The Stuart Family: Germany: Görlitz

Sunday morning we awoke early, had another wonderful breakfast from Ted and Marion, said our goodbyes to them, and loaded up for the estimated 2-3 hour drive to Görlitz, the easternmost town in Germany. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland (Federal State) of Saxony.

Near the end of World War II, German troops blew up all bridges crossing the Lusatian Neisse. The redrawing of boundaries in 1945 divided the town. The right bank became part of Poland and was named Zgorzelec in 1948, while the main portion became Görlitz. When the East German states were dissolved in 1952, Görlitz became part of the Dresden District, but the states were restored upon German reunification in 1990.

In 2002 Lake Berzdorf, located south of Görlitz, began to flood. The Altstadtbrücke (literally old town bridge) between Görlitz and Zgorzelec was rebuilt in 2003-04. It was officially opened on October 20, 2004. As soon as Poland signed the Schengen Agreement on December 20, 2007, movement between the two sides of the river became unrestricted, since border controls were eliminated. Indeed, the new pedestrian bridge fails to tell the traveller that they are leaving one country and entering another!

Whilst the town was always well preserved, it was notably gray and colorless under East German rule. Since reunification, many buildings have been redecorated and Görlitz is now more clearly "beautiful". It is a popular place to which the elderly retire, being quiet and relatively affordable by German standards.

The Altstadtbrücke from Görlitz to Poland

Joe served in this city while on his mission and we had planned to attend sacrament meeting there. We arrived in about half the time so we stopped at a bakery for some fresh brötchen at a little village on the way and took tons of pictures of the landscape and cute little German villages. When we arrived in Görlitz, we still had about an hour to spare so we drove through the town and walked through the city center. Joe was racking his brain trying to remember which way to drive along the streets and where his apartment was from about 17 years earlier. He was having such a great time remembering and reminiscing about his experiences as a missionary. It was so fun to hear him talk about those events in his life.

His apartment door, which is now a chiropractic clinic.

I love to see the differences in the modern, renovated buildings from the ones neglected after World War II.

Jake and Amber


Schönhof, Germany's oldest bourgeois Renaissance building from 1526

There were so many German buildings with those creepy, but awesome windows.
We felt like we were being watched!

Neues Rathaus, the new townhall

St. Peter's Church--The renovations are obvious on this building.

Around 10:30 we drove to the LDS church where the German branch meets. Their sacrament meeting started at 10:50. When we walked in the front doors of the church, a man grinned and exclaimed, "Elder Stuart!" It was Bruder Lehmann, who was the branch president 17 years ago when Joe was serving as a missionary. He had been released since then but was re-called to serve in that position in 2009. He was so excited to see Joe. Introductions were made and we sat down in the chapel for sacrament meeting.

Bruder Lehmann

Bruder Fuchs

The LDS church building that was dedicated in 1995

Everything was spoken in German, obviously, so a bishopric counselor gave us headsets for translation. The current missionaries sat to the left of Joe and I sat on his right. The Aikeles were next to me and the Oldhams sat in front of us. Joe was translating everything that was said into our headsets. It was a little hard for us to be reverent because Joe kept making side comments that would make us all giggle or he would pause for a really long time, trying to explain it back to us in a much shorter English version. At one point, Amber was laughing so hard at listening to Joe's voice in her ear that she was crying and a sweet sister turned around and gave her a tissue. In order to avoid my own giggles, I did not look at Amber at all and stared straight ahead focusing on the speaker. The Elders would even laugh a bit and nod at Joe's correct German as he was translating the talks. The Aikeles were the mature ones as they listened intently and Sam even pretended to sleep to make it all the more real.

After Bruder Lehmann's talk, he invited Joe up to give some concluding remarks and bear his testimony. My husband did a wonderful job giving a little history of his life after he left Germany as an Elder and bearing testimony of the gospel. One of my favorite things about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that it is the same gospel and teaching everywhere you go, all across the world. Although we did not understand every word that the speakers said, we felt of their spirits and testimonies and knew what they were saying. It was a great experience.

After the meeting was over, everyone stayed to give Joe a hug and shake all of our hands. There were some members still around from when Joe was there and he asked about some that were missing. Unfortunately, some had passed away or had become inactive. Bruder Lehmann brought out a guest book and scrapbook and showed us pictures of when the church was built in 1995. It was dedicated by President Monson, who was a General Authority at that time. Joe actually blessed the sacrament during that dedication and there were many pictures of him and the ward members doing service projects and helping the members of that branch. He had also signed the guest book years ago and it was fun to read his German. He signed the book again, this time as a visitor, and we took several pictures of him with the members. We also talked with the Elders for a long time. One was from Draper, Utah and the other was from Switzerland. It was fun to listen to the comparisons of the Germany Leipzig mission from 1994-1996 to the Berlin (the name and areas have been changed) mission in 2011.

The Elders currently serving in the Germany Berlin mission

We then drove back through the town and grabbed some lunch at Rathaus Frieberger Cafe. The food was delicious and we loaded back into the van to drive to Dresden. As we left Görlitz, Joe took us by the old church where he and the German branch met before the new building was built and dedicated. It was a really old building and the branch members met in the rooftop. During 1968, President Monson, as a member of the quorum of the twelve, visited that old building and revealed that because of the faith of the East German Saints, they would have every blessing given to them that members have in other lands. Nearly thirty years later, the revelation came full circle as a chapel was dedicated in Görlitz and Joe was able to be a part of that inspiring experience while serving there as a missionary in 1995.