Geoff & Deborah's Mission to Europe

Our Address via pouch (paper only):

Elder and Sister Geoff & Deborah Lewis

Europe Central Area Office

50 East North Temple

Salt Lake City, UT 84159

Elder Geoff Lewis

US 303-882-9468 Germany +49 176 1449 2242 Email: geofflewis@me.com

Sister Deborah Lewis

US Phone 303-882-9468 (for text or phone) Email: geoffdeb@comcast.net

You will be notified each time Geoff or Deborah adds a post to this blog.

One of the biggest concerns for senior couples in deciding whether to serve a mission is health.  It was a big issue for us because of Deborah’s prior back surgeries and the pain she constantly endures.  Geoff was concerned about his sleep apnea and Epstein Barr virus which causes unusual fatigue.

One of the blessings of our mission so far has been our excellent health.  From the day we entered the MTC, Deborah has not had any back pain.  All the walking we do here in Germany seems to help.  We were concerned about the sleeping arrangements because we have a special mattress at home that helps her. We have not had any trouble sleeping. Deborah feels better than she has in years.  Geoff feels energized and focused in his work.

Another aspect we appreciate is working with amazing senior couples.  This began in the MTC.  In our group we had a couple headed to Mongolia to do humanitarian work.  Another couple was going to do humanitarian work in Macedonia. Here in Frankfurt we work in the office with other senior attorneys.  There are also couples here at Europe Central Area HQ who are providing medical support, mental health and addiction counseling for young missionaries, humanitarian, self-reliance, communications, YSA programs, disaster preparedness, records preservation and family history.  Some of these couples are on their second or third senior mission.  One of these couples is from Japan and another is from Switzerland. Some are making a great sacrifice to serve. We are humbled to be working alongside them. 

Here in Frankfurt, there are two Wards.  A German speaking Ward and an English speaking Ward.  The English Ward has most of the senior couples as well as members who work full-time in the Area office and their families.  There are some corporate ex-pats as well.  These members are from numerous countries.  Our Bishopric consists of a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and an American.  We also have members from England, Italy, Ukaraine, Georgia, Portugal, China, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Peru, and Guatemala.  They are remarkable Saints with very strong testimonies and commitments to the Gospel.  We are truly gaining a perspective of the worldwide reach of the Church.

Another perspective we are gaining is to see the blessing of the rising second and third generations in the Church in Europe.  When Geoff served in France 45 years ago there were very few second generation members of the Church above Primary age.  There was virtually no youth program.  It was extremely rare for there to be a young man who served a mission. Now, most of the employees in the Area Office are returned missionaries (men and women) who are married in the temple and have young families.  It is wonderful to see.

A few weeks ago we made a three-day trip to Holland (yes, it is correct to say “Holland” which is the proper name of the area in the Netherlands which includes Amsterdam). We were enthralled by Amsterdam, its canals, bicycles and beautiful buildings.  At the central train station there is a three-story parking garage just for bicycles.  Bikes absolutely rule the city.  Literally everyone rides a bike and you better watch out for them because they have the right of way.

It was not the season for flowers so we are anxious to go back in the Spring.  You may associate Amsterdam with drugs and prostitution.  We did not go near the parts of the city where those exist.  We found Amsterdam to be delightful.  We enjoyed a canal cruise throughout the city and a visit to the Van Gogh museum. We decided that the best way to describe it is that it is like Venice, except not. To understand that you would need to visit both those cities.

Yesterday we visited the town if Idstein which was like stepping onto the set of Beauty and the Beast.  The 400 year-old, colorful half-timbered houses with flower boxes in the windows, the grand city hall, the well and fountain in the square, the cobblestone streets, and the seven-story witches tower were like Disneyland (except that they burned witches and warlocks in the square 400 years ago).

The purpose of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to invite everyone to come to Jesus Christ and, if you choose, receive Him.

Here is how Elder and Sister Lewis are helping others to come to Christ.

Elder Lewis is working for the Church’s Office of General Counsel (OGC).The legal work for the Church is overseen by the OGC. For each of the 17 Areas around the world, the OGC has one paid Area Legal Counsel (ALC). Here in Europe, there are three areas: Europe Central. Europe North and Europe East.  We are working in the Europe Central Area which is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany.  The Europe Central Area covers more than 30 countries from The Netherlands in the north to Spain in the south and across Central Europe and down through the Mediterranean to Turkey.  The newly created Europe North Area covers Great Britain, Scandinavia, and the Baltic countries.  Europe East covers Russia.

The Church calls retired lawyers as Senior Missionaries to assist the ALCs. Currently there are six senior couples serving as Area Associate Legal Counsel (AALC) here in Frankfurt and doing the legal work for all three Europe Areas. The AALCs hire local attorneys in each country to provide legal advice, file legal documents, draft contracts, and make court appearances.

The OGC does legal work in real estate, visas, contracts, human resources, and humanitarian/welfare matters. For example, legal work in real estate includes preparing contracts for buying or renting land for meetinghouses, temples, apartments and offices throughout the world and constructing buildings on the land. When the Church gains permission to operate in a new country, OGC works with local counsel to properly set up the legal entities needed to operate. The OGC also oversees legal work on lawsuits.

Many of these Senior Missionary attorneys are doing legal work far different than they have ever done before.  For example, one of the attorneys in our office is a retired juvenile court judge.  Another specialized in retirement plans for large companies.  Geoff’s experience as General Counsel is fairly well suited to managing local counsel in a variety of matters.  For all of us, learning the laws and legal practices of different countries is a challenge.  Fortunately, all of of our local counsel speak and read English fluently.

Deborah is learning the visa and residency requirement process for five different countries, all of which are in the Adriatic North Mission. They are Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Each country has a slightly different process and list of rules for missionaries to follow to be legally allowed to enter the country and proselyte. When a missionary receives a transfer, about every six weeks, they could be transferred to a new country within the Mission. Deborah is learning how to keep them legal.

So how are Elder and Sister Lewis helping to invite all to Christ? We are assisting to make sure that the Church, its leaders, missionaries, and members in Europe are following the laws of each country. We are helping to build meetinghouses and Temples. Geoff is helping with the Vienna, Austria temple where the Church is currently looking for land to acquire as a Temple site. The Church and its members can be obedient to both the laws of God and the laws of man. Doing this helps us to build the Kingdom in new countries because the leaders of those countries can see that we follow the laws of the land.

“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honouring, and sustaining the law.” (Article of Faith 12).

Last week we had a three-day weekend due to celebration of Germany Unification Day.  This celebrates when West Germany and East Germany were reunited into a single country in 1990. We took that opportunity to travel to Berlin which is the capital of Germany and has been a center of many historic events.  We learned about how oppressed the country was under Russian rule following the Second World War until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.  We saw Checkpoint Charlie, remnants of the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, and the Jewish Museum Berlin.  Berlin is now a very large and thriving city.

Yesterday we took a day trip to Heidelberg, a little city just over an hour away.  Heidelberg, with its large, historic castle and half-timbered buildings and houses all set above a beautiful river, is a picture postcard of what one imagines Germany to be.

Wow!  What a wonderful whirlwind we have been on!  Our week in the MTC was incredibly spiritually uplifting.  Being with 25 senior missionary couples and 1600 young missionaries was inspiring.  The energy filled our hearts and lifted our spirits.  We took the opportunity at meal times to sit with a different group of young missionaries and share where we were all from and where we were all going.  They are an amazing group of young people, each with a story as to why they are on a mission.  The following week we spent two days in Salt Lake City at Church Headquarters learning about the ecclesiastical and temporal organization of The Church.  There is so much more than we ever could have imagined.  

We had a smooth flight to Frankfurt.  Because we landed mid-day Friday, we were able to spend the weekend getting acclimated.   We have a small apartment that is a 10 minute walk from the Europe Central Area Office.  We have a car and learning to drive on German streets in the city and on the autobahn has been an adventure.  You can parallel park on both sides of the street and on the sidewalk in either direction.  Deborah has not had the courage to parallel park yet.  But she has to learn because that is basically the only type of parking there is.  

Even though Germany is a modern country, so many things are different and require us to learn.  Don’t even ask us about rules in Germany for recycling!  Germany has rules for everything and people follow them.  For example, pedestrians wait for the walk sign to cross the street, no jay walking.  There are bicycles and bike paths everywhere and cyclists have the right of way over cars and pedestrians.  So if you are not careful, they will run you over.  It makes it very tricky to make a right turn in the car.  If you have an accident with a cyclist, the pedestrian or the driver is always at fault.  One of us has to navigate while the other is driving so the navigator can read the signs and watch for cyclists.  Thank goodness for GPS! 

We work on the second floor of the area office which is occupied by the Office of General Counsel.  There are seven attorneys, five of which are senior missionaries.  The spouses have a variety of assignments.  Deborah gave herself the first assignment of shredding papers.  She has been given several opportunities to consider. One of them would be visa coordination and tracking for missionaries in the Adriatic North Mission (Croatia, Serbia, Boznia-Hersogovevnia, North Macedonia) Currently, the Mission President is not able to track them and they do not always have the proper visa to move among the countries throughout the mission boundaries, which they are doing anyway.  If Deborah accepts this assignment, we will both travel to Croatia for two days to meet with the Mission President and set up a tracking system.

We just returned from a weekend in Stockholm Sweden.  Geoff’s first assignment was to help coordinate the redundancy of employees at the Stockholm Temple which is going to close next March for three years to be renovated.  We were able to attend church at the meetinghouse adjacent to the Temple.  Afterwards we walked the Temple grounds, which are in a beautiful wooded setting.  It reminded us of the Portland Temple.  When they were building the Stockholm Temple, they found remains of a Viking burial ground.  Just outisde the Temple fence but still on the grounds, there is a pile of round and square boulders which are the headstones for those buried there.

Last Tuesday, we had the opportunity to have a welcome interview with Elder Ruben Alliaud of the Seventy who is the second counselor in the Europe Central Area Presidency.  It was delightful.  He is a very warm and engaging person.  

Elder Alliaud served on the missionary committee for two years at church headquarters.  He described the senior missionary call process and why it is different from the young missionary process.  He said senior missionaries have served all their lives through callings, community, work and families.  They have developed skills and wisdom and can be trusted to do the Lord’s work.  He told us we are exactly where the Lord needs us to be. He promised us as we serve, that we will come to know why we were called to this mission.  Elder Alliaud said miracles will happen to us and our family.  Above all, we represent the Lord Jesus Christ.  

(From Deborah) Elder Alliaud’s words and spirit were very comforting to me.  I am struggling to connect, to feel grounded, to know my role and to understand how things work.  I feel like I am standing on a ball trying to stay balanced upright.  Most of the time, I feel like I am falling and part of me wants to give up.  This morning I woke up with a desire to try again.  Still there are so many things that are enjoyable and I know that I will adjust, more joy will come.  I take strength from the words of Isaiah this week.  (Isa. 40:11) “He shall feed ‘me’ like a shepherd, he shall gather ‘me’ with his arm, and carry ‘me’ in his bosom, and shall gently lead ‘me’.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”

Wow!  What a wonderful whirlwind we have been on!  Our week in the MTC was incredibly spiritually uplifting.  Being with 25 senior missionary couples and 1600 young missionaries was inspiring.  The energy filled our hearts and lifted our spirits.  We took the opportunity at meal times to sit with a different group of young missionaries and share where we were all from and where we were all going.  They are an amazing group of young people, each with a story as to why they are on a mission.  The following week we spent two days in Salt Lake City at Church Headquarters learning about the ecclesiastical and temporal organization of The Church.  There is so much more than we ever could have imagined.  

We had a smooth flight to Frankfurt.  Because we landed mid-day Friday, we were able to spend the weekend getting acclimated.   We have a small apartment that is a 10 minute walk from the Europe Central Area Office.  We have a car and learning to drive on German streets in the city and on the autobahn has been an adventure.  You can parallel park on both sides of the street and on the sidewalk in either direction.  Deborah has not had the courage to parallel park yet.  But she has to learn because that is basically the only type of parking there is.  

Even though Germany is a modern country, so many things are different and require us to learn.  Don’t even ask us about rules in Germany for recycling!  Germany has rules for everything and people follow them.  For example, pedestrians wait for the walk sign to cross the street, no jay walking.  There are bicycles and bike paths everywhere and cyclists have the right of way over cars and pedestrians.  So if you are not careful, they will run you over.  It makes it very tricky to make a right turn in the car.  If you have an accident with a cyclist, the pedestrian or the driver is always at fault.  One of us has to navigate while the other is driving so the navigator can read the signs and watch for cyclists.  Thank goodness for GPS! 

We work on the second floor of the area office which is occupied by the Office of General Counsel.  There are seven attorneys, five of which are senior missionaries.  The spouses have a variety of assignments.  Deborah gave herself the first assignment of shredding papers.  She has been given several opportunities to consider. One of them would be visa coordination and tracking for missionaries in the Adriatic North Mission (Croatia, Serbia, Boznia-Hersogovevnia, North Macedonia) Currently, the Mission President is not able to track them and they do not always have the proper visa to move among the countries throughout the mission boundaries, which they are doing anyway.  If Deborah accepts this assignment, we will both travel to Croatia for two days to meet with the Mission President and set up a tracking system.

We just returned from a weekend in Stockholm Sweden.  Geoff’s first assignment was to help coordinate the redundancy of employees at the Stockholm Temple which is going to close next March for three years to be renovated.  We were able to attend church at the meetinghouse adjacent to the Temple.  Afterwards we walked the Temple grounds, which are in a beautiful wooded setting.  It reminded us of the Portland Temple.  When they were building the Stockholm Temple, they found remains of a Viking burial ground.  Just outisde the Temple fence but still on the grounds, there is a pile of round and square boulders which are the headstones for those buried there.

Last Tuesday, we had the opportunity to have a welcome interview with Elder Ruben Alliaud of the Seventy who is the second counselor in the Europe Central Area Presidency.  It was delightful.  He is a very warm and engaging person.  

Elder Alliaud served on the missionary committee for two years at church headquarters.  He described the senior missionary call process and why it is different from the young missionary process.  He said senior missionaries have served all their lives through callings, community, work and families.  They have developed skills and wisdom and can be trusted to do the Lord’s work.  He told us we are exactly where the Lord needs us to be. He promised us as we serve, that we will come to know why we were called to this mission.  Elder Alliaud said miracles will happen to us and our family.  Above all, we represent the Lord Jesus Christ.  

(From Deborah) Elder Alliaud’s words and spirit were very comforting to me.  I am struggling to connect, to feel grounded, to know my role and to understand how things work.  I feel like I am standing on a ball trying to stay balanced upright.  Most of the time, I feel like I am falling and part of me wants to give up.  This morning I woke up with a desire to try again.  Still there are so many things that are enjoyable and I know that I will adjust, more joy will come.  I take strength from the words of Isaiah this week.  (Isa. 40:11) “He shall feed ‘me’ like a shepherd, he shall gather ‘me’ with his arm, and carry ‘me’ in his bosom, and shall gently lead ‘me’.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”

PLEASE BE PATIENT AS WE TRY TO FIGURE OUT FORMATTING AND HOW TO USE THIS BLOG WITH WORDPRESS. IT IS VERY CRUDE FOR NOW.

At the SLC Marriott on the way to the airport headed for Frankfurt