Saturday, October 24, 2015

Ponderizing in Frankfurt in Autumn

We have been in Frankfurt all week, amazing!  It has been a wonderful chance to better organize and plan for the self-reliance work in Europe.  We have spent the entire week in the office and have had significant time with Thomas King our Area Self-Reliance Manager.  This has included planning for our manager seminar in December and the next Area Self-Reliance Committee next month.  We have also worked on many special projects relating to different challenges in our stewardship, all this while staying in Frankfurt.  The autumn colors are beautiful and the last few days have actually been mostly clear and beautiful.  The following photos are the view from the balcony of our apartment today:



This has allowed Debbie to get more accustomed to having her friend Bagley with her all the time. She has done amazingly well and has not missed a beat in her service.   We also have started to work harder on our German language.  We are learning a new phrase each day and sharing it with the receptionist at the Church Area Office.  We have also started back up with our language trainers at the MTC and are now committed to weekly goals.  As we study the language more, some of the words and phrases are becoming more familiar.  We have hope to make some progress!  In November, while we are back in the U.S., we will spend several days in the immersion program at the MTC, fully concentrating on German.

We also started this week with a weekly Ponderize scripture.  This includes a new form of studying all footnotes to the scripture and the footnotes to those scriptures and the footnotes to those scriptures.  This can go on forever, we stop when the scriptures start repeating themselves.  It is an amazing way to understand the message of the scripture in depth.

We chose to start this week with the power of doctrine to change behavior.  This has been a common theme that we have shared in several of our training sessions with priesthood leaders.  If we want them to be excited about the Self-Reliance initiative, they must understand the doctrine.  As we have been able to share the initiative from the scriptures, we have seen that many feel the spirit in the meetings and that changes their attitudes!

As we are studying this in more detail, it is powerful to see the power of the Word of God in our lives and in the lives of all who listen, not only to the words but to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  I personally believe that this is the main reason that we should read scriptures, so that the Holy Ghost will speak to us and we will be listening when this occurs.

Today we are heading to Venice, Italy for a training session with Bishops in that stake.  This will be our first visit with our SRS manager in Italy.  This will complete our goal of spending some one on one time with each of our managers before we return to the U.S.  We will spend a P-day in Venice on Monday and then return home to Frankfurt on Tuesday of next week  On Wednesday, October 28, we return to Utah, having exhausted our quota of days in Europe for the next while.

We will be visiting a urologist on the Friday morning after we arrive to better understand the treatment that Debbie will need.  Hopefully, this can be taken care during this time so that we return to Europe soon after Thanksgiving.  We are excited to see family and friends again during the month of November!




Sunday, October 18, 2015

Debbie's Health Part 2; Lessons learned in England

The following is an entry from Debbie's journal about her feelings, thoughts and spiritual growth while in the hospital in England::

"The first thing that I learned is that sometimes we ask for a blessing the Lord does not want to give us.  Tom and I both offered many prayers that my pain would go away.  The Lord knew that wasn't the blessing that I needed.  I can't even imagine what could have happened if my pain had gone away, I would probably have gone into kidney failure.  I needed the pain to force me to the hospital where I could get the blessing the Lord wanted to give me.

The phrase "Thy will be done"  has greater meaning for me know.  From now on I will always pray for the will of God to be done.

The timing of everything that happened was a miracle.  The first miracle is that we were in a country where we understood the language.  The second miracle is that we were staying with a missionary couple who were able to get us to the hospital and serve us in so many ways.  The third miracle, even though the National Health Care in England is questionable, they were willing to provide the services I needed without any red tape.  They were willing to work with us on the financial part.

Doctor Ryser, the Area doctor, was able to make an appointment for us to see an urologist on Tuesday afternoon, the day after returning from England, amazing!  Try doing that in the States.  It was a miracle that through this whole experience, I felt peace and a calm assurance that everything would be okay.  When Tom wasn't able to be with me, I was not alone.  I felt the loving arms of my Savior around me.  I don't know what the future holds for me and my health.  I know whatever it is, I will be able to get through it.  Evidently this bladder problem has been going on for a long, long time.  We don't know what damage there is to my kidneys.  Things may go back to "normal".  We don't know why my bladder doesn't empty the way it should.  Hopefully we can find some answers.  Although my future is uncertain, I know that my redeemer lives.  "He lives to comfort me when faint. He lives to hear my soul's complaint.  He lives to silence all my fears.  He lives to wipe away my tears.  He lives to calm my troubled heart. He lives all blessings to impart."

Once we got back to Frankfurt, we made arrangements to visit the urologist.  Dr. Reyser went with us to show us how to get there on a train.  It was really quite simple.  The urologist has his office right in the touristic downtown of Frankfurt.  The following photos show Debbie and Dr. Reyser on our first trip and Debbie riding the train.

In the first visit (on Tuesday), the urologist did a blood test and an ultrasound and scheduled for us to return on Thursday morning to remove the catheter and then return later that day for him to examine the bladder and urethra with urine in it.  This time we made the trip alone, just the three of us, Tom, Debbie and Bagley.


After removing the catheter, Debbie was unable to urinate for the next four hours.  When the doctor examined Debbie, he found no problems or obstructions in the urethra, but the bladder was still not emptying.  So Bagley was put back on and the three of us returned back by train.  Dr. Reyser set us an appointment with a trusted urologist in Utah for October 30, soon after we return next week.  So we will wait until then to find out how to solve the mystery of the dysfunctional bladder.

The good news is that we now know how to go downtown on the train where there are many beautiful and historic buildings.  At a future time, when the weather is better and we are in better physical condition, we will return and enjoy the sights.

We had previously planned on traveling to Finland on Thursday night and to Italy on Saturday.  I (Tom) made the short trip to Finland on Thursday night and Debbie stayed home.  I was able to visit the Helsinki, Finland temple on Friday morning and participate with our Self-Reliance manager in the training of members of two different stake committees on Friday afternoon and evening.  Although short, it was a very worthwhile trip.  Saturday morning early, I was able to return to Frankfurt and be with Debbie again.




We have delayed our trip to Italy for now, making sure we are getting adjusted to the new reality before we make any more trips.  This will give us more time to work with our new manager this week, as he is returning from training in SLC.


Self-Reliance in England

Let me take a step back and tell what we were doing in England before Debbie got sick.  It might be easiest to follow the numbers on the following map of England.




We flew into Manchester (1), England on Monday, October 5 and had a wonderful dinner with Elder and Sister Curtis, our SRS missionary couple there and spent the night in a local hotel.   The next day we went with our SRS Manager, Les, to Hull (2), England to visit a Healthy Living Self-Reliance Group.  It was our first experience to see senior citizens that don't have a temporal self-reliance need participating in a Self-Reliance group that is interesting to them, but still including the My Foundations course.

We also stopped by to get to know Les's wife and family on the way back to Birmingham (3), England at the end of the day.  We ended up spending about 10 hours in a car that day with Les, which gave us a wonderful time to talk about the Self-Reliance initiative in his region, which is United Kingdom, North.  The next day in Birmingham, we spent time visiting with another Self-Reliance missionary couple, Elder and Sister Michaelis and our SRS manager, Martin, who is responsible for the United Kingdom South.  We then spent the afternoon with meetings with the two managers and our Area Self-Reliance Manager, Thomas King, who joined us.  That evening we went to participate in a Stake self-reliance committee meeting and then continued on with a training of members of four stake self-reliance committees for another hour and a half.  I had the privilege to share insights of the Self-Reliance initiative worldwide, focusing on the doctrine and principles of Self-Reliance.  The entire session was interactive and we were able to answer questions from each of them.  The spirit was very strong in this meeting and we felt that all were spiritually fed and ready to take additional steps in their callings related to Self-Reliance.

The next morning we were picked up at our hotel by Martin, who took us to London (4), England , a drive of another 2 and a half hours.  There we spent the next two days in the historic  Hyde Park Chapel, participating with the two managers, their three Self-Reliance missionary couples, Thomas King, Debbie and I.  This included Elder and Sister Baxter who are serving as Self-Reliance missionaries in London.  The following photos are of the Hyde Park chapel and the Self-Reliance seminar:



At the end of the two day seminar, on Friday night, we were able to go as a group to the London, Temple to enjoy a temple session together.  What a wonderful way to finish this special time together.




After the temple session is when Debbie's pain became extra intense.  She was without pain during the entire temple session, which was a tender mercy from the Lord.  I have told that story in an earlier blog.  We did spend the remainder of our time in London with Elder and Sister Baxter, except for Debbie who was in the hospital.   However, why we were still trying to understand the issue, I was able to participate with a Starting and Growing My Business group in London on Saturday morning.  The girl on the right in the photo is a non member from China who is receiving lessons from the missionaries and is building relationships with members in the class.


Sunday night, while Debbie was in the hospital, I left for a few hours to participate in a training session for members of nine different stake self-reliance committees in the greater London area.  Our experience was similar to that in Birmingham, earlier in the week.  The spirit was strong, the leaders were dedicated and it was felt that this was a positive step forward for all involved.



Finally on Monday morning, we were able to get Debbie discharged from the hospital.   We went straight from the hospital to the airport in London. We missed our original flight, but were able to get booked on a later flight without the normal charges due to Debbie's medical situation.  Photos below show the front of the hospital where Debbie spent two nights.  The other is of Debbie in the airport in a wheelchair, which facilitated her experience in the airport and got us to the front of several lines.


Sunday, October 11, 2015

Debbie hospitalized in London

Just a quick blog to update everyone about Debbie.   She is currently in a hospital bed in London, England, recovering from a "urinary retention" problem.  Current problems have been resolved and long term solutions are still pending a doctor visit in Germany.  Please see details below:


Debbie has been having quite a bit of pain lately, we thought it was related to constipation.  We arrived in England on Monday and have been in meetings, traveling, missionary couple training, etc. all week.  We will update more on that in our next blog.  However, during the week she has suffered from constipation, which we felt was causing the pains that she was experiencing.  On Friday night we went to the London temple and Debbie was able to be pain free, a true tender mercy from the Lord.  However, after the temple, the pain began to intensify.


We arrived home late that night, close to midnight.  Debbie had been constipated all week and we thought her pain was related to that.  As the night progressed, her pain increased and she was unable to sleep at all.  Finally at 3:30 a.m. I went walking in my pajamas in London to find an all night pharmacy and buy suppositories and laxatives.  As I arrived back at our very tiny hotel room, we hoped that we had found the solution to her problems.

However, although there was temporary relief, Debbie continued to have pain.   A priesthood blessing helped for awhile.  Throughout the day on Saturday, she slept at the home of the missionary couple that we were visiting.  She did have some moments of relief and we felt that she was simply recovering.  She did not have enough strength to visit a self-reliance group that morning and also was not able to go to the theater showing of the Phantom of the Opera in London with myself and the missionary couple.  In these cases she stayed in the apartment and slept, with ups and down of pain.


By Saturday evening, Debbie was feeling quite well and we had hopes that she was recovering.  However, as soon as she started eating a little dinner, all the pains came back again, stronger than ever.  Finally we decided that we needed to head to a local emergency room, an A & E (Accident and Emergency).  We got there around 9:00 pm and began waiting.  While waiting Debbie went to the bathroom to urinate.  Soon after, she was called into the assessment room and about a half hour later, she was seen by a doctor.  He immediately asked for a urine sample and a blood test.  She was unable to furnish a urine sample.  As they felt her stomach, they immediately detected a severely enlarged bladder that was full.  Over the next few hours they were trying to get an I.V. on her, which is nearly impossible with her thin veins.  Finally, after poking both arms and hands several times, they were able to get an I.V. set up through her foot.   They advised us that she would be in the hospital for at least 24 hours.  They then started to put in a catheter to drain her bladder.  I was excused from the room during this effort, so I went home with Elder Baxter and got some things so that I could stay the night with her, which I was told was possible.

I then had Elder Baxter just drop me off with the idea that I would call sometime the next day to see how long I would stay at the hospital.  When I got back to the hospital, they were still finishing up with the catheter and had removed almost 2 liters of urine.  You must consider that a bladder is supposed to only hold 16 to 24 ounces of urine and they removed over 60 ounces.  They said her bladder was enlarged almost 5 times and this was causing the severe pain.   The medical terminology of the problem is "urinary retention".   The good news is that there was no infection in the urine.

With the urine removed, she was relieved of the pain and started immediately to feel better.  However, they noted that her kidney was in bad shape, based on the stress that the enlarged bladder had caused.  During the ensuing day, they had hoped that the health of the kidney would return, which appears to be happening.  

Finally about 2:30 am, Debbie was moved into a hospital ward, with 5 other ladies.  Each could have privacy with a curtain around the bed.  There was one chair next to the bed, so I decided that I would sleep on the chair, not very comfortable, but workable.  About 3:00 am I was awakened by a nurse who stated that I could not stay in the ward, since there were other women there and I would have to stay in the waiting room downstairs. We were on the 4th floor of the hospital.  So I went downstairs and found a few metal chairs without arms together so that I could lay down.  After a little while a security guard came and told me that I couldn't stay there.  I told him what I had been told and that I had no way to get back to the missionary home, since they were now fast asleep.  He showed me into a different waiting room with a soft bench and that was in the dark.  Perfect for sleeping.  Once again, I laid down.  After starting to dose off, I was awakened by a different guard who said that I could not sleep there, but would have to sit in the chairs by the front desk.  These were very uncomfortable and almost impossible to sleep in, so I finally called Elder Baxter back, waking him up and had him pick me up again so that I could sleep in their extra bed.

I chose to sleep for almost 6 hours before returning to the hospital.  When I arrived, around 11:00 am (three hours before visiting hours), Debbie had already been visited by several doctors and nurses, including those who wanted to see how we were going to pay for the hospital visit.  By the time that I had arrived, they had all left, being a Sunday.  So we spend several hours together, talking and studying the Infinite Atonement together.  I worked on as much as I could with the hospital, knowing that most would have to be taken care of the next morning.  Finally, I left the hospital at 4:30 to go to a training meeting that we had with stake self-reliance committees from 9 different stakes.  by 9:30 pm Elder Baxter and I were back in the hospital visiting with Debbie and giving her a priesthood blessing.

Now I am back in the home of Elder and Sister Baxter, updating this blog.  In the morning I will go back to the hospital to see how soon we can get her discharged.  It depends on blood tests, the condition of her kidney and keeping the catheter in until we meet with a doctor in Germany.  The bottom line is that they have solved the short term problem, but do not want to remove the catheter until we can identify the source of the problem.  We will need to reschedule our flight back to Germany, since we do not know when she will be discharged.

Once again, we can see the hand of the Lord in all of this.  This problem occurred while we had access to a wonderful missionary couple and an extra bedroom in their apartment.  It happened in a location with good medical care and the English language.  Things could have been much worse.  We also have identified a problem that has probably existed for some time.  We are thankful for His blessings and help during this difficult time.

For now, all is well.  We will update this blog as things progress.  The people at the hospital have been very helpful and kind.  We will leave London with memories different than we were expecting.  

Sunday, October 4, 2015

General Conference in Germany

First, let me describe the logistics of watching General Conference in Germany.  On Sunday, we went to Church in our English speaking ward.  It was announced that this week was General Conference, but there was no mention of times and locations where it could be viewed.  Since we are 8 hours ahead of Salt Lake, there was reasonable doubt if it would be shown and when, live or delayed.  We assumed that something would be available or we could watch by internet.

As the end of the week approached, missionary couples that we thought could give us some direction were out of the office, our boss was new to Frankfurt and did not know either.  So we thought we would wait and see.  Saturday was a holiday in Germany which made things more different still.

We had learned earlier in the week, while trying to watch Elder Scott's funeral live, that live event streaming was not allowed in Germany.  So on our Saturday afternoon, at 6:00 pm, we tried to watch conference on the internet, with the expected result, that live video streaming was not available.

However, we decided to try watching on ksl.com, which seemed to work, but with inconsistent results during Elder Uchtdorf's opening address.  I looked out the window and saw a few cars near the Church, so I left in my jeans to check the Church out.  When I got there, I could see that conference was showing in the chapel, so I ran home and Debbie and I got changed and headed to the Church.  As we walked to the Church, I finally remembered that we were in Germany and the conference that would be shown in the chapel would likely be in German.  However, we continued to the Church.  When we got there, we confirmed that the conference in the chapel was in German, but we did hear President Uchtdorf speaking in English in the Cultural hall.  So, we entered the cultural hall to see conference being projected onto the stage in English, but no one attending.  We got two chairs out and Debbie and I watched conference alone with a big screen presentation.

During the congregational sing in the middle of the session, I went to the hall and saw that there was another room full of young missionaries with some investigators watching also in English.  Well, we finished our private viewing in the Cultural hall until the end of the first session, which ended at 8:00 pm, our time.  Afterwards we found a member of the stake presidency who told us that there would not be a showing of the next session live, since it was so late, only on Sunday afternoon for those who were interested.

However, he did note that he was able to watch the conference on his lap top on the Mormon Channel, using a VPN connection.   That stands for Virtual Private Network and it is software that is available on my Church laptop and it links directly into the Church network.  With that new knowledge, we returned home and watched the Saturday afternoon session from our home at 10:00 pm until midnight.  As such, we were able to see live the calling of the three new apostles as well as enjoying all of the talks from our leaders.

We chose to go to bed before the Priesthood session which began at 2:00 am our time.  When we awoke, we watched the Priesthood session during our Sunday morning from lds.org, without it being live.  Using the same tools, we were able to watch the Sunday sessions at our 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm and participate live in the remainder of General Conference.

Thank goodness for technology, we were able to feel the same spirit of conference right from our apartment.  This was the first time that Debbie and I have ever watched General Conference without children or grandchildren with us.  It was quite enjoyable.


Different situation, same great spirit and revelation.  We are so thankful for General Conference, to hear the words from our living apostles and prophets, there is nothing that compares to this outpouring to he spirit.

Some of the themes that we felt strongly were as follows:

  • The calling of the 3 new apostles, their wonderful testimonies on Sunday and the amazing tribute that was given to them and to the apostles that had passed on since last conference.
  • Incredible tribute to the women of the world, certainly in their role as mothers (Elder Holland) and as wives (President Nelson)
  • A strong theme to caution us against the tools of the devil, especially the worldly criticism of Joseph Smith and the history of the Church.  Nothing new in the world's criticism, but so much more available to confuse members due to the strong internet presence.  I loved the words of Elder Neil Anderson, "Faith not by chance, but by choice" and his request to"give Brother Joseph a break", especially after looking at the totality of his life and his work.
  • Loved the talks by our dear Prophet.  In the Priesthood Session he clearly taught us the simple counsel to "Keep the Commandments".  On Sunday morning he taught us to be the light of the world.  He taught diligently, even though he was clearly struggling physically by the end of his talk.  We sure do love our prophet.
  • Wonderful tributes and lessons of our Savior by President Eyring and Elder Costa and so many others.
  • Strong messages about the deterioration of our times, including the enlarging of the great and spacious building.  Certainly we need to listen to our leaders, we are blessed to have living apostles and prophets to guide us.
With all of the wonderful counsel, perhaps one of the most meaningful to me was from Elder Larry Lawrence in the first session, where he counseled us pray to our Heavenly Father and ask "What is keeping me from progressing? or What lack I yet?"  He gave excellent examples of answers that we might receive.   Debbie and I have both applied this counsel and received some very specific counsel from our Heavenly Father, different for each of us, but very personal.  I recommend that we all do this and we will receive revelation that is especially for us!

As Debbie and I have shared our thoughts from these personal revelations, our love for each other is magnified.  What a joy it is to be married to a righteous spouse who loves the Lord and tries each day to be a better person.  She constantly helps me to want to be better and gives me encouragement as we go through life and certainly while we serve together as missionaries.





Saturday, October 3, 2015

Unification Day in Germany, blessings from heaven this week

Today is Unification Day, celebrating 25 years since East Germany and West Germany were reunited.  We understand that all of the stores in Germany are closed and celebrations are occurring downtown.  This country really knows how to have a holiday, not just a day off of work.

For us it is also General Conference day, although we have to wait for our night time for it to begin.   For Debbie, it is the first time in her life that she has not been in Utah for General Conference.  This week we tried to watch the funeral of Elder Scott through the internet, but we got the message that live streaming of these events is not allowed in Germany.  As soon as the funeral was over, we were able to watch it on the internet, just not live.  We assume that we will have the same situation today and tomorrow, so we might be a few hours behind the rest of you to hear the words from our prophets, seers and revelators.  At least we can get to them quite quickly after each session finishes.

This has been a week full of blessings here in Frankfurt.  First of all, we have been able to stay in the same place for a full week.  By Monday morning, Debbie will have spent 9 nights in a row in Frankfurt for the first time.  However, on Monday afternoon we are flying to England, so 9 days will have to stay the record for some time.  Neither of us has made it to 10 days yet.

During this week, we have gotten more settled and have received many blessings from our Heavenly Father.  First of all, our exercise goals have been difficult to keep while doing so much traveling.  When we arrived back in Frankfurt from the U.S. last month, it was already turning fall and the weather was quite a bit cooler and rainy.  Our morning walks and jogs through the cemetery were not quite as much fun.  So we thought about getting an exercise bike that we could use in our apartment during poor weather conditions.  On Monday morning we sent an email to all of the senior missionary couples (several are leaving in the coming month or two), asking if any had an exercise bike that they wanted to sell.  That night our zone leader, Elder Riggs, brought up a stationary bike that he had inherited when he arrived and which he had never used, it was in a storage shed.  We were thrilled!  It needed batteries which we bought the next day and have found that it is in excellent shape and is an answer to our prayers.


It actually gets better.  We found that our I Pads fit perfectly on the instrument panel of the bike, so it is super easy to read from the I Pad while we are biking.  I love multi-tasking, it makes it so much easier for me to exercise if I can be doing something else worthwhile at the same time.  We are both using this time to read (reread for Debbie) the book "The Infinite Atonement"  by Elder Tad Callister.  This is an amazing book, it presents and explains the atonement in such a wonderful way.  We have made this part of our daily study efforts and we can do it while working out.

We moved into a new apartment right before we returned to Utah at the end of August, so we are still getting settled.  We were furnished a nice couch, but no love seat or chair.  This week, when I went to run (while Debbie was biking) I saw a nice chair in a spot where old furniture is discarded waiting to be taken away.  Yesterday, I showed it to Debbie when we went for a walk and we both agreed that it would be perfect in our living room.  It is in excellent shape, so this morning I went out and carried it to our apartment building and up the elevator.  Now we have additional sitting space in our living room and it helps fill our blank wall.  See our new couch and our new "to us" chair with some pillows that we brought from the U.S.


Last night for our date night, we stopped to make a few purchases, since the stores are closed today.  In a nearby mall, Debbie found a few items so that she can put some decoration to our apartment.  Now we have a nice wreath on our door, something that Debbie has always had during our married life.  We also have some hedge hogs and a mushroom.  This wasn't free, but didn't cost too much.  

Hedge Hogs and a Mushroom in our living room
New fall wreath on our outside door

At minimal cost, we have been able to make our apartment "our home".  We fully recognize the hand of our Heavenly Father in our lives. He helps us in all things, including these seemingly small items.  

This has been a beautiful week in Frankfurt.  The weather has been on the cool side, but it has been beautiful with blue skies and no rain.  This has still made for enjoyable opportunities to go running in the mornings.  On Thursday I went back and recreated the scene of the 5K run when I got lost in Frankfurt (see July blog post).  This time I paid better attention and was able to complete the course with only two temporary wrong turns.  Even with the wrong turns, I was able to finish the course in under 30 minutes.  Today Debbie and I walked in the same area and I was able to share where I missed my turn during the race.  I have added photos of the beautiful area and the challenging turn that I missed.







Park (to the left) where most of the race took place. 








Below is the street where I missed the turn, see where I am standing.

 Above is the turn that I should have taken to go to the finish line.  Below is the overpass that I followed, a continuation of the street where I was running.  Once I went over the overpass, all of my efforts just made me more lost.  Now I understand!


Our week at work has been very productive as we have worked very closely with the new Area Self-Reliance Manager, Thomas King.  He is very capable and a joy to work with!  Our role is to assist him and work together to strengthen this initiative throughout Europe.  He will spend some time with us in England and then on to Utah for some training there.  We feel that with his capabilities, our assistance and the help of the Lord, whose work this is, we will see many members in Europe become more spiritually and temporally self-reliant.