Fall 2016 Family and Europe Trip - part 4 - Germany from Ravensburg north to Denmark

After our visit with Elise, we left Ravensburg and headed out on the road towards Stuttgart and on to Mannheim.  We first went to Meersburg to see about buying a cuckoo clock.


Walking up an alleyway in Meersburg

We spent a little time in that beautiful old town of Meersburg, visiting several stores, then headed out for the long drive north. We found the home of the Zepp family and visited with Mathias and his brother, then with his parents. We spoke German at first, and then, after his parents came, we spoke English. His mother lived in America for a while and he worked for the American Army on the base there until it closed. It was nice seeing him again.


Our Elder Zepp in Mannheim

After that, we headed on the road to Siegen and arrived there when it was getting dark.


Siegen in the misty evening (from our hotel window)

We got up and had breakfast there and left to find some cities of my ancestors. We went through Freudenberg and took some pictures,

Here is a picture looking through some homes of Freudenberg looking into the hills. Notice the city coat of arms on the garbage bins in the foreground.



In Freudenberg

then on to Oberfischbach. The navigator (Siri) on the phone had a fun time pronouncing the German names in American fashion, especially "Oberfischbacher Strasse". We picked up some postcards at one of the places where we stopped.


Oberfischbach - see the distinctive shale shingles



The Oberfischbach church

Our Buchanan ancestor, Anne Margrethe Bach was born here and probably christened and married in this church, or it predecessor. One date on the church shows the tower as being built in 1793 and our Bach ancestors left the area in 1737. Anne Margrethe's maiden name was Hansmann. There is some question whether it is Hausmann or Hansmann. All my former records show Hausmann, but recent research seems to indicate that it should be Hansmann. He parents were married here also, and the original record says that he, Hermann Hansmann (or Hausmann) was from Rossel/Dattenfeld in a region about 30 miles west of here.

From there, we headed out to try to find Dattenfeld and Rossel. [Note: We have quite a few pictures from Rossel and Dattenfeld, so I may later make a separate blog just for them. A few are included here to illustrate the story here.] We found Dattenfeld OK and spent some time taking pictures in and around the old Catholic Church there where my Hansmann ancestors attended and were christened.




Inside the Dattenfeld Catholic Church

From there, we tried to find a way to Rossel, but the construction was such that we went up and down several roads (including a road that was closed - a truck driver stopped us and made us turn back). After trying another road that was wrong, a man on a motorcycle came towards us and asked what we were looking for. He was amazed that we asked about the village of Rossell. He was from there and offered to show us the way and visit with us there.


Following Karl on his Motorcycle towards Rossel

We followed him for about 30 minutes and after a very long diversion around the construction, through some beautiful countryside, we entered Rossel. He took us to his home and offered us something to drink and we had a nice visit with him. His name is Karl Roos and he was once the head of the historical organization there and had collected quite a bit about the history of the town. He said that he was delivered as a baby by a man named Hansmann. He showed us numerous records and books. none of them showed Hausmann as a name, but rather Hansmann, so I am pretty sure that is how out family name is spelled. He asked me to help him with the translation of a document he had. He also offered to have a friend of his, named Hansmann, who has been doing research in the family, to contact us.


Karl and his antique tractor

Karl took us on a walking tour of the old part of the village and showed us where some of the old buildings stood. He had hoped to show us a house that had belonged to a Hansmann, but was not able to do that. He was truly a blessing for us. We traded contact information and after showing us an overlook area, we parted company.


Karl taking us on a walking tour of old Rossel





We headed out and went on our way to Hamm. We stopped in Waldbröl to fill up the gas tank and contacted sister Upmeier, then went on and met the Upmeiers at their place in Hamm. They served us some afternoon tea and after a nice visit, (and helping us get our laundry done) we had a tour of their yard and the served some Abendbrot, then we turned in for the night.


The Upmeiers and I in front of the Hamm chapel

We had breakfast with the Upmeiers and then we went with them to the Hamm church building and looked around. It was a nice building, much better than the rented hall where we met as a branch 46 years ago when I first met the Upmeiers.

We then left, heading out to Oldenburg to see Tobias Schipper and family. They live in Westerschede. He set up and paid for a hotel room for us.


The hotel where we stayed in Westerstede

After giving a us a tour of their house and our visit with the family, we went back to the hotel. We walked about a bit, meeting up with the family there and looking at a store for some lace curtains. We walked around a bit more, then went to Bad Zwischenahn and visited with Tobias' mother and had some tea with her and had a nice visit.


The Schipper Family (Cecilie was running around at the time)

 After that, Tobias took us on a walk around the city and to the lake. After going back, we went on to the school in Westerschede where Johanna and her Kindergarten class put on a presentation. The children played the parts of hedgehogs who lived in a garbage dump, some of whom found old guitars and became rock stars until they were injured in a car crash. (I am not making this up.) Their daughter is the one in the back between the green and blue guitars.


Hedgehogs as rock stars

We watched that and then went back into town to walk around some, spending time at the lake at Bad Zwischenahn.


 We met up with Simone and Cecilie and Johanna at a restaurant and has a nice Serbian dinner with them.


After our dinner and visit, we went back to our hotel and said our goodbyes to Tobias.

The next morning, we headed out towards Hamburg and on to Denmark. We had originally planned on driving up the Danish peninsula and then over the bridge to the Sjælland island, but the traffic information on the said it would be faster to take the ferry across from Fehmarn over to the island. It would be more expensive, but we were planning on coming back that way anyway, so we did it. We needed to be at the hotel by 4 PM.. We got there OK and paid about $180 for a round trip ticket to Denmark on the Ferry.




Yes, we do believe in Ferries! (an old family joke)

This report is continued in the next blog entry - on into Denmark!

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.)

Fall 2016 Family and Europe Trip - part 2 - Visits with Family Before Flying to Europe

We arrived in Maryland to the home of Aaron and his family late in the evening of Sunday (Sept. 11). We drove past Washington DC and I thought of the memorial services that had taken place in honor of those who lost their lives 15 years ago in our nation's capitol.

We were very happy to see our family and the beautiful granddaughters (and their cat).



The Girls and cat Bandon

We enjoyed a few days of relaxing and helping the family. Some of the children had bouts of illness, but we ended up having a good time with the family.



Headed out for a walk

We also helped with the errands and around-the-house activities, and all was well except I sprained some back muscles some and that slowed me down for a few days. I found me a walking stick in the nearby woods which helped me get around, but only needed it for a few days. Their place is near some woods and there are deer and squirrels in abundance. Several deer were often around the house. It drove the dogs crazy, but the deer just mainly ignored them.



Deer may safely graze

Later in the week, we went up to Gettysburg and were joined by Mary and her family from New York. Here is a picture with some of the family as we climbed to the top of one of the strategic hills of Gettysburg.


Exploring the hills by Gettysburg

It was fun to see how the kid cousins love each other!



Here I am next to a coupe of trees that seem to be hugging each other.


Shauna looking over the Gettysburg battle area





Shauna spoke with one of the guide volunteers: "On the crest of one of the hills, I saw an older man telling stories about the Battle of Gettysburg.  He was dressed in a Union uniform and told how important this hill was to winning the battle.  They had sharpshooters along the edge who could shoot accurately at 1000 yards.  The rock formation in the gully was about 500 yards away.  Impressive!  As the battle became more intense, one of the Union General's was racing with two aides riding along the edge of the ridge to get to this hill.  An old farmer stepped out from behind a tree and grabbed the bridle of the General's horse.  He told his barn had been burned down.  "And who is going to pay for my barn to be rebuilt!" he demanded.  The General listened to his ravings and then leaned over and slapped the old farmer across the face, who stepped back in surprise and dropped the bridle.  "If I don't get to the top of this ridge in the next few minutes to help support our cause, you may not have a country left tomorrow!"  Later I saw this same Union clad gentleman walking through the dusky evening, heading towards his home.  We were at least 2 miles away.  He stopped long enough to warn us about the 4 kinds of ticks in the grass and then moved on.  I called thanks to him, but he didn't show he had heard.  What an act of service to share those stories with us."

Here is a panorama shot Shauna took with her phone.


On the 17th, during the day, we went to a park area on the Seneca River and the kids played in the water.


In the later afternoon, we went to the swimming pool. In the evening, they had pizza for the kids and we went to an Italian restaurant as adult couples.

Sunday, Sept. 18 - We got up and going and went to church as a group. Later, we had a nice dinner together and played some games in the evening.



The next day, we drove up to Cunningham falls and spent time at a reservoir near there.


After a while, we all hiked up to the falls.




Hava at the falls

The next day, the two of us traveled, Quinn with us, north to New York. The following day, in the morning, he drove us to the airport in Rochester for our flight to Europe - continued in the next blog entry.

Fall 2016 Family and Europe Trip - part 1 - From Utah to Virginia

This is the beginning of several blog posts I will be making detailing the experiences we had in our recent extended trip to see family and friends in the East and in Europe.

We had hoped to have completed the sale of our home by the 1st of September and then start on our trip later that day, however, the process took longer than planned. After closing on our home on the 7th, we left the valley heading south, intending to cross the country on Interstate 70 and visiting a few temples along the way.

We first headed to Fruitland and visited an old friend, Vickie Potter in their rustic home. It had been a number of years since we saw the Potters after they moved from our West Jordan neighborhood, so it was good to see her again. He was away at the time, so we missed him.

Shauna and Vickie

Rather than going all the way down to I-70 initially, we decided to follow US highway 40, so we went to Vernal, visited the temple there and then headed east from there into Colorado.

Shauna at the Vernal Temple

We began looking for a place to have a late lunch and ended up at a little café in Dinosaur, Colorado. It was a small place where the only woman there was waitresses, cook, and babysitter.

Don't I look like a bundle of joy?

We spent the night in Golden, Colorado and then visited the Denver temple and participated in a session there, serving as the witness couple.



At the Denver Temple

We traveled the rest of the state of Colorado and across Kansas, staying the night near the Kansas City, Missouri Airport. The next day, we attended the temple in Kansas City and were once again the witness couple. It was wonderful to mingle with the members attending these sessions with us. Everywhere we go, the blessings of the Lord can be found among the people.



Shauna at the Kansas City Temple

After Kansas City, we struggled through the rush hour traffic of the city and then made our way across the state to St. Louis and found the temple there. We attended there and were once again blessed with being asked to be the witness couple for the session.



 The St. Louis Temple    

After leaving St. Louis, it was getting towards evening and we drove through the city, saw the grand arch, 



A drive-by of the Arch

crossed the Mississippi River and on into Illinois.



Crossing the Mississippi into Illinois

From there, we headed through and out of town (seeing the arch along the way), stopping for gas a little ways into  Illinois. The road conditions were difficult and so we took another route, but then back to Interstate 64 and on towards Indiana. The weather conditions were difficult with severe rain and also tornado and flood warnings along the way. It was dark and so it was difficult to see. I followed the tail lights of a truck most of the way. We stopped at a Hardees for some dinner and then on to Evansville, Indiana to stay at a Super 8 there, not far off the freeway. 

After Evansville, we traveled into Kentucky,



and on to Louisville and attended the temple there. Again, we enjoyed the wonderful spirit of the people. Usually the sessions were small, but the spirit was not. We were not the witness couple, but sat next to them.



The Louisville Kentucky Temple

We headed on towards Virginia, after stopping at a Kentucky Fried Chicken (in Kentucky).  I loved when the woman serving us at the window said, "And have a blessed day!"  True Southern hospitality! We enjoyed traveling again through Kentucky. It was beautiful seeing the horses running in their fields and the countryside is beautiful. After Kentucky, we went through the main part of West Virginia, including the capitol, Charleston. 



From there to Virginia was beautiful, except for the tolls required, not in themselves that they were much, but that we found out too late that they did not accept credit cards and we were out of cash. 

At last, by evening, we arrived in Raphine, Virginia and visited with and stayed the night with Beth and Ray. The next day was Sunday and we attended church with them in the Lexington, Virginia Ward. After a nice meal that Ray cooked, we visited a while and then headed out to Maryland to visit Aaron and his family (continued on the next blog entry).



Here we are with Ray and Beth in Virginia

Here we are together. Next is a picture as it looks behind us at their beautiful place.



(Continued on the next blog entry.)

Our Changing Life

We sold our home at the beginning of September. After our son moved out into his own place, we decided that we no longer needed a 6-bedroom home with a large yard. It was very, very difficult, especially for me, to leave our home of almost 36 years. We will miss it and especially miss our neighbors and friends. We will, of course, keep in contact with them, but unfortunately it always happens that the closeness is lost in the change.

We had many memories in our home, both good and bad, but primarily they were wonderful times.

As we finished our mission at the end of August, we also were finished with major upgrades in our home, prior to selling it. We had some help from friends in the ward, who provided much needed professional help, especially in upgrading our bathrooms. We love Kenny and Brien and appreciate their wonderful help in this. There were many others who helped and we appreciate them as well.

As we finished the mission, we also found it difficult to be less involved with those special people we came to know and love in our missionary service. We are continuing to keep connected with many of them and will do so in the future. We cannot cut off the love we had developed for them, but, again, the choice closeness will be unfortunately lost as well with them. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless them, and have already seen that He is still blessing many of them.

As we worked towards selling our home, we, of course, started working towards a new place to live and settled on a new home construction of a town house in the Daybreak community of Garden Park, in South Jordan. The home was not scheduled for completion until mid-October, so we planned to take a break after our mission was completed to travel for those 6 weeks. We are now back from that trip and are still waiting for the completion of our new home. It should be finished in the middle of next week. We have already gotten connected with our new ward and have already been extended calls in the ward.

Our trip that we just completed was simply amazing in many ways. Some days, we went to bed wondering how we could have had such incredible experiences, and found that the next day was the same or better! We visited our son and his family in Maryland and our daughter and her family in New York. On the way there, we visited many temples. From New York, we flew to Europe and visited our people in Ravensburg and then went up through Germany and into Denmark, finally returning to Hamburg, Germany and flying home, then visiting family for yet another week before traveling home.

The upcoming blog entries will describe that trip and show pictures. We have had many people ask about the trip, so we are sharing it in this manner. Also, some of our visits in Germany and Denmark was for the purpose of seeing the places where our ancestors lived, so some of these blog posts will be very specific concerning these family lines, so they may have a different audience of interest.

As we get settled in our new home, hopefully soon, we are also starting to fill out mission papers for our next mission, hopefully to begin next spring. We will keep you posted.

Thanks for all the wonderful times we have had with many of you. We love you all.

As a Hen Gathers

As you all may have noticed, I have not posted much lately. We have finished our mission and entered some significant changes in our lives. I intend to spend a little time now recording some of my thoughts that developed in the past few months in our mission.

Here is the first of several thoughts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The other day, as I was reading in the Book of Mormon, in my studies, I reviewed the phrase Christ used in saying that He would gather us as a hen gathers her chicks. I was waiting in the temple at the time, reading in third Nephi. The thought occurred to me how a hen really gathers her chicks. Having lived with chickens a lot as I was growing up, I recalled how she calls with a specific, steady, but quiet clucking sound. The chicks listening, respond very quickly, usually to see what is the focus of her attention, often something nice to eat, but as the Savior uses the phrase, it is for her to bring them under her wings for safety. We, too, are familiar with our Savior's quiet voice, though we often drown it out with the noise of daily life and concerns. Whereas the chicks are immediately ready to respond to her call, we usually have other things occupying our attention and do not hear nor respond to those quiet, steady call of the spirit and miss the outstretched arms of our Lord, waiting to bring us under His protection.

The metaphor is used by Jesus at the end of his ministry, recorded in Matthew, chapter 23 and Luke chapter 13 - also as I discovered it in 3 Nephi 10. I also found it better described in the Doctrine and Covenants, mentioning the voice:

D&C 29:2 Who will gather his people even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, even as many as will hearken to my voice and humble themselves before me, and call upon me in mighty prayer.

May we be always ready to respond to His call and come to his protection in this world of trouble and concern.