Called To the Work

We know that efforts are still being made to get us into Germany.  We are hopeful that things will fall into place for us to go as soon as possible.  We received notice that our personal effects that were shipped to Germany in May have arrived and are being held in customs storage. We received this notification: "Unfortunately, German customs will not clear the shipment until an arrival date has been set and an appointment has been made at the local town hall to register. The shipment can remain in customs storage for up to 90 days.”  We are not exactly sure when the 90 days expires, but it is probably mid-October.  We certainly hope to be in Germany by then.  It would be a shame for the items to be shipped back to Utah and arrive here in December.

On a brighter note....  Dan and I were invited to participate in the training of missionaries who have begun their virtual Mission Training Center experience.  The first week we were helping with two English-speaking districts but we have since transitioned to two of the three German-speaking districts.  Each district has 10-11 missionaries.  We are thrilled because one of the districts has 9 of the missionaries who have been assigned to the Germany Frankfurt mission.  It is wonderful to be able to meet and interact with them.  A third district has 4 additional missionaries assigned to our mission.  We hope we get to meet them during the coming last two weeks of their training.

While most of these missionaries have some amazing skills and potential, we certainly see some areas that need help.  In one of the classes they were to practice asking questions to get to know a person and listen carefully so they could ask followup questions based on what was said. We were surprised how difficult this was for them. After hearing what the person said, they couldn’t resist launching into something about themselves. It took some practice, but most of them finally got the right idea and improved a lot.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that these are essentially teenagers, some fresh out of high school. 

More recently we have been asked to help teach several parts of the three-hour sessions.  After seeing how the other district struggled asking questions, Dan taught the second group in a very different way using “baby steps.”  They struggled a bit but finally got the hang of it.  In another session Dan taught the German grammar concept of separable and inseparable verbs.  It went well.  It was very basic and even I understood.  These young missionaries are so sharp.  Several of them have either lived in Germany, have a parent or grandparent who speaks German, or have taken German classes.  I empathize with those who are learning German for the first time and try to cheer them on. It has been so helpful for me to hear the teachers repeat phrases over and over in German. I took a year of German at BYU 40 years ago, so my languages skills need a lot of work.   

German is a difficult language.  Dan asked them to raise their hands if they thought German was hard.  Of course they all responded.  He then commented that we all have heard how difficult English is to learn.  He then pulled up the following two images of how to use the article "the" in German and then in English.

Dan told them:  “The next time someone says the English is a difficult language to learn, remind them of this!”  They all laughed.  

While we would much rather be in Germany with the missionaries there, this opportunity to work with these amazing young people preparing to serve has been a great blessing.  How many 18-20 year olds today are willing study the Gospel of Jesus in another language from 6:00-9:00pm on a Saturday night.*   We feel honored to work with them.  It has given us a sense of purpose.  As Elder Bednar reminded us in General Conference in April 2017: “Perhaps one of the lessons the Savior is teaching us in this revelation [Doctrine & Covenants 80:2-5] is that an assignment to labor in a specific place is essential and important but secondary to a call to the work.”  We are grateful to have received a call to the work and to have this wonderful opportunity to work with young missionaries whose desire it is to serve the Lord with all their “heart, might, mind and strength” and share their love for Jesus Christ and his gospel with others.

*They have two 3-hour classes a day from 9-noon and 6-9pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.