We had two of our German field couples in the Frankfurt office for humanitarian training this week. Elder and Sister Waldal will be serving in Berlin & Hamburg. Elder and Sister Burke serve in the Frankfurt mission which goes as far south as Stuttgart. The Burkes arrived last summer when we did, but up until now have been focusing on Self-Reliance. Now they will join us in humanitarian work. Both couples are from Oregon. After hours of training in the office, three straight days, we had evening excursions to the temple & downtown Frankfurt. We love these couples that we work so closely with. The Nelsons had their Hungarian couple in town for training, Elder and Sister Finch. Southwick’s are our office support couple. The humanitarian office runs so much more smoothly since they arrived in January!
We had a few more farewell lunches and dinners with the Nelsons: an office pizza party for Elder Nelsons birthday, our monthly walk to McDonalds for lunch, a lovely lunch on Saturday in Saalburg, and a branch potluck on Sunday.
Our Saturday excursion was 40 minutes away in Bad Camberg where we did a tree top walk in the Taunus Nature Park. It was beautiful! Notice the view from the top where you can see several villages and how the Germans are careful to leave green space between each one.
A common site in German cities reflecting a cultural interest in providing for birds and insects.
We also stopped in Saalburg to visit the ruins and partly reconstructed Roman Fort. Toward the end of the 1st century AD, the Romans occupied territory in this area. 600 Roman soldiers were stationed here around AD 135. By the mid-2nd century as many as 2,000 soldiers and civilians lived in the village. In the late 1800’s Germany’s Emperor Wilhelm II initiated the reconstruction of the fort on its original foundation.
On Sunday the Hubers came for dinner. They are the couple that we replaced last year. They are from Switzerland but are living in Frankfurt again as they have been called to be mission leaders in the newly created Europe Central Turkic & Persian-Speaking Mission which for now is based in Frankfurt. They are wonderful people!
Looking at this post it seems all we do is eat and play. We just don’t take pictures of our LONG days in the office. 😊 We have this thought from Elder Uchtdorf hanging on our bathroom mirror to remind us why we are here. “If you ever fell burned out or overwhelmed by your church calling try refocusing your service on Jesus Christ. Make it an expression of your love for Him.” We love our Savior and our Heavenly Father. We are grateful for the guidance and strength we receive from them.
We love you all and hope you are enjoying your summer!
With love, Elder & Sister Lamb (aka Ed & Debbie, Mom & Dad, Pop Pop & Tu Tu)
Lambs in Central Europe 