Worn out in the service of the Lord and loving it

This blog entry is different than most.  It is our effort to identify the variety of tasks that we work on in a given week, at least in the past four or five days.  This week was an unusually busy week and we wanted to record the events and our feelings before we embark on our next adventure in Rome, Italy.

When we left the office last Saturday night, after final preparations for our Sunday My Foundations class, we met a new missionary couple that had just arrived the day before, Elder and Sister Proctor.  They arrived to serve a mission with the Publishing Services Department.  We had a wonderful time getting to know them in the parking lot.  On Sunday, we felt that we should invite them to dinner to get to know them better and to help them in their transition to the mission.  The only evening we had open this week was Monday, so the invite was made and accepted.

Our Foundations lesson this week was Use Time Wisely, so we were conscientious to prioritize our daily tasks, confirm them with the Lord and report back each evening.  We are also taught to be open to promptings from the Holy Ghost as we go about our day.

When we arrived at the office on Monday morning, the Welfare Manager asked Sister Rueckert to organize a farewell and welcome social for Elder and Sister Sharpe that were leaving this week and Elder and Sister Healy and Elder and Sister Proctor who had arrived in the last few days.  All serve with us on the 3^rd floor of the office building.  After moving the social from Thursday to Tuesday, Sister Rueckert made necessary arrangements with many employees and missionaries helping out so well.  Our days on Monday and Tuesday were loaded with nine videoconferences with senior missionary couples and others, but we did have time for a luncheon social on Tuesday.  We also had a meeting with visitors from outside and needed to get ready for our Area Self-Reliance Committee meeting on Thursday morning.  Throughout the week we were working to get our first  reports to stake presidents ready after a few glitches the prior week.

Monday night we had a wonderful dinner with E/S Proctor.  One of the true blessings of our missionary service is to associate with other missionary couples.  Their consecration to the Lord is so inspiring.  After dinner, Sister Rueckert made chocolate chip cookies for the social the next day while I worked on summarizing our Jobs Initiative in Cape Verde for our Thursday meeting. 

The social went well on Tuesday, thanks to the help of so many, especially our administrative assistant, Constanza, who made wonderful croissant sandwiches for everyone.  We had a few misses with some of our missionaries this week, which was too bad, but gave us some important time to deal with other pressing issues.

On Tuesday afternoon, I was committed to go with Sister Rueckert to the weekly German class that was at a nursery to see and purchase flowers and vegetables.  This turned out to be a bigger experience than planned. We not only bought flowers and a large tomato “tree” we also had to purchase flower boxes to hang on the walls of our balcony.  After returning home to put together some dinner we had our weekly German Zoom session with Sister Peterson, a wonderful sister in Provo who is helping us with our German.  After finishing with her, we then set up our flower boxes and planted our flowers.  Once again, I had to spend a few more moments later on working on our monthly reporting of Self-Reliance activity.

Sister Rueckert with our flower boxes hanging on our balcony

We got to bed early enough to be able to get up and go walking/jogging in the cemetery on Tuesday and Wednesday.  This is our goal each day, but it is not always possible. I had been told about a Christus Statue in the cemetary on Tuesday and found it on Wednesday morning.

Christus Statue in the Cemetery

Wednesday our day was more open for final preparations for the Area Self-Reliance Committee the next day.  However first, I had to teach the weekly Book of Mormon class taught at noon with the missionaries.  This had occupied most of my personal study time the last few days.  With the help of the Lord, it went well and we were onto finalizing the presentation for the Area Committee.  At the end of the day, right after Sister Rueckert went for a hair cut, we facilitated our Finance Management Self-Reliance course at the Church, which is always a joy.  We love this course and even more we love the members who are in this group.  They inspire us with their friendship, creativity and desire to improve their own situation.  The course is also making a difference for us.

After the course, we went back to the office with Kiever, Constanza’s husband to finalize some issues with our reporting to priesthood leaders and to get one more graph for our presentation to the Area Committee the next morning.  After finally returning home, preparing and cleaning up after dinner, I prepared the final slides for the presentation and we feel into bed exhausted.

Thursday morning started out early so that we could be in the office before our 8:00 a.m. committee meeting.  We are blessed to be able to meet monthly with Elder Timothy Dyches in this meeting.   After the meeting, he spent an additional hour with Thomas King and ourselves discussing many of the issues and challenges in more detail.  Thomas King commented afterwards on how amazing it is to spent two hours with a General Authority.  We agree! 

As soon as we got back to our offices, we were invited to go with another couple to pick up our German drivers licenses according to letters that we had received. , We found out that we cannot pick them up until we have been in Germany for six months and returned home empty   We spent the rest of the afternoon, preparing minutes of the meeting, processing our expense report for our travel in April and May and preparing for the evening activities.
handed.

We left the office at 4:00 pm to head to Kaiserslautern, an English speaking military stake a little over an hour from Frankfurt.  With traffic it took us right up until our scheduled 6:00 pm meeting with their stake self-reliance committee.  They have a new missionary couple that has been called as their stake specialist, who was also in attendance.  After this meeting, we held a facilitator training session with this couple and another couple that are acting as facilitators in one of the wards.  In both of these meetings, we were assisting our German SRS manager, Günter Borcherding.  We will become the primary contact with this stake going forward.  After additional discussions with Günter, we finally left for home at 8:45 and with less traffic arrived home a little before 11:00 pm.

Beautiful fields of yellow rape seed plants, part of  the landscape on our trip to Kaiserslautern

This did allow us time to sleep before arising early and preparing to leave for our trip to Italy.

It has been an incredible week with so may different activities.  Our days and nights have been full.  Hopefully our time has been used wisely in the service of the Lord.  We are blessed to have a mission that has so much opportunity for us to serve.  We pray that we can truly make a difference in the lives of those that we work with and serve.  We have learned to take one commitment at a time, planning the very best we can.  Sister Rueckert is amazing at moving from one priority to the next.  The second we have finished one major task, she is preparing for the next.  We know that the Lord gives us strength and direction.  This is His work and we are on His errand!

Missionaries, Muslims and Mothers

Another week  comes to a close and we have grown and been edified.  The primary activity this week was our trip to the Senior Missionary Conference for the Adriatic North Mission in Bosnia.  We were asked to participate and lead a discussion about Self-Reliance with 16 senior missionary couples, the mission presidency and other district leaders.  These also represented many of the branch presidents in the mission, which covers 5 countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro).  These countries were all part of the former Yugoslavia when it was under communist control, until the early 1990s.

First of all, we are learning so much about the history of the different regions of Europe.  This was no exception.  We come away with a greater idea of what has occurred in regions that we had hardly recognized before.  These countries were mostly independent before World War 1 and became united into one royal dynasty.  They became recognized as the country of Yugoslavia in 1943 and were put under communist rule shortly after World War II.  After the communist collapse, the countries again became independent of each other in the early 1990s.  As such, many of the people were raised in a communistic society and the challenges of entitlement are major obstacles for the Church. This brings our self-reliance initiative into a different perspective from the challenges we face in other regions.

This entire area was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire which brought the religion of Islam to the region for several of the countries.  Today, Bosnia is about 50% Muslim, which is the major religion.  When the Ottoman Empire came, the people of Bosnia embraced Islam and the people of Serbia resisted.  Religion continues to be a major factor in the strife between countries.  The Serbian attack on Bosnia in the 1990s was essentially an effort to eliminate the Muslim population.  We still have fond memories of a Sub for Santa that we did for a refugee family from Bosnia in Utah.  This was from this Serbian conflict.

During the conference we were able to hear from a local Muslim, who shared with us much of the history and culture of the people of Bosnia.  It was a very open discussion that taught us much that we had not previously understood.

On the way to the airport in Germany, we talked to the taxi driver who is Muslim.  This conversation with a Muslim who has been in Germany for years was similar to others that we have had.  They are all feeling the prejudice against them because of the radical terrorists.  They continually tell us that the Islam faith does not teach or support this activity.  We have learned that theses are good people, that are very misunderstood in the world today because of choices made by a few radicals.

Also, during the conference we went to the site where the country of Bosnia was dedicated by Elder Russell M. Nelson in 2010.  It is located near the World War II memorial.   However, that memorial has been significantly damaged through the ensuing war war between Serbia and Bosnia which ended in 1995.  We went to the same spot and listened as a group while President Grant, mission president, read the prayer for all of us to hear.  This was a special activity during the first day of the conference.

President Grant (left) reading dedicatory prayer for the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina

President Grant with his wife and Elder Charles (Area 70)

Elder and Sister Rueckert with Sarajevo, Bosnia in the background

Better view of Sarajevo in the background from the dedicatory site

Remains of World War II memorial

Outside the memorial

Inside the memorial

The conference was held at a hotel in the mountains above Sarajevo.  This was a beautiful setting near the site of the Winter Olympics of 1984.  The greenery was beautiful.

Outside of the hotel

In front of the hotel

Conference room and the conference

The last night, we were to be entertained with Bosnia culture.  In fact, the counselor in the Mission Presidency, from Slovenia did some dancing and encouraged participation from all.

Mission counselor and his wife, from Slovenia

Other missionary couples joining in the dancing

Overall, we were instructed and edified.  In a short time we learned to love these wonderful missionaries.  The challenges that they have in these countries are immense, but their attitudes are so positive and they love the people so much.  Self-Reliance was a continuing topic throughout the conference, it is needed so much in their small branches!

Photo with all those at the conference. Wonderful missionaries and leaders!

We came home and really enjoyed a Saturday that we could use as a clear P-Day, time to wash clothes, clean the apartment and relax from the previous days and weeks.  It was also time to prepare for Mother's Day which is today.  This is a little different situation, being far from our children.  The photos below show Debbie's mother day presents.

Flowers and Chocolates, always a safe Mothers Day gift.  Also replenishing the nylons and . . .

a German Mother's Day stone heart.  Mama is a international word!

This morning we once again went to the Frankfurt 1st Ward (German speaking) and enjoyed their Mother's Day program.   After the meeting, they had the primary children come to the pulpit and deliver roses to all of the women in the congregation.  We thought that this was a wonderful experience. The children were so cute and excited to deliver flowers.

After the meeting, we met a young couple who were visiting with their missionary parents.  They said, "Rueckert, we have a bishop named Rueckert".  It turns out they are from a ward in South Jordan where my brother David is serving as the bishop.  Small world!

Later in the afternoon we went to the Frankfurt 2nd Ward, english speaking.  When we arrived the bishopric asked me if I could be the last speaker for Sacrament meeting, since the planned speaker could not be there.  After the other planned speakers, there was just 10 minutes left and I had the privilege to talk about mothers, which is an easy topic.  It seemed to go well.

Summer is finally arriving.  It is getting warmer and the skies have been clear the last few days.  A few months ago, I posted a photo of some heavily pruned trees near our apartment building.  In the photo below you can see that they are finally starting to sprout.

A few photos that I have been waiting to share.  Each morning as we eat breakfast, we see a large group of pigeons flying together outside our window.  It is amazing how they stay together.  The photos below show them in a bit of clarity.  We love the familiar scenes that are part of our home!

He is in charge! miracles, tender mercies and beauty

This morning we decided to make our first visit to the Frankfurt 1st ward (German speaking).  They meet in our same building in the morning while our English speaking international ward meets in the afternoon.  We have felt that this would help us to improve our German speaking and understanding if we actually participated in a German speaking ward.

Well as we arrived we sat down and were greeted by a few members.  One gentleman looked at our missionary badges and said "Rückert, that was the name of one of our first members".  I told him that Leonhard Rueckert was my grandfather's brother.  He was excited and went to get us a copy of a history that he had helped put together when the Frankfurt 1st ward celebrated 100 years in 1994.  As I opened the history, under the title of "The Founding of the Ward", it started with the name of Leonhard Rückert.   I was aware that he was the first known member baptized in Frankfurt, but was unaware how much of this history was known locally.  I was overwhelmed as I looked at the history with the name of Leonhard throughout the first few pages.  What a way to feel welcome in this wonderful ward.

The Founding of the Ward, beginning with Leonard Rückert

100 year history of the Frankfurt Ward

Last week we held one of our monthly video conferences with several other self-reliance missionary couples throughout Europe.  This has become one of our highlights of each month.  We love each of these missionary couples and are inspired by their service.  It is wonderful to see them interact with each other over our "Zoom room"  each month.  We leave the video conference feeling uplifted.

We missed a couple that had a visit from family going on and our Italian couple that were traveling, but appeared briefly.

On Wednesday we had our quarterly zone conference with all of the Europe Area missionaries.  The conference was centered around the theme of D&C Section 100.  It was wonderful as we listened to four couples who are completing their missions and Elder Paul Johnson of the Area Presidency.  One of the deep insights that I received came from verse 1:

 "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, my friends Sidney and Joseph, your families are well; they are in ^amine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power."

This entire section was likened to us as senior missionaries, but we took special comfort from knowing that while we are serving "our families are well".  However, we recognize that the Lord knows what is best for them as he said  "I will do with them as seemeth me good".  We certainly trust him above our own desires.

The following photo shows our missionary group at this conference.  We are finding it difficult as beloved couples go home, but we look forward to getting to know the new couples that are arriving.

On Wednesday night we facilitated our first Financial Management Self-Reliance group.  Our group was small (5 individuals) but our experience was amazing.  Even though we had read through the materials a couple of times, it really comes alive when we learn it in a group setting.  Personally, I really understood so much better that I don't have any earthly funds or assets that are truly mine.  They all belong to the Lord and I have been entrusted with earthly blessings as a stewardship.  I am to use them according to the desire of my Heavenly Father.  It has given me much to think about and added to my personal study priorities.  It is also consistent with the language of my patriarchal blessing.

On today (Sunday), we also facilitated our first My Foundations group in a Sunday School Class.  With that, we (with our other facilitators) have started all five of the self-reliance groups that were formed in our My Path Workshop the previous week.  Initial reports are very positive.  We had a few no shows, but with only one exception, all are committed to continue this week.  We are so pleased to see the support of an amazing ward, but even more important is to see all that are involved, from strong, active members to new members and investigators and a few less active members.  It seems to be working as we have preached it, it feels good to be part of it at the level of the members.

While being in town this week we seem to find so much to do each and every day.  This is a wonderful work that we are called to.  It is wonderful to feel useful and able to contribute to building the kingdom of the Lord.  We certainly love our mission and love serving together.

At the end of the day on Friday, we received an invite from our dear friends, Elder and Sister Bausman, to accompany them on a visit to a castle on Saturday.  We gladly accepted and had an amazing experience with them and with the castle.  The castle is in Hohenzollern, a little over 2 hours south of Frankfurt.   This was the major castle of several kings during the history of Prussia.  The existing castle was the third castle built on this site and was completed in 1860 by King Friedrich IV.  This is the same king that had the summer palace that we had seen near Berlin a few weeks ago.  We did get to do an English tour of the inside of the Castle, but no photos were allowed.  We were impressed in the first room to see a family tree of royalty from the 1100s until today.  The following are some of the photos we were able to take of this amazing castle.  It certainly is the best castle that we have ever seen. 

Majestically on the top of the mountain

little bit closer view

Entrance into the castle

Entrance way into the castle

Next level of entrance

View of some of the inner courts, perhaps a meeting place of Romeo and Juliet?

Additional inner courts and walkways

In the true inner court of the castle

With our friends, Elder and Sister Bausman

One of the higher rooms up high; "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your long hair!"

On one of the sides of the castle

View of another side of the castle

Panoramic view of the beautiful country side and villages below

Another panoramic view.  They were all beautiful and I learned to do panoramic photos

One of several statues around the castle.  This one is of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, who was responsible for the rebuilding of this castle

After returning from the castle tour, we were able to enjoy a special dinner that evening, celebrating 17 years that we have been sealed together.  I love my eternal companion!

Sunday evening, we were able to go to the home of another missionary couple, Elder and Sister Baker, who shared with us an incredible family history story.  It was presented by a man in Seattle, Washington who was able to identify his ancestors in Montenegro, part of the former Yugoslavia.  After many miraculous occurrences, he ended up in Montenegro, not knowing the language or what he was pursuing.  After a few days of frustration, he ended up meeting a man who was his second cousin.  This man had prepared the total genealogy of the family since the 1100s, but was lacking only one descendant.  This man from Seattle was that one descendent.  He went to Montenegro hoping to find his relatives.  This story was full of so many miracles.  In the end he received a family history document with 2,600 relatives that he was able to take to the temple.

The story was amazing and the timing was perfect.  On Wednesday of this week, we will be in Bosnia, with missionary couples from the former Yugoslavia, including Montenegro.  We will be pleased to be able to share this incredible story identifying individuals in Montenegro who were miraculously able to assist this member of the Church from Seattle.   Hopefully additional good comes out of it.

Touching lives; refugees, members and investigators

While we were in Portugal last week, the two wards that meet in our Church house were finishing an amazing service project for the refugees.   It was called "Welcome Bags for Refugee Children"   It started with some sisters in the German Ward that meets in our building and grew to include both wards and so many more.   They put together a huge project involving hundreds of people who collected, sorted, organized, and packed 1,061 Welcome Bags for refugee children in 6 refugee camps close by. The bags were donated by IKEA and they were filled with diapers, clothes, socks, underwear, coloring books, colored pencils, toys, toothbrush, toothpaste, blanket, and towel--by gender and age!!! 

By the time that we got home from Portugal, we were able to participate in the last hour and a little bit of the project.  Most of the work was in sorting and preparing all the materials to be put into each bag.  That evening all helped to fill each bag individually.  We were able to be part of that process.  It was totally amazing.  This story has been documented by many in a much more thorough way with so many wonderful photos.  I believe that it will appear in the Church news.  However I will share some of the photos that I took that night and our impressions as well as some of the facts that we have been able to pick up from others.

When we arrived at 7:30 pm, all of the helping hands shirts were in use.  So Sister Rueckert and I just joined in with our normal missionary attire.  We immediately were put to work walking the different bags, which were identified by gender and age, to fill them with all of the items that had been donated and sorted.  Different individuals were assigned and ready to hand the different items out and then we brought the completed bags back to those who were ready to organize and load them onto the trucks.  With many many hands helping, this process finally completed a little before 9:00 pm.  So even though we were only able to help for a little over an hour, we were immensely touched by the goodness that filled the Church.  We saw youth and adults, members, missionaries and non members all working side by side in a wonderful spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood, all in the cause of helping those who needed assistance.

This is where we started picking up one of the age and gender specified bags which already had  blankets and towels.

First stop was to get tablets, colored pencils, toothbrushes and toothpaste

Sister Rueckert among those with "helping hands" shirts

The chapel area had rows for each age and gender where we could pick up the right size and type of clothing to put into the bags.

This is the "toy" room where toys were added to each bag, again age and gender specific

This man was one of several refugees that were there to help others.  They did most of the organizing of the completed bags.

Taking the completed bags to the trucks.

Loading the trucks.

Three trucks were loaded that night.  The next morning the bags were delivered to 6 refugee camps nearby.  It was reported that the refugees were on hand to receive the bags and were amazed at the generosity and what each  bag contained.  For one camp, this was the first donations that they had received.  Another camp was having a celebration when the trucks arrived and had invited some of the community dignitaries to join in as the welcome bags were delivered.

Although our part in this miracle was very minor, it is wonderful to be part of a larger community that does so much to help others.  This goodwill has in turn attracted many of other faiths who also chose to participate.  Many who donated, including large companies, felt impressed to offer donations that were not typical for them. We know where those promptings came from.


The next day was our first My Path workshop in our ward.  This was our chance to practice what we preach.  We always tell others how this should be done and we have attended many.  We have worked for weeks in preparation for this night, meeting with our bishop and our ward council and receiving their wonderful support.  We have had facilitators called in our ward and we have been able to train them.  Materials have been ordered and publicity and invitations were given to many.  In the end we waited to see what would happen in a ward that is mostly self-reliant, with the majority of our members being Church employees.

We have a specific assignment to home teach a family that came from Cape Verde and Portugal.  The mother doe snot speak English or German, only Portuguese.  That is where I come in.  We visited them in their home the Sunday before.  This is a wonderful sister who has three children, 16, 18 and 20 living with her in pretty humble circumstances.  We invited them all to participate in our My Path Workshop.  All four came and also another older daughter and a non member friend.

We were not disappointed.  Even after all the efforts of the previous days in the service project, we still had over 30 individuals show up for the workshop.  Sister Rueckert facilitated the workshop, but we had each table of individuals working independently.  What I really liked was seeing many of the members who were temporally self-reliant, in attendance helping those who had more challenges.  To me, this is what the Lord means when he says "it that it must needs be done in mine own way . . . that the poor may be exalted  in that the rich are made low" (D&C 104:15-17).

At the end of the workshop, individuals joined in 5 different self-reliance groups.  This is the beginning of their journey to self-reliance.  This week all of the groups are beginning and will continue to meet weekly for the next 12 weeks.

Sister Rueckert doing the overall facilitation.

Members working together, includes a non member and a less active member

Strong member helping a new convert

Working in groups at each table

Calculating their expenses as they review their personnel budget

Completing the worksheets

Individual help, including a new convert

Answering questions

Explanation to this wonderful sister who wants to come back to Church

Explaining the Self-Reliance Groups

Asking all to get up and move to the groups that they will join

By Sunday we were ready for the Self-Reliance Groups to begin.  We also decided to do a small group experience with our new members from Iran.  I worked hared to translate our first Foundations lesson into Farsi using Google Translate.  Unfortunately it translated by letter, not by word.  I will try again for our next session next week.  These nine new members will all be getting their work permits soon and are anxious to begin working.  Each has previous qualifications while in Iran. Their biggest challenge right now is their lack of speaking German.  We're not much help on that side.

The intent of our little meeting was mostly to bring more fellowship with these new converts and to try and teach them a little bit of self-reliance.  We made a start and will continue to try in the coming weeks.  Some great sisters from Italy and other members provided a meal for all.

This is a young man from Afghanistan who met the missionaries on the bus.  He stated in Church (his first week) that he has found his home and is planning on getting baptized.  On Friday he was not ready to join the My Path Workshop. By Sunday he has now joined our Starting and Growing My Own Business Self-Reliance Group.  

The girl in the photo is from Viet Nam.  She showed up at the Church on Thursday to help with the refugee project.  She had read about it on-line and felt impressed to help.  She spent most of the day helping and enjoyed it so much that she didn't want to leave.   She was invited to come to Church on Sunday and she came and joined us with the integration activity and dinner.  She is now meeting with the missionaries.

These experiences have gotten us more heavily involved in missionary work in our own ward.  I love working with investigators and new converts.  They are so humble and open to learn new things and do their very best.  There is much we can do to help, but we always are strengthened and benefited more than what we give.

We love being missionaries and serving in this part of the world with wonderful members, missionaries, nonmembers and new members.  Through all of this, we are overwhelmed at the goodness around us and the potential to build the Lord's Kingdom.