Its been a while! (: I hope
you're all doing well. Well, obviously it's been about 10 days since
you've heard from me, so there's lots of stories to tell. It's great to
finally get here!
Last Sunday,
I spoke in sacrament meeting on the Atonement. It was such an awesome
meeting. Then later that night, we had a testimony meeting. It was just
the ones who were leaving that had the meeting, so only the 12 of us in
our district. I loved it. It was so powerful.
One thing I will never forget is the opportunity I had to be at that MTC. I'll never forget the experience I had there. Often it is said, "You only get to be at an MTC once in your life." It's true! Which is a little bit sad. Cherish your MTC experience! It's a good one.
The next morning, (Monday), we woke up at 4 am, and left the MTC at 5:15 for a 7 flight. We were really pushing it because it's a 45 min drive to the airport from the MTC. We barely made our flight, but we did!! We flew to München and got through border patrol and everything. Then we walked through the long hallway. At the end was President and Sister Kohler, the AP's, and the Munich Zone Leaders. It was super cool to finally see them for the first time. They hugged all of us, and we talked for a little bit about things. We put our bags in the van, and they gave each of us a Buch Mormon, and put us on a bus to the Mission Office (30 mins). they told us if we came back with the Book of Mormon, they would send us back to the MTC. (; So we got on this train and I started walking down the aisle. Then I felt it. I was like, "This is the guy." I asked if I could sit next to him, and he was like, "eh." So, I sat down!! Hahaha I said like 6 or 7 things to him and he wouldn't respond. It was the most awkward thing of my life! (: So I got up and left. I sat down to a young kid, about my age. He looked intrigued and asked about my name tag. That's the funny thing so far. I think everyone looks at the name tag. Hahaha it brings interest! So we started talking and I gave him the book. Amazing. Even with my broken German, and his Swiss-German, I could convey a message to him through the Spirit!
Anyway, we got to the mission office and had lunch and went through training the rest of the day. We all interviewed with President Kohler, then went to the multi million dollar mission home down the street for dinner and our new assignments. We had Döner's for dinner, and I promise you I'm going to get fat on them over here. SO GOOD. But then we sat down and got our assignments.
I'm now assigned to the Passau Branch working with Elder Barnhart. Passau is the northern most part of our mission in Germany. Look up some pictures. It's way sweet!! Passau is gorgeous!!! The river Donau runs right through the middle of the city, and is surrounded by churches and historical stuff. And not to mention that, Elder Barnhart is a master chef. He's from Cali and he's a big basketball player. So anyway, we had our testimony meeting again after we got our assignments and we went to bed. The next morning, we got up, they put us on trains, and we were off to our new areas. There's 4 missionaries currently serving in Passau because it's a pretty big city. So, us 2 elders, and 2 sisters. The problem we have is that we don't have any members living within 20 minutes of the city. So member lessons are usually a no go. Our branch consists of about 20 members (maybe). So with the sisters' male investigators, we have to co-teach with them. In my first 3 days, we co-taught 5 lessons with them, but not a single one counted for us. It's just a little rough. But no biggie, right? Our apartment is called the Passau Palace because it is huge! I love love love it. Our place looks right out over downtown Passau and the River. We also have a piano in our apartment. (; I met the rest of our district on Thursday morning. Elder Nebeker from Idaho, Elder Garrett from Utah, Elder Sharp from Australia, Elder Killpack from Utah, Sister McEwen from Scotland, and Sister Wunderli from Hungary. (Those are the two sisters we work with all the time). It's been a blast of a week.
We have some really cool investigators. B is a man from Africa, who has been through all the lessons (2 with us) and he should be baptized here in the next few weeks! (: We have one who is a progressing very well. His only problem is that he will never pay money to a church, (he's a multi-millionare). Hahaha we'll see if we can work past it. Schwester B is a 70 year old lady who was excommunicated a little while ago for sending emails to everyone in the branch criticizing them for not keeping the word of wisdom because they were all eating sugar.....(crazy woman) (; She's way cool though and has the greatest desire to be rebaptized. We've retaught all the lessons just to make sure she understands, and once she goes through the first presidency, we'll baptize her. So hopefully in a couple of weeks as well! (: The last transfer, they found a golden, who has a baptism date and is ready, but has disappeared off the face of the world for 2 weeks now. I hope we can find him. We found an African man on the street, and we'll start teaching him this week. One of my favorite members from our branch is Bruder Guth(Goot). He lived in California for 25 years, and was baptized and active for 8 or so years. He fought so so hard to keep the Word of Wisdom, and one day, some Sister in his ward criticized him for drinking Dr. Pepper. That broke it for him and he went inactive. He came back to Germany to take care of his dad, and started drinking again. Then the missionaries found him. The 2nd time they met with him, they took with them a picture and bio of the elder who baptized him back in California. He cried and cried and cried for about 30 minutes. Then on Sunday, he showed up in a brand new suit, and has been to church for about 9 weeks in a row now, including yesterday. What a Champ!!! We go over every week to help him build a new 'garage', which is a brick wall, and eat with him and have a lesson with him. He loves the missionaries so much. German has been coming pretty easily for me, but it's a little more difficult here because of the dialect they speak, Bayerische. It's crazy, but still nothing like Swiss-German. Hahah. Yesterday was my first Sunday in our branch. Our church is the top floor of rented out office space. I am now the official piano player in our branch. Our ward mission leader is a 20 year old kid who got home last month from his mission. Our Branch President is President Sacho. Not sure how you spell that. Haha they were way pumped to have a new missionary and they all shook my hand about 12 times. (;
One thing I will never forget is the opportunity I had to be at that MTC. I'll never forget the experience I had there. Often it is said, "You only get to be at an MTC once in your life." It's true! Which is a little bit sad. Cherish your MTC experience! It's a good one.
The next morning, (Monday), we woke up at 4 am, and left the MTC at 5:15 for a 7 flight. We were really pushing it because it's a 45 min drive to the airport from the MTC. We barely made our flight, but we did!! We flew to München and got through border patrol and everything. Then we walked through the long hallway. At the end was President and Sister Kohler, the AP's, and the Munich Zone Leaders. It was super cool to finally see them for the first time. They hugged all of us, and we talked for a little bit about things. We put our bags in the van, and they gave each of us a Buch Mormon, and put us on a bus to the Mission Office (30 mins). they told us if we came back with the Book of Mormon, they would send us back to the MTC. (; So we got on this train and I started walking down the aisle. Then I felt it. I was like, "This is the guy." I asked if I could sit next to him, and he was like, "eh." So, I sat down!! Hahaha I said like 6 or 7 things to him and he wouldn't respond. It was the most awkward thing of my life! (: So I got up and left. I sat down to a young kid, about my age. He looked intrigued and asked about my name tag. That's the funny thing so far. I think everyone looks at the name tag. Hahaha it brings interest! So we started talking and I gave him the book. Amazing. Even with my broken German, and his Swiss-German, I could convey a message to him through the Spirit!
Anyway, we got to the mission office and had lunch and went through training the rest of the day. We all interviewed with President Kohler, then went to the multi million dollar mission home down the street for dinner and our new assignments. We had Döner's for dinner, and I promise you I'm going to get fat on them over here. SO GOOD. But then we sat down and got our assignments.
I'm now assigned to the Passau Branch working with Elder Barnhart. Passau is the northern most part of our mission in Germany. Look up some pictures. It's way sweet!! Passau is gorgeous!!! The river Donau runs right through the middle of the city, and is surrounded by churches and historical stuff. And not to mention that, Elder Barnhart is a master chef. He's from Cali and he's a big basketball player. So anyway, we had our testimony meeting again after we got our assignments and we went to bed. The next morning, we got up, they put us on trains, and we were off to our new areas. There's 4 missionaries currently serving in Passau because it's a pretty big city. So, us 2 elders, and 2 sisters. The problem we have is that we don't have any members living within 20 minutes of the city. So member lessons are usually a no go. Our branch consists of about 20 members (maybe). So with the sisters' male investigators, we have to co-teach with them. In my first 3 days, we co-taught 5 lessons with them, but not a single one counted for us. It's just a little rough. But no biggie, right? Our apartment is called the Passau Palace because it is huge! I love love love it. Our place looks right out over downtown Passau and the River. We also have a piano in our apartment. (; I met the rest of our district on Thursday morning. Elder Nebeker from Idaho, Elder Garrett from Utah, Elder Sharp from Australia, Elder Killpack from Utah, Sister McEwen from Scotland, and Sister Wunderli from Hungary. (Those are the two sisters we work with all the time). It's been a blast of a week.
We have some really cool investigators. B is a man from Africa, who has been through all the lessons (2 with us) and he should be baptized here in the next few weeks! (: We have one who is a progressing very well. His only problem is that he will never pay money to a church, (he's a multi-millionare). Hahaha we'll see if we can work past it. Schwester B is a 70 year old lady who was excommunicated a little while ago for sending emails to everyone in the branch criticizing them for not keeping the word of wisdom because they were all eating sugar.....(crazy woman) (; She's way cool though and has the greatest desire to be rebaptized. We've retaught all the lessons just to make sure she understands, and once she goes through the first presidency, we'll baptize her. So hopefully in a couple of weeks as well! (: The last transfer, they found a golden, who has a baptism date and is ready, but has disappeared off the face of the world for 2 weeks now. I hope we can find him. We found an African man on the street, and we'll start teaching him this week. One of my favorite members from our branch is Bruder Guth(Goot). He lived in California for 25 years, and was baptized and active for 8 or so years. He fought so so hard to keep the Word of Wisdom, and one day, some Sister in his ward criticized him for drinking Dr. Pepper. That broke it for him and he went inactive. He came back to Germany to take care of his dad, and started drinking again. Then the missionaries found him. The 2nd time they met with him, they took with them a picture and bio of the elder who baptized him back in California. He cried and cried and cried for about 30 minutes. Then on Sunday, he showed up in a brand new suit, and has been to church for about 9 weeks in a row now, including yesterday. What a Champ!!! We go over every week to help him build a new 'garage', which is a brick wall, and eat with him and have a lesson with him. He loves the missionaries so much. German has been coming pretty easily for me, but it's a little more difficult here because of the dialect they speak, Bayerische. It's crazy, but still nothing like Swiss-German. Hahah. Yesterday was my first Sunday in our branch. Our church is the top floor of rented out office space. I am now the official piano player in our branch. Our ward mission leader is a 20 year old kid who got home last month from his mission. Our Branch President is President Sacho. Not sure how you spell that. Haha they were way pumped to have a new missionary and they all shook my hand about 12 times. (;
Alright,
so here's my Spiritual thought for the week. I was reading in Chapter 5
of Preach my Gospel to prepare for a lesson. At the back, the challenge
is to get a new copy of the Book of Mormon and mark, in different
colors:
Christ's name
His Words
His Attributes
Doctrine and Principles
As
I've started that pattern, it's insane how much the Book is centered
around Christ. Someone who says we aren't Christian is literally stupid.
Hahaha (: I suggest you try it. I've learned a lot! So long for this
week,
Bis Später,
Elder Hadfield (:
Elder Sam Hadfield
Elder Sam Hadfield
Alpenländische
Mission
Lommelstrasse
7
D-81479
München
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