On a P Day, we passed this statue and since this is Magdeburg's claim to fame we wanted to share this bit of history. Romy joins us quite often. Guericke, Otto von (1602–86). German physicist, engineer, and natural philosopher Otto von Guericke invented the first air pump and used it to study the phenomenon of vacuum and the role of air in combustion and respiration. In a famous series of experiments in 1654, Guericke placed two copper bowls together to form a hollow sphere about 14 inches (36 centimeters) in diameter. After he had removed the air from the sphere, horses were unable to pull the bowls apart, even though the bowls were held together only by the air around them. This was the first demonstration of the tremendous force that air pressure exerts.
The University here is named after Guericke. Many places in the city you can see brightly colored balls representing this experiment. There is a picture of one in a previous blog.
P-Day Picnic
We went to the Bakerei for rolls and to the store where each picked out what they would like to eat. Sister Wells got the cucumber that everyone enjoyed. We went to the Elbe and had a wonderful picnic. We like being together.
General Conference at Kothen
Choose The Right Way!!
We are waiting for the train to go home. This is Innocence, an investigator, from South Africa where the common language is French. He is very interesting.
Zone Conference in Berlin
We took along two young investigators, Innette and Jasmin. They are two fifteen year old girls who have strong testimonies but have not been allowed to be baptized, yet. It will happen.
Elder Stekkinger's tradition is to polish our shoes on the way.
About 80% of our active members in the Branch spent Saturday at the Freiberg Temple. Our new members were baptized for family names. Those who could went through a session and President Burkhardt (standing in the front right in the white shirt) held a special fireside for the ones who did not attend a session. We ate lunch together before everyone went home. It was a special time of unity for our small Branch.
One of the Branch members, Miriam Happle, received her own endowment. This is her family, the Meisers. They all drove longs hours to be with her. We got to know this family very well and felt like we have known each other forever. We love them. (As a side note, Mariam's father works in the Area Office and her grandfather has been the Freiburg Temple president, the Dresden Mission President and an Area Authority). Neat, neat family.
We love Miriam
