I do cook. These are some of the JAEs (Young Adults) that we get to teach and learn from. I am making scones. Can you see the size of the stove? I can put two pots or pans on the top at the same time. My stovetop at the apt. can only hold one at a time.

Duane was asked to contribute some information about the mission and compare his previous mission to this one for his mission reunion. Here is what he came up with:
10 - People seem to speak a lot faster than they did 40 years ago. But, that's okay, since 50% of the members have gooder English than we does.
9 - Have a car and a covered parking space.
8 - Miss the kids and grandkids.
7 - Applied Technology (laptops, cell phones, iPods, facetime, and Skype)
6 - Cobblestones are a lot harder and rougher to walk on than they used to be.
5 - Priesthood in the branch ..... besides the full-time elders.
4 - No tracting!
3 - An hour and a half to a temple .... but it's out of our mission, but we can still go!
2 - Two baptisms so far this year! And more on the way!
1 - Two words --- FANTASTIC COMPANION!!!

If this was just cropped and we weren't in front of the bathroom it could be our official mission picture. Does anyone know how to crop?

Just a funny experience:
Tuesday I had planned tonight's meal, made the grocery list, and we were headed to the store when we get a phone call requesting tacos for dinner. It sounded easy enough so we changed the grocery list and bought everything we could find for tacos, some Mexican things you just can't get in Germany. So tonight I'm at the church frying hamburger, cutting up tomatoes and getting things ready for tacos when the thought occured to me - here I (an American) am in a little church in Germany, making tacos for a Guatemalan who requested them for his Armenian friend. Tacos were a great hit! We'll have them again!

For fear that some might think we are just here having a good time I wanted to show you that we do work. Pedro needed a haircut and trusted me to trim the back.

Open air market in Nurnberg. They sold everything you can think of. The stores surrounding the Plaza were very touristo and wonderful. There are no tourist shops in Jena so it was fun to see another side of Germany. Somehow this got out of order, grrr.

These are most of the Young Adults we work with. They had a Valentine's Day Party and all dressed appropriately (well, most of us did). Aren't they great!! So much fun!

Our very own Indiana Clark looking out a castle tower window overlooking the city of Nurnberg, Germany.

Just to prove that I was there, too. Love this entrance into the castle.

Nurnberg Germany. Beautiful. Full of history. Loved our day there of exploring a castle and the city.

Happy Birthday to our Mindy!! She is one amazing woman!! Thanks for being such a great example of so many positive things in the FamLee's lives Mindy.

This is what senior missionaries do after a Zone Conference. This was delicous! Yes, that's an egg on top. Very fun group of people.

This is a cool forest on the way to the store. It reminds me of the pics in Jan Brett books. I'm sure there is a hedgehog in there somewhere!!

Some buildings on the way to our apartment.

On the left is our parking garage, on the right is right off campus.

S A T U R D A Y NACHT!!

The Goethe Gallerie is right next door. We should have front row seats if we want them or not!!
(Craig, don't call the mission president, we're not going to this intentionally, unintentially, maybe.)

Here is our new favorite store - Globus is almost a WalMart. It is only 9 K away from our apt. and the scenery on the way is great. Stores are very efficient here. You have to put 1 euro in a little key box to get a cart and you get the euro back when you return the cart. So there are no carts rolling around parking lots and nobody needs to retrive them to put them back in the store. You bag your own groceries in cloth bags that you bring or you can buy new ones. A lot of people just put their groceries back in their carts, wheel the carts to their cars and fill their cars. Personally I like the little cloth bags. Buying meat is an adventure. Rarely do you see a meat clerk wearing gloves. They just grab the meat barehanded and put it in a plastic bag to weigh it for you. You also weigh your own produce and the scale gives you a sticker to put on the vegetables or fruit. It took a few dirty looks from clerks who had to weigh our produce for us before we figured it out.

I can't put this on our family blog so I have to put it here, until I can figure out how to post on the other one. Someone gave me this darling wool coat but it is missing two buttons. So I need someone (Heather?) to try to find two buttons that match these or I need 9 3.5 cm buttons that you think would look good on a black wool coat. These buttons do not have a white ring around them, it just looks that way because of the flash. THANKS!! Let me know who is taking on this challenge so I don't waste everyone's time. I have looked for buttons here, no one seems to sew or mend. Can't find a sewing machine (yet) and can't find notions. I didn't realize I liked to sew so much until I can't do it at all!

This is the view out the window of the church. The tarped coverings are the outdoor market and behind them are stores. These markets go as far back as you can see and into a market square. There are two squares connected by more little streets. It was amazing how many people were out shopping in the cold and snow. The church is above a bank overlooking this intersection.

The sisters in the first picture taught Irina and will leave here on Tuesday. The Elders kneeling in the front by me will get here on Wednesday. It was a wonderful baptismal service.

Can you say "Cold cheeks?" We had just come in from Gera and had walked from the train station. Brrrr!!