BUSY TIMES IN 
THE FRANKFURT MISSION

Heidelberg Castle

Time is really flying by now because we are so busy!  It is hard to believe that we have less than 8 months left.  We are enjoying our time here and having some wonderful experiences.  As a matter of fact, just as I started to type here today, a young man we met on one of our walks in the Forest called us back.  He is with a youth group out of South Africa who is here in the Darmstadt area bringing "Faith, Hope, and Love" to the young people through a Christian organization.  Dale just had the distinct feeling we should talk to him and sure enough - he spoke English and no German.  He is a dancer with this group and so we were able to talk about Clog America coming in July and about his group.  He took our number and said he would have his leader call us.  We really never expected to hear from him - but he called today, not even his leader.  We have no idea how this will turn out, but it is so important that all of us continue to listen to the Spirit and then act.

Walking in the Forest

We are still doing a great deal of cooking but then some weeks we have no cooking - or very little because of the YSA schedule.  We spend at least one day a week in Frankfurt working in the office and we usually have lunch all together and all of us bring something.   We also check 11 young missionary apartments, some as much as 1 1/2 hours away.  We enjoy meeting the missionaries and seeing new areas of this beautiful country.  It is almost like we are having three different missions now - Temple, YSA, and Office.  We have also done a little proselyting and it is awesome that we get to experience so many different areas of service.

A few of the YSA (JAE in German) in our area as well as the missionaries

About a week ago we were able to spend a Friday in Frankfurt in a Seminar with Elder Bednar.  What a wonderful experience to be taught by an Apostle of the Lord.  Our young missionaries are going to be using iPads soon and the Seminar was about teaching and serving in the Digital Age.  Nothing was said about the iPad itself but the about teaching the gospel using a new tool and using it "safely".  

We were also able to help with the food that day by helping prepare 270 sack lunches for the missionaries and some of the food for Elder Bednar and other guests.

Before the Elder Bednar Conference - The missionaries from our District

One of the highlights of April was our Senior Zone Conference which was held in Rothenburg an der Tauber - the best preserved medieval city in Europe.  We stopped there briefly during our Europe trip in 2005 and stated that we hoped we could return someday.  Well, check another item off the bucket list!  We actually stayed the night in a Castle outside of Rothenburg called Colmberg and then we traveled into the city.  The conference itself was also wonderful, getting to know the other couples in our mission and learning from our wonderful mission president and others.  

View of the Neckar River and Old Bridge from the Heidelberg Castle

Famous entrance to Rothenburg an der Taube