Sunday was a wonderful day filled with three sessions of General Conference. With the time difference we only get some of Saturday's during normal hours. I stayed up until 4 am watching the Priesthood session. Russ had long before gone to bed as we was going to the Church on Sunday morning to watch it with all of the men. We had 7 for lunch on Sunday and to watch the morning session. They enjoyed it and we settled in for a few hours more of listening to the Conference. With the changes in our Sunday church schedule in January to a two hour meeting instead of three the are emphasizing Home Centered, Church Supported Gospel Learning. It is already making ad inference in so many families. Pres. Nelson admonished us to repent daily, drawing closer to Jesus Christ. He expressed the importance of the Sacrament in our lives and to make changes in our lives now because time is running out for each of us. Life is short and we need to act now on making and keeping sacred covenants.
Monday was District council Zoom meeting (online) and then lunch with the Elders. I was so glad we did not have to travel today. It is always nice having the Elders in our home and feeding them - leftovers from Sunday! Lots of Cinnamon Rolls were eaten. We then had an appointment with a girl from Italy who has lived in Germany for about three years. It was really nice having her in our home and sharing the gospel message with her.
We mixed work and play on Tuesday, P-day.
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| Dirt Road |
We had to go to the Lahr apartment to clean. We also get requests
for Find A Grave and had two cemeteries that were on the way, via the
back roads. We got to a little village and the road was closed for
construction right in the middle of town. The Navi came to the rescue
and took us up over the mountain- when I got to a fork in the road and
had a choice of a paved road or a dirt road I chose the paved road. Oh,
did I mention it was poring rain. Well, as soon as I did that the voice
said, refer to map you are off course. Sure enough it wanted me to take
the dirt road. So, we turn around and go back to the dirt - now muddy
road and pray we will make it. I could just see us getting stuck and
having to explain that to our President. It was absolutely beautiful!
We were in the vineyards and then the forest and up over a hill to a
neighborhood of beautiful homes in the little village we were looking
for. We found the grave in the little cemetery and took pictures. We
were off to the next one. It was in an old Jewish cemetery. It was
built in about 1620 and has thousands of graves. It is very old and
most of the headstones are worn away. It was damaged during WWII. It
was locked, but a sign said a key could be picked up just down the road.
It was raining hard and we decided we would go back on a better day.
It was an adventure.
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| Jewish Cemetery |
We visited Amira on Wednesday this week and
the Elders went with us. The usually go on Tuesday night and while
they are there they clean her hamster cages. So, Elder Grimmett got to
hold Lima the hamster while they cleaned her cage.
I cooked for Institute this week. I tried two new recipes and they turned out really good. I will share at the end of the blog for those who would like them.
Thursday we were invited to Sister Runga's home for lunch. She served with Russ 50 years ago in Austria. She is so good to us and likes to invite us once a month for lunch. She served us red beet soup that was so delicious. It was a pureed cream soup made with red beets and potatoes. Then we had a wonderful salad - huge. That would have been enough for me - my favorite - soup and salad. We then had rice with what she called, Kings meatballs with sauce. She ended the lunch with a creamed applesauce. Homemade apple sauce mixed with pure cream and cinnamon. We had a delightful time with her but could not stay to visit too long after that long wonderful lunch. We had an Area Zoom Conference with all of the YSA Senior Missionaries for this part of Europe. It is always nice to hear what others are doing and learning new things. It makes us grateful for the program we have going and the wonderful people we work with.
We finished that just in time to have the Elder's over for an appointment with Christina.
I still had to make cookies for the Missionary Conference and pack my bags. Another late night trying to get everything done.
Friday - Up bright and early and off to Salzburg Austria via Ravensburg Germany.
We went to the Ravensburger Museum. They started as a publishing company in the 1800's and then added puzzles and games. This picture is of the current games that are offered. We even have Scotland yard that my kids used to play. They are the makers of the original Memory game for children. They have beautiful pictures on them from animals, toys, etc. for you to lay out and match the pairs. They have their first board game - based on the Jules Vern "Around the World in 80 Days" - available for purchase only at their museum store. So, of course we had to have it - Russ loves that movie. We could not leave without having a famous Ravensburger puzzle. We started with just a 500 piece - we need
to be able to finish it!
Their books are educational for all ages starting with babies to Adults. They started the hard board books for children. This picture shows the reading room in the museum. It is really neat. Check out the benches and the grass carpet floor. We have some great friends, Elder and Sister Bretzing who are serving their mission in Ravensburg. We are spent the day with them at the museum and seeing the sights of Ravensburg. We stayed the night with them at their apartment and had a wonderful time.
City of Ravensburg Germany. It is a small city with a nice charm. We tried "spaghetti gelato". They take vanilla gelato and add whipped cream and put it through the spaghetti pasta machine. It comes out with the cream frozen in with the gelato in spaghetti strings. Then they top it with strawberry topping and more whipped cream. We shared one and it was really good - Russ would have preferred chocolate drizzled over the top, but it did not stop him from eating it.
We ended the night at a Gausthous (restaurant) that had German food. It was sooo good. They had these Easter Trees hanging in several places and were so cute. I loved how they hung them from the ceiling and decorated them.
We got an Early start on Saturday to finish our drive to Salzburg. It
was a 3 hour drive and then we want to drive a little further and to
visit Halstatt. It is a little village on a lake that we visited 40
years ago. There is a salt mine and lots of shops.
It was a very overcast day so a lot of haze. We did not get to see the tops of some of the mountains. The lake was so calm and beautiful with the swans swimming around.
Several buildings had these bonsai trees growing up them. It will be really beautiful when it is in full bloom in a few weeks.
There was a shop that had hand carved nativities and other wood toys that were stunning. This picture does not do it justice because of the glare on the window. The shop was closed we could not get a better look. I loved the different people and their expressions. We learned there is also a shop in Ravensburg that has hand carved that are very nice, but it is also closed right now. Our friends have one and said you can order them so we will have to see.
This just depicts my love of churches. This is a Lutheran Church. We hiked up a large hill to the Catholic Church and cemetery. It was very nice- you would really have to be dedicated to make the hike to attend church. Maybe there is a back way for the locals and they just have the tourists take the scenic route!
This was on our way down the mountain. There is a Salt Mine on this Mountain and this is water that comes out of the mountain and down to the lake.
We stayed at an AirBnB just outside of the city of Salzburg. It was wonderful. This young couple built this home and an apartment on the side of it to have as an AirBnB. They are still finishing the upstairs addition. It is very modern and new. It worked out really well for us. We stayed there 2 nights. We went to Salzburg for a special Mission Conference with Elder Uchtdorf - one of the Twelve Apostles of our Church. He is actually from Germany and he enjoyed being with family and speaking in German with the missionaries.
We arrived early on Sunday morning to assemble the sack lunches for the missionaries to have after the conference and for their long rides home and trains, buses, and cars. We had so much help and the Sister from the Mission office were so organized that we had 200 lunches assembled in 30 minutes. Elder Uchtdorf decided to surprise the Salzburg Ward and attend church with them at 9:00 AM. Because we were finished with the lunches, we were invited to attend the Sacrament meeting with them. It was a really nice experience. We were given translators and it was great. It was Fast Sunday (we abstain from food for 24 hours and pray and prepare ourselves for the Testimony meeting) One of the Sisters in the Ward bore her testimony on the Power of Priesthood blessings in healing and that she had received a blessing the previous week and how she was blessed from that experience. She did not go into details, but bore a wonderful testimony on that experience and the blessing of Jesus Christ in her life. When she finished, she walked passed Elder Uchtdorf and he reached out his hand to her and just touched her hand has she walked by. It reminded me of the Woman who had such great faith that she knew if she could just touch the garment of Jesus among the throngs of people, she could be healed. Because of her faith, she was healed. I don't know if anyone else saw what I did, but I know it was a special experience for that Sister. We then had our meetings and we took a group picture with Elder Uchtdorf and then we each got to go through a receiving line where he and his dear wife greeted us. We were told to only say our name and where we were from and move on. If he asked us a question that was fine, but we were not to stop and ask him any questions because of the time constraints. We were at the end after all of the young missionaries and when I said my name and that I was from Arlington Texas, Sister Uchtdorf just grabbed me and gave me a great big hug. I was not expecting that and it was very nice. Then they both spoke to us. It was a very special day and we are so grateful we were able to be there. We invited the Blanchard's and the Bretzing's over to our apartment to eat our sack lunches. It was so fun. They stayed from 3 until 9 and we had a wonderful time. We don't get to be together very often and it was so nice to just talk about our mission assignments and laugh and cry with each other over our experiences. It was so nice that we had a nice place to gather and not have each of us just go back to a hotel room. It was a Fantastic Sunday!
Monday morning we went to the Mirabell Palace and Gardens before getting on the road for home. It was nice to see it in the Spring. We were there last September and it was very pretty, but the Spring flowers are always nice.
This a a park with all of these fun characters. We had a good time finding a character to pose with.
I liked this one for Russ and he likes the other one so he gets two pictures. You be the judge of which one fits him the best.
This was inside the palace. I have to say I liked all of the statues in Austria better than in Italy - they all had some kind of covering and were much better to look at. This is in the marble gallery. It was beautiful and concerts are now held in this part of the building.
It was a 7 hour drive home and a very long day. I am sorry I am a few days late getting this out. It will be a very short week before I am writing again.
This was a wonderful long weekend and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to be with such wonderful people and to have been taught by an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. The past 10 days have given us a lot to study, ponder and pray about. We have been spiritually fed armed with helps for the coming months.
Russ and I have been asked to speak in Church on Easter Sunday - stay tuned for the details next week - better yet, pray for me that I will be able to speak German so that they will understand. It will be a week to study, study, study and pray. I knew this day would come, we will see if I survive. Thank you for the love and prayers we have received for the past 9 months while we have been serving as missionaries.
Recipes for those who would like them.
Apple Pie Dumplings
4 Apples, peeled and cored (I used Breaburn)
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Puff Pastry sheet, sliced 1 cm. wide with last slice cut into leaf shapes.
1.Peel and core apples - leave bottom in place or plug with a small piece taken out of the core so filling does not all come out.
2.Mix brown sugar with cinnamon. Roll apple in brown sugar to coat.
3. Slice Puff Pastry
4. Wrap 2 slices around each apple covering entirely overlapping each slice slightly and then pressing down to smooth out.
5. Place salted caramel sauce in center. (I used 1/2 cup chocolate cream cheese mixed with 1/2 cup brown sugar). About 1 Tbl. fits in the center where the core was removed.
6. Add 2 leaf shapes to top of apple.
7. Mix one egg with 1 Tbl. water and brush on each apple dumpling.
8. Place on a parchment lined baking tray.
9. Bake 20 min. at 350* or until golden brown and apple is soft.
10. Serve warm. Extra good with a scoop of ice cream.
Open-Faced Sandwiches
1/2 cup Onion, diced 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced 1 Tbl. Butter
1 cup cooked and diced meat (ham, chicken, turkey, etc.) I used chicken.
6 oz. cream cheese
grated cheese
thin sliced bread like French, Italian, sour dough etc. or buns (split)
In a skillet over medium heat, saute onion, pepper, and mushrooms in butter. When they are soft, add cooked meat and mix well. Remove skillet from heat. While the pan is still hot, spoon in the cream cheese to make a spread. Cut buns in half if using or lay out bread slices. Cover with filling. Place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 350* until cheese is melted (3-4 min.)
Open-faced sandwiches are a big meal item here and the Young Adults really enjoyed these. It is a change from just meat and cheese with a pickle on top that they usually eat.
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