Our Stake President has asked us to visit all the Branches and Wards in our Stake. With eleven units in the Stake, we have many visits to make. Our first visit was to the Branch in the city Brandenburg an der Havel (so named because the city was built on the River Havel. Brandenburg is about an hour's drive northwest of Berlin.
Brandenburg has an interesting history dating back to the 900's and Medieval times. The World War II Era brought sad history to this city due to a Nazi Concentration Camp which was located and operated for a period of time during the war. An airplane factory was also located in Brandenburg and due to this, the city was 70 % destroyed by bombings during the war. However, it has been rebuilt and restored and there are still many very old and historic buildings and churches.
The Brandenburg Branch meets in a building in the heart of the city.
This is the Relief Society of the Brandenburg Branch. The sisters were kind, welcoming and happy that I played the piano for Relief Society. With flowers on the table and a quilted table square which read: "Liebe hört niemals auf" ("Charity Never Faileth) - I knew I was in the right place!
During the previous week the RS sisters had gathered to make strawberry/rhubarb jam. They had little jars of jam for each sister and were generous enough to give me one!
We were asked to share our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting - which we did in our best German (we hope that they understood all that we tried to say!) After Sacrament Meeting, we met with the Branch President and his counselor to talk about activating the less active YSA in the Branch. We had a good meeting with them and we will return in a few months to follow up on what we discussed and planned.
After the meetings, we walked around to see a bit of the city. This is a bridge over the River Havel.
A view from the bridge
A view of the Steintorturm - an ancient medieval tower.
A closer view of the tower.
We enjoyed our visit to this interesting city and we especially enjoyed meeting the saints in the Branch there! We look forward to visiting the other Wards and Branches of our Stake.
What a pretty little city. I love the picture with you and the RS sisters. They look so nice and you look so cute!What a fun opportunity to visit all the branches in the stake.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cool that you get to travel to the different cities, meet the saints in each place and get a feel for their cultures and how they do things. You stand out as a very pretty lady in all of your pics, Patty. You are doing so much good for the church and I am proud of you!
ReplyDeleteThe Brandenburg Concertos are my favorite piece of classical music, so that's what I thought of when I saw your title. That sweet little jar of jam really touched me. We're united sisters all over the world, aren't we? I'm impressed that you could bear your testimony in German. Is that a new bear at the top of your blog? It is so pretty and so Patty.
ReplyDeleteHow neat that you get to visit all the branches in your stake and get to know everyone and get to see more of Germany. What a fun opportunity. And I love the pic of you with the RS ladies and that they were so sweet to give you some jam. I bet it was yummy!! And happy belated Anniversary to you and Dad! :)
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