Sachsenhausen Gedenkstatte

Monday, we went to the Sachsenhausen Memorial.  Just north of Berlin, Sachsenhausen was one of   the most notorious death camps of the Nazi empire and was liberated by Allied troops in 1945.  The freedom was short-lived.  the soviet secret police turned it into a prison camp, and the misery and death continued for 5 more years. 

The largest prison camp in East Germany, Sachsenhausen was home to some 12,000 inmates from 1945-1950, when the prison was shut down.  Mass graves of former prisoners were discovered here in 1990.  During WWII, Sachsenhausen was the administrative headquarters for all the concentration camps.  The SS learned its methods of mass killing at this camp.  Most of the 30,000 victims of the Nazi regime were prisoners of war. 

As we walked around the camp looking at the rebuilt buildings, seeing the devices of torture, and killing alley, I just could not understand how one human being could treat another so inhumanly.  All I could think of was that Satan was having a good day here as he witnessed the human suffering and degradation.  

Many German people say that the German's did not know what was going on in the death camps.  I find that hard to believe.  The many camps are located in and about the city.  How could the people not know what was going on?  My thought on this is that they were so afraid that it could happen to them if they said anything, that they turned a "blind eye" to what was going on. 

President Monson in Berlin and the Festival of Lights

Sunday was a great day!  First, we were privileged to have President Monson in Berlin to speak to us.  Getting to the stadium was an ordeal though.  We waited at the bus stop for 20 minutes and then they blocked off the road for a marathon that was going through the area.  The Bauman's were with us from Gorlitz, so the 4  of us walked to the bus stop at Zoological Garten and found the buses not running there either.  Our next option was the train.  I knew what the stop was called by the ICC stadium, so we looked for the stop and them figured out what trains to take to get there.  fortunately it wasn't hard.  while waiting for the train, a young man came up to us and said he had been reading the Bible for the last 4 years and had questions about God.  He wanted to know if we could answer his questions.  A few were answered, but we quickly realized he needed more time then we had.  We invited him to come with us to hear the Prophet speak, but he was unable to come.  He gave us his name and address, and phone number and agreed to have the missionaries call.  The missionaries called him late in the afternoon and made an appointment with him to talk.  I know the Lord led us to that particular train station instead of us finding another bus to take. ( Unfortunately, Ibraham got on the internet and read some negative things about Mormon's and canceled his appointment saying he wasn't interested learning about our church.)

On Sunday evening, the 4 of us set out to see the Festival of Lights.  An artist here in Berlin, Phillip Geist, uses diverse architectures in moving, painterly light sculptures which challenges the onlookers' perception of two-and three-dimensionality.  I hope you can see from the pictures a little of the beauty and complexity of his art work.  We thought it was amazing.  The first 5 pictures are of the same building, The Berlin Dome Church.  It took about 10 minutes to watch the whole light show on the church.  It was amazing.  The other pictures were taken at Potdamer Platz. 

Service is Fun!

Saturday, we went with the Missionaries from our zone to Eisenhuttenstadt for a service project. Della, one of our YSA's,  grandmother needed help in her yard to get it ready for winter.  Della's grandmother is not a member of the church and mostly does not like Mormons, but she likes the missionaries.  We arrived about 930 after a 1 1/2 hour  train ride.  We were served breakfast of hot tea (herbal) and little sandwiches.  We then were given assignments.  Dan and I had to convince her that we liked gardening, she thought we should just watch.  I was given the assignment to rake all the walk ways, over 100 yards of them and gather up the leaves and take them to the compost area.  Dan and the Elders cut down tree limbs, moved rocks, pulled some weeds, and trimmed some bushes.  The Sisters were assigned to dig out a couple of plants and trim the bushes in another part of the garden.  Her garden was big!  It was about 5x as big as our backyard at home.  Dani, you would have loved it.  There was a pond, grass areas, plus lots of individual garden areas filled with trees and plants.  The weather was perfect for gardening.  It was cool, but sunny.  It was great working outside in the garden again.  It is funny the things you miss.  We worked for about 4-5 hours and then it was time for lunch.  Della's grandmother is from Poland so she fixed us a polish meal of wurst and white cabbage.  Surprisingly, the cabbage was quite good.  It had cabbage, peaches, ginger root, onions, and some bits of meat in a sweet and sour sauce.  We also had apples and pears from off her trees which were mighty tasty.  She then served a piece of apple cake made from apples off her trees. We were full after eating.  "Ich bin zot!"  We then took the long train ride home, tired but happy.  Della told me that her grandmother's heart was softening towards the church because of service by the Branch members and the missionaries.   That is a good thing since Della will be going on a mission after the first of the year.

Changes

It is fall!  Changes are occurring here in Berlin.  As we walk through the Tiergarten Park, the changes are evident and beautiful.  In a couple of more weeks, the whole park will be colorful and the ground will be covered in leaves.  The weather to is changing.  As you can see by our dress in the pictures, it is growing colder.  Cotton gloves have come out, jackets and long sleeved clothing are being worn and I have purchased a pair of sheep skin lined boots to wear  for the winter.  Although beautiful, I wish it wouldn't get so cold.  This morning, as I type this, the temperature outside is a mere 7*C (43*F).  I guess it is time to say good bye to summer (which never really developed to my liking), and embrace Fall and Winter and warm layers of clothing.  As Dan has said, we now have to allow an extra 5 minutes to get ready to go some where because of all the warm clothing which must be put on. 

Teaching Basketball?!?

I had a great day yesterday.  I coached basketball.  I haven't done that in a few years and about 5 minutes into it I realized how big a chunk of me was tied up in being a coach.  What really made my day was I coached about 25 missionaries dressed in white shirts,slacks, and athletic shoes.  Most of them hadn't ever played before but were enthusiastic and tried hard.  Actually, all of them tried hard.

A few days ago elder Cottriel called and asked if I would teach the Missionaries about basketball.  I said yes and wondered how basketball tied into teaching about our church. 

The Berlin Mission, like all missions has a structure.  It is divided into zones, districts, and companionships.  Each zone has zone leaders.  All zone leaders were invited by Mission President Kosak to come to the Tiergarten Stake Center for a 2 day training conference.  Elder Cottriel is an assistant to President Kosak.  He was assigned to teach a lesson on how to teach.  and so, he asked me to teach the zone leaders basketball basics.  We started with the ball and the basket.

After a few minutes of explaining rules and things like how to dribble the ball, we moved to the court for demonstration and practice.  We did 2 easy drills, ran up and down the court some and then played a short game.  Wow, it was great to coach and teach again.  I had more fun then any of the Elders and they had a great time.  The idea was to demonstrate how to teach the gospel of jesus Christ.  I hope I made that point to them.

Dan in Berlin, did I mention I had a great time????

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.