SIX COUNTRIES IN SIX DAYS -- overload for us oldies!!

BYU-Idaho is interested in making online bachelor degrees available to young church members in various parts of the world.  So three of their administrators came to Europe for 10 days to talk with the Priesthood leaders and young adults about interest and workability.  We were asked to be their "chaperones" and set up meetings in Stockholm, Albania, Italy, Barcelona, Portugal and Frankfurt.  It proved to be an interesting and educational week, but after a few days we could hardly remember which country we were in---let alone who we were suppose to be meeting with next!!
It would appear that the most interest and need will be in Albania and Portugal and the hope is that the program will be available fto begin in the fall of 2012.  The Centers for Young Adults will play a key role in that those taking online classes will meet once a week at a Center for group assignments.
This is the very fun and interested group in Albania.

Have to love the contrasts you can see in Albania.

Next we see some beautiful people in Milan, Italy.  FYI....the couple who runs the Center there are friends with Rondaleen Specht.

Then on to Barcelona.....after the meeting they took us downtown to see a lazer light show that was goes on every Friday night.  Quite spectacular.

This was a bullfight arena that has been converted to an amazing shopping mall---guess they like to shop more than watch the bulls!

Next stop Portugal.  The Priesthood leaders here were very enthused about this program with the Area Seventy and two Stake Presidents in attendance.  Following the meeting the Center couple cooked up a great dinner for about 50 of us--so impressive.

We had about 4 hours the next day to buzz around Porto and see the city and have a good Portuguese dinner.  It is an old and beautiful city and the weather was perfect!

And so another rich and rewarding week draws to a close.  We are working harder than we have since we retired some 8 years ago but we love this work and see the Lord's hand here strengthening and guiding the gospel in a multitude of ways. 

Recent happenings....

Well life here in the mission field continues to be busy, fun , challenging, rewarding and.......more.
The past month has been incredibly busy with training conferences and visits to new Centers and lots of fires to put out.  Our committee recently approved the 149th Center for Young Adults so just managing the comings and goings of couples at these Centers can be mind boggling.  But we love the work and meeting so many interesting and wonderful people.  And of course the best part is the time (however small) we get to be with the great YSAs.

Our latest big project has been to help produce a training DVD to be used with new couples and Stake Presidents.  We have set up filming in 4 or 5 countries of YSAs bearing testimony of the blessings they've experienced from participating in the Centers and they are really amazing.  We also had to stage many of the aspects of organization and function of the Centers for filming.  The Media division is nearly completed with editing and and music.  We need the finished product for the Advisor Conference we are hosting the end of September.  Twelve local couples in strategic geo. areas throughout Europe are Advisors to the Centers in their region (usually 15-20).  Hope we're not boring you with details.
So sometime in the midst of all this we still manage to see the country and enjoy the people and sights.  We went to a small town called Bad Vilbal for their summer festival and parade.  It was so fun and interesting.

Of course these old timers weren't part of the parade...just enjoying the day.

Frankfurt is a very diverse and interesting city.  It is the banking capital of Germany.  The banking district has 13 skyscrapers and is only 15 minutes from our area.  We have been to many parts of this big city but this was our first time there.  One bank/skyscraper has a viewpoint outside at the top - 54th floor.  From there we could see for miles in all directions. 

These are the "twin towers" of Germany.  The stock exhange is also here as well as the Maine River and the famous Domromer area where Hitler gave speeches during his reign of terror.

The Frankfurt Opera House can be seen from this vantage point and then we walked to the plaza where it is located. 

One of our favorite things in every city in Europe is the sidewalk cafes where people just enjoy a meal and talk and enjoy watching others.  It is so lovely , but it will be interesting how that works during a cold German winter!!

We are off this week with the BYU-Idaho administrators who will be presenting firesides in 6 countries to promote their online degree programs that they will soon offer young adults in Europe.  It will be an exhausting six days but should be interesting and productive.  More to come on that!!