2009 Baptism Number Four

Jose Flores (on Sister Gill's right) is the newest member of our Branch. He is from Africa, studying at the University. The Elders have been teaching him and we have been blessed to be part of it. He is a sweet, humble man and we do love him.

These are some of the members of our Branch who traveled to the Baptism.

The Kitchen crew, fixing the food (or maybe just eating it).

Here we are with Jose, waiting for the train to take us back to Magdeburg.

Our favorite "stand up" comedian. Marcel was our second baptism of the year. Remind you of anyone?

It takes an hour to get home on the train. Elder Wittwer and Jose visit, Sister Vasileva makes appointments to teach as soon as they get home and Elder Stekkinger.....

..sleeps, it has been a long day (week) (month)

SWANS

The Elders gave the two biggest swans to Sister Gill for her birthday and we made the rest for our JAE Samstag Activity.

Elder Stekkinger was the master creator who directed us.

Informationsabend (Information Eveining)

This Evening was so successful that we paraded our "Standards of Excellence Banner" around our apartment. Like Moroni of old, our District president rent his shirt and we wrote and signed the standards we all agreed to follow.

We are so happy to be part of this District.

President Burkhardt and Elder Stekkinger getting ready for the Power Point presentation that explained our beliefs. We hosted 30 students from a University Christian Group who asked if they could come and learn about our Church. A missionary's dream!!



Elder Stekkinger put together a professional presentation using the missionaries and some of the Branch members.




President Burkhardt welcomed everyone and talked about our moral standards.

Sister Vasileva talked about missionary work.

Our chapel was filled to capacity. There was a good spirit and the students stayed late and enjoyed the members, the missionaries and the cookies.

Lots of questions were answered.

Finally someone who could speak English!!

Baptisms and Transfers

Early morning train ride to our Zone Conference in Berlin. Note the Elders reflection in the window taking the picture.

Our second baptism in January was Marcel Wieneke whose first contact with the church was when he came to Sven's baptism. He was baptized a week later. He is a cute boy and we love him.

A change in our District. Goodbye to Elder Orton and hello to our new District leader Elder Stekkinger. He is from Holland. Sorry the picture is so poor but it is part of the history.



Our new District Leader, Elder Stekkinger and his missionaries. He is dedicated and works hard to keep our district on the top. He was the Assistant to the President and will probably finish his mission here.



Goodbye to Sister Hoffman. She was blitzed to Bernburg. We laughed and cried togeter and we miss her.


On our way to way to the Bahnhof (train station) to go to the baptism for Shen. His mother was the one who cooked delicious Chinese dinners. Now that she is gone back to China he continues to invite us over. We helped him make dumplings the other night.



Here we are again at our third baptism in January to baptize Shen. Sister Hoffman was able to attend since she and Sister Vasileva taught him. It took him a little longer to decide to be baptized. They taught him for 2 months. Note our new roomate, Sister Liboschik next to Sister Gill. She is German and speaks very little English. We love her. We now have two German roomates.



Sister Wells got out of her comfort zone to sing alto in a duet with Elder Stekkinger for the program. They sang "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning." There were a few compliments.

Flat Stanley Comes to Magdeburg

My name is Flat Stanley. I live in Scottsdale Arizona and am a good friend of Karsten , Sister Gill's grandson. He sent me here in an envelope to visit and learn about Germany. When I arrived it had snowed and there was ice everywhere making it dangerous to walk so I enjoyed the view from the balcony.






We heard the bells from this church many times a day ringing long and loud. I loved it.


A close up view of the rooster sitting on top of the church. Aunt Christi called it a weather vane.







Finally, it was safe go out, and right in the neighborhood were these neat houses. I loved the fun decor and the bright colors.




Oh, here I am with Grandma headed for the Bahn.




This was the Haltestelle (I think that is what they called out at each stop) where they get on the Bahn. We go on the 10.

Here it is. Let's go.

First stop, the Elbe River. It was really cold and there was ice floating down it. Where is my coat and hat?


This is the back of the Dom (the oldest and most famous church in Magdeburg) that I saw from the river and a part of the wall that was built around it.

This church is way bigger than it looks in this picture.

Here is the front. I wanted to go inside but it was closed this day.


As we walked toward the center of the city we saw many policemen. I think they are called Polizei. Grandma and Aunt Christi found out that there was a demonstration going on against the Nazis...whatever that is. We got right on the Bahn and went home.

I had a good visit and have a lot to tell Karsten and his friends at school about Germany. I think I would like to come back in the summer when it is green and warm.

Magdeburg JAE Activities

This was the best JAE activity here in Magdeburg so far. We had eight members, three investigators and all the missionaries. It was a Family Home Evening celebrating the birthday for Christian.

Jasmin, our youngest investigator, sharing with Sister Gill.

Christian, the one standing, is a returned missionary who was recently made a counselor to our Branch President. He is a blessing to this Branch.



There were fifteen in attendance. This is a good as Dresden ever gets. We are hoping to get an official Ourtreach Center going here soon. It seems that most of the investigators and baptisms are JAE. They need a place to socialize.

This was another Family Home Evening they we enjoyed.

NUEUS JAHR TAG TAUFE

On New Years Day we held OUR first baptism ( we had one in Dresden just before we left) for the Magdeburg Branch. The Sisters were out finding (speaking to people on the street) and met Sven Boenig at a Bahn stop. He was "golden" from the beginning. A little over three weeks later we were on our way to Kuethen for his baptism. It was an hour train ride and a forty five minute walk in very cold weather to this little church which is the closest baptismal font to Magdeburg. There were twelve members in our traveling party and five more drove in cars.

We were privileged to be included in many of his lessons.

Our District Leader, Elder Orton, baptized him.

We carried food with us to fix for after the event. Isabella was the last one to be baptized from Magdeburg just before we came. We love Elder Wittwer.


Sister Wells and Elder Orton are showing their stress with their red faces. They have something in common.