Hello to all. Our assignments in the office are everchanging. From one cycle to the next, we have new things to do. We keep some of the old, get something new and adjust to whatever we are asked to do. The following picture shows us with our new (to us) trusty "milk truck". 
We've been assigned to figure out what is happening with the apartments in the mission. This will take some figuring out as there are about 85 of them. Some of them have been rented for many years while others are just newly acquired. We will be visiting all of these apartments as quickly as we can to try and get a reading on what needs to be done. We have visited about half of the apartments and we think they should be classified according to the three degrees of glory and outer darkness. There are a few which might qualify for the celestial category and there are a few more which could easily qualify for outer darkness. Most seem to fit somewhere in the terestrial and telestial. It is fun to go and see how the missionaries really live. Sometimes they know we are coming and sometimes it is a surprise. The surprise visits seem to elicit the most response based on whether or not Ginny feels any smiley faces have been earned or if they should just empty the place using a fire hose and start over again. We have a GPS device that can speak to us in a variety of languages and her (Dorothy is her name, as in the Wizard of Oz) favorite saying seems to be, "Please make a U turn at the earliest possible moment". We recently had a chance to spend a couple of hours in the city of Aschaffenburg. It is really a very picturesque city. 
This is a picture of the palace there.
It is filled with a lot of pictures, statues and other memorabilia of the various persons who have lived here over the last 1000 years. Not too old for here, but really old for most of the U.S. There are really a lot of historical artifacts in this castle that is really more like a huge palace than a fortressed castle (It does have a moat around it but there is no longer water to keep out the invaders). The picture below is of the Frankfurt skyline at night taken from the balcony of our apartment. 
We thought this was a fun picture and illustrates there is a very modern part of this country that is continually building for the future. During the last few weeks we have also had some time to visit Michelstadt, a very picturesque city about an hour's drive from Frankfurt. The following picture is of the city hall.
The ground level is really an open area with the offices over this open area. The open area contained a scale to weigh all kinds of things traded in the town square as well as a linen press, which was used to straighten out a number of items made out of linen.
We've been assigned to figure out what is happening with the apartments in the mission. This will take some figuring out as there are about 85 of them. Some of them have been rented for many years while others are just newly acquired. We will be visiting all of these apartments as quickly as we can to try and get a reading on what needs to be done. We have visited about half of the apartments and we think they should be classified according to the three degrees of glory and outer darkness. There are a few which might qualify for the celestial category and there are a few more which could easily qualify for outer darkness. Most seem to fit somewhere in the terestrial and telestial. It is fun to go and see how the missionaries really live. Sometimes they know we are coming and sometimes it is a surprise. The surprise visits seem to elicit the most response based on whether or not Ginny feels any smiley faces have been earned or if they should just empty the place using a fire hose and start over again. We have a GPS device that can speak to us in a variety of languages and her (Dorothy is her name, as in the Wizard of Oz) favorite saying seems to be, "Please make a U turn at the earliest possible moment". We recently had a chance to spend a couple of hours in the city of Aschaffenburg. It is really a very picturesque city. 
This is a picture of the palace there.
We thought this was a fun picture and illustrates there is a very modern part of this country that is continually building for the future. During the last few weeks we have also had some time to visit Michelstadt, a very picturesque city about an hour's drive from Frankfurt. The following picture is of the city hall.
The ground level is really an open area with the offices over this open area. The open area contained a scale to weigh all kinds of things traded in the town square as well as a linen press, which was used to straighten out a number of items made out of linen.
To the left (I hope) you see a painting of Puss 'n Boots which has been done on the side of one of the houses in this city. A number of the houses in this area have paintings of various fairy tale characters painted on them and it is probably good for the tourist trade. The village is very beautiful and the date on the town hall is 1484. The original town hall (built before this one) is still standing but doesn't have as much character as does its replacement. The work of the Lord continues to go forward here. December was one of the best months of the year for baptisms. It is fun to see things happening in places that have not had baptisms for quite a few years. The missionaries work hard and are meeting some wonderful people that are looking for the truth and a purpose in their lives. We enjoy doing our part to help this all happen.
