We spent an eventful week in the Frankfurt area with plenty of Brasilian Feijoada, MMMN, missionary opportunities and visiting Worms where Martin Luther was tried almost 500 years ago.
We had a very busy week preparing for our first Area Self-Relinace Committee meeting chaired by Elder De Feo, our new Area Presidency member. Our initial follow-up of non-members who participate in Self-Reliance groups has identified 35 non members who were baptized. This result has brought great interest from those who lead us. We wanted to get the right data and the right presentation. We also completed a study of active Self-Reliance stakes, identifying those wards that have had SR groups in the past year and those who have not. We were able to show that those who did have SR groups have a significantly higher improvement in the number of temple recommends than those who did not.
Our Area Committee meeting on Thursday morning went very well. Elder De Feo is an inspirational leader who is very committed to the Self-Reliance Initiative. Our manager, Tom King, was also able to meet with him earlier in the week and found him to be so helpful and supportive. These interactions were the high spots of an otherwise good week. It gives us hope for continued progress in the months and years to come.
We also met with a few of our missionary couples this week, including the new couple recently called to serve in Germany and our couples in Manchester England, Sweden and Romania. Our couple in Romania, Elder and Sister Winder, are Pathway missionaries who have helped with Self-Reliance . They are finishing their mission in the next few weeks, so this was our farewell Zoom conference. We have had an outstanding relationship with the Winders. We will miss them but definitely plan on keeping in contact with them after our missions.
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| Our last Zoom conference with Elder and Sister Winder, serving in Romania |
On Tuesday we had perhaps the biggest thunderstorm that we have seen on our mission. The sky was black and we could see the water coming down in sheets. The wind blew excessively and water was coming across from right to left as the trees were bent over. The photo below was taken after the worst of the storm, but gives a little idea about the storm.
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| Water in the parking lot of our apartment, photo taken from our office window |
Our evenings were filled with diverse and rewarding activities. On Tuesday night we participated in our first MMMN, which stands for Mid Month Movie Night with the other senior missionaries. These have been held since the first of the year, but in every case we have been traveling. This is the first month that we were home when the movie night was held. It was fun to participate with other senior missionaries and enjoy salted and caramel popcorn with a good clean old movie.
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| Senior missionaries awaiting MMMN |
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| This month's movie selection, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly |
Wednesday night we had our manager Tom King and his wife Raelene to dinner. They have become dear friends as well as our boss. We had a delightful meal and evening together. Sister Rueckert had cooked a Brazilian Feijoada, based on Tom's request. He had eaten feijoada with us on another occasion when his wife was out of town.
On Thursday evening we were scheduled to hold our My Plan for Returned Missionaries meeting with the 4 recently returned sister missionaries in our ward. We had scheduled this for 7:30 pm. We have also been trying to visit a newly assigned home teaching family, a less active sister who had joined the Church in Brazil some years ago. She had agreed to come to the Church on Thursday at 7:00 pm to visit with us. Our plans looked good on paper, so we proceeded to the Chapel.
Before leaving home, I had called Izabel, our HT family, to confirm that she would be there and got no answer, so I left a message. She later responded with a text and said that she would be arriving closer to 8:00 pm. We decided that we would need to divide and conquer. When we arrived at the Church we heard that the Stake was holding a High Council meeting and the the recently returned missionaries would be reporting to the High Council. We thought that there would be no problem, we would meet with them after their reports.
When the stake president arrived, he invited us to join in the chapel to listen to the reports from the sisters. When the meeting started, soon after 7:30 pm, the first sister began her report, which was more like a mini talk. As she was finishing, Izabel arrived.
I left Sister Rueckert in the High Council meeting and visited with Izabel, her friend, Salvatore and her son who was visiting from Brazil. We had a delightful visit. The son appeared to be fairly active in Brazil and Salvatore, an Italian non member, seemed interested in learning English. He has been a big help in providing employment to members of the ward, working with our My Job Search facilitator. He owns an Italian bakery and has great access to the hidden job market around Frankfurt.
While talking, the son asked if we had an English Book of Mormon. Since our stock was in our apartment I went to a little library in the Church which has many Book of Mormons in different languages. I had difficulty finding an English book, so I invited the three of them to help me look through boxes of Books. In the end, Salvatore took a Book of Mormon in English, Italian and German. Isabel took one in Portuguese and German and her son took one in English. So in one visit, I placed 6 Book of Mormons. I invited them to come to Church and participate in my Portuguese Self-Reliance Group during Sunday School time. They accepted! After more than a half hour with them, I said good bye and returned to the High Council meeting.
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| The three visitors with the six Book of Mormons |
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With Isabel and Salvatore
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When I returned to the High Council meeting, the last of six sister missionaries was still speaking. They had been richly fed by these great sisters, four of which are from our ward.
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Group photo of the six sisters and other stake members. The four from our ward are on the right of the photo, with the stake president on their left.
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The meeting completed after 9:00 pm with a message from the mission president. The night didn't go as planned, but the results were better than we could imagine. We rescheduled our next training with the sisters for this coming Tuesday evening and we all went home.
Friday was a slow day in the office. By the afternoon all employees were on leave and the missionaries had gone on a temple trip or had other commitments. Sister Rueckert and I and Jennifer, our admin assistant, were the only ones on our floor. This will all change in a few weeks when the holiday (vacation) time is over.
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| Closed doors and empty offices |
On Saturday we decided to visit Worms, Germany, which is less than an hour drive from our home. The history of Worms goes back prior to the birth of the Savior. It is known for a few different things:
Since this is the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we had wanted to see as many of the Martin Luther sites as possible. This became an easy visit to make and it was a beautiful day, weather wise. We thought we would start our visit at the original Catholic Church, Wormser Dom.
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| Photo showing two of the four towers of the Worms Cathedral |
We visited the inside of the Worms Cathedral and did not see much related to Martin Luther. We then remembered that the Catholics don't focus on Martin Luther. We then walked to the Luther Denkmal.
"This is the World's largest memorial to the Reformation, dedicated in 1868. Luther's hymn "Ein feste Burg is unser Gott" (A Mighty Fortress is our God) is chiseled in stone, frames the bronze figures. Dr. Martin Luther towers over early "Reformers", the "pre-Reformers" surrounded by princes and scholars as well as figures representing the important cities of the Reformation and Post-Reformation eras."
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| Sister Rueckert in front of the entire memorial |
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| In front of the center of the Luther Denkmal memorial |
We then visited the site where the 1521 Diet of Worms was held, in the Heylshof Gardens behind the residence of the Bishop of Worms, just north of the Worms Cathedral. We enjoyed pondering the importance of what transpired at this location as Martin Luther was asked if a collection of 25 books, including the 95 Theses, was his and if he was ready to revoke his heresies. This occurred on April 17, 1521. He acknowledged that the books were his and asked for a day for him to consider the answer to the second question. After a day of prayer, the following occurred as stated in Wikipedia.
On 18 April, Luther, stating he'd prayed for long hours, consulted with friends and mediators, presented himself before the Diet. When the counselor put the same questions to him, Luther first apologized that he lacked the etiquette of the court. Then he answered, "They are all mine, but as for the second question, they are not all of one sort." Luther went on to place the writings into three categories: (1) Works which were well received by even his enemies: those he would not reject. (2) Books which attacked the abuses, lies and desolation of the Christian world and the papacy: those, Luther believed, could not safely be rejected without encouraging abuses to continue. To retract them would be to open the door to further oppression.[3] "If I now recant these, then, I would be doing nothing but strengthening tyranny".[3] (3) Attacks on individuals: he apologized for the harsh tone of these writings but did not reject the substance of what he taught in them; if he could be shown from the Scriptures that he was in error, Luther continued, he would reject them. Luther concluded by saying
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.[4]
Private conferences were held to determine Luther's fate. Before a decision was reached, Luther fled. During his return to Wittenberg, he disappeared.
The Edict of Worms was a decree issued on 26 May 1521 by Emperor Charles V, declaring:
For this reason we forbid anyone from this time forward to dare, either by words or by deeds, to receive, defend, sustain, or favour the said Martin Luther. On the contrary, we want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic, as he deserves, to be brought personally before us, or to be securely guarded until those who have captured him inform us, whereupon we will order the appropriate manner of proceeding against the said Luther. Those who will help in his capture will be rewarded generously for their good work.
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| Outside of the ancient residence of the Bishop of Worms |
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| Sister Rueckert in the Heylshof Garden, with the Worms Cathedral behind her. |
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Elder Rueckert standing in the Heylshof Gardens with the words of Martin Luther inscribed below
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Wall surrounding the Heylshof Gardens and the Cathedral of Worms
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We studied the history on our way to Worms, which made this visit all the more meaningful. We are thankful for the courage of Martin Luther which led to the conversion of most of Germany to the reformation. In the following years, Martin Luther translated the latin Bible to German for the masses to have access. He also converted many high ranking princes who supported his position. Eventually, the Catholic Church had minimal control or influence on the geography which is now present day Germany.
Worms is also home to the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe, dating from the 11th century. Since we were there on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the cemetery was closed. The photos below were taken from the outside of the locked gate:
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| Tombstones in the Jewish Cemetery of Worms |
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| Closed gate on the Jewish Sabbath |
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| Interesting landmark on the bridge going into Worms, made to represent the Worms Cathedral |
The trip to Worms was wonderful, unfortunately somewhere in our visit I lost my coin purse with over 100 Euros in it. I guess a trip close to home became a little more costly!
We arrived home by around 3:00 pm, allowing Sister Rueckert time to cook another Brazilian Feijoada. We enjoyed a dinner with two other missionary couples that evening at the apartment of Elder and Sister Garrett. Elder and Sister Rich and Elder Garrett had each served their young missions in Brazil. We were all missionaries in Brazil in 1972. Germany becomes an interesting place for this Brazilian missionary reunion.
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| Sister Rueckert, Elder Rich, Sister Rich, Sister Garrett, Elder Garrett |
After a wonderful evening we took our left over Feijoada home and had leftovers today (Sunday). That makes 4 out of the last 5 days that we have eaten Feijoada. We love it but have probably had enough for the rest of our mission.
For a positive Sunday update, Izabel and Salvatore did come to Church today and were the focus of our Sunday School class. He also joined to help the other investigator, Jan, understand some work opportunities and met with the Bishop. Salvatore also said that he had started reading the Book of Mormon in Italian.
We hope to see them again next week. We feel like I was inspired to invite them on Thursday. Salvatore has asked to attend an English class, which will be offered by the missionaries. We will continue to pray for them. We love being missionaries!
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