Carol, the judge, declared them all winners. These are our pumkins out front of the church entrance during the Halloween party. My pumpkin is the tree, Sister Moser's is the word Doch. She started out to do BOO and made a mistake so she turned it into the German word for After All, or are you sure, or yes, that is so. The tiny one on top is Elder Craghead's. It took him an hour to decide what to carve, and hour to think about it, and half an hour to stencil it and about 30 mintues to carve it We were really teasing him. Told him he ought to be a doctor and he said he has been thinking about it. The bottom left pumpkin is Elder Sessions' and it is a bat. Elder Pinnau's is the hands and Elder Halvorsen's is the face. The kids loved the pumpkins. They are now outside our center lit up at night for a few more days. 
Saturday, October 31, 2009
And the Winner Goes To?
Elder Pinnau
Don't let him get his hands on a knife. He is getting ready to carve his pumpkin as part of the District's pumpkin carving contest. This is the kitchen in the church. Elder Pinnau goes home next week.
German Food Preparation
Here is our Bishop Herr, red shirt, and Brother Hack, our Landlord with his son Christoph and his wife (back turned) getting ready to serve crepes ala chocolate, or plain and waffles. This was at the Halloween party.
Bishop Herr is over the buildings for the Church in southern Germany. He is a wonderful man.
Halloween Costumes
We decided to get dressed up for the combined American and German Wards Halloween party and trunk or treat activity. No suit coat for me and a casual sweater for my beautiful wife.
Games, games, games
These are some of our youth and investigators getting ready to play spoons. It seems this is a pretty popular game at the center. The pictures on the wall are the pictures of those who come to the center.
Stake Dance
This is Klementina, one of our YSA, dancing up a storm. This was at the Stake Ball in Darmstadt. The leaders were disappointed that only 300 came. Last year they had 400. Not since BYU have I ever seen a Stake Dance with that many in attendance. It was for ages 14 and up. Everyone had a great time Even some of our 80 year old membes were dancing. There was a live band. We even danced 3-4 times. Out of practice.
Luau Dinner
Everyone enjoying the Luau. We had 26 youth in attendance. You see pictures of the Chinese investigators. In the background the girl with the red hair is German and the young man next to her is an American. These two were taking the lessons but decided to stop them. The Chinese have come several more times to family home evening and Institute.
Luau Sisters
These are the sisters who put on the Luau for the youth. Sammy, Sister Woods and Sister Togisala. Sister Woods is from Albania. They also demonstrated the Hula and taught the youth how to do the Luau. They taught the sisters, then the young men then had them dance together. 
Young Adults at Temple
This is a picture of our youth after the young adult baptismal session at the Frankfurt Temple. They were just getting ready to go to Darmstadt for the new year for Institute. Everyone who took pictures this day all said their pictures were took dark. I don't think anyone thought the sun would affect the picture the way it did. They will be closing the temple next summer to relocate the baptismal font. If someone is not careful and opens the curtains surrounding the baptismal font one can see the members leaving the Celestial room. There is a slope on the right side of the temple and the font will be built into the slope area. 
The Lights are On
A night view of the Fontain. Just moments after we took the other picture the lights came on and it was a beautiful view. The Tower in the back left is the old Water Tower. That is where we will be singing during the Chrismtas Market.
Mannheim Fountain
This is a night viw of the Mannheim Fountain. Our youth will be singing Christmas Carol here during the Christmas Market. It is a very beautiful park.
Mannheim Palace and University
The is the Palace in Mannheim. It was the main residence for the rulers. The one we posted earlier in Schwetzingen was the summer palace. This has 1,000 rooms. The center portion is a museum, very beautiful and very ornate. The wings are now the University of Mannheim. About 12,000 students attend here.
Only in Germany
This is the bag for the Truffles we enjoyed. At the very bottom in the right hand lower corner you will see the date by which these should be eaten. In Germany they put the day, then the month and then the year. 30.02.2010. (We would put 2.30.2010)I'll bet you didn't know that February has 30 days in Germany. 
Mini Lindt Chocolate Factory
We went to the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Köln. They have a mini factory there where you can watch chocolate being made and formed, thn buy what you see being made. Very interesting and oh yes, very good. Lindt comes out of Switzerland. We do love the chocolate over here. I would love to take a picture of the stores and their huge chocolate displays, but it is illegal in Germany to take a picture of the inside of a store.
Stained Glass Window in Köln Dom
One of the many beautiful stain glass windows in the Dome. Click on it to see the beauty.
Northside of Dom
This is coming from the Train Station. It is really quite and impressive building. It was started in 1245 and then work stopped during the 1600's and was finally completed in 1880. It is very dark from all the soot and dirt from all the years. They are doing some renovation as you can see if you click on the picture to enlarge it. You see this building and some of the other buildings and you get an idea where the Saints got images for the early Temples in Utah and the Assembly hall in Salt Lake, as well as the tabernacles in Brigham City and Logan.
Köln Dom
This is looking at the Dom from the East side. We were heading back to catch the train back to Heidelberg.
Cologne Train Station
Sister Miller, Elder Miller and Carol waiting for our train from Cologne back to Heidelberg.
ICE Train to Köln (Cologne)
This is Elder and Sister Miller and myself debarking from the train in Cologne, Germany. We took our preparation day to take the train to see the Cathedral in Cologne Germany. The ride was very smooth, but never came close to approaching the advertised speed of 300 Kilometers an hour, which is 186 miles an hour. It was more like 100 mph. Too many stops to get up speed. Still we had reserved seats and it was sure different than the train ride I took from Berlin to the Swiss Temple in 1963. Through East Germany we thought the train would derail. We could look out the window to see how wavy the rails were. We thought the Communists had been drunk when they laid down the rails. This time we never heard the clickety clack as you went over the rail connections, just a smooth straight ride. They are welded and ground smooth. Without the rails system and street cars Germany would come to a complete standstill. For about $4,000 dollars per person a year one can have unlimited rides all over Europe. If you want a sleeping car you pay an additional $30.
