Our young single adult tour group from yesterday - going to a medieval fair in Angelbachtal.



















This is a hand pulled Farris wheel for children - pretty quaint.

















The most fun was a jousting match!

10/08/2008 Report from Germany. By the way, in Europe they write their dates - day/month/year (with all four digits on the year.) In the US we of course write our dates with month/day/year and normally our year is in two digits. So the date is August 10Th 2008.

The days are noticeably shorter here already and some leaves are coming off some of the trees and shrubs. We noticed in the winter that the days (sunlight hours that is) were a little shorter than back home and then in the summer they were a little longer. So there has to be a bit more change per day than we are used to back home.

Farmers have been harvesting crops like crazy in the last couple of weeks. The wheat is done of course and many oats have been combined. There aren't too many fields of corn here so I don't have much to report there. The few fields of corn I have seen have been pretty good looking corn but not quite as tall as most of our corn in upstate NY. And the ears look a little smaller than I would expect for this time of year back home. There are a couple of dairy farms around the area and I think the little corn is being grown for their use.

Today we rode back up to Baumholder because I was assigned to speak there. It is a bit more open country and less houses than where we are now so it was a nice drive for us. The trip was good and it was great to see a few of our old friends.

This past week has been pretty standard with the usual activities until Saturday. Few if any come to our center on Saturday so we decided to go on a USO tour and invite the Young Single Adults to join us. The "USO" is the same organization that has been around a long time taking care of the military folks with shows and having activities and a place for them. 'Remember the "Bob Hope" shows and all of that. (I never saw one while I was in Vietnam because I always ended up having to fly protection for them while they were there and performing.)

So ten of us went on a USO bus trip to a Medieval Fair. They had the vendors, the knights jousting and the whole show. There were many folks there that just go to these things a lot and have their own costumes. Folks dress up as what ever they would like to be. It looked to me like some of them really wanted to time travel back to that time period. It was kind of a people-watching type of day. The bus ride was relaxing, the weather was great, the good guys won the day at the jousting and the bratwurst was great. It is hard to get much better than that.

The only other thing to add to the weekly report is that I broke a filling off a tooth eating a carrot so I had to go see a German dentist. Because we don't have insurance coverage over here I had him just put another filling in even though he recommended a cap or crown. He was really good (as good as it can get going to a dentist). I contributed another couple of hundred bucks to the German economy. So now I have checked out the dentists in Paraguay and Germany. If any of you are headed this way or down to Paraguay and want to know where to go to find good dentists I can give some first hand advise.

We are well, happy and doing our best.

We love and miss you all very much!

Take care, check out the crops and don't break any teeth!

Love,

Elder & Sister Karn

We heard the music from down at the corner from our apartment. Elder Karn gave him some coins and took his picture. It was very "oompa" calliope!

We have had a great week to recover from our service project. It seemed like we needed a nap every day for a few days afterwards. Thank goodness for naps! But we are so grateful for the success of the project and all those who helped. It will probably always be a real highlight for our mission. Speaking of which, we are halfway.

Our "wounded warrior" has recovered well since he had surgery on his injured hand. As you may remember, he was shot in the hand in Afghanistan. On Monday he had surgery and they placed a metal plate over his wrist area to stabilize the shattered bones. He still has a lot of finger movement but his wrist is very limited. He looks great and has been released to outpatient status. He tells us he will fly back to his unit in Italy next Friday. It has been such a joy to visit with him.

Yesterday we were blessed with another grandchild! (no. 17 for Elder Karn and as we share no. 23 for both of us). His name is Robert (Robbie) Glen Wixom and he weighed in at 8 lb.s 14 oz., 21 inches long. He is good size at 2 weeks overdue! It was not like a library book that we didn't get back in time. He just kept growing! And little mom Linda had to have a C-section. We wish her the best. Becoming a mother is a real sacrifice! The happy parents are Russ and Linda Wixom of Federal Way, Washington. Congratulate us and them! We miss family very much. We knew when we decided to go on a mission that we would not see our grandchildren, including newborns, miss out on baptisms and birthdays, etc., and not be there for family crises. We hope you all know that is the greatest sacrifice for us to make. We would definitely love to be there for you all. Hopefully we can do some good here for those far from their loved ones too.

Other events of the week are 1. Elder Karn broke his tooth on a carrot. At least he was eating healthy! We have no dental insurance over here (it starts Oct. 1) so we will try our saddest faces when we see the German dentist. 2. They are changing mission cars on us again. They try to balance out the kilometers on all the cars to last the full lease. The cars are leased for 4 years or 65,000 km, whichever comes first, for 7000E. Amazing price. It will be fun to see if it is another red Corsa Opel. 3. Gas prices dropped to 1.45E per liter, which makes it approximately $8.70 per gallon. That is better than $10 per gallon. and 4. We found another delicious German food: cheese pretzels (Bretzels)!

Today at Sunday meetings we met an LDS reservist chaplain assigned to Landstuhl for four months. We are ecstatic! This will be great to work with him and the chaplaincy, especially after the very successful service project and the groundwork set in place by our former LDS chaplain, Erik Harp. Sometimes you just can't count all the blessings they come in so fast.

Have a great week!
Sister and Elder Karn

The day of the huge service project that we have worked so hard on finally came and went. Like many projects there were things that didn't look like they were going to come together but somehow it all did at the last moment. The military chaplaincy staff kept us on edge of our seats until the eleventh hour (and fifty ninth minute). During the last couple of weeks we had checked with the chaplain's staff and encouraged them to "get crackin'" on getting things in place but things just didn't seem to register to them.

As of early Friday morning (the day before the project) the large overhead door on the hanger still didn't work, they didn't have but a fraction of the supplies on hand, they didn't have paper for the labels and inventory sheets, they didn't have the labels and inventory sheets printed, they didn't have portable restrooms in place and on and on the list went. It was serious worry time!

So Friday morning found us a bit worried. Early Friday morning we went to the hanger and workmen were there working on the door. It was good to see some action. There was hope. If the overhead door didn't work then all two thousand (or so) boxes had to go in and out a walk door. That would mean a box had to go through the door about every 4.5 seconds in order for it all to happen on schedule.

Friday was the day when most things did fall into place. The door got fixed, keys were found to the nearby restrooms, the portable restrooms arrived, many supplies started coming in and Friday night things looked better. The weather forecast was not good but we could only pray for good weather.

Saturday was a miracle! The weather was a little hot but it didn't rain or have the thunderstorms that had been predicted. But the big miracle was the number of volunteers that showed up to work. Three hundred and seventy five reported in to our assignment people to be instructed where to work. We know there were a few who just jumped in without asking what to do so we had to be about four hundred strong. It was an amazing sight to behold! Four hundred volunteers working as hard as they could to get the job done. And get it done they did!!

We had scheduled and told people that it would take us from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon to do the work. By one in the afternoon we were pretty much done and with a few minutes to clean up the job was complete. Left behind were boxes sorted, wrapped, stacked and neatly put away in the hanger. And in front of the hanger where four hundred people had worked there was nothing but clean concrete. There wasn't trash left all over or any other evidence that four hundred people had been there for hours. (That is a miracle!)

We believe that work should be an enjoyable thing. Working with good people is an absolute thrill. The senior enlisted person from the chaplaincy asked how we got so many people to come to do the work. She said that when they get volunteers only about ten percent of the ones that say they will be there actually show up. (And sadly only a few from the chaplaincy that said they were going to be there actually showed up.) The only answer is; they are just good people. And they truly are good people. There were no egos to deal with - no wanting to be noticed doing what was good or anything else to deal with. They were just people who knew of a job that needed to be done and they rolled up their sleeves and did the job. What a thrill to be with them.

There were many small miracles that had happened along the way to bring everything together. And certainly there were challenges during the day but we had manpower and willing hearts to solve any problem. Somewhere between two and three pm yesterday afternoon we came back to our apartment tired and happy. The work was done and we could now slow down and relax. And guess what - we did!

What a thrill it is to be here and work with some of the greatest people on earth. We have been so blessed.



















We love all of you and pray for you. And thanks for praying for us!

Elder and Sister Karn

"Everything was on fire. The trucks. The bazaar. The grass. It looked surreal. It looked like a movie". That was the description given by a wounded soldier as he told it to the press. Last Sunday morning, 9 soldiers were killed in Afghanistan's Kunar province. There were 15 wounded. (Go to http://www.stripes.com to see the full story for the Sat., July 19th issue)
We were notified via email by the Military Relations office at the Church Offices in Salt Lake City late Monday evening that a wounded LDS soldier had just arrived at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. We were asked to check on him. We went to the hospital about 9:00 pm that night after leaving the IOC. We found Jacob and visited with him. His wounds were deep. The battle the day before had been devastating for his company. He and his buddies lost good friends. He had gone without a shower and sleep for many hours. He was anxious to call his buddy's wife back home to tell her that her husband didn't suffer when he died. His singular bullet wound was to his left hand, and several bones were shattered. We have seen Jacob several times this past week and every day he is getting better. Tomorrow he will meet with the hand surgeon to see what can be done. Following surgery he will be taking some leave to visit his family in the States. Then, if all goes well he will return to his unit in Vicenza, Italy. Since he is right-handed, he says he can still hold a gun. Jacob and his buddies were just 5 days away from finishing their 15 month deployment. Perhaps you heard on the national or local news about this. It seems so distant when you watch it on TV. It is entirely another thing to see the tears in a young soldiers eye's when he talks of his lost "brothers" and you see the weariness in his face and the slump in his walk and the bandages on his hand. When we first entered the hospital ward there was a young triple amputee wheeling his wheelchair down the hall. It is all so terribly sad. These are the times we live in. What can we do? We can pray for the wounded and the families of those who have lost loved ones. We can tell each and every service man and woman "Thank you for your service". These are the real super heroes of our time.


Sgt. Jacob Walker, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team

The above photos were taken on our last P-day excursion to Heidelberg and the castle above the town. It was our first solo on the train and despite the 95 degree sweltering heat, it went well. The train is a great way to travel and the cost is reasonable compared to fuel costs.



The thing about life is that some times as it races by so quickly there is hardly time to see and recognize the wonderful things happening around us. Now I also must add that sure, there are hard times and things that try us and test us but, there are also things that happen to tell us we are not alone.

We have been working on this great service project and it has been a wonderful thing to be involved in. It seems like as soon as a challenge pops up there is a solution that follows. This past week we met with the Stake Presidency to talk about the project and report on our progress. One of the things that came up in the discussion was the weather. If the weather is bad the day of the project we could be in real trouble.

There is no doubt that if the Lord wants us to work in good weather we will have good weather. But like any good parent, sometimes the Lord wants us to overcome some challenges and grow a bit. Perhaps He wants us to find a solution and overcome an obstacle like the weather. So in the discussion of the project and what bad weather would do we identified bad weather as almost a "show stopper". And we don't want the show stopped.

The next day we had lunch with one of the presidency and another leader and as we talked about the solutions this other brother decided to jump on a solution. At an earlier meeting another brother had offered military tents to solve the weather concern but that wasn't happening for him. And with the tents weighing 400 pounds each that would take several men to set up. Transporting and setting them up was going to be a problem.

Anyway, after lunch this other brother called around and found some canopy covers we could rent from the military recreation center and reserved them. They are on hold and we are "covered" in case the weather doesn't want to cooperate. So it is amazing to see the doors open and to watch people step forward to help.

Over the years we have seen the right doctor be in an area when someone needed the special skills of that doctor. We have seen the timing of things be just right when something critical was needed or about to happen. And we are sure that we only recognize a few of the miracles that happen around us all the time. Too often we think that our timing was good or that we were in the right place at the right time. We think it is more, much more than that. It is the Lord's hand reaching out and making things happen. It is good to pause and thank the Lord for the miracles that happen in our behalf.

I know that weather is a recurring theme but it is amazing here. Every area has the TV weather man that says "the weather really changes around here - just wait five minutes and it will change". In Germany that is really true. This past week we were in the 90's one day and in the 60's the next. It can rain one minute and five minutes later the sun is shining. Add another five minutes and we are back to rain. Ya' can hardly put the umbrella up and down fast enough to keep up with the current weather. The good news for the weather folks is that they can say about the same forecast for every day. "Today will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers." He has to be on target then!

The work is good, the people we work with are great and the fruit of the labor is sweet. It is almost hard to understand why some folks stay home when they could be out serving others. There are those moments when we know we were there for someone when they needed a friend or when someone needed us specifically, and it makes the whole day a success for us. We often don't know the burdens another is carrying and when we shoulder just a bit of the load for them or give them a word that helps them carry on. But when we do we know that we have done something worthwhile.

We hope all of you are having wonderful days and feeling the aid of those around you, that is the aid of both those seen and those unseen by human eyes. We are not alone. Everyday we feel the love and help of those around us.

Best wishes,
Elder (and Sister) Karn

Above is a photo taken this morning just before we drove to Sunday meetings. From left is Elder Karn, Sister Karn, Rachel Whitchurch and her husband Jeff. That is our apartment here in Landstuhl in the background and that is our little red mission car to the left.


We had some company yesterday and today. It was a delight to have my (Pam) niece Rachel and her husband Jeff come and see us. Jeff has been in Belgium doing an internship and Rachel flew over to visit him for a week. My brother and wife back home in Logan are tending their little boy so Rachel could see a little of Europe and her husband for a week. When they drove over from Belgium, they brought two other travelers with them, Justin and Olga. Even though we only have one bedroom and one bathroom, they were amicable about sleeping on sofas and an air mattress on the floor. They arrived last night at 8:45 pm and left this morning at 10:20 am. Thanks for coming!

As of this past week we have a new mission president, President Ninow. He and his wife and 5 children are young compared to most mission presidents. The youngest child is 8 and the oldest is 19, all boys. The oldest is on a mission in Taiwan but the 4 younger boys will be with him and his wife in Germany. We had an interview with president on Friday and were impressed with his humility and enthusiasm. He was very supportive of our special type of mission. He will be great to work with. Tomorrow is Zone Conference (an all day meeting with instructions and classes within our mission zone, including about 18 missionaries). He told us that Zone Conference will mostly be in English and we are excited. German is a hard language to learn and some of the newer missionaries (called "Golden" missionaries here) do not understand the language well. When we do have translators a lot of the message lost as the translator must wait to the end of each sentence to catch the meaning. And then the translator often misses the next sentence. So English will be much better for us. The president said that he may do it in German in the future but for now we are glad it will be in English!

The Fourth of July was observed on the Air Force base, Ramstein, just north of us. Of course it is just another day in Germany. On base, there were activities during the day and fireworks at night. Because we don't especially enjoy large crowds and waiting in a parking lot afterwards we decided to celebrate in our own way. We found a back road to watch the fireworks from - even though the distance was a little stretch. However, the spirit of the matter is that we love our nation, the USA, and we are grateful for all those who have fought and do now fight for the cause of freedom. God bless America.

When we went to do our volunteer service on Friday, the 4Th, there was another volunteer there that met us. Her name is Karen and she comes over to work at the Wounded Warrior Ministry Center every 6 months or so and works 6 days a week for a month, all day long. She is an awesome unselfish lady as all this she does at her own expense and time. She is a military wife and motivated and understanding with the young warriors that come through. She jokes with the patients and makes them all feel special. We will miss Karen as she leaves this coming Thursday. For our short morning, we worked hard in moving supplies into another room and we felt like we had really accomplished something afterwards when we could see the difference. The WWMC now has a new room and it is much nicer. It was a great thing to do on the 4Th! As we walked into the building however, we went through the Emergency Room entrance. There were quite a few wounded soldiers being wheeled down the hall flat on their backs on hospital gurneys. Our hearts go out to them. Thank you for your service guys!

This past week we have had really warm weather. One day it was about 88 degrees, although feeling warmer with the humidity. Then the other days have been cooler. Today the high will be in the low 70s. On the whole this is a great season! We confess to be weather watchers. First, because one of us is a pilot and a farmer and that is what pilots and farmers do. And secondly, one of us needs to know if it is a "sweater on" or "sweater off" day. That is important!

Things continue to progress on our service project. We still need to get the large metal rolling door on the hanger to work, keys to the restrooms, and congregations committed to coming!

Have a great week! All our love,
Sister and Elder Karn

The Mouse Tower or Mauselturm on the Rhein, where greedy Bishop/Prince Hatto was devoured by the mice.



















The next photo is of the large Rheinstein Castle: "One of the first castles you reach traveling north from Bingen along the western shore of the wandering middle Rhine is Castle Rheinstein, which sits perched 270 feet above the river, perfect for it's original purpose as a customs post to watch over the traffic that traversed up and down the river road. The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph von Hapsburg lived in the castle from 1282 to 1286 to gain control of the trade area from the unruly robber knights of the area like the family of nearby Castle Reichenstein".




















The last photo of die Pfalz, is of a customs house built directly on the Rhein river on a small island. It was built mainly to levy tolls on the Rhein. Chains were pulled across the river to stop all traffic. If a ship didn't pay a toll the crew would be inprisoned.




Ha! We've had more good weather! That is a very big deal in Germany because it doesn't happen too often. And as my father would say, "Once you've had good weather they can't take it away from you". Of course then he would add that things average out so perhaps down the road the weather might be extra bad to average things out again.

This past week we attended a farewell for an LDS chaplain that was leaving. We have gotten to know him a little bit while we have been in Ramstein. He is a dynamite guy who is always hustling and making good things happen. On top of that he has one of those wonderful personalities that just makes everyone like him. Everybody knows him and likes him! He has worked at the Landstuhl hospital and has been through some tough times with wounded and their families. Anyway, we went to the farewell that the military held for him. And let me tell you, if all of us get to have as many nice things said about us as was said at his farewell about him we will be mighty lucky and mighty well liked.

One volunteer told a story of a soldier that they thought would not live but he came in and met with the family and prayed with them. The volunteer said that the family said every time he entered the room there was such a peaceful feeling and they knew everything was going to be all right. The soldier recovered with very few long term problems and everyone was amazed. There are some folks that carry a spirit about them that gives comfort and confidence to everyone around them. This chaplain was and is such a fellow. What a priviledge to know him.

The other thing that we did this week is on our "P day" (which stands for "Preparation day") we shot over to the Rhine River and took a cruise up and down the river. (Oops, a little mistake there - we went "down" and then we went "up". It flows from Switzerland to the north.) We only went a little ways but we went through some of the best castle portions. These guys had castles every where! And many of them were not nice guys.

One big time castle dude taxed his people very heavily and then when they had a bad year and were starving to death they asked if they could have some grain from his vast storage. He said "no" and that he would rather see the rats have it than his subjects. They then demanded food so he promised them grain and let them in the store house. Then the rascal/rat had the storehouse locked with them inside and had it set on fire. They all died in the fire. But then the rats were fleeing the fire and he couldn't get away from them. He went to his small island castle to escape them but thousands of rats also made it to that castle. Then the rats ate the boy alive. That's the story they tell. Seems like the lesson here is don't be a jerk 'cause sooner or later you will get your just rewards.

Most or at least many of the castles have been ruined at one time or another and some have been trashed a couple of times. A few have had bad fires but many have been trashed when the wars have not gone well. In 1689 many of the castles along the Rhine were destroyed by King Louis XIV. (French on top at that time. I think I have that right.) He was on a roll and felt like trashing all of his neghbor's houses. Then many were rebuilt in the 18th century. Like everyone else that has cruised the Rhine on a nice sunny day, we have lots of pictures of castles so we can prove "we were there and saw that"!

And to keep you posted on other things: Gas prices topped out at about $9.73 per gallon but have fallen back to about $9.30 now. In any day there may be three or four different prices at the same set of pumps. And the price ranges up and down about $0.15 during the day. The rule here is: "If you see a decent price fuel up now because in an hour or two we will have a different price".

Other news: On Tuesday night Germany won a soccer game that puts them in the finals for the European cup. I understand it happens every four years and so it is like having the Super Bowl only every four years and it is done by nation so there is a great deal of national pride riding on the thing. So on Tuesday night it was not good to be on the streets because the fans go wild. Tonight they play Spain for the title. If they lose tonight there will be many unhappy Germans and if they win there will be some really, really happy celelbrating Germans. Either way we will be keeping a low profile. During the game there will be nothing happening on the streets but afterwards it will be wild!

To explain a little about the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and the Wounded Warrior Ministry Center from the Clinical Pastoral Division, here is how the senior chaplain, Col. Griffith, describes it. "The WWMC started in Oct. 2002 at the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom and continues today to provide service members needed comfort items. Initially wounded military began arriving at LRMC dressed in operating room gowns. Our medical system is so responsive to our wounded that from the time a military member is injured downrange until he/she arrives at LRMC can be as little as six hours. The WWMC provides new, essential clothing/toiletry items which are available to all US service personnel, Department of Defense employees, coalition partners, and US contractors regardless of race, religion, national origin or gender.... The WWMC continues to be supported by military and civilian volunteer efforts, and by individual, organization and corporate gifts and funds. . .Because there is no organizational overhead, one hundred percent of all donations directly support our wonded and ill military members. . . . Please continue to pray for our wounded warriors and their families. . . ". We are grateful to be involved in some small way in the WWMC.

All our love,
Elder and Sister Karn