One more thing I forgot to mention before, there are a few books available on "researching your German Roots". There is a bunch of info in the books, but the main thing you are looking for is the part in the book that has form letters that you can use for your inquiry. It tells you what is in the letter, it is already written in German, and it gives more than one address to send it too. Some of the books are better than others. Also, if you have trouble translating, you can ask if the records can be translated on a paper along with the record. That however may add to the costs.