The Big Surpr[se

Last night as we were sitting in the foyer of the church waiting for the YSA's to finnish their soccer game so we could lock up the building and go home, Bob and Bobby walked in!  I was so surprised.  Dan knew they were coming, but they wanted to surprise me.  It is so good to see them and get hugs from Bobby.  I like surprises like this!

Today, we went to the Berlin Zoo.  It is just down the street from us.  The weather was perfect, not too warm, partly cloudy, with a little breeze.  It is really a great zoo.  We walked all around it looking at the many animals there Bobby said his favorite was the Vampire Bats.  I couldn't take a picture because they were located in a dark cave.  We saw lions, tigers, bears, zebras, giraffes, monkeys, and lots of birds.  we had a fun time at the zoo.

A Day at Sanssouci Park

Monday, we went to Sanssouci Park, located in Potsdam.  It is a ensemble of palaces and gardens.  Beginning in 1744, Frederick the Great laid out the Baroque gardens featuring the Lustgarten(Pleasure Garden), and the sentimental Rejgarten (Deer Garden).  The park was expanded in the early 19th century under Fredrick William III and Fredrick William IV with the addition of Charlottenhof Palace and the Hopfengarten(Hop Garden).  The Ruinenburg (Mount of Ruins) and the area north of Maulbeeallee were designed as landscape gardens.  In 1906, a section of the park created for Emperor William II, called Potentestuke was added.  The park includes 4 palaces, many gardens, fountains, and lakes.  The major palaces include Oranierrondell, Schloss Charlottenhof,  and Neues Palais.  There are also various balconies, and bridges throughout the park.  We spent 2 1/2 hours with 12 of the missionaries from our zone wandering about the grounds.  We returned to Berlin via train (40 minute ride).  It was a lovely day.

Eisenhuttenstadt is now 1-1

Some of you may recall our December snow, rain, cold, dark trip to sing with the other Missionaries Christmas Carols to people in the city.  The few people we saw were nice but the town was not so nice.  Old and boxy, most of the apartments were very Cold War looking.  The downtown area was drab and plain.  Well, last week we went back when the sun was out and it was warm.  The ride there was beautiful and it was nice to get out of the big city.  The apartments were still big and ugly but the town was kind of cute.  What a difference a little sun and green makes.  Even the people seemed nicer.  We were there for a concert.  For reasons unknown, the BYU wind orchestra was playing a concert as part  of a 21 day European tour.  They were great!  And they were fun!  The town had a well designed little concert hall.  The place was pretty full and the crowd loved the show.  We clapped 2 encores out of the conductor.  I couldn't resist, as the crowd settled down when the show ended for good.  I yelled "Go Cougars".  They honored their school.  The drive home was even nicer than the drive there as the sun settled over the green beautiful German country side.
Dan in Berlin

Bob came to visit

This past weekend, Bob popped over from England to visit.  He was in England for business and had the weekend free.  We sure enjoyed having him here.  He arrived at 1030 Saturday morning.  We unpacked the goodies he brought and then went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.  From there we started sight seeing.  We walked him all over down town, in and out of stores, up and down streets.  We tried to show him things that were different from home.  He couldn't believe the prices in Ka Da We for the "American" foods.  When we had walked enough, we headed back to our apartment to visit.  we were all pretty tired.
Sunday, we went to church, came home and Bar B Q'd porkchops after having the traditional onion soup dip and chips, and then headed out to sight see some more.  Today we walked through Tiergarten Park (yes the ugly naked guys were out), down to Brandenburg Gate, to the Holocast Memorial, then over to Potsdamer Platz, to see the Sony Center, down to the Topography of  Terror, along the section of the Berlin Wall that remains standing, back to Potsdamer Platz.  by this time, my feet were tired and we decided to take a bus back to the apartment.  We rested for 1 hour then went for another walk at dusk through the park.  It is very beautiful and green now.  Back to the apartment, had cake and then palyed yatsee.  I was winning until the last game when Bob got 2 yatzees in the same game and beat me.  We had a good time.

Monday came and Bob left at 1000.  We got him a taxi, had a big hug, and waved him goodbye.  It seemed like a fast moving dream.  We sure enoyed having him here and showing him around. 

Newman Would Be Proud

We fought a battle with Deutsche Post.  We won. I think.  Emily sent us a package.  We didn't receive it.  The package went back to her in Seattle torn and tattered after two trips across the Atlantic.  Seems the mail carrier wouldn't leave the package because our name isn't on the klingeln (bell at our gate).  All other packages came to us fine or were sent to the post where we picked them up.  Not this time.  Emily sent a smaller package.  We got a Deutsche Post card telling the us the package was at the post and to pick it up.  We rode our bikes to  the post at Wittenberg Platz.  No package.  We were told it was at Potsdamer Platz.  We rode there.  No package.  We were told it was at the Pack Station on Luckenwalslerdtr.  We rode there.  It was 1200pm.  They open at 1:30 pm.  We rode back to the church to start cooking for institute.  At 1:30 pm , I rode back to the Pack Station.  No package.  The postman told me it was in the automated Pack Station outside the parking lot.   He helped me get the package.  I WAS HAPPY.  I walked to my bike which I had locked and reached into my pocket.  No key.  I had left y keys with Debbie at the church so she could unlock some doors.  I WAS NO LONGER HAPPY.  The church was 5 kilometers away.  I left my bike and started walking.  Near by I walked by a small hotel with several bikes parked out front.  They were for rent!!!  I went into the hotel.  I asked if I could rent a bike for 1 hour.  Nope!  It had to be for all day.  12 Euro.  I rented the bike, rode back to the church, gave Deb the package, got my keys, rode back to the hotel and gave them their bike back, walked to the Pack Station to my bike.  I unlocked my bike, rode back to the church.  Did I mention it was a small package?  (Emily, the dress is cute).  All in ll, we spent 4 hours searching  for our little package.  but we got our Package!!!  Newman would be so proud of Deutsche Post.  (Seinfeld reference).
Elder Johnson in Germany

A Day/Week in Germany

We haven't had time to go sight seeing of late, and nothing out of the ordinary has occurred, so I thought I would give you some insights to day to day life in Germany.  Our weeks are pretty routine.  we get up in the morning, exercise, study, and get dressed to go out by 10:00am.

  Mondays we have a meeting in the morning and FHE in the evening.  We usually ride our bikes to the store to get any last minute things for FHE.  We  have between 10 and 15 YSA's coming to FHE.  It makes for a cozy evening.

Tuesdays would normally be our "P" Day.  We usually end up making a list of groceries needed for Thursday, get on our bikes and off to the grocery store we go. The stores here are small and each store carries different things.  The store with the better prices, Lidl's, doesn't have all the things I need, and the store with the better selection, Kaiser's, is more expensive, but the workers in the store are much friendlier.  We usually end up going to both and making several trips.  We lode up the bike baskets as full as we can and ride slowly to the church to deposit stuff for the week.  There is not much storage at the church or our apartment, so you can't buy a lot of stuff ahead of time.  Some weeks are easier than others depending on what I am cooking.

Wednesdays, we have a meeting with the other missionaries in our district in the morning, go home and study awhile and go back to teach English classes in the evening. 

Thursday is our busiest day.  We make last minute trips to the store in the morning (rain or shine), and then go to the church to start preparing for the evening meal.  I generally cook dessert in the morning and Dan, my sou chef, chops everything I will need for making dinner so that when I come back to the church to cook, it doesn't take quite as long.  I have made more bread rolls here in the last 6 months then I have made in the last 10 years at home.   We usually serve 50 people for dinner and of late there has been no leftovers. Then it is clean up and hopefully home by 10:30 pm.  We usually fall into bed and to sleep right away. 

Fridays, we don't always have YSA activities.  On the Fridays we are free, we have the 4 missionaries to dinner in the evening.  Fridays are spent shopping for us, doing laundry(which takes 1 3/4 hours per wash load and 2 hours for dryer loads), so it takes all day.  Sometimes we will also clean our apartment, it depends on how tired we are.  Thursdays wear us out. 

Saturdays are quiet unless we have an activity.  Sometimes we make the trek to the Metro Store(Cost Co for Germans).  We go by bus and Sban( train).  It will take us 3 hours to complete a shopping trip to Metro.  Sometimes there is building clean up, or a relief society activity.  Each week is different.  This week is a Metro week.

Sundays, we have church meetings, the occasional lunch invite, and occasional misc meetings.  We try to take a walk in Tiergarten Park for a couple of hours, weather permitting. 

Sometime during the week, we try to find a couple of hours to do home visits.  We take a map, get on our bikes and hope we don't get lost.  We try to study German and do scripture study every day.  While things are different here, it feels like home for now and there is comfort in routine. 

Today while walking in the park, we discovered a houseboat community on the canal.  While we didn't see anyone on the houseboats, there were signs that people were indeed living there. 

Does anyone know what type of flowers these are?  I have never seen them before.  Also, congratulations to Bobby Johnson on his baptism Saturday, April 14, 2012.   Wish we could have been there.

Miracles Do Happen

This week is a holiday week for German's.  Most of the young people are out of school for Spring Break.  A lot of our YSA's are traveling.  We had only 6 young adults at FHE on Montag night.  Bro. Gruse asked us to fix a extra nice dinner for Institute on Donnerstag.  We talked about how so many YSA's were gone and he thought if we fixed dinner for 30ish, we would have plenty.  We set up tables for 36.  We decorated the tables with flowers and balloons.  It looked very nice.  We planned turkey breast, "funeral potatoes", green bean casserole, rolls, and strawberry cheesecake bars for dessert.   We were almost ready when YSA's started coming in.  They kept coming and coming.  (Which is good, right?)  Suddenly, they were setting up more tables and chairs, getting more dishes and moving every thing around to make room.  In the mean time, the oven had gone off, (I forgot to push the button to keep it on, it has to be pushed every couple of hours) so the food wasn't cooking.  I started to panic.  I got the oven going and food was again cooking, but what were we going to do about the extra people.  Instead of the 35 I had prepared for, we now had 50!  I told Dan to slice the meat real thin and to pray.  I stood in the kitchen wanting to go home and cry, but couldn't.  So I did something better.  I prayed to Heavenly Father.  I asked him to think of this like the 2 fished and 7 loaves of bread and to please not let anyone go without food tonight.  We started to serve (small portions) and suddenly every one was easting and there was plenty of food left.  We announced for anyone that wanted to, they could come back for seconds, which a lot of kids did, and still we had some potatoes and beans left.  I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that hears and answers prayers.  I know we did not have enough food for that many people, yet everyone ate and had enough.  It turned out to be a lovely evening.

There are signs of Fruhling (spring) everywhere.  As we walk to church, or through the part, everything is turning green and flowers are popping up.  I just wish the sun would stay longer and be a little warmer.