What an incredible experience this was! This is a castle/fortress, originally built by the Romans in this far north realm of their empire, destroyed several times, rebuilt and added to and fortified through several centuries, until the Swedes overran it in 1633. It lay in utter and complete ruin until 1901, when Wilhelm II decided to restore it to its former grandeur and thus cement his ties with the Alsacien region.
The tallest tower is the castle donjon, or keep, where the royal family lived. At one end are two great round towers, with a wall between: these are the grand bastions, where the soldiers lived and kept watch and fought off intruders betimes. At the opposite end the walls come together in a star-shaped area which was a small game preserve. Inside the walls was enough room for an entire village, complete with shops, wells, storage rooms, sheds, gardens, courtyards, a forge and even a windmill! These were protected by intricate layers of defense, including grates, iron-clad solid hardwood doors, drawbridges with moats, a fully stocked armory, trap doors in every room; the list goes on and on.
It truly reminded me of the Nephite cities that Moroni fortified. And as I looked at walls that were 6-8 feet thick and 20 feet high, I thought, "We are building the fortifications that will protect the people we love and care about the most in this world. Each family prayer, scripture study, or FHE is another brick or block of stone in the castle walls. Each loving act or word of kindness is the mortar that holds the stones together."
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Couples' Sortie
What a marvelous time we had with the other couples of the mission! We all gathered in Alsace for 2 days of sharing experiences and ideas with one another. We stayed in the most charming little village, Kaysersberg, which was the birthplace of Albert Schweitzer. Not to be disappointed, we saw our first stork's nest atop some of the roofs there. The village was surrounded by vineyards and had a small river than ran through the middle of town. There was also a watchtower and ruins of a medieval wall that used to enclose the village in the 13th century. We climbed the 315 stairs to the top of the tower early one morning.
We ate at a quaint little sidewalk cafe in Kaysersberg. I couldn't get Elder Dooley to try the choucrout (sauerkraut with sausage and ham), but we had some wonderful quiche with salmon and asparagus. We also ate some wonderful Black Forest cake and apple strudel at a restaurant (gourmand) in Riqueswihr.
One of our Elders had served in Alsace, and he insisted that we needed to visit Monkey Mountain (Montagne des Singes). We were rather dubious about the value of this side trip, but I'm really glad we went. It consists of a mountainside that has been dedicated to the recovery of Barbary Apes. Over 600 apes have been returned to their homeland in northern Africa to date. We were even given a handful of popcorn to feed to the monkeys, who delicately picked it from our hands. We even got to see one of the new babies, born in April! They are born with black fur, which lightens as they grow. The baby was climbing all the tiny tree stumps, but one time some of the older children got rough-housing too close to the baby and the mother swooped through, clutching her baby and shrieking at the other monkeys. She carried the baby to a safer location, away from the other monkeys, but then another mother pulled the two other (kid) monkeys aside and scolded them and cuffed them for playing too close to the baby!
We saw the ultimate Christmas shop in Riqueswihr! It was interdit (forbidden) to take photos in the shop, which was a shame, because it was the Ultimate European Christmas shop! I can't even do justice to try to describe all they had. Everything from nutcrackers to handblown glass ornaments to hand-crafted creches. Of course, it was rather pricey, too, but SO much fun to walk through and look at everything. I bought a couple of small doilies of Alsatian lace.
We ate at a quaint little sidewalk cafe in Kaysersberg. I couldn't get Elder Dooley to try the choucrout (sauerkraut with sausage and ham), but we had some wonderful quiche with salmon and asparagus. We also ate some wonderful Black Forest cake and apple strudel at a restaurant (gourmand) in Riqueswihr.
One of our Elders had served in Alsace, and he insisted that we needed to visit Monkey Mountain (Montagne des Singes). We were rather dubious about the value of this side trip, but I'm really glad we went. It consists of a mountainside that has been dedicated to the recovery of Barbary Apes. Over 600 apes have been returned to their homeland in northern Africa to date. We were even given a handful of popcorn to feed to the monkeys, who delicately picked it from our hands. We even got to see one of the new babies, born in April! They are born with black fur, which lightens as they grow. The baby was climbing all the tiny tree stumps, but one time some of the older children got rough-housing too close to the baby and the mother swooped through, clutching her baby and shrieking at the other monkeys. She carried the baby to a safer location, away from the other monkeys, but then another mother pulled the two other (kid) monkeys aside and scolded them and cuffed them for playing too close to the baby!
We saw the ultimate Christmas shop in Riqueswihr! It was interdit (forbidden) to take photos in the shop, which was a shame, because it was the Ultimate European Christmas shop! I can't even do justice to try to describe all they had. Everything from nutcrackers to handblown glass ornaments to hand-crafted creches. Of course, it was rather pricey, too, but SO much fun to walk through and look at everything. I bought a couple of small doilies of Alsatian lace.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
1st Impressions
Walter and Christiane Clavien met us at the airport when we arrived in Switzerland. It was SO incredible to see them in their homeland! That evening, President and Soeur Murdock took us and the Todds out to dinner at a humble, but very delicious, restaurant on the French side of the border. The next day we ran errands, got instructions from the mission office and then spent a wonderful evening with the Claviens in their lovely home. We felt like we had died and gone to Heaven!
Soon after arriving in Lyon, Elder Dooley was able to call the Reynaud family. We were so excited to see and visit them. Frere Reynaud reminds me so much of Brother Gneiting, or Brother Berezay! Very entertaining, and always has a good story (or 3 or 4!) to tell. We were also able to go to Valence one Sunday and visit with them and their children. They live in a 95-year old home in the country that is so adorable! Almost the entire lawn is covered with naturalized daffodils, violets, tulips, crocus, etc.!
Lake Geneva is unique! It is so beautiful, with Mont Blanc in the background and the "jet d'eau" near the city center. We saw some ducks basking in the sun on the docks.
Soon after arriving in Lyon, Elder Dooley was able to call the Reynaud family. We were so excited to see and visit them. Frere Reynaud reminds me so much of Brother Gneiting, or Brother Berezay! Very entertaining, and always has a good story (or 3 or 4!) to tell. We were also able to go to Valence one Sunday and visit with them and their children. They live in a 95-year old home in the country that is so adorable! Almost the entire lawn is covered with naturalized daffodils, violets, tulips, crocus, etc.!
Lake Geneva is unique! It is so beautiful, with Mont Blanc in the background and the "jet d'eau" near the city center. We saw some ducks basking in the sun on the docks.
Christmas Season at the MTC
Few things in life are more fun that the month of December at the MTC. The excitement of the young missionaries infects us all. We spend all day learn how to approach people and testify of Christ, then spend the evenings learning how to testify in our language. There is a large tree, all decorated in the front hall by the information desk and Christmas lights are strung along the sidewalk between buildings. No Santa Claus, reindeer or elves, but LOTS of pictures of Christ. I'm thinking this is the way Christmas should be!
Elder Kowallis is our district leader. He and his wife are called to work in the national archives in Washington D.C. and help the missionaries with proselyting in their spare time. Elder and Sister Michal are called to serve a humanitarian mission in Vietnam; primarily bringing clean water to the villagers and serving in the branch in Hanoi. Frederic Fournier (de Paris) is our French tutor, although we ran into Frere Betteridge (our infamous Mr. Ming!) one day also. We are being taught the 8 new lessons for Preach My Gospel (en anglais) all day, then go to French lessons in the evening. We have done TRC contacts/lessons 2 of the 5 days and have practiced teaching every day.
Elder and Soistra Tarasevich sleep right across the hall from us. They are going to the same mission where the Hardings are serving! We love them! Every couple has such interesting experiences and backgrounds to share. Friday night we had a testimony meeting with all the missionary couples who are learning a foreign language. Some of the Spanish speaking couples spoke very well, but most of the testimonies were short and simple. Russion, Polish, Vietnamese, Chinese, French, Tagalog were some of the languages spoken. We love our MTC group, though we are all going to such different places!
Elder Kowallis is our district leader. He and his wife are called to work in the national archives in Washington D.C. and help the missionaries with proselyting in their spare time. Elder and Sister Michal are called to serve a humanitarian mission in Vietnam; primarily bringing clean water to the villagers and serving in the branch in Hanoi. Frederic Fournier (de Paris) is our French tutor, although we ran into Frere Betteridge (our infamous Mr. Ming!) one day also. We are being taught the 8 new lessons for Preach My Gospel (en anglais) all day, then go to French lessons in the evening. We have done TRC contacts/lessons 2 of the 5 days and have practiced teaching every day.
Elder and Soistra Tarasevich sleep right across the hall from us. They are going to the same mission where the Hardings are serving! We love them! Every couple has such interesting experiences and backgrounds to share. Friday night we had a testimony meeting with all the missionary couples who are learning a foreign language. Some of the Spanish speaking couples spoke very well, but most of the testimonies were short and simple. Russion, Polish, Vietnamese, Chinese, French, Tagalog were some of the languages spoken. We love our MTC group, though we are all going to such different places!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Senior MTC
What an amazing experience at the Provo MTC, where we had a rather large group of Senior Couples, but ate meals with the young missionaries and caught their enthusiasm for the work of the Lord. Most of us were feeling like maybe we were in over our heads, but their were a few couples who were serving for the 2nd or 3rd (or 6th!) time. Many of our couples were going to the Washington, D.C. temple mission, but we had couples covering the earth, from Moscow (medical) to Hawaii (temple) to Vietnam (humanitarian) to Tuba City (family services). It was a very humbling experience and I don't know how the young elders keep up with the schedule. I fell into bed every night, exhausted, only to awaken to the sound of missionaries cleaning the hallways!
One funny incident happened the very first night. Just as we were ready to get into bed, we heard something on the intercom. Since it is in the hallway, Elder Dooley opened the door to better hear what they were saying. They were calling him to come to the front desk! So we quickly re-dressed and headed across to the main building. Guess what?! They had called Elder Darin Dooley to the front desk also! Apparently, we got to the MTC with Sherry's temple bag, but Mark left his shaver at her house. When Darin came over to eat dinner with us, he left his scriptures sitting at his table! I commiserated a bit with Darin's companion about having absent-minded companions and we each headed home to bed.
One funny incident happened the very first night. Just as we were ready to get into bed, we heard something on the intercom. Since it is in the hallway, Elder Dooley opened the door to better hear what they were saying. They were calling him to come to the front desk! So we quickly re-dressed and headed across to the main building. Guess what?! They had called Elder Darin Dooley to the front desk also! Apparently, we got to the MTC with Sherry's temple bag, but Mark left his shaver at her house. When Darin came over to eat dinner with us, he left his scriptures sitting at his table! I commiserated a bit with Darin's companion about having absent-minded companions and we each headed home to bed.
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