Gracie's Reply

 Feb 24, 2026

I'm going to repond to your email at the beginning of the day so I still have time. Last week I wanted to repond to your email but I didn't get the chance to. I loved reading your talk!! One thing I like that missionaries often say is "commitment keepers are covenant keepers".

Yes, I know Reinoldikirche (St. Reinoldi's church)! There is a subway station right by it and some of the christmas markets used to be all around it. I have some pictures! I really like the green orb steeple, which you can't see in the old photo because it got destroyed. It looks almost space-like. It is so crazy to see WW2 pictures of the places I'm in. Dortmund was pretty heavily bombed, so much of the city is kind of ugly and drab, there are not as many cool old buildings compared to other cities.

And yes, the other (our) church building is still there! I recognized it right away, but they have added another wing to it since then. The new part has a basement with a family history center, a high council room, and a few more classrooms and bathrooms, and the upstairs has a young womens room and a large lounge room for the institute center. It seems like more German churches have lounge rooms like this than the American ones! There are couches, a kitchen, a projector, a pool table... it's nice :) I have not noticed the crooked brick in the chapel, but now I will be looking for it. I wonder if any of the kids in that photo are some of the old people in the ward! Especially since German families tend to stay in one spot for generations more than Americans, from what I have noticed.

I also miss those crazy noisy kid days at home too! Sister Merten and I were chatting about different simple games we used to make up. I told her about "monkey," and "spinny spinny," (maybe emma only knows that one). I also thought of a game we played a few times where one person would lay down near the front door uncovering their belly, and the other person would go upstairs and reach over the ledge with a bottle of lotion, and you would have to try to see if you can put a drop of lotion right on the other person's belly button I wish I could go back and watch myself in those days, especially to see what kind of things I would do when I was alone. I guess someday all of those memories will come back.

Thank you for your email!! I love reading them a lot, and watching everyone grow up.

Love,

Gracie

I dont have any pictures of the outside of the church, but this is from google maps

The bricks are too blurry to see in this picture

And the Reinoldikirche