Greifswald!!!

This was my first time serving in former east germany. It was a huge change from west Germany. It was also a huge college town, and I was not familiar with talking to so many young people but it turned out great in the end.

This is the prettiest part of the city of Greifswald. You can see the beautiful painted buildings behind me and there is another fountain to the side of me.
This is the harbor! Yes that is me walking on "water" ...everything was frozen. The boats are even frozen into the harbor. Now imagine being outside in this cold all day every day. It was so hard and we were seriously worried that spring would never come........

But it did!!!! And it could not have been more beautiful!

Yellow is my all time favorite color and to see so many fields of yellow warmed my soul.

This is an out look from the top of a cathedral in the city of Stralsund. This is actually the largest city in the Greifswald area, but there were so few members that these two cities, Wolgast and two islands were in our area. It was the largest area in the whole mission.

Vacation Spots of Greifswald

Eldena Ruins....just a few minute walk from the beach, and just a 20 minute bike ride out of the center of town for us. We had a great day discovering all of the rooms and climbing all that we could and still not get in trouble.

Herringsdorf Beach. This is on one of the islands that was in our area. This island also has a border to Poland on it. Now this picture was taken becase the Elders assured us that there was a bathroom right here by the beach. Well we walked the beach...which is very painful to do through all of the sand when you have to pee...and there was no bathroom to be found. But look at this sight! And can you believe that there is a member who lives just up the beach from where this picture was taken.

The second island of this area is Ruegen. We took two p-days and headed up here to enjoy the beautiful chalk cliffs! We never came up here to work because as you might guess there are not too many people who want to spend their vacation talking to missionaries. But the day trips were totally worth it!

And this is from the inner city of Greifswald. The Dom of Greifswald is something that I loved to see. I hiked up to the top a few times and it was always great. This was taken on the last night I spent in the city.

I was here for the longest of all of my areas, and we had our ups and downs, but the city of Greifswald will always hold a very special spot in my heart. I did so much personal growing here and I loved my companions. We were always on our bikes and riding bikes through the beautiful countryside was so relaxing and a great reprieve from some of the stressful situations that we were confronted with. It was a bitter sweet experience to leave this area.

Rostock

Here is the main market in the big city of Rostock. You can see the cathedral and one of the many statues placed around the city. This is the second biggest city that I served in, and it continues to follow my pattern of being on the Baltic sea. There is a big port in this city and a great beach right outside of the city.

Petri Kirche is the sailors church that has a great view of the whole city. This was a great day because we had walked through the market that was in the last picture and we got mountain peaches that were warm from the market. They were some of the juiciest peaches and it was so delicious. The summer fruit market is a must visit when in germany. And check out all of the great cobblestone roads in this city.

This is the beach part of the area called Warnemuende. There are 3 light houses that you can see from one vantage point and here is just one of them. I got to visit this part of the city three times and it was so beautiful and peaceful everytime. This is also where all of the cruise ships dock that go between Germany, Danemark, and Sweden....Don't worry, we never went to the other countries for a visit.

And here is th main thing that I remember from this city. We lived just around the corner from the Rostock Brewery. And even more we would walk past this everyday on our way to the rented space where we would hold church. This was right in the middle of our walk. The whole town would smell like beer, but you get used to it and it becomes a good smell....I know wierd, but it is true.

After a long six weeks here I got sent to my dream area!

The Heavenly City of Freiberg!

Well after thinking over my time in Germany I have decided that all in all Freiberg was my favorite city that I served in. Everything together just made it wonderful.
This is one of the inner city view points and believe it or not the whole city is this beautiful! Behind me you can see the main Cathedral that was build in the 1100s. I walked these strees so many times and saw so many sunsets here.

This is my favorite street in the whole city. The wall that you can see was originally built in the 1100s to protect the city and it is now there as a beautiful sight. In fact we had the wonderful pleasure of seeing this everyday from our apartment window. Awesome!

We also got to go into the oldest mine in the world. It was founded in 1168 and they originally were mining silver. The mine is still operating and we got to go in and see all of the history. Another interesting science fact is that the element Germanium was found here in this very mine.

The history of the mine was not the only history found here in this small mountain town. I also found many of my hand painted and hand crafted german figurines here and they are beautiful.

Here is the main attraction for members of the church in Freiberg. This was the second temple built in Europe and it was the first temple build during communist rule. This temple truely is a miracle and I had the privilege of hearing the stories from those who saw everything happen with their own eyes. With having the church right next to the temple I got to see this beautiful sight everyday!

This city truely was heaven, but with a transfer call I headed on a 10 hour train ride to my next and final city.

Dresden!!!

Even though I never served in the city of Dresden, I still got to visit on pday and for some meetings. This city is one of the most beautiful city I have ever seen. There is also another amazing war story associated with this city. It too was totally destroyed. This is a picture of the opera house in August of 2011. What a perfect day!

Also to be found in this city is the largest Volks Wagon factory. We went in ans got the full tour. The have everything from wood floors, to keep the medical costs of employees down, to a noise producer to keep the birds from pooping on the building.

This is the famous Frauenkirche. As you look at thr building you can see black bricks and then bright bricks. The reason for this is that the church was destroyed so much in WWII that they could not repair the structure. So instead they took all of the full bricks that were left and rebuilt the church exactly the way it was with the old and the new.

This is another center of Dresden. They too were hit hard in the war which is why it looks a little dirty but still breath taking.

My Last City of Kiel

Here I am in the middle of the city. Behind me you can see the Town Hall and the Opera house to the right. I even got to see the Jungle Book in the Opera house while I was here. In my opinion this is the prettiest part of the town because it has all of the beautiful buidings. And it is a miracle that it looks like this because the city of Kiel was completely destroyed during WWII. I got to hear stories of people who live here that still remember seeing the city on fire.

My wish for my last pday was to go to the beautiful city of Lubeck. This is the most photographed building in europe. We got to see the Christmas market, and we took a ride to the top of one of the churches to look out over the city. There are 9 green towers from the original churches that have been there since the 1200s. The city is breath taking. We also got to hang out with the coolest senior couple, the Marks', and it was great!

This is the the city of Laboe. We went up there for a submarine memorial and on the way back to the bus we got to see this beautiful sunset of the harbor.

Here is one of the submarines! close quarters!

Kiel was a great city. There were wonderful people that I really grew to love. My favorite part of the town was probably the center for young single adults. When we had investigators of the right age we got to go to family home evening and institute. And once again I was on the water...just like most of my cities. A good final chapter.

My Final Journey to Berlin

They brought us to a resuraunt where we had started our journey in Berlin and we had our last german meal. I choose to go with one of my daring favorites called Mettwurst. This is actually raw meat and it tastes sooo good even though it doesn't sound like it.

This was my last train ride from Kiel to Berlin. It was not too long because I got to ride the fast train. We got up to 185 Kilometers per hour.... and what was even better was I got the whole cabin to myself. We did go through a lot of country and farming area and because of this we had a short delay due to a heard of sheep that had walked onto the train tracks. What a peaceful ride though.

This is what the Berlin missionaries call Mauerplatz. Here is where we walk from West German soil onto East German soil for the last time in Berlin. We go there and read the dedication prayers for the for the teaching of the people of Germany for the last time. Then we go and pray to be accountable to the Lord for the work that we have done. Here I felt the approval and appreciation and most of all peace and love of the Lord for the service that I had provided to Him and His children.

The journey was not an easy one, but it was one that I am glad that I had. I learned so much and I loved even more. Germany and the people will always be in my heart.