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.