Here are parts of our small apartment after cleaning Day which is every Monday.  Notice the small refrigerator in the bottom left corner of the picture below.  Our freezer space is located down the hall and we have 4 "drawers" in one of the freezers for us to use.  I actually feel pretty good about our place because before we came I was told that our apartment would be smaller than my kitchen.  Well, my kitchen is so small at home that I was pleasantly surprised here.

The picture to the right is of our "living room" area.  We have already made some changes to make it a little better since this picture was taken.

OUR RENTAL CAR FOR THE NEXT 18 MONTHS!

Dale takes a walk nearly every day and he loves to go into the "Forest" which is nearby our apartment.  This is a picture of one of many signs there.  I have been there only once because I can't walk that far.  You can drive almost to this place, but you have to go clear around the city to get to the road that takes you there.  We drove there yesterday.  The video is of a place located at the entrance to the Forest called Waldergarten.  There are little "plots" or "yards" probably about the size of our front yard at home.  We are not sure, but we think people rent or buy these areas and then build a small house or shed on the property and then plant gardens, flowers, and also add attractions such as little trains or other items like you can see in the video.  

Almost everyone lives in a small apartment here in Freiberg and we wonder if they use these areas as a "green" space to escape to at this time of year.  It really makes us appreciate where we live in Utah.