GERMAN CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES

One of the Cathedrals in Nuernberg

We enjoy sharing the good news of the Gospel and serving the members in our mission very much, We also enjoy learning about the history of other churches in Germany, where a long and cherished history of Christian beliefs are deeply embedded. We try to understand how these churches worship and why they construct their churches in a manner unusual to ours. It appears that the more elaborate their construction and inner workings were, the more it showed their devotion to God. Their paintings, carvings and stone sculptures show that those who worked on them were among the utmost talented artisans of their day. The high, vaulted ceilings and columns leave our most modern architects in awe at how they could have possibly built them with their relatively limited, archaic methods and tools. Yet, some churches have stood proudly for over a  thousand years, toppled not by the passing of time, but by invasions and bombings from foreign invaders. Even though some were mostly destroyed, they have  been reconstructed out of respect for their treasured history. In this blog we are including pictures and videos of some of our favorite churches and cathedrals we have been privileged to visit. We have discovered that pictures don't do their beauty justice, but hope that one can at least get an idea of the majesty and reverence that their churches convey.

This rooster sitting on top of a lot of the churches in Germany is not simply a weather vane. We were told it was placed there to remind all the people that we should never deny Christ as Peter did.

ReNae has especially enjoyed seeing all the beautiful Organs in the churches.  The church in Freiberg has a Silbermann Organ (the third picture) which is one of the best in the world and was built in 1774.  We have enjoyed a few concerts as well.  However, none of these are as large as the Organs in Salt Lake City.

These are a variety of "pulpits" from various churches.  They are usually on the "side" of the congregation - not in the front.

The rest of the pictures are of some of the other parts of these beautiful churches.  We have many more, but hope you get a feel for the history behind these buildings and the people of Germany.

Thanksgiving Dessert Table in Freiberg last year

This blog post is going to be a little different because it is my intention (ReNae) to talk about cooking, shopping, and housekeeping here in Germany.  One important thing to remember is that when I am home in America, these tasks are not my favorite things to do.  I would much rather be working on some big project, directing or watching theater events, playing the piano, watching football, fishing, or enjoying my grand kids and family.   Now, it is my understanding that I am a pretty good cook and I don't hate it but....there are other things that I like better taking up my time.

With that said, let me talk about how things are different for me here!

When we arrived in Freiberg and got settled into our small apartment, one of the first things we had to do is go grocery shopping.  There was a neighborhood store, NETTO, only about 200 yards from where we lived by the Temple.  Talk about culture shock!  Of course the produce was recognizable, at least most of it, but reading those German labels was difficult!  Dale always goes shopping with me so that is helpful.

I was already starting to change my attitude.  It was strange, but I was pretty much loving cooking and shopping.  It became somewhat of a "puzzle" for me and I wanted to learn everything I could about German foods and cooking here.  After we were transferred to Darmstadt and working with the Young Single Adults, I knew why.  I cook a great deal, sometimes as much as 4-5 days of the week and for as many as 20-25 people.  I have learned so much and ready to try new things all the time.  Dale used to tease me about watching Food Network at home, but now he has enjoyed many meals that I initially learned about on Chopped, Rachel Ray, or other shows.  I actually know more food and cooking terms in German than Dale does!  I also make exceptionally good "Kase Kuchen" or Cheesecake from Quark - a dairy ingredient only found here and in other  European countries.

While we were still in Freiberg, I could send Dale for things we needed at the last minute which leads me to my story about Salsa. We decided we wanted to make Tacos because we had managed to find Tortillas.  I sent him to find anything that looked like Salsa.  He was gone quite a while and came home with a bottle of Zegeuner Sauce.  We opened it - smelled like Salsa, looked like Salsa - poured it in with the meat.   It tasted awesome and it made wonderful Sloppy Joes!  We use it all the time now for that purpose.  Oh - and we did eventually find Salsa.

I also just had to order a Slow Cooker from England (not available here in Germany) and, in fact, two of them.  I actually own 12 slow cookers in America - yup - I said 12!  That is a subject for another time but just to clarify, 7 of them are in buffet servers.  But after coming to Darmstadt, I got a very large one to use for the YSA Center.  One of the sweet members here that we work with was amazed that I would turn it on and leave home for the day!  She just could not believe it would work and not burn down the apartment building.  I have used them over and over again for the past 15 months.

Now that we have discussed cooking here are a few examples of how things are done differently here with regard to food and cleaning:

Apartment Kitchen in Freiberg

1. Most Germans who live in apartments, like us, have very small kitchens. Thus, they have very small refrigerators, and tiny or no freezers at all. Because of these small storage areas, they must go shopping at least every other day. There are bakeries on every corner, because they buy fresh baked goods pretty much every day. The breads and pastries are very tasty. Unfortunately for us, we have a hard time resisting them. They still have their traditional meat and vegetable shops as well and the fresh produce here is usually very good.

Typical  Produce Section in a Market

2. As you may know, Germans are famous for their drinking. They have large separate stores just to sell drinks. They sell everything from regular water to hard liquor.  I think it may be because they don't trust their tap water!

3. There are certain staples that I am used to cooking with in America that are simply not available here or extremely hard to find. Things like liquid vanilla, American brown sugar, pecans, and there is no cream-of-anything-soup in cans. However, I have learned to substitute and make do and in some cases, it is better.  I will certainly miss some of the great ingredients I have found here. 

4. GARBAGE COLLECTION!! This has been a learning curve for us. With 84 million people in an area the same size as Montana, they have obviously had to control their refuse. The stores hand out free garbage bags especially for plastics. We also have to separate paper, cans, compost, and glass. There are also collection areas for used clothing and shoes.  They have special city collections for old furniture and appliances. The bad thing is, they only pick up the garbage twice a month in the summer, and once a  month in the Winter. You have to admit though, they are more environmentally aware than we are in our smaller cities. 

Laundry Room in Freiberg

5.  In all three of our apartments we have had to do our laundry in another area of the building.  That is better than going to a Laundromat or something so I am not complaining.  However, it has been harder here in Darmstadt and our first apartment in Freiberg because the Laundry Rooms are in the basement and involve many stairs.  Also, the washers are much smaller and so we do more batches.  They are also programmed to save water and so the wash cycles are longer.  We are just grateful we have had dryers.  Most of the young missionaries only have washing machines. 

I could certainly go on for a long time, but the bottom line is this.  I have learned to love living here in Germany.  I have learned so much about myself and my ability to adapt.  I was very nervous about living in another country and had so many misconceptions in my mind.  Change is usually very difficult for me, but I get better at it everyday.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had of serving this mission with my wonderful husband.   We love the gospel and our testimonies have grown so much.  Heavenly Father has blessed us as we learn to love and serve the people here in this beautiful country.  We can all do hard things!

A PICTURE BLOG!!!!

Clog America in Darmstadt - July 9, 2015

Dale singing "The Beverly Hillbillies" Theme Song

The Darmstadt Clog America Performance Audience

Some of our Young Single Adults with Clog America

Looks Familiar!  Love Clog America Tours!

Our wonderful Clog America Friends and Director - Dwayne and Shawnda Bishop

Dale's Tomato Garden on our Balcony
"You can take Dale out of his garden,
but you can't take the garden out of Dale!"

 Bad Homburg White Tower

Marberg Allstadt Visit

Beautiful View from the Castle with the City and Church in the Bachground

The Castle and that is Cinderella's "red" slipper - the Grimm Brothers lived in this City for a time

 OUR MOSEL RIVER AND CASTLES VISIT 

The beautiful Burg Eltz

The City of Cochem - Waiting for the Bus to the Castle

View from the Cochem (Reichsburg) Castle - Notice the Vineyard on the hill side

Views of the incredible Mosel River from both directions

Special Friends and Missionaries in our German Life

Our Michelstadt Elders at a Member's Home for Dinner and Song

The Frankfurt Mission Office Missionaries

Good Friends - the Eglys - in Michelstadt

We wen up and out of a valley on a road similar to the switchbacks going to Big Lake in Sevier County - but paved and we were not in our ATV.  It was very narrow, but the view was spectacular when we reached the top.  We could not help but compare it to the journey of life.  Sometimes we are prompted to take a road that does not appear to lead anywhere promising, but when we arrive, it was worth the efforts we made.

 HOW WE KNOW WE ARE NOT IN 
UTAH (KANSAS) ANYMORE....

Giant Hay Bale Wedding Announcement!

There are a few adjustments we've had to make in the way things are done here. Different cultures have different ways of doing things. I guess there must be some middle ground, where "Yankee ingenuity" and "German technology" crossover. There is also somewhere, where the two go different directions. Who are we to decide whether or not they are good differences or not-so-good differences? I'll let you decide. Here are a few we have noticed:

1. Here in Germany it is against the law to leave your car windows rolled down (even 2 centimeters) or your doors unlocked when you park, even if it is 100 degrees + outside. The reason, I was told, is because if cars get broken into, it makes more work for the police, and they are spread too thin as it is.

2. The traffic lights turn yellow before they turn green, as well as red. (this gives you time to hang up your cellphone before it turns green, I guess).

3. On the autobahns(freeways), most of the time there are no speed limits. I don"t know about you, but it is a little unnerving for me when I'm already going 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph) and someone whizzes by me going 220 kilometers per hour (135mph).

4. Because there are fewer gas stations as you drive through the little villages around this forested area, they understand the principle of "Supply and demand". After about 7:00 pm, the few gas stations that stay open that late start raising their gas prices. The later it gets, the more demand, and the higher the prices. All this time I thought American were the  "Capitalists". Maybe they learned a lesson from us.

5. In your car it is required that you have 3 important things: namely, a Fluorescent vest, a First Aid kit, and a reflective triangle to set up behind your car if you have an emergency. Now I think those are good items to have on hand.

6. You had better have enough gas in your car when you enter a freeway, because if there is a traffic jam and you run out of gas on the freeway, you will get a ticket.

7. If you get pulled over by an officer for a traffic violation, you may pay your fine directly to him, on the spot. Just think, no going to city hall to pay the fine. It's done and taken care of.... So if you want to speed or do something illegal, make sure you have a lot of cash on hand.

8. Honking seems to be the Germans' national pass time. If the light turns green and your engine isn't already gaining RPMS, expect a honk just to make sure you are awake.  They honk for everything you might do wrong! So, when we get honked at, we write down what we were doing at the time and try not to do it again. That's how we learned the rules of the road.  (Of course, this happens in Utah as well but not as often!)

9. If you go to a restaurant to eat, don't expect a cold glass of water as a starter. If you want water, you have to pay for it. And, if you're lucky, it's not carbonated or warm.

10. Sales Tax here is 19%. (Yes, I said nineteen percent)

11. If you go to a hospital to get minor treatment, chances are good you won't get billed, even if you are not native German. You see, here all health car costs are mostly paid by the government, after you pay about 1/2 of your salary each month for taxes. The hospitals are so busy that your bill will probably get lost in the shuffle..   Mine did.

12. There are big rodents here who live in the forest, who kind of look like hairy weasels. There is one in particular, who thinks it's great to chew on warm radiator hoses. They say that the hoses are made partly out of fish parts  (???) so, when hoses get hot they radiate a fish smell. Our car did, and we have a bill for $320.00 to prove it. Can't they find something else besides fish parts?

13. When you go shopping, in order to get a shopping basket, you have to insert money into the handle. You also have to bring your own grocery bags and bag your own groceries. When you bring the cart back, you get your money back. On the bright side, you don't see shopping carts scattered around parking lots. America should adopt this one, except for the bags part.

14. When you are traveling, make sure you have coins enough to pay for the toilets. Some of them even automatically clean themselves. Just make sure you are not still sitting on the toilet after you flush it. Maybe that's where we got the phrase,"It's like flushing money down the toilet".  What is nice on the Autobahns are the "Rest Areas" which are usually a quick on and off the actual road and they have great food and these wonderful toilets.

15.  Parking is almost always a problem here.  So, there are many narrow roads where cars are parked on both sides and somewhat out into the road.  We call these streets "Dodge em' Cars".  We have one that we travel frequently because it is the quickest way to the shopping area here in area.  (Please see video if you are on a computer and we are sorry it isn't in the right format.).  When driving these streets, you must stop and wait for oncoming cars if there is a car parked in your lane.  It gets pretty exciting at times!

We don't mean to sound judgmental, we would just like to know why some of these rules exist. And, we wish someone would have told us about them when we first came.  We love being in Germany and everyday we seem to feel more at home here.  I am sure all of our German friends would feel the same way about Utah and wonder about some of our "cultural" differences.  Just ask them about "slow cookers/crock pots" "fry sauce" and "Stovetop Stuffing".

AND WE THOUGHT WE WERE 

BUSY BEFORE.....

I just read through our last post and....   WOW - how things have changed since that post.  One never knows what the Lord plans for us and what might come next.  I believe we mentioned that we were serving three missions in one - correct that - it is now four missions in one!

About a month ago we were called to go to the Michelstadt Branch as, basically, Member Leadership Support.  We are still doing everything else we have been assigned but attend church in this wonderful, small branch about 45 minutes south of where we live as well.  It is in the Odenwald Forest which is one of the most beautiful parts of Germany.  We love our drive there and it is also a little cooler there as well.  Dale is serving as Executive Secretary to a new Branch President, Walter Wiese, who was also called from the Darmstadt Ward.  Another brother from Darmstadt was also called as the Branch Clerk.  I will be serving as one of the Ward Organists and that makes me happy.  So, in addition to Sundays, we go to Michelstadt on Wednesday evenings for other meetings. We are really enjoying the variety in our lives.

Michelstadt Church

Because we have so many commitments, we are unable to travel around quite as much as we did in Freiberg.  However, we do get to see quite a bit of Germany as we go from place to place.  The picture below is posted on my page on Facebook but I also want to share it here.  These are the yellow fields of Germany.  The flowers are only here for a small part of May each year, but they are everywhere.  They are spectacular!  They are actually Rapeseed plants, the plant from which canola oil is made.  I am so glad we were here to enjoy seeing them.



I think a few more pictures and explanations about some of the things we have seen in the past month might be fun.  An interesting day was on Dale's Birthday, May 14.  It was also a holiday here in Germany and we decided to go to a "castle" above the city of Weinheim.  It was an interesting day to say the least.  We were told that it was just a short walk up the road when we had to park at the bottom of the hill because the road was partially closed.  Long story short, it was a long ways and we ended up going back to the car, thanks to a Taxi, and then driving to the top anyway.  That said, when we arrived there and this is what we saw.



It seems there was some kind of "Fraternal" convention for the entire weekend.  Also, it really was a castle built only in the early 1800's just for this organization.  We snapped a few pictures and headed home.  Fun times!



Also, we went to the center of Darmstadt to go to dinner at a member's apartment and saw this there.




There was a big Festival going on with many stages, music, food, drink, and lots of people.  We knew about the festival and had taken the tram to Luisinplatz instead of driving.  We were glad we did!  How this bus got there from America - we do not know!  But it was like a "food truck" serving American Food.  We enjoyed walking around before we headed to dinner at Sister Kling's.

Another fun time was with our Young Single Adult group.  Some very interesting "games" were played and it was such a fun night.  It was the largest group we have ever had attend Family Home Evening!  Our leader, Tabea Wiese, is wonderful and plans such great activities.  Consequently, we just normally have to cook and plan the meals.  We love these "kids"!

We also really enjoy the young missionaries in our District.  They are so special to us and we love them all so much.  Right now we have two from Utah County, one from Salt Lake area, one from Delta, one from Oregon, the Sisters are from Colorado and Illinois, and one of the Elders is from Ireland but grew up in Australia.  Transfer days are hard for us as well as them.  Darmstadt is wonderful place to serve with very supportive members and many young people from all over Europe go to University here.  It is very International city.

Our District Young Elders and Sisters

Just this morning I met a young man who is a member but hasn't been attending church.  He grew up in Ecuador, joined the church about 16 years ago.  He just noticed my name tag and started talking with me.  He spoke a little German and very little English, his native language being Spanish.  I speak a little German and a little Spanish so we communicated in all three languages.  I love it here!  And that is what the missionaries face on a daily basis.  The young missionaries are amazing young people.

Another piece of news.  The Frankfurt Temple is also closing now.  It will be closed for Renovation starting September 7.  Our friends who were re-assigned from Freiberg are not sure what will happen for them as they will only have about 7 weeks left of their 18-month mission.  And that is how fast your life can change while serving the Lord.

One last big announcement.  This is Shayla ReNae Woolsey, born May 18 in Austin, Texas to Scott and Jennifer.  I feel so honored to have this precious little spirit named after me.  She is number 19 for us and we love all of them and their parents so much.

BUSY TIMES IN 
THE FRANKFURT MISSION

Heidelberg Castle

Time is really flying by now because we are so busy!  It is hard to believe that we have less than 8 months left.  We are enjoying our time here and having some wonderful experiences.  As a matter of fact, just as I started to type here today, a young man we met on one of our walks in the Forest called us back.  He is with a youth group out of South Africa who is here in the Darmstadt area bringing "Faith, Hope, and Love" to the young people through a Christian organization.  Dale just had the distinct feeling we should talk to him and sure enough - he spoke English and no German.  He is a dancer with this group and so we were able to talk about Clog America coming in July and about his group.  He took our number and said he would have his leader call us.  We really never expected to hear from him - but he called today, not even his leader.  We have no idea how this will turn out, but it is so important that all of us continue to listen to the Spirit and then act.

Walking in the Forest

We are still doing a great deal of cooking but then some weeks we have no cooking - or very little because of the YSA schedule.  We spend at least one day a week in Frankfurt working in the office and we usually have lunch all together and all of us bring something.   We also check 11 young missionary apartments, some as much as 1 1/2 hours away.  We enjoy meeting the missionaries and seeing new areas of this beautiful country.  It is almost like we are having three different missions now - Temple, YSA, and Office.  We have also done a little proselyting and it is awesome that we get to experience so many different areas of service.

A few of the YSA (JAE in German) in our area as well as the missionaries

About a week ago we were able to spend a Friday in Frankfurt in a Seminar with Elder Bednar.  What a wonderful experience to be taught by an Apostle of the Lord.  Our young missionaries are going to be using iPads soon and the Seminar was about teaching and serving in the Digital Age.  Nothing was said about the iPad itself but the about teaching the gospel using a new tool and using it "safely".  

We were also able to help with the food that day by helping prepare 270 sack lunches for the missionaries and some of the food for Elder Bednar and other guests.

Before the Elder Bednar Conference - The missionaries from our District

One of the highlights of April was our Senior Zone Conference which was held in Rothenburg an der Tauber - the best preserved medieval city in Europe.  We stopped there briefly during our Europe trip in 2005 and stated that we hoped we could return someday.  Well, check another item off the bucket list!  We actually stayed the night in a Castle outside of Rothenburg called Colmberg and then we traveled into the city.  The conference itself was also wonderful, getting to know the other couples in our mission and learning from our wonderful mission president and others.  

View of the Neckar River and Old Bridge from the Heidelberg Castle

Famous entrance to Rothenburg an der Taube