Rottenburg, Germany

This month for our missionary "cultural" activity we went to Rottenburg, a beautiful village about 100 miles from Frankfurt.  It was bursting with local charm and culture.  About 20 of us went and met there for lunch and strolling around the village.  It is renown for having the largest year round Christmas store in Germany.  It truly was a block long on 2 levels.  A child would have been convinced he was in Santa's workshop.

In the afternoon we went on the "Night Watchman Tour".  He usually does this after dark but we didn't want to stay that late so he took us earlier.  He walked us around the village and gave a very dramatic history of the village and what happened during the Nazi invasion and other wars.  We literally felt like we were in a time lapse.

It was a bit nippy that day, or down right freezing!  So amidst our other shopping some of us succumed to the cute local "head gear".  Doesn't it add to the charm of the day?

AMAGING PRAGUE

We went to Prague, Czech to meet a new couple there who is working at a newly developed Center.  It is in a beautiful location that was part of the former mission home and there are about 25 young adults attending.  The mission President invited 3 other couples to come for the training in hopes of opening additional centers in the Czech Republic.

This last picture is of a pretty amazing situation.  The cute Sisters met this Chinese young man who speaks little Czech or English but got him a Chinese B. of M. which he read twice and wanted to know more so the mission Pres. was able to hook him up via SKYPE with a mandarin speaking missionary in England who taught him.  He flew to Prague on his way home from his mission and baptized the young man.  Really a miracle.
We had a couple of 1/2 days to see Prague, and oh my.....it is so incredible.  There is so much history still alive in the buildings, bridges, churches and stories.  We could not begin to see it all but loved everything about this old and charming city.  (beware of picture overload)

The church only has 5 Branches in the entire country but the missionaries work hard and the members are faithful (Karli could have done wonders here some 10 years ago).  But we ran into several young people working in the city who had been exchange students to the U.S., one who joined the church while there.  So once again, it was an amazing and culturally rich experience.

Beautiful Worldwide Saints

Last week we hosted a conference for the Area Advisors of the Centers for Young Adults.  These 10 couples are called as service missionaries in various geographic regions throughout Europe to "advise and shepherd" the Centers in their local.  We were very inspired and impressed with their commitment and strength of testimony, experience in church leadership and enthusiasm.  They came from  Sweden, Belgium, England, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Cape Verde, and Germany.
Six of the couples were newly called so we held training meetings with teaching and discussion of the Guidelines and viewing of the new CfYA training DVD .  We had lunch catered both days and had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant.

As we were dealing with so many countries, we had translating going on in German, French, Portuguese and Spanish.  We were a bit worried that all would understand and grasp the meaning of so many details.  But at the end of the conference we were PROFOUNDLY taught that the spirit reaches the "one" in all languages.  As these beautiful people bore their testimonies (sometimes being translated into English and then on into several other languages) the spirit had truly taught all of us the message that the Lord needed conveyed.  It was an inspiring experience. 
It will be such a blessing to serve with these magnificient leaders in Europe.

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!!