The Temple, Strauss, and Helping Those in Need

Saturday August 6, 2022

Remember to see Nancy's email for better writing and more detail.

Last night we went to dinner with six other couples before we went to a session in the Friedrichsdorf temple. While we were at dinner, Nancy got a text from Johannes. He is a young man (late 20’s) who is not a member of the church but plays pickleball with us. We usually play on Friday nights, so he was texting to ask where everybody was because he was the only one at the stake center where we normally play. Nancy told him we were all at the temple for the night. He was gracious and said he understood. Then, he said he would come to church again on Sunday and asked if he could sit with us. We are happy he is comfortable, and we are pleased to let him move at his own pace.

The temple session was wonderful. Being in the temple with many other missionary couples who are engaged in missionary work while dealing with a diverse set of challenges back home was unifying. There were plenty of hugs and kind supportive words to go around. We have become close to many couples here in ways that are fun, but also deep and poignant. The eternal perspective of the gospel has helped us to be able to talk about many hard things together, and it has been bonding.

Tonight, we are going to an outdoor Strauss concert with three other couples. It’s sold out so I’m hoping that’s a good sign. Before we go we are taking a new self-reliance couple out to lunch. They just flew in yesterday and are jet lagged and adjusting. We thought providing lunch would give us a chance to get to know them better and relieve them of thinking about what to eat. We’ve had Zoom meetings with them before, so we know them, but face to face is always good.

Each unit in Europe (Stakes, wards, branches) was given a certain amount of money to help with Ukrainian refugees by partnering with other community organizations in their areas. It has been a good plan. Now, we are ending that process. If they haven’t used the money or asked for an extension, it will be withdrawn from their accounts at the end of the month. Then, moving forward, they will still have access to resources to help the refugees, but it will come from a different pool of money. We spent time fielding questions about this process this week. The church is a large organization and sometimes it takes extra effort to get all the information to everyone. We are trying to help with that. As we deal with this kind of work, we Always try to remember that the bottom line is to help people in need.

Our office Administrative Assistant has Covid so she’s out of the office for a while. But we still communicate online when necessary. Nancy and others spent time with her on a video call this week where they tried to clean up the Teams folders. They got a lot done but have some more to do. Keeping things cleaned up, up to date, and organized is something Nancy spends a lot of time doing, and it is a huge help to everyone using Teams across Europe.

It makes us happy to Marco Polo and Whatsapp with our kids and grandkids. Hearing their voices and seeing them makes us happy.


Scott and Nancy Waterfall
  

Bad Homburg and the Strauss Concert
David and Christina Foote


Happy day in the park at the Strauss concert with friends

Saving spots - Nancy, Judy Nielson, Christina Foote and Nancy Waterfall

The music pavilion at Bad Homburg



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