Elder Bednar's Visit and a trip to the Spreewald

Elder Bednar's Visit

    We were blessed to have a visit

by Elder Bednar last weekend.  He

was accompanied by his wife, Susan and Elder Timothy J. Dyches(Europe Area Presidency) and his wife Jill.  We were able to hear them speak on Friday evening to a group of over 300 YSA and then again on Saturday morning at a 3 hour missionary meeting.  It was wonderful to hear and see an apostle of the Lord.  The presentation for both meetings was an informal question and answer forum in which Elder and Sister Bednar both spoke as well as Elder and Sister Dyches.  Their answers, stories and comments were inspired as every question from the audience was turned into a true learning experience.  Some themes that were emphasized were: " We are agents that should act and not objects to be acted upon."  and "Teaching is not talking and telling; teaching is observing and listening so we can discern and then know what to say." We felt very privileged to attend these special meetings.

265 Missionaries of the Germany Berlin Mission

We are barely visible on the right side 6th row back.

Trip to the Spreewald

We took a "P" day on Wednesday and went with the Kosaks and office couples to visit the Spreewald.  This is a biosphere reserve known for its traditional irrigation system which consists of more than 200 small channels and canals.  It is located a little over 60 miles southeast of Berlin near Cottbus which is Sister Kosak's home town.  The weather was absolutely perfect that day as we loaded onto out boat (punt) and began our relaxing 5 hour journey.

Elder and Sister Beesley, Elder and Sister Wright (backs) and President and Sister Kosak 

You can see our "punt" ferryman at the back of the boat.  He was also our guide as he narrated and navigated the canals.

We saw many beautiful meadows and sunlit forests.  These photos show the unique way they stack hay.  History of this area dates back to the 1300's.

 The Spreewald is famous for its "punts, pickles and horseraddish".  Elder Mickelsen is sampling a Spreewald pickle.

 Charming homes and gardens are found along the canals and some of these homes are only accessible by boat.

This shows a close up of the windows of one of the homes with pretty, lace curtains and their own "peeping Tom" at the window.

Many homes in this area have the traditional Sorbian/Wendian snake symbols on their gables.  This tradition dates back 700 years.

The yards, gardens and trees were beautiful and this yard had a display of some of the Autumn bounty.

A look back at one of the areas of homes.  Their Fire Brigade, Postal Service and garbage collection all have their own punts.

We passed many other boats filled with people - this boat shows a lady dressed in the traditional Sorbian/Wendian costume.

We also passed this boat filled with people drinking, singing and one woman was even dancing to the accordion music!

Our group - President and Sister Kosak, Elder and Sister Wright, us and Elder and Sister Beesley.

We stopped for lunch at this restaurant that was housed in a building that was over 100 years old.

Waiting for our food

Our lunches were delicious!  Very traditional German food - Hal had the Schnitzel with mushroom sauce and I had the beef rouladen.  We both enjoyed the pomegranate lemonade that was bottled in the Spreewald.

Back on the boat after lunch we traveled to the 700 year old Spree forest village and museum - Lehde.

Village Lehde

Historical housing in Lehde

Views of the inside of the home

Mannequins wearing Sorbian/Wedian costumes

Beehives ( we had to have a picture of these for Tricia and James - our family bee keepers)

Bright and beautiful fall flowers in a garden

A Sorbian/Wendian wheelbarrow and Elder Mickelsen

 Sister Mickelsen with shutters and sunflowers

The woodpiles were tidy and unique.

Back on the boat, we made our way back to the Hafen (harbor). 

 Some of the lovely views and scenes on our return trip

Our punting tour came to an end - a most beautiful and interesting day!

August ends - September begins

Institute Closing Social - Thursday August 28th

Our last summer in Berlin ended with picnics and parties. The closing social for the summer Institute program was a picnic in the nearby Tiergarten.  The Tiergarten is a large (larger than Central Park in NYC) and beautiful park.  We walked together from the church to an open spot.

We arranged our blankets and picnic food and then before eating, we had a special message from President Berndt (counselor in the Berlin Stake Presidency).

President Berndt is the man in the red sweater.

After Pres. Berndt spoke, we enjoyed a picnic of hot dogs, potato salad, chips and brownies.  It was a pleasant evening together.

Tiergarten Ward Sommerfest - August 30th

Our ward gathered behind our meetinghouse for a goodbye to summer ward party.  Two whole pigs were roasted over coals and everyone brought something to add to the feast.

Here we are with our friend Pon watching the pork roast.

Dina, Patty and Pon

Hungry ward members enjoying the food

After lunch - the games began!

Our bishop in his "candy coat" ready to play the east German game with the primary children.  Candy is sewn to a coat and then the person wearing the coat begins to run as the children try to snatch the candy.

It was fun to watch and hear the children run and squeal when they were successful in catching the "candy man".

There was also giant bubble blowing for the younger children.  They loved to run and try to pop these huge bubbles.

A sturdy rope was tied between two trees for the children to try their skills at "tight rope walking".

The Young Women had a fun game where participants would draw a card which described what they must do to earn a special drink of ginger ale with herbal tea.  People had to do things such as recite the alphabet backwards, sing a hymn, tell a story etc.

Institute Opening Social - Thursday - September 4th

First the YSA gathered for a meeting where the teachers and courses for this school year were introduced and the Institute Director spoke.  

Then they presented some skits and played a game in the outdoor area.  Then it was time to eat!!

We had been expecting Jim and Taffy Davidson (Kelly's parents from Roy, Utah) to stop by to visit us.  They were on a European vacation with their daughter Crystal.  They arrived just as we were in the frenzy of getting everything on serving platters for the 'finger food" buffet.  They pitched right in and helped us to present the food on time!

It was fun to see the Davidsons and hear about their trip.  Friendly faces from home are always very welcome.

Crystal and Taffy at work 

After the food was served and eaten, Taffy did all the dishes - bless her!  We had a little chance to visit as we cleaned up and put everything away.  I wish we could have spent more time with them.

Lined up to eat

This shows our buffet of veggies and dip, fresh fruit, little toasted cheese and chicken salad sandwiches, little meatballs, bratwurst bites, cookies and candies.

Enjoying the food

Eating indoors and outdoors

After the food, it was time for more games for those who wished to stay late.

It was a successful evening and we finally arrived home at about 11:30 PM.

Zone Conference -Friday - September 5th

The next day - bright and early - we began an all day Zone Conference with President and Sister Kosak.

Our Zone

After the meeting, we met our friends - Elder and Sister Harrison who are currently serving a mission in Frankfurt.  Both the Kosaks and us know the Harrisons from our time together serving in Russia. President Kosak was the CES Director for the Europe East Area - which included all of
Russia.  The Harrisons served as Mission President and wife of the Rostov Russia Mission.  We also got to know the Harrisons even better as we served together at the MTC in the branch for Russian speaking missionaries.  They are dear friends and it was so good to see them again! We went to dinner together and talked of our days in Russia and now in Germany.  It was a very pleasant evening.