Senior Couple Conference

This past week was another busy week with too much traveling, at least a little more than we would like to do. With the price of gasoline, traveling is one of our major expenses. The outlook for the near future does not look any better. We kind of had a curve ball thrown at us on Friday. The President asked us to go to the city of Dortmund and assess the situation of the Outreach Center there. A couple will be leaving in two weeks to go home. With a very busy and successful Center in Dortmund and with no new couple on the horizon the President needs to make a decision and set a priority. The question is, is it more important to keep a busy and going center open or try to make the effort to build up a struggling and promising center as we have in Bremen. We still keep praying that the church will assign a couple to our mission so our President does not have to make that kind of decision. It will be interesting what the next two weeks will bring.
Other than the above news we had a great day on Friday. All of the senior couples came to Bremen for a one day conference. We spend the morning touring the beautiful "Alt Stadt" old city center of Bremen. They were all surprised of how much there was to see in Bremen and the historical significance of Bremen. The only complaint came from the brethren that the sisters spend too much money on stuff. The sisters also thought that we should extend the conference for one more day to allow for more time to walk around. There is no question that Bremen is the most beautiful city in all of Northern Germany. The city is over 1200 years old. Of course the Weser River played an important part in the development of Bremen. Many of the buildings standing in the old city center had it's beginning before America was discovered. The old city "Rathaus" Hall is as impressive and beautiful of a City Hall as I have ever seen. It dates back to the 15th century. It just celebrated its 600th birthday. The large and ornate churches rival any of the cathedrals I have seen in Europe. Anina has to tell you all someday of the uniqueness of the "Boetchersrasse" and the "Schnoor" section - the oldest part of Bremen.
Saturday the Stake had a "Wiesenfest" - a summer picnic in the beautiful Buerger Park in Bremen. We all brought our own food and drink and we enjoyed playing, meeting, and visiting with the saints and friends of the church. It has been a good and busy week.