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1st Visit to Utah - 1989 - a dream come true after 25 years !
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I was driving by this building with this strange name "Die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage"
it caught my attention - I saw the showcase - the meeting hours and that was the starting point ...
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May 1967 - baptised at the Central German Mission in Duesseldorf
Sept 1967 - the German Foreign Office sends me to Tel Aviv - Israel for a 6 months assignment
- no connections or recollections about my recent baptism - it is as if wiped out
May 1968 - Immigration to Israel and marriage - the past seems forgotten as a new chapter unfolds
Feb 1972 - Military Service in Samaria - Mountains of Ephraim - strange dream
May 1975 - After months of prayers for direction and meaning : Renewed contact to the Church - my German file reaches Israel
1977 - Israel District is established with 3 Branches : Jerusalem - Tiberias - Tel Aviv - Ivan J.Barrett becomes District President.
Sept.1977 - Ordained an Elder in Jerusalem by my close friend Ronny Lester Graybeal
Oct 1979 - Pres Spencer W Kimball dedicates the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the Mt of Olives in Jerusalem
July 1980 - Our daughter is born - we are overhappy .
Conflict and domestic difficulties mark the coming years due to my church involvement
Aug 1984 - turning point - a visit to Wilhelmshaven and death of my father make me kneel again and pray
- remain a loner LDS life in Israel just goes on without me, except for the Graybeals, the Schwendimans and the Hills - wonderful friends, that also includes the Ronas,the Galbraiths, the Zaionces.,br>
1985-1988 - BYU Center construction - supervised by my good friend Fred A. Schwendiman
May 1989 - Pres Howard W Hunter dedicates the new BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies
Oct 1989 - Finally - the long dreamed of trip to UTAH takes place. we have a wonderful time with our friends
Apr 1991 - General Conference - Salt Lake City
Feb 1992 - Another special and important visit to Salt Lake City - celebrating my 44th birthday, visiting my good friends, meet with Pres Hunter and Spencer J. Palmer the author of Mormons & Muslims, he presents me with his book "Religions of the World" and writes : to Gil Pahl - Happy Birthday May the Lord be with you in your commendable work - Spencer Palmer - 19 Feb 1992.
 
1993-1995 - further visits follow, the saddest being April 1995, my good friends the Hills had passed away, LeRoy on 18.Feb and Eva on 22 Mar. , also Pres Howard W. Hunter had died just weeks before on 3 March 1995.
It was a sad, although spiritually uplifting conference, still in the Tabernacle Building.
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