Here a castle, there a castle, everywhere a castle

Well we are on the castle junket once again.  Seriously, I cannot believe how many hundreds of castles there are in Germany--all kinds and in all types of settings.  Just when I have said we have found our favorite we visit a new one.  Last Saturday the missionary couples all tripped off to Burg Eltz.  This was only an hour and half from Frankfurt and is located down in a valley instead of atop a hill.
It is about 850 years old and has remained in the family for all those centuries.  One of the decendent's family still lives there.  The tour through the castle was just as amazing as the outside.  The rooms and furnishings are so well preserved and they had 20 original gravity flush toilets through a rain drain if you can imagine.

There were all kinds of hiking trails around the castle encircled by the Eltz river and the weather was sunny and perfect.  What a lovely day it was including a yummy German lunch of schnitzel, bratwrust and apple struddle at the outdoor cafe.  Now that's what I call a P-DAY !!

Just for a little more castle overload---a few weeks back we went to another village just a short way out of the city with a castle where we were allowed to climb up the watchtower about 6 stories.  What a view of the beautiful farmland.

I think Allan has missed his calling--he can't resist the drama of a torture table, stock or armour.  What a delightful and enriching adventure we are having.

Lots to Catch Up

Well we have had every blogger, senior missionary, grandma, grandpa, mom, etc. WORST nightmare----the internet down for two weeks.  Man does that make you feel detached from the world or what.  Luckily we could check emails at our office but obviously NO BLOGGING for some time.  So where do I begin??

Two weeks ago our dear friends Matt and Brenna Cox arrived for their 6 week internship with the legal dept here.  What are the chances of that being in our very office building.  They are so cute and bring such a great spirit of "home" so we loved picking them up and helping them get settled and having some time to hang out.  We have only been able to show them some of the downtown sights but hope we can do much more.

A couple of weeks ago we hosted a training conference here for our Area Advisors and our Area Seventy and the Area Presidency.  We had to set up the brunch and cater lunch and take care of all the other arrangements as well as present at the meeting.  Needless to say it was a bit stressful but all seemed to go well and everyone seemed happy with the conference.  We have such incredible leaders here and we learn so much from them and marvel at their testimony and committment to strengthening the church in Europe.

Elder and Sister Teixeira of the Area Presidency

This cute little German couple have worked as Advisors with the Centers for Young Adults for 2 years.  They were released --this being their 6th mission.  They invited us to their home for lunch and had such interesting stories to share of their life in the church the past 50 years.  It was truly a humbling experience to spend the afternoon with this devoted couple.

We just returned from a training trip to Athens, Greece and the Island of Cyprus.  It was an interesting and insightful trip.  We went to Athens and spoke at the mission zone conference the first day, had time for some sightseeing at the Acropolis and helped with the activity at the Center in the evening.  The Center is on the 3rd floor of the church building which overlooks the Acropolis on one side and Hadrians gate on the other.  Pretty amazing.  The church really struggles in Greece as the majority of people are Greek Orthodox and quite anti-Christian.  Most of the members are foreigners who come to Greece to study and find the gospel.  Very few Greeks join the church.  But there are wonderful YSAs from around the world who are active in the Center.  We had training meetings with the Mission Pres and Center couple and the YSA committee another day.

In case you can't read the sign on the church in Greek.

The mission president and his wife--he from Cyprus and she from Scotland.  Both were living in England as young single adults, joined the church and married.  Only members from both families.  Terrific people.

After three days we flew to Cyprus for more training and Center support.  There are even less members in Cyprus and the missionaries really struggle there.  The Priesthood leadership are all foreigners and missionaries.  But here again we met wonderful new converts from China, Iran and Nigeria who are the YSA leaders.  We had sometime there to visit some Orthodox churches and see some interesting villages near the Mediterrean Sea.

This fine couple also taught in the China Teachers program and now are the Center couple in Cyprus.

Just when we think we've seen it all, we witness the gospel in yet another foreign land and how lives are being touched in such unsual ways.  Many Chinese young people are coming to these lands to study and embracing the gospel to take back to China.  The same with Nigerians, Iranians and more.  There is no doubt that the Lord is mindful of EVERYONE of His children.  We are so very blessed to witness these miracles in so many places.  We love our mission and the excitement we feel from the young members everywhere as they participate in this inspired program of the church.