The Beschleunigung

Isn't that a fun word? It is German for "hastening." We have been experiencing a crazy time lately. Some of the pictures will show a little of what we are experiencing. Sister B's latest Epistle summarizes it pretty well.

We have had some wonderful Institute classes lately. It is near the end of the year (actually we went longer than the stake has been running - they are already finished, we still have a week to go). Instead of attendance dropping off, we are seeing more out. Considering that we only have about 20 - 30 attend Sacrament meeting, it is interesting that we have 10 or more to Institute. Granted, some are not Institute age, but it was been great. I teach the lesson, which goes about 30-40 minutes and then they just love to stay around and visit with each other a long time. We do provide a dinner at the beginning and goodies at the end, but there are a number of them who do not even eat much. A week ago, one of our attendees was a young lady, 18 years old, who is not a member, though she has come to church, off and on, for the past couple of years. She really got along well with one of the young women of the branch and it looks like she will be progressing as an investigator at last.

She came to our branch game night the next night, and when asked at the end, she gave the closing prayer, sounding just like a member. Our game night was similar to our institute in the people who attended. We had a great time.

The next day, we had the baptism. There have been other places where I have talked about him, so I will not say much here. Ralf is a great person and is really excited about the Gospel and is inviting his relatives and friends to also hear the missionaries.

Sunday, we had the confirmation and he also received the Aaronic Priesthood. We also had Sasha attend for the second week in a row. He is originally from Macedonia and speaks no German. He speaks Italian well, but no one here does, so we use a translator app on the iPad to communicate with him. Without going into much detail, it ended up that he became homeless and so he has been staying with us for a few days. He is a great person and is quickly getting back onto his feet again.

Today, we just had a number of our new people join us (and the elders) and we watched the World cup soccer game of USA vs Germany. Oh well. You can't win them all.

Here are some pictures, some applicable to my notes, some not.

After our game night. The elders had spent the afternoon doing service (hence the different clothes).

Ralf's baptism

After the baptism in our building. Sister B did a lot of cooking and making of goodies.

On the ferry (looking at a passing ferry) on Lake Constance.

A building in Switzerland. You can see that they even use the upper floors as well.

You seldom see a German flag flying in Germany. Because of the world cup games, we see them alot more.

Sister B doing her painting.

Sasha with the two of us.

Remarkable

The day began with our reading our companion study of the Book of Mormon. We take turns reading (in German), doing two chapters per day. Today we read Alma, chapters 40 and 41. As we were reading, I felt a deep impression of how powerful the concept of resurrection really is. In our Gospel teachings, I believe that we, as church members, gloss over the fact that all people will be resurrected and focus mainly on the power of the Atonement in our individual work for salvation. Though the power of the Savior's atonement in bringing us back to God through his indescribable sacrifice for us, the sheer magnitude of power of the resurrection in unfathomable. Before the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the only destiny of mankind was to be disembodied spirits, forever in a state of misery. Having experienced the joys and sorrows - the depth and range of emotions, the power that comes with having a body - and then to lose it forever, with no hope of ever progressing, would be devastating to comprehend. Then, with that one powerful moment, Jesus Christ brought about the resurrection of every child of God, an indescribable act of His Holy Priesthood.

I realized as we read those powerful words of Alma, that I had trivialized that powerful blessing of all mankind. The fact that everyone will be resurrected does not make the resurrection merely a bullet point in our list of the steps of the plan of salvation. It is the pivot point that is absolutely necessary for the whole plan to make sense.

Alma saw the power of this wonderful concept of the resurrection as he counseled his son, Corianton, and gave us a much deeper understanding of it as it pertains to all of us.

May we not take it for granted, but give deep thanks to God for the Grace that Jesus Christ made possible for all mankind.

Another baptism in Ravensburg!

We have had a wonderful culmination of a great week. Ralf was baptized today. He was contacted by the Elders 7 weeks ago on the street. He says that he was walking and for some strange reason decided to take a little different route and encountered the elders. They talked with him about life and he mentioned some recent losses in his life. They read some scriptures and invited him to church. He promised he would come. (The missionaries hear such promises all the time.) He actually came to church! He is a man of his word. He has also since read the entire Book of Mormon and is reading it again.

Since then, it has been a wonderful experience being involved with his lessons. He has also attended all of our Institute classes, so I have been his teacher as well.

He was baptized this afternoon in the font of the Dornbirn, Austria chapel, and will be confirmed tomorrow in Sacrament meeting here in Ravensburg.

I am now tired, but very happy, so this is the end of my post.

Zone meeting, Covered Bridge, great people, cows and fry sauce

Here are some pictures from the past week or so. We went to Switzerland for a Zone conference and our last meeting with President and Sister Miles before they are released and go home. I will also include some pictures of the ride home.

Also I wanted to show a nice picture of a great couple whom we visit here. I have also been helping them with family history research. She has been a member here a very long time.

In the end are a few "oddities" I like to show.

Here is the Rhine River we cross as we go from Austria to Switzerland and back. I starts in the Liechtenstein area, runs in to Lake Constance (Bodensee) and then runs along the border between Switzerland and Germany, then northward past France, through Germany and empties in the ocean in Netherlands.

Two elders in identical suits and ties (and sunglasses), both from Finland

Getting ready for a group picture (more fun than the picture itself).

Attentive in the meeting.

A covered bridge in Austria (quite narrow and small). Trucks are not allowed.

This shows you how narrow the road is coming to an from the bridge. It is a major roadway crossing this part of Austria.

We finally got a good picture of this beautiful hillside near our city in Germany.

We have cows. They don't speak English.

Cows and goats by the hops fields.

Roland and Juditha - charming people.

They have a great idea for nursery. It is held in a basement room that has a double door, one with huge safe-style locks. I can explain this later for any who want to know. It really is not built that way for the nursery (Kindergarten).

And yes, I found Fry Sauce in Germany. Not really, it is just Mayonnaise, but it is called Frites (Fry) Sauce because they offer it to go with french fries. Utah is safe with its reputation.

Noteworthy at home and here in Europe

The past week or so has been particularly noteworthy. First, the most notable for us is the engagement of our son. While hardly surprising, it was a reason for real excitement. The two of them have been making preparations for weeks on their marriage, but it is now official and we are excited for the time in Utah in August. Officially, we will be on leave of absence from the mission between August 6-19. People here are reassured that we will indeed be returning to our place here for the remaining time of our mission.

Next, we had a remarkable conference broadcast last Sunday, originating from Zollikofen, Switzerland (where the temple is). President Uchtdorf presided at the meeting. The main emphasis is that Western Europe will be focusing on growth and strength of the saints. It was said that there is no record of the land of Switzerland ever being dedicated for the preaching of Gospel. Before the conference, President Uchtdorf gave the dedicatory prayer. We do not know any other details.

Once thing that we do know is that up to this point in time, the work is difficult in Switzerland. Most of the success is with immigrants (non-Europeans) and the country now is becoming less friendly to non-Swiss people living and working in the country. Americans (non-Europeans) are not allowed visas in the country and they are making laws making it harder to non-Swiss people to have jobs in the country. It will be interesting to see whether a change in attitude will come as a result of this dedication. We know that the Lord works in His own way to accomplish His work.

Our branch work is also interesting. The international nature of our people here is expanding. Our dear sister from Ivory Coast is improving in her health and she should be attending with us more. She speaks mainly French. One of our investigator families is from Macedonia. A recent member who moved in will be attending with us tomorrow. He is also from Macedonia and doesn't speak German or English, but Italian, Bulgarian and Macedonian. One or our missionaries in the mission is from Italy and he has successfully made contact with our member and we are now all set to pick him up from the train station. We have Russian-speaking members and a couple of members from the Philippines who come from time to time. Our Derick is from Nigeria. It will be interesting to see how it all fits together tomorrow with French, Italian, Macedonian and our usual German.

I hope to add some pictures in the next post.

Family is Wonderful!

These past few weeks have been wonderful. I haven't written much, mainly because we have been busy with family, in addition to our normal work here.

The Caziers came for a visit on the Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time with them. We were able to have some good times visiting with them and they joined us at church, adding a lot to our meetings. We actually had youth and primary meetings! Then, on Monday, we all went to the Meersburg Castle, along with the Elders. It was fun.

Caziers playing in our yard - also including the missionaries and Derick

Games in our apartment

In the castle

The traditional elder pose in front of the moose antlers.

The kids in the castle.

The day after the Caziers left, we drove to Munich to pick up Aaron and Niesha from the airport there and we had a wonderful 6 days with them. We visited Neuschwanstein Castle on one day and then the next took a two day trip through Switzerland, including the temple and an overnight stay near Lucerne. It was beautiful.

at the temple in Zollikofen

At Hohenschwangau castle looking up towards Neuschwanstein castle

The view from Neuschwanstein castle

Interlaken, Switzerland

an interesting way to run the road.

on the way to Sachseln

in Lucern we found these strange statues.

The lion monument in Lucerne