The Work is coming along

What a week!  The good part started off last Thursday by a FANTASTIC U of U win over OSU!!  I was going to write about this the next day, but didn't, so it's anti-climatic now, but never-the-less, it was GREAT. . . in a nutshell, the Utes scored 11 points in 2:18!  Go Utes!!

The week (actually the weekend) got better as we listened to general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We actually got to attend Saturday mornings session at the Conference Center and that was a first for me in the 21 years living here!  The eyes of our 13 year old were wide open as we passed the protestors.  He had never experienced anything like that before.  We only passed one vocal protestor on the way in and lots of people with signs.  It was kind of funny because the guy was saying something to the effect of, "We know (I don't know who else he was referring to. . . he was by himself!) your prophet tells you that Protestants are wrong, that Catholicism is wrong. . ." I know all of you members of the church have heard this all before.  We got a real chuckle when the temple in Rome was announced.  It had a double meaning for us since the referral from the guy we passed, plus, can you imagine a LDS temple in Rome?!?  It would be like having another Vatican City in SLC!  Kinda funny to think about.  We were so EXCITED for our friends in Calgary to finally have a temple near them.  No more traveling 3-ish hours to attend the temple.  They are some of the most stalwarts saints I know!!  Congratulations.  Woohoo!!  We are already planning to attend the open house when the time comes!

Oh, back to General Conference. . . if I thought the 13 year old was wide-eyed on the way into the session, you should have seen him on the way out as we passed about 6 LOUD protestors screaming not-so-kind things at us as we walked passed.  One guy was the most vocal.  They couldn't even agree on what to say.  While the loudest guy was screaming, another was yelling something nasty at the loudest guy.  They were trying to tell us what our prophet tells us to believe.  All I kept thinking was, "what our prophet tells us is to allow other religions to worship where, how, what they may."  Sound familiar to anyone?  They must have really wanted to make a point because it wasn't nice weather and we were drenched by the time we got to where the car was parked!

Okay, on to Jaren.  It's kind of interesting, because I don't think he knows much about what's going on with the U.S. economy and the trickle effect to Europe and other countries, which I suppose is good. . . it means he's doing what he is supposed to be doing, but at the same time, it is amazing how sheltered missionaries are from the outside world when you cut them off from the media.  I also don't want him to worry about something that is out of his control. . . so I will do the worrying for him!!

Anyway, here is what he has to say:  "Elder Norton and I have had a lot of meetings in the past week, including conference.  I'll tell you what, dad, it is evident that people are a little nervous about the future and what it will bring!  (Okay, maybe he knows something that's going on!) That one talk by Elder Perry said it all, the four basic needs are food, clothing, shelter, and means.  Not living above your means.  Most people here don't struggle with that as you know, but some times the people can be very prideful with what they have and it can be difficult to teach them.  I also liked the entire Saturday session of conference and the responsibility that every member has in sharing the load in missionary work.  Our ward here is great, but very small.  Elder Norton and I are trying to get the ward moving and excited about this work with the other two Elders here.  We have a huge ward list, about 5 pages long with a couple hundred names.  More than half of them are inactive.  The ward here in Hanau has also taken in the Fulda ward which was dissolved 2 years ago because it apostatized."  (Steve and I were wondering how a whole ward apostatizes, then decided it is probably one of those missionary stories that gets better every time it's told until it becomes legendary!!)

"Lots of members live in Fulda but can't come to church because they are eighty miles away. Then, only a couple of months ago, the Hanau English speaking ward was dissolved because they all left to go back to the States.  There was a U.S. Military base here that has now been closed down, so all the English speaking members have now since left.  So, Elder Norton and I have started to go through the entire list, and with the other Elders try to go to as many of these people as is possible, find out their status, how to get them back to church and to spark some excitement by doing so with missionary work.  It is going to be a huge process, but no one can or wants to go with us to appointments where members are needed.  We also need members to help us in getting investigators to church because the bus doesn't run during the time we have church, and we can't use the one car we have because it is against mission rules.  I wish that the members would help more.  But I still love them.  We do have a couple of members that are always willing to help, and you know those types, but in a ward this size, we need the help of everyone!  We also don't want to push the Bishop and act like we are taking over the matters of his ward, otherwise he'll get defensive and turn us off.  (Smart boy!)  It is  a huge headache some times, but both Elder Norton and I feel that we need to increase the number of those who attend church, increase the wards excitement before they will be willing to help us in our efforts.  It isn't that the Germans are bad people, but they are very comfortable with what they have.  Anyway, it is a challenge, and I like challenges!  SO BRING IT ON!"

I told Jaren that it looks like the weather has been cooler there than here, but I usually check at my bed time, which is 6-7 a.m. there, so it would show cooler.  He told us that it has actually been pleasant but that the leaves are changing color there, also.  He says it's usually foggy until the sun comes out and on those days it is very cool, so he likes the cloudy days better because they are usually warmer.  I guess that's a good place to be if you like cloudy better than sunny from our 5 months there!

I also asked if he needed a coat yet.  I forgot he got one before he left, but it's more of a winter coat.  Here is what he says about that:  ". . . not that the big huge wooley coat is bad, I don't mind it, but it  isn't practical yet and all the little kids think I'm from the Poliezi (police) or some secret agent and people don't want to answer their doors when they see me through the peep holes!  So I purchased this smaller lighter jacket.  It was a little pricey but should last and it is water proof."  (Good thing, since he likes those cloudy days better!)

Jaren goes on to say, "You asked how many missionaries there are per ward.  I really don't know.  It depends on the size and population of the area.  Germany doesn't have too many wards or such like Canada.  (referring to his dads mission there) Our ward has a huge boundary because as I said earlier, the other ward apostatized (there's that legend again!!)  so we take them in.  Our boundary is about 100 miles long and fifty miles wide!  It is huge for a ward.  I don't know the size of the stake but it all belongs to the Frankfurt stake.  We have 4 missionaries assigned to our ward, and some just have two.  I've heard that  Koln (Cologne) has 6, Dusseldorf has 4, I think, and maybe Duisburg has 4, also.  Frankfurt has the most, with the AP's, office Elders and regular missionaries.  There are about 140 Elders, 10 Sisters and a few couple missionaries in the mission.  We have six areas.  I think the whole mission has about 20 wards.  I know there are 4 stakes."

Jaren ends by saying, ". . . it was great to hear the announcement of the Calgary Temple!  I think it is about time!  There have been so many members there for a long time, now they won't have to travel forever to go to Edmonton or Cardston.  And all the missionaries laughed with the announcement of the Rome Temple.  They all joked saying that it would be funny if it were across the street from the Vatican!"

Soooo, that is it from our missionary for the week.  I hope you all have a happy week!

GO UTES!!