Here I am again, giving a taste of life here in Germany. We love it here! We are experiencing such a wide variety of weather right now. About 5 days ago we were 37 degrees C (99 F) and yesterday afternoon we were 11 C (52 F) with lots of rain. The humidity in our apartment is usually between 50-60%, the only thing that has remained constant. As most of you know my 'love' of wearing a coat, it has been a struggle to keep it off since it is the end of JUNE! Today I'm back in long sleeve shirts so I might be able to get by without a coat.
I have to comment a bit on some of the differences here. One interesting item is the clothes dryer, which most people here do not have. They line dry year around. We are blessed to have one, and learned the bottom collects the water from the clothes and has to be emptied each time. It is great it doesn't add to the humidity! I also have a little conversion chart to change US cooking measurements to metric. I find it interesting when following a German recipe I have to weigh the flour etc. Luckily I have a scale on the wall.
I thought I might share our typical Sunday. Many of our branch members do not have cars so members pick them up along their way to church. We also have our list to pick up, so we leave about 8:30 am to pick up one or two on the way to church, where I drop them off with Elder B so he can get the church unlocked, while I head out to pick up a few more. Church starts at 9:30 in the top floor of a business building. We have a small area which includes a chapel, 7 rooms, a kitchen, and restrooms. We love our little area, though we pray they might someday have a chapel of their own. We have a two hour block with Sunday School on the first and third weeks, and Priesthood and Relief Society on the second and fourth. After church I deliver members or investigators home while Elder B does his Branch President business. Sometimes I bring a snack so we can head off to do more visiting, usually with the Elders, when all is done at the church. I love Sundays! Our little Branch has a strong spirit in their meetings. We have usually between 20 to 30 attend, with our lowest attendance being 11. There is much work to do, since our enrollment is about 80 members. Our dear friend translates the meetings into English for those of us still learning German. I usually help out in Primary since that is where my heart resides.
We loved the Missionary Conference last Sunday. We stayed up and watched it from midnight to 2:00 am. They are indeed hastening the work. Now all will be involved in the effort. I'm guessing it is time I joined Facebook! Our missionaries have a long way to go to not do any dooring or tracking. It will be a tremendous change for them.
One quick experience: Another branch contacted the Elders saying they had one of their members in a treatment facility in our branch area and were asked to contact him. Since it was not near Ravensburg, we offered to take them. We went last Saturday so when we arrived we found the main office closed in an area of individual apartment buildings. We had no way of finding the member. I believe he knew we were coming, so as we started wandering, I prayed he might find us since the Elders' white shirts were easily identifiable. Within 5 minutes as we entered another main building, the member came up behind us and said, "I think you are here to see me." We had a lovely visit and felt the Lord's willingness to assist in the search of his lost sheep.
We love being here. Our apartment is up a small canyon with forests on both hilltops. We listen each morning to the bird song as what sounds like thousands of birds singing praises to the rising of the Son! We love you all!
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