YSA Activities

This past Freitag, we had a YSA Dance  The theme was "Dancing for Fitness".  The decorations were simple but cute.  We had blow up soccer balls hanging with lights, soccer balls on the floor and pictures of people exercising on the walls along with "Be" attitudes from President Hinckley.  The food was tasty, some of it healthy.  At the height of the evening, we had between 75-100 YSA's there along with a few adults.  Everyone appeared to be having a good time.  Elder Johnson and I even danced a bit.  Even though the dances run late, and it is a lot of work, we always enjoy being with the young adults.  We wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

Senior Missionary Conference

This week we attended a senior missionary conference.  All the senior missionaries in the Germany Berlin Mission attended.  It was fun seeing everyone and meeting those we never come in contact with.  We compared notes, exchanged ideas and were taught to be better senior missionaries.  The theme of the conference was Mosiah 18:21.  "Our Hearts Knit as One".  We were taught by President and Sister Kosak, His counselors, President Gruse and President Stank, and each other.

  The first day, we were taught about our role as a senior missionary.  We are to support the YSA's, the Geminde, and the Missonaries.  Bro. Gruse and President Kosak taught about "Climbing Mountains".  The question was asked, why do we climb mountains?  Why do we go back down the mountain?  We climb to learn and progress.  We come back down to share what we learned with others and to encourage them to climb the mountains for themselves.  After dinner together, we played games and visited with one another. 

The second day, the AP's taught a lesson on "Clarity of focus".   They showed us how we work together as companions, missionaries, and ward members.  We then went to The Resistance" Museum.  We had a guide which told us a lot of the history of the resistance movement here in Germany during WWII.  Dan and I had been there before, but were glad to learn more of the history that occured.  In the Afternoon, Bro. and Sis. Stank taught a class about working with the YSA's.  We have 3 duties.  1.  We must love them.  2.  We must be a good example to them.  3.  We must bear testimony of Jesus Christ to them.  Our goal is to bring them to Jesus Christ/Temple.  We also talked about the changes coming to the YSA program in Europe.  We then had a class on "The Journey of Life Long Learning", a talk by Elder Robert D. Hales.  We were taught that all elements of life long learning have eternal consequences, and the result of life long learning is who we become.  After dinner, we gathered for FHE at the Presidents's home.  We returned to the hotel late and tired  It had been a full day.

The last day, we were instructed by President and Sis Kosak on "Following Christ", and then had a testimony meeting.  We closed with a song and a prayer, said our goodbyes and everyone started for home.  It was a great 3 day conference.  It lifted spirits and renewed our zeal to be missionaries.  Just before we left, President Kosak announced that President Monson will be in Berlin on October 14th to speak to all the saints in this part of Germany.  We are all very excited to see our prophet and hear his words.  President Monson was very instrumental in getting the Freiberg Temple built in East Germany before the wall ame down and has a great love for the German people. 

Ampels

In Germany, there are 2 different crossing lights for pedestrians.  East Germany crossing lights are of little chubby people.  West Germany has tall thin people for their lights.  When the wall came down, most everything was being changed to what West Germany had used.  East Germany reached a point where they didn't want to loose any more of their identity.  When it came to changing the crossing lights, they put their collective foot down and said NO!  The West Germans did not want to change their crossing lights either.  So they decided to keep their own lights.  If  you are walking in East Germany, the crossing lights are of the short chubby guys.  if you are walking in West Germany, the crossing guys are tall thin guys.  If you are at an intersection that crosses over from East to West  or vice versa, you will see both lights, depending on what way you are going.  There is a store  here called  The Ampel Store.  You can buy tee shirts, hats, and all kinds of soveniers with the short East German ampel on them.  You see lots of tourists buying, but i have never seen a German wearing anything from the store.

A Fun Week

Last Monday, we went toe the Berlin Dome church with the missionaries in our district.  Even though we had been there before, we like going with the Elders and Sisters on their P-day.  The church is beautiful.  It gave us a chance to see  some things we had not noticed before, or had forgotten about.  We have another senior couple with us for about 2-3 weeks.  The Bauman's, from Utah, will be going to Gorlitz.  He will be the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency.  He served a mission many years ago in Germany and speaks German.  His wife does not speak German, but is trying to learn.  The people of Gorlitz do not speak much, if any English. 

On Tuesday, we went on a "Spree Cruise" with the Bauman's.  It took us down the center of Berlin.  The pictures are of buildings we saw from the Spree.  Some of the buildings we had seen from the streets of Berlin.  It was fun to get a different perspective of  the city.  There is so much construction going on all around Berlin.  Everywhere you look, there are cranes set up.  One day, we saw 13 cranes at one site. I wish I had my camera to take pictures that day.  It looked like  convention of cranes.   

Sunday, we went to the Glienike Ward.  We are trying to visit a different ward in the Stake each month.  We want the members to get to know us and encourage their YSA's to attend Institute classes each week.  The people in the ward were very friendly.  We enjoyed getting to know them better.