I am still just loving going to the Kindergarten two afternoons a week. The principal and teachers have asked me to stay on until we leave in mid-December. I think that each day when I leave the Kindergarten, that is the happiest I feel all week. Although I cannot speak German very well, my ability to use one or two words at a time allows me to communicate with the children. I love them. When I walk in the door, several children come and hug me. They scuffle over who will get to sit on my lap during story time. They hug me when I leave. One little girl told me she wished I could be her mother. She asked for a kiss when I left. Children are such loving little beings, the same the world around.
I am also loving teaching English on Friday afternoons to the 7-8 year-olds. They are pretty smart kids and are picking English up quickly. I have taught them numbers to 100, colors, face and body parts, and movement words, and this next week, I will teach them fruits and vegetable names. I also taught them the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. They love to act out the characters in the song, and we are still singing it long past the holidays. The German style of teaching is very traditional with kids sitting in chairs and teachers using the lecture method. So the teachers and administrators here are fascinated with my active style of teaching, such as standing in a circle and moving as we sing, "I like to jump, I like to jump, I like to jump, jump, jump" (run, walk, sit, clap, etc.). The children enjoy playing games to learn English, so we play Bingo and Concentration and other games. I usually have a fun activity for them that is hands-on such as making an advent calendar to learn their numbers. I gave them a Chinese New Years party where I made them peanut cookies, taught them about Chinese customs, and let them make Chinese lanterns and flying fish. We put magnets on the fish and pictures on the back, and they enjoyed "fishing" and reviewing English at the same time.
I have just written a video script for the European Area Presidency that was just approved for shooting. The Church's Salt Lake film crew will travel to Cape Verde to film the script in the spring. It is about Cape Verde, a group of ten volcanic/dessert islands off the coast of Africa. The video is being made to celebrate the organization of the
first stake in Cape Verde. Amazingly, missionaries are baptizing over a hundred people a month there. I am now writing an additional post script for the video that tells the history of the Church on Cape Verde and will include testimonials. So tonight I will participate via Skype with a Salt Lake film director in interviewing one of the
first mission presidents and one of his missionaries. This has been a project that has required a lot of research, thought and prayer to receive the inspiration that I needed to write the script, which I wrote in two days. Elder Teixeira approved it without any changes, so I was thrilled about that.
Bob is up to his ears in legal work here for the whole of Europe. His phone calls and emails are non-stop. I am amazed at how hard he works every day, and he is really serving the Lord in opening doors and solving legal problems here in Europe. He is flying out Sunday to solve a difficult situation in Albania. There is never a dull moment at the office, and he is grateful for his P Days on Saturdays when we try to get away.
Bob and I are very engaged with missionary work. We have the elders and sister missionaries over often with guests. Tonight we are having four sets of missionaries over with Alejandra from Peru, Natalia from Russia, and maybe Dexter who is from the Philippines. They are investigating the Church. Alejandra is making a Peruvian rice and chicken dish with Bob, as I will be over at the church for the interviews and will come back when the party starts. We are glad that we relate well to young people, having practiced a lot on our dear family. We have invited our sweet German family, the Eckerts, over for fondue next week.
All of the missionaries here work very hard. Going on a mission is truly an act of service, but we are being richly blessed. We see those blessings in our own lives as well as in the lives of our family members. We are excited to see the missionary work going forward here in Europe and elsewhere in the world. One of our investigators, Angela, has chosen to be baptized in two weeks. We continue our journey here with love in our hearts for you.
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