Back to Work (sort of) Week 16

Well we've been back at it this week.  Started bright and early Monday.  We say started, but the way we started was to check out the swans.  They were in their nest, but there were little gray furry things trying to get out from underneath the mom.  We learned that all 10 of the eggs hatched between the 14th and the 17th (while we were gone).  So Monday morning they were under mom, but by Monday evening they were out on the water -- all ten of them.  However, by Wednesday evening, there were only 4 of the 10 hanging around with mom and dad.  We can only guess what happened to the other six.  Some say the foxes enjoy keeping the population down and we know of several foxes nearby.



Cignets under Mother

Mom and the 10



Mom and Dad and the Four

Four Little Cignets

Anyway, we are digitizing like it was going out of style -- meaning that we are finishing about two or three boxes of documents a day.  In our previous project we were only able to get one box a day.  This however is where the "Back to Work (sort of)" enters in.  Grandma woke up Wednesday with one heckof a cold.  She had a great deep voice to go along with it.  Being the dedicated soul that she is, she went in half a day.  On Thursday she did it again -- half a day.  On Friday, things were getting worse and she stayed home all day.  Had a baptism in the ward on Saturday (actually three of them).  grandpa went, at grandmas insistence and grandma stayed in all day.  Today is Sunday and grandma stayed in again all day.  Grandpa went to Church, at least in part, to get things going for the Temple Preparation Class that we are teaching next Sunday and the YM/YW activity that we are helping with on Wednesday evening.  We are supposed to teach the youth how to do indexing.


Grandma Being Sick

Grandmas Latest Doll from Germany

That's about it for this week.  Seems like we continue to digitize, help others with their family history, and run occasional errands.

The Lord has been good to us.  Grandma is headed the right direction with her cold.  The images continue to get captured on camera.  Probably the most exciting thing that happened this past week is the birthdays -- Madalyn, Brinley, and Bryton.

We are still excited to serve but miss our family and loved ones,

Mom (cough, cough) & Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister Smart, Paul & Annie

Germany - Week 15

Arrival in Weisbaden

I would like to first say that if any of you have left comments on  the blog, we did not get them.  We have changed settings and should get them now.

We had one marvelous week.  We felt like tourists instead of missionaries. The first day we walked around Weisbaden and found a fun place to eat.  This place was suggested by Paul's niece Jessica who served a mission in Germany.  We had a Kabob. We watched them shave a big hunk of beef that was hanging in the restaurant to make us a Gyro type sandwich.

 

The meat  and shaver

The Kabob sandwich

All European digitizers and contractors and management met in Weisbaden, Germany for training on new software.  The interesting thing is that Elder and Sister Smart will not be using the new software, but it was interesting and so much fun to meet with other missionaries that digitize like we do.  People were there from Germany, Poland, Belgium, Scotland, Wales, Czech Republic, Italy, England, Sweden and I am sure more, but I can't remember them all. 

At the conference.  These are the 3 we work with at The National Archives

We all stayed at the Achat Hotel.  The rooms were tiny but they did the trick. All of us met outside each morning for a bus to take us to the LDS Church in Weisbaden to have the seminar.

Waiting for the bus outside Hotel

Weisbaden LDS chapel

We were fed lunch at the church and then the bus took us to a nice restaurant for supper both Monday and Tuesday evening.  We had the most tender and tasty roast beef with fried or boiled potatoes the first evening.   Our second evening restaurant served Schnitzel with white asparagus.  White asparagus is a specialty for Germany this time of year only.  The asparagus is grown in the ground and does not see the sun, keeping it from turning green.  It was very tender, mild and good tasting according to Annie.  According to Paul, it looked like white "asper grass".

Tuesday evening after dinner we went on a walking tour of Weisbaden.  There are many historic buildings there.  Weisbaden was spared most of the bombing of World War II. It is one of the few cities that still have buildings intact from before the war.  The Prussians built a lot of the historic buildings that we saw on the tour. There are many hot mineral springs in Weisbaden.

One of the oldest hotels in Weisbaden

Social Center built by Prussians

Inside the Social Center

Outdoor Theatre

Back stage entrance to theater

Weisbaden Catherdal

Town Square at night

 

Drinking the mineral water from hot springs

Wednesday morning we did not take the bus into the traini

Dentist in Weisbaden

ng seminar because one of Annie's tooth caps came off during the night.  We found a dentist right across the street from the hotel.  He spoke great English and was a member of the American dental association.  This was a comfort to us.  Well, he was going to just clean the tooth and glue the cap back on, but found the post  holding the cap to be loose and it came out when touched.  It was a very tiny post.  He said that physics would tell you  that little post would not be able to hold the tooth for long.  He had to drill into the plastic center of the tooth ( it had previously had a root canal) and place a longer post in and then put the cap back on.  After 1 1/2 hours in the dental chair and many $$$$ later we were finished and the tooth looks great.  We took the city bus to the training and arrived just before lunch.  We enjoyed lunch and saying good bye to most of the people.  A few of us stayed for a day or two more to see the sights of Germany.

Thursday 6 of us rode the city bus to the Rhine River and took a cruise down the River.

Elder and Sister Powell, Elder and sister Leach

Yours Truly

 It was so beautiful and peaceful.  We saw green, green and more green.  We saw many grape vineyards.  Each of the towns had a historic cathedral or church .  We  never dreamed that we would see so many ancient castles.  They were all built on the high side of a hill and claimed the water in front of them.  Those going down the river used to be charged to pass claimed water.  There were so many castles, anyone going down the river would have paid a small fortune before they reached their destination.

                                                      Pictures we took on the river......

The boat we toured the Rhine

We got off the boat at Saint Goar.  We spent a couple of hours there before we caught a boat back to Weisbaden.

Downtown St. Goar - Notice the clock

Paul's new friend in St. Goar

On Friday we got the train to Frankfurt and caught another train to Fredricksdorf.  The temple grounds were so beautiful.  We did a session and were honored to be the witness couple.   We had to use the

headphones to hear the session in English.

We returned to Frankfurt on the train and had an hour to see the town.  We were directed to visit the "old town".   It was really an amazing sight.  The buildings were so beautiful, especially the cathedral there.

old town

old town cathederal

The Lufthansa Airline brought us safely back home Friday evening.  We were impressed at the beauty of the country of Germany.  The people we met were very kind.  It was an awesome experience.  We hope we were good examples for the Church while traveling.  Handing out pass along cards was part of the agenda on this trip.  Did we mention that Annie found a German doll to add to her collection?

Happy Birthday this week to Madalyn, Brinley and Bryton.

We will be busy and back to work this week.  We have a busy month scheduled.  Teaching the youth how to index, speaking at a fireside in June and we start teaching the temple prep class on June 2nd.  We love the Lord and have you all in our prayers. Please keep us in your prayers.

Elder and Sister Smart, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Paul and Annie