Life in Frankfurt

Earlier this week Sister van Hoff spent hours in front of her computer.  She noticed that the lines in the Excel spreadsheet she was using looked a little strange.  When it came time to go to lunch, she noticed that vertical lines such as edges of door frames looked odd.  They were not straight lines.

We made an appointment to see an eye doctor.  The appointment was arranged for a couple of days later.  The morning of the appointment, Sister van Hoff asked for a blessing.  In the blessing the Lord conveyed that the doctor would be able to diagnose the problem as best he could and that Sister van Hoff would feel comfortable and at peace with what she heard.

When we got in to see the doctor, our initial reaction was, how can this blessing be fulfilled?  The doctor appeared to be much older than we are.  He looked frail.  His voice was soft and raspy.  He asked a lot of questions, often repeating himself.  I was wondering if he understood what the problem was, let alone remember what Sister van Hoff was telling him. He did write down everything she said, though.

I noticed that his equipment looked not as modern and extensive as we see in the States.

He didn't say much as he checked her eyes.  He performed several tests on her eyes, using all four of the machines in the room.  Finally after being there for nearly an hour, he straightened up in his chair, which transformed him into a different individual.  He informed us that he used to be an eye surgeon.  He believed to the best of his knowledge and with the equipment he had that what Sister van Hoff has is dry macular degeneration. He also said there is a possibility that the distortion is due to a small bleed in the eye.  He requested that we go to a hospital to have them verify the diagnosis, since their equipment is much more sophisticated.

Though we don't have comfort in the fact that the diagnosis could be correct, we did leave knowing that he is very professional and wise to request us to get a confirmation.

Thursday we got registered to get our driver licenses.  No, we don't have German licenses yet.  We are only registered to be able to take the driver's test.  Here in Germany, it seems you have to register for everything you do.

Thursday we got word that a bomb was found in the middle of Frankfurt.  It was a World War II British Allied bomb.  We heard that another one was found in another town close by last week.  We also heard that they are often found as digging occurs for new construction sites.

The map here shows the northern part of the evacuation area.  It is outlined in red.  We live next to the church -- labeled Porthstrasse Chapel.

Supposedly, this is the biggest evacuation of people since WWII  in Germany.  Today, Sunday, they have evacuated the part of the city within a 1.5 Km radius of the bomb location, so that the 2-man disarmament team can disarm the bomb.  The evacuation included 70,000 people, which included 2 hospitals and 20 nursing homes.  Can you imagine?  We live on the outer perimeter of the evacuated area.  Our sister missionaries live within, so another senior couple is opening their place for the sisters to go for the day.  Our stake center which is a half a block away is being used for evacuees.

Ritz Hotel

We just returned from a walk and the police barricades are still up.  This is less than a block away.  It is 6:00 PM.  They started at 1:00 PM.

On a happier note, Saturday was a great day.  We started out by joining 14 other senior missionaries for a Frankfurt tour given by a church employee who works in our office building.  He is Irish, but has lived here for many years.  The tour lasted for about 2-1/2 hours and was full of interesting information about Frankfurt.  Just to share a couple of things: one of the first hotels built by Cesar Ritz is in Frankfurt.  That's right, it was one of the first Ritz hotels.  This is also where many of the people stayed the night before boarding the fatal flight of the Hindenburg.  This hotel is now owned by a different company as you can see from the picture.

Our group in the distance.  Names on the cemetery wall.

Anne Frank

Another interesting fact.  There is a Jewish cemetery in town.  During the Nazi regime they tore down the headstones and put them in a pile.  Today the cemetery is still there, surrounded by a brick wall.  There are bricks facing outward and on the end of each brick there is the name, date of birth and death of all the know Jews who died during the holocaust.  Anne Frank and her family are listed there, among 11,146 other names.  Notice the stones on top of the brick.  People place them on top and say mentally, "[name of person], I remember you."

Later that day we had another appointment with the investigator we talked about last week.  It was in a park closer to where he lives.  What a great discussion we had with the sister missionaries.  Interestingly enough, unbeknownst to him, I have learned probably more from him than he has from me.

It is now 7:30 PM and we just got word that the bomb was successfully disarmed.  There is honking and sirens heard from all around us.

The bomb and the 2 guys who disarmed it.