We're Home!

If you have visited our mission blog recently, you may have wondered what happened. It seemed that we were stuck in time. We now want to bring closure to this wonderful experience. We returned home to Utah on June 21st. We were picked up at the Salt Lake Airport by Scott and Camille and their 3-year old twins Jane and Josh. Lori and Dave and their family were already in Utah (up from California), and they stayed with us for about two weeks. On July 1st we had a great day at the Seven Peaks water park with our family and on July 4th we had a big family gathering at Jones Cottage, including a picnic, games, and fireworks. We have seen all of our grandchildren except Kendra, who has been working extra hours to earn money for college. But she'll be moving to Orem (next to Provo) this week to begin her studies at Utah Valley University, so we should see her frequently over the next few months.

The second Sunday we were home, we both received callings in the ward. Randy is now teaching the Gospel Doctrine Book of Mormon Sunday School class and is enjoying that very much! Janet is on the Relief Society Enrichment Committee and just completed a BIG project of helping the ward members put together over 200 72-hour kits for Emergency Preparedness. It's also a great blessing to live so close to a temple once again.

Later in July we flew to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit Janet's family and so that she could attend her 50th high school reunion. We had a great time. We also spent four days in Cedar City (Randy's birth place) where we saw 6 plays at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and visited family, including a 98 year old uncle.

We have adjusted well and are happy to be with our family again, but we think often of our mission and miss the wonderful people we met there. We are grateful that we were able to have this great experience.

Welcome to our Mission blog

Welcome! This is our place to share some pictures from our time as CES Outreach Missionaries in the Germany, Hamburg Mission. We served our first 6 months in Kiel, and are now in Dortmund. Click on any picture to view it larger. Thanks for visiting!

Our New Car!! (for one week)

Outreach Couples

The three outreach couples from Hannover, Dusseldorf and Dortmund

Frankfurt Temple Grounds

Group Picture at Temple

Here's a picture of the Young Single Adults, Institute Leaders, and Outreach Couples at the Frankfurt Temple.

Institute Closing Activity

Institute Closing Activity - Roadshow skits on Old Testament stories by the JAEs and leaders

Frankfurt

We spent some time in Frankfurt with friends, Jamie and Dorothy Lyon, the outreach couple there.

Sweet Strawberries and White Asparagus

Local fresh sweet strawberries and white aparagus are everywhere now

German Flags

Local car with German flags. You see these flags everywhere as the whole country is excited about the soccer games.

Dortmund Goodbye Dinner

These are many of our ward friends at the Dortmund potluck dinner in our honor. We will miss these good saints.

Couples Outing in Bremen

Couples' outing in Bremen in the Schnoor area of the city, charming narrow streets with shops and restaurants



Dinner with couples at the Bremen Ratskeller

Deppe Family

Dinner and visit with the Deppe family from the ward

Birthday Dinner

This picture is of Sister Raphael's birthday celebration here in our apt. Her son, Lionel, and daughter, Shanice, joined us and it was lots of fun. The Raphaels have been SO good to all the missionaries here in Dortmund for many years. We have had wonderful meals and good times in their home.

Attahöhle

Our missionary district made an excursion to Attahöhle or Atta Cave, about a two hour slow train ride from Dortmund (we changed trains twice). It was spectacular, one of the most beautiful natural creations we have ever seen. (May 26th)

46th Wedding Anniversary

Two couples in the ward invited us to their apartment to help us celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary. Sister Fritz and her husband are the parents of Sister Kube. They made an unbelievable raspberry cream torte as well as other desserts and gave us some beautiful roses. (May 24th)

Romberg Park

Romberg Park is located just a short distance from our apartment and we love to go there when we have time. It is big, and this time of the year it is spectacular, filled with rhododendron of many colors. It also has a beautiful pond, many water fowl, and a special collection of cacti, orchids, and other exotic flowers and plants.

Baptism, etc.

Angelique Meyer was baptized on May 17th 2008. She became acquainted with the church through a family in the Essen Ward, then began attending. She often visited our outreach center with member friends and she participated in the Möhnesee Tagung. She has a beautiful testimony.



The Vocalis Kammerchor (chamber choir) performed in the Dortmund chapel on Sunday evening May 11th. It consists of young LDS members from throughout Germany as well as bordering countries. It was a wonderful concert and we enjoyed it all the more because several of the members are YSA friends of ours. Matthias Bröcker was one of our stalwart Young Single Adults in Kiel.

The Dortmund District, May 20th 2008.
Three elders and one sister were transferred a few days later.

JAE Conference

Our outreach center sponsored a 4-day Young Single Adult Conference (JAE Tagung) 9-12 May 2008. It was fantastic. We had about 140 participants from every stake in Germany and a few from Switzerland. It was held in a large building close to the Möhnesee, a beautiful wooded lake close to the city of Soest. We had a soccer tournament, boating, 3 dances, a rallye, classes, Sunday services, games, and a great deal of fun. We were able to see one of the German missionaries who served in Dortmund (Elder Frank), several of our friends from Kiel, and Elder Enzio Busche's grandson, Julius Busche.