Apostle M. Russell Ballard Comes to Town

The Church has been providing aid to refugees in the Middle East for more than a decade, donating hundreds of thousands of blankets, clothes, emergency medical supplies, food, and other resources to refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Syria. An announcement was made at the end of September, stating that Mormons in Europe, supported by Church headquarters in the United States, would be stepping up their aid to refugees fleeing to Europe.  
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles showed his support for these efforts by gathering first-hand impressions of the situation of refugees here in Europe.  One of his first stops was in Berlin, where he, Elder Kearon, our Area President and his wife, and Elder Clayton Christensen of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy and his wife
visited two refugee shelters.

Our good friends, the Walkers, were also in Berlin, checking out one of the venues for next summer's visit of the Tabernacle Choir, and they were lucky enough to run into
this group of special people.

Well, Tuesday, November 17, became an exciting day for us!  We knew Elder Ballard was going to be in our area--in fact, speaking at our nearby Offenbach chapel--but we didn't know that he would be right here in our very office building!  Of course, the Area Presidency has their offices here, so it makes sense after all that he was in the building.
What turned out to be a special treat, however, was that he gave a last-minute offer to have the employees and senior missionaries meet in the chapel next door for a brief 30-minute devotional. It was truly a treat to be that close to him and have him talk specifically to us.  Jim and I remarked that he did look a little tired as he walked up to the seating, but once he approached the pulpit, he was vibrant and full of energy as he bore testimony to the truthfulness of the gospel and thanked us all for our service.  He insisted on shaking everyone's hand  after the meeting ended.

What was even a bigger surprise was the change in "invitees" to the evening's event.  Originally, only ward/branch & stake/district council members were to attend the meeting.  Our ICS department had been busy for two days setting up all the necessary equipment so that the meeting could be televised to stake centers throughout the Europe Area to over 30 countries.  Due to the fact that many people might choose to attend the meeting at their stake center and not travel to Offenbach, it was then decided to invite all senior missionaries in order to ensure a capacity crowd.  Once again we were delighted at the chance to "sit at the feet" of an apostle and receive his counsel and guidance.

It was truly an amazing meeting!  Area President Kearon and his wife both gave wonderful talks. Elder Dyches and Elder Johnson of the Area Presidency and Elder Christensen and his wife spoke, as well as a couple of local leaders.  The final 45 minutes was devoted to Elder Ballard, who didn't disappoint us with his energy, testimony, and conviction of what we all need to be doing in today's war to combat Satan and his influences and to come closer to Christ.

All the talks centered around the Europe Area's goals for its members.  Elder Ballard praised the Area Presidency and said he thought the simplicity and exactness made this the best set of goals throughout the entire Church!  These three goals are simply this:  Bring a Friend, Become Mentally and Temporally Self-reliant, and Find an Ancestor.  He specifically charged all of us in attendance to invite someone to church before Christmas.  (I got our less-active friend out to a Relief Society cooking demonstration last month, so now we'll see if we can't get her
 to come to church with us.)

On a personal note, our Area Medical Doctor, Elder Ryser, was Elder Ballard's doctor at home. Visiting with the apostle, Elder Ryser learned that he and his body guard could use some laundry services, so Elder Ryser volunteered his wife and me (since we both live on the same floor) to handle that task.  So, long story short, I got to wash Elder Ballard's laundry
 and iron his white shirt!  Cool, huh!