Cashing in the Mother Lode, and Other Adventures...

     The last post focused on the finding of a rich trove of family names, and now it's time to follow up. A few days after meeting with my second cousin Frank Küchlin from Wolfenweiler, a mere five miles from us here in Freiburg, I went to the Rathaus (city hall) of the combined townships of Schallstadt and Wolfenweiler, and found a copy of the book Frank had shown us. I couldn't hand over the €39 ($41) fast enough, and now I had my own copy.

    I went through my Grampa Kuechlin's line all the way back to about 1600. The Küchlins had lived in Wolfenweiler for 400 years, and because of Frank and others, still do. The family names in the book are pretty much represented on the genealogical website familysearch.org, but I noticed some important omissions. My Grampa's grandfather, Matthias (ma-TEE-us), had ten children listed on FamilySearch, but my new book showed eleven. Matthias and his wife, Elisabeth Beissmann, had had a son, Matthias Martin Küchlin, who was born on Sept. 6, 1881, and passed away just two months later. 

    I added him on FamilySearch, and on the 4th of July, Leesa and I helped get him sealed to his parents for all eternity, in the arms of the Lord. It was a remarkable session in itself. The sealer, Brother Gomez, is from Argentina, and speaks Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French, but no German or English. The other patrons in the room were all French-speaking, so the entire session was conducted in French. For expediency's sake, Leesa and I figured we could learn when to say the word "Oui" at the right time. 

    We did a good number of ordinances that day, but for some unknown reason, little Matthias became terribly important to me. When his name came up, I lost my composure completely, and just sobbed. Little Matthias wasn't lost anymore. Good 4th of July.

*    *    *

    Since we had a Zone Conference in Zürich the next day, we figured it would be a waste to drive back to Freiburg, then get up early the next day and drive to Zürich, we spent the night in nearby Winterthur, about 20 minutes from Zürich.

    Right after lunch, Leesa got after me to take her to a (what else?) yarn store she'd found in Zürich. After about a 20-minute foray into downtown, we found it.

    It will never stop being a pleasure to watch her go nuts in a yarn store, and this time was no different. I was joined by an 86-year-old Swiss gentleman who looked like Maurice Chevalier, and who was equally charmed by his own bride going equally nuts inside the store alongside Leesa.

    This day, Wednesday, 5 July, 2023, we were to meet our new mission president, Martin Bates, and his wife, Donna.

    They just took over last Friday, June 30th, and were driven to meet every missionary as soon as physically possible. Each of us had a 10-minute interview with them, and President Bates got to the point pretty quickly.

    When Leesa and I had discussed how long to serve, she wanted to serve a year and come home. I was leaning more toward 18 months, but she kind of put her foot down, and I wound up saying, "Yes, dear." So we put in for a year, and were called. Every time this subject came up, temperatures started to rise, and finally we decided to delay the conversation in the interest of insuring domestic tranquility.  Leesa finally agreed to extend if we were called by our new mission president.

    We explained all this to President and Sister Bates, and he took about three or four nanoseconds before he asked, "Would you please extend your mission?" You see, one of Leesa's original stated misgivings was that the Alpine German-speaking Mission is one of the most desired missions in the world, especially for senior couples. She didn't want to "hog" time in this mission, thus preventing other senior couples to be called here.

    To which I replied, "Bullfeathers." This is about the grandkids. Strong in my memory was a talk from a General Conference by one of the Apostles, trying to encourage senior couples to serve missions. Regarding their grandchildren, he said, "If you love them, leave them!" Don't get me wrong. Every time I think of any of our grandkids, my heart breaks being away from them. But I know the Lord will bless them and us through this process.

    Pres. Bates asked us to remain for a full 23 months. Senior couples, it turns out, are restricted from serving 24 months, as there are negative tax implications. That would have us returning in late January of 2025. We agreed to consult with each other and with our children, and then get right back to him.

    I'll never forget Sister Bates' compassion as she openly worried that we would miss two family Christmases, somehow omitting the fact that she and her husband would miss three, as mission presidents are called for three years. We were both touched by her attitude.

    We drove home to Freiburg, about a two-hour jaunt from Zürich, and kicked the call around awhile. We had all but decided to agree to the extension when a thought struck me: If we extended, then we would miss an entire American presidential election cycle! Sealed the deal for me, right then and there.

    We came home and called daughter Lori, and got to talk with granddaughters Claire and June as a bonus. Lori handles our finances when needed, and has done tremendous work for us, and we are very grateful. As we spoke with her about the implications, she agreed that it she'd make it work.

    After that, I came up with the idea of leaving the first week of December in 2024. My birthday is the 4th, and that would allow us enough recovery time from jet lag, be able to have our annual Belgian Waffle breakfast for our friends, have a joyous Christmas season with our family, and be able to swing into tax season in mid-January. 

    So that's what we agreed upon, and what we communicated to Pres. Bates this morning. But more than all that, we feel loved and wanted by the Ward and its leadership here in Freiburg, we feel loved and wanted by the missionaries, and by the mission leadership and membership.

    And there is a lot of Temple work to do for my family from Wolfenweiler. It's a good gig.

    We're scheduled to meet daughters Anna and Katy in Amsterdam later this month. Can't wait!

Until next entry!