The Brothers Grimm House in Steinau 11-19-11

A high point was our visit with Dave and Julie Colton to the Brothers Grimm House along the Fairy Tale Road.

It was awesome to get to see the home where Jacob and Wilhelm had lived and played when their father was the magistrate. Their father died when they were 11 and 12. Because a new magistrate was moving in, the Grimm family had to move out into a smaller home shared with four other families.Things only got worse financially, so the two oldest brothers were sent off to school. The Grimm Brothers happiest times were spent here in this home in Steinau.

The Kitchen

Now the home has been turned into a kid-friendly museum. One room is devoted to dioramas of 

Grimm Tales .

The Theater

The Book Room

This trip was special because of the Grimm Brothers play that I wrote. TLS will produce it next fall. They have been so inclusive, inviting us to their productions. Here is a photo of the TLS team and their last play, Dickens by Candlelight that we attended on November 26, 2011.

Then we traveled a short distance through the enchanted forest, past spooky trees, to a wonderful restaurant at Brathahnchen Farm. We had the most delicious French Onion Soup we have ever tasted, a pork kabob, and we topped it all off with a delightful dessert.

Gold and Green Ball (11-26-11) Thanksgiving Feasts, and Zone Conference

Remember the old Gold and Green Balls? The “ball” is still hopping here in Germany. They go all out with the decorations, the food, and the gowns. When they announced the ball in Relief Society, our Bishop’s wife was so cute. She said, “We even get to wear our night gowns!” (meaning our evening gowns). Everyone, both young and old, enjoyed rocking out to the live band. The Germans love to dance and have really learned the moves. We danced a little too, but not nearly so well as the members here, who have had real dance lessons. Lots of great food, lights, and magic!

Thanksgiving Feasts

This has been a week of great Thanksgiving and celebration. What a blessed Thanksgiving we have had here in Germany. On Tuesday the Office of General Counsel had their Thanksgiving feast—a delicious Mexican fiesta with enchiladas, nachos, cornbread, refried beans, rice, cornbread, and even guacamole. Mexican food is hard to find here, so we often have to make our own. They add sugar to the salsa in the store-bought salsa, so it’s pretty bad. But this dinner was scrumptious, and it was so much fun to be together with all of our office friends. I gave a little message on the first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving Day, the area mission Senior Couples combined efforts to put on a real American Thanksgiving feast with all of the fixings—5 turkeys, dressing, Jello salads (they don’t sell Jello over here), mashed potatoes and gravy, and dad made his delicious caramel bread pudding for dessert. It was a big hit with everyone. We enjoyed sharing this wonderful day with our fun and loving new friends, who made the day even all that more memorable. 

Zone Conference 11-23-11

The Senior Missionaries met with the young missionaries for Zone Conference. It was an uplifting and spiritual experience. Elder Kopishke did not stand behind the podium. He came right down with us and told us to write down some questions that we were needing answers to. He told us that we were going to receive revelation during the day. I wrote down six questions and by the end of the day, I had answers to all six. The training modeled for us new ways to teach that directly involve each person.

How grateful we are for the wonderful training that we are receiving here. We are blessed to have such inspired leaders who are 100% committed to the growth of the Church in Europe. We feel Heavenly Father’s guidance and love as we strive each day to move the work forward. We recognize His hand in support of everything we do. We are grateful for the amazing people that we have the opportunity to associate with here from all over the world. They influence our lives for the better each day.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS!

ST. MARTIN'S DAY!  11-11-11

Today it is November 11, and it is St. Martin's Day, a special children's holiday that is celebrated every year  in Germany and other European countries. All of the children at my Kindergarten made paper lanterns that they will light up tonight and parade through the town, knocking on doors for candy. Then they have a big bon fire and sing songs, such as Lanterne. But first, they meet at their church and have a short mass about St. Martin. Legends tell that he was a kind man who gave half of his cloak to a beggar during a snowstorm to save him from dying. That night St. Martin dreamed that Jesus was wearing his half cloak, and he heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me." I like this legend as it reminds me of the scripture, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40)

I am having a St. Martin's Day party today. I have invited over some new friends, a cute German family, Anja and Christian Eckert and their daughters, Elena (9) and Katharina (4). I also invited the Sister Missionaries over. After lunch we took the train to attend Katharina's Russian-German Kindergarten's St. Martin's Day Celebration. We paraded around the block with lit lanterns and then went back to the school for a little play and treats.

Here are some pictures of Katharina's school. I love the art work.

St. Martin's Day is also a celebration of the Harvest, so I made a special apple dessert. If you like apple fritters, you will love these.

Gebacken Apfel Raupe
Serve hot with vanilla ice cream.

These are very quick and easy to make, but you will need to have mom or dad slice and fry the apples.You can dip them in the cinnamon sugar.


Make crepe batter:
1 cup milk mixed with 3 eggs.
Add to 1 c. flour, 2 T. sugar, and 1/2 t. salt.
Beat with mixer.

Core and thinly slice apples.
Heat oil in pan.
Dip apple slices into batter and drop into hot oil. They cook very quickly, so turn them over and then drain on paper towel.
Dip into cinnamon sugar and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Yum-Yum!

When we ate these at Weber's Restaurant, they were decorated like this, all fancied up:

The Bastei in Germany 10-01-11

We went to the Bastei, a spectacular rock formation above the Elbe River and valley. The rocks reach a height of 305 meters above sea level and were formed by water erosion over a million years ago. It is a popular climbing spot in Germany.  It was truly breathtaking!

 

There are actually people up on top!

Bob decided to give it a try. You know how he loves climbing!

And Lonnie followed, making it all the way to the top! You know how much she loves heights!

Here is the gorgeous Elbe River and valley below.

We made it to safety and enjoyed every minute of this amazing adventure!

We Got Our First Letters From Home!

We were so excited to get mail today!
If anyone wants to write, our address is:

Bob and Lonnie Bradley
Europe Area Office
Office of General Counsel
Porthstrasse 5-7
D-60432 Frankfurt
Germany

The Fruits of Our Labors-Sisters Night Out

These pictures are from our October Sisters Night Out service project. Service projects in Europe, even in the Church, are rare, and Humanitarian Services is trying to change that. So I jumped in to organize this Boviac Catheter Bag sewing project. Over 20 sisters participated, donating 75 hours in sewing and assembling the bags. These bags will hold a permanent catheter that delivers life saving medicine, enabling a child with cancer to move about freely. The bags will be shown at the European Year of Volunteering 2011 exhibit/booth of Mormon Helping Hands projects in Berlin, Germany. Five hundred of these bags will be given to children in hospitals. LDS participants always wear these yellow vests to identify thier group as Mormon Helping Hands.

But the night before the project, I had no sewing machines. Few people sew in Germany, so machines are scarce. So I prayed and made lots of phone calls, still finding only one machine. The next day, I made a ton of crepes to serve and went over to the church on faith that some sewing machines would show up. Four machines arrived! Heavenly Father does answer our prayers! It was a great evening of service and sisterhood!