HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2013!

Happy New Year to all our loved ones and if you are reading this then this means you!  Well if you haven’t been in Germany at midnight on New Year’s Eve, you do not know what a fireworks celebration is and I am including the celebration at the mall in Wash. DC.  Here it is all private and apparently anything goes, up to small sticks of dynamite and absolutely everyone for 360 degrees around you and for as far across town as you can see from a fifth floor balcony are shooting off the real-deal sky flying, exploding fireworks that, if they are not individually as big as a commercial demonstration, far exceed any city show by the sheer number of fireworks going off across the city and the duration.  We left our missionary party after about 40 minutes of straight sky and street chaos all around us, only to feel like we were driving through a battle scene on the street and the noise continued until at least 1am.  Can you tell I was impressed?

In the office we are working on a big book that will illustrate all the media attention given to the church in Europe last year. Sister Sirtl is anxious to show it to the brethren when she goes to SLC in February for an annual seminar for all the area directors around the world.  We have also kicked off a project to video members in Italy, France, Germany and Spain answering questions about the church.  We will post these videos on the Church Websites in each country to give journalists and other seekers of truth a visual source to answer questions in their native language and by a local member.  Then we are also working on goal setting with each country director and are preparing to submit their budgets for review and approval by the area presidency.

These pictures are from our Saturday outing for a forest walk and a castle ruin exploration.

Koenigsberg ruins. Several sets of stairs allow you to reach the top of the tower.

These are some of the things I love about Germany:

The architecture. (Listening to 40 church bells with 10,000 of our closest friends.)

Discovering new places with Martin.  (The Palmergarten in Frankfurt.)

I can grow anything without it dying. (My new hyacinths which we had to move outside because they were too fragrant.)

Walking paths within minutes - miles and miles of them. (In the Taunus  hills.)

The fact that Germans can put the nativity in every public square during Christmas without anyone complaining.

The artistry of their window boxes even in the middle of winter.

How charming all the little towns are.