Saturday, August 27, 2011

Northern Germany

This week we went to northern Germany to conduct 2 Couple Conferences.  Our first was in Berlin with 6 couples who serve at Centers in a 200 mile radius.  It was our first attempt at these mini conferences and it seemed to go really well.  The couples are all doing such great work at their Centers---some are relatively new missionaries and others are nearing the end of their service.  So we had some very valuable and interesting discussions about the success and challenges they face and we all learned a great deal.  We had training in the morning and one of the couples prepared a lovely German lunch and then we concluded with discussion in the afternoon.






We spent the next day doing some sight seeing before we had to leave for the next location.  Berlin has so much history and has made so many changes in MY lifetime.  I kept thinking of Pres. Uchtdorf and his stories as we visited the Berlin Wall (iron curtain), Checkpoint Charlie where all the stories of escapes originate, and the buildings that withstood the bombings.  We spent several hours at  the Checkpoint museum reading about the trials that went on during that period.  Such dark and dangerous days.

 Berlin Wall
 Border crossings


Where West Germans could sometimes go into East Berlin for visits.  Where Pres. Monson would have crossed.

Berlin is the capitol and is quite a beautiful city with many waterways and beautifully restored buildings and modern sections.  The church is quite strong in this part of Germany thanks to the brave and faithful few who endured behind the wall.




We then travelled to another city to do another conference with equally grand couples serving in Centers in the Hamburg region.  It was so great to get to know all 12 couples who are blessing the lives of so many YSAs in Northern Germany.  They are all so devoted....struggling to learn German and new customs but loving the young adults and their service for the Lord.  We have to continue to pinch ourselves to believe the incredible experiences and lovely people that we are blessed to enjoy on this mission.  Who would have "thunk".




Bro & Sis Fritsche are an example of a local couple who are still employed who have a Stake calling to serve at a Center.  We are encourageing more of this as it is impossible to get enough missionary couples .  They spoke just a little more English than we speak German so it was a bit of a challenge during training but we all laughed and used alot of sign language.  Bless their hearts!!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

A Day in the Life of Two Senior Missionaries

We arise before the sun these days and gaze across the way at our office building that beckons our arrival.  Luckily it is literally 100 steps from our front door, which will prove to be a great advantage come December in Germany.


We stroll hand in hand to another day of putting out small and large fires, trying to dodge the 100 emails that spew out when we fire up the computer and seeing what other new things the day will entail.





Each day we are blessed by happy faces, cheerful voices,  stilted humor and words of encouragement from the great employees and fellow missionary couples.  First inside the door we meet Peter at the front desk who always has the biggest smile and attempts to teach us a daily German phrase (to no avail).


Next we meet Queen Esther.  She proudly stands at the top of the fourth floor stairwell where we are gasping for a breath before we reach our office.  She quietly signals that once again, we have survived our climb to the top floor or more common referred to as the celestial kingdom!

Our office is such a busy but fun place, already packed with beautiful memories and lots to learn.  You can see our map with dots for the 143 Centers throughout Europe, pictures of some of the "good news moments" from various YSAs, and of course our family wall of sweet pictures and letters from home.




We are blessed to share our day with incredible people.  Elder and Sister Wells are in Family Services, Elder and Sister Leonard in Humanitarian Projects, Max who is our computer guru, and Elder and Sister Paxton, our best buds,  who work with us and Seminary and Institute.  With friends like this everyday is rewarding.






When it is lunch time we can gaze back across the lot to our apt. building......


or more often than not head for some favorite eatery.


Then back to the office for an afternoon with more excitement and good times.  We are often blessed with inspired meetings with our Area Authority , Elder Teixeira who has such great vision for moving the work forward throughout Europe.  He knows how to keep our feet to the fire in a productive yet gentle way.  We feel so truly blessed with this mission assignment and honestly see miracles in our lives and those around us on a regular basis.  The Lord is forever directing this work and how privileged we feel to be a very small part of His great plan.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Last week we saw some friendly faces from home.  Steve and Gayle Hilliard were in Germany and stopped in Frankfurt for a day trip down the Rhine river with us.  It was so fun to catch up and reminisce about our friends in Corcoran Branch.  Steve joined the church shortly after leaving Corcoran and they have 5 children and now live in Springville.

We went to our first YSA Conference outside of Munich.  It was held in a beautiful countryside conference center with about 450 attending.  It was so well planned and offered workshops, had a great day of service in local communities, sports days and dances.  It was great to feel their enthusiasm, energy and beautiful spirits.  One dance was "Hollywood"--interesting theme for Germany.  But they were dressed so cute and having so much fun.




On our way to the conference we stopped in Munich for the afternoon at the Olympic Park and the BMW plant and museum.  Both were so interesting and different. This was the Olympic village.





Allan's new "Beamer"!!
After the conference we drove on to Saltzburg Austria which is through the alps.  It was so beautiful and green with rolling hills, mountains and chalet homes dotting the countryside.  We expected Julie Andrews to burst into song at any moment.  We drove on to Vienna to meet a new Center couple and do training.  Vienna is an amazing city; so many old and beautifully designed buildings. They are big into statues and they adorn the corners, tops and sides of many buildings.  We met the Center couple and spent the afternoon in their beautiful Center and gave training and stayed for the evening activities which was "waffle night".




One of the most beautiful sights in Vienna was the Vienna Opera House.  It was mostly destroyed during the war but they rebuilt it in 11 years.  The opera was on summer break but they perform 7 days a week for 10 months.


We were able to see several amazing palaces, churches and restored buildings.  The architechure of the buildings on every street was breathtaking.





It is always a bit dangerous to come back to the office after being out for a week.  The computers are "spewing" emails and problems fill the day and "special assignments" are around every corner.  We just got 2 new BIGGIES that we will share later.  This mission is  busy, fun, stressful, rewarding, and never dull.