We've been busy....

Hi friends,
We have been busy the past couple of weeks.  I will try to fill you in.  On Saturday July 14th, we went to Eisenhuttenstadt to do a service project.  we were assigned to pull weeds in a field of small plants.   The field was full of plants and weeds, but we were to pull the weeds in the immediate area of each small plant.  We worked with the other missionaries, about 20  of us, for 3 1/2 hours pulling weeds.  we then had to walk about 1 km back to the train station.  The rain held off until the last 1/2 km and then it poured!   There was thunder, lightning, and hail.  We got soaked.  Twenty minutes later, the sun was shinning and it was beautiful again.  that is how it is in Northern Germany. 

Our next service project involved a family in our ward.  the Mathias family was moving to another apartment.  They had to paint the new apartment, and the old apartment.  went spent 4 days helping them paint and clean the new apartment.  On Saturday, July 21st we helped them move.  It was hard work but a lot of fun.  We had about 25 people show up to help.  You see, we needed a lot of people.  They moved from the 1st floor (2 flights of stairs down) to next door on the 4th floor (90 steps up, no elevator).  We formed a human chain, each person carrying their box of stuff to the next landing and handing it off to be carried up by someone else to the next hand off.  The Mathias family had about 350 12x12x3 inch foil packs  of wheat food storage.  We formed our human chain and began throwing each pack to the next person; down the stairs, out the door, down the sidewalk, in the door and up the 8 flights of stairs.  It was a strange sight.  People outside walking by stopped to stare.  We were having a lot of fun throwing the wheat around.  With so much help, we moved about 100 boxes of stuff and all the furniture by 1pm.  We were tired, but happy.  The next week, we again went to their old apartment to prep and clean so it could be painted.  In Germany, you have to leave the old apartment the way it was when you moved in, although the new apartment was not left that way.  It was dirty and needed to be painted.  We spent a total of 7 days helping the Mathias family move.  It was fun to get to know them better. 

We went to the Resistance Museum on Monday afternoon with the Elders and Sisters.  Tom Cruise starred in a movie based of the story of the resistance.  It was called Valkyrie.  It is interesting to note that a lot of the resistance wasn't against what was being done to the Jewish people, but the German's could see they were loosing the war and wanted to compromise with the opposition.  It occurred in late 1944-1945 before the war ended.  Many of those rounded up in the resistance were executed by firing squad or hung with piano wire in March of 1945, shortly before the war ended.