Enjoying Berlin!

We took a "P" Day and saw some of the sights of Berlin.  We had the perfect tour guide to help us!  We met Susan Olsen in our ward and she has lived in Germany most of her life.  She is a professor of linguistics at Humboldt University.  Susan knows this city well and she helped us to learn how the bus system works as we traveled together.  The weather was perfect for our day of sightseeing - not too hot and not too cold.  We took a boat tour of Berlin on the river Spree which in places was the past boundary between East and West Berlin.

A view from the boat of the Berliner Dom- a baroque cathedral built in the late 1800's on an island in the river Spree.

"Palace of Tears" - former border crossing station where East Germans  (who were not permitted to leave East Germany) said goodbye to their families and friends who were returning to West Germany.

 

The Reichstag serves as Germany's seat of Parliament

 

 

 

The House of World Cultures - contributed by the US in 1957.  This building is nicknamed "the pregnant oyster" and also nicknamed the "Jimmy Carter Smile".

 

The Spree River in this area is lined by museums, theatres, government buildings, apartments and restaurants.

 

 

Hal and Susan with the Berliner Dom Cathedral in the background.

 

The Fernesehtum (TV Tower) is the tallest structure                 This photo shows the old  with

in Berlin.  It was built by the East German Government            the new. Berlin's oldest church - Saint

1965-69 as a show of strength and power.                                 Nicholas Church was built 1220 - 1230

                                                                                                  and repaired after the bombing of WWII

 

 

Humbolt University Administration and classroom Building

This is one of Germany's oldest and most prestigious universities ( founded in 1810).

This is where our friend Susan teaches Linguistics.

 

Across from the Humboldt University Law School is Bebelplatz.  This was one of the locations of the book burnings which took place on April 10, 1933.  The German Student Association of Nazi, Germany burned all books deemed "un German".  The monument to this infamous event shows empty bookshelves below ground level.

 

This photo shows a view of the US Embassy in Berlin. The north entrance to the embassy faces Pariser Platz which is famous for the beautiful and historic Brandenburg Gate.  Since the fall of the wall that divided the city after WWII, the gate has become a symbol of the reunification of East and West Berlin.

 

The Quadriga atop Brandenburg Gate

 

 

We also visited the Holocaust Memorial to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime.  Made of some 2,700 concrete slabs, it has a haunting resemblance to a cemetery.

 

 

 

After our busy day of sightseeing, Susan took us to a wonderful gelato restaurant for a delicious treat ( it truly tasted like the gelato in Italy!). 

This is Susan with her cute, little dog "Susi" in her lovely apartment at Potsdamer Platz.  Thank you Susan for being a wonderful tour guide!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Institute Opening Social and more...

This past Thursday evening was the Opening Social for the Institute students of our stake which includes 11 wards and branches.  Hal and I prepared "finger foods" for the event.  With 48 in the group, there were not many leftovers!  We love interacting with the YSA and there were many new names and faces in this group.   

 

We prepare a meal for the kids once a week.  It is great to see them eating and interacting together.  Here are some photos of last weeks Institute meal.

Back for seconds!  There is a clue in this photo about why we must prepare great quantities of food each week!

 The kids are very willing and eager to help with the cleanup. In Germany (a very "green" country), we rarely, rarely use paper plates and cups!

 

They are wonderful young people and we are truly learning to love them!

 

 

Busy weeks and days!

These past 2 weeks have been full of activities and events as we near our 1 month mark.  We have been privileged to attend 2 baptisms, a Zone Conference, Institute and help host an Open House at our ward/stake meetinghouse!  I will let the pictures help tell the story!

 

David (one of our Young Single Adults) was baptized after 4 years of attending and investigating the church.  It was a very happy day for him and all of us!

 

Dragana on the right (from Bosnia) was baptized last Saturday and she just glowed with happiness.  She is with Jenny (also one of our YSA) in this picture.

 

 

Zone Conference for missionaries serving in northern Berlin and surrounding areas.

 

 

Dinner for Institute

Preparing chicken, mushroom sauce for the pasta.

 

 Dinner for 38 hungry Young Single

adults   Pasta, Brötchen, and cake for dessert! 

 

 

Each year the city of Berlin has Lange Nacht der Religionen - The Long Night for Religion.  On this evening, Churches in the city are invited to participate by opening their doors for everyone to visit their church.  Of course we were happy to participate!  For the guests that came (about 20 people) a tour of the building was given and a short program was presented and refreshments were served.

 

Elder Mickelsen and I helped that evening by standing in front of our meetinghouse and inviting people to come in as they walked by.  We did this with the young elders and sisters and we distributed some church literature and enjoyed interacting with some of the people of Berlin! 

 

 

 Cleaning the Meetinghouse in preparation for the Open House

Missionaries enjoying some cake after their hard work!

 

 

 

 

 



Our District of Missionaries

This is our group of missionaries that serve with us in the Berlin - Tiergarten Ward and area.

We love these young elders and sisters and we will be meeting with them at least once a week for District meeting and teaching English classes together.  We had the elders over for lunch on Wednesday and we will have the sisters over for dinner soon.

                                         Sisters Wick & Keller    Elders Scholes, Dospil, Lee & Duncan

Our second week

We enjoyed a barbeque at the Mission Home in honor of a senior couple that had completed their 18 month mission serving in the Mission Office.

 

 

 

                                                        Our Host ad Hostess

This gathering gave us an opportunity to get to know the other senior couples that are serving in Berlin.

 

 Bruder Grüse - our Institute Director

 

Monday evening we had an interesting Family Home Evening with what is supposed to be the Young Single Adults.  As you can see, our group included a dog. 

We also had a newly wed couple and some over 30 guys.  We welcomed all and had a lesson followed by a "make your own sandwich" meal.

(We will have to work on the guidelines for attendance at YSA events.)  

We are learning to love those young people that we are getting acquainted with.

 

 



Our arrival!

                               This post should have come before the previous post BUT

                                                   I just got a copy of the photo!
                                                   (Thanks President Kosak!)
                                                    Our arrival - July 24, 2013
                                             (Pioneer Day and Evan's birthday!)

                                  This is the group of missionaries in our travel and arrival group!

                                               This photo was taken at the airport.

Wir sind in Deutschland! We are in Germany!

Grüße aus Berlin! Greetings from Berlin! We arrived in Berlin last Wednesday and were happy to have made a safe (if tiring) journey.  We were given a warm and enthusiastic welcome by our Mission President - President Kosak and his wife.  We traveled with a group of missionaries going to our mission and the Alpine Mission.

We are doing well!   It is VERY hot and humid here (record highs).  Nothing is air conditioned including our apartment and the church.  Our bishop determined that we would have only Sacrament Meeting and very short Relief Society and Priesthood Meetings due to the heat.  We met many members and young single adults.  Everyone has been very welcoming and friendly.  Our ward members and the Young Single Adults are truly an international mix of people.  They provide English and Spanish translations for the church meetings. We met people from China, Thailand, Angola, Columbia, Norway, the Philippines, Switzerland, Latvia, England and Bulgaria along with many from the USA and Canada.  The investigator from Latvia spoke no German or English so I did my best to welcome her and speak with her in Russian.

 

 The Zone Leaders came to our apartment after church to help us get connected to the Internet (Bless them!).  We have spent the last couple of days getting moved in and cleaning and fixing up our apartment.  Tomorrow we will meet with the CES advisor and learn more about what our assignment will be.  We are in charge of the YSA Home Evening tomorrow night and we need to introduce ourselves and provide some food.  Our group is small now during summer but the numbers will rise to 60-80 when school starts - our YSA Institute program is the largest in Germany.  We will have district meeting with the elders and sisters in our district on Wednesday and a ward potluck social on Friday evening.  I believe that Institute (with the meal afterwards) will be on Thursday evening.  Saturday evening we will be in charge of English classes.  The elders and sisters will also be teaching.  We have been asked to speak in sacrament meeting in 2 weeks so our schedule is filling up.  We look forward to getting to know our ward members the missionaries and of course all of the young single adults 

We are trying our best to learn some German but it is too easy to revert back to Russian when we try to have a conversation with someone and we can't remember or don't know the German word.  While tutoring at the MTC, my tutor told me I spoke German with a Russian accent.  We will keep working and do our best to learn this new language!

 

We took some pictures of our apartment here.  We have spent the past few days cleaning and getting moved in.  I knew it was going to be a good place when I saw the hydrangeas in the courtyard!  I love hydrangeas- they are my favorite flower! 



 

Here is Elder Mickelsen in our living room/study

 

 Our small but efficient kitchen

 Our bathroom/laundry room

 

Our bedroom

 

 Our pantry/storage room

Our apartment is small but it has everything we need and best of all, it is only a 5 minute walk to the church which has the Institute center in it!

Life is good (maybe a little hot) but cooler days are ahead!

 

Auf Wiedersehen!