Day 4

Day 4:

This was a monument in Minden that was built to honor the guy who united Germany. I can't

remember his name. But it's interesting because this is where the Hale Hitler sign came from.

Went for a little hike and there was the tower pictured below. Some kind of look out

I guess. It was pretty cool.

The view from the monument.

 So this a field full of these beautiful little blossoms. They will be harvested and made into cooking oil.

 We saw so many old windmills. I loved them! And then these german style houses were pretty neat too. 

 This was a little town square with a church in the middle of Bad Essen. These little villages are so quaint and homey. I could have hung out all day here.

 We went to see Brother Pflaum. He is Russian and fed us lunch. He was one of Carson's favorite people out on the mission. Carson really liked him.

 We went to meet a really cool lady named Rosewitah after lunch. Here are some shots I took on our walk over to her house. There were blossoms everywhere and everything was so green and beautiful.

 This is Roswitah. Like I said, she was a really cool person. Her house was amazing. Her husband had completely restored it. The next series of pictures are of her property. She took us out to see her horses. Halee would have been in Heaven. Rosewitah has to be one of the most sincere, genuine people I have ever met. I am so glad Carson got to know her.

Dinner with Brother Altmann. Another of Carson's favorites. Carson says he wants to be just like Brother Altmann. He is a very kind, loving, good man. Here pictured is also Sister Wehnke, the

relief society president in their ward.

Day 3

Day 3:

We had a lovely lunch at Sister Jaserik's house. She was one of Carson's favorite cooks

while he was out on his mission. She was so kind and gracious.

I am so grateful to her for how well she took care of Carson while he was there. 

Dessert was delicious!

This was her cute garden. It was full of flowers and plants and just beautiful.

I am a succor for tree lined roads. They were everywhere we drove. I think all roads

should be lined with trees! :)

This is where we stayed in Osnubruk. It was a great hotel looking over the city.

We went to FHE with some of the members that night. Here is Carson with Matthias. He is the ward mission leader there in the ward and spent a lot of time with Carson.

Day 2

Day 2:

Brandenburg. This was one of Carson's favorite areas. We attended church here and the 

branch was so kind. This is a picture I took walking back to the car after church. 

We were with Matthew and Inette Smith and Simon Batzke. We ate lunch at the 

Batzke home and then later we had dinner at the Smith's. 

I will always be so grateful to these wonderful people. They were so good to Carson

and made him feel loved while he was away from home. 

 We got caught in a rainstorm and had to hide under an overhang until we got brave enough to

dash into a near by cafe where we had gelato and waited out the storm.

 Here is the smith home. The branch President and his family the Osbeck's joined us for dinner.

That is their beautiful daughter on the top right. She was so cute, I just had to get a picture

of her. Carson had a special relationship with these people. They had him over for 

Christmas and were his family when we couldn't be together.

 This is Brother Randow. He meant a lot to Carson while he was in Brandenborg.

 This is Maurice. We only stopped by for a few minutes and he favored us with a song on his

guitar. 

Doener's

Carson took us to a really great place that is famous in his mission for their yummy

doener's. This was definitely worth the search to try and find it. Since Carson

was a walking mission, he had a hard time finding things from a cars perspective.

We loved this place and might try to go back and get one more doener before 

we fly out on Saturday morning.

This was the view from across the street. I just love the streets here in Germany.

Return to Germany

Here we are, two years later! Carson is home and we are back visiting his mission. We love Germany! It is so beautiful here.

Day 1:

Berlin. Here we are at Brandenburg Gate. It's less than a five minute walk from where we are staying.

Here is the Holocaust museum that we visited. Really cool place.

We rented bikes and rode all over Berlin. Here you can see the victory tower and the

tier garten. It means animal garden. It was beautiful! I went for a run in this

garden the next morning. It was super cool!

Here is the cafe we stopped by to eat lunch.

Carson had some nasty drink. It was non alcoholic, but tasted and smelled kinda weird. 

Here is part of the Berlin wall that still remains. Really cool that it has come down

and that Germans now enjoy some freedoms that they didn't have before.

Here is a Palace in Potsdam. I kept thinking of Jane Austen and could just imagine

pulling up in a carriage and walking the extensive grounds. 

The gardens were beautiful!

Elder Carson Jenkins

We are enjoying our last few days with Carson. I can't believe he is leaving! He has been such a joy to raise. Not that he didn't give me a few gray hairs. :) Everyone keeps asking me if I am sad, but I have to say, I am not! I will miss him terribly of course, but there is no place I would rather have him be. This is what I have hoped and dreamed for his whole life. I am elated! Deliriously happy! And I pray like crazy that he will learn all that he needs to learn to come home and be a good man. I love everything about the gospel, and I love that he will be out serving. I love that this opportunity is provided. It is a remarkable blessing.

Disneyland 2012

Our yearly homage to Disneyland. Good times and good memories for all. I love being with my family at Disneyland. It is the BEST!