The end of the month always means our Senior Missionary temple night and dinner out at a nearby restaurant. The Frankfurt Temple was dedicated in 1987 and still looks beautiful and majestic on the outskirts of the city. We don't serve as ordinance workers here like we were able to in HongKong. Although that was disappointing, we realize different Areas have different policies for their missionaries and we're fine with that. Just that fact that there is a temple and we can attend monthly is a great blessing.
The Europe Area has 40 countries and 30 missions. It also has 6,000 missionaries serving in the field. The Asia Area had 20 countries, 10 missions and about 2,000 missionaries. Lowell is daily confronted with the magnitude of legal challenges, particularly with visas and residency matters, as I mentioned before, that stack up on his desk everyday. It's never a question of getting everything done. It's just how many bites you can take out of the elephant each day. That is his job and his challenge as it is with all the legal staff he works with. You just do the best you can. You move ahead an inch at a time, you take care of emergencies when they come up and then you forge on again. He's still in the adjustment phase of setting his pace and being comfortable with it. He knows from experience that with the Lord's help, it'll all work out in time and many little miracles will be sprinkled in along the way. I think he's doing great!
Our ward is an international one where English is the primary language but where the members are from all over this part of the world. Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and England are our best represented countries and it's delightful to hear all the many accents of adults and children alike. Many of the children are trilingual so I feel rather sheepish that I'm so challenged in getting my German to a functional level. We now have an investigator family from Ghana who will be baptised very soon. The husband stopped the missionaries on the street here because a very close friend of his in Ghana was a Mormon Bishop.
These pictures are from our ward Halloween party which they did in a very big way. The sister missionary here is from Utah and has only been in country four days. She's getting off to a great start.
On Saturday after getting all our apartment duties done we drove to one of the breath taking suburbs of the larger Frankfurt area. This little town was near a friend's home where we were invited for dinner that evening. It was only about a 40 minute drive. One of our Mental Health Advisors told me this was her favorite little German town. We were intrigued to know why. I think you'll understand, like we did, exactly why she might have felt that way.
This is the Town Hall which was built in 1698 in this picturesque town of Idstein.
The "Killinger Haus" with its carved facade is the most elaborately decorated half-timbered house in Idstein. Circa 1500.
Since most people live in multilevel dwellings, their "piece of earth" is found on their balconies and thus the stunning cascading flower sprays both in medieval and modern times. They are magnificent!
In every town square we've been in, there has been a towered fountain in the middle, here with a gold statue on the top and four small spigots all around.
I had to pause and snap a picture of this quaint little flower shop tucked in one of the narrow side streets. These are also very typical everywhere you go. The Germans love their flowers and many of them end up in their balcony rail gardens. Surprisingly, they are very reasonably priced.
This is the Gatehouse constructed in 1497 which marks the separation line between the town area in the south and the grand area in the north. This beautiful structure was used as the Count Philipp of Nassau-Idstein's chambers, the guardroom and prison, the torture chamber, the granary and living quarters for the clerks. Thank goodness the walls are VERY thick!
This was the resident palace to the Idstein royalty between 1634 and 1721. Over the following years it took on many interesting functions including the Naussau central achive office, a convalescent home, a military hospital, military barracks,a country hostel, a teachers training college and then again a military hospital. Since 1946 it has been the Pestalozzi Grammar School.
Here you see Lowell in front of one of the beautiful residences near the palace.
An example of a wonderful carved door and entryway of the period.
As it started to get a little dark, we headed for Konigstein-Falkenstein for dinner with our new friend, Gaby Harth. We became acquainted with her at our offices. She has worked there for a long time and now is in charge of getting all the Senior Missionaries their residency documents and their visas. We just clicked and have become fast friends. We were so thrilled when she invited us to dinner at her beautiful home where she has lived for over 30 years. I must say her architect husband was pretty progressive. The red cupboards above are the originals.
She set such a beautiful table with her best English bone china. A perfect light meal on a chilly evening with homemade pea soup and German sausages, bread right out of the oven and delicious German applejuice.
Gaby is a longtime member of the church
and is a notoriously good cook. She often brings her wonderful pastries and sweets to the office.
There were dim lights, Chopin playing in the background and then came dessert. The crowning touch to the wonderful day and evening was Gaby's superb
Apple Kuchen which just melted in our mouths.
The pictures of the missionary in a hospital bed hit a little too close to home. He was extremely lucky to have you there caring for him!! We love you!!
ReplyDelete