11 Sep 2010 Medieval Rothenburg

Started out at 8:30 this morning with another couple, the Halliday's in their car, and the rest of the Senior Missionaries. Arrived two hours later in Rothenburg Ob der Tauber (on the Tauber River) In 1866, William Riehl, a professor for History and Culture, hiked through the Tauber River Valley and reported his eventful walk in a newspaper. His impression was that " A walk through the Tauber Valley was a walk through German History." By following the narrow river, one passed the arenas of former Imperial Power. One of these was the free city of Rothenburg described as being the quaintest and most authentic medieval city of all medieval German cities. Today Rothenburg is still considered the most picturesque medieval city in the country. Artists such as Richter, Spitzweg and Wasser introduced motifs of street scenes from times past of the medieval town of Rothenburg.

The town started in the 12th Century through the building of a fortress by King Konrad III. It was said to be one of the most strategic Hogenstaufen strongholds. Thirty years later the wall was constructed that today completely surrounds the town of Rothenburg (over 2 miles long) The main fortress was destroyed in 1356 by an earthquake in Basel, Switzerland, but the stones were reused to build various churches around the city. In 1525 many of the peasants living here joined in the Peasant's War. Many craftsmen were sympathizers. The Margrave and his army seize the town and 23 rioters were publicly decapitated, their corpses left to decay in the Markt platz. The last official Catholic mass before the city was annexed to Bavaria in 1803, was celebrated in 1533. The official Religion is Protestant but most people still remain Catholic. The railroad did not come into Rothenburg until the late 1800's.

We took a two hour walking tour of the city of Rothenburg. We heard so much history about the city itself. The middle of the town is of course the Markt Platz where everything happens, celebrations, wedding processions, parties, dining, shopping and on weekends the Farmer's market. There was a little booth with a man pressing apples for applesaft or apple juice. We didn't get any but we heard that a mug of his juice was well worth the money at 5.oo euros. Next time we will catch that. The tour took us through the most important parts of town where we saw the Rathouse, the tall slim white building and next to it was the Mayor's house. The yellow building is the the pub and then restaurants are along the side of the Markt. Some of the buildings are in the Gothic style and some in the Renaissance. Alot of the beautiful buildings were owned by Patricians who were the wealthy people mainly involved in money making businesses such as textiles, metals and food products. They lived like kings but the poorer people lived in huts outside the main streets. All, however, were protected by the city walls that completely surround the city. We hiked to the top of the Wall and saw a beautiful panorama. Hope you like those pictures. I took a picture of Gene standing by a defense opening in the city wall. This is for shooting crossbows. The guide told us every boy got their first one at 12 years old, they were officially a soldier by then. It was easier, faster and less noisy to use a crossbow, just a point to interject. You are probably wondering who are the people picnicing outside the fortress walls? It was just a group that lived there and every weekend they roast a huge pig on a spit, head and all. I guess they share it with the locals who leave them alone during the week.

An interesting fact that we learned on the tour was that Loebt Strauss was a Jewish citizen who lived in Rothenburg during the 1800's. At that time Jews were still being persecuted by not letting the craftsman join the Guilds at that time. Loebt sailed to American changed his name to Levi and joined the California Gold Rush. After settling in San Francisco he started his textile business of canvas which were first used for ships sails. He designed pants for the gold miners. His apprentice, a Polish man, got no credit for his invention of the rivets that were placed on the pants. That is how Levi Strauss's levis were invented. See how smart you are now? I never knew that.

We shopped at Katy Wohlfahrts year round Christmas store. It was out of this world, anything you would want to buy. It is definately a place to take your family. There was a antique car show going on at the Markt but the only car I saw that was old was the Opel so I took that picture for Pete. I finally found something for me, the starting of a new collection of replica buildings in Germany. I picked out three beautiful structures that I will display at Christmas time. Everyone can come see them in two years. Then we went to eat. The restaurant we ate at was the yellow building and the food was good. The couple we went with spoke German so we finally got what we think we ordered. I ate salmon with Hollandaise sauce, boiled potates with Herbs & salad, Gene had a Schwein (pork) steak with pommes frittes (french fries) they were both good. You guessed it we ate an eis for dessert. My favorite is no longer Zitrone(lemon) it is Petachio, YUM.
I guess you saw the man in the peasant hat eating with his wife, Gene said you have to get a picture of that for our blog. I guess he wants to wear one of those when he gets home, please help me now. I took pictures of a couple who had gotten married in one of the churches there and afterward they walked through the Markt Platz. Thought Rachel would enjoy the wedding dress. I think this is a tradition for just married couples, they walk through town with a procession behind them. Kind of nice I think, then they go back to a nice restaurant and have a huge dinner with all their friends. Another picture I just had to take was a family, at least the men in the family, who were all wearing their Lieder Hosen. That was just beyond words. I want all my grandsons to wear them. Maybe we can get some, any takers?

We left to go home, tired as usual but content that we were filled again with Historical data and memories that will last us a lifetime. Looking forward to tomorrow, Apostle Nelson will speak to us at the Frankfurt Stake Conference. Some more inspirational moments to write about. Tschuss

9 Sep 2010- Mission call story from Bro. Tonne

On August 29, 2010, we attended a sacrament meeting for two young men, brothers, leaving for their missions to the country of Chile. What made this even so remarkable was the fact that 2 yrs ago they were living in Colorado City, AZ members of a Fundamentalist LDS Group. They had been doing some construction work on a house in Santa Clara, Utah (next to St. George) when a young girl started to talk to them. She was the oldest child (17) of the family in Santa Clara. That lived in/owned the house that the 2 boys were working on. The boys were not suppose to talk to girls but she was persistent and her one way discussion led to the church as she explained what Mormons believed. The boys were very surprised by her forthright candor and the things she was telling them. After a few days they made the mistake of talking to her and learned many things which they had never heard before in the sheltered society they had grown up in. After a week on the job, they made the mistake of asking questions at home and were told to leave the family they had grown up with, 40 brothers and sisters. The boys were ostracized and had no place to go so they showed up on the doorstep of the family in Santa Clara where they had completed the home remodeling. That family took them in. The boys were fast learners and soaked up all they could about the world and the church. After a year they were baptized and continued to absorb as much as they could. Following a meeting with a General Authority in Salt Lake City, about 2 months ago, they were called on missions. Their simple talks were among the most heartfelt utterances I have ever experienced. They had lost everything and then they had gained everything. They expressed no anger towards their parents, only love and respect and they had a great love for the family that took them in. Their testimonies were inspiring and their desire to serve a mission and spread the gospel was awesome. Daniel and Joseph Zitting, entered the MTC last week. One day you may hear their names again. They seem destined to do something great. The young girl mentioned above, that got all this going 2 years ago is currently in the Marine Corps boot camp. She signed up with the promise of becoming a linguist , attending the school in Monterey to learn Chinese and Arabic.

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. I think my blog needs more faith promoting stories. If anyone has a thought for me to share please do and thanks to Bro Tonne who brought this story to my attention. The Walters

8 Sep 2010 Spiritual Thought & Gen Petraeus

Before I start, here are a few miscellaneous pictures I found. Most are of my flowers in front of my house, they are my creation. I took a picture of the Sister's next door to us. Also two hats from Nurnberg and last of all two little girls playing in front of the church. Enjoy











Today we had a very interesting day. It started out with a great spiritual thought. I wanted to share with you this experience that one of the group had last week. He and his wife have three small children. He is one of the Supervisors here in the Center and she is going to school working on her thesis. They found a good way to take care of the children and the house is to hire a nanny. They found just the right one, a 17 soon to be 18 year old from California, who was a member in good standing with the church. The girl already came and they were taking her to the office to get her passport stamped and get registered. They went on a Thursday and were told that she could not get a visa to stay here and work as she was not 18 yet. He did not know what to do except ask for help from members of the church. Lawyers, people who might know any way to keep her here. He said he mulled over every possibility from sending her to India on a month educational tour or have her stay there as a friend, but none would actually be legal so he felt the last resort was to fast and pray for a way that she would be able to stay. In a few days he received a call from the passport office requesting him to come down as they had news for him. They had found a way for the girl to stay. He didn't elaborate but it was an answer to his prayer. He quoted a scripture from D&C chap 9: verse 8 that says " Behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind, then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you;therefore, you shall feel that it is right, but if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong." He repeated again the part that said ,Study it out in your mind before you ask Heavenly Father to bless you to receive what it is you need. I thought that was a good point to remember. Most of us tend to just start prayign and asking for what we need before we really think about it.

Now to the more humorous part of my blog. The following were remarks given by General David Petraeus to BYU last Thursday night. He shared his sense of humor by reading the following list, which was received by waves of laughter and applause.

TOP 10 REASONS WHY BYU GRADS MAKE GOOD SOLDIERS

10. They have already been on many a mission

9. Army chow is not problem for folks accustomed to eating green jell-o and shredded carrots.

8. It's not a problem if they don't know what rank someone is, they just refer to them as
Brother or Sister so and so.

7. They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active

6. They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served.

5. They know how to make things happen. In fact if you ever need a base built quickly in a
barren wasteland, stride out to where you want them to start, plant your walking stick
down and say, "This is the place."

4. They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents like assigning them home teachers

3. They always have a years supply of provisions on hand.

2. They are the world's most reliable designated drivers.

1. They understand how far Iraq has come over the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's
old spot in the "Axix of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah.

I thought those were hilarious. He must have asked a Mormon friend of his to write a script that the Mormon would love since some of those are inside jokes so to speak.

this week-end we will be going to Rothenburg for another great outing look for the pictures. I have included a few pics that can't seem to go with anything but I like them. Tschuss

1 Sept 2010 Walk in Elder Walters Shoes Today

Today I thought you I would give you a little insight as to what Elder Walters does during his work day. He arrives by 8:00 Am and at 9:00 the group gathers together for a spiritual thought. He loves this part of the day because he hears so many interesting thoughts. Back to work and Cleanup boxes from the day before. The secretaries upstairs in Customer Service take orders by phone and those orders are sent to his department to be sent out. (This is where I work). Picking is a stand on your feed job all day but you get use to it. He really likes this job because he is his own boss, and he can work at his own pace. the problem with that is, he is speedy Gonzales and they have to keep telling him to slow down. When you work for the Lord you feel so much differently than if you went to work to make money. You learn to love the work.

Elder Walters works with some really nice guys, most of them German. They are suppose to speak German to him, but they like to practice their English so he geta a little of both. The one smiling with the white hair is Andreas. He has the biggest laugh and he is always joking around. His main job is shipping so Gene helps him move pallets around and wrap them with plastic. He makes sure that everything goes to the right place. You know there are some places that we do not mention the church's name because they are a communist country or Islamic and the person receiving anything might be questioned, so those places are carefully marked.

The robust man with the grey hair is Karl Hines, he is a Supervisor. Bernhardt is the older man with brown hair. He makes sure all the magazines are sent out and shipped. He is single and so he and Andreas go to activities together. Andreas's wife lives in East Germany so he only goes home on the week ends. Andreas has some sad stories about the days that his family lived in East Germany before the wall came down. You will see a picture of a young man and Woman. They are Alistar(from England) and Jennifer, they are temporary help either waiting to go to school or to go on a mission. We see a lot of young people come and go here. Ben is the young man with brown hair who works in the MOC (Microfilm Ordering Department) who is studying to be a doctor. I took some pictures of the cabinets that hold all of those microfilms that people need from Europe. Somethimes Gene comes to help me unpack the films and help put them away.

Gene runs a very large Fork-lift machine and a very small one, as well as the wrapping machine. He is learning a lot about warehousing. It is a pretty big production because this is the central Distribution Center for all of Europe. They store everything there. You will see a small room that has boxes in it. This is where they keep all the materials for the Bishops's and Stake President's like Temple Recommend forms. Those are kept under lock and key so Gene is very careful when he has to go in there. You will also see Temple clothing. We have Book of Mormon's in every language and we supply all the Missions with the materials that the Missionaries use on a daily basis. We also store furniture that is not being used.

Each box is labeled and he has to make sure when he picks that it is perfect, because they have several inspectors that check every order before it is sent out. If you forgot something or pulled the wrong thing, they have you change it. He hardly ever makes mistakes. He is already thinking in his mind how he can help them to organize there shelves better.

Some days it is very slow so they let us leave early. That doesn't happen very often though. The church never stops working. When it is day time in one part of the country, it is night time in another. As you can see he wears a uniform, they want them all to look the same. They are really made well. They gave him his shirts and pants and hard toe shoes so instead of a suit and tie everyday, he wears the smerff outfit. We leave work between 5:00 and 7:00 every night. He tries to leave nothing for the next day, that way he can get ahead of the orders that will be coming in. Thanks for looking in on a day with Brother Walters, hope you enjoy the pictures.