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Wednesday, 13 Nov 1985 Dear Mom & Dad, I hope all is well there. We are all fine. It has not gotten too cold yet. Our landlord has our radiators ready to run. This winter I have decided to ignore the 8 hour a day law, as well as the starting date of 1 December. Right now it is very pleasant outside. I already rotated the tires on the Fiat this morning. Jeannie's ladies' Bible class is about to start. I don't go to work until this afternoon. We got the Fiat fixed. It was in the shop nearly a week and cost about $200. It had to have a new radiator and a new muffler. The gas gauge was repaired so now we can figure out how much gas is left in the tank. Also, it was tuned up. So it is ready for a long trip to Germany now. I still need to get some snow chains. We are leaving the day after Thanksgiving to go to the Christian retreat in Berchtesgaden. Several others from church are going also. We are looking forward to seeing our missionary friends from Holland there. Angelique will miss two weeks of school. Angelique got her report card recently. It was okay, but we wished it could be better. She is doing better in school now. Jeannie went to talk with the woman in charge of the reading program for the whole school. At least Angelique is in the very top of the first grade reading class now. Last Monday night we went to study the Bible with a couple who are not Christians but were going to church regularly until a year ago. The girl's parents are Christian missionaries in Africa. We studied with her again on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday night I baptized Frank in the canal next to the clinic. We couldn't go out at the beach because the waves were too high. The water was cold but we were too excited to notice it. I baptized his wife a couple of months ago in our bathtub. I must say it is so much easier in lots of water. These are the only two people that I have actually baptized myself. I never paid much attention to preachers trying to teach me how to do that when we were in the States; I always expected I would just call on the preacher to do it. Now without a preacher here, I hope to be involved in some more baptisms before we leave. When the Sigles left, I was left with a burden (responsibility) at church that I wouldn't have imagined. I preached this past Sunday. The couple that we studied with were there. My computer helped me do the sermon. Then Sunday night we had tapes here at our house. Everyone is really enjoying J.C.'s sermons. Yesterday I had the Ford tuned up. It sure runs a lot better now. The courts here still have not completed all the paperwork necessary to let me put the Ford in my name. It has been over 2 months now. Yesterday morning Jeannie, Steven, and I went to Euromercato. They have their Christmas toys out. We spent over $100 before we left. It was mostly on toys for the nieces and nephews. We hope they will have fun with them. We also got Becky some more Pizzette. (We haven't heard that she got the last box we sent.) I had to work in the E.R. on Veterans' Day. Jeannie and the kids went to Carney Park with several other families whose husbands were working. We got a really long letter from you last week. I read it while I was riding Angelique's bus home. It helped me ignore the little monsters on her bus. I appreciate the coin holders. I will try to remember to send back the Kennedy half dollar holder. The Roman coin was too big for it. It fit perfect in the other one though. Remember, I would like to have prints of the pictures we took down in the tunnel under Cuma if they turned out good enough. I will want to see ALL your pictures from Europe when we get back to the States. Didn't I tell you that you would have to get off the plane at Genoa? The soldiers with guns are something new, though. Was security tighter in Frankfurt when you left as compared with when you arrived? A lot of good it did for your travel agent to find you a room after you already had one! Why didn't Susan call you here and tell you what she had done? I guess someone from Harrison, Arkansas, might not be able to find their way around in an elevator. I'm glad you got lost on the way home and not on your way to my house. Anri figures are from northern Italy, not from Germany. We are not collecting them, by the way. They are too expensive to "collect." We will be content with just a few of them. We are collecting music boxes, though. This means that regardless of price we are hooked on buying them. I hope we find some nice ones in the Black Forest. I only remember one German restaurant in Fort Smith. I cannot remember the name of it though. Jeannie and I went there once, but were not terribly impressed. Was it good? Jeannie somewhere found a pair of brown knee high socks for Angelique. She would prefer the Brownie ones though. Please keep looking. If we need other Brownie things, we will let you know. Thanks for offering to help. Last week I got the names I needed for Jeannie's family tree that takes it back to 1014 A.D. She (and my kids) appear to be descended from a royal family of Ireland. How about that? Perhaps I need to write my uncle a letter and explain my opinion about family history. It is not meant as an offense to anyone. If he doesn't want certain information public, I will comply. Just because I know the complete story does not mean that I will print the complete story. The SLIFE line is well-documented, with only one link with a few unanswered questions. If the information was sufficient to get us into SAR, then it is just as good for DAR. One cannot get into DAR based on one's husband's ancestry, though. If J.C. wants, he can get a researcher to do only a little work, and prove that your STUCKEY ancestor was in the Revolutionary War. I have tried for over 10 years without proving a single Indian in the family tree. I know they are there but have not been able to prove it. How in the world did he do that? The apostle Paul was open with his past and did not let it hamper his work. To try to cover things up merely does worse damage if the thing is ever discovered. To keep the information from the elders might result in severe consequences when/if they find out the truth. I did not mean to cause such a stir in the family. Don't worry about cancer. I have never found anyone in our family with it. We all die with cardiovascular disease. You will be happy to know that your Christmas package has already arrived. I couldn't believe you spent so much for postage on it. But we will certainly have it for opening on Christmas this year. John Sigle's parents live in Altus, Oklahoma. John is taking about 30 days leave there. Then he is moving to San Antonio, Texas. Jeannie worked at the American booth selling cookies and fudge one night during the Bazaar. She won a wicker chair from the raffle. We didn't know about it until long afterwards. No one told her. We put it in the bedroom. Jeannie found the lost coins after you left. Lots of love, Michael, Jeannie,
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