A Letter To Our Grandchildren

 One of our daughters, Lindsey, sent us some stationary for Christmas for four pre-printed questions on each sheet. She asked us to write a brief note to her three children each week and answer the four questions for them.  Last week it was my turn to write to them and I got a little carried away with a bigger response than intended.  Susan thought it would be appropriate to put out on blog and asked me to forward a copy of it to you.  In putting this on the blog

Lieve Amelia, Thomas, and Miriam,

This week we have       - Cleaned our apartment.  We clean it every Monday morning.  We vacuum and mop the floors, dust the shelves, and scrub the toilets, sinks and showers.

-Attended the baptism of a lady who the missionaries had been teaching for a long time.  Have you been to a baptism to see someone baptized?

-Walked every day.  We live in the centrum (center) of a big city and we walk to the stores to shop and get groceries.  We walk a lot.

-Exercised every morning.  We have an exercise DVD that we put on TV and exercise for one-half hour every morning.

-Read the scriptures every day.  Each morning we read the scriptures.  We are reading the Book of Mormon and only have a few chapters to go until we have read the whole book.

Gone to a dutch windmill where they grind wheat and corn into flour and corn meal and we purchased some flour and corn meal.

Our Favorite Thing about this week was

Every week on Monday evening we hold Family Home Evening with the Young Adults in our area.  The missionaries who work in the area also attend when they are able.  Last Monday we had 12 people at our home for family home evening.  We always have an opening song and a prayer and a spiritual thought. Then we play games together.  Last Monday they all played UNO and had a lot of fun.  Oma makes treats for everyone and we also have candy and pretzels for everyone to snack on.

This week we met/tried/saw

We had a zone conference in a town called Zwolle.  There were about 30 missionaries there and the mission president.  Another couple missionary and us made dinner for everyone.  We served Sweet and Sour chicken on rice, lettuce salad with tomatoes and cucumbers in it (the dutch don’t think it’s salad unless it has tomatoes and cucumbers in it), rolls and chocolate chip cookies. 

Scripture/Thought of the Week

                                                      My thought for the week is actually a song.  Maybe you know it.

                                    I’m trying to be like Jesus

                                    I’m following in His ways

                                    I’m trying to do as He did

                                    In all that I do and say,

                                    At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,

                                    But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers

                                    Love one another as Jesus loves you,

                                    Try to show kindness in all that you do

                                    Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought

                                    For these are the things Jesus taught.

                           I’m trying to be like Jesus.  Are You?

Who was the oldest person you remember as a child?

The oldest person I remember was my grandfather Wursten.  He was a wonderful man.  He was not very tall (5’6”) but he was a hard worker. He had a farm and he also milked cows and sold the milk.  He was born in Switzerland and came to America when he was a teenager.  He went back to Switzerland and served a mission.  He spoke with a German accent.  He married a young lady who was also from Switzerland and they had seven children. One of their children was your great grandma hill, opa’s mother.  I loved to help grandpa milk the cows.  He had about seven or eight cows.  Every morning and evening he would walk down the bank of a canal to the pasture where he kept the cows.  The cows would be standing at the gate ready to go to the barn.  We would open the gate and the cows would walk down the path by the canal and right into the barn. Grandpa and I would sit on the bank of the canal by an apple tree and he would tell me stories about his youth and Switzerland.  He would sit on a one legged stool to milk the cows and put his head against their side while he milked. The milk would swish into the milk bucket.  Sometimes he would squirt milk at a cat who always came to watch him milk.  He could squirt the milk right into the cat’s mouth.  He was a kind, gentle, man and I loved him.

Oma and Opa are having a wonderful time on our mission but we sure do miss all of you.  We love you very much and hope you are minding your mommy and daddy and trying to be like Jesus. 

With much love,