Devotional Presentation

 

WHAT DO WE ACTUALLY DO IN OUR ROLE HERE?

This last week, I (Russell) presented in our weekly Monday morning devotional. The subject matter was assigned to us and the audience was the employees and missionaries of the Area’s Welfare and Self-reliance Department (“WSR”).  Over a hundred individuals are invited to attend the weekly on-line meeting, but usually less than that actually make it.  

The assigned topic was Priority 3 of the WSR 5-year strategic focus, “Increase the impact of Church humanitarian priorities and promote community service.”  The previous two priorities, covered in prior weeks, focused on self-reliance principles and services for Church members.  As Priority 3 and my presentation dealt specifically with what Eileen and I work on in our missionary service, I thought including it here might be appropriate. Since much of the presentation focused on the “how to do” part of the work, I thought it important to start and end it with the “why,” on the purpose of why we are doing what we are doing.  It is easy to get caught up in the mechanics of the process and lose track of why we are serving. We serve our Savior, Jesus Christ, and seek to follow His example of serving others, particularly those most in need. 

The Church’s humanitarian work in the Europe Central Area is organized in a more complex way that it was 10 years ago when we previously served here.  We now have six managers/employees that we work with, three in Frankfurt and three located in the countries that we serve.  The humanitarian project work is divided into roles filled by employees, Area humanitarian missionaries (like us), and the WSR field couple missionaries.  To coordinate that process of who does what, a chart has been created by the Area humanitarian employees to clarify that.  I refer to it as the “Chart of Many Colors.”  A copy of the chart is attached at the end of this week's pictures.  My PowerPoint devotional presentation is attached as the next blog entry.

Each Sunday we try and invite another couple to come and have dinner with us.  Since my cooking skills are limited, we have a consistent menu of roast beef, potatoes and vegetables.  It reminds me of what my grandmothers would cook when they had us over for Sunday dinners.  So far, we have had over a dozen couples come and share a meal with us.  Getting to know the other senior missionaries is one of the best things about serving here in Frankfurt. 

                                         

It is pretty remarkable that with modern technology we can have a meeting with others from around the world. Joining our Monday meeting are missionaries and employees from Spain to Turkey.

Russell makes dinner each Sunday and we invite other senior missionaries over.

Russell wanted some nicer dress shirts. I ordered these over a month ago. DHL tried to deliver them twice previously on a Saturday and returned to the sender since the office and mail room is closed on Saturday. I thought surely it can't be that difficult when I have requested that they be delivered on a weekday to notice that the office is closed.  We finally received 6 out of the 10 which were ordered.  I guess it shows it is worth being persistent. Hopefully we can still get the other 4.

My daughter gives me a waxed amaryllis every year for Christmas. When I saw these in the Netherlands I thought they would be so nice to have in the office. Russell knows that flowers make me happy. 

We have a small balcony which Russell has put a lot of flowers on, some are planted and some are grown in pots.

Friday was a holiday in Frankfurt and the office was closed. Almost all the senior missionaries took off on a trip. It wasn't our weekend for the car so we figured we would stay home. Elder and Sister Nelson heard we didn't have a car and loaned us theirs since they were going out of town. We went to Wurzburg and saw some of the sites there. The Wurzburg residence was originally built in the mid 1700s.  It was mostly ruined in a 17 minute British air raid in WWII. An American art historian who was in the army, recognized the value of the building and the frescos and took emergency measures to protect what was left of the building. It is now a UNESCO hertitage building. 

                                                         Beautiful parquet floors.

                                           

                                             

                                            

                                        

                                                                   Hall of mirrors

                                        

We took a wonderful tour of this fortress at the top of the hill. overlooking the city.

Saturday we went to the Palmengarten-a botanical garden in the middle of Frankfurt

                                                         

My first ever speeding ticket.  It was taken by an electronic camera. $38 for going 3 miles over the speed    limit. 

We went out with Elder and Sister Parks to a Mexican restaurant. We were surprised when we were brought some nonalcoholic shots at the end of meal. Basically it was just OJ in a shot glass.

                                                            The chart of many colors gets confusing at times

WHO'S GOOD IDEA WAS THAT?

 For most of our time here we have been very busy.  Rare have been the times when for a few minutes I (Russell) have been looking for things to do.  But on Wednesday I had such a morning.  Thinking we were caught up with what we could do on our various projects, I spent some time cleaning up my electronic and paper files.  Only after that, bored, did I turned to two potential projects, each of which was “on hold” after our having met with them just once.  Knowing that both of potential projects had advocates among the employees, I read through their files again.  One with a large municipality would have had us partnering with an NGO representative of the municipality.  Government units in this country cannot legally take donations, as a precautionary measure against corruption.  I decided to learn what I could about the NGO, a group I was unfamiliar with.  The internet is a great resource of information but the quality of which is sometimes questionable.  My search found an article from 2024, it gave a brief history of the group, including its fast growth rate in recent years, and its rumored possible past ties to organized crime. An email to a fellow senior missionary, who prior to retirement from law enforcement from the country, was within a few hours returned with a warning to not be associated with that NGO.  

Both Eileen and I were very grateful that we had learned so early in the process not to proceed further.  It would have been very embarrassing for all if we had helped develop the project with the municipality only to have to back out at the last minute.  Reflecting on it that evening, we both realized that we had not only been blessed to find out about the problem so early in the process, but we were both aware that the way we found the issue was not due to our own diligence.  Rather, it was one of these “minor miracles,” one where you know it was not your own good idea.  Interestingly, on Thursday and Friday we were swamped with work again.

                   

                                Another rapeseed photo-it really makes the area look beautiful. 

                                               

I    I (Eileen) received these flowers from Sister Johnson  who knew it had been a difficult week.

We went to a garden show at a castle. Basically it was an outdoor market. This is as close as we could get to the castle. 

This plaque was on the outside wall of the castle.  Built in 1475. 

On the way home we stopped to get some flowers to plant on our outdoor balcony.  We don't know if there will be enough sun for them to grow, but they look nice for today. 

Russell thought the best part of the outdoor market was the bratwurst. 

Watching Saturday night conference over zoom. We couldn't get the translation to work through             the earphones, so we had to read the translation.

We had written translation of conference on our phone.  Russell and I both were laughing at the particular translation with the sustaining of officers. See translation circled in yellow.