A Twist and a Turn
One might think that this blog should be renamed to something about Germany since that is where we spent the majority of our mission. I'll get to that later.
After our transfer out of Ukraine, we concluded our mission in Germany and returned home at the end of September. Already it seems so very long ago. We are now faced with the reality that in Arizona, there are no church bells that ring out on the hour and every quarter hour. No villages interspersed between colorful farms of wheat, canola, strawberries, asparagus and sugar beets. There is definitely a lack of castles that, in Germany, dot the land like Circle Ks in America. We might even miss driving on very narrow roads, avoiding parked cars (slalom skiing on asphalt) that seem to suggest some kind of discipline as to what side of the road people park their cars in an alternating pattern. There is definitely a lack of schnitzel and spaetzle that we learned to appreciate at the many fine restaurants. However, there is one thing in Arizona that is often missing in Germany: air conditioning.
Since leaving Ukraine in January, we have been busy with projects that involve records preservation for Family Search and also for Church History. We had a memorable assignment to help with Ukrainian refugees in Poland which you can read about here and also here. Our work also took us to Switzerland where we digitized church and family records. We continued to complete assignments for Family Search in Ukraine that were available for us to do on-line.
Germany is a beautiful country with wonderful people who are warm and helpful. They have a long history, rich with culture and meaningful contributions to the world in the fields of science, mathematics, industry and design. When thinking of precision, we often think of Germany and the fine automobiles they produce.
Our mission had a few twists and turns. We thought that this blog would be full of things Ukrainian, but we were put in Germany at just the right time to do some very specific things that we did not anticipate ever doing. We worked with some very outstanding couples and made some wonderful friends. We were fortunate to see and hear and experience the wonderful things about Germany. However, in the midst of these very nice things, Ukraine was never very far from our minds. We wished everyday that we would have been able to return and complete our work there. Having lived among the people there, our hearts are swollen with concern about their future and the many privations they have had to endure. In retrospect, "Unforgettable Ukraine" is such a true statement, for Ukraine and her people are indelibly etched in our hearts forever.
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| Слава Україні |
(Glory to Ukraine)
I've added some pictures of some of the sights of our time in Germany that we were able to see. To avoid looking like a travelog, I've only posted a few. :)
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