LEAVING THE COCOON

Last week we had the great blessing of watching the leaders of our church speak in General Conference. I (Eileen) remember as a child waking up in the middle of the night to listen to a taped delayed recording of conference on the radio. Growing up in Colorado, there were many years during which that was the only way we could hear conference. When I was a teenager I traveled to SLC several times with my father who had an entrance ticket to conference. I would stand in a standby line hoping to get in. I was thrilled to be in the presence of so many members of the church and to hear a prophet seer and revelator speak.

With the miracle of modern technology we now have the ability to listen to conference live or at a later time in the comfort of our own home, - be that in Utah, Indonesia, Germany or almost anywhere else in the world reached by the internet.  Last week when we heard that Vitor and Maria had been invited to listen to conference by the missionaries and might actually attend at the church, we joined them there rather than listening in our apartment.  Vitor is not a member of our faith. Maria was baptized as a young child but has not attended church since she was a child. We were impressed that they were willing to listen to one full session and part of another session, especially since they were listening in a language which they did not fully understand, as Portuguese is their native language. In between broadcast sessions we had them over to our home for dinner.  Elder and Sister Rueckert came over for dessert and were able to speak with Vitor and Maria in Portuguese.  Both Russell and I enjoy very much our interactions with Vitor and Maria and the opportunity to share our beliefs with them.

Russell mentioned last week that I have started taking German language lessons.  It has brought me a great amount of joy, not just to be learning something that will help me better adapt to living here, it helps fill a need I have to interact with others and feel more like missionary.

Much of what we do in our current calling is administrative work.  Approximately three out of every four weeks we are here in Frankfurt working from our office.  That work is primarily performed over phone and on the computer.  While this is similar to our last mission in the Missionary Department, the content of our work now is of a less religious nature.  Our office is a one-minute walk from our apartment building and our church meetinghouse a two-minute walk.  We have a small grocery store on the ground level of our building.  Our church meetings are held in English and our communications at the office are all in English.  Basically we live in a nice little cocoon.  Occasionally, out of either necessity or for a break, we need to leave the relative comfort and safety of this cocoon. At that point we realize how challenging it can be to not know a word of German. 

As an example, I had a tooth crack. When I went to the dentist there was a sign on the door in German. The door was locked. This was puzzling to me as I had an appointment with the dentist. It had taken me an hour to reach the dentist’s office and park my car.  I asked several people walking by in German “Sprechen Sie Englisch?”  All said nein. I finally just pointed to the sign outside the door and asked for help. The sign indicated that I needed to flip the switch, which looked like a light switch and it would buzz the front desk so that they could let me in.  We had multiple experiences like this one several weeks in a row; to the point that I determined that for me not to be frustrated I had to learn some German. I had tried Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, but the pace I was learning German was not sufficient.

I am currently in an intensive German class. It meets three hours and 15 minutes per day, five days a week.  We have three days filled with grammar and two days of conversation. The teachers can speak English, but do not. Their explanations of things are done in German augmented by charades and drawings on a white board.

Attending this class is one of the most enjoyable things I have done since coming to Germany.  Not because I love learning the 145 ways to use possessive articles in the German language, but because I thoroughly love my interaction with the other members of the class.  Other than Sister Anne Lovell, another senior missionary taking the class, we each come from different economic and cultural backgrounds.  Yet we find ourselves for a few hours each day laboring in a common cause where we are forced to work together to learn that day’s language lesson.  It has been wonderful to rub shoulders with these great students (about half of whom are refugees) knowing that they have sacrificed much in an effort to achieve a better life.  I am also discovering how challenging it must for them to not have “the cocoon” I have, to shelter me and give assistance when I need help.

To illustrate how difficult it can be for those of us in the class to communicate with each other, I’ll relate two brief conversations I had on Friday with members of my class.  I will refer to them by their countries of origin rather than their names since I have not asked their permission to include them in my blog yet.

I asked Iran in German how long he had been in Germany and if he was working now. I missed the first week of German class due to our traveling to Albania. I recognized quickly that I lack the very basics of “getting to know you” in the language.  Iran couldn’t understand me, so Lithuania stepped in and rephrased my question. Iran still didn’t fully understand, so Turkey stepped in and asked the questions in Turkish. Since Iran has relatives living in Azerbaijan he understood the questions, responded back to Turkey who then explained to me in broken English what he had said.  It was almost comical that it took so long to try and communicate a basic concept.

Ghana is seven months pregnant.  She asked the teacher, in English, when the next block of German language classes concludes.  The classes are arranged in approximately five-week courses.  The teacher responded that it wasn’t important, not fully understanding her question.  I said in English, “She needs to know when it will be completed so that she doesn’t end up having her baby in class.” The teacher responded in German, “No babies in the classroom!”  Ghana gave up in frustration.  Her due date isn’t until December 27^th. I convinced her that unless she had her baby early (this is her third child), she would be ok.

It has been a great learning experience for me to participate in this class.  I am learning far more than just German skills.  I am getting to know the paths these wonderful fellow students are taking to establish a better life for themselves and their families.  One woman from Serbia works several hours each morning cleaning an office building before she comes to class.  She then sits through German class and then goes to work at another job.  Watching her reminds me of how fortunate I am to be able to work just out of a desire to serve and not out of necessity to survive.

Several of the students stare at my missionary badge.   A few have asked what I am doing here. Since we have been told that there is no religion in the classroom I just give them a brief answer.  With time I am hoping to share more of our beliefs outside the classroom.

I am truly grateful for the support Russell has given me in order that I can take this class. He has encouraged me, and covers any issues that might arise while I am in class.  I have been blessed with a wonderful companion.