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Jurgen and Claudia Sauenwald, Dieter and Liona,
Katerin and Max, Armin Frass on end |
Another midweek holiday this week – Christi Himmelfahrt, which,
if you ask the average German, is translated as “yes!.. another day off work!”
Its Christian origin actually celebrates Christ’s ascension to heaven 40 days
after his resurrection. After 2 failed
attempts earlier in our mission, we took the opportunity to visit Elaine’s Buttler
relatives in a little town just outside Hannover 3 ½ hours north of here. We were treated like royalty by Dieter and Liona
Ebeling. Liona’s grandmother was Elaine’s
grandma Bertha Buttler’s sister. We spent the day with them and distant cousin
Armin Frass (Liona’s cousin) and his two children and their partners, Jurgen
and Claudia Sauerwald and Max Frass and his girl friend Katerin. They were so kind to us and treated us to a
wonderful restaurant dinner, then cakes and drinks at home afterward. We had a pleasant time and they were so good
to treat us as true relatives. Martin
says it was also the longest day ever. Elaine
had full responsibility to keep up our side of the conversation and Martin had
to look interested and engaged despite not being able to say anything
much. Luckily the children spoke some
English, so could converse a bit with him.
It did make him wish he had tried harder to learn German. He heard more German in two days than in his whole
life time and was actually starting to pick up some stuff by the time we left. Max Sauerwald, Armin’s grandson, is currently
working at the ranch with John and Barbara Winch and, according to his parents, loving
every minute of it – okay maybe not three-hour church. They showed us photos of him with his horse,
Casper and of him holding a calf. The
Ebelings graciously showed us around Hannover and its gardens and Marienburg
Castle the next day. Liona sets a
beautiful table with fresh flowers from the garden and fresh rolls right from
the bakery.
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| Breakfast at the Ebelings |
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| Beautiful breakfast (eggs under the chickies) |
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| Christi Himmelfahrt lunch with our German family |
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| Hannover gardens |
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| Hannover garden tulips |
We put Rich and Natalie on the train to Paris last Wednesday,
then hopped in the car to fill an assignment this past weekend in Stockholm
Sweden. We made it to Copenhagen Thursday
night. taking the ½ hour longer land route up Denmark to avoid the cost of the
ferry, but found we had to take a toll bridge which was about the cost of the
ferry anyway (sometimes being cheap backfires).
Then we let the Garmin pick the route out of Copenhagen on Friday and it
took us straight north to another ferry instead of across the bridge to Malmo,
the land route. I think a Rick Steve’s Denmark
book may have been worth the price. We
made it to Stockholm Friday night in time for the 6pm endowment session. Elaine and I got to be the witness couple as
there were only 2 others on the session.
We are staying at the temple apartments which are much nicer than our
Frankfurt apartments and have met the couples serving here. Interesting they
are Johnsons and Hansons who served Sweden or Norway missions in their
youth! We felt the spirit of Spence and
Joyce Jenson here. They presided at the
temple back in 2000. Our Sweden PA director’s
daughter was sealed by President Jenson and Sister Jenson is still remembered
for her unusual sense of humor and for being a card cheat. :) We spent Saturday
with Sister Ingrid Nilsson as she trained her stake PA directors and they made
their plans for 2013-14. We shared with the group some of the presentations made at the Brussels seminar in
April. On Sunday we attended church and
Elaine took photos in the meetings for use on Sweden’s newsroom website to
illustrate stories that appear there.
After church Sister Nilsson invited us to her home for a wonderful
dinner. As it was Mother’s Day in Sweden,
3 of her daughters came with their husbands and children to honor their mother
and grandma. It was a beautiful site and
made us long for our own family back home.
