Our first Thanksgiving in Germany was very memorable, shared with good friends and fellow missionaries. It was followed by a very difficult Black Friday. Saturday was much better, including the Christmas Market in Erfurt, Germany, the city where Sister Rueckert's father was born. Our third stake conference this month finished off our week.
Our week started out pretty normal, video conferences with both of our senior missionary groups and preparations for events to come. On Tuesday morning, Sister Rueckert pointed out the window and I was able to capture a pretty amazing sunrise!
Wednesday we had another wonderful Book of Mormon class at noon. That evening we enjoyed our Old Testament class. When we returned we found that we had received a heart attack. We're not sure the source of this but we are thankful for good friends all around us. The treats and message left were tasty for our bodies and our souls.
We then went to work to prepare for our Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Sister Rueckert cooked brownies and a pumpkin pie and then I worked on 3 pounds of cranberries. I found that they didn't all fit into the measured out water and sugar that I had boiled. It took a little improvising, but in the end the cranberries turned out well.
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| Most of the cranberries cooking |
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| Finished products, cranberries and the pumpkin pie |
The next morning we went to the office and then left in time for the Thanksgiving dinner at 1 p.m. Sister Rueckert went home earlier to finish her yams, another contribution to the dinner. There was a full committee of sisters working on this dinner, making assignments, following up, decorating, etc. What an incredible effort and result. Some of the photos below show some the amazing Thanksgiving dinner with around 80 individuals This included missionary couples, single missionaries and other Americans and guests.
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| Desserts, including several pies and other delights |
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| Our cranberries, turned out to be almost all eaten, just about the right volume |
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| One of the decorated tables |
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| The main food table |
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| Most of us sitting down and ready for the dinner to begin. |
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| The food table from the other end after the first time through for everyone |
For Sister Rueckert and I, this was the first time in our married life that we were able to sit down and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together, without worrying about serving our children and grandchildren. It was really nice. Our total gratitude goes to those who spent much of the meal serving all of us. We couldn't have had a better Thanksgiving dinner on our mission. Our hearts are truly full of gratitude for all of our blessings and opportunities that we have had while serving in Germany.
We went back to work the rest of the day and prepared for our exciting plans for the next day. Let me first tell you what we had planned.
Since last August, I have been communicating with the Pastor's office in Mülhausen, Germany, where many of Sister Rueckert's ancestors are from. When we tried to visit them last August we had received no response from them. We finally called and they told us that the office was closed until September. So when I received an email in September stating that we could visit them on Fridays, we were excited. However, we did not have any more available time for family history visits at that time. A few weeks ago, our manager told us that he would be flying to England on the evening of Thanksgiving to take a personal leave for that Friday and the weekend, so we decided to take a day off on Black Friday to visit the Mülhausen pastor's office. We thought it would be fun to visit them in the morning and then spend the evening visiting the Erfurt Christmas Market which would be opening that week. We have been corresponding back and forth for the last few weeks with our plans. On Monday we received an email clarifying that they had original pastor books for births, marriages and deaths from the 1500s until the present. We were really excited. I have been on a family history high for some time. This week I had just linked some people that we had met in Bavaria with my family line, so I was feeling pretty good about my family history efforts. We spent time printing family group sheets and identifying all of the end of lines that we could search out. We were told that they would be open from 8:00 am until noon. I had made a reservation for a hotel to spend Friday night in the Erfurt area.
It turned out that there was an air pilot strike in Germany this week and our manager could not fly out on Thursday, but we went ahead with our plans anyways. We went to bed at a good time on Thursday night and awakened early on Friday to be able to leave soon after 6:00 am. We had what has been my normal Black Friday breakfast, leftover pie from Thanksgiving, and we were on our way. This was our first major trip with the new car that was assigned to us last month. In fact we had not even put gas into the car yet, since our travel around town has been limited.
We had never gone very far with the GPS in the car, so we knew we had some new things to learn. In our experience, we have never fully trusted the GPS. It seems to often want to take us off of the main road on detours, so often we resist the GPS suggestions. This morning was no different. We had been traveling for almost an hour when the GPS suggested a detour that would take an additional 20 - 30 minutes. It stated that there was an incident ahead with a closed road. We stopped and filled up with gas and evaluated the proposed detour. We were anxious to get to the pastor's office and did not want additional delays. The traffic had been perfect up to that point, so I (Elder Rueckert) decided to ignore the caution and went forward on our planned route. After about 15 minutes we came to a complete standstill on the freeway. It appears that the GPS was right, there had been an accident and the road was completely blocked. Too late for us to leave the freeway!
The fact is that we spent the next 6 HOURS STOPPED and waiting on the freeway. Seldom have I felt so helpless. I think I understood a little bit about people who have made mistakes and can't resolve them on their own. I knew that I had not heeded the counsel of the GPS and now I was paying the price. All of our plans went down the drain. We tried to call the Pastor's office with no success. We were able to leave a message. I was also able to send an email, letting them know of our situation. We spent our time, listening to conference talks from the last conference, studying German and finally Sister Rueckert took a nap while I worked on a Sudoku puzzle. It was a beautiful day outside while miles of cars were stopped for all that time. It is hard to describe the immense frustration that we felt but we were helpless to do anything about it.
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| A small part of the long line of vehicles. Many individuals out walking with nowhere to go. |
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| Another view of the cars. Ours is the small car that is turned facing the curve. We were asked to give a jump to someone with car trouble. We succeeded in helping, but that was the last time that the vehicles moved in any direction. |
Finally after more than six hours, the traffic started to move again. Eventually we passed the accident site where a large semi truck had overturned. There was a large crane at the site to lift the truck up from the side of the road. We don't know what else had occurred, but finally we were able to move again. We decided to still go to the city of Sister Rueckert's ancestors and perhaps look in the cemetary. We finally arrived there at around 3:30 pm. When we arrived, of course the office was closed and we found that there was no cemetery. We asked a few people in German and they all said that there was no longer a cemetery. We thought it was strange, but our understanding of German seemed consistent.
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| Entrance to the older part of Mülhausen |
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| Another view of the older wall of the city |
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| Sister Rueckert on the North side of the Church |
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| Sister Rueckert on the South side of the Church |
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| A pretty full view of this majestic old Church |
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| Sister Rueckert under the light post on the side of the Church, decorated for Christmas |
Finally I thought to check to see if there was a different address on the email than the one that I had of the main Church. I found that it was different, although in the same city of Mulhausen. However, when we put the postcode into the GPS it showed a place more than 200 kilometers from there. We thought that weird, but we took a few pictures of the Church and then left, heading to our hotel.
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| Pastor's office at the Bei der Marienkirche, address by the main church |
When we finally got to our hotel later that night, I checked the address on the email in Google Maps and found that it was from a different Mülhausen in a different part of Germany. In other wards, all of this time I had been communicating with a pastor in a different city than I had thought. Even if we would have made it through the 6 hour delay, we would have been at the wrong pastor's office! So now we found out that our dream was not even real.
We went ahead and put the address for our hotel into the GPS and proceeded towards the hotel. Unfortunately the GPS took us to a road that was under construction prohibiting access in the direction we needed. We could not get the GPS to change it's mind. So we decided to head towards Erfurt and eventually the GPS would adjust. When we finally got near Erfurt, it told us that we still had 80 kilometers to go. Somewhat repentant for the problems of the morning we chose to follow the GPS. We went past Erfurt by about 60 kilometers. Apparently, I had reserved a hotel that was about 45 minutes away from Erfurt. We kept going south and eventually through a 5 mile tunnel. After the tunnel we turned back north for another 15 kilometers, climbing a mountain side in the dark and with significant fog. The GPS was asking us to make turns that we could not see. By this time, we had had enough. When we got to the location, we could not find our hotel, since the GPS had not accepted the exact street address. We asked questions and finally found our hotel, getting checked in about 6:30 pm. The following are photos that we took the next day in daylight, but they relate to the end of this drive.
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| South entrance to the tunnel. The sign states that the tunnel is 7,878 meters or almost 5 miles. |
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| Larger view of the tunnel through the mountain |
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| View inside the 5 mile tunnel |
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| View of the mountain as we came down |
We decided to not go to the Christmas Market in Erfurt that night. We had no desire to go back down the mountainside in the fog and we were exhausted after a very frustrating day.
We did not want to take any more chances, but wanted to recuperate for the following day. We found a nice restaurant at the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing time for the rest of the evening.
As we reflect on the challenges of that day we see much to be thankful for.
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| Restaurant in the hotel, beautifully decorated |
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| Some nice German food. Sister Rueckert had wienerschnitzel and I had Thuringia dumplings, red cabbage and rolled beef. |
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| By the Christmas decorations in the restaurant |
The next morning, the world seemed a lot brighter. We had breakfast and than drove to Erfurt to visit the Christmas Market. Below are photos of the drive and the fog.
After solving the parking challenge, we enjoyed a few hours at this Christmas Market. Christmas markets are common throughout Germany. This is the largest market in the state of Thuringia. We enjoyed this uniquely German experience in the land of our ancestors. The following are some of the photos from this Christmas Market.
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| At the entry of the Erfurt Christmas Market |
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| One of the car rides, a German fire engine |
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| By a life size nutcracker |
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| By a train ride |
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| Christmas decorations by the train ride |
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| A large ferris wheel that is part of the Christmas Market |
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| In front of the Ferris Wheel |
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| On the Ferris Wheel |
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| Photos taken from the Ferris Wheel |
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| Photo of much of the Christmas market from the top of the Ferris Wheel |
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| Photo of the old Church from the top of the Ferris Wheel. The Christmas market is in the plaza in front of this Church. |
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| Enjoying a bratwurst and hot chocolate |
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| Above the crowds we see the Church, the Christmas tree and the market stalls |
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| The most significant display, of the nativity. Life size wood carvings |
No trip to Erfurt is ever complete without stopping by the home where Sister Rueckert's father lived. Here we are again.
The ride home went as planned. We arrived home in time to be ready and participate in the Saturday night stake conference session. Sister Rueckert sang in the choir. This is the third stake conference we have participated in this month, including two in Cape Verde. Each stake president organizes a little different. Each is right for their stake. We enjoyed the visit of Elder Mendonza, an Area Seventy from Spain. He spoke with a translator on both Saturday and Sunday morning. We very much enjoyed his message and all of the messages. Since many in our stake don't speak German, there is translation service available so we were able to fully participate in all of the sessions.
We have learned much this past week, about repentance and the need for a Savior in our lives. This was taught to us in a very difficult way, but the message was clear. We were able to listen to most of the October 2016 conference during our travels and stops on the road. We were also instructed by our local leaders. We love the word of the Lord. When we listen to the Holy Ghost there is always something for us to learn.
We believe that the Holy Ghost is like the flame that powers the German nativity sets. This photo below is of the large Nativity set at the Christmas Market. The one below is the set that we purchased for us. It is powered by the light and heat of the candles. The impact of those candles turns the nativity. The light that we receive from the Holy Ghost turns and guides us in our lives.
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| We are still learning how to make this work. It is probably like the Holy Ghost, needing constant effort on our part. |
