Saturday is a Special Day!

October 21, 2014

     The weekend is always very welcomed after long, busy hours in the office. We love our daily work and it is very fulfilling and diversified, but when Saturday comes, we try to get out and exercise while out on a day trip somewhere in this beautiful country. Lowell has been working primarily this week on missionary residency and visa challenges in several of our Area countries. The laws and regulations in these post-communistic governments can be extremely difficult to work with when you have a revolving door of missionaries coming in and out of cities and countries so often. We just had no idea of the complexity of issues and the tender balance of public and government relations that the Church has deal with to get our missionaries into the countries and then keep them there legally for two years. The learning curve has been steep and it all is very different than it was in Asia. Lowell finds it fascinating and very difficult as well.

     I am fully up and running as the mission nurse and I am VERY busy. With 256 missionaries all over Germany, at any given time there are several calls coming in each day, afternoon or night. I am on call 24/7 and I have gotten calls on walks, in the car, at home, in the office and at church. Luckily I have not gotten called in the middle of the night yet. I keep in frequent touch with the Mission President so he knows what's happening. There are also 2 Area doctors right next to my office which are wonderful back-ups for more serious problems. It's a wonderful team. with every call, I triage the situation, give advice and direction for prevention and self-care situations (most calls are of this type), arrange for appointments and get insurance coverage for doctor's office, Urgent Care or ER visits. do computer charting, follow-up and monthly reports on all cases. I'm excited that I also get to teach at three different zone conferences each quarter in different parts of Germany, the first set in December.It's great work and I really enjoy working with these amazing young missionaries.

     Last Saturday morning we were so fortunate to be taken on a walking tour of downtown Frankfurt by one of the wonderful German employees we work with in the office, William Blascoe. He's an avid historian and made every minute so interesting and sobering too as this city was a significant Holocaust site during WWII.

     Here you see William looking distinguished as he leads his band of Senior Missionaries around to the grand city sites. Notice the building behind him with the arched doorways. This site was destroyed during the war and as so many other wonderfully designed edifices here, was meticulously rebuilt in better years.

     Above is a picture of Anne Frank, her sister and her mother in front of the very same building before the war. Frankfurt is where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis in an attic hideout not far from this main city square. She penned her famous diaries there and gave us all a poignant insight into a young and profoundly sensitive heart. As we all know they were eventually discovered and sent to a concentration camp where they died. That little apartment is a very popular site to visit here although we didn't have time while we were near.

This statue was erected post war to make a statement that Germany wanted to showcase Frankfurt as a place where education, wisdom and progress were encouraged and sought.

This is the oldest and still one of the most grand hotels in Frankfurt. One of it's prime rooms goes for $4,000  a night and only the rich and famous are allowed to stay. Although I cut it out of the picture, there was a $200,000 Bentley car parked out front.
     





    This church was built in the 1300's and was one of the very few buildings standing after all the bombing and carnage of the war. Although it has been restored several times on the outside, much of the inside structure remains intact. Many of the pure gold artifacts, however, were taken by the Nazi's.

       Before more than 23,000 Jews were forced or taken out of Frankfurt, their beautiful synagogues were burned to the ground and their businesses destroyed or confiscated. They were not allowed to shop at most stores or eat in restaurants. Post war, very careful research was done and it was determined that over 11,000 of this group died in the concentration camps. Several projects have been enacted to remember each victim throughout Frankfurt. One of these projects is the Remembrance Wall in the old Jewish section of the city. It's very impressive. A small metal square has been forged and implanted in this wall that surrounds the Jewish cemetery, each with an individual name engraved on it. There is a stone walkway along its borders. You're to pick up a rock and put in on any square without one to signify that person will always be remembered.

      Here you see me placing a rock on that didn't have on. a name

            Here you see the little box with Anne Frank's name on it. Seeing things like this up close and personal gives you such pause for thought and a deep gratitude that these people who lived here and loved this city and their families will never be forgotten. Another remembrance throughout the city are engraved discs embedded in the cobblestone walkways throughout the city with individuals' names and dates as well.

      Because the night is getting late, I will include these picturesque shots I took during our afternoon drive through 2 small towns about an hour outside of Frankfurt but without a lot of explanation, if you don't mind. We went with the Riggs who work with us in the law offices. We had such a delightful time exploring, eating and being thoroughly amazed at how fairytale-esque this country is. These towns were certainly not big tourist traps, but rather quiet yet vibrantly alive little communities with the locals gathered in the town squares, sitting in quaint outside cafes, listening to live music of some sort, checking out the shopping kiosks of flowers, food and wares. Yes, I do indeed think I could live here and get sucked in by it all.
     Huge, ornate churches and old, wonderful castles are a common attraction to many small towns here and you will see samples in these pictures.

       The narrow, cobble stoned streets and the beautiful architecture are other common and beautiful sights. Again, I think I'm in heaven.

      This little church is actually within the castle. As you can see, these stained glass windows are                                                               quite stunning!

      These homes you'll see next are outside the castle walls and surrounding them. The descendants                           of the original owners of the castle actually still live its the upper stories.

      As if the castle wasn't beautiful enough, the glorious fall leaves just added the crowning touch to                                            the incredible scenery. Hope you've enjoyed it!!

It's Off to Work We Go

Come Walk With Us 

     I know when our sons were on their missions or far away working somewhere, I always wondered what their day-to-day looked like. I thought you might like to see where we spend our days and how we get there. We've already given you an idea of what our apartment looks like inside,  so we'll start at our front door and move forward.


     Our apartment is at the top of a short flight of stairs. The outside entry door is always locked and then our front door has two locks on it. The Germans are very big on locks. Every room and closet inside our apartment has a lock on it as well. We haven't really met any of our neighbors yet but they are very friendly coming in and out of the building. Service men don't make appointments. They just show up and expect you to let them in. The heater inspectors came for breakfast the other day. Good thing we were mostly dressed.

     Looking down from the main landing (into "the dungeon" I call it)
you can see a second little hallway off to the left. This leads down to
a second dark hallway to another locked door where our very own little stacked washer
and dryer live. There are outlets for everyone in the building to have a washer and dryer,

but for some reason we seem to be the only ones who have this luxury. Before I can turn anything on, I have to unlock a cover to the outlet and plug them in. I'm thrilled to even have them this close, although it's a bit of a hassle to keep track of the cycle times and run up and down so often. They are small capacity so I truly am getting my exercise. At night it's a bit creepy down there but I'm getting braver.




     Then it's down our first little walkway to the street. We have a nice grassed area in between our building and the next one.

      We've enjoyed watching  the leaves change colors and start to drop lazily to the ground. I have a great window in the kitchen that lets in lots of sunshine and gives me a great shot of this view. It's all moving too fast toward winter and many grey days ahead, I understand.

        The next stop is right around the corner to the garbage cage where we again use another key to enter. Once a month you can pile all your large things out near the street for pickup. Honestly, it's like a curbside thrift store. You see everything.......beds, mattresses, clothes, shoes, pictures and the likes. Some of them are in good condition actually.  It's pretty interesting.            

 Around the corner and onto the next street which takes us out to the main busy street. This picture is parking in Germany. Their cars are all very small, just a size large than our little "Smart Cars", and always parked within inches of each other along the streets and even up on the sidewalks. Rarely do you see a parking lot let alone a multilevel parking facility. Bikes are the ruling vehicle here and ALWAYS have the right-of-way. They are a car's worst enemy OR the pedestrians'. The sidewalks have a walking half and a biking half and don't dare to cut over or you could get run over.

   



  This picture shows how the cars park on the sidewalks. We walk by a couple of restaurants, some offices and a good Turkish barber Lowell likes because he speaks English!!

     The train goes along this street as well as the buses. We were spoiled in Hong Kong because so many of the traffic and business signs were in English. Here is a rare thing to find English anywhere, so getting around is a little more challenging. Thank goodness Lowell was in Germany on his early mission. He's just getting warmed up again with the language.

      Next, it's crossing the main intersection with a sharp turn left. The building ahead is very typical of the apartments here. They usually have a small business or two on the ground floor with private residences above. Very few people here have homes as living in the city is very expensive. We're actually on the outskirts of the "big city" part of Frankfurt. There are no real tall buildings in our neighborhood. A twenty minute train ride will get you into the heart of the downtown area. I myself like where we are.

     For what I've seen of Germany so far, it's a very clean and tidy country. But it has a startling amount of graffiti everywhere. This little box is a small example. You see it along older buildings, on train cars, over bridges, along freeways, etc. I'll have to do some research and find out why that is and why more isn't being done to get rid of it.

      Now one last turn to your right and around the bend. All these surrounding buildings are apartment complexes, the old on the right side and the newer on the left.

   

     There in front is the Area Office Building. Right adjacent to the long lower part of the building on the left is the Chapel we attend. It's a separate building but very close. To the right of the offices is an older high rise apartment building where most of the other senior missionaries live. We're the first in our complex but apparently will be followed by future missionaries. The landlord of the other place is apparently not doing well at keeping up the apartments.

       Through the front door is the small reception area and one of the part time receptionists, Gaby Harth. She is a delight and we have become quite good friends with her. She has worked for the Church for many years and loves her time there.  She's also a marvelous cook and sometimes treats us with her amazing "steamed" pastries with cream sauce and dark berries.
     

          Now, because we're so exercise conscious, we climb two flights of stairs to the entrance of the legal and medical departments. The two area doctors and their wives are in one section and the legal staff and missionaries are through another door in an adjacent area.

     Right through the door we meet Elder Riggs from Tennessee, the other Associate Legal Counsel working with Lowell.He is in charge of all the real estate matters for 40 countries.
     Lowell is handling all the Visa and Immigration matters for that many countries. He also has Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Cape Verde and Andorra for all other legal matters in those countries. He also handles Government Relations

for the Area as well. Whew! It's a hand full and there is more work than he could ever catch up with. Their boss is an amazing attorney, a full time paid employee of the Church. There are also two other paid attorneys, a paralegal and an Administrative Assistant in the office.

     Here's where we live most of the time. It's a lovely office with a nice bright view. We have plenty of room which is important because there are times when we both have to be talking on the phone at the same time.




     My job officially starts on Tuesday. I am the nurse for the Frankfurt Germany Mission which has 256 missionaries assigned all over Germany. It's taken a while to get my phone up and running, my contacts made to be able to activate insurance coverage and the training I needed to know where to refer missionaries who need to see a doctor, urgent care or an ER. All other less serious problems I can address over the phone and give directions for needed self care. I will also attend Quarterly Zone conferences (in three different locations in the country) to teach the missionaries on needed preventive and self care subjects. My bosses are the Mission President (who is a doctor, by the way) and his wife and I will be working closely with them.
     Three weeks in and were both up and running. It all promises to be an adventure but
we are both VERY humbled by the great responsibilities we have. We know we will both have many situations where we will have to rely on the Spirit to guide and direct us and to help us be equal to these challenges.