OUR FINAL MISSION BLOG!!!!!

We are home and it is wonderful!  Thanks to all who have followed our blog!!!
We want to share a few pictures of the places we traveled to that were never written about previously!  
Way back in September we were assigned two audits in PARIS...are you kidding us, we asked.  What a thrill it was to see all the sights we had dreamed about for so long!  Bev thought it was worth the entire mission just for the week in Paris.  We were told to allow 3 days for the audit so planned 3 days for touring on our own.  The 2 audits were done in one day so we had 5 days to tour and were able to see everything we wanted and even added a day trip to Fontainbleu which was a bonus!

Fontainbleu was a gorgeous, ornate palace an hour's train ride outside of Paris!

The Louvre not only displayed gorgeous art work but was 

an exquisitely beautiful building:

Versailles and the Hall of Mirrors:

The grounds and back  view of Versailles:

Here is the famous Notre Dame Cathedral and

Sacre Coeur was a beautiful Cathedral in Mont Martre District

Bev loved seeing the L'arc de Triomphe

And of course,  The Eiffel Tower!  We visited in the day but decided to go up to the top in the night to see all the lights in the city!

In March, our daughter Sheri and grandson Jackson came to see the sights of Germany and we all went to Prague...what a gorgeous city!!!

Here they are in Heidelberg...it was freezing the entire week!

On the Charles Bridge in Prague:

The view of the Palace and Cathedral from Charles Bridge:

On the drive home we stopped at Rothenburg to show them 

this perfectly preserved medieval German town:

We saved some of our audits for March and April hoping the weather 

would be warmer...here is Stockholm, Sweden:

We had 4 days off for Easter so went with 2 other couples, The Livingstones and the Moores, to Switzerland.  We had a great time but unfortunately it was cloudy and we barely saw the Alps.  Enroute we stopped in Straussburg, France to see this charming town and gorgeous stained glass windows in the cathedral:

Paul & Bev in Lucerne:

Our dear sweet friends and this gorgeous cathedral in St. Galen, Switzerland:

Our final trip was to Belgium and The Netherlands to do 2 audits.

We loved the Grand Place Square in Brussels:

It was REALLY beautiful at night!

We went on to Ghent, Belgium to see this castle:

Then on to Brugge for a canal tour:

We loved touring Amsterdam with it's charming canals and row houses:

The tulips at Keukenhof Gardens--Soooo colorful and gorgeous!

The windmills at the open air museum Zaanse Schans:

Paul is modeling a king sized pair of wooden shoes:

Our exit interview was with Elder Kearon, of the Area Presidency, an extraordinary man!!!

The same day our office colleagues and friends

 had a fabulous farewell party for us:

We worked with such fun and wonderful people they made our

 "life at the office" very enjoyable!!!  We will always remember them!

Our last night we enjoyed a fireside with our Senior Missionary group and

had more heart wrenching goodbyes.  It was a joy and a privilege to serve with this group and we will miss them so!!!

BUT...then we had an amazing welcome at home from our kids with balloons and signs at the airport, signs on the garage, signs, flowers and cookies in our home and a full fridge!  It was so great to see them!

We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve our mission and loved it but...

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

LIFE IN FRANKFURT, GERMANY

Our blog has shown our travels and fun BUT...we actually LIVE and WORK on our mission!!!! So we thought we'd share some of our daily activities...and the people who make our work enjoyable!!!  This is our office in Bad Homburg, in the village of Ober Erlanbach.  Located here is Finance, Fleet, MSR (Membership, Statistical Reports) Purchasing, Auditing, ITS (Information Technical Services) and the Distribution Warehouse which is used for shipping church materials and supplies all over the world (the only one outside of Salt Lake).

Here is Paul's desk and him hard at work...he actually knows how to use that computer!!!!

Bev works with Magnolia Froehlich...better known as Maggie!!!  She is the administrator of the church credit cards for the Europe Area and so darling and absolutely hysterically funny.  We laugh all day.  We have a beautiful view and our lovely office is in between  the Finance Manager (from Spain) and the Area Controller (from the US)

Our "Team" is shown here at our Halloween party...we do have fun and love our friends.  They are from Germany, UK, Italy, Ireland, and of course us from the US-we  love all the accents!  With no costume supplies, we came as chefs with homemade paper hats.

Here is the gang at Paul's birthday celebration!

This is a picture of Ober Erlanbach from a distance...such a lovely village:

Last fall, the sugar beets were harvested and then left in big piles by the road.  There is a tremendous amount of agriculture here with a views of downtown Frankfurt in the background.

Mailmen deliver the mail by bike!!!

Now you get to see what you've all been waiting for...our apartment.  

Here is the outside..and it really doesn't look as good as this picture!

We live on the fourth floor, but in Germany the ground floor is "0".

We do have a pleasant view from our balcony.

Here is the bathroom before the washer and dryer were moved in:

And now after the addition of the washer and dryer:

It is VERY cozy and very AQUA...but we are grateful

 to have a washer and dryer in our apartment!!!

German apartments come without kitchens or light fixtures so the church

 had to install a new  IKEA kitchen.  It is light and bright although 

no disposal or dishwasher.  I do love having new appliances! It is actually 

larger that many Sr. missionary couples' kitchens!!! 

Here is our living room:

The couch is a hide-a-bed so that is great...and we got to choose a new rug.

We hook our computer up to the TV and watch shows!

These pieces provide a lot of storage. 

Here is our IKEA bedroom:

German apartments do NOT come with closets so they have to be purchased and  moved in.

We do have a study, and we moved in an additional closet in that room which provides much needed storage for coats, cleaning supplies,  acts as our food pantry.

The Frankfurt Temple is 5 minutes from our apartment and  is very beautiful!!

Well, there you have it...we actually are comfortable and our apartment is probably one of the nicer ones in the Frankfurt Area Mission.  We are coming home on April 23rd. and look forward to living in our home once again.  Between now and then we will be traveling to Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin.

Austrian Adventure!!!

Last fall we took a few days off to travel to Salzburg, Austria before the snows came 

to the Alps!  We stayed in a charming hotel with the typical flower boxes.

The view from our balcony was gorgeous!  We couldn't get enough of the Alps!

We toured Salzburg...the "Sound of Music"city where many scenes were filmed. 

 Mirabell Gardens was the setting for several scenes from the movie.

In the background you can see the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which we toured a few days later.

The Cathedral in Salzburg was impressive and beautiful!!!

We took a drive around Salzburg and marveled at the beauty...

Austria must be the most beautiful place on earth!

Around every turn we saw mountains, lakes,  trees , villages, and  chalets!

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This is a picture of the town of Hallstatt, which is known for its salt mines. 

 We took a tour which began with a ride up the mountainside in a funicular.

The views from the top were amazing ....and then we were invited into the mine by our guide!

It was REALLY cold in the mine so we brought lots to wear and then we put on a suit provided by the mine because we traveled from level to level by slides (now that was fun!!!)

It was an amazing day full or gorgeous scenery and beauty!  Then it was back to Salzburg 

where we toured a beautiful cemetery and the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

We then traveled to Oberammergau but arrived very late at night because a protest (allowed by the government) closed the freeway for 4 hours.  We finally crept off at an exit and entered again after the protest site.  This town is where the Passion Play is held every 10 years and it is known for its painted buildings.

Then we went on to tour "Mad King Ludwig II's" castles.  The first was a summer palace called Linderhoff...small but ornate and beautiful with gorgeous grounds:

We were not allowed to take pictures inside...but here is one of an 

underground grotto where plays were performed.

Schloss Hohenschwangau was King Ludwigs's father's summer palace.  Much less ornate-- and finally the most famous castle Neuschwanstein...the inspiration for  Disney's  Sleeping Beauty Castle...unbelievable!!!!

Loved this trip!!!!!!!