More Snow and Cold from Darmstadt

This week has been cold, cold, cold and today a big snow storm blanketed the city with about 8 inches of snow. The method of removing the snow from the cobblestones is done with brushes on the front of little trucks and people with big brooms. It is really interesting to see. This morning no one was moving on the streets until about noon when some of the roads were cleared. On our way to get groceries we passed a hill and there were several young sleigh riders enjoying the weather. This week on Thursday night we had Institute at the center. Brother Borcherding the CES coordinator for the 5 stake area came and we had some orientation with him and then he taught the Institute Class while we prepared waffles for when they were through. We made four times the recipe and then began to cook and kept them warm in the oven. We had made chocolate sauce, raspberry syrup, we had maple syrup, powdered sugar, whipped cream and then fresh fruit. The YSA kids ate everything. It was great. There was a young man, Florian, who has accepted the challenge for baptism. I made the chocolate sauce for him. There is another young man, Andreas, who we have made as a friend. He lives in Longen but comes to Darmstadt for the YSA activities. We are going to Longer tomorrow to church. There is a small branch there of about 60 members. One of the families is the Wagner family which Steve taught while he was here on his mission. We are anticipating seeing them once again. Their children are grown now and one grandson, Felix, is one of the YSA on our student council. Friday was quiet at the center but this afternoon there were English classes and missionary lessons being taught. There were some apples left from something and they needed attention so I made apple crisp and it was much appreciated by those at the center. We have set some goals for the next two weeks and hope I can report that we fulfilled them. We wear our winter boots, coats and gloves all the time now. We can mail a package or letter at the post office. We have a bank account and can deal with the bank. This is all done by Elder Hadley. We can get groceries and now can finally understand what most of the packages say. Our local store has an in house bakery that is really good. We got some great kasekuchen there this week. We are beginning to feel more at home and are busier now with things we need to be doing and people we need to find. We love all the great e-mail we have been receiving and especially the testimonies and lessons we have been taught by our family. We love you so much.