23 - 29 NOVEMBER 2015
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| Thanksgiving Dinner Senior Missionaries |
Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and the Europe Area offices were open and people were working. Nevertheless, the missionaries from USA organized themselves and pulled off a very nice Thanksgiving dinner and gathering. Senior and junior missionaries alike, along with a few USA expatriate employees of the church all assembled in the cultural hall of the Frankfurt stake center next door to the area offices and had our dinner. Elaine was part of the committee. She put together the program, which included finding someone to emcee the program, music, special music number, and four missionaries sharing remembrances of special Thanksgiving traditions in their families. It all turned out nice. The dinner was great. They bought turkeys from the military commissary and we had all the trimmings. I think everyone had a very nice time and it made Thanksgiving really nice.
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| Elder Biddulph and Garrard |
I met again Elder Garrard who is a senior missionary here with his wife. We hadn't seen each other since we were in the Language Training Mission at Provo (Amanda Knight House) when we first started our German language training in November 1964. He went to Frankfurt and I went to Berlin. It was nice to see him and catch up on our lives the last 50 + years.
Later in the evening we spoke with our children who were meeting at our home in Provo, Utah for Thanksgiving celebration. Greg was with his family in West Valley, and we spoke with him by phone. Blake also gave us a surprise call to wish us happy Thanksgiving. We appreciated that also. Then, we Skyped (Facetime) with the others. Jeff's family came to Provo the day before and Jeff was supposed to drive down Thanksgiving morning, but a heavy snowstorm turned the roads icy and he
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| Friedericksdorf Stake Center |
couldn't make it. Everyone else except Jake (on mission in Jamaica) and Brooke in Texas was there. It was fun to see and speak with them again, and get caught up with our grandchildren's activities.
The mission president in Lisbon, Portugal has been having me work on the telephone with a young missionary from Wyoming who came into the field with serious doubts about the gospel and not much of a testimony. He wanted to return home, but his parents talked him into trying it one more time. I started talking with him and we have had 3 hour-long talks about the gospel and gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon, the Church in general, and even the Savior. They have
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| Elaine & Dianne Hacking Bad Homburg |
been productive sessions and the missionary seems to be turning a corner towards exercising more faith and feeling more comfortable with remaining. I find joy in helping missionaries who are struggling this way or with depression, anxiety, stress, or other psychological issues. It must be one of the gifts of the Spirit that I have been given, for which I am humbly grateful.
Saturday it snowed in the morning, but by early afternoon it turned off nice. So, Elaine and I took the Hackings (Jim and Dianne) over to Friedericksdorf see the temple site under construction. The new stake center is a large building and will be very attractive. The temple is also under renovation. We walked around the site, then, drove over to Bad Homburg (about 7 km away) and visited the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). An entire street was blocked off from car traffic and people were milling about shopping for Christmas. All the stores were decorated and decked out for the customers. Afterward, we drove back to Friedericksdorf and had supper at the Stadt Berliner Restaurant, then came on home to Frankfurt by 6:45 p.m. We enjoy the Hackings. They are new (IFR). He was in MTC presidency at Provo, a district president there, and good friends with Elaine. They are our kind of folks. Comfortable to be with.
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