As we were traveling from Munich to Nuremburg we stopped to visit this very humbling place where the spirit is sobering and heart wrenching. This consentration camp which housed through the years about 240,000 people of various nationalities where many were forced to endure such misery as cold, hunger, separation from families, abuse and death. The poem that was uttered by them was, Oh God make me dumb that to Dachau I may not come.

Cinderella Wasn't Home

One week north and the next week south to Munich and Nuremberg for meetings with Stake Presidents about the Addiction Recovery Program. We were encouraged to take two extra travel days in case we ran into the snow storm that was predicted. Our first night was spent in Fussen where the Hohenschwangau and the Neuschwanstein Castles are located, on the boader of the Austrian Mountains. King Ludwig II lived in one castle while he built the second. After enjoying Neuschwanstein for only 167 days he was found drowned in the lake. Walt Disney used this castle as his entrance into Fantasy Land. We rode up the mountain in a horse drawn carriage.....but Cinderella wasn't home...

Town Musicians of Bremen

The Grimm Brothers were germans that collected fairy tales around 1807. In this story a donkey, a dog, a cat and a cockerel (rooster), all past their usefulness on their respective farms, one by one they leave their homes and set out together. They decide to go to Bremen, known for its freedom, to live without owners and to become musicians there. On their way they see a little cottage; they look inside and see four robbers enjoying their gold. Standing on each others backs, they decide to perform for the men in hope of gaining food. The men run for their lives not knowing the strange sounds. The animals take over the house and live happily for the rest of their days. Holding onto the statue brings good fortune.

Over the River and through the Woods

November 22 and 23 we drove three hours north to Oldenburg where we met with four Stake Presidents, one district President and one Area Seventy about the Addiction Recovery Program. The week before we heard the Area Seventy question the success of the program and the need for the program but in Oldenburg he had gained what he needed and bore a strong testimony to the group requesting that they receive training. I guess there is opposition in all things for as our meetings proved very successful, you can see what we had to travel through to get to it. Seems that Oldenburg gets two snow storms a year, that being the case, we drove through both of them, one going up and one coming back. (A park is a pullover on the ubahn with a public restroom.)