This week we celebrated 500 years of the reformation. A legal holiday was created in Germany this year for this purpose. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517. We have been inspired by much of this history during our mission. We spent the week in Frankfurt to provide self-reliance training for Elder and Sister Carroll and Elder and Sister Kitterman. We also continued our farewells from our mission and preparation for our departure, which is now only 11 days away.
Our week stared last Sunday with a 5th Sunday lesson on Self-Reliance. Elder and Sister Carroll helped us to share the self-reliance initiative with the ward and invite them to participate in Self-Reliance groups. It looks like we have around 20 participants to join in the Finance, Find a Better Job and Starting and Growing My Business self-reliance groups. We are helping in the preparations but will have to allow the Carrolls to see these through to completion.
On Monday morning we started our formal training for Elder and Sister Carroll and continued throughout the week. This has included Zoom meetings, in person training sessions and hands on work with several on going projects. The first day included getting them signed onto their computers in the space where we have been working. It is the right way to go, but sends a clear message that our days are numbered. We are now working only from our laptops without any access to large screens or comfortable office chairs.
On Monday night we used our family home evening to rewatch the movie of Luther, filmed in 2003. We had seen this movie early on in our mission, before we made our first visit to Erfurt. Now that we have been able visit many of the sites mentioned in the movie, it became much more meaningful to us. We are grateful for men like Martin Luther who paved the way for an environment where the gospel of Jesus Christ could be restored to the earth. This night became a spiritual experience for us.
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| Title page from the movie Luther about the life of Martin Luther |
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| The movie started in Erfurt in 1507 where Martin Luther became a monk |
Since we have been to many of these locations we would like to share a few of our photos that show the chronology of the restoration:
From our visit to Erfurt in March 2016:
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| The door into the Erfurt monastery where Martin Luther entered in 1507 |
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| The inner court of the monastery in Erfurt |
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| The room where Martin Luther studied in the monastery |
Martin Luther left Erfurt to go to Wittenberg where he studied further and taught in the Church in Wittenberg. This was the time that he nailed his 95 theses to the door and where he lived as the reformation took place. This is also where he married and had childlren.
Photos from our visit to Wittenberg in September 2017:
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| Sister Rueckert in front of the Castle Church in Wittenberg |
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| In front of the location of the door where the 95 theses were nailed. The current door is in bronze with the 95 theses imprinted on the door. |
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| In front of the Lutherhaus, where Martin Luther lived in Wittenberg |
After his theses were posted, he was called to the Diet of Worms to recant his teachings in 1521 before the Church and Government authorities. There he refused to recant, stating:
"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."
After the Diet of Worms, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and labeled as a common criminal.
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| Elder Rueckert standing in the Heylshof Gardens in Worms with the words of Martin Luther inscribed below |
As Martin Luther left Worms, he was kidnapped by his supporters before he could be apprehended by his enemies. He was taken to the Castle at Wartberg where he stayed for sometime, translating the New Testament into German for the first time.
We were able to visit the Wartberg Castle in August 2016. A few photos follow:
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| Wartberg Castle |
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| Sister Rueckert in the room in the castle where Martin Luther translated the New Testament |
While Martin Luther was in Wartberg, there was significant violence occurring throughout Germany, led by some of his supporters. One of them was Thomas Munster of Thuringia. We were able to learn about Thomas Munster during our visit to Muhlhausen in August 2017:
Martin Luther finally had to leave his safety in the Wartberg Castle to help his followers to become peaceful, which was always his intent. Some of the meetings in those years were held in the castle at Marburg. We visited this castle at the beginning of our mission in January of 2016.
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| Painting of one of the meetings in Marburg of the Reformers. They met here in 1526 and 1527. |
The next morning, October 31, 2017 we joined with several other senior missionaries to go to a Reformation Celebration in Frankfurt am Main. Fortunately we arrived early and were able to find a seat. The meeting in the Katherinenkirche was completed filled with standing room in every open space of the Church 15 minutes before the scheduled starting time.
On Sunday morning we sang "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in our Sunday service. We also sang the same song, written by Martin Luther, in German at this celebration. This included a nice concert and plenty of prayers and talks, all in German. Although we did not understand it all, it felt good to be able to honor this historic time with the German people.
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| Program for the Reformation Services |
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| A Might Fortress is Our God in German |
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| Standing Room only inside of the Church |
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| Musical program and speakers |
Back to the rest of our week
After the program we returned to the office with Elder and Sister Carroll. On the way to the train, we showed them the historic downtown of Frankfurt. We love Frankfurt!
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| Selfie with Elder and Sister Carroll in historic downtown Frankfurt am Main |
After returning to our office we participated in our last group meeting with our Self-Reliance missionaries. All but one couple were able to participate. With Elder and Sister Carroll, we shared our insights and experiences of the previous week in Paris. This has been a big part of our mission and we will miss these wonderful missionaries.
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| 15 different zoom room participants - missionary group meeting |
On Wednesday we continued our training with E/S Carroll. That evening we held our last meeting with the returned missionaries in our ward. Sister Rueckert made her last batch of cookies with her last chocolate chips on Tuesday and we shared them with the missionaries.
On Thursday, our training included Elder and Sister Kitterman who have recently arrived as Self-Reliance missionaries in Germany. With the Carrolls we had a wonderful training day with this couple. They have served a previous mission in the Europe Area and are very prepared and capable. We are excited for their contributions to this great work. They are busy preparing for our upcoming My Path Devotional in Austria this next week and clearly have everything under control.
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| Missionary training with E/S Kitterman, Thomas King, E/S Carroll and E/S Rueckert |
As part of this training we held a Facilitator orientation session with Elder and Sister Nelson, a new missionary couple that is willing to facilitate a Finance Group in the International Ward.
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| Facilitator training for E/S Kitterman, Nelson and Carroll |
We finished our training day with a meeting of the Frankfurt Stake Self-Reliance Committee that evening. This meeting went very well, showing great progress of this stake over the time of our mission. The committee was all in attendance and there was meaningful discussion about the status and plans for self-reliance groups in each of the wards of the stake.
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| Frankfurt Stake Self-Reliance Committee with Sis. Rueckert. E/S Kitterman and Carroll were observing but were not included in the photo. |
We finally finished our Thursday with a birthday zoom meeting with our granddaughter, McKenzie who turned 10. We attended her baptism right before our mission officially began. How time flies.
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| McKenzie with one of her birthday books that she received form us |
Friday we continued our training and our preparations for our trip to Sweden and Austria this next week. This included good meetings with the Publishing Service people (Rita and Judith) about the Country pages and Aaron from the Finance department about expenses and budgets. Elder and Sister Carroll also had some new missionary orientation, so we moved forward with some of our preparations on our own. We also had a visit from Constanza and her husband Kiever. She is our former Administrative Assistant before she took a leave to have their first child, Arturo, who they brought for us to see.
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| Kiever, Constanza and Arturo |
That night we were invited to dinner with Elder and Sister Cottam. They have become dear friends of ours ever since we invited them to dinner six months ago. Since then they have reciprocated with two different invitations and an invitation to visit them after we both return from our missions. This is one of the major blessings from our mission, wonderful relationships with amazing missionary couples.
On Saturday we were invited for lunch with Thomas and Raelene King. Tom has been our "boss" and he and Raelene have been special friends. They were kind enough to take us to an Australian restaurant. They are from Australia, so this was a special treat for us. They have been a major part of our mission and a source of many of our blessings.
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| Dinner at the Australian Restaurant, a little sunny in the background |
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| Took advantage and ordered Kangaroo Steak |
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| Kangaroo Steak, delicious |
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| Photo by the kangaroo in the painting on the wall |
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| With our dear friends, Tom and Raelene King |
We spent the rest of the day packing one more box to send home, deep cleaning our balcony and living room, and doing a bit more self-reliance work that needed to be done.
On Sunday morning (today) we were able to participate in our last Fast and Testimony meeting in our ward and to share our testimonies. The time was limited, but the spirit in the meeting was strong. Besides us and another senior,missionary going home, testimonies were born by a German, a Portuguese, an Italian (with the bishop translating) and an Irish member. We also had the baby blessing of little Arturo whose parents are Brazilian and Spanish, the blessing was in Portuguese. I participated in our Portuguese My Foundation class and we had non member visitors from China, India and two from Ghana. Also our new member, Jan (German with a Russian wife) blessed the sacrament for the first time. This is what makes it an "International Ward". We will miss this ward!
Some thought from the scriptures
I had some very powerful feelings this week while reading scriptures with my wife. On Monday night, after watching the Luther movie, we were strongly effected by the Holy Ghost. As we read D&C 138, every word sunk deep into my heart. It was amazing to understand clearly all that President Joseph F. Smith had seen. After getting so involved in family history work on our mission, it was even more powerful.
Those who were described in this vision included Mother Eve, with many of her faithful daughters who had lived through the ages and worshiped the true and living God. It describes in detail the steps taken in the next life to teach the gospel to those who are in Spirit Prison and clarifies the power of vicarious ordinances which we do in the temples and so much more. I can certainly testify that this section is a revelation from God. The reading of this section became a profoundly spiritual experience for me.
On Saturday night, we read the last chapter of 2 Nephi, which were the last words of Nephi. Once again, I was overwhelmed by the spirit, each word was profound. He testifies of our Savior Jesus Christ and makes it clear what we need to do to receive the power of the Holy Ghost into our hearts. He is very clear on the role of the words of Christ and our need to soften our hearts and listen to those words.
Lately it feels like the Holy Ghost has been much closer to us as a missionary couple. Spiritual promptings and experiences are occurring more often. The scriptures are speaking to us in an amazing way. We testify that our Heavenly Father lives and that he often speaks to us through the scriptures. If we will only soften our hearts to listen, he will testify to us!
