Fall 2016 Family and Europe Trip - part 3 - Ravensburg, Germany and the people of the Branch

After a very long flight (plane change in Atlanta), we arrived a little before 9 AM local time in Stuttgart and were able to get to our rental car without much problem. It cost us more than twice what we expected (he said it was the taxes). We headed out and drove the freeways (autobahn) to Leutkirch and had a nice lunch with André. He had the missionaries coming as well and we ended up picking them up at the Bahnhof (train station). André prepared a very large amount of food for us (and very good!). We ended up taking food with us, as did the Elders.

Andre with the two elders

After our nice visit, we drove the Elders to their apartment and went to the hotel to get checked in and a little rest. We went to get Derick from his apartment and had a nice dinner with him, visiting with him there and also along the way back to his home. We were exhausted and went to bed as soon as we could.


Meeting Derick after being away for two years.

The next day, we went to see Sister Pabel at her home.

Laughing with Schwester Pabel

We had a nice visit with her and she served us some food. We then walked with her to her bakery and back to her place. We drove back to Ravensburg and stopped at the parking garage and went in to town to visit some stores, then the chocolate store to see Brother and Sister Stevens.


In front of the Schokoladen

We had a very nice visit with them and Chiara. After that, we went out to see Irina and Erwin Kiefer. It was nice driving the roads and seeing the old familiar sights along the way out there. We had a nice visit with them.


Irina cooking some blinis

While there, Pres. Klaumünzner called and asked that I give a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, and Shauna to give a few words. I was mainly talking with Erwin in German and Shauna with Irina in English. She made us a nice dinner and sent some of it home with us. From there, we went to Friedrichshafen to visit the Meier family.


Greeting Mirko

 They have their two dogs, which were very friendly.

The next morning, we met Sister Hofmann at her place in Salem-Beuren and she drove us in her car through the upper Danube valley.


Along the way to the upper Danube valley

Here we are in the car. I got this picture to show her driving and Shauna with her in the front taking pictures, I rode in the back. This is one of several tunnels through the rock outcroppings along the river Danube.

It was very beautiful. This shows the river along the way.


(above and below) The Danube River



She took us to several places along the way, including the monastery at Beuron


and then on to the overlook at the top


and on to Tuttlingen where we ate at a restaurant. From there we went on to the Aach Quelle, a remarkable spring.


From there, we went to the city of Stockach and bought some things at the store, then went back to Sister Hofmann's place, then drove on to meet with the Trautmanns for dinner. We had a nice visit with them. Overall, it has been wonderful to see our dear friends and to share the spirit with them again.


The Trautmann home

We picked up Derick the next morning and went to church. It was wonderful to see all the people there. It was a very good showing. The first person to see as we entered was Wladimir. He looked so good! He passed the sacrament. We found out that he has been to the temple a few times.


Wladimir

We also found out through the conversations that Derick has been ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood! I spoke to the meeting after the Sacrament for about 20 minutes - talking about the power of the priesthood and gave some stories from our recent experiences. I talked about the way we need to serve by visiting people and was pleased to learn that they have been more active in doing home and visiting teaching. Sister Stevens was released a year or so ago as Relief Society president and Sister Trautmann serves as president now. There are some new people who are now in the branch. There were about 32 people in attendance. This included: Ralf (great to see him!), Wladimir, Derick, André, Sylvia, Brother and Sister Schilling, Brother and Sister Trautmann and Jasmin. Sister Stevens and Chiara (Janosh came later), Erwin and Irina, the Wisbeeks (not Denís), Brother Staubach, the Klaumünzners, among others. It was wonderful. Shauna also spoke (before I did). Brother Trautmann then taught the Priesthood meeting lesson. André participated as well. They set up a pot luck lunch after the meeting.


Preparing for the Potluck lunch

There was a lot of good food there. We had nice visits with a lot of people. After the luncheon, we helped clear up a little. Sister Klaumünzner told us about their work and visits with Adrienne. Sister K. knows French and was amazed at the prayer that Andrienne gave in one of their visits. At the entrance, we spent some time talking with the Justesens. They told us about visits that they are making and we were very much encouraged that the work we did is continuing to progress. After our visits, we took Derick back home and then we went past our Hotel for a bit, then on to see whether we could contact Sister Spähn. We had a nice visit with her and then went on to our visit with the Van Der Heidens.


The Van der Heidens with Rocco 

Sept 26 - We got all packed up and checked out from the hotel, then went to the store to do some shopping, then into Ravensburg where we met with Elise.


Elise and Shauna in Ravensburg Innenstadt

We had a nice, but short visit with her, then headed out on the road towards Stuttgart and on to Mannheim.  (Continued in the next blog entry.)