A SPECIAL VISIT

The highlight of our week was a visit from Elder and Sister Bednar. They toured our office on Thursday morning and shook hands with all of us. On Friday morning they spoke to us in a special devotional. Elder and Sister Palmer accompanied them. It was a spiritual feast.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Elder and Sister Muehlmann drove from Munich to be with us in Frankfurt for a few days. They are our field couple for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We enjoyed dinner together and made visits to Caritas and Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (Red Cross) to discuss collaboration on humanitarian projects. Both groups work tirelessly to support refugees and the homeless in Frankfurt.

LUNCHTIMES

Elder Stokers birthday lunch

In our gentle German class with Sister Enger we practiced tongue twisters and aphorisms.

Fischers Fritz fischt frische Fische. Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritz.

Wo eine wille ist, da ist auch ein Weg. (Where there’s a will, there’s a way)

We take turns leading the discussion in our weekly scripture class during our lunch hour on Wednesdays

EVENINGS

We had an interesting presentation by Elder Peterson on Monday at Family Home Evening

Now that Ed’s shoulder surgeon has cleared him, we will be playing pickleball on Tuesday evenings

RECYCLING

Everything in Germany is recycled and it took us awhile to figure it out. Each garbage container in our outdoor Keller has a different colored lid. We have corresponding trash bins in our apartment.
Blue: Paper, newspaper, magazines, cardboard
Yellow: Plastic packaging, polystyrene foam, plastic netting, plastic wrap, tin cans, aluminum foil, coated paper (milk cartons, tec)
Brown: compostable kitchen waste (no garbage disposals here)
Gray: Anything not listed above

For glass recycling we walk a few blocks to find these bins that are color coded according to the glass color.

It is intense but we certainly could learn something from the German commitment to care for the environment.

WARTBURG CASTLE

We visited a fascinating medieval castle on Saturday. The Wartburg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site. A frontier fortress was established here in 1067. The main building was built in the 1100’s and was the residence and court of the art-loving Thuringian Landgraves. This palace is known for its peaceful history. Walking the grounds is like opening up the pages of a 900-year-old history book.

Because Wartburg was the setting of the legend of the Singers Contest, it is considered a cradle of German literature. The folk tale says the minstrel contest was held here in 1207. Richard Wagner made this legend famous in Tannhauser.

In the 13th century, Ludwig IV became Landgrave of Thuringia and married Elizabeth, the daughter of the king of Hungary. Against the wishes of her husband and in-laws she served and gave generously to the poor. Saint Elizabeth, who is still revered as a symbol of active charity, lived at Wartburg Castle.

The Augustinian monk Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German here in 1521-22 laying the foundation for a uniform German written language. This German translation influenced the writing of the English version, the Tyndale Bible. Luther, a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation was incognito during the ten months he lived at the castle, for his own protection after his excommunication from the Roman Catholic church.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria visited the castle while he was building Neuschwanstein. After seeing the Great Hall at Wartburg, he put in a change order and added a Great Hall to his castle.

In 1817, 500 students gathered in this hall to commemorate the tricentennial of the Protestant Reformation. They also took the opportunity to protest current politics. Thus, the castle is considered the site of the beginning of democracy in Germany.