A Third of the Way to the U.S.A., but still in Portugal

We are just finishing the first two legs of a long training trip.  The first stops were to do Self-Reliance training in Lisbon, Portugal for our SR missionary couple that has arrived from Brazil before they continue onto their mission in Cape Verde.  We then spent a day participating in the District Conference of the Azores District of Portugal which is located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, directly in the path from Lisbon to New York.

By the Biscoitos pools on the Island of Terceira in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean

Our week started quietly enough with a normal day in the office.  It was the last day that we would be with Tom King, our Area Self-Reliance Manager, in Frankfurt until we go to our Team Seminar in Paris 3 weeks later.  We learned that the annual operations review from SLC that was scheduled for December of this year, has been rescheduled to be part of our Paris Seminar.  The related changes to the schedule was one of the topics of the day.  The others were a continuation of preparations for our long training trip to begin Wednesday.

Normally Monday night would have been our Senior Missionary family home evening, but it was postponed to the following week due to a German holiday on Tuesday.  However, many decided (including us) to listen to a class by Sister Stay who taught us more about the Muslim religion, including it's origins with Ishmael, son of Abraham.  This was scheduled since we were also invited to an open house at a local Muslim mosque the next day.

Sister Stay sharing insights into the Islam religion

The next day was a holiday, so the office was officially closed.  It was the German Unification day, celebrating when East and West Germany came back together in 1990.  We think it is one of the most meaningful of German Holidays.  However, we still held a Zoom conference with Elder and Sister Hardy who are serving in Greece.  After that, we went to the Muslim Open House, where we were warmly greeted.  The Open House was fairly simple and straightforward, with displays and guides to inform us.  The Open House was in the prayer room of the Mosque.

Translation: October 3, day of the open door

Mosque that we visited

Tour guide explaining their religion, mostly in German. 

The green names across the top of the room are the 99 different names for Allah that the Muslims use.  This particular sect is the Ahmadiyyah sect.  They are not accepted by other Muslim sects and are a very peaceful people.  We had met one of their members who was a taxi driver that we had talked to some time ago.  They were very kind, the refreshments were good also.

We then spent our afternoon in the office with final preparations for our trip the next morning.  We then met with our Returned Missionaries that evening.  They were all there, except a new missionary who had returned the previous week.  We have not yet met him, but they committed to meet the next week on their own and invite him.

Somewhere during this week, Sister Rueckert reached a significant milestone in her Duolingo training in German.  She worked this program as far as it would let her earlier in the year and achieved 49% fluency by their measurement.  Then it would not let her progress further.  Recently she found a newer version of Duolingo and has again followed this course.  Finally on this week, she achieve 50% fluency.

The next day, Wednesday, we began our 12 day training trip.  Our first stop was Lisbon, Portugal.  There we met Elder and Sister Portela, a self-reliance missionary couple that arrived that same day from the Brazil MTC.  Since they came from Brazil, they did not receive the normal Self-Reliance training that is given in SLC.  They will be serving in Cape Verde.  We had planned for them to stop for two days in Lisbon and receive additional training and orientation from us and our Self-Reliance Operations Team who are based in Lisbon.

Waiting for a taxi at the Lisbon, Portugal airport. Very long lines, just to get to the waiting queue.

We spent Wednesday evening with them and immediately fell in love with them. They are amazing people, with a very strong testimony and desire to serve.  Elder Portela is a former stake president, temple sealer and patriarch.  They have lived in several locations in Brazil and are both pioneers, being baptized even before my days as a missionary.  They have a very strong desire to help the Church progress in Cape Verde and seem willing to do anything.  We are truly blessed to have this caliber of missionaries to serve in Self-Reliance.

At Campo Pequeno, where we had dinner with the Portelas on Wednesday evening

On Thursday, we held a full day of Self-Reliance training.  Since their English language abilities are limited, we held the training all in Portuguese.  This sometimes leaves Sister Rueckert out of the mix, but she does a wonderful job of trying to keep up with whatever she can.  In fact, she facilitated our Facilitator Training group to show them how easy it is to facilitate a group, doing it without understanding the language.

Sister Rueckert facilitating the facilitator training in Portuguese with Elder and Sister Portella

On Thursday we held our training straight through the lunch hour so that we could finish early enough to visit a few sites in Lisbon, since it was the first visit to Portugal for Elder and Sister Portela.  We took them to the Jerónimo Monastery, built in the 1500s.  Like us from the U.S., people in Brazil do not see buildings or historical sites dating back 500 years.

Elder and Sister Portela, with Sister Rueckert outside of the Jerónimo Monastery

Sister Rueckert in the inside court of the Monastery

The seats in the Church for singing and praying for the monks.  It reminds me of the seats that are described for  King Noah and his priests in the Book of Mormon

Seat identified for the apostle Thomas, my namesake

All of us together in the inner courts of the monastery

Sister Rueckert with a few view of the inner court and the steeples and dome of the Church

Outside of the Church that adjoins the monastery

 After our visit to the monastery, we decided to eat dinner at the world famous Belem Pastaís restaurant.  Since this was a holiday in Portugal (their independence day), the restaurant was especially busy.  This is us once again in a line, awaiting a table to sit at.

A dozen world famous Pastéis de Belém

The story of the Patéis de Belém, made originally by nuns from the "Convento dos Jerónimos"

On Friday we continued our training with Elder and Sister Portela on the PEF Loan program and their role with this in Cape Verde.  They were primarily instructed by Miguel Adriano, our Operations manager, and Ceu Cavaco, our Loan Supervisor.  We continue to be impressed with their depth of understanding and perspective with the PEF loan program.  I spent most of the last years of my career administering this program.  However, I love the way they understand and teach.  It was a wonderful day of training.

Miguel training the Portelas

All of us together at the end of the training

We then went to the airport for our trip to the Azores islands, which left a few hours before the Portelas were flying to Cape Verde.  Ceu took them by the site of the Lisbon Temple before they went to the airport.  Even though we did not go to the temple site, this photo is a recent update of the Lisbon Temple shared with us by Ceu.

Updated photo of the Lisbon Temple construction

The next leg of our trip was to participate in the Azores District Conference.  This conference was dedicated to the topic of Self-Reliance and is being presided by our Self-Reliance manager, Antonio Paulo, who is also a counselor in the mission presidency.  This district is on a few islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  Our flight was about 3 hours long, going directly west.  We were told that this took us about 1/3 of the way to the United States.  We also advanced an additional time zone.  

We arrived at our destination about 9:30 pm and were able to be lodged at a pretty cool hotel at a real good cost.  Our room was one of the largest that we have stayed in.  It also was next to a marina, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Our hotel room

The balcony of our hotel room

Overlooking our hotel from a nearby fort

The next morning (Saturday) we took an early morning walk and explored our surroundings.  Just next to our hotel was an old fort from the 1500s.

Outside of the Fortress of Sao Sebastião

Going into the fort area

Only to find a modern hotel inside, with a beautiful evenly spaced pine tree

Once inside the fort we were able to explore and enjoy the beautiful views.

Looking out over the Atlantic Ocean

Looking down at the cost below the fort

Looking back up to the top of the fort. Sister Rueckert is at the middle of the top in her pink top

Looking back at the fort from the hotel on with a beautiful sunrise

Our district conference meetings did not begin until the afternoon, so we took advantage and visited the island with Antonio Paulo's wife, Joanna, and another couple that was also visiting from Portugal.  We were able to see the beautiful city and the countryside, including some amazing coastal views.

Overlooking the city of Angra do Heroísmo

One of the beautiful Catholic Churches in the City

A vacated house became the place to display the work of an artist in the doorway and windows.

One of many houses dedicated to the Holy Ghost.  These are locations to begin Catholic processions.

The countryside is divided into smaller lots by stone fences.  These are everywhere, we have never seen anything like it 

Overlooking the countryside, all divided by stone walls and with cows within many of the pasture areas

Overlooking the countryside on this beautiful island of divided fields

Another view of countryside and the ocean

View of amazing natural swimming area at the Biscoitos area

Panaroma of this beautiful coastal area with natural bathing ponds

We finally met up with the District Leadership and Antonio Paulo for lunch.  Another amazing experience.  Seafood without end:

The District and Mission Leadership that was in attendance with E/S Rueckert

All of this seafood was perfect for the eight of us

Finally we started the District Conference.  This was the location of one of the branches.  The other two branches on a different island joined by video conference.  Elder Rueckert participated for 25 minutes in training Priesthood Leadership while Sister Rueckert helped train the Relief Society leadership.  We pondered quite a bit about this assignment and decided to let the Spirit guide us.  We each ended up taking different approaches but felt that it was what the Lord wanted us to do.  We each did focus on the doctrine of Self-Reliance which is so well summarized in D&C 104:15-17.  When we do  this, the Holy Ghost testifies to those who participate.

Priesthood Leadership participating with those on the other island joining in by Zoom

Elder Rueckert during the Priesthood Training Session

In the Saturday evening session, we also had the opportunity to share some thoughts.  Sister Rueckert was asked by some of the other sisters to share her story of becoming the mother of 17 children.  She shared it wonderfully as a lesson of trusting in the Lord when your life doesn't go as you had planned.  That was our theme of the conference, to Trust the Lord who knows what is best for each of us.  He will always bless us as "seemeth him good".  We have learned this principle with all of our hearts and love to share our testimonies about it.

Sister Rueckert addressing the adult session of the District Conference with a  translator

With Antonio Paulo and his wife Joanna. They have become dear friends to us.

I want to add in here Sister Rueckert's thoughts about her role in this district conference and the miracles that she experienced:

"Tom was invited to participate in the Saturday priesthood leadership meeting. I was invited to meet with the Relief Society sisters during that time. We were both asked to talk in the Saturday adult session. I was also asked to play the piano for the Relief Society meeting and the adult meeting. I was totally comfortable with playing the piano because it doesn’t require knowing the language. After playing a few bars I know what hymn they are singing. Everything would be in Portuguese. As we were preparing I kept asking Tom what he was going to say in the Priesthood meeting. We have a one pager that we use a lot in our training. He said he was going to use that. I just couldn’t seem to get things to come together for me, both in the Relief Society meeting and in the adult session. The wives of the mission presidency counselors said I should share my life story in the adult session. They thought it was powerful. I felt uneasy about that as Antonio Paulo wanted us to share some self-reliance success stories to get the district excited about implementing the self-reliance initiative in their district. I still didn’t have a concrete plan even as the time came to start the Relief Society meeting. 

After the opening hymn and prayer the sister who was conducting said, “ And now we will turn the time over to Sister Rueckert.” Panic. The first thing that came into my mind was to have the sisters sit in a circle. There were only about ten sisters. This was a very small district. My first thought was to begin sharing the doctrine from D&C 104:15-17. As I began to speak I heard a voice say STOP.

“Ask each sister to tell her name and why she is here.” I thought okay. They would probably say their name and that they were here because they are the district relief society president, or the young women’s president etc. I was quickly humbled when the first one said her name and that she was here because she has a testimony of Jesus Christ. The next sister shared her conversion story and said that is why she was there. Another sister said she was here because her husband had been unemployed and because of self-reliance he now had a job and could provide for their family. I was blown away. After this the words the Lord wanted me to share just came flowing into my mind. I thought of the scripture that says something like, treasure up in your mind and you will be told at the very moment what you should say. That is exactly what happened, in the Relief Society meeting as well as the meeting with all of the adults.

Once again, because I didn’t understand the language I was caught off guard in the adult meeting when right after the opening hymn as I went to take my seat on the stand, I was told that I was on. After a brief introduction of myself I received an overpowering prompting that I needed to tell my story. I took a deep breath and the Lord once again gave me the words that he wanted the people in this congregation to hear. As I shared my story I focused on trust in the Lord, following promptings and letting my Heavenly Father be in charge of my life. I took up my time and most of Tom’s time but it is what was supposed to be said."

As the Saturday session came to a close, we were taken to the airport by the local branch president.  This gave us a chance to talk more specifically to him about his ward and potential Self-Reliance activities.   He is a good man who has been guided by the Lord to establish his life in this area and help build the kingdom.

After a two hour delay in our flight, we have finally arrived in Lisbon at 3:00 am.  We are now waiting for our next flight at 7:00 am to London, where our training experience will continue.  That will be included in our next blog.

Blessings of the Reformation and the Restoration

We ended our week in Wittenberg, the location where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses against the selling of indulgences on the door of the Castle Church 500 years ago.  That was the beginning of the reformation.  Because of that courageous act to follow his conscience, the world began it's preparation for the restoration of the gospel in these latter days.  This week we have been able to participate in the joys of that restoration, including our last visit to the Freiberg Temple and the privilege to listen to living prophets in our General Conference.

In front of the door to the Castle Church in Wittenberg.  The 95 theses are written  in Latin on the Bronze Door, which replaced the original wooden door.

We have continued this week in full preparation for upcoming training trips and the transition with our replacements, Elder and Sister Carroll, who will arrive later this month.  As always, our days and evenings were full of meaningful activities.

On Tuesday we had our monthly Zoom meeting with our SR missionaries.  We were blessed to have Elder and Sister Carroll join us from Australia, third row from the top and far right on the photo below.  We also were able to hear farewell testimonies from Elder and Sister Pettit (right above the Carrolls in the photo).  They will finish their mission the day before our next meeting.  Their replacements will be in the MTC with the Carrolls. 

Also in this meeting, we were able to have Elder and Sister Bradshaw, who are serving in Hungary, share their recent experiences.  They have gotten a wonderful start on their mission.  They have now trained every young missionary in their mission and they all started a weekly companion self-reliance class with the My Foundation lessons.  The young missionaries are now wanting to invite their investigators to participate in SR groups.  This could lead to the most successful missionary implementation of Self-Reliance that we have yet seen.  This is with the full support and encouragement of the mission president.  What a wonderful story to share.

On Tuesday morning, we were able to ship three boxes of personal belongings.  This came after we repacked the previous box.  This also included all of our family history notebooks and papers. This made it possible for Elder Rueckert to clean his "office" while Sister Rueckert was at Relief Society that evening.  The amazing results is a clean office, for the first time on our mission.  Miracles never cease!

Clean office, without the clutter of family history and other papers. 

 Also on Tuesday afternoon, we were able to have a Zoom meeting with the stake specialist of the Austria Salzburg Stake and the bishop of the Innsbruck Austria ward.  This meeting also had our SR manager, Günter Borcherding and our new SR missionary couple, Elder and Sister Kitterman.  The Kittermans have just been trained in Self-Reliance in Salt Lake and will go to the MTC next week.  This meeting was to prepare for a My Path Devotional in Innsbruck on November 11.  The Kittermans will play a large role in this Devotional and the follow-up.  It is so good to have a missionary couple that can speak German!  We left this meeting fully enthused about the future of Self-Reliance in this stake and in the German speaking stakes.  This ward is the ward that we visited on a personal basis in July and is the home to some of our friends from Brazil and their family members.  Hopefully they will form a strong nucleus to help this ward take a positive step forward with the Self-Reliance initiative.

This week we were also able to meet with the SR missionary couples (by Zoom) that just arrived in London, England and Seville, Spain.  We will be visiting and training these couples in the next weeks.  We are finding the missionaries are arriving in Europe on their mission incredibly ready to make  a difference.  This brings so much joy to our hearts, it helps offset the sadness of leaving our mission.

On Wednesday morning we had our last German language class.  This has been so very helpful for us.  Even though we don't often speak German in our assignment, it is helpful in our shopping, cultural, and family history experiences in Germany.  It has also become a source of satisfaction as we have seen our abilities grow.  We are far from being able to converse successfully, but we have a much improved vocabulary and understanding of written German.  We are thankful for those who have helped us in this journey and those who have learned with us.

Right after our German class, we had a farewell luncheon for the five missionary couples that will be leaving the Europe Area in the coming weeks.  That was followed by our weekly Book of Mormon class, taught this week by Elder Lear.

Pot luck lunch, always good food.  Elder and Sister Swenson at the end of the table are one of the couples going home.

After the luncheon, Elder Proctor handed out the farewell booklets to each of the couples.  We then heard from Sister Burt who shared her testimony.  She had not been able to share her testimony in the previous Zone meeting.

Handing the farewell book to the Burts.  The Healys, at the end of the table, were the first to go home, the following day.

Sister Burt sharing her testimony with the other missionaries 

That evening we had one more session with our returned missionaries.  Only Amy was able to attend this time, so we got her caught up on the lesson that she missed last week.  Sometimes the one on one time with individuals is the most meaningful.  We really enjoyed our time with Amy.

We had decided to make one more visit to the Freiberg temple and include with it a visit to Wittenberg, which isn't too far away.  So Thursday, after work, we drove to Freiberg.  This is normally a 4 hour drive.  Due to some difficult traffic conditions in the first 100 kilometers, we were delayed.  We did make it to our hotel by 10:00 pm, in time to go to bed and be prepared for a day at the temple on Friday.

We have really enjoyed the Freiberg temple.  We went to the open house of this temple and participated in the dedication (by video while in Frankfurt) a year ago.  This was our fifth visit to the temple, counting the open house.  We have gotten to know several of the temple missionaries and feel right at home.  As we normally do when driving a long distance to the temple, we try to take advantage as much as possible.  We were able to do a couple of endowment sessions and initiatory work for several of our ancestors.  

While in the temple, Sister Rueckert prayed for guidance to know what more the Lord would ask of her.  Her answer came back in three words, "Let It Go".  She considered that to be meaning for her to let go anything and everything that gets between her and her Heavenly Father, including stresses and anxieties that she often feels.

In front of the Freiberg temple on a beautiful and sunny day

We left the temple a little after 3:00 pm with the idea to take a quick trip to Poland, that was just over 100 kilometers away.  We thought that we would have dinner there and then continue back to Wittenberg, where we had a hotel reservation that evening.

As we left the temple, we were uplifted by the spirit of our experience and the beauty of the day, including beautiful autumn weather.  We saw several autumn leaves that just add to our love of the German countryside.

turning leaves mixed with shades of green

In the yard of a home

Vines over the walls are all turning a beautiful red

As we  arrived at Highway A4, which would take us direct east to Poland, we came upon a significant traffic stoppage.  Our GPS told us that there was a 90 minute delay and suggested a detour.  We accepted the detour and went north, only to end up in a different traffic stoppage.  The GPS then told us that it would be better to go back in our original route.  Thus we ended back up at Highway A4 almost two hours later.  At this point we decided to give up on Poland.  It was a chance for us to see one more country on our mission, but we decided that it was not meant to be.  Through this process, Sister Rueckert was as calm as could be, letting it go, as we struggled with difficult traffic situations.  We believe that the counsel from the Lord is very meaningful for her life, but certainly it fit immediately into our struggles of that day.

One of our traffic stoppages.  It took almost a half hour to move 100 meters.  Finally we turned around and went back the way we came.

We then decided to head towards Wittenberg, which would get us in around 8:00 pm.  We decided to stop in Leipzig for dinner.  This was our first visit to Leipzig during our mission.  We had been told by Sister Rueckert's brother before our mission that we would need to get to Leipzig to resolve some of her family history challenges.  We have been blessed with much help with her family history and now we have been to Leipzig.

The cathedral that we drove by in Leipzig as it was getting dark

We looked for a restaurant based on the GPS.  As we neared the location, we found more road construction and were unable to get to the restaurant.  We tried another which was no longer at that location.  Finally we just stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road and had a wonderful dinner.

Restaurant Ofenrohr in Leipzig.  We ate on the second floor.

After leaving Leipzig, we found another traffic stoppage on the Freeway heading north.  Once again we were forced to find alternatives.  Unfortunately, when the GPS doesn't know about the traffic condition, it will always try to send us back to the location of the stoppage.  This is when we use our phone GPS and try to navigate different directions.  We finally succeeded and arrived in Wittenberg at about 9:30 pm.  Our hotel reservation was for a ship hotel, which we thought would be an interesting change of pace.  However, when we got to Wittenberg, the GPS took us to a location that was not the hotel.  After asking directions a few times, we finally arrived at out hotel, once again at 10:00 pm.  We felt really good about our decision to abandon our trip to Poland.  Sister Rueckert's counsel in the temple was really needed in the challenging 7 hours since we had left the temple.

Although our time on the ship hotel was just overnight, we had a very positive experience there.  The rooms were compact but well organized and the breakfast the next morning was delightful.  The ship was docked, but apparently does make some cruises during some times of the year.

Compact and functional bathroom

Our ship hotel home after a difficult 7 hours of driving

Entry and door to the bathroom

Eating breakfast with the Elbe River outside of the window

In front of the Junker Jörg Ship Hotel in Wittenberg

The Junker Jörg on the Elbe River

After a pleasant morning we headed into Wittenberg to see where the reformation began.  This was our last major "Luther" site to visit while in Germany.  This is where Martin Luther went after leaving the monastery in Erfurt.  Here he continued his doctorate in theology and preached at the Catholic Castle Church (Schlosskirche).  This is where he nailed his 95 theses against the selling of indulgences on the Church door on October 31, 2017.  He also sent the 95 theses to his superiors who forwarded his grievances to the Pope.  After being tried and excommunicated in Worms, he escaped to Wartberg where he translated the New Testament into German and later returned to Wittenberg.  Here was his home while the Reformation took hold.  Here it is that he got married.  In fact, we learned that while he was in hiding at the Wartberg Castle in Eisenach, he took on the disguise and name of Junker Jörg, which was the name of the ship where we stayed. 

We could have spent days here, but we enjoyed all that we could in a few hours.  We visited the Schlosskirche and saw the bronze door with the 95 these engraved in Latin.  This door was established in the 1800s and was a replacement for the original wooden door.  

In front of the door of the Schlosskirche

The 95 theses in Latin on the Bronze Door

Explanations of the famous door, in German and English

The Schlosskirche

We also went to the St. Mary's church where Luther did most of his preaching while in Wittenberg (after leaving the Catholic Church).  

St. Mary's Church and the town square, statues of Martin Luther and his friend Philipp Melanchthon

Alter piece of the St. Mary's church included this painting of the Last supper with a figure that was to be Junker Jörg serving one of the apostles

Luther Statue in the town square

Sister Rueckert by the Martin Luther statue

We finished our time visiting a special display of 95 Treasures and 95 People related to Martin Luther and the Reformation.  This display was created specially for this year, celebrating the 500 years of the reformation.  It was held in the Augusteum building which is one of the original college buildings from the 16th century.  It is built next to the Luther House, which is where Martin Luther resided while living in Wittenberg.  After going through this display, we had increased understanding about Martin Luther, his courage and convictions and the impact that he had on so many people in this world.

Explanation of the Lutherhaus

Special Luther Display for the 500 year anniversary, no photos were allowed inside

In front of the Lutherhaus

 We finished our tour and left Wittenberg by1:00 pm, ready for the 4 hour drive home so that we could participate in General Conference by 6:00 pm.  We only had one 20 minute construction delay and were home by 5:30 pm and at the Church by 6:00 pm for conference.  Nothing was ready for conference in the Church so we went home and enjoyed the two Saturday sessions in our living room.  On Sunday morning we got up and watched the Priesthood Session.  Soon we will be enjoying the Sunday sessions.  We love General Conference and are so thankful to hear from our prophets and leaders.  We will have to give a better report on conference in the coming weeks.

Watching the opening session of conference.