20 September 2012

Greetings from Switzerland! We have had a whirlwind of a time since we left SLC on Monday morning. Thanks again to Margo and Ray for taking us to the airport and helping with all of our luggage. We had four 50 lbs suitcases and 2 roller carry on bags plus Dad's briefcase and a heavy tote for me that had my purse, iPad and everything that we couldn't fit anywhere else.  On top of that I was carrying my heavy winter coat so I didn't have to pack it. We left shortly after 11:00 and had a short trip to Seattle, Wash.  We had about a 15:00 min. walk to the next gate.  Dad's suitcases he was pulling tipped over on one of the moving sidewalks and he almost went down.  He was afraid we were going to miss our connecting flight so we half ran the whole way. It wasn't a marathon,Natalie but it sure felt like it.  We got to the next gate with 10 or 15 min to spare.  We paid extra to upgrade so we could sit by each other( the church doesn't get seat assignments for you when they purchase your tickets).  I thought the extra room would make a lot  of difference for us but not so.  A fairly large Irish mother with a 3 month old baby was sitting next to me. Behind me was a little girl who spent half the flight sticking her feet in my back and jiggling everything around.  I also forgot to take my pill to help me sleep until it was too late to take it.  I was afraid I would still be groggy when we got to Amsterdam.

Change of story.  The marathon was in Amsterdam running to catch our plane to Munich.  By the way, our connection was so tight that our luggage didn't make it on our plane and we had to wait for 2 hours at the airport in Munich for our luggage. Pres. Miles. requested the route through Seattle for his missionaries because it is a convent time for them to arrive in Munich.  But by now, too many of the missionaries are not getting their luggage because the transfer time is just too tight. I really hope he changes the itinerary.  Anyway, we got to Munich, had lunch with the mission president and his wife and they drove us to the banhof( train station).  They helped us get our luggage on the train and we were very grateful.  I slept most of the way to Stuttgart and when we arrived Miriam and Andrew and there two youngest children were there to pick us up.  Again, it was an adventure getting all the bags off of the train.  You have to get them all to an open area by the door so when the train stops and the door opens you can get everything off before the doors close and the train takes off again. 

Miriam and Andrew have been great!  They have quite a large home by German standards. They came to Germany about 5 months ago because Andrew had a 6 month deployment here. The military didn't authorize the family to come so they have been on there own as far as housing and school are concerned. They will be going back to Colorado in about 3 1/2 weeks. Andrew will be teaching at the Air Force Academy and I think he will retire as a Major after his assignment in Colorado Springs. 

This is getting too long. Actually, typing is quite easy for me on my iPad. 

Today we came to Switzerland for a senior missionary conference.  It was another adventure taking the train.  The Blodgetts( who we are replacing in Stuttgart) had quite a morning trying to get to the institute to meet us so Andrew could take us to the train.  Our train left at 9:58. They didn't get to the institute until about 9:45.  We raced to the station, Andrew dropped us off and we ran about a block with all of our luggage to the station. The Blodgetts are leaving directly from Switzerland to tour and then go home. So they each have a large suitcase and laptop,etc. I'm sure we were a sight in our dresses, suits dragging all these suitcases down the hill and through the banhof. The train was literally starting to roll by the time we all got on. Dad almost lost his arm when he stuck it in one of the doors to keep it open. The rest of the train experience was all down hill from there. Missed connections, sitting in first class when we had second class tickets,having to move all our luggage, running through at least one more train station, Dad trying to flush the potty on the train.....and then finally getting to Zollikoffen  and having a wonderful session at the temple, a raclette dinner with all the missionaries and now time to go to bed. 

We'll be up early to get to our meetings.  Actually we hope we get up early.  There is no clock in the room, we have no cell phones which we usually use as an alarm, and Dad says his new watch doesn't have an alarm. I'll try to figure out how to do it on my iPad, but I'm not sure the battery will last and we don't have another converter so I can plug it in. C'est la vie.   Love to you all.