Dresden, Germany

The morning view from our hotel!

We were in Dresden Germany from Oct. 18-23 for our final annual Mission President's Seminar and had an inspiring four days of instruction and fellowship with other mission presidents and wives. Elder Kevin Pearson, from the 1st Quorum of Seventy, was there to instruct us for one entire day. He spoke extensively of the Doctrine of Christ (from 2 Nephi 31) and other topics to help us teach our missionaries. Throughout the week, Elder Kopishke, our Area President, spoke about the church in East Germany when it was behind the "iron curtain." He told wonderful stories of President Monson's visits there and the blessings that were pronounced when as an apostle, he dedicated the land. On Thursday afternoon we took a bus ride out to the hill where the dedication took place and we gathered in close together under umbrellas and read the dedicatory prayer. Elder Manfred Schütze, the Area Seventy for Germany, told us many stories about the saints during that time as he served as a Stake President in East Germany for many years. He said it was difficult for the members who were living in very difficult conditions, to believe that the blessings promised in that prayer would ever come to pass. But all of the promised blessings have been fulfilled, and the Freiberg Temple was built even before the Berlin Wall and communism fell!

There was a joke among the saints at that time that if a woman left her purse on a church bench, it would still be there the next week. But if a person left his scriptures, they would be gone. Scriptures were next to impossible to obtain, and an older person might even be asked that if they died, they would get his or her scriptures.

Dresden was bombed at the end of World War II, and the old town is being reconstructed. The famous Lutheran Frauenkirche is beautifully rebuilt. The black stones in the walls are some of the original stones that were blackened by the fire bombing.

The Dresden Frauenkirche, (Church of Our Lady)

and the statue of Martin Luther that survived the 1945 bombing.

The Class of 2008, Europe Area

Top to bottom and l to r: Sally and Larry Anderson, Sweden Stockholm Mission;

David and Susan Brown, Finland Helsinki; Liz and Marty Neil, Albania Tirana;

David and Dana Hill, Slovenia/Croatia; Lisa & Kevin Ninow (partially hidden), Germany Frankfurt; (in front of the Ninows) David and Kathleen Bullock, England Manchester;

Front l to r: Don & Cynthia Staheli, France Paris; Linda & Robert Condie, Alpine German-Speaking;

Laurie and James Lundberg, Romania Bucharest.

Missing, because they had to leave earlier, were Michel and Danielle Carter, France Toulouse; and Joselito and Mafalda Neves, Cape Verde Praia Mission.

We arrived the evening before the Tuesday 3 PM start of the conference, so were able to walk around the Old Town and eat at McDonald's, which was quite a treat for us. Two Filet o' Fish Meals! Never thought I'd be happy to see a McDonald's! Our plane left the morning after everyone else's flights, so we had all of Friday afternoon to walk around and shop. I found Yankee Candles in a Body Shop, we had Starbuck's Hot Chocolate and a doughnut, purchased two suit jackets for me, and picked up a Dresden Christmas ornament.

Our new Chevrolet Captiva--a compact SUV. We are grateful to have a sturdier car for Albania's rough roads.