GREATFUL HEARTS

We are thankful for the wonderful days of November 2009.

We were able to attend a Senior Couple Conference the first part of November in Munich, Germany. We gave a presentation in the training part of the program, but then after we just relaxed and enjoyed visiting with the other couples. Oh, how we love them and their sweet example of dedication and service.

On our way home from the conference we stopped in Kufstein. We had said many times -- "some day" we will stop and tour the fortress. As we were whizzing down the autobahn, we decided that "some day" was today. And what a wonderful experience. The weather was warm and we walked for hours up and down narrow stairs, down tunnels, into prison rooms, etc. The fortress is a very, very old large structure on top of a hill. (Everything here is on top of a hill!!!) You can take a cable car to the top, but we opted to walk up and enjoy every minute of our adventure.

As an "official" young adult center now, we are busily engaged in the organization. We are cooking full meals every Thursdays and mini meals on Monday night. It was really scary the night we had to cook for Stake visitors. Elder Meservy is quite involved with the Stake in getting furniture and computer equipment ordered for our center. It is coming along nicely.

Elder Meservy loves being with the young adults -- and they love him. He is always right in the middle of a hockey game. These kids are fast and good -- but he can certainly hold his own. Every time they start a game they yell -- "Elder Meservy -- we need you!" He also enjoys ping pong games. AND, he and a young missionary who wrestled in high school last year did a wrestling thing -- and Elder Meservy received the winning points.

He is just a kid at heart.

We sent a young gal off on a mission last Friday. She will be a great missionary and did a lot of joint-teaching with the young Elders. She has personally brought many people into the church and is a very motivated missionary.

Here are some of our kids acting "goofy." Diana is in front wearing an orange hat. These kids may be young -- but they are all spiritual giants.

On Thanksgiving we decided to prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner for the young adults. It was actually quite fun. Jerry did the turkey that we had bought in Garmisch at the military base and some Stove Top dressing. I made sour cream potatoes (that they just love), green salad and sunshine carrots. I also made delicious pumpkin pie squares with whip cream. It is an easy recipe using a yellow cake mix. Again we had to buy the pumpkin and cake mix in Garmisch -- something they just don't have here. We fed about 15.

I told them that we had a tradition at home of going around the table and saying something we are thankful for, but you cannot say the same thing that someone else has said. They enjoyed it, it was fun and reminded us of home.

The young adults are so fun to feed. As they go through the food line -- they look and point and say, "What is this?" They are rather skeptical about American food. I usually say that "It's a surprise" or "It's a secret!" But they love it and always eat everything we have prepared.

We have probably gone on our last long hike in the mountains. Last week we called it our "Melancholy Trail" because we will sorely miss the hikes. The wind is whipping up outside now and snow is predicted in the next few days.

In some places the trail is against the mountain, and the other side is quite a steep drop off (as you can see in the above picture.) And in some places it is quite a steep climb up.

We had a wonderful baptism today -- Mark Ibe. He had prayed for a long time to find the truth and just by chance he met the missionaries on the street. (Of course, we know that it wasn't by chance -- he was directed by the Lord.) On the baptism program was one of our young adults who is in our English class. He gave his talk in English because Mark only speaks English. He did a really good job and asked me after if his English was okay. I told him that it was "super."

We are busy and happy with our work here. Last night after a long day of visiting, we dashed home quite late and started making brownies for the baptism. I also had to put the finishing touches on our Sunday lesson and complete our weekly visit report. Just as we were putting the brownies in the oven the young missionaries called and asked us if we could do a late joint-teach. As soon as the brownies came out of the oven we put our missionary clothes back on -- and off we went again.

Every day is full to the brim -- or you might say "our cup runneth over." (Yes, our cup runneth over with blessings.)

We are so grateful at this Thanksgiving time as we continually see the Lord's hand in our life.

Memories

The days come, the days go -- and what wonderful never-to-be-forgotten memories.

As we go for our morning walk, the meadows are changing. The cows, goats and sheep are gone along with the high stalks of corn, and the autumn leaves are appearing. There certainly is "Beauty all Around."

For a while we had 8 or 9 cows in our backyard. We loved the sound of the cow bells, even when they woke us up at night.

We are experiencing a nice Indian Summer and have seen a few sites close to home. We visited a wonderful museum in downtown Old Innstruck -- I could have stayed there for hours because there was so much history and things to see.

And we took the cable car to the top of the mountain, Hafelekar, and then hiked to the peak. Jerry -- sitting "on top of the world."

On the top of the mountain we could see all the way to Italy. The view was spectacular. It is much cooler at the top. The cable car was really fun. We had to disembark twice to catch another car going up. On the way back we stopped and hiked around for a while -- oh, it was so beautiful. On one part of the hike, I didn't think I was going to make it -- it was so steep and my feet were sliding. I was afraid to move ! ! ! Jerry tried to help, but I was afraid I would pull him down the hill too. Needless to say -- because I am typing this -- we made it. The rest of the hike was wonderful and we found another trail back down -- avoiding the steep part.

Our "One Year in the Missionfield Picture"

Because of the mountains, we very seldom experience a sunset or sunrise. On our way to Salzburg, very early in the morning on my birthday -- this is the sunrise that greeted us. Before long the whole sky was orange and pink -- oh, the beauty of ths earth.Our youth greeted us at the end of the day with a Birthday surprise and a cake. The girl standing next to Rosalyn holding the cake recently received her mission call to Homburg, Germany. She will enter the MTC in Provo on Jerry's birthday -- December 15th. What a wonderful blessing it has been for us to have our lives intertwined with these wonderful, faithful youth. We love our visiting. This is Christine Clingraber. She is inactive, but a very dear friend. She knitted Jerry and me some sox -- and we love 'em. In Austria everyone takes off their shoes before entering someone's home. So some warm sox are nice to use, expecially in the winter time. (This is a great tradition -- and sure keeps the house clean!)

A few days ago we were in Munich for a Mission Tour and were taught by members of the Seventy. Elder and Sister Carmago of the Third Quorum of Seventy spoke to us in the morning session and Elder Teixeira from the First Quorum of Seventy spoke to us in the afternoon. They are all originally from Brazil but have lived here for many years. The Mission President asked if they could speak to us in German. They said they spoke Portuguese, Spanish or English. He opted for the English -- YEA! What powerful testimonies and conversion stories.

And to finish the week, we had a baptism last night -- Peter Kojat. He was so excited and so ready for this day. After we had a wonderful buffet dinner prepared by a member of our branch. Our tummies were fed -- and we were spiritually fed. Peter thanked us for our class that we teach on Sunday. He said every time he had a question or was wondering about something -- he received an answer in our class. After the baptism we had a late appointment with an investigator and the young Elders. He had also come to the baptism and felt the spirit there. We had never been to his apartment before. It was very clean, however, sparse of furniture. I sat in the only chair, Elder Beckstead sat on the floor and the others on the bed. He speaks English, is very receptive to the lessons and has recently stopped smoking, drinking alchol and coffee.

The Lord is blessing us in this work. One of our greatest blessings is our family and we are so grateful for their support. What a joy it is to serve. As we listened to a church CD while traveling with the young Elders, I remember the words of a song that went something like this . . . .

Don't you know -- Can't you see -- I'm not who I used to be.

Don't you know -- Can't you see -- what His love has made of me?

As we accept His love into our hearts and our lives, we will never be the same.