Russell and Eileen's Church Missions: 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 Diaz. 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.