Munich - Week 16

November 29, 2015 

Hey Everybody!

I hope you're all doing well. Things are great here. It's getting cold and snowy.

The Christmas season is in full swing here in Munich. They've got the Christmas market set up and expect 3 million visitors before Christmas. We have a finding day there in a couple weeks, so that should be extremely cool. I love this time of the year. Thanksgiving was more or less uneventful. By that, I mean that we didn't have it. But that's quite alright. We're doing far more important things than stuffing our faces with food.On Thanksgiving, we had one of those days where nothing was going on, so we planned to go dooring for 5 hours. We woke up that morning and it was snowing, below freezing, and wet as could be. Without a second thought, we went out and did it. It's one of those experiences that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, but at the same time, you wouldn't take it back for anything. We didn't have success, but we had so much fun just talking about crap and freezing our butts off. I loved it even though my toes were frozen, I was wet, it was windy, we were getting doors slammed in our faces. Oh, it was so much fun. It was one of those days where we walked around talking about how hot our wives are going to be for the work we're doing at that moment. It was awesome. 

Naja, let's look at investigators.

1. S: We got a text from him yesterday that said something along the lines of, 'I don't know what you guys think of me now, but no God would expect money out of people.' So he is obviously lacking understanding of the whole tithing thing. The sad thing is we were halfway through teaching it and he got up and left because he had to go to work. It was so unexpected. Since then, he's been ignoring our phone calls and everything. I don't know if it will work out for him. Pray for a change of heart please. I love this guy.

2. S: She's going to make the 13th with ease. She was at church yesterday without us calling to invite her to come. She's a social butterfly at church and we get a kick out of watching it. We taught her tithing this week and the Bishop came with so it was a great experience. She had already found out a lot about it and committed herself to it, so it was pretty easy on us. Her baptism interview is this week and then next week, she'll get baptized.

3. M: Also doing really well. We actually just got done teaching him. He's awesome. Turns out there is some issues with one of the commandments that we weren't really expecting, but he's going to work on it. We'll see how it works out. We predict him having some issues with tithing as well, so we'll do our best, and see what happens. I hope he makes the 19th though.

We set another date with a guy named F this week. He's Nigerian, so we're going to give him to the office elders from the international ward, but he's been really cool to teach. Naja, that was our week.

Things are really good. I'm doing fine. No worries. (: 

Have a good week, I'd love to hear from ya'll!

Happy December!

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Munich - Week 15

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all excited for the season. It's coming. We have no Thanksgiving appointments here, so we're launching straight into Christmas preparations. I can hardly wait. Christmas on the mission is literally the best experience one can have. 

Well a quick update on investigators!

S: Not going to make the 6th. Was doing great, then we talked Tithing with him, and he feels like it's put a dent in his faith. We're working on it with him though. We'll see what comes of it. Prayers for him please!

S: Not on the 6th either. BUT, she's on the 13th. This is an extremely solid date and she will make it. She got over the last hump this week, which was talking to her kids about being baptized. They told her if it made her happy then it was okay. They'll be at the baptism as well. Maybe some teaching opportunities. It's great, because we are doing nothing. The ward has been so involved here. Our Ward Mission Leader will baptize her, and the other people we've used as Joint Teaches will also be part of the program. It's definitely grounds for a lasting and eternal conversion. We are excited beyond all means. I can't tell you how cool it is to find a German lady from Bavaria by knocking on her door, teaching her everything, and then seeing her make the steps to baptism. I'm extremely excited. 

M: Very solid for the 19th. He came to church yesterday, (so did S), and stayed and made friends with members afterwards during our Potluck. Asked excellent deep questions like he always does. He is looking extremely solid. 

All in all, we taught 14 lessons to investigators this week. Not as good as our last few weeks, and still a ways to go to hit our 100 before the transfer ends, but we have faith that it will work out. 

I've found myself having extremely deep thoughts about the Plan of Salvation and The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the relations between the 2. It's been such a testimony strengthening thing for me. We've been teaching people about the Atonement lately and it's relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the role thereof in the Plan of Salvation. I think it's amazing to look into the eyes of people who are having the deepest thoughts and questions they've had in their lives answered right on the spot. I've found it so cool to simplify the gospel down to the 4 lessons we teach, and go as deep as I possibly can, and see my roots grow there. A year and a half ago, my deepest thoughts were about baseball and girls, but now I spend my days talking with Elder Croft about the relationship between Mercy and Justice, and the power of the things we teach. I'm loving it. Truly happier than I've ever been before. The Gospel is so simple, and I'm so happy that I'm still learning, and forever will learn about the role it plays in my life. Think about that this week.

I love you all,

Stay hood, be good. 

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Munich - Week 14

From the Olympic Tower - 1972 Olympic Park

Hey everybody! This week was fabulous.

First of all.... We met with S finally after 6 fallen out appointments. He came and was very apologetic and then explained what had been going on for the past two weeks. I won't go into any details, but he was too scared/embarrassed to meet with us. He felt really bad though, and then re-commited himself to a baptismal date! We told him that we obviously would not make in on the 21st of November and he was very disappointed in himself! And then he said that because he didn't come for two weeks, that all we had to do was push it back 2 weeks. So we prayed about it, and felt good about the 6th of December as his date. We told him that that will only be possible if he takes this very seriously, and keeps commitments and stuff. He is all game! We are very excited to have a baptism on Elder Croft's last Sunday in the mission.

The other S is also just doing as good as ever! We were there on Monday, and she told us she had been on Google, and we were like noooooooooooo. But she said, 'Yeah, I was just looking at ways that a person can resign from the Protestant church.' Awesome right? We taught her the word of wisdom this week. Of course, just like the rest of the world, she loves her coffee! She committed to stop drinking it though! That was on Monday, and we went back and Friday and she hadn't had a drop! It was definitely not an easy thing for her, but she really has the belief that this is the right decision that she was making. Just goes to show you that knocking on doors is important. It is coming to be viewed as a waste of time in our mission, but it really isn't. KNOCK ON DOORS. 

We brought up her baptism, and asked her what she had been thinking/feeling. She said that she had always had the thought that she wanted to get baptized before Christmas. So we picked the 6th of December for her as well! She said that would be ok, but still has to talk to her kids about it. She is waiting for the right time. Her daughter is studying religion right now specifically the Protestant church, and she is nervous to bring it up with her. Score another for Elder Croft's last week in the mission. 

M is also doing great. He wants to get baptized too! We picked out the 19th of December and he can't wait. It was very cool teaching him the Plan of Salvation and just seeing lights going off in his eyes, and getting the answers to so many questions. Soooo cool to see that as a missionary. So easy to take it all for granted. 

These 3 people are all from totally different backgrounds, different countries, and cultures and it is amazing to see how the gospel can meet everyone of their needs and help them all in different ways and finally bring them all to the same place, back to our Heavenly Father, I've had a huge testimony of that in the past few weeks.

We are doing excellent. Elder Croft and I are on fire. We love working together and I feel like we are one of the most successful companionships in the mission right now. We also led a great Zone Training this past week which was just so much fun to do. We had some basic ideas, but we kind of winged it by the Spirit, and the results were pretty good. We are happy with the work going on here in Munich. 

Well, that's all for this week folks. Christmas is coming!! (: I can hardly wait. Life is good, and I LOVE being a missionary. Count your blessings this week. 

Love you all,

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland

Munich - Week 13

Elder Hadfield with 2 new missionaries arriving from the England MTC

Mission Leadership Conference - October 2015

Well hey there everybody!

You all deserve a pretty big update from Elder Hadfield, who's been slacking over here. My deepest apologies. Emails are just not the most appealing thing to me anymore. There's just too many cool things in Munich to see and do, and the missionaries I'm around are just the greatest. I'm really enjoying myself. 

I had a really rough week for many reasons which I won't go into, but it's definitely been a situation where the hardest week yet has been the greatest week of my mission so far. After previously mentioned situations happened, I really felt the need to talk to Heavenly Father about it. Not just to pray, but to actually talk to Him. On Monday night, after my companion and the 4 other elders in the apartment were asleep, I said the first personal out loud prayer I've said in a long time. I can't even remember how long. I started counting my blessings, and I counted, and counted, and counted. 

If you ever doubt whether there is someone listening on the other end, please take an hour or so and just talk and listen. It's the most incredible feeling to know that you're being listened to by the Creator of the world. I've had the most meaningful prayers I've had in my life this week, and I look forward to it every night. 

That being said, I've felt the Atonement carrying me this week. More than I ever have before. In MLC 2 transfers ago, we watched a clip from Elder Holland where he talked about the missionaries being carried by the Atonement. I don't think I understood that until this week. It's true. What a cool experience.
After all of this, I got to sit down in an interview this morning with my Mission President. I can't tell you how much I love this guy. I have the deepest respect, love, and gratitude for him that a person can have. He listened and loved and everything in between. It felt just like talking to my dad. There are those out there who love us even when things suck and times are hard!

Well, after all that, who wants to hear about investigators?!

S is our guy with a baptism date on the 21st of November. He's the one who didn't believe in God and never heard of Jesus Christ until 2 months ago when we started meeting. He won't make his baptism date on the 21st because he's having struggles to meet regularly with us, but it will be soon. For sure. 

We have had a couple cool new stories. We were given the name of a new moved in member from our Bishop to go by on. We went by and he wasn't home. We had time to door one apartment building and we asked which number and one of us said, 'Number 8, for sure.' We klingeled S.G. We talked to her on the doorstep for about 30 minutes and had a GREAT conversation with her. She invited us back. This was a few weeks ago though. Since then, we've been back 4 times and it is going GREAT. She takes it very seriously, almost like it's her job. She reads every night before bed and prays out loud right before she lays in bed because she wants it to be the last thing she does every night. We had an EXCELLENT joint teach this past Friday. He was telling her about what she really means in God's whole scheme of things and the exact details of what had to happen so that she met missionaries, and how much He loves her, and she just cried and cried and cried. It touched her so much. She's about 50 years old, and has been losing her faith lately, so she took it as a sign when we showed up on her doorstep. She was at Stake Conference on Sunday. She was very touched when Sister Kohler gave her testimony about how hard it was to send her son on a mission this past summer. They asked us as Zone Leaders and the AP's to sing in the choir. She loved that too. (turns out I was standing next to the microphone and it was on the whole time.... I'm sure I hurt a few people's ears) But she is AWESOME for sure. I haven't even told my parents about her yet. Time to repent. (sorry mom) She'll be getting a baptism date this week. 

Another cool new person, who sadly doesn't live in our area is S. We showed up early to a member appointment 2 weeks ago, and figured we had about 10 minutes to contact. We talked to a really mean lady, and were pretty much ready to give up and go to our appointment. But we walked past an apartment and looked in the window. There was a vinyl quote on the wall that said, 'Family is life's greatest gift.' or something along those lines. We just both knew right away that we HAD to hit that apartment. It took us a few minutes to find the right one, but sure enough, we got it. S is a 21 year old mom, her baby being 17 months. The dad is gone, nothing to do with her or the kid. She's looking for God in her life, and we talked to her about families. It made her so happy. She's been reading in the Book of Mormon and asks excellent questions every time we are there. Unfortunately, we'll have to turn her over to the Sisters in the 2nd ward, but that's part of working in such a big city. I'm excited for her progression though. 

Elder Croft and I are staying together for his last transfer, thank heavens. He's been unreal and we have a blast together. I still have so much more to learn from him. Our Zone is making steady progress. More than half the companionships changed with this last transfer, so we got the new ones in ready to work. We're looking forward to it. Elder Croft and I want to teach 100 lessons, find 100 potentials, have a baptism, and have a less active come back to church, all before he goes home on December 11. Thus far, after 1 week, we are 12 lessons in and 11 potentials in. Hopefully we'll see some steady progression there. (: Really enjoying Munich. Really enjoying working my butt off, there's no better remedy. I know it's true. Keep the fire burning, baby!! I love you all, have a good week.

I'll leave you all with a quote from the greatest football coach of all time and history.

"Perfection is not attainable, but when we chase perfection, we will catch excellence." -Vince Lombardi

I feel that I'm learning that every day of my mission, and I'm starting to feel the excellence coming as I reach higher and higher to the next level. I love serving a mission, there is nothing better. 

Elder Sam Hadfield

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Deutschland