President and Sister Hammon in the Germany Frankfurt Mission

  March 2021 I realize that it has been a long time since I gave an update on the Frankfurt mission.    Many are asking about the Covid situation in Germany.    I will give you an update.   Germany went into lockdown 3 months ago, just before Christmas.  Everything closed down and only grocery stores and gas stations were open.  You were not supposed to go into work unless it was essential.  You were not supposed to travel more than 15 km unless it was business-related and considered urgent and necessary.  Restaurants, bars, most hotels, museums, tourist sites, etc., were all closed.  When we first arrived in September, we went to the Frankfurt downtown shopping district.  It is as wide as state street in Salt Lake City, but it is for pedestrians only and goes on for many blocks.  It is an enormous area.  In September, it was packed with thousands of individuals.  We went back a few weeks ago in early March, and it was empty.  Every store was closed, and you might see 10 – 20 individua

  I created this for the  mission newsletter and thought you might find it interesting.  Unfortunately the vaccine rollout here continues to be very slow.  Germany’s case numbers are on the rise again and health experts are predicting a third wave.  But our mission and the missionaries will make the best of it, just as they have done this past year.   They have found creative ways to share the message of the restored gospel with others. Nothing will stop this work from rolling forward.   March 2020-March 2021 – Corona Virus Timeline for the Germany Frankfurt Mission One year ago Germany and the Western world were turned upside down by the COVID-19 Pandemic.    March 18 marks the one-year anniversary of the date missionaries of the Germany Frankfurt Mission were asked to go into quarantine. Here is a summary of the many events that occurred in the mission during this past year.   March 13 - Missionaries scheduled to return home April 9 were sent home early.   March 15 - Fifteen senior c

 It is hard to believe it has been 6 months since we arrived in Germany on August 27.  So much has happened. Of course the biggest blessing and challenge was receiving over 90 missionaries from the United States in two short months.  They arrived on different flights on different days and were placed in housing for quarantine all over the mission.  Fortunately they are now all in their mission companionships.  Many are in threesomes due to the lack of enough experienced missionaries to be training, but during the next transfer in mid March they will go into regular twosomes which means we can reopen many cities in the mission that were closed when the numbers of missionaries went down last year. Most of our missionaries are thriving.  These arriving missionaries brought new enthusiasm that has spread throughout the mission.  Many of them are fearless in approaching people on the street. Even though they have difficulty communicating in German, they give it their best which is all that