Dresden, Germany

This last week we spent in Dresden for a Mission President's seminar with the 16 other mission presidents from the Central Europe Area. It was a great week and we were privileged to learn from Elder Ballard, Elder Tingey, Elder Huntsman, Elder Hafen, Elder Paul and Elder Wondra. The spirit was wonderful and we learned many things and came home determined to love and help our missionaries even more and to also rededicate our efforts in furthering the Lord's work in this wonderful country.

While there we had the opportunity to attend the Freiburg Temple. After a year of not being to the temple that was a real treat!

On Monday we had the opportunity to tour the City of Dresden, take a boat ride down the Elbe river and also learn about the Saints who lived behind the iron curtain. Their stories of faith and courage from the days before the Berlin wall was torn down, were very inspiring. There have truly been many Pioneers when it comes to the Lord's work. Dresden was Germany's cultural center before World War II and just before the war ended the British bombed it so badly the city was destroyed and some 300,000 people died within a few days. However, even with all this devastation, the Lord protected and helped His people. I loved learning about them!

It is amazing to see how the German people have restored and brought back the beautiful buildings and culture to this once devastated place. We really enjoyed our visit and time here. We have new idea's for teaching our missionaries and as much as we loved our trip we were very glad to get back to the mission and our work.