Friday, March 15, 2024
Ian is really struggling with his allergies right now. Veroniek had two cats, and Dasha and Andrew have a dog. He had a tough night last night. His breathing is just not good. I hope we can help him get a bit sorted today.
Around lunchtime we drove up (in Andrew and Dasha’s van) to a town just outside of Frankfurt where our friends Sami López and Cinthia Peñarrubia live. I served with both of them in Spain when I was a missionary there. They are from the same part of Spain, and married just after their missions ended. Sami served as a very young stake president in Alicante, and now he works for the church here in Frankfurt -- which is headquarters for the church in Central Europe. They have two older teenage boys and a darling little girl.
When we got there we had lunch. It was a hodgepodge of German foods that they like. Potato pancake thingies and bratwurst and salad and apple soda.
After that we drove over to the town of Bad Homburg, which has a couple of beautiful churches a an old town with houses that date back to at least the 1500s. It was just a perfect little town.
After that, we drove over to the stake center (next to the temple) where there was a stake youth dance going on. Our kids were a little nervous and a little excited, and and ended up being more than a little disappointed. The attendance was not great, and the atmosphere wasn’t quite right. But I’m proud of them for giving it a shot.
In the night we had dinner and then the kids went upstairs to watch a movie while the adults just sat around the table and visited. We remembered time in the mission together, and we shared stories of some of the things we’ve been up to since then. I was so happy for Betty to get to know these dear friends and for them to get to know her. She and Cinthia really seem to have clicked. I’m so happy. It wasn’t til around 1am that we decided to call it quits for the night.
The whole day brought to mind the scripture that describes when Alma and the sons of Mosiah meet up after so many years apart:
Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord (Alma 17:2).