Stephen and Elaine Biddulph

9 - 15 NOVEMBER 2015

Wishful Thinking! Harley-Davidson at the
Wiebaden Military Base

Winter has pretty much set in. The brilliant fall leaves are gone, leaving the trees once again barren. The skies are dark, overcast, and the temperatures have turned colder. Our precious cemetery has turned to winter. We were walking yesterday there and a fox jumped out from under a bush almost beneath our feet and took off running. It was the first fox we have seen, although we knew they were in there.

Stephen was extremely busy with missionary calls and consultations with mission presidents. Two missionaries needed special assessments done to determine their status and if they should remain in the field. This took quite a bit of time and thought. He does on the average well over 100 consult phone calls per months with missionaries and about 130 phone consults with mission presidents. Last night he was up at 12:30 a.m. and again at 2:30 a.m. with calls. Elaine was kept very busy with helping Stephen, but also other assignments she has in other offices. She has been ultra-busy with music also in the little Offenbach Branch and also with the Area Offices. They routinely ask her to play for weekly devotionals, family home evenings, and senior devotionals. She was asked to conduct the music for the Saturday evening session of stake conference, and is conducting the music for the Tuesday evening meeting with Elder Ballard. He is coming to do do some work in Europe for the Church's response to the refugee problem, but will also give a broadcast speech to all of Europe regarding the use of the ward council. We are looking forward to that. We had a similar thing in Provo a couple of years ago when Stephen was bishop of a YSA ward at BYU with Elder Perry.

Three more couples leave for home this week. The Riggs were in the Area Legal Counsel Office

George Fischer Biddulph (Ryan and Melanie)

. They are headed back to Tennessee after some touring around Italy and the Mediterranean. The Smiths were Infield Representatives (IFR). They return to Orem. They are being replaced by Jim and Dianne Hacking from the Provo MTC. They arrived yesterday and we had them over for supper last night. The Hanks are leaving also. They worked in the Family History area. Not sure where they are from.

The bombings in Paris were quite a tragedy in Europe. It strikes pretty close to home here in Frankfurt. We are responsible to provide mental health support for France Paris and France Lyon Missions. All missionaries seem to be safe. Of course, they wouldn't have been at the various venues where the bombings and shootings took place. This offers a pretty grim potential for further such acts of terror throughout Europe. We surely hope and pray that the huge refugee influx from Syria that has been occurring this summer isn't a Trojan horse for ISIS terrorism.

Gemeinde Essen Offenbach Branch

We have recently had a wonderful little great granddaughter born to Bronwen (Blake and Serena) and Josh Finnicum named Cora Mae, and another wonderful little grandson (Ryan and Melanie) named George Fisher Biddulph. We are glad that they are born into good, worthy families where the parents are living the gospel and love the Savior. We have missed baptisms, births, blessings, and such, but we feel we are doing what the Lord has planned for us to do. We were promised the material blessings of life, not only for the pleasing of the eye, but more importantly for the spreading of truth at home and abroad. We feel a need to serve in this manner as long as health allows. Stephen turns 70 on 21 November and Elaine is...well, let's just say she's somewhere over 39!!!