Elder and Sister Craven: WE WITNESS THE MORMON MOMENT

I found Grenadine syrup – we may not ever come home.

Just home from church and need to tell you about the International Ward in Frankfurt. Its members have in common the Gospel and that German is not their native tongue. Our bishop is from Spain and his counselors are Irish and American. The sacrament was blessed by priests from Denmark and Ghana. The cute family in from of us is from France and have their three boys in German schools. We heard testimonies in fast meeting from all over Europe, but the spirit is still the same and the fellowship of the Gospel unites us in love.

This week we witnessed more Mormon Moment miracles in Europe as newspapers, radio and TV stations in many countries contact the church to make appointments to visit and photograph church services and interview members, then publish the stories in the local media. These stories are increasingly positive and fair and are giving the church tremendously increased visibility.

This week we’ve been helping set up interviews for members in the United Kingdom for a project our office has undertaken to create “I’m a Mormon” style interviews with church youth and adult leadership. Members will be filmed answering typical questions being asked - our response to the B of M musical, missionary work, baptisms for the dead, blacks and the priesthood, temples, tithing, etc. We will then post these interviews in the Newsroom section of the UK’s church website. If it goes well, we’ll repeat the interviews in each of the countries where the church has substantial numbers.

At week’s end we got to sit in on training a new Public Affairs director for Macedonia, where we have 2 members. (Where, you may ask, is Macedonia?) Klemintina is a returned missionary, living in Hiedleberg, who came to Germany when she was 6 and is sharp as they come. It was fun to sense her confidence and enthusiasm for the future of the church in Europe. Through the web she will be the face of the Church in Macedonia even though she lives in Germany. There are 2 elders there and one single couple and no one can proselyte.

This week we also received an assignment from our zone leaders to organize periodic ward service opportunities for our senior missionary group. The area seventy wants us to develop closer ties with our fellow ward members in the International Ward by serving them. Any suggestions? Volunteering in Germany is not like the U.S. You can't just get a group of people together and go clean up the park. Everything is done through recognized organizations so this may be more difficult than it appears.

Most exciting news is our next assignment after sorting file pictures for 2 weeks. Sister Sirtle learned Elaine is a photographer and wanted to see some of her work. She was impressed with her talent and is sending us off to Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark to photograph members and church activities. This is so the Public Affairs directors will have local photos to accompany news releases and articles on the country websites. Stay tuned to see how that unfolds. Busath Photography may have new competition!

The photos below continue along the theme of Stuff You Won’t See Back Home.