Welcome to weeks five through eight of our adventure in Germany. Above is our Bishop in the Frankfurt Hochst Ward. It really is a small world after all... it turns out that our Bishop Jorge Klebingat, a native German, was a good friend of our daughter Heidi's while at Ricks College in Idaho. He is head of European Church Distribution here in Frankfurt. He speaks excellent English and Russian, along with his native German.
Above are Melody's international shoppping buddies: (Left to Right) 80 year old East German, Elfie Herrman, Dutch born Canadian, Arendje Whidden and Finnish born Raija Maddock. We each must bring our own shopping bags since grocery stores typically do not provide them. You also are required to make a deposit to get a shopping cart.
Whenever one or more of the missionaries completes their assignment and goes home there is a party. (Gary is chatting with the McNamaras with the Madsens in the background.) Food is always good and Sister Gutherie writes personalized songs that detail the experiences of the person leaving. It will be fun to hear what details will be in our "farewell song" (although we aren't thinking too much about that yet).
This is a familiar site...Gary on the phone. We could have done a whole blog with photos of Gary here, there and everywhere - with the phone. He's talking to missionaries or their mission presidents in 16 different countries. This is the site most often seen by Mel who sits directly across the desk from Gary. We did hear the other day, however, that the Area Presidency is going to encourage more travel by the medical department out to missions. We may get to meet some of the people we talk to on the phone all the time.
Think of that Sesame Street Song: "Who are the people in your neighborhood..." Well, here is Roland who is known for his somewhat grumpy demeanor and failure to smile. We've actually gotten him to say, "Hello", use our names and smile!
Fortunately, Gabi works noon to closing and has a ready smile for all. She's shown a lot of interest in the dozen or so missionary couples who live in the building above the store. She has looked up things on the Internet about the church and asked for something to read about the church. She is very sweet and Melody is forging a genuine friendship with her.
Stacy Silipu was born in Peru but when her father died they were disinherited and moved to Germany where they had family. Stacy is a bright girl of 16 who wants to improve her English. Melody and Suzanne Dye meet with Stacy weekly to help.
This is amazing to us...dogs seem to be welcome in restaurants, shopping malls and above in the Jewish Museum.
Melody is attempting to read the Hebrew publication. We visited two Jewish museums. One focused on their survival of the holocaust the other on their culture over the ages. We learned that the European Jews were persecuted and required to wear a "mark" on their clothing as early as the 1300's. Bans were lifted and reinstated over many centuries.
In Cologne, Germany we visited the Roman/German museum. Many amazing Roman artifacts have been excavated within Germany. Cologne was at the far Northern extreme of the Roman empire in its glory days.
This is the most fantastic Gothic cathedral! This photo shows about half of it. We chose this photo because we could NOT find a place far enough back where you could fit the whole building into the frame. Nor could we see the top of the tallest spire! It was up into the clouds! The interior featured an unusual amount of stained glass. Our friends, The Whiddens, said that it was more impressive than Notre Dame which they saw in December. The construction of this cathedral spanned over 600 years.
Near the cathedral we visited the Nazi Gestapo headquarters (now called El De). We like this old photo of the young Nazi soldiers in front of the Cologne Cathedral (The same one in the earlier picture). It really brought history alive for us. We visited the actual Gestapo headquarters where they had kept things pretty much as they had been. There was a lot of writing on the walls of the cells that told the horrific story of those interrogated there.
The main reason a cathedral was built in Cologne was to house the relics of the Magi. It is believed that the bones (relics) of the wise men who visited Christ are held in this chest. Our guide informed us that modern scientific studies prove the relics to be from the correct time period, but whether these are the actual bones is still debated. Over the centuries many have made pilgrimages to Cologne to worship because of these relics. There was an early (pre-1200 AD) church on the site, but eventually, a better building befitting the special relics needed to be built. And it is grand!
Couldn't resist capturing Gary at the Roman/German museum wandering among artifacts doing an emergency counseling session. There is time to relax and recuperate on weekends, but the job involves being on call 24/7 and there are usually weekend and evening calls.
Mel is thinking about the name of this street: Willy Brandt. She thinks this is the German doctor who discovered a blood condition (slow clotting factor). She and a few of the kids have this factor. If you are interested, Google "pictures of Frankfurt". The down town, which we are in the middle of in this shot, is very impressive. Notice the weather. Got to go when we have the chance.
Where ever we go across the whole wide world...Gary can find a McDonalds! But it is sometimes necessary to pay extra for ketchup and the small size drinks provided are not refillable.
This is the most fantastic Gothic cathedral! This photo shows about half of it. We chose this photo because we could NOT find a place far enough back where you could fit the whole building into the frame. Nor could we see the top of the tallest spire! It was up into the clouds! The interior featured an unusual amount of stained glass. Our friends, The Whiddens, said that it was more impressive than Notre Dame which they saw in December. The construction of this cathedral spanned over 600 years.
Near the cathedral we visited the Nazi Gestapo headquarters (now called El De). We like this old photo of the young Nazi soldiers in front of the Cologne Cathedral (The same one in the earlier picture). It really brought history alive for us. We visited the actual Gestapo headquarters where they had kept things pretty much as they had been. There was a lot of writing on the walls of the cells that told the horrific story of those interrogated there.
The main reason a cathedral was built in Cologne was to house the relics of the Magi. It is believed that the bones (relics) of the wise men who visited Christ are held in this chest. Our guide informed us that modern scientific studies prove the relics to be from the correct time period, but whether these are the actual bones is still debated. Over the centuries many have made pilgrimages to Cologne to worship because of these relics. There was an early (pre-1200 AD) church on the site, but eventually, a better building befitting the special relics needed to be built. And it is grand!
Couldn't resist capturing Gary at the Roman/German museum wandering among artifacts doing an emergency counseling session. There is time to relax and recuperate on weekends, but the job involves being on call 24/7 and there are usually weekend and evening calls.
Mel is thinking about the name of this street: Willy Brandt. She thinks this is the German doctor who discovered a blood condition (slow clotting factor). She and a few of the kids have this factor. If you are interested, Google "pictures of Frankfurt". The down town, which we are in the middle of in this shot, is very impressive. Notice the weather. Got to go when we have the chance.
Where ever we go across the whole wide world...Gary can find a McDonalds! But it is sometimes necessary to pay extra for ketchup and the small size drinks provided are not refillable.Until next time. Our love to all.
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