Mother's Day, New Missionary, etc.

In Germany, they celebrate Mother's Day exactly like they do in the US. I had the opportunity to speak in church. We also heard from our Relief Society president. As usual, she did a splendid job. I felt that the best thing I could talk about was to honor my own mother. She was born 100 years ago this year. I felt that her example of service was a good lesson. She worked hard but was always behind the scenes and never wanted to be noticed. It is really the quiet "doers" like her who really make the world a wonderful place.

We had a wonderful time visiting with our children and families over Skype over last Saturday and Sunday. We also received some great letters and a package. Sister B. put up all the pictures and cards and took pictures so I could share them in this blog. Those are the first pictures I will show. 

We also had a new elder join us this past week. Elder George went home and Elder Richman came to Ravensburg. We have been going around the area visiting people and introducing the elders to the members. Also, on Sunday, we provided the women of the branch with potted flowers. The elders joined us as we went around delivering them to less active members. The pictures show some of the places we went along the way. We had a mixture of weather with sudden rain showers and took some pictures of the clouds.

Another wonderful development is a young man who started attending church with us. I won't give his whole story at this time, but wanted to talk a little about him. The elders met him as they were walking along the street and talked a little about the church. They invited him to come attend church services on Sunday a week ago. He came. He said he always kept his word and had told them he would come, so he did. He was invited to attend Institute last Wednesday and he came. He attended again this Sunday. So far, he has not even had any missionary lessons (they start tomorrow) and he is really interested in being with us and understanding the gospel. I hope we will be giving future reports about his progress. 

The elders visited with their mothers at our place using Skype. It was a great day.

The pictures from our grandchildren are on the cabinets in the kitchen.

Most of these are for mother's day, but a few are also for me for father's day. Thank you all so very much.

Here are the cards hanging from the curtains. (We still have easter eggs hanging there as well.)

They have a number of these around the area. They are May Poles. They are very tall pine trees with all but the top stripped of bark and limbs. They usually are love messages for someone, but the cities also  erect tall May Poles.

Spring is beautiful with the vibrant green colors.

Here are some of the clouds that brought some crazy rain storms.

Here are Elders Thompson and Richman with Sister B. as they tried to visit someone.

We made a little side trip to Meersburg on Lake Constance (Bodensee)

They had a large safety fair in the middle of the city.

I had to add this. Our large grocery store has a USA section. It is mainly things like Pop Tarts, Mac and Cheese, Barbecue sauce, marshmellows, Shortening, hot sauce, etc. Most of the things are not cheap, though Baking Soda and microwave popcorn are cheaper here. You should be able to zoom in on this picture to see what is there.