Week 6 - England MTC

On Monday Morning, I leave for Germany. It's way awesome. This week, I want to expound on something Jordan said in his email last week. I never really thought about this, but in English we say I have repented. But in German, we would say, 'Ich bin Umgekehrt" which translates to I am repented. I love the idea that repentance is a change of state involving hard work and growth. That's cool to me.

I had a cool experience this week. Elder Charles from the Seventy and his wife came to speak to us. They were baptized almost 40 years ago because two missionaries knocked on their door. Sister Charles said, "The best thing about the missionaries that taught us was that they never came in pairs of two. If you come in 2's you're doing it wrong. There should always be a 3rd member that comes with you, and it should be a member of the Godhead. Before you ever say a word, they should feel the power that you carry with you." I think that was powerful. 

One other powerful thing was singing the EFY Medley as missionaries. It reminded me of when we sang it as a ward about two years ago. I flashed back and could feel and hear the voices of the youth of our ward singing it. It was very powerful. I am grateful for the youth of our ward and the FANTASTIC leaders we were brought up by. It was amazing to be a part of that. (:
I love you all. Next Time I email, it will be from Germany and I will have lots of stories of people and experiences. I love you all! (:

Elder Hadfield

Arriving October 27, 2014

Elder Samuel Phillip Hadfield
Alpine German-Speaking Mission
Lommelstrasse 7
81479 Munchen
Germany

Week 5 - England MTC

Guten Tag alle meine Familie und Freuden!

How are you all? Hopefully all is well! This is now my 5th week in the MTC.  After next Wednesday, my P-day will change to Monday.

Well, it's getting much colder here. I love it. I can't wait to get into the Alps and live in the snow for my first German Christmas.

This week has been a little rough, but still a good experience. I'm learning, and I can't wait to leave the MTC. The past week we've started speaking strictly in German and it's not too bad. It's a little weird speaking a foreign language, especially thinking in a different language. I guess it's pretty neat that I can do it. On Thursday last week, a new group came in. There's a Sister Nelson from Lehi who knows Candance and Derek so I thought that was cool. Next week, a group of about 100 missionaries will come right at the time we're leaving and it will be crowded. This week I heard the story of poor old Jake Severe, who was here about 6 weeks ago. He ripped his suit pants to shreds one morning hahahaha I thought it sounded just like Jake. He was trying to scare his companion and in the process got his pants caught and tore them like crazy. HAHAHAH tell me that is not Jake. I think it's hilarious. (:

Anyway, onto a more serious note. I thought a lot this week about how people in the Book of Mormon felt when Christ came. I read 3 Nephi 11 and it is extremely powerful. I really like it. For the past 3 days the people had been living in darkness and seeing cities fall into the sea, set fire, or be buried in mountains and seeing their friends and family perish. Then they heard the voice of the Lord for the past 2 chapters, which was a 'small voice which did pierce them that did hear to the center of their soul and did cause their hearts to burn'. Imagine that. They've already had 3 days of suffering and all of a sudden every person is 'quaking from the voice of the Lord.' Then, the voice says, 'Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name- hear ye him.' Notice the similarity between that event and the First Vision account from Joseph Smith. I see the similarity that when the Nephites and Joseph Smith were in the midst of darkness and about to perish they are delivered by the Voice of the Lord. I know that when we are in the midst of trials, we can be delivered from the darkness by pleading with our Heavenly Father, and He will say, 'Behold, my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' Then, we will be able to see the hand of the Lord and His everlasting involvement in each of our lives. Then, in verse 8, they see a man descending out of the heaven. And they think it's an angel. That whole thing makes them look stupid. Honestly. God said, "Here's my Son, hear Him." Then, they still didn't understand! But, I can see the comparison to our lives today. Just as Laman and Lemuel saw an angel and didn't believe, most of us struggle to recognize the Spirit. Elder Bednar said, "I see too many members of the Church who sit still until they're absolutely sure it's the Spirit talking to them, and not themselves.Quit worrying about it. If you're good, every good thought comes from God. You won't receive a spiritual prompting sitting down and not doing anything. God increasingly trusts us to act as He would, so let Him guide your footsteps. Don't be paralyzed by indecision when you don't know if it's the Spirit or you.' Then, in verse 10, He says, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world." What a powerful, powerful statement. Then, a few verses later, the people come one by one to feel the nail prints in His hands, and to thrust their hands into His side. I love when the Prophet's turn comes. In verse 19 it says, "Nephi went before the Lord, and bowed himself before him, and did kiss his feet." I think that is such a special relationship between the prophet and the Savior of the world. I can't imagine that it would be any different in our day. I'm grateful for all of you and your example to me. I'd challenge you all to read 3 Nephi 11. It's incredible. I love you all and miss you!

Love,
Elder Hadfield

Arriving October 27, 2014

Elder Samuel Phillip Hadfield
Alpine German-Speaking Mission
Lommelstrasse 7
81479 Munchen
Germany

Week 4 - England MTC

Guten Tag alle meine Freund!

How are you all doing?? I'm glad to hear from you all. Sounds like you've loved conference, just as I have. I haven't been able to see the Sunday Afternoon Session yet, so tonight I will. I'm loving the MTC, and this week has been by far the most edifying, uplifting week of my life. I've been in the temple 3 times this week, and felt the Spirit so so strong there. I'm grateful for such great people in my life that I've been so blessed with. I love you all. I'm going to share one of my several insights from conference that I feel inspired to share.

In Priesthood Session, they had the Provo MTC choir, and watching it, I pointed out 11 people I knew, and 3 from my stake! One of the most powerful moments of the whole conference was when they sang the Missionary Medley. I sat there listening to them sing, "I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or two. I hope by then I will be ready to teach, and preach, and work as missionaries do. We have been born as Nephi of old.... To bring the world his truth." I flashed back to being a 4 and 5 year old primary boy singing those songs at the top of my lungs, looking forward to being a missionary, and now here I am. Wow. I can remember the primary chorister cringing as I walked into the room, because she knew her ears would be gone by the end of the day. (;

The other powerful powerful insight that I had connected two moments together. None of you heard this because it was the prelude to one of the sessions, but they started playing the song, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me," which is a primary song, Followed by, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." That was touching and then President Monson gave his talk and I had the question on my mind of, 'How can I help my friends back at home?' This upcoming holiday season is such a happy, glorious time, but for some they can feel alone, and in despair. President Monson says, "Physically, walking where He walked isn't as important as walking as He walked. Christ walked the paths many of us walk in our day. He walked the path of disappointment, He walked the path of pain, He walked the path of bitter sorrow, He walked the path of temptation, He walked the path of prayer. Each of us will walk the same paths that He did. We can all walk the path he walked, when we choose to follow Him through mortality." Many people of the world have a hard time believing that they are loved by a Heavenly Being, much less one that would die for their sins. As I walked throughout high school, I could find people who radiated the light of Christ, some who were shaky, and others who just didn't have it. We were all colleagues, and we were all going through trials. The thing that got me and many others through those trials was my Savior and His Atonement. Others in the world need to see Christ's light. I want you all to know Christ deeply loves you and cares for you, and He can help you through the trials of life. The line from the earlier mentioned primary song, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me," goes, 'The love that He felt for those little ones, I know he feels for me, I did not touch Him, or sit on His knee, but Jesus is real to me." I testify from the depths of my soul that Jesus Christ lives and loves each and every one of us. From the lines of "I Know that My Redeemer Lives," it says, 'He lives, to silence all my fears, He lives to wipe away my tears. Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives, 'I know that my Redeemer Lives.' Christ loves each and every one of you, I pray for you all individually every day. I know He can help you through the hard times in your life if you simply trust Him, and let Him carry you. The Church's Easter Video 'Because of Him', tells us that 'Because of Him, you, you, he, she, they, and we will all live again. Because of Him death has no sting, and we can start over again, again, and again.' My invitation to all of you is to find Christ in your life this holiday season. I promise with all my heart He is aware of you and cares deeply for you. I love you all and miss you a lot. Hope things are well. (:

Elder Hadfield

Until October 26, 2014:

Elder Samuel Phillip Hadfield

Alpine German-Speaking Mission

England Missionary Training Centre

Temple Way

Chorley

Lancashire

ENGLAND PR6 7EQ

Week 3 - England MTC

I handed out my first Book of Mormon today! We went to ASDA and I was just prompted to take one. (I carry one everywhere). But, this sweet old lady came up and asked if we would walk her to the other side of the street and we just talked to her for a little while about the Mormons and what they believe. So we gave her the Book of Mormon after she asked for it. (: That adrenaline rush is worth more than any sports game could ever give you. 

This week, they told us we will be getting iPads in the spring!!! YAYYYYYY!!! I'm pumped. 

The Greek missionaries left yesterday morning and I made some really good friends there. Which is good, because they had so many things to fit into their suitcases, they had to leave things behind, so they gave them to me. hahah I'm a rich man now. I got a lot of European style ties, so I look pretty fly. I feel like I fit in really well.

Right now, we're teaching a guy who is named Peter. He has a wife who has been in the hospital for the past few days waiting for an operation to help her walk again because she hasn't been able to walk her whole life. He's really reliant on her, and we all feel like the twist is going to be that she dies in the operation and we have to teach him the Plan of Salvation. Who knows I guess?

I've been working on writing less things down for lessons, and walking in, closing my notebooks, and just teaching from my head and by the Spirit. Who needs lesson plans in a language you don't know?? It's funny though, our teaching is by far more powerful than I ever dreamed it would be and it's only been 3 weeks! 

We watched a Provo MTC Devotional from Elder Holland this week. Boy, that man can blow you away. His talk was all about Preach My Gospel. He talked about how we have to be infinitely better missionaries than he was. He taught from the memorized discussions and he said, "You can't do that anymore. You have to find common ground, then you can say to an investigator, 'Come with me to the Sacred Grove, Come with me to the Garden of Gethsemane, and Come with me to the Cross at Calvary.'" It was really powerful. He also talked about Do you Love Me? Which is the story after Christ dies and they just go back to fishing and he calls them ashore and asks Peter if he loves him 3 times. Then he related it to how we have to be converted because too many missionaries are looking into investigators eyes, bearing sincere testimony, then going home and throwing all that away and going against what they bore testimony of. It was AMAZING. He was so up in your face, you wanted to crawl into a corner.

In language study lately, we've been learning about the cases, which is a deal for Pronouns and Adjectives, Prepositions and Adverbs. It's a little rough because in English there are 0, German there are 4. But, it could be worse. In Greek and Finnish there are 12.
 I was watching a Mormon Message, the latest one, and it really put a lot of things into perspective for me. That's the one thing we're allowed to do is watch those. So we watch a ton of them. This one was titled You Never Know from President Hinckley and it was so so so good. Watch it right away even though it's long. There's also another one entitled 'The Savior wants to Forgive'. That one was so good. It's about a guy who found the Savior when he was at his lowest point.

President Edwards is the MTC President. He's from Utah and was a member of the Seventy a few years back. He knows Elder Robyns really well so we talk about him sometimes. President Durkin is the first counselor, he's from England and he's a really great, happy man. President Hansen is the second counselor and he's a big law guy from Utah. His mission call is to oversee all legal things in Europe for the church. Quite interesting.

Earlier this week, my companion and I were called to be zone leaders.  There's only one companionship in the entire MTC that are the zone leaders. But, it's a little different to have so many responsiblities. I'm grateful for it though. I'm praying for you all everyday. I love you tons. The gift of tongues is coming. The first week here, we had to give one of the sisters from Sweden a blessing because she was so sick. Elder Edvinsson was able to do it all in Swedish. Then, earlier this week, another Elder needed a blessing of comfort, so Elder Seidl gave it to him and we all felt like the blessing was personally for us. I went to bed reading my patriarchal blessing and feeling so blessed. I cry like everyday because I'm so happy. This is amazing. I love this place! Take care. (:

 Elder Hadfield

Until October 26, 2014:

Elder Samuel Phillip Hadfield

Alpine German-Speaking Mission

England Missionary Training Centre

Temple Way

Chorley

Lancashire

ENGLAND PR6 7EQ

Week 2 - England MTC

Hello All!!

I'm happy to hear from you guys, sounds like you're all doing well. Not as well as I'm doing of course, but well enough. (: I'm happy to be out here. I'm having so much fun learning new things. German comes pretty easily to me and that makes it easier to help others. I'm currently in an MTC with 30 missionaries. Yup. 30. Hahaha very small. But, I'm having a lot of fun. It's hard work but it's totally worth it. I'm having an absolute blast. My week was full of investigators and classwork. There's the story. But, on Sunday night, an Elder spilled a full glass of milk on my brand new blue suit.... (shhh don't tell mom)..... But, we worked hard together and with a long effort we got it out (for the most part). This morning we took a Church History Tour to some of the places President Gordon B. Hinckley walked and the houses he stayed in, and examined the beginning of the Church in Britain. It's awesome. The last few days have rained and poured, which has been nice for a change, because it's been so hot. (all the Europeans say its cold.... weirdos). Next week, our district will be the oldest missionaries in the MTC after having been here for less than 3 weeks, which I find kind of funny.

On Sunday, we talked in Sacrament Meeting about the Atonement and one of the sisters, (Sister Wilde from PG, maybe you know her) talked about the video from the Church last Easter 'Because of Him', and said 'Because of Him, you, you, and you, and he, she, we, and they will live forever. Because of Him there is no end.' Later that night we watched Elder Bednar's devotional 'The Character of Christ', and it was so special to talk about how Christ turns Out, when the rest of Us turn In. It's a helpful thing to realize on a mission. Last week, we had Elder Drieden of the Seventy come and talk to us, and he talked about Being a Great Missionary:In Whose Eyes? it was awesome.
My companion, Elder Edvinsson, met a Muslim guy on the plane on the way over and is teaching him over email about the Atonement and about Christ. It's really cool.
I'm grateful for all of you and the impact you have week in and week out on my life. I truly feel your prayers every time I struggle. I love you guys. I hope you feel Christ's love for you and that if everyone else in the world was perfect, He would still have suffered for you, because of that love. Remember, the Atonement is for everyone, but it is specifically for (atone)ME(nt).
I love you guys!
Elder Hadfield

Until October 26, 2014:

Elder Samuel Phillip Hadfield

Alpine German-Speaking Mission

England Missionary Training Centre

Temple Way

Chorley

Lancashire

ENGLAND PR6 7EQ

The above Picture is of the exact area where Heber C. Kimball and his fellow missionaries started preaching and the exact area also of where President Hinckley started his missionary experience where he was terrified and felt like he couldn't do it.

This above picture is of the spot where they Baptized the first converts in Britain and still baptize the converts to the church

The picture below is of the home President Hinckley was in when he received the letter from his father and fell down on his knees in prayer, committing himself to the work



This above picture is where Elder Holland, Elder Nelson, and Elder Ballard met Lord something or other and talked to him about the church and the significance of where he lived in comparison to the church. (They talked on the back steps, which you can see through the tree)

Elder Holland's tree, and the bump where he came to sit and ponder about which location should be the location of the temple. It overlooks Downham and the Pendleton Hill.



This first one is of all the sisters in our district. From left, Sister Gehrig (teacher), Sister Bishop in front, Sister Holleson in back, Sister Berry in front, and Sister van der Put in back.

These are homes in Downham, the one below in 1600s was a Methodist Pub hahaha

Here are the Elders in our district wearing our matching ties:

From left, Elder Adam, Elder Bybee, Elder Mateer, Elder Edvinsson, Me, Elder Seidl, Elder Weight, and Elder Henry

Week 1 - England MTC

Preston England Temple

Home countries for missionaries currently in the England Missionary Training Center

The pond behind the MTC

Sam's District

Elder Seidl from Slovakia, Elder Matter from England, Sister Bishop, Sister Berry, Sister Holleson from Sweden, and Sister van der Put from Holland, Elder Henry and Elder Adam are from Alpine, Elder Weight is from Provo, and Elder Bybee is from Idaho, and Elder Edvinsson from Sweden.

The sisters in Sam's District are from Colorado, Alaska, Sweden and Holland

The flags representing where England MTC missionaries will be serving

The MTC Office

The Heber C. Kimball Chapel
 We call the Chapel the Kimball Room because it was specifically dedicated to Heber C. Kimball, the first missionary to come overseas

Arrival in England

MTC Companion:  Elder Edvinsson from Sweden

I have to tell you a little about the England MTC. I walked in, and met every single person in the MTC in about 5-10 mins. There are 61 missionaries from 20 different countries. German Speaking, English Speaking (6 weeks for those learning English), and Greek speaking. About 20 Greek missionaries will leave next week and we'll be down to 40 missionaries from 17 countries. Tons of diversity.  I'm learning a lot of bits and pieces of Swedish, Slovak, Norwegian, Dutch, and tons of German. The England MTC would double really nicely as a small hotel. It is very very small. There's a pond in back as well as a nice view of the Preston skyline from our window in our room. The MTC is right next to the Preston Temple, which is very tiny, and beautiful. Our MTC is in a complex with a small visitors center, family history center, and distribution center.
I'm loving it here. I never want to leave. There's a special Spirit about this place. I've had times in my life where I've felt the Spirit a little bit, but every time it hits you here, its just like a slap in the face. WHAM. We've been way busy, my daily schedule is as follows, wake up, breakfast, study, Gospel lesson in German, Lesson on teaching in German, Study, Read Book of Mormon as a District, study, Lunch, Study, Language Study, Computer Language Tests, Study, Exercise, Dinner, Study, Teach Investigator in German, Bedtime. Crazy stuff. We're all learning German very fast, and I'm impressed with everyone's dedication. I now know how to pray, bear my testimony, share a scripture, invite to commitments, invite to baptism, and the missionary purpose in German.
Sunday came, and our district had sacrament responsibilities. They did awesome. But, we had lots of wonderful talks on obedience, in Priesthood meeting we talked about magnifying our calling and holding the Priesthood, then later we watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" and bam, Spirit. It was truly AMAZING. Later on, we watched Elder Bednar's Provo MTC Devotional Classic: How do I know if it's the Holy Ghost or me? It is fabulous. Watch it. Please. It's about 45 minutes long from when he starts speaking. The main point is that if you're good, every good thought comes from God.
I love working with Elder Edvinsson. He is absolutely hilarious. He is honestly the Swedish version of me. He speaks broken English but I can understand him. His stories are awesome. Last week, one thing we talked about really hit me hard. He asked how many youth were in my home ward, and I told him about 100 (I think that's right) and he told me that there's 100 members in his branch. Then, Elder Seidl told me that there's 100 members in his country. I always took for granted how blessed I was growing up with great priesthood brethren and an outstanding young womens organization. I was so blessed with great leaders...
     Faith is the Power
     Obedience is the Price
     Love is the Motive
     The Spirit is the Key
     Christ is the Reason

Alles Gute,

Bis Spater

Elder Hadfield