Frohe Weihnachten

Merry Christmas from Germany. We have experienced our first Christmas in Germany as a missionary couple. December 24 our ward had a Christmas Devotional at 3 pm in the afternoon at the church. The chapel was full with about 250 people. The program was beautiful. Six women played recorders and block flutes, a father played guitar as his family sang with him. several people shared poetry or stories of Christmas and the bishop gave a good message. It was really beautiful and the spirit was there. Following the devotional we had been invited, along with the elders, to the home of Brother and Sister Wiese. We arrived and were seated at a large table for kuchen and tea or pero. It was so good! We then had a talent show with everyone participating. Then Brother Wiese read the Christmas story and then the family opened gifts. We shared this intimate family time with them. Then we were invited back to the table where Sister Wiese served a wonderful German dinner of soup, then salad, then the main course and then dessert. Needless to say we were very full. We then drove back to Darmstadt and took the elders home and arrived at our home about 10:30 pm. Today, Christmas, we visited the Carley family. They live a couple of doors down from us and are Americans. They are recent converts to the church of about 5 years. Jeremy is here as a contractor with the military and they love living here so they will stay as long as they can. We then went to the Hosch family for Christmas dinner. It was lovely. We had a family style dinner with great food and dessert. Sister Hosch is the stake relief society president and she makes you feel so comfortable in her home. She has 5 children and the oldest one is married with one child. We had a good visit and her daughter-in-law played violin, then some singing happened and then we left for home. We called our children and had a great visit with the people we love the most. We miss them but we will be with them soon to celebrate the times and make memories for our lives. We love being here and are slowly but surely adjusting to what we need to do. We love the support and encouragement we receive from our family. We love our Heavenly Father and are so grateful for the gift of his Son to the world. We always will strive to be eine ewige Familie.