1st Zone Conference

We had our first Zone Conference.  All the missionaries in our "area" is considered a zone.  We had good-bye talks from the couples who are leaving us soon.  The Hackings, Proctors, Healys',  Swensen's and Burt's.  In such a short time, we have grown close to these couples and will be saddened to say good bye to them as they head back to the United States.  We also had a most inspiring talk from Elder De Feo of the Quorum of the Seventy.

He extended a blessing to us as couples that our "families will be blessed" while we are gone.  Our children and our children's children will be blessed because of our service here in Germany.  He said our families will be protected.  This does not mean all will not go wrong but eternally, the Lord will take care of them.  He also spoke of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the simplicity of the Lords gospel.  He said the work of the Lord is simple.  "Satan is the master of complexity" 

 This is Dr. Burt, the area/mission medical Doctor.  He takes care of all of us.  What a great man.  He offices on our floor and he and Margie are a wonderful, fun couple.  We will miss them!   He told us stories of one missionary that was ill and Dr. Burt did not know what was wrong.  He had gotten a call from the missionaries mother asking why her son was so "tan."  The boy was complaining of fatigue.  Dr. Burt looked further and said this young man had a disease that could have later in life killed him had he not ran certain tests on him. He said he felt guided which tests to run and was guided to know what the disease was that this young man had.  I can't remember the disease but apparently this could have been life threatening later in life had it not been taken care of now.  They caught it, got him on the medication he needed to be on and probably saved his life.  Dr. Burt said he could not have done this without prayer and the guidance he felt from the Lord.

 This is a picture of the catered lunch that was given to us after we heard the talks and had a zone picture taken.

 The picture below is Jay Steineckert and his wife, Leanna in the grey talking to Anita Canfield.  Jay is the mission psychiatrist.  He's a very gentle kind man.  We went to dinner with them to get to know them.  They are a really great couple.  Anita Canfield got her just a month ago from San Clemente California. 

 After we had our zone picture, everyone visited with each other before lunch.  This is Gary Sabin and his wife Valerie.  He is a general authority (70), in the church and also serves as the 1st counselor in the area presidency.  They are wonderful people.  We met them both, briefly at Lake Kora (Mark and Jacqui's place in upstate NY).  Valerie stopped in at our office yesterday and we had a nice talk about our children and home.

 This is our next door neighbor Paula Thomas on the left (with her husband, BYU law professor, David.  Ruth Rich is looking at Paula and laughing.   I love these two ladies and they've quickly become great friends!

 This picture below is a picture of Elder De Feo (General Authority of the Seventy) speaking with Sister Lindsey and her husband who just arrived last Saturday.  She and her husband are originally from Michigan and now reside in American Fork Utah.  We had them for dinner the other night and had a lovely time with them.  This is their fourth mission.  They have served in the Egypt, the Philippines, Salt Lake City and now Frankfurt!  They work for the welfare dept.

Residency Visa's with Canfields

Another week has quickly past......time seems to go by so quickly!  The weather is changing quickly too.  We've gone from the high 80's to a brisk temperature of the low to mid 60's in what seems like over night!  

Our work at the "office" is keeping us extremely busy.  Thank goodness we work with the most wonderful people.  Tony is busy with contracts and working with the problems that missions are having with residency Visa's with our missionaries all over Europe.  Our Visa's are good for 18 months but young missionaries stay for two years and not 18 months so all Visa's need to be extended.  The problem is that some missions include more than one country and missionaries are being transferred ever few months to different areas which can sometimes cause problems with their Visa's.....and that's when Tony has to step in and advise the missionary secretaries (who are usually young missionaries themselves), on the law and what to do to get these missionaries legal!  It takes quite a bit of thinking and working with outside council to work thru some of the more difficult strategies for these young missionaries.  If they only knew all the work that goes on in their behalf behind the scenes.........

I on the other hand am working with auditing Stake Presidents travel reimbursements.  I have learned to use Excel Spreadsheet and I am also learning to translate all different languages. Thank goodness for "google translate"......oh the wonders of technology!!!  I have also been asked, just this week to edit the articles that the General Authorities write for the European church magazine, the Liahona.  They write the article, it is sent to me where I read thru it and make grammatical corrections and re-format the article......wouldn't my English teachers be surprised!!!  I then send them over to the translation department to be translated into 18 different languages.  

Last week, the Canfield's who are new and Tony and I went downtown to the foreigners office to apply for our residency Visa's.  It required that we get there around 5:30AM and wait until the doors open at 1:00PM where we went into an office and handed them our passports and all the paper work that was filled out ahead of time.  They stamped our Visa's with a new picture and an added page making us legal.  While we waited 7 hours in the COLD, we had a fun time getting to know Steve and Anita Canfield.  Wonderful people, so talented.....we are going to be good friends.  They live in San Clemente, on the beach.  It will be fun to visit them after our missions.

This picture below is a picture of me and T. at the "waiting" line at the Government offices where we waited for "7" HOURS!!!

This is Steve and Anita Canfield from San Clemente, such nice people and they became immediate friends.  They have also served in Turkey and Russia.

This is our living room in the apartment that the church gives us.....I changed out a few things, like the carpet and pillows and throw.....thank goodness there is an IKEA here!  Cheap!  But at least now I feel a "little" more at home.

 I complained that there isn't enough storage in the kitchen and that we have an empty space where shelves should be so the church sent their handy man to put up two shelves for me!  So nice!  made my day!

So, this is what a mission is really like!  Exhausting!

We've had a lot of rain, almost every day and the days are getting shorter and much colder!  I had a
frustrating day this past week, I wanted to go down to the "mall" and just look around on Friday, but I COULDN'T FIND IT!  It is so difficult to drive a car here, if I had found it, I would not have known where to park so it was just as well...................Next time I'll take the Ubahn!!!

Bomb in Frankfurt and Hurricane Harvey in USA

 Sept. 3, 2017 we were asked to meet for Church at Offenbach instead of our normal meeting building because of a 1.8 mega ton bomb over 2 meters long that was found in Frankfurt dating back 70 years to WWII ...... the bomb was from England.  The entire city of Frankfurt, 70,000 people, were evacuated for the entire day so that they could deactivate the bomb.  Although people told us "this is common place"!  We live 200 yards PAST the evacuation area so we did not need to leave our apartments but we did meet at the German Branch.  It was interesting singing the hymns in English and hearing the Germans sing them in their native language at the same time.  For the speakers, there were translators for those who did not speak German.  It was an interesting day and fun to meet with the German members and all the missionaries.

At the same time, we were glued to the Television as we were watching Hurricane 

Harvey hit the southern coast of Texas.  Houston area.  Our hearts go out to all

 the people down there that have completely lost their homes and everything 

they own.  Below, I have copied and posted from the news, the help that the church

 is doing in the Houston area.  The church has such a great storehouse of supplies

 ready for any disaster, anywhere in the world.  I have actually visited and I work 

at the warehouse in Bad Hamburg here in Frankfurt and it is amazing and inspiring to see 

what the church is ready to do at any given moment.  The missionaries ALL wear their "helping hands" yellow shirts and go to work where ever needed.  Right now, that is the Houston area.

                                            -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are partnering 
with other nonprofit organizations to provide flood relief to victims of Hurricane 
Harvey in Houston, 
San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Dallas, Texas, and surrounding areas.

Mormons in the area are also volunteering to evacuate people and provide
 temporary shelter. Church leaders have offered the use of Church buildings. 
At least three meetinghouses have been used to temporarily shelter evacuees.
 One building is being used as an operations center for ongoing boat rescues
 from flooded neighborhoods. Hundreds of Mormon Helping Hands 
volunteers are expected in Corpus Christi on Saturday for cleanup efforts.

As conditions will allow, missionaries throughout the region are beginning 
to help at local shelters. As floodwaters recede and larger community 
cleanup efforts begin, missionaries will join in those efforts. 

Nine trucks filled with supplies from the Church’s Bishops’ Central
 Storehouse and Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City have arrived 
or are on their way with water; hygiene kits; food, including fresh milk; 
cleaning supplies; clothing; diapers and wipes. One additional truck will 
also be sent to Houston.

The Church is also assisting the Red Cross and Convoy of Hope in their relief
 efforts to help the thousands of displaced people in Texas with food, water, 
cleaning kits and hygiene items. The Church is also partnering with Adventist 
Community Services in Houston.

Water and hygiene kits have been delivered to the San Antonio Food Bank
 and Red Cross. An estimated 30,000 evacuees are in shelters in that community.

The Church has provided funds, supplies and equipment and will work with its
 local ecclesiastical leaders to provide additional aid as needed.

As Tropical Storm Harvey hits Louisiana, additional funds have been sent
 to the area in anticipation of possible flooding in region.

The picture above are member's of the church that took time to attend 

sacrament 

meeting and then went right to work helping with the clean up of the

 Houston area.

  The yellow shirts say "helping hands"

The following information has been provided in response to the general 
public and media interest: 

All missionaries are safe, though several missions have been affected. Significant
 precautions were taken before Hurricane Harvey's arrival to help missionaries
 remain safe. Each companionship gathered enough food and water to shelter for
 several days. Some missionaries were moved out of areas where the greatest
 potential for flooding existed. Several companionships are in flooded areas, but
 are well and are in contact with their mission presidents. As flooding subsides and
 cleanup efforts begin, missionaries will be engaged in helping the communities 
where they serve. As is customary in times of crisis, mission presidents have asked
 missionaries to contact their families by email to let them know they're safe,
 and have provided updates to families, as possible, through the weekend.

The Texas Houston Temple is surrounded by water, but at this point has not flooded.
 One of the adjoining buildings has taken on some water. The temple closed on
 Saturday following the 11:00 a.m. session, and it's unknown when the temple will 
reopen.

Several local chapels have experienced water damage, and many worship 
services 
were cancelled on Sunday. As required, our buildings may be used as shelters 
or
 to stage relief and cleanup supplies, as determined by local leaders. Local 
leaders
 are working to identify the needs of those in their congregations and communities,
 and to care for those in need.

The Church on Friday began sending water, hygiene and cleanup kits to a 
regional bishop's storehouse near Houston. These supplies will be offered to 
any who are in need. We will continue to monitor the situation including the
 needs for additional supplies, resources and volunteers.

The Church partners regularly with other aid organizations in such situations.
 We will continue to work with community partners to assess and address 
needs following this disaster.

Church leaders, including President Russell M. Nelson (who was in Houston
 last year and met with Mayor Sylvester Turner), have reached out to offer 
messages of encouragement and to pledge our willingness to help in the 
recovery and cleanup efforts.

We are praying for the people of Texas and invite others to join us in those 
prayers. Anyone wishing to provide support for our efforts to aid to those in 
Texas is encouraged to make a donation to the Church's Humanitarian Fund, 
which can be found here.

As Hurricane Harvey strengthens off the coast of Texas, Mormons are preparing
 to send food and other commodities to Houston. High winds and flooding could
 result from the hurricane that is expected to hit the middle Texas coast and stall 
over the state.

On Friday, August 25, 2017, workers at the Bishops’ Central Storehouse of The
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were busy loading pallets of water 
and other life-sustaining supplies on several trucks in Salt Lake City.

“We received a call from our headquarters, and they have asked us if we would 
put together some loads to go down and actually pre-position some of these 
supplies in that area,” said John Hopkins, manager of the Bishops’ Central 
Storehouse.

Three trucks left Friday morning for the bishops’ storehouse in Houston in 
case there is a natural disaster in Texas and residents need assistance.

“This is an opportunity, even though it's a very adverse situation and there will 
be people affected adversely, but this allows us all to come together,” said Hopkins.
 “It'll just simply be a community effort, and I'm grateful to be part of that, to be 
able to provide that assistance.”

Food and other supplies, stored at the state-of-the-art facility on Salt Lake City’s 
west side, are used to administer to the poor and needy through the Church’s 
welfare and humanitarian programs.

“I know when these supplies come, they're going to be received in a gracious
 way,” added Hopkins.

The bishops’ storehouse in Houston is one of more than 130 storehouses 
owned by the Church around the world. Those in need can receive assistance 
with the recommendation of a local bishop or Relief Society president.

The welfare program is funded by donations from Church members.

Pot Luck and Trivia

 Tonight I made the full time "young" missionaries some cookies.  These are great guys, they are actually the assistants to the President, the one on the right, just arrived here in Frankfurt two weeks ago and he gets to be trained by the assistant, who is one of the best missionaries in the mission and has a lot of other duties.  I took this picture because I sent it to their mothers because I know how much it would mean to them since I once had a son on a mission also.

These are the Senior missionaries in our zone.  Dr. Burt and his wife Margie planned a fun evening for us of "mormon trivia and pot luck"......it was really a fun night.  These people are so wonderful and each has made us feel so welcomed here.  Four couples will be leaving us to head home in October, the Healy's, Burt's, Swenson's,. Proctor's and Hacking's.  We have gotten to know each of these great couples in just the two months we have been here and they will be missed!  We are loosing the cream of the crop but we know we will have wonderful missionaries replace them......and "we" won't be "new" any longer.

 This was after dinner and "mormon trivia" time.....Tony is the one with his hand up always asking a funny question or making a joke!  (I think Carl Chappell is wearing off on him!)

 Our zone leader is Elder Proctor (front left corner) who will be leaving us this October.  They have been so wonderful helping us get acclimated to our new place and introducing us to all the other missionaries and showing us around.  They have been extraordinary! 

 Good friends Graig and Sharee Swenson who will be leaving us in October

To TEXAS and back

I left to go to Texas to help Deanna out with her second baby, little Makenna Lynn Young....she is beautiful and Deanna is doing so great!  She didn't gain very much weight with this baby so she is "bouncing back" quite quickly.  

I had a terrible flight going back to the USA and had to stay at the airport in Portland Oregon after finding out that the last leg of my trip had been cancelled and no one notified me!  Not a happy camper!!!!

But, when I "finally" arrived after sleeping on the floor at the airport, I was met by Mark, Deanna, Austin and McKenna.....what a happy sight!

 A few weeks ago I started making this little afgan for Makenna and finished it while I visited Texas.

She is so sweet and such a good baby.....although she is just starting to get a bit of colick....hope it doesn't stay! 

While I was visiting Deanna and her family in Ft. Worth, my dear friends from Austin, Claire, Connie and Jill ..... and Sherida who just moved back to Texas, came for a visit and a lunch date.  It was so fun to see them all together and visit with them.... I love these ladies, we will forever be friends.

Tony has been busy all week working on helping missionaries all over Europe get their Visa's ....it's been quite a busy job!

We had a storm a few weeks ago....it could be compared to the TEXAS storms we used to witness when we lived in Austin.  This picture was taken from our office when the storm hit.  That high rise building in the background is our apartment building.  Some trees were downed water coming down so fast and the loudest thunder I've ever heard!  It was quite the storm.....

This week we found out that our oldest daughter and her husband Rob are going to have a baby boy!!!!  Boy #3 for them!  So thrilled for them all!  They sure make cute boys!  I miss seeing them so much and look so forward to their visit next June 2018.

This is Michelle and her sweet family, this picture was taken because they had to "put down" their beloved Ebi this day.  They decided to take her to her favorite place, the creek.  She is old and in pain so they made the decision ..... I am sure it was hard, they have had her since they started dating...... I wanted to put this in my blog because it happened while we were serving here in Germany and we were so sad....it's hard when a family pet such as Ebi leaves our family.  

Tony and I keep busy with our work at the office (Church office for the European Area), Tony continues to be so busy with Visa work for the missionaries coming into the different countries and I am doing some auditing of reimbursements made to Stake Presidents in the European Area, which includes the Cape Verde Islands, Italy, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, England and the list goes on and on.....it keeps me very busy each day.  I try and leave the office each day around 4:00 so I can get to the apartment to talk to my sister Debbie as she takes her morning walk in California and then I usually call my kids and talk to them if they are available.  I don't think I could do this if I couldn't talk to them each week!  

Upon my arrival back from TEXAS, I am having a little rough time with jet lag but it was good to be back in Germany.  I suppose I am beginning to feel as though this is "home" for the time being.  I usually get very homesick but I have not been homesick so far which is quite a blessing!

Fall is on the horizon and the weather is getting cooler each day.  The high is usually in the 60's ......I am just anxious for all these beautiful trees to start changing color......we live in such a beautiful area, I am sure the streets will be framed with beautiful color in just a few weeks.

This picture below is a photo of me and Sister Sabin, she is the area authority's wife.  She and Gary (husband) have the same calling as Mark and Jacqui Palmer (seventy, general authority) who live in Johannesburg Africa.

This photo below is Janet Nelsen, she is on the Young Woman General Board and is also the wife of Tony's boss (Jeff Nelsen) in the office of GC (office of general counsel)
She has been so kind and fun to be around, glad I can call her a friend.  

While we visited Marksburg Castle in Braubach a few weeks ago, we bought Olive and Finn shields and swords from the castle gift store......wasn't too sure they would like them but I think because they were from a "real" castle in Germany, they were thrilled!