These are the elders & Sister Johnson having our Christmas Eve dinner at the church. We put three tables together to make one big table so we could all sit around it. These are great young men! We think they enjoyed the afternoon and evening.

We stopped and took a picture of this lighted ship in a little town on the 23rd of December when we were on our way to visit some members of the Branch.

This is the lighted "tree" in the park across the street from our house. It is there all year, but they turned the lights on about the middle of December.

This huge wooden tree is in the square in Kalamaria. Dennis is standing in front of it. It is lit at night. There is a little village of tiny houses where the children come & do various activities like make a wooden ship, decorate cookies, or get their faces painted. One little house was where they went to see Santa. There was a big stage where live performers perform and a big merry-go-round for the kids to ride. We saw lots of children with their grandparents and/or parents. It looked like a fun place for them. It continues through the second of January.

We had to show you a picture of Roza, only one of three endowed members of the Branch. Here are Dennis, President Todi, Roza (yia yia Roza, as she is affectionately known in the Branch), and her daughter in front of the gate to their humble home. they live about 30 minutes outside of Thessaloniki.

This is the big lighted ship down in the center. It's very beautiful and representative of the many lighted ships used for Christmas decorations.

Our Christmas stockings hanging on the wall above our table.

Our little tree in our apartment with our twelve days of Christmas & our gifts-- just waiting for Christmas morning!

During the holidays, we often hear music played from the gypsy carts in the street. This time we had a live accordian player. Dennis ran down & got his picture.

The Branch

This one was selling huge cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower--all very fresh & nice. He has melons, too, or whatever he grows that is in season.

Thursday is our lykee (?) day. Every neighborhood has a day when a street is blocked off and there is an open market (lykee). They sell all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fresh fish & miscellaneous other things--clothing items, purses, etc. It starts early in the morning & ends late afternoon. These two pictures aren't on the lykee street, but are close by. They just set up and start selling. This one sells eggs from the hood of his truck & wine of his own making from the back. This is just on the side of the street by a busy intersection. You'll notice the Pireaus Bank (yellow sign) in the background which is where we go to pay our rent. You have to take a number at the bank to be waited on & often the wait is very long. (ie., 45 minutes or more)

We thought you might enjoy seeing all the people about whom we write home. This was Emmanuela's baptism on November 23rd. Almost everyone who was at church came to see the baptism in the Aegean Sea. Baby Hannah Nelson is in front. Next row, left to right, are Irini, Georgia, Julie Nelson, Bella (an investigator), Vivian, Pres. Todi, Maria (mother of Irini & Georgia) and Liana. Back row: Fred, Elder Meister, Anthony, Emmanuela, Spencer Nelson, Sotirie Tanto (Emmanuela's fiance), Elder Stephensen, Elder Rice, Larry, Dennis, Barbara, Elder Gardner, Elder Gladson, Elder Schmaal, Elder Grossman, and Beauty. Elder Roderick was taking the picture.

It was almost dark by the time the baptism was finished. Here they are walking out of the sea. A man swimming in the area was very curious & came over & talked to the Zone leaders about what he had seen.

This is a picture taken just before Mary's baptism in the Aegean Sea last Saturday. You can see what a small man President Todi is--he's standing up & Dennis is kneeling down. Standing left to right are Beauty, Elder Schmaal, Elder Rodderick, Mary, and Fred, the other counselor in the Branch.

This mosaic tile floor is from the Byzantine Era about 1000 years ago. We thought it was amazing how intricate the detail is & how vibrant the colors still are.

There are centuries of ruins at Philippi, some are Roman, some are Byzantine & some are from the ancient Greek empire. I believe these columns are Byzantine from about a thousand years ago.

Ruins of the prison at Philippi where they believe the apostle Paul was imprisoned.

Some of the children we took pictures of in their native regional dress, preparing for the parade on Oxi Day. This was in a little town near Kavala. We were on our way to the ruins at Philippi.

A view of the city of Kavala, where we have four missionaries. It's a very beautiful little city on the Aegean Sea. One set of elders live at the top of the city, and one set at the bottom. The set at the top have legendary stories about how fit they become from climbing all the stairs.

A wonderful view of the columns at Corinth through an old, old tree.

These are pilars in from the ruins at Corinth. There are quite extensive ruins there & they believe they know where the apostle Paul would have stood to preach. The New Testament tells us that he came through Pireus (I think I spelled that wrong), which is a the big shipping port near Athens. Corinth was probably about 45 minutes from Athens by bus.

Dennis & Barbara in front of the treasury at the ruins at Mycenae. The vault was pretty impressive--all stone like the outside, but round, probably a diameter of 30 feet or so & a ceiling that came to a point probably a hundred feet high.

These are pictures of some of the ruins at Mycenae. This was a part of the couple's conference in September. The Mycenaean civilization existed around 1000 B.C.

It's for real now!

This is our apartment building. We are on the third level above the pharmacy. You maybe can spot the little metal table on our balcony. We feel like our world has turned up-side-down, so maybe it's appropriate that I couldn't figure out how to turn the picture the right way. Maybe Scott or Spencer can straighten it for us.

This is looking out front our balcony across the street to the other apartment buildings. The vacant looking area is a neighborhood park & is very busy & very noisy in the evenings.

Just thought you might find the street parking interesting. This is the intersection looking down from our balcony, although it looks more like a parking lot. Notice the quadruple parking, with a fifth car in front.

This is a picture of our little chapel here in Thessaloniki.

Here we are on the rooftop of Pres. & Sister Galano's home in Athens with President Galanos.

The traditional MTC picture--before it became so real.

family at setting apart

I am practicing to make sure I can do this on the laptop. Sooo....this is a picture of all the family who came to the setting apart. We missed Lara (who was sick) & her family.

Nauvoo trip

We had so much fun watching this little family of geese on the banks of the Mississippi in Nauvoo. The babies were so cute, fuzzy & yellow.

This beautiful stature of Hyrum & Joseph leaving Nauvoo to ride off to Carthage is across the street from the front of the temple. It's very life-like & very poignant.

Isn't it beautiful! It was thrilling to come around the bend of the Mississippi while still 8 or 9 miles away and see the temple sitting on the bluff.

We visited Ft. Leonard Wood. We hadn't been back since we left 36 years ago. They had recently torn down the house where we had lived, so we didn't get to see it, but this is the hospital where Melanie & Lara were born. We posted this just for them.

Moab 4-wheeling trip

Here we are with the beautiful red rocks & the Colorado River below us.
A panoramic view of the Colorado River.
Incredibly interesting landscape in every direction. We had a ball and would highly recommend this outing!

Hawaii Trip 2008

Just wanted to make you all envious! Here we are in Kona with our wonderful, fresh flower leis that Joann greeted us with at the airport.
We went to the temple in Kona with the Bigler's daughter, Cami. We stopped by to see it the day before and are posing in front of the beautiful traveler palms.
We stayed two days at the Hilton Resort on the big island. This take-your-breath-away sunset was taken from the resort.
This is taken on the north side of the island where the Seven Valleys are seen behind us. Between Dale and Joann is their son-in-law, Wade, who was a tour guide extraordinaire.
We are in Hilo, posing in front of the statue of King Kamehameha.

Stake Conference

Elder Dallin Oaks was the visiting authority at stake conference. Dennis was released as stake president, and Carlyle Knudsen (to the left of Dennis) was sustained as the new president.