A Fun and Spiritual Week

Tuesday evening we had an outdoor cookout at a senior missionary’s residence near the temple in Friedrichsdorf.  It was in recognition of the 4^th of July.  The weather was perfect and the evening enjoyable.  After eating, President Gary B. Sabin from the Europe Area Presidency spoke to us. Then we sang American songs finishing off with the Star Spangled Banner.  Great company, great food, great evening.

The rest of the week was pretty normal until Friday evening.  For Friday night Diane and I had invited an investigator and his wife over for dinner to be followed by  a relaxing evening of games and refreshments with two missionary couples. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we found out the couple would be unable to make it;  however, we were able to round up a third missionary couple and had a fun evening.  There was a lot of laughter and I was especially happy to see Diane laughing so hard.  She is always happy, but it’s been a while that she could hardly contain herself from laughing so hard. For those of you who know the game, we were playing "The Great Dalmuti."

1st view of the castle

Saturday morning we went to Braunfels, Germany.  It was our first visit to a real castle.  From the main area of the castle we walked down some stairs and it opened up to a small village.  The houses and buildings were the kind you imagine Germany to look like.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We walked all over town and around the castle.

Base of the castle

Inner court of castle

View of town from castle wall

Exiting castle and entering town

Town square

Walking the streets of the town

A quiet street

Sisters Griffen, McCrary, and Harouny

When we returned, we were exhausted and just wanted to put our feet up ... until Diane remembered that there was a baptism for the German Ward.  I almost told her I was too tired to go, but we changed clothes and  went anyway.  As it turned out, it was a fantastic experience.  The sister being baptized spoke Spanish.  She had been attending the International Ward, so that means she also knew English.  Since this was a German ward’s baptism, the main language was German.

The first talk was given by an English speaker.  She had a German translator by her side.  Next, two of the sister missionaries sang "Teach Me to Walk" in German while the third played the piano to accompany them.  It was so beautiful.  It was like listening to angels. (The sister on the left is from New Zealand.  The other 2 are from America. These 2 on the right are in a church film.  Here is the link: http://www.mormonnewsroom.org.uk/article/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mormon-missionary

Next was the baptism.  I was privileged to be asked to be one of the witnesses.

After the baptism there was another talk.  This sister spoke Spanish and she had a translator who spoke German.  I was amazed at how much more I understood Spanish than I did German.

The brother who welcomed her to the ward did so in German, and then bore his testimony in Spanish at the end. The whole meeting was a spiritual feast.  I am so glad we went.

Today in church I gave a talk. I spoke about challenges we have in life and how we can learn Christ-like attributes from them.  I gave specific examples from my life and from Brian’s life and Andrew’s.  If it is worth anything, when I started the talk there were a some droopy eyes.  (It was, however, pretty hot and there isn’t any air conditioning.)  At the end of the talk I noticed that all were alert.  Afterwards, a lot of people came up to tell me how wonderful it was.  Of course, as wonderful as it is to hear their compliments, I realized that congratulating someone on their talk is a common courtesy, so I didn’t think much of it.  That is, until Diane told me that during Relief Society a sister mentioned that she really felt touched by the last speaker (me) and learned how when we face challenges we can learn from them to become more spiritually self-reliant.

Sunday School was fun.  For the past four weeks, I’ve been teaching the Gospel Principles class.  I’ve been told that they will be calling a teacher for the class, but it hasn’t happened yet.  Today the Albanian guy who speaks Italian (he learned it from watching TV) came. He speaks enough English to get a taste of what I’m saying, but an Italian brother translates for him.  The Elders have been trying to teach the Albanian guy for the past month, but it has not worked out. Also in the class was a young woman who was baptized a year ago.  Her understanding of the church doctrine and the scriptures is very weak.

So, picture this.  The tables in the classroom are “U” shaped.  The Elder missionaries, the Albanian guy, and his translator are on one side.  Diane is smack in the middle.  The young new member, the three Sister missionaries are on the other side and the new Mission President (just arrived last week) is sitting on that side, but at the end closest to me.  Got the picture?

I had prepared to teach the chapter on prophets from the manual, but before class started the Elders asked if I could teach the first discussion, the Restoration of the Church.  I agreed, since I’ve taught it many times before.

So, as I’m teaching the lesson, I say a few sentences and wait for the translator to convey it into Italian for the Albanian guy.  Then we go a little further.  At one point, I realize that the young woman really doesn’t know a whole lot.  Mind you, the Albanian guy is well versed in the scriptures.  So we are working with translation on one side of the room and explaining things in more detail--in German, at times--on the other side of the room.  At one point the sisters were answering a question the one young woman had, so I sat on the edge of the table next to the Albanian guy and discussed a detail of the lesson with him.  As that was being interpreted, I moved over to the other side of the room and sat on the edge of the table and asked if the young woman was understanding everything correctly.

This was not a normal teacher-students classroom situation.  What was funny is that later Diane told me that the new Mission President looked a little amazed and amused about what all was going on at the same time.  Welcome to the International Ward, President Boyer.

Dresden

Procession of the Princes

Frauenkirche

What a wonderful week we had. We were invited to attend a work seminar with the ICS team.  Those are the people we work with in the Europe Area Office.  The seminar was held in Dresden, Germany.  We stayed at a beautiful hotel in Altstadt Centre (translated: Old town central).  During WWII a large part of Dresden was destroyed.  This section of the city has been restored with its original buildings.  The building on the left has a mural called  Fürstenzug, the Procession of the Princes.  It was originally painted in 1876.  In 1907 the picture was covered with 23,000 individual tiles over a 335 feet in length and 34 feet height to weatherproof it.  Each tile is 8 x 8".  During the bombing raid in WWII there was minimal damage.  To see a video of some of the sights we saw go to https://youtu.be/89pPe4AUXi4.

Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe

The hotel we stayed at was originally a smaller hotel built in the latter 1700s.  It was demolished about 100 years later.  It is believed to have been torn down to make room for progress during the industrial revolution.  A post office was erected at the site.  On February 13, 1945, bombing raids destroyed the post office.  This new building, Steigenberger Hotel de Saxe, was completed in 2004.

Later that evening our team went on a river boat cruise.  The hillsides with the beautiful architecture of restored older churches and historic buildings was amazing.  However, what was really great was to have the time to talk to some of our co-workers.  Something we don’t always have time for.

The Seminar was fantastic.  It wasn’t focused so much on technical education as it was on the spiritual side of what we do.  Every presentation was uplifting and helped the attendees to feel renewed.

Looking back on the entire Seminar it was obvious that all the presenters were led by the Spirit.  Just like at General Conference when each of the speakers plan their own talks and do not coordinate with other speakers, yet each conference tends to have only one theme, that was how this seminar went.  Diane and I offered to do a brief presentation.  Not knowing anything of what the others had planned to speak about, I wrote a 15-minute skit which had some comedy, but mostly conveyed how we need to involve God in all that we do.  Before our performance, the topics in the seminar turned out to be a great segue into our portion and our skit turned out to be a great segue to the rest of the topics.  What demonstrated to us that the Spirit was involved is that I was able to write up the skit in less than 2 hours.  It just came together in my mind as I was writing it.

Breakfast

The first morning the hotel provided a continental breakfast.  The quality of the food was like eating at a 5-star restaurant.  On top of that, the morning so beautiful and warm we decided to eat out on the balcony.

Freiberg Temple

To end the conference, on Thursday we drove to Freiberg where we all went through an endowment session together at the Freiberg Temple.  Freiberg is not a large city but it seems to have a clean, quiet, atmosphere.  I don’t know if that is because the temple is there or if the temple was built there because the atmosphere was already there.

Neumarkt Platz in Freiberg

What a marvelous seminar it was and the people we work with are so wonderful.  This time we’ve had together has allowed us to become much closer.  Each had unique stories to tell us about their conversions and the trials many of them have.

Entering Frankenstein

On the way back home we passed through the town of Frankenstein.  All I have to say is that we didn't see one monster.

We’ve remained in close contact with the younger missionaries, talking to them frequently, communicating with the some of the people they are teaching.  These missionaries continually thank us for being so involved.  Little do they understand that we are not doing anything different than what we normally do.  Besides, wanting to sharing the Gospel with others is the main reason we came on a mission.

We appreciate all those who are following our blog and love to read your comments.  We sincerely love you and miss you.  May the Lord bless you and your families as you serve others within your reach.

Venturing Out

Today I got my 1^st German haircut.  It was the first time Diane and I have

been really separated.  She stayed at home to finish some much needed projects.  Walking the whole way to the barber, I was in an adrenalin rush.  I was all by myself.  There was no one to support me if I needed to communicate in German.  On the way there, I made all these plans to speak German to the barber.  However, when I got there, everything came out in single words and short phrases.  The barber, a young woman, knew very little English and there I was knowing very little German.  Fortunately, I knew enough to say key words to get the hair cut I needed. Using my hands to communicate helped, also. Overall, I think I did pretty well.

Walloon-Niederlandische Church

This past weekend, Diane and I went to Hanau, Germany to listen to a free organ concert at a church there.  The church is called the Walloon-Niederländische Church.  It has an interesting history.  It was built in the early 1700s.  One building housed two separate churches.  The smaller side belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church and the other portion belonged to the Walloon Church, a protestant church originating from French-speaking refugees from southern Netherlands and France.  On March 19th, a British air strike destroyed nearly everything in the town of Hanau.  This was just 10 days before American troops entered the town and the war came to an end.  The Dutch Reformed Church rebuilt their side and the other side was left with only the external walls standing.

Sis. van Hoff and the woman at the Hanau Market

We walked around town before the concert and found an outdoor market at the town square.  We walked around town before the concert and found an outdoor market at the town square. Lots of meat, cheese, fruit, and vegetable vendors. Everything looked so fresh and good. We bought quite a few fruits and vegetables at one stand. After Diane had paid for them, the woman who had helped us asked about our missionary badges. Diane explained in German that we were missionaries for Die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage. I gave her a pass-along card with a website and phone number to call. She seemed genuinely pleased to learn and said she would look the church up online when she got home.

We are getting more involved in the work.  Last Sunday a new Ward Mission Leader was called.  He was out of town this whole week, so we haven’t met him yet.  The missionaries asked to have Missionary Coordination meeting with Diane and me.  What a privilege that was.  I took careful notes and asked a lot of questions.  Later I emailed the information to the new Ward Mission Leader. The elders have asked us to help them teach one of their investigators tonight.  It really feels good to get involved with the work.

Let’s see.  We’ve been here for about 6 weeks now.  You’d think we would know our way around.  Well, one area that has proven to be a struggle for us is using the phone system.  It seems if you use a land line you dial different beginning numbers than when you use a cell phone.  Sometimes you dial two “0”s, and sometimes three.  Sometimes you don’t use them at all and sometimes you add one.  And, there seems to be no standard length for phone numbers. Very confusing.

So, let me tell you about the other evening.  We were in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  All of the a sudden we heard a ring.  My immediate reaction was to answer the phone.  I walked into the room, picked up the phone, and said, “Hello?”  There was no one on the other end.  I thought it had been a wrong number and they had hung up early.

I returned to the kitchen only to hear the ring again.  Again, I tried the phone but there was no one there.  Then I remembered that people have to ring us from outside the building if they want in.  I picked up the door phone and asked, “Who is there?”  Again silence.  “This is really odd”, I said to Diane.  I returned to the kitchen.  Then there came this knocking at our door.  It wasn’t the phone, it wasn’t the outside door phone, it was the doorbell -- and it was a senior missionary who lives in our building.  He had been ringing our door bell from the hall.  How embarrassing.

Teamwork

We have been trying to be more involved with the proselyting missionaries.  This past week we did our best to help two of the people the sister missionaries are working with.  One young man needed someone to accompany him to the immigration office to translate into English for him.  We would have gladly done that, but we're nowhere near that skill level.  After several phone calls we were able to get him a translator.  Another man who had come to church last Sunday connected to Diane and me.  He and his wife are going on vacation next week, but we made plans to have them over to our place when they return.

We are now attending Missionary Coordination meetings and have even been given an assignment.  We are to visit members and help them with their family mission plans.

With another German holiday, it was a short work week at the office.  The Germans have about 15 national holidays where all the stores and businesses are closed.  That’s a lot of holidays and, unlike American holidays, it was surprising to see all the stores closed.  It's so nice that all the store employees get to enjoy a holiday, too!

Something else we’ve noticed that is wonderful to see.  On Sundays all stores and businesses are closed.  The exceptions are some small sidewalk booths and some restaurants.  We used to have that in the States when I was a boy.  Unfortunately, not any more.

The Team

We work with such great people.  Everyone is so helpful and friendly.  Our manager, not in this picture, is so spiritual.  He often refers to the scriptures or a gospel doctrine when talking at a meeting.  The other week he conducted a staff meeting.  It was business as usual until the end,  He asked us to open our scriptures and began a 15 minute lesson on why the Savior's plan was accepted and not Satan's.  He then tied it into why he does not micromanage employees in his department.  It is because he believes we are skilled enough and self-motivated enough to make our own decisions.  What a motivating and spiritual conclusion to a business meeting.

We wish to express all of our love to all of you reading our blogs.  We do pray specifically for many of you.

Adapting

Sis. van Hoff

Every day we become more and more adapted to life here in Germany.  There were some things that I found to be better than America, but there were other things that we had to adjust to.  Food is one of the big things that we are still struggling with.  As many of you know, Diane is currently on a Paleo diet and I decided to try a gluten-free diet.  It has been working, but trying to find the raw baking ingredients like almond flour, rice flour, tapioca starch, etc., has been difficult.  Diane needs vegetables with every meal.  She loves cauliflower, but it is not always available. 

And then there is the size of the containers.  Meats come in small servings.  Usually enough for 2 people for one meal.  You can’t get anything bigger.  Peanut butter and milk come in small containers.  The biggest milk comes in one liter size. 

We think we figured out why food does not come in larger sizes like you see in America.  It appears that the majority of the people walk or ride bicycles.  Carrying anything too large or bulky would be difficult.  We haven’t seen a refrigerator in a house yet, but in the apartments, they are about ½ the size of a normal refrigerator in the States.  Probably another reason why no bulk food is sold.

We did go into a store that sold bulk.  Some of it was ridiculously large.  We saw a block of cheese that probably weighed 20 lbs.  No family would want that much.  It must have been for restaurants.

One other quick note, we take walks before breakfast every day.  We try to go a different direction or walk down a different street each time.  It is so wonderful to see the beautiful homes and gardens and to greet the people we pass as we walk.  When we got here we were told it is not in the culture for strangers to greet others as they walk by.  We’ve been doing it anyway.  Up until last week almost no one would acknowledge our greetings.  However, as of late, we’ve begun to see them smile at us as we say, “Hallo” or “Morgen.”  We hope that we, in some small way, get their day started with a smile.

I said at the beginning that Diane and I are becoming more adapted to life here.  That goes for the Lord’s work also.  We have taken additional steps to become more involved with the proselyting missionary work.  We have gotten to know the younger missionaries better and have asked to attend Missionary Coordination meetings each week.  How wonderful it is to work with these young elders and sisters and to meet with some of the people they are working with.  We admire their determination to invite others unto Christ.  We feel humble to be among them. 

Blessed by the Lord

Before I begin this blog, let me tell you that this morning at about 8:00 AM, the first pigeon egg hatched.  Here is a picture of the little fellow and his mom. (How do I know it is a "he"?  I don't.  I'm just just making that decision.)

Earlier this week we were interviewed by the Europe Area President, President Kearon.  He is so very nice and sincerely interested in us Senior Missionary Couples.  He thanked us for our willingness to sacrifice this time in our lives; to leave those whom we love so dearly - our children, grandchildren, siblings and others; to live in a country where we don’t speak the language and are unfamiliar with the culture; to live in a tiny apartment.  We thanked him, but knew in our hearts that our desire to be here and serve the Lord was stronger than any sacrifice we anticipated.

He then told us something that came to us as a bit of a shock.  He told us that here in Europe, there are only half as many Senior Missionary Couples serving as in Europe as what is needed.  Half?  We knew that there don’t seem to be a lot of couples serving missions, but we didn’t know how great a need there was, and that is only for Europe.  What about the rest of the world?

If there is anyone reading this blog and is half way considering going on a mission, we want you to know that you are sorely needed.  The Lord has blessed you your whole life.  He is only asking for 6 to 23 months of your time for Him.  We’ve been out a short time and already we have seen marvelous blessings come to us, not to mention blessings for our family members back home.  It may not be an easy choice for you, but you will never regret your decision to come.

Let me share one small miracle we experienced.  Diane and I decided to fast about learning German.  I was struggling badly.  Since that day, I decided to increase my time of study.  In a few days I noticed that the little amount of extra time I’ve put into it, has resulted in me increasing my learning and comprehending 4 times more than previously.  In addition to that, almost every day, the Lord has placed us in situations that required us to speak German.  Until now, we have been trying, unsuccessfully, to look for or create those situations. 

Unique Assignment, Unique People

Unsere Kirche (our church)

We have come to realize how special and different our assignment is from the normal senior couple mission.  As you may be aware, we are responsible for support and training, where needed, for the Stake Technology Specialists throughout all of western Europe.  Our assignment will eventually allow us be in contact with a vast number of individuals from different countries and different cultures. 

Up until now, that contact has been minimal.  Nevertheless, since we have been here, we have had a lot of exposure to the special and unique struggles and experiences of individuals from different parts of Europe.  In our office environment, there are employees from several different countries.  Even in our own little department team, besides us being from the United States, there are three other countries represented: German (of course), Portugal and Italy.  At church there are so many more individuals from other countries: England, Spain, France, Eritrea (a country in Africa), Jamaica, New Zealand, Russia, Poland, and Scotland, to mention a few.

We have had more opportunity to talk to some of our co-workers about their personal lives.  Some of their struggles and concerns are similar to any you would find in the States, but dealing with them in the environment and culture outside the States is very different.  Some struggle with religious persecution, some with health, some with children who are wayward, some with financial challenges, and so on. Many have the attitude of happiness despite the struggles -- don't worry about what you can't control, it's better to be happy. Also, to take the best of even less than ideal situations and apply those good things in your life.

Our hearts have been touched by the stories of these faithful members.  We feel blessed to be surrounded by them and feel of their humble, yet strong, spirits.