LDStein?

  Last week was Elaine's highly acclaimed Primary program and the children sang their hearts out for her.  We are so impressed with how good these children are at being reverent and trying their best even after long hours at church.  The generations just keep getting better.  Elaine was pleased to be done with the program as she was starting to have nightmares about it - but all turned out well.

We received this beautiful Thanksgiving Turkey from the Wilson's in the mail this week and it was just in time for Primary Song time today.  The children got to write what they were thankful for on a feather and pick the song they wanted to sing. Thanks Wilsons for sharing what you are thankful for and for blessing us.  We are thankful for you!


Besides our day job, the most fun thing we got to do this week was have some wonderful people over to dinner today.  Sister Ezard on the left is a new senior missionary in the area presidency office.  She is German but speaks perfect English as she lived in England and worked for an American company for years.  A remarkable, faithful, talented Latter-day Saint, like all the senior missionaries here. In the middle are Pamela Lemon and her finance Mimo.  Pamela has been very sick and in the hospital for a couple of months.  We are celebrating her coming out party.  Mimo came to  Germany about 24 years ago from Morocco and is Muslim.  Elaine and I home teach Pamela and we were so glad they were able to come to dinner with us today.      

This week our Saturday outing was to a quaint little German village named  Idstein.  The name seemed a little odd because when written on the signs or as part of store names it looked (at least to me) like "LDStein".  And then what do you know, we found this Angel Moroni weather vane and knew this was fertile ground for sharing our message.

                                                                                                                                                                                         

My mind starting thinking, how could we recreate some of this fun building art work in Midway.  Maybe we could carve up some of the timber posts on the front covered walkway.  Wouldn't that be fun, but are we brave enough?

 The village tour brochure explains that the unique shape of this "crooked house" was caused by a"building deficiency".  And you thought they did it on purpose.  Funny though, it probably raised the tourist value of this street 10 fold.

We could tell the town took great pride in the city.  So old and so well maintained, with beautiful colors and decor.  Can you believe the flowers in the window boxes on November 23?

Well, isn't that a coincidence?  We seem to be wearing the very same clothes we have had on for the past 25 weekend outings in a row.

This is the Witch's Tower which the brochure says (and only says) has nothing to do with the infamous witch trials of the 1700s.  The tower was first built circa 1200.

We were totally taken back by the rich treasure of medieval art on the walls and ceiling of this cathedral which was nondescript white stucco on the outside.

 The end

THE LIMES

We received a nice note and a big package of Dutch waffle cookies this week from Elaine's cousin Jan Steenblik in the Netherlands.  During Joan and Hollis' visit in September, Jan was our gracious host to the Steenblik neighborhoods in the south of the Netherlands.  We had told him we wanted to get some these delicious Dutch delicacies but despite Jan's diligent search, we found all the bakeries closed on the Saturday afternoon we were with him.  He found these since and spent as much in postage as the waffles getting them to us.  Sorry Joan and Hollis, the waffles were absolutely fabulous, but we're sure you'll agree it truly was the thought that counted and what a class act by Jan.

 Janna and Gordon Springer served in the Freiberg Germany Temple about 12 years ago with Hartmut and Brigette Frenkle.  When Janna told Brigette we were serving in Frankfurt, Brigette asked senior missionaries who came to the Temple if they knew the Cravens.  She got our number and invited us to a pleasant dinner and evening at their home this week. Hartmut is counselor in the Frankfurt Mission. They spend every weekend traveling to the branches of the remaining district in the mission in the old East Germany  They search out lost members and inspect missionary apartments on Saturday then speak in church and train members on Sunday before making the long drive home in the evening.

 We were starting to run low on VIP brochures for some of our countries and were contemplating printing new books when we noticed 6 pallets stacked full of the brochures in the distribution warehouse. But the boxes were all mixed up so we could not tell how many boxes were had in each language.  Our BYU intern Casmin, and our new Public Affairs Asst Director's wife Silva came with us to the warehouse to sort out all the boxes and inventory them.  Now we need to get them out of the warehouse and to the countries that need them.

Saturday Elaine and I went to Saalburg, about 30 minutes from Frankfurt to see the restored ruins of the Roman fortress used in about 90-135 AD to control and tax trade between the Germanic tribes in the north and Roman Empire.

 The Romans dug  a trench (The Limes or Limit), bermed the ground behind the trench into a hill, then built a log fence in front and  stretched this barrier 5,000 kilometers from the Atlantic in northern Britannia across Europe to the Black Sea, from there to the Red Sea and then across North Africa to the Atlantic coast, thus marking the limit or border of the Roman Empire.  Vestiges of this border appear across Europe and the sites have been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

 Original foundation stones from 90-135 AD of the buildings constructed near the Limes entry control points.  We visited a museum here that was chock full of Roman artifacts excavated from the area.

Saturday night game night at the Cravens cozy Porthstrasse apartment.  Elaine won both games of Quiddler and Rummikub, but Martin got the Good Sport award.

SAY CHEESE

The Fetzer family at Helmet and Hilda's farm outside Rothenburg.

Reinhard is next to Connie in white and his brother

with wife and children are on the left.  Great family,

feel like cousins, which they are.

Dear diary,

I need to start typing to see if anything comes to mind that seems worthwhile to our adoring public – all 5 of you.  It was quiet week - mostly in front of the computer screen.  Our director was in the office only two days so a good thing we work well without supervision. Elaine started in sorting, selecting and editing the 350 images she took in Switzerland. Next we will copy them onto a DVD, upload selected images to the newsroom library and send some to SLC to be used in updating the VIP country fact sheet for Switzerland. 

We have been working on a couple of newsroom articles about how the British Pageant affected the lives of those connected with it, especially those who came into the Church after seeing the show.  We have some inspiring stories and it’s been a rewarding project to hear many testimonies of how the pageant blessed so many people. Now just need some photos to accompany.

Sister Sirtl believes it would be great to buy video cameras for each of the 26 National Public Affairs Directors in Europe so they can capture newsworthy events for their Country Newsrooms, so I was asked to purchase and demo a GoPro Hero camera this week. After playing with it a bit I don’t think it is quite what makes sense for most Public Affairs applications here, but we are now ready with at least one camera if there is a service project that involves jumping out of airplanes, or similar unusual but spiritually sporty situations.  This week I am going to propose a more conventional camcorder alternative.  

Yesterday we road our bikes one last time, heading downtown to people-watch the shopping crowds and then ride along the river for a while.  We then delivered the bikes to their new owners, the area legal counsel and his wife, who have purchased them from us, and walked home.  It was a sad parting as we had much fun exploring Frankfurt and the country on them this past year.  It turned cold today so the timing was probably just fine. We continue to enjoy our service and companionship but just noticed, if anyone is counting, that we have only nine more weekends in Germany so trying to make the most of our remaining time here.

SCHWEIZERDEUTSCH AND THE ALPS

 Dear friends,
This mission just keeps on getting stranger.  This past weekend we completed an assignment to take pictures in Switzerland of the scenery and of the Swiss members.  These images will go into the media library and be available for the Swiss Country Newsroom webmaster to illustrate webpages and news stories. We traveled 4 hours south to Bern on Friday and attended the temple in the evening on a French session.  The temple is very large and on a large and beautiful piece of ground, as it once served all of continental western and eastern Europe.  It has 4 session rooms and patron housing.  Always fun to be with the Saints in the Temple.  Saturday we got up early and headed south about 45 minutes to the shear, awe inspiring, larger than life, majestic Swiss Alps with their valley chalets complete with manicured fields, bell clanging cows and life-size Fischer Price cog trains that crank up the steep switch-backs to get nature lovers closer to the mountain.  We have decided this is the most beautiful place we have yet to see and feel just a little bad we didn't bring the kids here on their visits last summer.  Guess you will just have to come back.

 We could drive up past Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen where we parked the car and boarded the cog train to take us to the base of the glacier field below the monster mountain legends of the Eiger (ogre) Moench (munk) and Jungfrau (young woman).  Our plan was to follow Rick Steve's recommended mountain top hike over some fairly flat terrain for about an hour, with unspeakable views of the mountain peaks and valleys in every direction, then hike down the mountain to a train station lower down the mountain since the aerial tram at the end of the hike was out of seasonal service.

 I was only a bit nervous as there were no other hikers on our trail.  We had the place to ourselves and had to keep pinching ourselves that this was for  real. (Ok, there was the one other guy who took this picture)

 These are the three mountain legends and this picture does them no justice - just one of those things where you have to be there.  A plaque at the bottom of the Eiger (far left) shows the different first routes taken by climbing teams that successfully scaled the face to the summit.  I studied the face and could not imagine any route being possible.  It looks literally straight up no matter how you approach it.

 This is where it got tricky.  At the end of our hike we had to descend a few thousand feet to catch the cog train back down to our car.  The slippery narrow trail zig-zagged down between these snow fences,( an engineering feat in themselves), so we were comforted that if we fell, a fence would catch us about 50 feet further down.  The mountain was so steep you could walk along and hold on the hill on the uphill side for balance.  Again, we were the only people on the mountain, so I was a bit apprehensive about what it was we didn't know about this trail.

 Only ?  kilometers to go, don't sprain an ankle now.

 Ok, we made it alive.  If you look carefully at the horizontal brown lines drawn on the tops of the mountains, above the trees.  Those are the snow fences we snaked down between for about 2-1/2 hours to get to Wengen and the train back to Lauterbrunnen.  We count this as one of our great adventures and a highlight of our P-day experiences here.

 On Sunday, Elaine took hundreds of pictures in the Winterthur Ward just outside of Zurich.  We were hosted by our Swiss Public Affairs Director, brother Mattias Weidmann.  He and his wife Doris are parents of eight children. The youngest 3 daughters are still at home.  They will be in Utah next summer for a trip as a last outing before the oldest here goes on her mission. They have friends in Midway that live on Winterthur street, so we hope to see them and maybe take them for a ride in the boat.

 We had fun at the Shroeder family home (see below) taking pictures of their family home evening.  Their children were so darling, it made me tear up a bit thinking of and missing my own grandchildren.  Our special FHE treat was a Swiss Sundae with Chestnut paste spaghetti (see above) over ice cream with extra cream on top along with chocolate syrup and a meringue kiss.  What a cute family. The oldest is Emily in the second grade and already learning English.  Most in Switzerland seems to know at least 3-4 languages.  They speak a native  "Swiss German" here too that Elaine had great difficulty deciphering.

  We spent a few hours in downtown Zurich before heading home.  This is one high-end town of luxury and premium products.  The pictures here are of an amazing candy store.  Just like the movies.

 When we saw the fun clothing in the windows down town along the river, we thought Spencer would like this town.  Wild plaids, checks, knickers and bow ties.  Elaine was particularly taken with the leopard skin house slippers in this window.

A FALL WALK

Here's a less-than-flattering photo of the senior missionaries having our after temple dinner at a warehouse that had been converted to a medevial castle/bowling alley.  Elder Craven is way in the back and is chuckling that he alone is aware a picture is about to be snapped.

 Ha, ha.  On Saturday we took our BYU intern couple the Wisners to Rudisheim a quaint little town about 45 minutes from Frankfurt.  This time our GPS took us a different route and we had to board a ferry to cross the Rhein over to the town.  Pretty interesting when out of the blue the GPS chimes in with "turn right and board ferry".

Rich and Nat may remember riding in a gondola up the mountain above Rudeshiem.  We hiked up this hill through the grapevines on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon.

This is statue "Germania was dedicated about 1883 to celebrate creation of the Republic of Germany.  We had a our picnic here with the Wisners as it is at the top of the hill above the vineyards.                               

The Rhein River valley below with Rudesheim off to the left.

A fall walk in the leaves in the forest above Rudisheim.  When the wind blew, we would be pelted with hundreds of acorns and a blizzard of falling leaves.

We (us and the Kagels)  helped Dinis and Sylvie Adriano unpack their moving boxes on their arrival in Frankfurt.  They are from Portugal and Dinis will start work for the Church as Assistant Public Affairs Director Nov 1.

The highlight of our week was helping the missionaries teach Sasan, a religious refugee from Iran caught distributing copies of the Bible to friends.  He loves Jesus so much, loves the Bible - sleeps with it.  He came to church for the first time today then came to our house for dinner with the missionaries. His dad had to pay $10,000 to get a fake passport to get Sasan safely out of Iran.  Sasan is reading the small Persian Book of Mormon - the parts that have been translated.  His English is minimal so communication is hard but he believes Joseph Smith really saw God and Jesus and he feels good when he reads the Book of Mormon.  All the missionaries had investigators at church today and the German ward has a baptism scheduled for next week.

VIENNA

Our most recent assignment took us to Vienna to take pictures of members for use in producing an Austria Country Fact Sheet and for illustrating articles that are posted on the Austrian Country Newsroom website.  These assignments are some of the most rewarding as we get to meet members in their home wards, enjoy dinners with them and go to their homes to take pictures of Family Home Evenings in progress.  We have many more friends this week than last as these members enthusiastically support our efforts and share their lives with us for the short time we are there. 

Elaine does a great job shooting pictures under a fair amount of pressure and under conditions where the lighting is often poor and the ability to compose the picture extremely limited.  She is grateful for the Lightroom software the kids gave us last Christmas and is really developing her picture editing skills.  

Although the real seats are often sold out far in advance, for the cultural part of our assignment we attended the Vienna Opera on Saturday night, paying 3 euros each for stand-up places in the gallery.  The opera was Giuseppe Verde’s “Don Carlo” and it was a treat to enjoy the beautiful vocals and the dressed up Viennese in attendance from our bird’s nest view of the theater. We had little electronic English subtitles at each place, but still had go home afterward and read the synopsis to get the story line straight.

Our local public affairs specialist, Gerda spoiled us with arranging all the details for taking the Sunday photos. 

Elder Kagel celebrates his 70th birthday with us by enjoying a traditional German chocolate mousse cake

Our dear friends Gretel and Swen Swenson have dinner with us before we take them to the airport headed to home.  Dr. Swenson was area medical advisor and gave free home visits to the Senior Missionaries.

Brother David Cunia was our Saturday city guide in Vienna.  He is a charming, warm and kind man and I am ashamed to say.about 5 years my senior. A retired banker, he is locally famous for his Elvis impersonation show.

Need I say more?

Expressive Viennese sculpture 

Atlas on the roof of the Habsburg winter palace

Only 343 identical steps to the top of the St Stephan cathedral tower.  We came out dizzy from coming down too fast.

A fuzzy selfie at the Habsburg summer palace - Schoenbrunn

Palace guard budget cuts

It's good to be king - Hapsburg summer palace Schoenbrunn

The king's hunting grounds - he was a great hunter as nothing but squirrels and pigeons there now.