Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

Our first destination today (driving back through Wintertür) was a town called Stein am Rhein (stone on the Rhine), about an hour from Baden. John remembered hearing it was a nice place to visit and we LOVED it. We got there at about 11:00.

It’s an old town, with lots of murals on the buildings and lots of charm, right on the river.  Today was a misty rain day with hardly anyone out and about. Not many shops were open. We found an excellent bakery with fresh plum Kuchen and a raisin bun, and we wandered here for about an hour.

There was a beautiful old church and St George’s Abbey with a museum (closed). Things are closed this time of year. It’s like time off for the shopkeepers until March or April. No tourists come in the cold after the  Christmas months. I think this town is a big tourist destination in the summer time. It was beautiful. The buildings were beautiful. The murals and half-timber homes/shops were beautiful. It’s almost too much to take in.  My words can’t capture it.

There are so many old things here. I love the doors and the hardware. I love the windows and shutters. I love the flower boxes, now beginning to come alive with Primroses and Pansies. I love it all so much. I do not tire of these interesting old towns.

As you will see below, I’m starting to panic about leaving Germany.  That means I want to capture it ALL.  I took so many photos here so I can come back with these memories any time I want to.  I hope you enjoy them.

This city church was built as a monastery church in the 12th century.  It was converted into a Protestant city church in 1583/1584.  The walls and columns date from this period.  The wall paintings in the choir and in both chapels date from the 13th to the 15th centuries.  The southern corner tower was destroyed by lightening  and rebuilt from 1596-1560.  The last renovation was in 1989-92.

Behind the church is Saint George’s Abbey Museum (closed right now).  I wish we could have seen inside.

Old roof tiles:

The Abbey courtyard:

Now back into the Old Town:

The muraled buildings are spectacular!

The City Hall:

Our tradition of a pastry in every town continues!

Many of the homes have histories displayed, like this one built in 1398.  Each new owner or renovation is listed.

This the witch’s tower, which was used (since the 14th century) as a prison for both men and women.

There is a castle/fortress up on the hill overlooking the town.

Beautifully old!

This are insect hotels, for sale in the shops.  I love this idea and wish I had one.

First signs of spring:

School’s out!

A boot scraper:

Images of St. George, the knight are found all around the town, and on the manhole covers in the pavements.  He is conquering the dragon.

LOVED visiting here.  It would be fun to come back in the summer, but it was nice today, to have the town to ourselves.

After 7 hours in the ER, Vivy was able to go home to recover from being hit by a car.  She will spend a few days watching princess movies and eating her favorite cottage cheese, while the family waits on her as they would wait on a princess.  She is going to be fine, just fine.  This is a true miracle.

Since the accident 2 days ago, I’ve thought a lot about our Guardian Angels and protection we receive, often without even realizing it.  I believe that our immediate families are blessed when we keep the covenants we’ve made with God.  I also believe we receive blessings because of the covenants our ancestors kept.  We are under their umbrella of goodness, even now.  I have felt Elisabeth Degen so near, as if she has been letting me know, “I’m Here! and I’m watching out for your precious family.”

This is the only photograph we have of Elisabeth Degen Bushman (b. 1802).  The story of how it came to me is also a miracle for another day.  I’ll just say that she wanted me to have it, and she saw that it came into my possession.

Elisabeth is the daughter of John Casper Degen and Anna Maria Graf, who married on 20 March 1827.  Maria Graf died when Elisabeth was four years old, and her father re-married and had six additional children. When Elisabeth was 14 years old she came to America with her father. The journey was in an old sailing vessel which was delayed by a calm. The extra cost caused by this delay put them in debt to the Captain, which debt was met by hiring Elizabeth out as a domestic servant for five years after arriving in America.

This is Elisabeth’s German Bible, published in 1826 in Pennsylvania:

The family settled in Lancaster County, and Elisabeth married Martin Bushman in 1827.  They had 10 children.

In the spring of 1840 two elders, Elisha H. Davis and H. Dean, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, came to preach the Gospel in Lancaster County. Both Martin and his wife, Elizabeth, were very religious and investigated the new doctrine whole heartedly, were convinced of its truth, and were baptized.  They were later endowed in the Nauvoo Temple on Christmas Day in 1845.

I believe with all my heart that the blessings of the temple extend through the generations.  As we keep our covenants we, and our posterity, are blessed with protection in more ways than we’ll ever know.   This week our family experienced that protection.  Oh, what a beautiful heavenly gift!

Driving through Switzerland is always a treat.  What a perfect way to end our mission here in the Europe Central Area.  As we drove the sky cleared and the sun came out and it was beautiful. The GPS took us through the countryside, with rolling green fields and big Bauernhofs (farm yards). There seem to be lots of dairies and cows and farms here with old dark wood barns and old farmhouses with big roofs.  Things haven’t changed much in the last 100 years.

Our last visit to friends this evening was with Franz and Katharina Odavic, life-long friends.  They live in such a beautiful place, overlooking Lake Zurich. Their apartment is all glass on the lake side, up high on the hill, layered between other flat apartments, all with beautiful views. They have beautiful things and interesting things collected from all over the world. It’s fun to be back here.

Katharina fixed an interesting meal for us (“not something American”). It was a vegetable called ‘Chickeree” that we don’t really have. They look like endives. She called them “sprouts” that she steamed, then she put a slice of ham around each, put them in a baking dish, sprinkled with Gruyere cheese and then poured some cream over them before baking. It was good, served with balsamic rice (which she stirred some coconut oil into before serving) and some green salad with German/Swiss “field greens,” which we also don’t have at home. All tasty. She had a frozen Maronen (chestnut) ice cream dessert after that.

We had a lot to visit about and catch up on, always interesting with Katharina.  They have a Utah home in Midway, so we see them often, and will see them again soon on our side of the world.

This was our last Mission Friends Visit this week.  Oh, what a perfect way to end our mission, with all of these dear friends.  Tonight we drove back to Christina Ghosh’s to spend one last night with her in her beautiful apartment.  Staying with her was heavenly.

We are so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that has brought us all together in such a variety of ways, creating friendships that have lasted, now more than 50 years!

As we traveled to our next visits today in Wintertur, John turned into a MIGROS grocery store, where they sell one of his favorite chocolate bars for a great price.

He took all they had on the shelves!

Having chocolate on hand makes John happy.  Ann likes a happy John.

 

In October 2023 we went to Wintertur to visit our dear friends, Regina and Ernst.  John taught Regina the gospel of Jesus Christ 50 years ago.  During our fun visit, we went hiking together with Regina’s twin sister, Gita.

The year before, Ernst and Regina came to us in Utah.  We spent an afternoon at our Sundance cabin and hiked to Stewart Falls.

Regina and her friend, Jeannet taught me to make Swiss pancakes, which they call “Kaiserschmarrn” with stewed plums or “Zwetschgen.”  So delicious!

Last November, after a full and active day at church, Regina went to bed with a book in her hands.  She never woke up.  It was a shock to us all.

Today we went to visit Ernst, to pay our respects, and to share a bit of friendship.  We went to a fun Mexican restaurant in Wintertur and had a delicious meal.  It was hard to talk about Regina.  These are still tender times.  We all miss her vibrant personality.

After our meal, we walked a bit downtown.  This was another of John’s missionary areas, and the memories came back to him as we walked down the main boulevard where he once did street contacting.  Much has changed since then.

We are grateful that life doesn’t end at death.  We will all be reunited again one day, maybe over some yummy Kaiserschmarrn.

This morning we drove to Zurich where we were able to pick up the display banners used outside the theater where The Book of Mormon Musical played this last week. Members and missionaries gave out more than 2500 copies of The Book of Mormon, which is oh, so much better than the show. The book always is!

Switzerland is preparing now for an Easter musical production of “Lamb of God,” translated into German.

It was fun to see the cultural hall and high council room full of Alpine missionaries, here today for pancakes, basketball and interviews with Pres and Sis Bates of the German Alpine Mission.  We enjoyed visiting with them very much.  It brought back so many happy memories of former missions.