Oct. 28 - Nov. 3 Month 3 completed

This week marks three months in Germany.  I can't believe how fast time is going.  Every week is a new adventure and we continue to be amazed at the work we are doing.
We started our adventure at 7 AM on Sunday.  We drove to the Park and Ride and met the Bus that would take us to Zurich.  We were not sure really what to expect.  It was a nice two story tour bus and we sat upstairs. 

Wow, what a difference that makes.  We had a whole new view from driving in the car and only seeing trees on the sides of the road.  We could see the rivers and other land features in a whole new light.  It was great.  Everyone was pretty quiet at that time of the morning.  We just enjoyed the quiet and the nice ride.  We attended Stake Conference and saw many missionaries and people we knew.  With it being in Switzerland, they had translators for French and English.  It was so nice to have a headset and just get to listen and not have someone trying to tell me in my ear what is being said.  I think I understood even more than Russ since I got to have it in English.  Sometimes even the interpreter would have to say, I am not sure what they just said.  The Swiss German is a lot different than the German that is spoken in Freiburg.  They gave us an hour to visit afterwards before we had to be at the bus.  That was fun as so many people were seeing friends and family.  The two girls who were baptized last month, Elli and Lina were there and it was wonderful to visit with them.  When we were back on the bus it was Party Time.  Everyone brought lunches and shared and it was so fun.  I took homemade bread with honey butter, granola bars, apples with caramel dip, chips and salsa and sandwiches for us.  The bread and granola bars did not last long.  We have become good friends with Ellie and she sat with us and we got to know her better.  She really wants to return to the US to attend University.  She has about 5 offers from lower division schools to play basketball.  Her parents want her to take the scholarships offered but she really wants to go to BYU Idaho and be with friends from Nampa Idaho where she was an Exchange Student.
The theme for Stake Conference was from D&C 6:36 - "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not."  Get to know Jesus Christ. . .Develop faith and hope . . .Do good . . . Let Him into your life.

Thoughts             lead to              Words
Words                     "                    Feelings
Feelings                  "                    Attitudes
Attitudes                 "                    Character
Character                "                     Destiny
Destiny                   "                     Thoughts

In a study done on human thoughts, it was found that a person has 60 thoughts per minute, 61,200 per day.  What kind of thoughts do we have.
3%     Thoughts about helping others
72%    Random thoughts
25%    Negative Thoughts

We need to make room for good thoughts.  We need to allow the Spirit to be with us by inviting and having good thoughts.  We must have the courage to watch our thoughts.  Our positive thoughts can influence others to have positive thoughts.

Monday was a good day to catch up on household chores and plan for the week.  We stayed in most of the day and then in the late afternoon decided to get out and go to the City Center.  There was a lot of activity happening.  We found the Elder's there as well and lots of Police.  We found out there was going to be a large rally (protest) within the hour.  We knew we should not be there.  Family Home Evening was canceled since today started their Fall Break from School for the week and many of the students were out of town.  We invited the Elder's to come for dinner - especially since they were not to be in town during a public rally.  There had been a girl raped by about 8 men the week before and the protest was about immigration on one side saying all immigrants are bad (about 500 people) and the other side (1500 people) were in support of immigrants and to not label all immigrants as criminals.  They closed the rail line to the City during the rally and the Elder's had to walk a little to get back to our home.  I am glad they came.  You never know what can happen at events like that.  I needed my fridge cleaned out of food and the Elder's are always hungry and great at taking care of that.
Russ decided that he wanted to join our Elder's, the Elders from Schwenningen and Elli in a basketball game.  Let's put that in perspective.  He is 48 - 50 years older than they are.  He has not played in several years.  But, boys will be boys.  He was really looking forward to it.  They were going to play in Freiburg at the Church and then they called and said we would need to go to Offinburg about an hour away to play.  Oh, and it was going to be outdoors and it was very cold, windy and possible rain.  We drove the Elder's and met up with the others at the train station.  I was content to stay in the warm car with my book and get some good reading in.  They played for almost two hours in the cold and had a great time.  I should have gotten out of the car and taken pictures because I understand Russ was awesome.  He is still good on the inside and gave them some good play.  He said he was a little frustrated that he could not jump like he used to.  I figure he will need the rest of the week to recover.  Pretty amazing performance!

We stopped in Lahr where the empty apartment is and inspected it and cleaned it a little.  We are having a Mission wide deep clean of all apartments and so we took care of all the things that needed to be removed.  They were having a Fall Festival in Lahr and some fun things happening on the town square.  We then took the Elder's to a Pizza Lunch.  It was a fun P-Day for them and I was glad for my time as well.




HALLOWEEN!  I loved seeing all of our Grandchildren's costumes and others that were posted on FaceBook.  It is just now becoming popular here to celebrate so not everyone participates.  We had Institute so we took candy bars and passed them out to the students.  The Missionaries were told they could not be out after 6 PM but we were at the Church and then we took our Elder's home so they were not out on the streets and riding the trains.  We take good care of our Missionaries.

 November 1 is a National Holiday in Germany.  It is All Saints Day - the day to memorialize their dead.  So, the floral arrangements I have been seeing, thinking they were for Christmas and way early to be in stores, are actually to take to the cemetery for this Holiday.  I was talking to a lady on the Bus Sunday asking about why they had Christmas wreaths out so early and would they really last until Christmas and she thought about it a minute and then laughed and said, "Oh no, they are for November 1 to take to the cemetery.  We went to the Cemetery on Saturday and it is beautiful.  I took pictures but can't seem to get them on my blog today. 

She then told me about many of the Christmas traditions that they have here.  I am really getting excited to experience my first Christmas in Freiburg.  I spent most of Monday reading and studying about the traditions and especially the recipes.  I asked if I could help with the Christmas party.  She said yes, and asked if I knew how to make their special cakes.  I decided I better start learning now so I can make them.
The Advent calendar is very big here.  You would not believe the beautiful scenes and pictures and amazing chocolate in them.  I will share in the next few weeks some of their traditions with advent and what they do.  I think we will be starting some new traditions in our home.

Our favorite Park in full Fall color.  Today is our day to visit Amira and it is always a delight.  Her apartment looks down on this park.
Everything is closed today.  That is one thing I like about Holidays here.  Everything closes.  Only a few gas stations stay open and some restaurants, but everything else is closed.  They take their Holidays very serious.  We had two young married couples over for a game night and dinner.  It was so fun.  We played a card game called THE GAME.  It is a numbers game so language was not a barrier and everyone had fun.  I made homemade Pumpkin soup out of my pumpkins and squash that were decorations for Fall.  It turned out so good.  I also made a new recipe for "Fried Rice" out of cauliflower.  I have to say I like it better than regular fried rice and I love fried rice.  I served it and they said, "what kind of rice did you use.  I told them they would have to wait until they had finished eating it.  Russ even ate a few bowls of it and thought it was some kind of rice.  OK, I will share the recipe:

FRIED RICE
1 med. head cauliflower
1 egg
2 Tbl. oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen carrots (I diced and cooked carrots)
2 Tbl. soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
black pepper
2 green onions
Chop cauliflower to a mince (the size of rice)  Can use food processor, but be careful not to puree as this will make it mushy.  It chops easily with a good knife.
Whisk egg and set aside.
Saute' onion and garlic in oil until soft.  Add cauliflower and saute' until soft
Add peas and carrots and stir to combine
Add egg, soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper
Cook until egg coats the cauliflower and cooks.
Salt to taste.  Top with 2 green onions, chopped.
Serve

We received an email this week from our Mission President that a young man had joined the Church in Fort Collins Colorado while he was living there and had returned home to Germany recently.  He only had an address that the Mission President in Colorado had sent him.  He lives about and hour and a half away in the Black Forrest on the French border.  He asked if we would go visit him and invite him to Church.  We decided to ask Elli to go with us as she lives about 30 minutes from him and attends the Branch in Lahr that he would attend.  She was so excited to go with us and was so glad we asked her.  We arranged to pick her up at the train station in Offinburg.  We had crazy traffic and it took us extra time, but we finally arrived.  We drove the 30 minutes to Kehl, just across the river from Strassborg France.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  We thought he was in the country, but his home was in the city center.  We were so glad to have Elli with us.  We found their home and rang the bell.  His mother answered the intercom and we asked for her son, Killian.  She was very nice and he came on the speaker.  We told him who we were.  He was confused why missionaries would be there as he was already a member.  His Grandmother came to the door and rang the bell and realized we were talking to her grandson.  She said, come on let's all go up.  So, we followed her up the 5 flights of stairs and were invited in.  It was a beautiful home with an amazing view.  They were still trying to figure out how we knew where to find him and how quickly we were there.  We thought he had been home for 3 months and we had not seen him at Church.  I finally asked him how long he had been home.  He said three days.  He had been baptized 3 months ago and had just arrived home.  His mother could not believe we had come so soon, but she was impressed that we were looking out for him.  He and Elli hit is off and talked about school and being in America.  We told him the Church times and where to go and exchanged contact information.  It was a shot in the dark driving all that way, and it was a true blessing to find him and to be so warmly received.  There just happened to be an Italian Ice Cream store on the corner, so we stopped for a treat. 

We then drove another 30 minutes to visit another girl who joined the church after being a foreign exchange student in the US.  She lives in the Forest.  This is the view from her home.  It is a little village in the mountains.  They were not home, but her home was absolutely beautiful.  We left her a card to let her know that we had come by.  Not a place many people would just drop by.  We loved it.  It was well worth our time and we loved the drive.  We then took Elli home.  She invited us in to meet her mother.  We were hoping we could meet her.  She is still not sure about her daughter joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She was very cordial but guarded when we came in.  There are not a lot of free standing homes in Germany with only one family in the home.  This home was also on a mountain like the picture above and was amazing.  She had a fire in the fireplace and it was so warm and inviting.  It was very large with big windows looking out at the mountains.  We found out that Elli's father had been the Mayor of the City until last year and now spends most of his time in Greece on a political assignment to help their ailing financial situation.  As we talked about their family and about Christmas and traditions, her mother softened and we had a delightful conversation.  We know that there was a reason we invited Elli to go with us today and it was good for her, for us and also for her mother as we are the first members of the Church she has met.  Maybe it will make a difference for Elli in the future.  They told us of a building in their little town that is known in all of Germany.  It becomes a live Advent Calendar in December and every day a new decorated window is lit up. They said we have to come back and see it.  They said their Christmas market is also worth coming to.  I am getting excited for Christmas and all of the festivities. Elli sent us a note today and said "Thank you for coming in and meeting my mother.  My Mom is way different now!!! She has seen how the church has a good impact on me and is not so critical anymore." Another Tender Mercy.

The Store Windows are already starting to display.  This is a large department store window with life size LEGO statues.  The windows are prettier than the pictures.  I don't usually like Christmas to start before Thanksgiving, but because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, they begin now.  December 6 is actually the day Kris Kringle or Saint Nicholas arrives.  Children leave their shoes outside their bedroom door on the night of Dec. 5 and they are filled with candy. Chocolates and gummy candies.  If they are good they get candy and if they have not been good they get coal.
The advent candle begins on the first Sunday in December.  So, they celebrate all month long and start early for the preparations.  

You know it is Christmas time when the Chestnuts are roasting on the open fire.  I hope to get some this week.  They are in the markets now.  They are called Heissa Maroni. 









We had a nice day today attending the Organ Concert at the Munster.  It is a nice Saturday tradition.  We shopped on Monday at a local store that sells all things Germany.  I have been admiring their Nativity sets and clocks every week when we walk by on our way to the Munster.  They were changing their window displays and we decided to go in.  They had moved my favorite Nativity inside to make room for their new displays.  We found some gifts for the Grand kids and made a friend with the sales lady.  We went back today to get some more gifts.  Their windows and store are everything Christmas and it is amazing to see.  The Christmas towers come in every size and from Nativities to Santa and his reindeer.  They start at 100 Euro (about $110 US) and go to about 400.  It is nice to just look. The sales lady remembered us and was very nice.  We told her we would be back to see her. 
As part of the Mission Wide Deep Clean this month we put our old clothes dryer out on the street today to see if someone would take it so we would not have to find a place for it.  It was gone within an hour.  We were so glad.  We hauled empty boxes from the Elder's apartment to help them with their cleaning.  They are a little slow on getting their things cleaned up. 

We were saddened to hear that our dear neighbor Charlene Seal passed away on Wednesday.  She was a kind, caring, and beautiful lady.  She loved Genealogy and knowing about her family and heritage.  I know she is free from the pains of this world and is at peace in Heaven.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Elbert and her family. 

I leave my message this week with a quote from our Prophet Russell M. Nelson.  Our teaching is that after the Reformation there was a need for a Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That Restoration began in 1830 in upstate New York when a young boy had a question as to what sect he should join.  He read in the Bible, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God..."  He decided to do that and went to a grove beyond his home and prayed to know what to do.  That was the beginning of the Restoration. 


It’s Going to Be Exciting!
“We're witnesses to a process of restoration,” said the
prophet. “If you think the Church has been fully
restored, you're just seeing the beginning. There is
much more to come. ... Wait till next year. And then
the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It's
going to be exciting.”
Oct 30, 2018 Russell M. Nelson
“I have seen him changing in the last ten months,”
said Sister Nelson. “It is as though he's been
unleashed. He's free to finally do what he came to
earth to do.”

I am so grateful to be a part of this great work.  I am ready for the work and look forward to the coming days.  
It is good you have an extra hour today as you Fall back in time so that you can read this long epistle of the happenings in our life.  We appreciate all of you and especially your prayers.
Viel Liebe
The Grimmett's