Preparation Day in Kronberg

This is Friedrichshof Castle built in the years 1889-1894 as a memorial to her late husband Emperor Friedrich of Prussia by Empress Victoria the first child of Queen Victoria of England.
Empress Victoria was known to her family as Vickie, and like her parents was intelligent,liberal in her thinking and inherited an artistic talent from her mother .
We have been assigned to organize a monthly outing for the senior missionaries and this month we organized a brunch at which we showed the movie "The young Victoria" and then took the missionaries to this castle built by Queen Victoria's oldest daughter as a memorial to her late husband Emperor Friedrich of Prussia. Vickie had an ideal childhood and was very influenced by her parents in her social thinking and desires to help the common man. She died after living in this castle for 7 years of breast cancer which had metastasized to her back. The following pictures are an attempt to give you a little taste of the beauty of Europe and it's history. This was our P-day activity.
Friedrichshof was built as a memorial to the Late Emperor Freidrch who was Vickie's husband. They were happily married for 30 years before he died. They were both very intelligent and liberal in their views. Both were interested in improving the lot of the common man and instituted some social reform to that end. They had 8 children,6 lived to adulthood. The castle (now a very exclusive hotel) is now owned by their youngest daughter.
This close up gives you some perspective of the size of the castle.
Part of the front of Friedrichshof Castle. This shows the main entrance into the castle.
This is a typical hall in the castle. All the furnishing and paintings are original.
This is a painting by Vickie of one of her children. She painted a picture of all 8 of her children. They had 4 boys and 4 girls, 2 of the boys died in early childhood.
Susan sitting in the throne chair that was kept for Queen Victoria to sit in when she visited he daughter Vickie here is the castle. Notice the beautiful ceramic tile wall behind Susan, the entire hall is tiled this way.
Enjoying music and the written word. This is the library. Empress Victoria (Vickie) was a very smart and well read lady. She spoke 5 languages and was a very talented painter. This is her library we are in.
I am listening to some beautiful classical music being played by sister Boone on the piano while others listen and take pictures.
This is the back of part of the castle. If you look to either side of the red and white awning you will see the initials F & V, and V & F standing for Friedrich and Victoria
Susan and E/S Wells with the beautiful woodcarving above their heads.

The left side of this house must have been built without a level, yet the house has stood for 100's of years.
Susan standing by one of the streets that comes into the little village market square. The writing on the wall above Susan's head says "To the green forest" which is the name of the restaurant in that building. The restaurant is 100's of years old.
This is a typical old street in the beautiful old village of Kronberg. Notice the cobble stones and the narrowness of the street. Germany has many little villages like this, however the cities were all destroyed in the war.

The past several weeks we have been working on preparing for a conference for our Humanitarian Missionary couples living in 10 of the east European countries. Particularly busy was last week and the next week we'll be likewise. Susan and I are responsible for the whole conference form the conference topics to be presented during the conference, to arranging for speakers and assignments of each couple to make a presentation on an aspect of humanitarian service, to all meals and all catering, plus a P-Day activity. We have arranged with Elder Teixiera of the Area Presidency to open the conference, and also for the Temple President to speak to the missionaries in the temple. We have arranged housing for these couples in the temple hostile housing and will be able to do a temple session together. Last week we were busy making a welcome bag with goodies etc, for each couple when they arrive, and we are trying to organize a trip for 2 couples who arrive early to visit the Gutenberg museum in Mainz which is about the printing press and it's development. Any way to say the least this has been a very busy time because all that needs to be done to prepare for the conference must be done in addition to our normal duties and responsibilities. We will enjoy seeing all the couples and being with them again, but it will also be a relief in a way to have all this work behind us.
Then we'll start preparing for 5 new couples to arrive this summer, and scheduling time to visit each one of them to train and answer questions that inevitably occur.
We hope that the past week has been good for you, and that life is full, but not stressfully so. We love you all,
Oma und Opa