WHAT I THE LORD HAVE SPOKEN, I HAVE SPOKEN

The schedule for watching General Conference while living in Europe is a Saturday and Sunday evening activity. With the eight-hour time difference, the sessions start at 6:00 and 10:00 PM. And perhaps because we are old and usually in bed by 10:00 PM, the second sessions are usually Sunday morning and Monday evening. Technology today is a wonderful gift that I (Russell) take for granted too often. To be able to watch a meeting live, half-way around the world or choose to watch it the next day at my convenience is wonderful. Quite a change from when I was serving my first mission in Indonesia and written copies of conference took weeks before they got to us.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s talk, “O be wise” was the last talk we heard Saturday evening. I told Eileen that by morning the internet would be buzzing with comments regarding his warnings to the world about the dangers of gambling, particularly the recent growth in on-line betting. Lotteries, sports betting, and more recently “prediction market” betting have become accepted by many normal recreation, some even comparing them to investing in the stock market (an intellectually flawed argument). 

By morning, my guess was correct and many were criticizing Elder Christofferson’s words. My thoughts went to D&C 1:38, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” The Lord inspires His apostles to tell us what we need to hear, often an unpopular message for those of us who need that direction. We will address General Conference more next week after we have had a chance to hear all of it.  

This last week we had a change in management of the Area Welfare Department. Christian Ottiker has been replaced by Matthew Robertson as the manager n charge of the department.  The department is a bit larger than when we were here 10 years ago.  Back then we had four employees and nineteen senior missionary couples. Today we have about twenty employees and nearly forty senior missionary couples. The growth has been primarily in the self-reliance related areas.

Saturday, October 3^rd was the National Day of Germany (aka Reunification Day), commemorating the day in 1990 when the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist and joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Since everything was going to be closed (stores, restaurants, etc.), we and most of the other senior missionaries decided to visit the neighboring countries. I wonder if this is how non-Christian foreigners feel being in the U.S. on Christmas? While we were out-of-town, Eileen racked up her busiest day yet with nursing: 11 calls, with one going to the hospital!

Sister Zander is a single sister serving in Church History. Here she was listening to her fellow colleague in Church History Elder Gatherum give his farewell testimony. Elder Gatherum is a widower and was one of the first single senior elders serving for the Church.  He is an excellent cook and poet. He said he learned how to cook when he was taking care of his wife for so many years and did the cooking for the family.

Christian Ottiker with his two boys. Daniella, his wife, is due with a 3rd boy in December.

Sister Jorgensen teaching Isaiah for our weekly Come Follow Me class

We were sightseeing when Russell overheard this family speaking Indonesian.  He started speaking back to them in their language. They were not the only ones surprised. I (Eileen) was surprised that he remembered Indonesian so well considering it has been 13 years since we served there. The little girl in the family takes swimming lessons right next to where our apartment was located. 

John Lennon wall in Prague which promotes freedom and energy of ideas. 

Many of the senior missionaries left town this past week to enjoy one last weekend of nice weather. The office was pretty much empty. We did a last minute trip to Prague.  You can take me out of the office, but you can't keep me from working.  Most of the drive there and during tours, I was on the phone doing medical calls.

Yep, another medical call while overlooking the town of Prague from the castle. 

 

Prague at night

                       We visited the area of Tisa where there are huge sandstone formations.              

Some of the winter scenes from Chronicles of Narnia were filmed here. 

We had to walk some pretty steep steps to get up to this interesting rock formation.

Massive rock formations on Bastei Bridge

GOD IS IN THE DETAILS OF OUR LIVES, BUT DO WE NOTICE?

 The mild temperatures of September have been a welcome relief from the heat we felt on many days this past summer. Without air conditioning to cool things off in the apartment, we stopped using the oven and minimized cooking for much of the prior three months. Last week we resumed our practice of inviting another missionary couple over to share Sunday afternoon dinner with us. Bruce and Rebecca Johnson are serving in the Area Welfare Department with us as Self-reliance specialists. Their desks are quite close to ours. We were all surprised to learn that like me, they had both graduated from Murray High School. Elder and Sister Johnson are both three years younger than me (Russell), yet we knew may of the same people from years ago.

Tuesday morning Eileen told me, “Do you realize that our last two Monday’s and the week in-between have gone well?” Mondays, with the many meetings we have to attend, are sometimes challenging. I did indeed recognize it and am grateful for it. That evening, Eileen was contacted by Sister Sommerfeldt (mission leader from Independence MO) saying that she was getting ready to hear a devotional at BYU and that our prior stake president, Elder Alexander Dushku was going to be speaking. With the aid of modern technology, we were able to quickly connect on-line and watch the devotional live. It was comforting to hear from two people that we both greatly respect.

Within an hour after the devotional was over, we received some news that was quite unexpected and initially fraught with emotion. I couldn’t help but think that God was aware of what was coming our way and had given us a couple of small signs to let us know that He was mindful of us.

Later in the week, we were pleased to be contacted by two of our daughters, and a granddaughter that we have not heard from recently. Life is good! God does answer our prayers. Perhaps not in the way we expect or on our desired timetable. But I know that He hears our prayers, He loves all His children, and with His infinite wisdom and knowledge He answers our prayers appropriately.  

                           

We attended an endowment session in the Frieberg temple with Elder and Sister Richards. They are our car sharing pals and also serve doing humanitarian work.   The session and prayer were done in Hungarian. Interestingly enough, the Richards served their last mission in Hungary. 

Monday evening for FHE we played celestial jeopardy. Despite the fact that I (Eileen) got 3 answers correct my team came in last place. As Russell said, you can't carry the team by yourself. 

The Germans love a good excuse for a festival.  They were getting a jump start on Octoberfest by having a Kartoffelfest or potato festival. 

Eileen with the Martin Luther statue in front of the Frauenkirche.

The Frauenkirche in Dresden is a protestant church which was built in the 1700s.  It collapsed after a bombing raid in 1945 weakened the structure.  Between 1994 and 2005 work was done to reconstruct the church.  In the April 2016 conference, Elder Uchdorf talked of the destruction of this church and  the beautiful job of restoration which was done. He compared this church to that of our lives.  He said "“As I pondered the history of Dresden and marveled at the ingenuity and resolve of those who restored what had been so completely destroyed, I felt the sweet influence of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Surely, I thought, if man can take the ruins, rubble, and remains of a broken city and rebuild an awe-inspiring structure that rises toward the heavens, how much more capable is our Almighty Father to restore His children who have fallen, struggled, or become lost? ”It matters not how completely ruined one’s life may seem — destroyed by sin, loneliness or a broken heart. Even those who are without hope, who live in despair, who have betrayed trust, surrendered their integrity, or turned away from God, can be rebuilt,” he said.

The inside of the Frauenkirche is quite ornate. 

One of the recommended things to do in Dresden is to watch the sunset over the Elbe River. We didn't time it right to get the photo of the river and sunset, but it was an incredible sunset on Friday evening.

Eileen and Russell in front of the Zwinger Palace complex. We didn't have enough time to go through the number of museums they had here. 

Overlooking the Elbe River. 

The Processional of Princes is a mural made up of 23,000 tiles depicted the 800-year history of rulers in Saxony.  I was amazed at the beauty of tiles, but also very intrigued at the street artist who posed as a waiter. He held that exact pose without even blinking until someone dropped a coin in his can. They he would move robotically to acknowledge their contribution. 

The man on the right came and introduced himself at the museum we were in. He joined the church in Bulgaria 25 years ago. 

The children watching this man perform were fascinated by the bubbles he produced. 

This VW bug with stripes painted down the back just like in the Disney movies about the Love Bug, was driving back and forth through the strictly pedestrian zone. It even had #53 painted on the back. 

THREE GOOD THINGS

A couple of weeks ago, the Frankfurt Mission President came and spoke in our senior missionary family home evening. During his talk he asked the couples to consider attending church at one of the other wards or branches than the two wards closest to where we (the missionaries) live in Bad Homburg. Today we attended the Wiesbaden 1^st Ward and will likely continue doing so for the remainder of our mission. The chapel is located about 25 miles west of Frankfurt, so about 30 minutes on the autobahn. There were 80-100 in attendance today, with two young elders assigned to the ward. Between Google Translate and one of the Elders translating during sacrament meeting, we understood most of what took place. It felt good to be someplace that we might be utilized.

 One of the speakers in sacrament meeting talked about how she and her husband were looking forward to a time soon when they plan to serve a mission together. One of the things she mentioned was Elder Ronald A. Rasband’s talk from October 2023 General Conference on senior missionary service. As she did so, I (Russell) remembered his promise at the end of his talk, in which he stated, “Your dedicated service to Jesus Christ will inspire and bless your family, your grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. ‘Peace, and love [will] be multiplied’ in their lives for years to come. I promise.”

As I listened to the speaker, I thought about how this ‘promise’ had played out for us this past week. On Monday, I received an email from a grandson who said; “Thank you for always being a good example of putting the Lord first and serving Him with everything you have.” And then yesterday, one of our granddaughters called to tell us about one of her friends who is going to be baptized next week and how they had been attending church together. I asked if she had attended any of the missionary lessons as they were being taught. She said yes and then proceeded to tell us of what she had felt.

As parents and grandparents, we work/serve, hope, and pray that our posterity will gain strong testimonies of their own in Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. We hope that they will feel the Holy Spirt for themselves and recognize God’s love and presence in their lives. Having a grandchild tell you about it is one of life’s sweetest moments. If this were the only positive consequence of my serving a mission, I would consider it all worth it.

On Monday, the Humanitarian Division supervisor we report to was changed. We will now work with Celia Diez. She looks after all the countries in Western Europe. This week we have now already had two good meetings with her, and we look forward to serving with her.      

Elder Haderlie presented in our zone FHE on the history of Germany. He used to be a professor of German History. 

Sister Jorgensen and Sister Hill helped the sisters make fancy cupcakes which were delicious. Sister Hill is a pro cupcake maker and cooks them regularly for the legal department.  We made lemon filled, biscoff filled, dubai chocolate, and peanut butter chocolate.

We each filled and decorated 8 cupcakes.

                                                         

Considering I (Eileen) don't even have any sugar or flower in my apartment because I don't like to bake,  I figured my cupcakes turned out pretty good. 

                                    The weather has turned cooler and it has been perfect for taking walks.  

We passed several blue herons on our walk. 

                                            Our first time visiting the Wiesbaden 1st Ward. 

OOPS!

As I sat down to write this week’s blog entry, I thought it might be good to just review what was said last week. It was then that I realized that the verbiage part of the blog was missing. The pictures got in but the words just didn’t make it. Last week’s entry has been now fixed. Fortunately, I still had a copy.

On Monday I presented a devotional/thought at our Austria/Switzerland manager’s (Helmut Wondra) biweekly meeting. A copy is attached below. I am trying to take my own advice - sometimes it is hard.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the Humanitarian division missionaries and employees gathered for training. This was our second such event. These events are held three to four times a year. The purpose is to be taught, share best practices, and build relationships. I think all the couples agreed that the best training was a class on using AI in our work. In addition to the employees and four couples in Frankfurt (E&S Sutterfield, Richards & Clemes), five other couples from France (E&S Kershisnik), Montenegro (E&S Murray), Moldova (E&S Schultz), Turkey (E&S Dodgen), and Uzbekistan (E&S Busath) complete our group. On Thursday evening, most of us joined for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It is hard to get good Tex-Mex food in Tashkent, Uzbekistan!

Friday marked not only the 25^th anniversary of the World Trade Center attack in NYC, but also my 71^st birthday. Eileen was nice enough to invite me on an overnight date to Nuremberg. It was fun to get away and spend time with her.   

AUSTRIA & SWITZERLAND REGIONAL MEETING, SEPT. 7, 2026

One of the more memorable stories in the New Testament is found in Matthew chapter 14. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee. During the night, a storm arose, and the disciples became afraid. Then they saw the Savior walking on the water.

Peter called out, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” Jesus replied with a single word: “Come.” Peter stepped out of the boat and did something impossible. He walked on water.

What might have happened if Peter had insisted on finding firm ground before taking that first step? He would have remained safely in the boat. He would have stayed dry. He would have avoided risk. But he also would have never discovered what it felt like to walk on water.

In our own lives, we sometimes spend a great deal of effort trying to ensure that every step is onto solid ground. We want certainty before we move forward. We want guarantees before we accept a calling, serve a mission, change careers, forgive someone, or follow a prompting from the Spirit. Yet faith works differently.

Elder Jeffery R. Holland taught that faith means moving forward even when we do not have a perfect knowledge of what lies ahead. The Lord rarely reveals the entire path before asking us to take the first step. Sometimes the miracle is not that the storm stops. Sometimes the miracle is that Christ allows us to do something we could never do on our own while the storm is still raging.

Sister Camille Johnson said, “I know that life is hard. You can do hard with Jesus, or you can do hard alone. That is your choice. But when you do hard with Jesus Christ, the hard becomes holy.”

So, we can do hard things with Christ, or we can do hard things without Christ. Life is going to present its challenges either way. We will face disappointment, sickness, uncertainty, loss, and difficult assignments. Hard things are simply part of mortality.

In Alma 62:41 we read, “But behold, because of the exceeding great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened . . ; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.” They all had experienced the same war, yet some emerged hardened, while others were softened. What caused the different result in feelings?

For us, question is not whether we will face hard things. The question is whether we will carry those burdens alone or allow the Savior to help us. Without Christ, we may survive the storm. With Christ, we can find peace in the storm. Without Christ, we may eventually reach the shore. With Christ, we might discover that we can walk on water.

When Peter began to sink, the Savior did not stand back and watch. Immediately He reached out His hand and caught him. The lesson is not that faithful disciples never sink. The lesson is that faithful disciples know who will catch them when they do.

Many of us are serving, sacrificing, ministering, parenting, or facing personal trials that seem beyond our abilities. The Lord may be inviting us to leave the safety of the boat and trust Him a little more. Perhaps the very reason we cannot see firm ground is because He wants us to learn that His power is sufficient.

If we insist on only taking steps that we can fully understand and control, we may miss the miracles He has prepared for us. But when we trust Him enough to step forward in faith, we discover that His grace can do what our strength alone never could.

My testimony is that Jesus Christ is not only waiting for us on the other side of life’s storms. He is with us in the middle of them. He invites us to come unto Him, to trust Him, and to move forward even when the path is uncertain. As we do, we will learn that through Him we can do things we never imagined possible.

Posted by Eileen-My first week of being the nurse was rather slow. This past week it picked up steam.  I spent until 10p.m. last night writing my weekly email to the area doctor and mission president and wife.  I am enjoying my encounters with the missionaries. Only about 25% of the calls were during normal work hours. 

We started the MEAL conference by doing a temple session at the Frankfurt temple.

 

Sister Busath (in the blue skirt) brought back reversible jackets from Tajikistan for the sisters who have been here for a while. There were a few new sisters who she will bring some more for next time she comes back to Frankfurt. 

Elder and Sister Richards leading a discussion at the MEAL conference. (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning)

As part of the conference we each were to submit a collage of photos and described "me in a minute".  I (Eileen) created these collages which were then presented. 

Each individual had a tree with hearts with notations from others indicating why they were good friends. 

                  

Russell did something very abnormal for him. He organized a dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant for the humanitarian senior missionaries.  The Busaths still had not arrived, hence the empty seats at the end of the table. 

      Fun bathroom doors                                 

                                            We had a nice overnight in Nuremberg.
           

                               

We went to the museum documenting the rise and fall of the Nazis. There was a festival next         door. It seemed weird to have amusement park rides right next to the stadium where Hitler held      his rallies. 

                                     

 This house was built in 1446 and housed the lepers who were only allowed inside the city walls for medical care and food during Holy Week.

                                

A nice birthday dinner for Russell. 

A CHALLENGING WEEK

This past week was one of highs and lows, times of feeling the Spirit and enjoying the work, and times of experiencing contention. We heard from one grandchild for the first time in three years and from another who is just starting his mission experience in the MTC, and then also learned of other family members who are experiencing the heavy burdens life seems to throw in our way. 

On Monday night, for our missionary Family-Home-Evening, President Theurer (Frankfurt Germany Mission) and his wife came to talk to us. In essence he was recruiting for volunteers to attend some of the other wards and branches of the Frankfurt and Friedrichsdorf stakes. Most of the senior missionaries, like us, have attended either the International Ward or the ward located next to the temple. He brought a list of wards and branches that he felt could use some support. He told us how senior missionaries could be of help, even though they did not speak German. Two of our missionaries attending the Offenbach branch told of being involved in helping to teach, fellowship, and baptizing investigators. Both Eileen and I felt like it was something we should do. After the meeting I gave my card to President Theurer and said we would be interested in serving. We will see where that leads.

This week Eileen started taking calls/text messages from the Paris South missionaries. It was fun for me to watch as she interacted with them and their mission president. I could see the lift in her spirit as she did so. Although the assignment took up just a small part of her week, I feel it was God sent to her.

Last night, with about two to three dozen of our fellow senior missionaries, we attended a symphony and listened to pieces by Mozart and Haydn. It was a relaxing change of pace.

The parade came right past our local Rewe which is less than a 5 minute walk away. 

A number of senior missionaries were waiting for the parade to start supporting the Lantern Festival.

President and Sister Theurer who are the mission leaders for the Frankfurt Mission spoke to our zone for FHE. 

This is a new map showing the missions within the Europe Central Area.  The Paris South Mission is quite large geographically and goes south to the Spain Border. 

Kristian Katzenberger was the guest artist.  He is a professor of music/horn. He was amazing.

The symphony on Saturday evening was well attended by a number of missionaries within our zone. 

                           

We didn't get there in time for the group photo as we had gone out to eat with the Clemes. 

Elder and Sister Clemes spent the evening with us. They are a new couple in the humanitarian department. 

Prelude music for church today. I love hearing this organist play.