Rutenfest and a special dinner with the Browns

Most areas in Germany have a special festival sometime during the summer.  In Ravensburg, it is called Rutenfest and this year it ran from the 21-25 of July.  It is a pretty big deal. They set up a carnival of sorts, with a huge ferris wheel and other rides and entertainment.  They sell lots of different traditional foods at stands. There are parades and traditional costumes.  Some evenings, groups of people playing pipes and drums march through the town.  Twice they started out in our neighborhood.  People come out of their homes and watch as they go by.  Sometimes there is singing as well.  Lots of people come into town to participate in the festivities.  We were in Switzerland for Zone Conference on the day of the main parade and felt bad that we had to miss it.  But the next day we walked into town and were fortunate to catch another parade.  People started to gather right where we entered the city and we could tell something was going on.  We waited and the crowd grew and grew.  Finally, they started the parade and it was lots of fun.  There were lots of different groups.  Some were in costumes, some on horses, lots playing drums and pipes and other instruments.  We were surprised to see many people just join the parade and walk through the old city together.  That night they had a big fire works display.

On the evening Rutenfest began, we were delighted to have our new mission president and his wife and son come to Ravensburg for dinner and interviews at our apartment with the members of our district.  This was a special opportunity for us to visit with them and get to know them better.  They are really terrific and we feel blessed to have them leading our mission.  This was their first stop on their travels for 10 days through the whole mission to interview all the missionaries.

McKay, President and Sister Brown, the Lakes

McKay Brown, President Brown, Elders Davis and Ormsby, Sister Lake, Elder Lake, Elders Johnson and Williams

Bern Temple Trip

Another favorite and special day on the mission, so far, was our trip to the Bern Temple.  We found out that our friends, Jorg and Gerda Stubbe, travel to the temple one day each month.  So, we asked them if we could join them and they were happy to accommodate.  We drove from Ravensburg to Hohenems, where they live.  We left early, about 6:15 a.m. and arrived at their home at 7:00.  They drove and we traveled through scenic Switzerland to Zollikofen, where the Swiss Temple is located.  We were blessed with perfect weather on the way there.  We arrived about 10:00 and went on the 10:30 session.  We were delighted to have 4 Elders and 2 Sisters from our mission on our session.  This session was in English, which was nice for me.  Jorg and Bob wore headsets for German. Gerda and Jorg were the witness couple.  It was so wonderful to be in the temple again.  We have really missed going every week.  At home, it takes us 3 minutes to get there.  Here, it is 3 hours.  We loved spending some time in the Celestial room after the session praying and reading the scriptures.  It was peaceful and beautiful.  Our second session started at 1:00 and was in French.  We all wore headsets for translation that time.  I was surprised at how many people on that session spoke French.  It is interesting how many people speak different languages in this temple.  The workers at the veil have quite a challenge helping people in so many languages.  But there is a very special spirit in this temple.  We spent some more time in the Celestial Room and we were able to ponder and draw closer to the Lord. Outside afterward we took pictures and walked around the temple.  It sprinkled a little but was still lovely.

Jorg and Gerda Stubbe, Diane and Bob

 Then, on the drive home, it absolutely poured the whole way. We were very grateful we had sunshine for our photos.  We found a place to eat when we got back to Dornbirn.  It was 7:45.  Even though it was a terrifically long day, it was definitely worth it!  We loved the temple and we were grateful for all the time we had with the Stubbes in the car.  We were able to find out all about them, their families, their interests and hobbies.  We are inspired by their faithfulness and dedication to the gospel.  We didn't get home until 9:30. Phew!  Lots of hours sitting, but we look forward to going again......soon!

Our view as we returned to Ravensburg.

District Outing to "The Pfander"

There is a beautiful mountain by Bregenz, Austria called "The Pfander".  We decided to go there with the Elders for a District Outing.  Our Elders from Dornbirn had conflicts, so we just went with the Elders from Ravensburg.  Bregenz is on the shore of Lake Constance or the Bodensee.  It is an absolutely beautiful spot and very popular with tourists.  We drove there in the morning and then climbed to the top.  The hike is totally up hill and quite steep.  Fortunately, we were in the shade of the forests a good part of the time.  I thought it was a very challenging hike, especially because I was trying to keep up with 19 year olds.  But the reward was definitely worth the effort!  The view from the top was one of the most spectacular I have ever see.  There is also a tram that will take you to the top and there is a ski lift for the winter time.  We were blessed with incredible weather, as you can tell from the photos.  We walked through an ancient part of Bregenz on our way back to our car.  I just love the old part of the cities we visit.

Bregenz 

Elder Williams and Elder Johnson in the lederhosen he wears on every hike!

 It is days like this that make us very grateful we are serving in such a beautiful part of the world!

View from the top of Pfander looking the opposite direction from Bodensee.

On our hike to the top.

Looking down the route the tram takes.

A view of Lindau, the gorgeous city that goes out into the lake.

We meet President and Sister Brown

Our 4th of July was celebrated quite differently than usual.  We drove to Zurich, Switzerland for the first Zone Conference with our new mission president.  President Christopher Brown and his wife, Laura, and their son, Mckay, arrived in Germany on Friday, June 30.  They spent a few hours with the Kohlers and then the Kohlers left and they were on their own.  Despite jet lag, they had to jump right into interviews with the missionaries and Zone Conferences starting on Tuesday, July 4.  Our mission covers a large area, so this involves a lot of driving. They drove from Munich to Zurich on Monday because it is so far and takes a long time. We have developed a huge respect for all mission presidents and their wives.  It is an incredibly difficult assignment.  We are grateful the Browns have accepted the call to serve here in this mission.  They are terrific people!

They spent the first hour with the district leaders of the three zones in our conference.  Then they interviewed missionaries for awhile.  We started the main meeting and they introduced themselves.  Sister Brown had made a fun video/slide show with a questionaire to help us get to know them.  It was great!  She shared her conversion story.  It is really special.  She grew up in Fresno, California and was introduced to the gospel by her friends.  They were wonderful and loved her into the church.  Her parents were against it but she prayed and prayed and her father's heart softened and he allowed her to be baptized.  President and Sister Brown met at BYU.  They have 5 children.  Their youngest child, McKay, has a mission call to serve in the Berlin, Germany mission.  He goes to the MTC in August.  He came to the mission with them and is getting an up close view of mission life.
Sister Brown shared an incredible story about McKay in her talk.  She said he had a speech impediment as a child and couldn't pronounce some of the letters.  It was still a big problem when he turned twelve.  They asked him to give a talk in church as a new deacon.  He told them no.  He was very self conscious of his speech because people had a hard time understanding him.  They encouraged him to give it a try and pray for help.  He prayed about it and decided to accept the assignment.  He prepared the talk and prayed and prayed.  When the time arrived, he stepped to the pulpit and gave his talk very clearly without any problem.  Afterward, people wanted to know what had happened.  He never had another problem with his speech and went on to participate in theater in school and had the lead role in their production of a Shakespeare play.  Truly an inspiring story of faith and prayer.

President Brown talked about Preach My Gospel.  A couple of years ago he read the whole Preach My Gospel and every scripture reference noted in the book.  There are a lot!  He really knows the book and it was inspiring to us and all the missionaries, I am sure. He spent some time interacting with the missionaries, asking questions and getting feedback.  He sang a beautiful song.  (He has a great voice!)  He shared his vision and hope for the mission.  We think he will be great.  He had the opportunity to serve in the mission presidency in Wyoming for a couple of years.  He was a missionary in our mission when he was young and Bob's uncle, Bruce Lake, was his mission president.

They had to interview all the rest of the missionaries after the meeting, so we didn't have a chance to visit with them or get a picture with them.  We look forward to getting to know them better as time goes by.

Bob and I with Markus Gappmaier, second counselor in the mission presidency
 and brother of Gerda Stubbe, our Institute teacher in Dornbirn.

We were reminded of America's Independence Day as we drove to the conference.  We saw a van on the freeway with a big American flag filling the back window.  That was a surprise!  Then, all Americans were called into the foyer at the church where we joined our fellow Americans in singing the National Anthem.  Some of the sister missionaries made a special cake to honor the day.  We are grateful to be here serving in the amazing countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (and so appreciate our European ancestry), but we also love our great nation and appreciate our American citizenship and heritage.