UNITY AMOUNG CULTURES

We spent LONG 12-hour days working in the office this week trying to catch up after two weeks of traveling. Part of our activities included attending a greenhouse summit meeting. Several countries in our area have active greenhouse projects. This map shows the location of greenhouse, beekeeping, and heifer projects in Bosnia.

We prepared the following projects for approval:

Cleanup Supplies-Flood Victims- Lombardia, Italy

This project will provide materials for local members to help with cleanup efforts after heavy rain fell this week.

YSA Prepare Meals for Vulnerable- Frankfurt, Germany

The local YSA (young single adults) have come together to plan a warm meal in December for vulnerable people in their neighborhood. Families that will be invited are those who regularly access the food bank.

Psychological Support -Female Refugees- Italy

Vulnerabilities faced by migrant and refugee women in accessing mental health support and pathways to social and economic integration are addressed in this project. These women often arrive in host countries after enduring trauma, violence, forced displacement, and separation from their families. Upon arrival, they face additional challenges such as: limited access to psychological support, social isolation, and lack of safe spaces where they can begin to heal, rebuild confidence, and feel a sense of belonging.

The project is carried out by mother tongue psychologists speaking Spanish, Ukraine, English, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic. This focuses on a better cultural understanding of specific experiences, and direct comprehension without the intermediation of an interpreter, being fundamental to express such intimate and painful experiences in one’s mother tongue.

The project will be implemented across multiple locations in Italy (Milan, Rome and online) where ASCS is already active and where the Wasi program is rooted in the local community.

Courtyard Space- Women & Children Refugees- Milano, Italy

This project will create a green space at a women’s refugee center. The courtyard will be a gathering place for mothers and children. Funds will be used for the planting of suitable vegetation, and the installation of an efficient irrigation system. Another doner will provide playground equipment.

WASH (Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene) Kits & Clothes-Prisoners- Como, Italy

Essential items are needed for inmates who do not have support from their families, such as: Body soap, Shampoo, Roll-on deodorant, Shaving cream, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Towels and Underwear.

We had busy enjoyable evenings this week. We attended FHE on Monday night, took dinner to the Rocha family on Tuesday. We minister to these wonderful people. On Wednesday we showed historical Frankfurt to Elder and Sister Bates. We were MTC buddies and have not seen them for the last year! It was wonderful to reconnect. They alternate between Croatia and Türkiye, three months at a time.

On Friday, after work, we drove with Elder and Sister Mulleck to Freiberg.

We wanted to see the beautiful cathedral there and we happened upon a marathon organ concert. As part of an ECHO (European Cities of Historical Organs) Conference, a concert lasted from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm on Friday. A 30- minute concert was held in Altenburg, Germany on the hour, alternating with a 30- minute concert held in Freiberg. Patrons switched between live performances and a video feed from the other city. It was a unique experience.

In the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries the organ music from this area of Germany was, alongside the organ building, ground-breaking. Composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, and Max Reger created their masterpieces in this area- music which is the heart of organ repertoire of most organists today.

On Saturday morning we attended the Freiberg temple. Dedicated in 1985, it is historically significant as the first and only temple in a communist state, built in the German Democratic Republic four years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After WWII, East Germany became isolated behind the Iron Curtain, preventing its citizens from traveling freely to other countries. The Bern Switzerland Temple, dedicated in 1955, was a dream for many East German Latter-day Saints but was inaccessible to them. Facing this reality, government officials suggested the construction of a temple within GDR itself. We consider this a latter-day miracle.

We were very moved as we attended a session in Czech with German subtitles, while listening to English on headphones. Language translation is offered in seven languages: English, German, Spanish, Polish, Czech, Ukrainian, and Russian. It was a joyful morning with a feeling of unity- so many cultures brought together by our love of Jesus Christ.

We feel the same as we gather to worship each Sunday in our tiny branch where so many languages are spoken.

We spent Saturday in the beautiful Ore mountains in the village of Seiffen. This woodworking town has a different kind of charm, built around one main road, where shop after shop of wood craft is created and sold. We succumbed to a family orchestra of Wendt & Kuhn Christmas Angels. Christmas is already in the air in Germany!

At the top of the hill is the iconic eight-sided Seiffen Church. A chapel has stood on this site since the 1500’s. In 1779 when the original place of worship needed to be torn down, this octagonal church was constructed.