Our First Sunday in Ravensburg

Our initial call was to serve with the Young Single Adults.  A few weeks before we were to leave, we received an email from our Mission President asking us if we would serve as member leadership support (MLS) in Ravensburg where they have a small branch.  He also wanted us to serve in Dornbirn, Austria with a small Young Single Adult group there and support the missionaries in part of Switzerland.  Of course we agreed to all of the above and were excited to be able to serve in numerous capacities.  Our mission district here consists of two Elders in Ravensburg and two Elders in Dornbirn and the two of us.  We have a district meeting every Monday to discuss the work in our district and to train using Preach My Gospel and Gospel Essentials.  It usually goes about an hour and a half.  We are in the St. Gallen Zone which includes Ravensburg, Dornbirn, and several districts in Switzerland.

The Young Single Adults in Dornbirn meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.  It is a 45 minute drive from Ravensburg. The teacher is Gerda Stubbe-Greill.  Her husband is the bishop of the Dornbirn ward. She has been teaching the YSA's for quite a while and loves them and is very dedicated.  There are about 6 students who come regularly to Institute but they are terrific!  They study the material and are working on passing the exam at the end of the year.  It is a real challenge for Gerda because she has to try to squeeze two lessons into an hour each week.  She has also been providing some food each week and she has been doing this on her own, since the last Senior couple left in October of last year. We are delighted to be able to help her and support these YSA's.

Institute is also held in Ravensburg on Thursday evenings but it is a little unusual. Their are no active Young Adult's in Ravensburg but there are two single men who are fairly recent converts who come for gospel instruction.  The Elders have been teaching them but that will now be Elder Lake's assignment.

Our first Sunday in Ravensburg was fabulous!  We picked up the Elders on our way to church and arrived about an hour early.  The Elders like to help get things set up and be there when the members arrive to greet them.  We meet from 10:00 until 12:00. Our little branch meets on the top floor of a commercial building about 15 minutes from our apartment.  It's actually quite a nice spot.  It's rather new and has a decent sized chapel, rooms for nursery, Primary, youth, and the Relief Society.  There is also an office for the Branch President.  There is a tiny kitchen as well.  We just wish we had a church building that could be a presence in the neighborhood and invite interest from the residents.  We only have one family with children and they were gone that day.  We had two children visiting with their grandparents.  So that was very different for us following our calling in the Married Student Ward in Salt Lake with so many children.  There were about 25 people at church, which is typical, but they are a friendly, close knit group.  They warmly welcomed us and we started learning their names.  The Branch President is Jurgen Klaumunzner and his wife is Susanne.  They are awesome!  They have been serving here for 2 1/2 years even though they live in Switzerland and it takes them 2 hours each way to come to church on Sunday.  They have to take the ferry across the Bodensee (Lake Constance) twice.  We found out that next Sunday the whole Stake Presidency will be at our little branch to reorganize the Branch Presidency.  We are very sad because we instantly fell in love with this dear couple.  She served a mission to France but speaks excellent English.  That was a blessing for me!  We have a terrific young couple in our branch, Corinna and Giampietro (Giampi) Tonoli.  He is Italian and she is German.  They both speak English.  He is in the Branch Presidency.  She sat down by me and offered to translate. Yahoo!  He translated for me the second hour for Gospel Doctrine class.

Jurgen and Susanne Klaumunzner

Elder Hudson (top photo) and Elder Williams

We invited the Elders over for dinner and then we were fortunate to be able to go to Dornbirn for a special musical evening put on by the members there as a missionary event.  They had invited friends and neighbors to attend.  They had a pretty good turnout.  Much effort and preparation had gone into the evening.  There were about 10 different numbers with assorted groups and musical instruments as well.  They had a couple of videos interspersed with messages of finding God.  There was a very special spirit there.  We met some wonderful people before and after.  We met the Institute teacher, Gerda, and she expressed her gratitude and enthusiasm for our arrival.  She is very excited to have our support and help.  They served lots of delicious finger foods in the yard behind the church.  The weather was perfect and it was a delightful evening.