God is Great, (Alcohol
Free) Beer is Good, and People are Crazy
Servus und eine liebe Grüße an alle von euch! Soll ich
einfach das ganze auf Deutsch schreiben?!
No, you probably wouldn't get it at all. This week has been yet again,
challenging, but rewarding. The
things I'm learning one by one are helping me out quite a bit. This next month in Europe, there is nothing but
⚽️⚽️⚽️, which makes for interesting missionary
work. Whenever one of these three countries
plays, everyone is at home or in the bar watching. Tricky for us, you see? It also makes things interesting,
because we live above a Turkish bar, and a
Sports Gambling shop. The Turks
have been out until 5 am the past 3 days. That keeps us up at night, but at the same time, it is pretty entertaining
to watch.
So, a cool story from this week. Turns out, my
DAD served in this area 40 years ago.
WHAT?! I got up in Testimony Meeting yesterday and said something
about it, and a couple members were whispering like, "oh yeah, I knew I remembered that name from
somewhere!" I've met people who
still remember my father and his missionary work.
In his e-mail to me last week, my dad told me about one guy, Christian
Hones, who was a young man here
when my dad was on his mission, and served his own mission a little later. Well, I found his name in our
member list, and made it a goal to
go by on him and find more out. Elder Liechty didn't really know anything, but we did go by. We met him
just as he was coming home from
playing the accordion in an old folk’s home. He's a little more than half blind now, which makes it next
to impossible for him to come to
church, but he has a burning testimony of the gospel.
I decided
to put him to the test. When I greeted him, I said, "Hallo, Ich bin der Elder Hadfield." He froze for a
second and thinking about it, he
then said, "You wouldn't happen to know the Elder Hadfield that
served here 40 years ago, would you?"
"You bet, that's my dad." When
he heard those words, he started crying real tears and threw both
arms around me and hugged me with all the
strength of his frail old body.
After our conversation, he said, "You remind me exactly of your
dad. The tone of your voice, your laugh, the way
you speak German. You are exactly
like your Father, he was a great missionary."
That blew
me completely away. The missionary
service of my dad is remembered here over 40 years later? Are you serious?! That's taught me a lesson this
week, und zwar, the Mission of the One. One Mission,
One Missionary, can change the
course of history. As a missionary, you often feel very small. You are one in 75,000. What difference could
you possibly make? Then, to think
about it deeper, the Mission of The One made ALL the difference. Jesus Christ was one in billions of people
that have lived on the earth. But
He was The Son of God, and His mission changed the world.
So can mine. So can yours. How cool is THAT?! I love this gospel, and I love this work. I love our
God, He is a God of Miracles and of
Power.
Have a good week, enjoy it. Ponder on your
current mission on this earth. Make it
one to be remembered.
Elder Sam Hadfield
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