Another Week in the Field

It is Monday morning and we did not get a chance to write to you on Sunday night because we were too tired when we arrived home late last night.

The week-end started early Friday morning when we had to drive for three hours on the autobahn to meet the other Missionary Couples of the mission and the Mission President and his wife. We all meet at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. We all took a tour through the memorial. To be more exact, they took a tour through the memorial and a couple of us only visited the sight that was more like a place where they honored those that lost their lives in that concentration-camp. The places we visited was more like a place of honor and a place where one could reflect on the lives of those who had to suffer so much during the dark days of World-War-Two. The Places we visited were more like visiting a cemetery. It gave us a chance to reflect about the lives and of the worth of the human soul and even of a better future of those who lost their lives. For myself and another older couple from Germany we avoided the pictures of horror and the terrible things that transpired in that camp. We wanted to avoid bringing back the terrible things that we witnessed during the war and having nightmare's for many days to come. Some of you may recognize the name of the place as the place where Ann Frank was transported to and where she died as a young person.

After the memorial visit we drove to the nearby town of Celle. Celle is a beautiful old town that was not bombed during the second world war and therefore still has many old and beautiful historical buildings. We would like to have had the time to see more of the town. (Maybe another time). We enjoyed our time with the other couples of the mission as we exchanged ideas of how to accomplish our assignments and be better missionaries. We even enjoyed a good meal at an old German Restaurant. We had a chance to say good bye to two of the couples that will be going home during the next week or two. --Only one couple is coming to replace the two that are going. As result, the missionary couple that served in Bremen has been pulled out of that city again. To say the least, the Ward in Bremen is not very happy.

After our meetings we all went to our separate places. We only took a short 30 minute right before we received a wonderful welcome from my cousin as we arrived at her home in Wendeburg-Bortfeld. The place is near the larger town of Braunschweig. We enjoyed our stay with them, visiting, going sight seeing , eating and going to church. They were very interested to hear what we were doing in Germany. It gave us an opportunity to tell them a lot about our church and our beliefs. The family in Bortfeld is from my mothers side of the family. Hildrgard is the only child (daughter) from my mothers Sister.

She has two daughters, Andrea and Simone. Andrea and her husband Wolfgang Ehlers with their two children -Christoph and Vanessa- live in the same home where Hildrgard lives. They have build out the old barn next to the house and have a very nice home there. Simone and her husband Thobias Springer along with their six year old son Niklas live some six kilometers from Hildegard. Thobias is a contractor that is doing very well and they live in a new home that is very similar to an American type of a home that one would find on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley ( about $ 900,000.00 range).

On Sunday morning we could get only Wolfgang to go to church with us to the Braunschweig Ward. In Braunschweig they have a beautiful ward house and we felt very welcomed and comfortable. It was great to worship with the Saints in that area. The attendance at church was greater than we have in Dortmund.

After church we returned to Hildegard's home, where we enjoyed a good meal. We had a chance to talk a little more about the church and of our beliefs. We gave the family a Church CD called "Finding Happiness" and a copy of the "Proclamation of the Family". We hope for some kind of a spark and desire to learn more about the church and it's teachings.. We hope and pray!

We said a very emotional good bye and received a plea from them to come back. We would like you all to know that we are happy to be on this errand of the Lord. Anina is still very home sick and longs for the grandchildren. We stay busy and enjoy good health. We have been blessed and may the Lord bless all of you with joy and happiness.

Anina, Hugo, Niklas, Simone, Thobias in their beautiful new home (kitchen)

Andrea, Vanessa, Hugo, Hildegard and Anina

The restored Schloss in Braunschweig

A Weekend of Conference and Stay with Family

It is Monday morning and we did not get a chance to write to you on Sunday night because we were too tired when we arrived home late last night.
The week-end started early Friday morning when we had to drive for three hours on the autobahn to meet the other Missionary Couples of the mission and the Mission President and his wife. We all meet at the Bergen-Belsen Memorial. We all took a tour through the memorial. To be more exact, they took a tour through the memorial and a couple of us only visited the sight that was more like a place where they honored those that lost their lives in that concentration-camp. The places we visited was more like a place of honor and a place where one could reflect on the lives of those who had to suffer so much during the dark days of World-War-Two. The Places we visited were more like visiting a cemetery. It gave us a chance to reflect about the lives and of the worth of the human soul and even of a better future of those who lost their lives. For myself and another older couple from Germany we avoided the pictures of horror and the terrible things that transpired in that camp. We wanted to avoid bringing back the terrible things that we witnessed during the war and having nightmare's for many days to come. Some of you may recognize the name of the place as the place where Ann Frank was transported to and where she died as a young person.
After the memorial visit we drove to the nearby town of Celle. Celle is a beautiful old town that was not bombed during the second world war and therefore still has many old and beautiful historical buildings. We would like to have had the time to see more of the town. (Maybe another time). We enjoyed our time with the other couples of the mission as we exchanged ideas of how to accomplish our assignments and be better missionaries. We even enjoyed a good meal at an old German Restaurant. We had a chance to say good bye to two of the couples that will be going home during the next week or two. --Only one couple is coming to replace the two that are going. As result, the missionary couple that served in Bremen has been pulled out of that city again. To say the least, the Ward in Bremen is not very happy.
After our meetings we all went to our separate places. We only took a short 30 minute right before we received a wonderful welcome from my cousin as we arrived at her home in Wendeburg-Bortfeld. The place is near the larger town of Braunschweig. We enjoyed our stay with them, visiting, going sight seeing , eating and going to church. They were very interested to hear what we were doing in Germany. It gave us an opportunity to tell them a lot about our church and our beliefs. The family in Bortfeld is from my mothers side of the family. Hildrgard is the only child (daughter) from my mothers Sister.
She has two daughters, Andrea and Simone. Andrea and her husband Wolfgang Ehlers with their two children -Christoph and Vanessa- live in the same home where Hildrgard lives. They have build out the old barn next to the house and have a very nice home there. Simone and her husband Thobias Springer along with their six year old son Niklas live some six kilometers from Hildegard. Thobias is a contractor that is doing very well and they live in a new home that is very similar to an American type of a home that one would find on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley ( about $ 900,000.00 range).
On Sunday morning we could get only Wolfgang to go to church with us to the Braunschweig Ward.
In Braunschweig they have a beautiful ward house and we felt very welcomed and comfortable. It was great to worship with the Saints in that area. The attendance at church was greater than we have in Dortmund.
After church we returned to Hildegard's home, where we enjoyed a good meal. We had a chance to talk a little more about the church and of our beliefs. We gave the family a Church CD called "Finding Happiness" and a copy of the "Proclamation of the Family". We hope for some kind of a spark and desire to learn more about the church and it's teachings.. We hope and pray!
We said a very emotional good bye and received a plea from them to come back.
We would like you all to know that we are happy to be on this errand of the Lord. Anina is still very home sick and longs for the grandchildren. We stay busy and enjoy good health.

Andrea, Vanessa, Hugo, Hildegard and Anina

The restored Schloss in Braunschweig

Anina, Hugo, Niklas, Simone, Thobias in their beautiful new home (kitchen)

A Conference with Elder Robert Oaks

It is Sunday evening. After church, today, the Dortmund Missionaries were invited to have a meal with the Rohr Family. Anina took some dessert and we had a wonderful meal. We tried to keep up with the young missionaries and did eat just a little too much. A short nap would feel real good, but then this note to you would not get send today. We had a good week and are looking for another great week ahead of us.
It is amazing to see how the brethren from the General Authorities are able to exert the energy it takes to teach and train all day without showing that they are tired. Even when I drove him and his wife to the train station, they insisted on carrying their own luggage through the Bahnhof
to the track where the train would pick them up and take them to Frankfurt. Our Zone (for two Zones) conference was the last one of three that were held in our Mission. He (Elder Robert Oaks is the European Area President) arrived on Tuesday evening in Hamburg, held a fireside and then held a Zone Conference on Wednesday, on Thursday and then completed his mission tour on Friday here in Dortmund. It is a great experience to be taught by one who spoke as directed by the Spirit and kept our attention from ten (10:00) in the morning to 4:30 PM. We did have a short lunch break and enjoyed the food that was prepared by the Stake Relief Society Sisters. When they (Elder and Sister Oaks) were finished there was only enough time to take a quick picture and than off to the Hauptbahnhof (main train depot). We will be talking a long time about the teachings we received among us missionaries.
It was of interest to hear from Elder Robert Oaks of the Seventy why the "bar" was raised a few years ago. He said that that move cost the church 10,000 missionaries, but it was necessary so that the Missionaries could be led and directed by the Spirit. That can only happen when the missionaries are worthy to receive the Spirit.

Only for the Grandchildren: We would especially hope that all of our grandchildren take note of that truth that was taught to us. Never, ever do anything that would take away the opportunity to be able to serve a mission. It would break our heart for you to throw away that experience for a moment of excitement and worldly pleasure. Please take a moment and think about it.

There are a whole page of notes in my planner. Let us mention only a couple points of interest. Because of what we heard we could give a good Sacrament Meeting talk about the scripture that is found in Matthew 11:29. We are on the one side of the yoke with the Savior on the other side. We were taught about the "principle of the yoke". It all has to do with "leverage". (It will take to long to explain in writing like this, perhaps as we talk to you family members on the phone, we will give you a 3 or 4 minute explanation.). Elder Oaks said in summary to the missionaries that: "The more equally we are yoked with the Savior the more effective we are as missionaries." In another hour of our conference he started with this statement: "Missionaries, you are incredible credible." Think about what these young men and women have been asked to do and are accomplishing. In a later segment of the conference he talked about the image of the Church in Europe. He said that in an actual survey some 20 years ago the image of the Church was "Polygamy" and today it is "Two young Missionaries". He also told us that after years of decline, which the Baptism Rate is on the rise in Europe.

A picture of some of us at Zone Conference in Dortmund, Friday 13 February 2009. Sorry we did not have more time to take a better picture. On the front row from left to right is : Elder and Sister Duerksen, Elder and Sister Diederich, Sister and Elder Oaks and President and Sister Thompson.

Conferences Comping Up

This past week we had a conversation with our Grandson, Spencer. He told us about the old truck that they could not get to start. It had been sitting idle and the battery lost all of its power. A simple solution was to charge the battery and everything was in good order again.
Our thoughts also went back, several years ago, to the time when we were riding back from Manti late one evening in the Hanks car when the alternator stopped working and the car only took us for a few more miles before it stopped working and we had to be picked up to get us to our home in Salt Lake. The next day we drove with a fully charged battery and replaced it in the car for the dead battery. Even with the alternator not working to keep the battery charged we made it back home.
Our lives are very much like the car and battery. Our spiritual lives need to be charged often in order to stay on track and achieve our goals. Today, being Sunday, we had the opportunity to partake of the Sacrament. It is like a weekly charge on our way to the celestial kingdom. There are just to many members of the Church whose "batteries are dead" because they have not renewed their covenants for a long time. We have Ward and Stake Conferences and General Conferences to give us an extra charge and serves as a reminder that we are part of the Church of Jesus Christ.
In Missionary work we need that extra charge even more to keep going. Every six weeks we have Zone Conferences where we receive the kind of help to keep going and keep trying. The dates of our zone Conferences in our Mission have been changed so that Elder Robert Oaks (President of the European Area and a Seventy) can be with us. It will have been nine weeks since our last Conference. For us missionaries a spiritual boast is overdue and we are looking forward to this coming Friday (13 Feb). Rejections and not responding to invitations to join us for the Outreach Center Activities can take a toll in our enthusiasm for the work. I mentioned to someone last week that sometimes I wonder if we are making a difference here in Dortmund. The young missionaries are working hard many hours to reach and talk to many people and today not one investigator came to church. Most of the contacting now is done by talking to people on the street. We can't even go back to the home where they are living or call them to follow up, because they give you a bad address or bad phone number.
We say this not so you feel sorry for us, but to show you why we need a frequent "charge", so our enthusiasm and love for the work remains high.
Our Stake Conference was scheduled for the 21st and 22nd of February. The date for that Conference was changed to allow General Authorities to be in attendance because there is the need to call a new Stake Presidency. Our current Stake President, who has been the Stake President for only a couple of years, will be moving from the area due a change in work assignment.
We will be going to another conference on the 20th of February; this will be a Senior Missionary Conference for the senior Missionaries of our Mission. This will take place in the town of Celle.