Moss Temple Mission: MAY15-20, 2017 FREIBERG, GERMANY

GERMAN WALKING STICKS

One of the aspects of German life that I appreaciate is their love of walking. We see many people walking for pleasure, and, also, many riding bikes to work, and for pleasure. As Bill and I walk around at the end of the day, it is not uncommon to see folks using walking sticks. I haven't seen this much in the United States. I can see that they would be a good support, especially is you were a little shaky on your feet. The walking sticks actually remind me of ski poles.
Trains are also frequently seen in our town. Germany has quite a network of trains within cities, and from city to city. As Bill and I walk on our favorite path, it is quite common to have a train speed by us. They travel very fast, and look like trains you find in a subway. We will have to take a ride on one sometime. As the trains pass by us, we grab our phone to take a picture, but they go so fast that by the time we get the phone in our hands, the train is long gone.
The houses you see on the right hand side of the tracks are some of the poorest housing we have seen here in Freiberg. We don't know who lives in these homes, but they are very modest.

TRAIN TRACKS BESIDE OUR WALKING PATH

A special Mid-Singles Convention was held at the chapel on the temple grounds this past week. Mid-Singles are single church member between the ages of 35-45. They came from all over Europe and met for 3 1/2 days taking classes and having dances and activities together. We had many of these people come to the temple throughout these days to participate in all of the ordinances for their ancestors. They always bring their own names. One man from Hungary brought a stack of about 200 names of his ancestors. Obviously we didn't get them all done, but we were able to do many for him. One of our temple workers,who works the recommend desk,commented that we had people from 15 different countries come to the temple throughout those three days.

A COUPLE OF MID-SINGLES AT THE PLAY WITH US

The Keynote speaker for the Mid-Singles Convention was a woman named Rebeccah Stay. She and her husband are serving a mission in charge of The Church's Refugee Services in all of Europe. She has a doctorate in Old Testament and Hebrew Studies. She taught several classes about Old Testment history and how it refers to the temple and the creation and the Plan of Salvation. We were invited to attend her classes, and she offered to teach special night sessions so Temple Workers could attend. Bill and I attended three of her classes, and learned much. She has a great way of presenting, and is a teacher of BYU Continuing Education classes. It was very interesting to learn of all the Church is doing to help refugees throughout Europe. It is amazing. It is truly heartbreaking to learn of the lives these people are living, and all they have gone through.
To my joy and delight, I discovered that this teacher, Rebeccah Stay, is someone who had been in our Livonia, Michigan Ward about 40 years ago. As soon as I saw her name tag, a light bulb went off in my head, and I thought, "I know who this person is." As we visited, we put the pieces together and remembered where we had met before. Later in the week we had a good visit about our lives, and the people we had both known years ago. A VERY SPECIAL EXPERIENCE FOR ME!

THE THEATRE AND ORCHESTRA FOR "FIDDLER"

Remember "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF?" A production of this play was being put on in downtown Freiberg. About 10 of us temple workers decided to go to it. The whole production was in German, and I,and one other temple worker,were the only ones who didn't speak German. This theater was very old, but very classic European. The actors were superb, and their singing was wonderful. Because I knew the story line so well, and the words of most of the songs, also, I thoroughly enjoyed the production. It lasted 3 1/2 hours, and we enjoyed it so much. Bill about lost circulation in his legs because the rows of seats were so close together. After intermission, he changed seats and either stood up, or sat back and just listened. That's what you get for having long legs. This was our first experience enjoying the night life of Freiberg!