Summer Social with the Young Single Adults

Another month is history. It has been more than 4 month since we embarked on this venture. With the energy needed to keep up with the young singles, we remarked several times during the past weeks:" we should have gone on this mission five or ten years ago.
Yesterday (Saturday, 30 Aug. 2008) we drove to the city of Essen. We met at the Grugapark for activities and some good food. The turn out was not as good as we expected, but we enjoyed ourselves. The park is huge park with many relaxing and educational and beautiful features. Just as we thought that we have seen the most beautiful parks, this one tops them all. It is accessible to just about anyone, by car, by bus or the subway. If we were to walk all day long, one could not see all there is to see. The rose gardens, the other flower gardens, the vegetable gardens, the aviary, the play grounds, the restaurants, the water features, the museums, the animal park, large swimming pools, the many statues, large trees and large lawns all make for a wonderful experience. The parks are full with people , both young and old. The Germans love their parks and there are many of them.
The missionary success, when compared to other parts of the world is going very slow and it is a constant challenge for Mission Presidents to keep the Missionaries motivated and focused on the work. I am amazed at the demanding pace of our Mission President. Every three weeks we have Zone Meetings or Zone Conference and he conducts personal interviews with every missionary every six weeks. This past week we had our Zone meeting here in Dortmund. By the time he makes the rounds to all of the six zones, it is time to start all over again. then there are the meetings with the Area Presidency and the Stake presidents within the mission. There is a lot of traveling involved.
We enjoy our work even if we feel too old for the job. We are able to keep up with what we are ask to do. Our health is good. The weather has been very nice these past few days. We are finding out that there are really days in northern Germany when it does not rain.