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!!

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!!