OUR FIRST TRANSFER AND WE'RE STILL COMPANIONS

This week was our first transfer.  We've come from out in the country-side to Frankfurt-proper and best news is we are still companions.  Our new home is the large apartment building next to the Area Office - home to most area office senior missionaries which allows less use of cars and easier sharing of the cars that are available.

This week we fixed mistakes in photos (changed TIF files to JPG) we had previously uploaded to the church’s computer and sent out to the county directors.  Aso turns out Lisbon, and a few other towns aren’t really in Spain after all, causing us to have to resort picture files and reburn disks for Spain and Portugal.  We are pretty provincial, I am afraid. We also attended our first budget review, pleading for money requests for the 2013 public affairs projects of our assigned countries (we have the Scandinavians).  Had to tighten  belts and few countries got all the money they requested. France didn't submit a budget so Martin got assigned the tedious job getting approval for every single request they will have to submit to him. (Gabi has discovered Martin's financial skills.)  We also ran into a snag with the printing of our media book which will not be delivered on time. (Printers fault, not ours).  Elaine's been assigned as editor of a monthly newsletter with several feature articles which will go out to all the public affairs directors in Europe once a month.   

It has been colder and snowy here, but temperatures up to 50 degrees are forecast for next week. Could an early spring be coming? Probably not, but will be good to de-ice for a while. Next week our ward will have its third baptism in three months and it will be the third person in their 20’s and the third not from Germany.  Lee Funxin (sp?) is from China and the Church will be required to inform the Chinese government of his baptism, which makes you wonder what life has in store for him when he returns home. Our last two new members are young people from Africa and from Peru.

Firm mattress is a nice upgrade

The washer also is the dryer!
The bathroom is also the laundry room!

No Elaine is not in a closet and yes you are seeing the entire kitchen

Ok so the halls are a little scary and the smells are, shall we say, foreign? 

HASTENING THE WORK

Frankfurt and the Main River at night

Winter flowers

Missionary friends on P-day

Winter flower box

Our sacrament meeting speaker today was President Swartz of the Frankfurt Mission.  He challenged us to pray for missionary opportunities and gave examples of people who come into the church as a result of small things – a pass along card, a brief word to the person waiting for the light to change.  The Frankfurt Mission has 178 missionaries and he is expecting that number to climb to 270+ by year-end.  He said we have now 58,000 missionaries serving world-wide, which is expected to grow to 100,000 this year.  He, and the high councilor who also spoke, told of when President Kimball was in Germany in 1976 and prophesied that one day the German speaking countries would have “hundreds of stakes” within their borders. We may be on the threshold of that day as the Lord hastens his work.

WHATEVER INTELLIGENCE WE GAIN

Work in the public affairs office is picking up - got paid overtime last week (ha).  Elaine has been given the assignment of publishing a monthly newsletter to be distributed to the directors of public affairs in our 30 countries.  She asks “can you image me with so little computer experience being editor of a newsletter?”  Her ward calling is a similar idea as it’s the weekly Relief Society newsletter which also gives her an opportunity to learn all sorts of technical skills in MS Publisher and Outlook .  She is really growing in learning how to use these programs and perfecting her already fine writing skills. 

We continue madly working on the 2012 media book which will be a sampling of all the attention the Church has received this past year in Europe.  Interest has come as a result of the US presidential campaign, progress of the Paris and Rome Temples, celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Church in England and the recent missionary age announcement. Tomorrow we will spend the day carefully proof-reading each page before it goes to the printer.  We have spent weeks collecting the articles and writing a short narrative about each one.  This entails translating the first paragraph of an article from one of 26 different languages or translating the caption from online video files of TV and radio interviews.  In the absence of a Urim and Thumim, we use Google Translate, our foreign language skills and prayer but it still can be a challenge figuring out the message. Google Translate is pretty literal and doesn’t mind just skipping the hard words. We will be glad to see the book go to print this week.

One of the blessings we enjoy here is associating with the dedicated and experienced senior missionary couples here from all over the US. They have already served in so many capacities, have wonderful stories to share and still have so much to give.  Yesterday our group took a tour of the city of Koblenz and on the hour ride there the Woods from Price told us the story of an Islamic leader in Egypt who converted to the Church, was disowned by his family, falsely accused by them of drug trafficking and sent to prison for 15 years.  Yet the Cairo branch visited him the whole time and helped him when he got out to get safely to Ghana where he now lives and serves in the Ghana Temple. We were inspired but also are reminded that, though the US has many problems, it is still a blessed place to call home.


Some Koblenz highlights:

Outside the modern art museum.

This fountain sculpture of a little boy spitting water is a depiction of a "Schangel" or the illegitimate child of a French occupying soldier and a local German mother.  It is now the symbol of Koblenz.  If you are a native of Koblenz you are a Schangel which is a title of prestige.

Koblenz from the Mosel River

Here you can see where the Mosel joins the Rhein and the city of Koblenz which means "Confluence" or the joining of two rivers

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.