A Visit to Moldova

Dear All,

This past weekend we were in Chisinau Moldova visiting with E/S Pinder and seeing some of the projects they have done to help the people of Moldova.  When we arrived you could see that it had snowed the day before, but not too much.  3-4 days prior to our arrival they had had a larger snow of about 10-12 inches.  Most of the streets are not plowed, they are left as they are until the snow melts on its own.  The streets are full of potholes, and the government has no money to fix them plus there is a high level of corruption in all levels of government in Moldova so very little gets done without a bribed.  Living the Gospel in these Balkan countries is very difficult because of the  50 years of communist rule after WWII, and the present day corrupt governments   During communism the people were promised security:  a place to live, a job, and food on the table.  In exchanged the people gave up their agency and lost their ability to think for themselves.  They weren't suppose to think, in fact they got in trouble if they thought and asked questions.  They people were to obey and do as they were told, not think or reason.  Now that they are free the older generation is floundering and struggling.  They don't know what to do and look for someone to tell them what to do.  Before the government told them where they would live - no choice, if you didn't like it too bad.  The government assigned you a job or vocation for your life- you were not free to chose your occupation.  If you didn't want to do that job-tough that was your job and you had better not complain.  You had food on the table, but you had no say about type,quality or quantity   When the Russians left they took everything- money, equipment, industry and know how; when the Russians left they Mafia moved in.  The Mafia was generally comprised of former KGB members.  Because of the high unemployment and low wages many people leave Moldova   They immigrate to anywhere out of the Balkans.  1/3 the passports in Frankfurt are non German, the lucky ones can get a workers VISA some may even get an immigration VISA.  There is such a problem here in Germany that when we came we had to show proof that we could finance being here, and not become a burden on the government.  Most of the immigrants send money back to their families in their homeland.

Once you get out of the main cities the life style goes back over 100 years.  In Moldova 1/3 its entire population lives in the capital city of Chisinau.  Let me show you some of the living conditions for many in the villages.

Picture of Chisinau (capital city) airport on arrival.  Taken from the airplane window.

Local neighborhood water supply in a typical village.  The water is contaminated and should be boiled before consumed.  If you want a bath you must make multiple trips. then heat the water in typically a wood burning stove.

These wells are every where in the villages.  The Church did a project to bring clean water into the homes of a village.  A resident in his 80's, he said this is the first time he has ever had water piped into-his home.  He will never see indoor plumbing.

This is the bathroom in a school for the handicapped that the Church is partnering with another organization to remodel.  Notice that there is only 1 tap, no hot water so we are going to install a boiler so the kids will have hot water for bathing.

This is the same school for the handicapped.  The lampshade is just plastic paper wrapped around the light bulb.  They hardly turn the lights on because they can't afford the electricity

The door of the school is so warped that it won't close any tighter than this.  We will also replace doors and windows in the school.  The school was originally built in 1963 by the communist, and not touched since then.

This is a new bathroom in another school that the Church is funding to have installed.  Presently the students who live at the school must walk about a 100 yards to use an outhouse.  Not too bad in the summer, but at night in the winter- pretty miserable.

This is suppose to be the oldest standing Church in Moldova.  It is a UNESCO site.  They think it was built in the 12-13 century when the Ottoman Turks ruled Moldova.  At one time there was a Mosque near by.  This Christian church had  to be built so it would not be higher than a horseman with his sword raised up.  You can see the people going down into it, it still has a dirt floor.   The walls were painted in the 16th century with religious scenes, and you can still make out many of the scenes.  Legend has it that one night the Turks used it as a barn for their horses, and the next day when they came to get their horses they were all dead.  The Turks in retaliation gauged out the eyes of the saints painted on the walls of the church.

Here is an example of the interior walls.  The wood bean was added after an earthquake in the 1860's damaged the
church.

These lovely orthodox churches are seen in several villages.  They are funded by a government tax.  But most of the Moldovan have had their belief in god beat out of them, and don't believe in God anymore.

We will be traveling a lot in the next few weeks trying to visit some of our couples who are really isolated, and also going to Lisbon Portugal to help create a project there to do in conjunction with the temple groundbreaking.  These almost 2 years have really flown by, and the last 2 months will not pass any slower.  

We send our love to all,

Oma und Opa

,

D

Two busy weeks in the office

Dear All,
It has been a couple of very busy weeks since we have Blogged.  We have been in the office for these two weeks, and won't start traveling again until the end of the month.  So what have we been doing?  WE have been trying to get a replacement couple for us before we leave the end of April which is approaching rapidly.  Last week I talked with a couple who were thinking about another country, but as I talked with her Sunday morning she got really excited about the possibility of coming to Germany.     Her Husband's  father left Germany  shortly after Hitler came into power. He was Jewish, was able to get US citizenship, and then  sponsored his family out of Germany as Hitler was coming into power.  The family came originally from Berlin, and  he is very interested to visit Berlin and try and find where his father and grandparent's lived.  Anyway we are trying to rush their missionary papers through the system to get them in to the March MTC class for senior missionaries.  If they can get into that class they will arrive in Frankfurt 2 days after Derek, Alexis and the Twins leave.  Then we'll have some overlap training time which will really help them.  Needless to say there have been a number of emails and phone calls to this couple and the Church Office in SLC.  I talked the couple through filling out the essential parts of their mission papers. I received an email today stating that their papers have now been submitted.  While I've been busy doing that Susan has been busy training all the couples on a new finance system.  She has taught herself much of the new procedures, and pointed out areas (to finance) where the bugs haven't been worked out yet.  This has really been a nightmare for everybody.  She is becoming quite the little accountant, but she still doesn't want to balance the checkbook.
Last weekend we spent most of Fri. and Sat. in the office and several hours hours Sun. after church in the office working on the monthly computer in thenewsletter that we send out each month.  The couples all submit a report with a picture or several and we then rewrite what they say to get their submission to fit into the program we use for the newsletter.  Doesn't sound like much work, but it is.
We also have been working with our couples to encourage them to close old projects and send in a Project Summary sheet (this is templated), these generally have to be touched up.  They are then attached to the  Church's Humanitarian file in the computer.  We also make a copy for our personally file.   I am going to send a copy of the newsletter in another Blog.
During the last two weeks I have been(with Susan's help) updating the country project book and making 2 new books for each country.  When a visiting dignitary from one of these countries visits the Area Office they are  given a book to show them what the Church has done in their country over the past.  It is quite an impressive book and all pages are in English and the country's native tongue.

The biggest news of the week is that Susan flew back to NYC on Thurs.  to spent a weekend with her mother and sister.  Susan was at the airport here in Frankfurt almost all the day waiting for Delta to get it's act together, and then her flight was cancelled.  They continued to make mistakes, and by the time they were finally correct there were no more flight out to the States, so I picked her up and we had dinner with some of our distant Leonard Cousins.  Thursday morning early I took her back to the airport, and she flew out at 9:00 with Singapore Airlines.  She arrive safely and is now having a wonderful time with her Mom and sister Vickie.  Susan will arrive home Mon. morning at about 10:00, I bet she will freshen up a little and then comes into work.

 This nativity scene was in front of the annex at the temple

We send our love to you all,

Oma und Opa

Holly's trip - Wurzburg

Dear All,

On Sat. (22nd) we drove to Wurzburg for (yup you guessed it ) the Christmas market.  We had been there before, and Holly and Susan had a good time the last time they went.  As we were driving Holly decided, like Heidi,  she would like to go to where we lived when she was a little girl living in Wurzburg. We had no trouble finding the road to Lincoln Housing which is now university student housing.  Holly took pictures of the playground to show her brothers and sister.  Then she wanted to go to the chapel where she and Owen were baptized.  Below still stands the sign for the Leighton Chapel.

You can see that at one time it was a nice military chapel.  We have some fond memories of many different people that we shared experienced here in this chapel.

We also drove to see Holly's elementary school.  She was dissappointed that the playground which she really liked had been destroyed over the years.  From the school she pointed out different buildings where some of the families in the ward we knew lived.  Such as the Youngs and the Waltzes, Simcoxs, and Mickelsons.

Mother took a picture of us unbeknownst to me.  Part of this school is now being used for classes by the university, but most of it is vacant

This picture was taken from the old All Saints Bridge over the Main River.  We took many a walk down to the center of Wurzburg, and saw this same view many times.  Holly was having a great time taking all the picture she wanted.  She took over a 1,000 picture on her trip.

Mother took this picture of me with the river, Fortress, and the little chapel on the hill on the left side of the picture while we waited for her to take pictures.  From here we went to the Christmas market and I began my duties as bag carrier and the wallet handover-er.  Holly shared with me that she and Heidi always wanted a big Lebkucken heart to hang around their neck, so I bought one for each of them.  Holly said she would mail Heidi's to her when back in the States.  We enjoyed the sights, smells, and taste of the Wurzburg Christmas market all over again.  We drove back to Frankfurt well after dark.

We enjoyed Holly's visit as we have all the others who have come to visit us here while in Frankfurt, and we kept moving the whole time she was here.  She was a good sport to let us go back into the office to work from time to time.  Watching her get everything she had purchased here into her suitcase, carry-on,  backpack, coat ,and a big sack was something to see.  I didn't think she would make it, and to be truthful she did leave a few things here, but nevertheless she was amazing.  We were all worried about the airport, but she was blessed and got everything on the plane.  Life has been really good to us these many years since we lived in Wurzburg.   We are very proud of and grateful for our children, and the good people they are.  we consider ourselves most blessed.

We wish everyone a good 2013 as we begin this year.

Holly's visit - Strassbourg

Dear All,
After we left Klingen we drove to the city of Strassbourg, which is in Alsace and present day France.  This city has been either German or French multiple times, and is a very old city.  We arrived after dark, checked into our hotel, and went immediately to (yup you guess it) the Christmas market.  Our hotel was in a great location and was only a 10 minute walk from the city center.  Strassbourg was several times French and the next day German and vice-verse.  The interesting thing about this change is that oft times the new government would require the inhabitants to speak the language of the conquering country, and to be called by their name in the new language.  For example today my name is Johann, tomorrow I must go by Jean until the German's win the next war, then it's back to Johann.  Strassbourg is a pretty town with many beautiful old parts and old buildings such as the one below and many cultures.

This beautiful wood carved building belonged once to a very successful merchant and is on the corner of the cathedral square.

This is the famous cathedral which has only 1 of the designed towers.  The exact reason  the 2nd tower was not added has now been lost to time.  The construction of the building took about 250 years.

This is the inside of the cathedral looking from the altar.  You can see the pulpit in the lower right hand corner, and the Rose stained glass window in the back.

This is the organ between the Rose window and the pulpit.

This is an astronomical clock which tells the time, the day,  the season, and the year.  It is the only astronomical clock in a church that we know about.

The next few pictures are from a section of town called La Petite France   This is Holly walking towards the house, the house is directly on the river.

These houses are call 'Fach Houses" because they are made of wood and then mud or plaster stuck into a lattice of twigs between the wood beams.  These houses were probably built in the 17th and 18 hundreds. and they are painted periodically which enhances their natural beauty.


You can see the lock used to raise or lower the water for boat transport.



Many of these old homes have been converted to restaurants now.



This area did not get destroyed in the war.  Look at how beautiful Germany must have been at one time.

We enjoyed this day in Strassbourg and all we saw, and Mom and Holly enjoyed all they purchased.  I have put into these blogs only a dusting of all the pictures taken while Holly was here.  We took a couple hundred pictures, but Holly probably took over a 1,000.  The pictures may fade with time, but our memories will remain and be enjoyed many times over.

 

Holly in Klingen with some of our relatives

Dear All,
One day we drove to the small village of Klingen in the Alsace area of Germany and France which has gone back and forth between France and Germany depending on who had won the recent war.  The earliest we seem to be able to trace our family is back to the area about 1620.  Klingen itself is much older with records showing the name around 1125.  My great great grandfather Johann George Leonhard left Germany in the early 1800's and settled with his family in the Newark, Ohio area.  Ohio had a huge number of  German immigrates.  My great grandfather went by the name of John ,but we think he was actually Jacob and took the name of John his dead brother when we joined a Mormon wagon train heading west.  John or Jacob is the weak link in connecting to its German roots, but there is much circumferential evidence that we belong to this family in Klingen.  In the Klingen Family tree, they show a Johann George leaving with his wife and 2 sons John and Jacob for the US about the same time our Johann George left Germany.  The Klingen people thought their Johann George left for Ohio where there where many Germans from Klingen.  Susan and I feel quite strongly that we have found the right family to connect to here in Germany.  So we took Holly to meet some of her German Family in Klingern, and then that night we drove to Strassbourg France (only an hours drive away) and to another Christmas market.  I've included a few picture of the family that is a side line to our family, but Erwin is a genealogist and therefore he is interested in connecting us to them.

Here is Holly flanked by Erwin Leonhard and me.  Erwin lives about 20 minutes away from Klingen.  He and his wife Elfriede ( she was not feeling well this day) have a son Markus who is presently working and living in Australia.  This picture was taken in the town of Rohrbach where Erwin lived as a child

This is in the tiny church in Klingen (about 250 families).  In the picture is Erwin and Hilde her husband Willi Koehler, Holly and me.  Erwin and Hilde are 1st cousins.  Hilde grew up in Klingen and knows everybody.  Here aunt keeps the key to the church and so we were able to get into it.

This is the exterior of the church in Klingen, the church has burned down and rebuilt several times.  The tower is the oldest part of the church

Erwin and I are standing by a 1000 liter wine barrel in the yard of the house where we think our first ancestor from France came.  The foundation stone says 1620.

This ruin is in the area and from here you can see the small village of Klingen.  It was first started in 729 and was enlarged during the years.  They are now trying to restore much of it.  It was a cold windy day that we were there.

We had a delightful day with Erwin, Hilde, und Willi.  Erwin and Hilde are working on a family gathering for the end of April 2013 that we hope to be able to attend before we leave Germany.  It would really be something if we could meet some more of the family befor we leave.

Holly's Visit - Dresden

December 2012
Dear All,
This is a continuation of trip we made with Holly.  We spent a night and a day with her in the City of Dresden, which was a beautiful culture center before the WWII.  This city was the seat of government for the state of Sachsen, and was embellished with many beautiful and large buildings by August the Strong.  Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1 one of bombing right at the end of the war in retaliation for the early bombing of the city of Coventry in England.  75,000 -100,000 people died that night.  Some of the city's old buildings have been restored along with the palace in the center of town, but much was lost forever.  Many of the art treasures were lost, some hidden to protect them from being destroyed and their location lost to man, others taken to Russia and never seen again.   Dresden also has a famous Christmas market with the world largest "Weihnactspyramide" (the German Christmas pyramid ).  The following pictures will try and give a taste of the beauty of the city and of the Christmas Market of which there are 5 or 6 in the city at various locations (we hit them all).

this is a Schwimpbogen  several centuries ago the minors when the came home would put the miners lamps on a bowed piece of wood in the window to light the way for other miners on their way home at night.  This is the entrance into one of the markets, which has been continually held since 1578

One of the many little stands, this stand is selling the wood handwork that is indigenous to the area of the Erzgeberge.  They are selling wooden smokers wood carvings Schwimpbogens, pyramids, and many other things made of wood.  You can see the large pyramid behind the stand

This is the same pyramid in the day.

This and the next picture is of the big pyramid at night

This market was located next to the Frauen Kirche which was built by August the 2nd to gain Papal support of him as the king.  The church is huge and beautiful inside.

This view was taken from the top of the Frauen Kirche.  It has quite a commanding view of the city.  This picture was taken using the zoom lens

This is another view of the city and the River Elbe taken from on top of the Frauen Kirche

This is the beautiful altar inside the church.

From accross the River Elbe you can see the College of Fine Arts building on the left with the Frauen Kirche on the right in the back ground.

This is part of the palace court yard with a formal classical garden.  The tower in the back has a Glockenspiel which uses porcelain bells.  At one time Dresden was one of the porcelain centers of Europe, and made very high quality porcelain products.

Here is a close up of the tower with some of its porcelain bells that they ring.  The sound is very delicate and beautiful

This wall is 3 football fields long, and is made of 24,000 porcelain tiles.  It is a history of the kings from 1125 to 1873.  Somehow it made it through the bombing.

This is only a small sample of the interesting beauty of this city.  All around these old restored buildings and squares is a modern city built from the rubble after the war.

Holly's visit - Nuernberg and Sachsen -Schweiz (Bastei)

Dear All,

 Monday morning we drove to Nuernberg to visit the Nazi documentation center.  It is a museum about the rise and history of the Nazi party in Germany.  Hitler started the party shortly after the WW1, but it wasn't until after 1927 that it stated to gain momentum.  The first city that really embraced the Nazi party was Nuernberg hosting with first big party rally in 1929.  By early 1933 Hitler had positioned himself as the leader of the party, the commander and chief of the military and the Chancellor of the government.  From that point he had the power and he removed anybody who threatened his power.  This is all well documented in the museum  which records everything through the Nuernberg Trials.  The Museum is in Hitlers old Congress Hall, which is patterned after a Roman Colosseum, and is close to the Zeppelin Field where he held his mass Party rallies.  Holly as a high schooler played soccer on that field, and I've included a couple pictures of the field .  We spent the night in Nuernberg and of course we went to the?  Up you guessed it the Christmas Market, which claims to be the first and oldest continually running Christmas market in Germany.

This is the stand at the Zeppelin Field of them mass Party rallies.  Originally there were 3 Large banners behind a huge Swastika   When the US troops took Nuernberg the blasted off the Swastika.  This is where Holly played Soccer.

You can take the girl off the soccer field, but you can't take the soccer out of the girl

Nuernberg Christmas market before the crowds came.

The next day we left Nuernberg and drove to the city of  Dresden.  On the way we stop in what is called the Sachsen- Switzerland, which is a national park with the huge rock formations.  We went to the Part named Bastei which was at one time an old fortress in the middle ages.  It was a cool day to say the least.

This was the view as we walked into the park

This bridge built in 1857 replaced an old wooden bridge that had been destroyed.  It is the oldness still standing and functional bridge built just for tourist usage.  




This is the same bridge taken from the old fortress.  The fortress had a cistern so they always had a source of water, and could survive any short to medium siege. 

This is a view of the village down below.   In the lower left hand corner you can see the Elbe River, this river runs through both Dresden and Berlin

This is one of the many catwalks connecting the different areas of the fortress.  The fortress had several levels of rooms, and in its day it must have been pretty formidable.  (yes you are right it was cold).

Here you can see mother and Holly going done the icy steps to a lower level.  How they built this fortress originally is amazing to me.  This was another good day , from here we drove onto Dresden.