Back in the Office

We've had a busy 10 days in the office with lots of new projects coming in.  We got a map showing all the stakes so we can keep track of where our projects are.



We have a new administrative assistant in the Welfare department: her name is Constanza and she is a delight to work with, and is a master of creating Excel spreadsheet documents for me to use to better organize our orders.

Constanza and her husband at the Christmas Market

Constanza's desk

The Sharpes - the Humanitarian coordinators who replaced us - meanwhile, have taken 4 days to go to Switzerland to celebrate their wedding anniversary.


Sister Enger, a German member who teaches a weekly German class for us, brought in about 100 photos of birds which her late husband had taken.  Wow.  He was good.  I'm lucky to SEE a bird, let alone be able to focus my camera on it and get a photo.  That is a real art.

Black eagle, the nation bird of Germany

Eisvogel, or Kingfisher

This lovely little bird is a German robin.

 Meanwhile, back in Utah, this adorable girl B. is studying Germany  in Brownies so dressed up for the occasion.  The dirndl skirt is one my mom, Grandma Fawnie, made for Karen about 30 years ago.

L rocking her new glasses.  

 One of the merchants we buy in bulk from offered us an amazing deal on some waterproof coats (150 € coats for 30 € each), which are in really high demand for new arrivals in the camps: apparently it's not this cold or rainy back home in Syria or Iran or Eritrea, although I think the Afghans are used to it!


We ordered 800 from photos, but you always wonder how they will actually look when they arrive.  We needn't have worried.  They are beautiful: densely woven waterproof fabric on the outside, with reinforcing rwaterproofing around all the pockets and zippers.  Inside is a soft and warm zip-out liner with a cell phone pocket.  Almost all of the adult refugees have cell phones to keep in touch with family scattered across the globe.

Members continue to assemble hygiene kits and food boxes.  The Staines Stake in the UK is bringing 18 trucks with 46 metric tonnes of stuff next week.