A BRIEF VISIT HOME

Two months ago we learned that our oldest grandson, Andrew was engaged. As his fiancé’s sister would be leaving on a mission mid-November, and Ellie wanted her sister to be at the wedding, the choice was wait 18 months or get married quickly. No one wanted to wait.

Senior missionaries can, with Area Presidency approval, return home for a period of up to 10 days to attend special family events or help with family emergencies. We did so twice during our time in the Philippines.  

Last Wednesday we flew home to attend our grandson’s wedding and temple sealing to his wife. Spending time with family and meeting with some of them in the temple was a special treat. Today we attended church in our home ward and listened to the farewell talks of our friends, Shane and Stacey Smoot, who are leaving for a mission in the Asia North Area Office. It felt almost strange to be back among so many friends and neighbors. Between seeing family, friends, our home ward, and our house, it reminded me that I have a life - a very good, blessed life, for which I am grateful. Tomorrow we board the plane to return to Frankfurt.

Chris and Eileen celebrating our birthdays either our sisters 

                       Out to eat the night before the wedding 

                        Jessica, Heather, Eileen and Russell 

             Andrew and Ellie at the Saratoga Springs Temple 

                Russell and Eileen with Andrew and Ellie

Andrew and his family.  His mom Heather is our daughter

Eileen and her sisters at the reception

Some of our posterity at the reception 

Andrew’s brother Cameron is on a mission in New Mexico.  Andrew’s Grandma Mackay passed away last Christmas.  Our granddaughter Kalli made these cutouts for the wedding.

BACK TO DRINKING OUT OF A FIREHOUSE

The first month or two, almost all new missionaries find themselves uncomfortable with their newly acquired responsibilities. It is just part of being responsible for something that you are yet competent to do. Some refer to it as “drinking out of a firehose.” That is how we feel right now.

Four weeks ago, we were asked to take on the responsibilities of another couple (at the end of Oct.) who has not been replaced. It turns out that we went from managing a little under 30 humanitarian projects to over double that amount. The past seven days have been spent in the office trying to sort out what is going on with our newly acquired projects. Unfortunately, over a third of them are in varying stages of the preparation process before being ready for approval, with a November 13^th deadline and us leaving for our grandson’s wedding in the U.S. on Wednesday. The trip home was arranged and approved before our change in assignment. We had hoped, like with our projects where the ones with a chance of going through in 2026 needed to be fully prepared by the end of October, that the ones we would be taking on would have a similar date set and followed. No such luck, false hope, we have acquired between 11 and 15 that are varying stages of writeup. Tomorrow we will sit down with our manager, explain the status of the projects in process, and make hard decisions on which ones have a chance of making it through this year. Comparing this week’s work with that of the prior week in Rome (meeting with NGOs) couldn’t be starker.

Having one last zoom call with the Kershishniks. They lived in Paris, but managed projects in France, Spain and the Benelux countries. 

Russell and I were both at the office all day Saturday, however we did go out to eat with our friends E & S Richards. 

Armelle is from Cameroon and met the missionaries on a trip to NYC. She was only there 3 days. When she returned to Germany she sought out the missionaries and was baptized today.  

                       

Armelle had 15 "friends" and family visit for her baptism. The missionaries had not met any of them. I was told they are most likely not members of our church. They were very respectful and listened carefully to the talks. 

The chapel was full of members and non members there to support Armelle at her baptism. Afterwards a little get-together with food was prepared for people to visit.

FAREWELL TO ITALY

We spent most of this last week in Rome visiting NGO partners. We were closing out several projects and doing long-term evaluations many others. Meeting with project partners and seeing the good they are doing with beneficiaries is by far the most rewarding part of this work. Contrary to the hate and cruelty we see in the news each day, there are many good people striving to relieve the suffering of their fellowmen. 

Of the ten visits we made, only one made us think, “Well I wouldn’t do that again.” Sometimes rich people have their ideas of how best to help poor people. They assume that because they are rich, that proves they know more and are always right. The most beneficial NGOs seem to be those who can put themselves in the position of those they are trying to help. 

Perhaps that is why it was necessary for our Savior, Jesus Christ to suffer for all our sins, to experience all our hurt and pain, so that he can know how to help us, no matter what we are going through. Regardless of what circumstances we find ourselves experiencing, it is comforting to know that we can turn to Jesus Christ to help us get through it. As Elder Henry B. Eyring told us in General Conference recently, “The Savior not only understands and has felt grief, but He has (quoting Isaiah), ‘borne [your] griefs, and carried [your] sorrows.’ He knows you perfectly. He knows your heart.”

I (Russell) am going to miss working with our projects in Italy. Most of all I am going to miss working with our senior missionary couples serving there (Herway, Moore & Vardeu). We have served with Tom and Anita Herway on our previous mission in Europe and when we lived in Belgium 27 years ago. They are dear friends and expect this will not be the last time our paths cross.

I (Eileen) love to walk the 2.25 miles to work when I can, both for exercise and to enjoy the peace of the morning. This is an untouched photo of what the morning sky looked like last Monday.

These women were directors of the Ronald Macdonald House in Rome.  The home provides housing for families whose children are hospitalized with an illness at the nearby pediatric hospital. The location is right by sea which provides a peaceful place for families to find respite from the challenges of being with their sick children. 

Humanitarian funds paid for a new kitchen for the Ronald Macdonald house. There is space for 30 people to stay there and they now have a lovely new kitchen. 

This soup kitchen by ASCS or the Scallabrinis offers meals made by volunteers each day.  Our church paid for the renovation of the kitchen and two large refrigerators. 

The idea of long term evaluations is to make sure the funds were spent on the correct items and if they weren't consumables, to make sure they were still in use. Here we are visiting the Red Cross who distributes food to refugees and poor families. 

We saw several women coming to pick up sacks food for their families, We do not ever take photos of the beneficiaries unless they specifically say it is ok. We do not want the beneficiaries to feel they are on display. This food distribution center reminded me of the Bishops Warehouse in our church. There was even an iPad displaying what food items were going to be picked up with each food order. 

The warehouse of the Red Cross. Each of the individuals who volunteer with the Red Cross have other professions. The women who is next to me (Eileen) is a veterinarian who helps cows with lactation. We had a good laugh together when I told her I had been a labor and delivery nurse who helped new moms with their breast feeding. 

This kitchen was renovated with humanitarian funds. This was a visit to the NGO Integrata. They help women who have been victims of violence get back on their feet in a safe environment. 

This kitchen at Integra overlooked a beautiful courtyard.  We saw several women studying and also getting food out of the kitchen. 

The Vardeaus in the courtyard outside of the "safe house". 

Another project with the NGO Integra. This facility housed unaccompanied minor refugees, boys 16-18 who arrived in Italy without an adult with them.

I love how each NGO tries to make their facilities a place of beauty.  These flowers were planted at the home for unaccompanied minors. They were bulbs taken from the Rome temple site. 

Russell and Maryanna from ASCS discussing several of the projects we have partnered with them on. 

This statue depicts young refugee children accompanied by a priest making their way to a new land. 

Photos of some of the artwork done at the JRS facility which houses migrants from various parts of the world. The painting above is of migrants  packed into a raft crossing the ocean and says by the Grace of God.  The painting below was also done by a refugee. The humanitarian donation here was of a huge heater to heat a three floor building of significant size. 

My favorite NGO this trip was -Banco Alimentare. They take donations of food from many different sources-then distribute the food to different NGO's who then will give the food out to the needy. This was an organization that seeing it written up on a computer is not the same as seeing it in person.  Here the leader of the NGO (who is a university professor) is showing us some of the huge amounts of food which has been donated to them.  There were 2 extremely large warehouses full of pallets of food.  The place was immaculately clean with no food items distributed which were expired. We saw perfectly ripe bananas being loaded into vans for distribution.  It is good to know that someone will be able to benefit from these food items which are not being used. 

Our one meal out with the Vardeus in between visits on Thursday. We were gone for 13 hours straight and then went back to the hotel and did 3 more hours of work.

Our final visit in Rome was to this hospital which provides a variety of services for the poor. 

     

We took a one day trip to Pompeii and Sorrento

Mount Vesuvius in the background

A mummified person in the museum of Pompeii

This was definitely a quick version of sightseeing.  We took photos of the coliseum as we tried to catch a cab.

Book of Mormon display at the Rome visitor center

                                                                                                                     One quick visit to the Rome temple before our flight home. 

SHOE SHOPPING IN LUDWIGSBURG

Several good things happened this week. On Tuesday we had an Area-wide devotional that was attended by all three members of the Area Presidency. Elder Michael Cziela and his wife Margret spoke. Elder Cziela is the newest member of the presidency and a former stake president in Frankfurt.

In his first address in General Conference from October 2025, Elder Cziela related the story of how his grandmother and great grandmother joined the Church in East Prussia during 1926. Elder Cziela told about his grandmother’s challenge of being unable to meet with other members of the Church for decades, about the family’s move to northern West Germany following WWII, and his father’s running across a branch of the Church in 1955, at the age of 17, while away from home at trade school.

Elder Cziela’s 88 years-old father was with us at the devotional. Now the stake patriarch, he was asked by Elder Cziela to bear his testimony. As I (Russell) listened to Brother Cziela tell us about finding the Church and helping his mother reunite with the saints, I could feel some of the joy his mother experienced after having been separated for so many years from the Church and of being home again with her fellow believers in the restored church of Jesus Christ. For a few brief moments, I wondered if going home to my Father in Heaven might feel similar. A return home to a very familiar comforting place after struggling for decades in this temporal world. It lasted for just a short time but was a poignant reminder to me of where home really is and the importance of focusing on what I need to do to return there someday.

On Friday afternoon I got by email a proposal from the municipality of Milan and their NGO partner ARCA for the Church to participate in a large project refurbishing a children’s wing of a homeless shelter known as Casa Jannacci. The shelter is the largest homeless shelter in Italy. We have been working with this group to develop the project since last March. Management of this facility do a wonderful job helping the residents prepare to return into regular society. After renovation, the facility will serve as a preschool for over a hundred full-time students and a hundred more attending part-time while their mothers work or go to school preparing to find work. I’m sure the project has become personal for me/us due both to the challenges we have had to face developing the project, and our anticipated turning the project over to other missionaries following its formal approval in the next few weeks (as we give up responsibility for Italy).

On Saturday we attended an activity with the other members of our zone. We went to a pumpkin festival in Ludwigsburg, a city just north of Stuttgart. It rained most of the day and after being outside for several hours we were a bit on the damp side. While making our way to the restaurant where all the missionaries were meeting for dinner, we ran across a shoe store. In the window was a sign noting a sale going on. By the time we reached the restaurant, both Sister Sackley and Eileen had new pairs of shoes.

                                                                       Left to right-DTA, Pres. Gerard, Elder McConkie, Elder and Sister Cziela        

Brother Armin Cziela (father of Elder Michael Cziela) was the former Frankfurt Temple President in 2001-20004

                                      

We had an early departure time for our zone outing. It was fun to get together with so many other missionaries. We had 50 total with about 4 guests on this outing. 

Inside the castle

Tasting pumpkin fries, we decided that regular fries were a bit tastier

The individual who carved the  pumpkins was very creative

                        These displays were made out of different kinds and sizes of pumpkins

                                           

It is so difficult for me  (Eileen) to find shoes that fit, it was great to find both  a pair of boots and shoes that fit on the same day.

We had a beautiful sunset tp enjoy on the way home after a very rainy day