Solothurn - Week 5

Sali zäme! Grüaß ous der Schweiz!

Dearest Family and Friends,

My goodness, another week is behind us. They just keep flying by. My last April Fools Day is gone, but no worries, we made good use of the holiday. ;) 

Beautiful Bern!

This been a week of relief, spiritual power, great conversations, and some magnificent missionary work. The older I get mission wise, the faster the weeks go by, and the slower I am and the harder it is to recognize all the tiny daily miracles I experience. This week was a great week to slow down and catch up on some of those. 

This week I got to go on exchange in Bern with a Elder Killpack. We were greenies together in a district and Zone Leaders at the same time and we are just really good friends. This exchange was way helpful because I thought I was the only one really struggling with a new culture, new people, new language, missionaries I didn't know, missing my zone leader area, and all that, but Elder Killpack has a lot of the same things as I do going on, so it was really helpful to me to see I'm not the only one struggling with change and that its okay to struggle a little with the change. That's how one grows, I suppose.

Man, what else can I say? Life is great. Teaching people about the most important thing they will ever hear in their lives, and having them recognize it for the first time is the greatest feeling in the world. One of my favorite things is to see a persons eyes for the first time when they understand the complete idea that they're a son or daughter of God. We taught Mulugetha and his whole family this week and they understood the Restoration very well. We are really close to a break through point with them.

After our Matterhorn PDay trip, we were at a members house. The Schmidtke's, to be specific. They're from East Germany, which makes them a lot more understandable than the Swiss. When we got there, the kids had hidden us Easter eggs in their backyard, and we had to find them. Sister Tauche and Sister Baugh found theirs before we could find ours, somewhat embarrassing. But eventually we did find them. The family made us a rare German delicacy. Hot Dogs. Hahahaha. I felt right at home. After about 5 of those, she asked if we could eat anymore, and she assured me I could handle two more. So I agreed. She said she had to cook more bread for them really quickly and disappeared into the kitchen. About 10 minutes later, she comes out with 2 huge baguettes and places them in front of me jokingly. She's so funny. But I threw 2 hot dogs on each baguette, loaded them up, and threw them down. Hahaha there is a certain type of respect that comes from a family when you can do that. I was so full. I thought I might explode, then the kids asked us to come bounce them on the trampoline. Oh my goodness.. It ended up okay though. 

The greatest part about the whole evening though came with the spiritual thought. We were talking about Easter, and the Spirit just testified to me that without Easter, we wouldn't have a purpose in life, or a plan at all. No church, no authority, no prophets, no revelation, no Savior, and certainly no truth. That makes me thankful for the everlasting sacrifice that Easter is.

General Conference was fantastic. I really enjoyed listening to Elder Bednar, President Uchtdorf, and President Nelson. I was somewhat waiting for Elder Bednar to get translated during his talk, but didn't quite get there. He talked about the exact same things as when he came to our mission last April, so it was cool to hear it in a conference talk.

Answering a few questions here:

The food is relatively the same between Switzerland and Germany. There isn't too big of a difference. Just more fancy here and you can't really buy bakery items because they are way expensive. 5 Franken for a pretzel compared to 40 cents in Munich. Hahaha.

I love Elder Harradine's outlook on life. He's a funny funny kid, and just has the right direction for sure. Always a hard worker and just a great young missionary.

Things are great. I hope you all enjoy your Masters week, this is the last Masters I will miss in my life. Thank heavens. Love you all, make good choices!

Elder Hadfield

Solothurn - Week 4

Hello Family and Friends,

I am currently writing to you in the train to visit the Matterhorn!! How cool is that? I am way excited. We got on a train at 6.22 to make it down there.

The Matterhorn

#SunsOutGunsOut

Eating Ethiopian Style!

Elder Harradine, Caddy - Elder Hadfield and A

Zermatt

Elders La Plant / Hadfield

The P-Day Group!

The Matterhorn

So this week has been seemingly spectacular. Let me give you the rundown. So on Tuesday, we had an Austausch and I got to work with Elder Seidl. It was way too much fun, we had a great time together. We stayed up until 2 in the morning telling stories from the MTC and from our missions. We had an awesome time together. I really like Elder Seidl.

On Wednesday, Elder Seidl and I rode to Basel because I had to play the organ at a funeral. It went well I guess, but it was honestly like a second PDay which was weird. After that we Tausched back and Elder Harradine and I taught a new family named M. They were so cool and we had a really good time getting to know them and setting up some good expectations and getting a return appointment. They are friends from some members. So that was really good.

On Thursday, we had an appointment with our ward mission leader in the morning. They always feed us pretty good to start off the day. Then we had an appointment with an Italian member who made us cake and we watched the Restoration with him. Then we had another appointment with Emmanuel, who has been a member for about 2 years now and is so solid in the gospel. He is really just awesome. That was really cool actually. Because it was Thursday night, which is the day before Karfreitag, we talked about the garden of Gethsemane with him and the Spirit was just really really powerful. It was so thick you could almost touch it.

On Friday, we went golfing with A and the family R. They are honestly the greatest family ever. The type that are special people who could potentially become the Bishops and Stake Presidents, but just need to accept the gospel first. We are so so so close to getting them to become new investigators. They even gave us a referral this week. So they are pretty close to getting to that point. We would just like it to come from a member rather than us at first. So, yeah we went GOLFING. I played so bad haha. I shot like a 45 or something. But it was great to be with them and realize that I actually can still swing a golf club. I have videos, but I will spare you all the pain of my horrible form. Hahaha. That night, we ate with their family.

On Saturday, we did our weekly planning, and taught M and his family. They are actually making really good progress and are great to work with. We are trying to coordinate with missionaries in Ethiopia to help the family understand better and make faster progress.

Sunday was also really good. We got a lot of candy from members, and had a great member appointment. The daughter brought her non member boyfriend who is from Ludwigsburg and it was fun to talk to him and actually fully understand someone. Hahah. No I'm kidding, the Swiss German is actually coming along quite well, I can understand a lot better than at first.

"The" Swiss Chocolate

So yup, things are great. I am loving Switzerland for the short time I have here. Elder Harradine and I are loving life and doing great work together. Thanks for all your prayers. Have a great week!

Bis zum nächsten Mal!

Elder Hadfield

Elder Sam Hadfield

Fritz-Kaeserstrasse 16

CH-4562 Biberist

Solothurn

Die Schweiz

Solothurn - Week 3

The Memories - Elder Hadfield & Elder Harradine - Solothurn, Switzerland

Liebe liebe Grüsse an euch alle!

Man, this transfer is flying by so fast. I can hardly believe it. Now we got Easter, General Conference, and Transfers in back to back to back weeks. We'll go for the 3peat and make them all good! 

This week has been pretty great. The sun has begun to shine down on us, and it's been warm finally. It's still relatively windy, but not too chilly. 

As for events from our week, we found a new investigator and set a baptism date with him in our first lesson. That was really good. His name is L from Cameroon. May 7 is the date. We'll get him down in that water. We had some really good appointments with members, and got 3 new referrals from members. They are really doing well for us. They're putting in work, which results in more work on our side of things which is really enjoyable. That's a pretty common theme. We go out and find people on our own, but only when we make that effort to go out and hit the streets, then the Lord throws us a bone with a member referral or a golden investigator. We can't expect to not work hard and be rewarded for it. Sometimes it seems pretty tricky that our work doesn't result in too much success, so we stop doing it, then everything falls apart, where as when we are doing our hard work on the streets, then we get the blessings through other people, like the members. I couldn't rave enough about the members here in Solothurn. They are fabulous. They do really well with us. I have already had about twice as many eating appointments in my 3 weeks here than in my 7 months in Munich. 

As for investigators and teaching opportunities, this week was kind of a letdown. We had 6 fallen out appointments which we confirmed just an hour or two before they happened. It was frustrating. We were still able to teach a ton of people, just not as many as we would have liked.

One of the coolest teaching experiences from the week was with the family we teach from Ethiopia where the father is a member since a year ago, and his family just got here. We were teaching very basically the Restoration and the role of the Book of Mormon as a part of it. We asked them if they would love to know if what we were telling them was true and they all nodded and said yes. So, we whipped out 5 Amharic Books, and they thought it was just Christmas. I have never before seen an 11 year old so excited to hold a Book of Mormon in my entire life. We couldn't hold their attention the rest of the lesson because all they wanted to do was read. The only thing really holding them back from getting baptized is the dad, who only allows us to come by 1 time every week, and wants us to take it slow and only teach things with his permission first. That could take a while, who knows. 

We also didn't get to play golf this week, but we are going on Friday with the dad and the olympic team son. We plan to run it like a business deal, where we take them out to play, and by the end, have them as new investigators. Hopefully. It might be embarrassing because I haven't touched a club in 18 months. I'll take pictures though.

Alright, everything is good with me. Hope you all enjoy your Easter. Check out the Follow Him/Hallelujah video online. It's pretty fantastic.

Love you all!

The Crew

Add caption

The Primary Kids

The Posters (We have 3 potentials from this already!)

The Landschaft

Chris from Munich!

"The Elder Hadfield Kick"

The Sunsets!

The Temple

Elder Sam Hadfield
Fritz-Kaeserstrasse 16

CH-4562 Biberist

Solothurn

Die Schweiz

Solothurn - Week 2

Helllllooooo Family and Friends! 

This has been another very busy week in the life of me! We are all quite busy and there is a lot going on in this area. This week we had 7 member appointments, seeing as we are in the biggest ward in Switzerland. There's not too much time for anything other than teaching and teaching members at appointments with them. We did fortunately find a lot of new people in between things this week on the buses and on streets, which was really good because we don't have too much time for it. Things really are very good though. 

On Tuesday, we got to be at the temple. It was so awesome. The first time in a year for me. We did a session there and the 6 of us missionaries just got to sit together in the celestial room at the end, which was just once again another really special experience for me. For me, there isn't anything much more powerful than missionaries coming together in the house of God and praying for the people they are working with.

Let me tell you about the people we are working with a little bit. We are teaching 5 families right now, which is every missionaries dream right? I have never taught a family before now. So it's all an experiment for me at this point. 

The family of M is a family from Ethiopia. He was baptized a few months ago and his family just got here to Switzerland. So they are experiencing some culture shock right now and trying to integrate. Things are very slow with them to make sure they understand and everything, but they are coming along very good. They live right next to us as well, so we have daily contact which is really important. The Mom is named A, the 16 year old daughter is F, 13 year old son B, and 11 year old H. 

The G family is awesome. The 13 year old son S runs the family because Dad is gone. S is the most mature kid I have ever seen. Since it is the culture there, he is in charge of the family and the mom just lets him run everything and he does a pretty good job. We are teaching the mom J, S, and his little sister R.

We teach the family A. I haven't met them yet, but I will this week. They're apparently very interested and ask really good questions. I am excited for that.

We teach as well the family R. This one is way cool and I'm pretty sure this is why I'm here in Solothurn. The son A, 13, is on the Swiss National Olympic Golf Team. Hahaha. He and I get along so well. They are friends with American members here and ask us some really good questions. No missionary has really connected with A yet. We went out last week and played billiards with them at a bowling alley to form a friendship and to start talking a little more. A and I just clicked so well. He loved hearing stories about the Masters and about meeting Bubba Watson and seeing all these big golfers. So, we are going golfing with them this week and I'm going to try and beat one of the Swiss Olympic Golf kids at a match play! How about that? We've totally got them, and they would be the best member family ever. 

We are going to start teaching a member referral family named the M's this week. They had been taught very poorly by missionaries before, but the family is ready to give it another shot and so we are up!

Isn't that just all wild? Feels quite crazy. I have stepped into a very very busy area and my head is still spinning trying to learn everything so quick and it's been really fun. 

We had mission tour this week with Elder Pilz of the 3rd quorum of the 70. It was really good. I won't share too much because I would like to use some of it at a later time. I got to play the piano though and that was a good experience.

Mission Tour with Elder Pilz

Well, man. Life is good. I'm happy and healthy. Just exhausted! I can also hardly wait to golf this week, so we will see how it goes and if we can pick up some new investigators! 

Alright, I'm out. I love you all. Have a great week. 

 

Elder Sam Hadfield

Fritz-Kaeserstrasse 16

CH-4562 Biberist

Solothurn

Die Schweiz

Solothurn - Week 1

Hello Switzerland!

Goodbye Munich!

Elder Hadfield & Fred

Hello all ya'll! 

WOW. I don't even know where to begin.

This week has been insane. So many goodbyes and hellos and long train rides and culture shock that my head is still spinning. I'm relatively exhausted I guess you could say. Things are great though.

Goodbyes were pretty difficult. Especially with the people I've taught and that have been baptized. Even the ones I had been currently teaching. Fwas a tough one to say goodbye too. He seemed pretty down until Elder Carr and I got him on a computer and registered him for a new email address so we can keep in touch. S was even harder. We met with her on Tuesday night and she made us food for the last time. We read D&C 18 with her, which just made me cry really hard. As we left, our Joint Teach Chris, a YSA, said, 'That's the best thing you can have. A New Convert wishing you the best of luck in your new area.' He was definitely right. I couldn't have asked for more. She wrote me a note and gave me a gift, which turned out to be a Bayern Munich jersey. HOLY COW. I love that woman. She's the miracle of my mission. But I do have to admit. I don't think she was the hardest goodbye. 

The hardest one easily by far was with Elder Carr. Man, I love that kid. He freaking cried at Bahnhof (okay maybe I started it) and we had to give each other our last bro hug. It broke my heart to get on that train and have it pull away. I cried and cried until we were past the city limits of Munich. That city has meant so much to me. It's a miracle for me that I got to serve there for the past 7 months with Elder Croft and Elder Carr. I've made life long friends, and memories I will never ever forget in Munich. Change sucks. That will make my parents laugh because they know how much I hate change. But sometimes it's really good for you. 

So the 4 and a half train ride from Munich to Zurich ensued. It was extremely beautiful. We went right through Bodensee and Landau, through the Alps, down into the beautiful rolling hills of Switzerland. It's amazing here. Everything is like an upgrade in beauty. Well, I got off the train in Zurich, and met Elder Harradine, my new comp, and Sister Tauche, who is also in the area. Elder Harradine is such a boss. We are doing great together. Sometimes it's really good to get a new companion so you can realize what you've been lacking on and enforce yourself to work towards new goals. Elder Harradine is about 6 months out now. He just seems very experienced though. He knows everybody in the big ward here in Solothurn. He's a smart missionary, very obedient, and goal oriented. Just way fun to work with. We are doing fabulous. 

So I mentioned the ward is huge. It is. I don't know exactly how big, because yesterday was Stake Conference. I met a ton of people from our ward though. We've had like 3 eating appts so far, it's so much different from Munich, where we hardly had an eating appointment with a member family in 7 months. Everything here revolves around the members, which is so different from anything I've ever done on my mission. So I'm learning how to do missionary work again. We have a great Ward Mission Leader, who follows up with us every night. 

So I mentioned a little culture shock. Switzerland is so completely different from Germany. I'm not sure I could explain it very well, but everything just feels, looks, and sounds way different. Everything is as expensive as crap. It's quite shocking to see how rich people actually are. Haha. The language is NOT German, I don't care what anybody tells you. I can't get a word of this Swiss-German yet. I've had a few people who I just stand and stare back at with my jaw dropped, wondering how in the world someone could make sense of what they just said. 

Anyways, things really are very good. I'm loving it so far. Living in a 2 man apartment is an adjustment for sure, but a good one. Stake Conference was so good yesterday. President Kearon came and was just his normal 'blow you away' self. He did such a good job, talked about letting things go through the Atonement in order to make progress in our area plan and moreover in our eternal progression. Everyone really enjoyed it. I've got some great impressions I had from it. 

Well. I've said too much. Nobody will read this because it's so long. Tomorrow will be one of the greatest days of my mission. I get to go to the temple again. After a year of not going. I'm so excited I can hardly contain it. I hope I never go another year in my life without visiting a temple. Speaking of the temple, here's a picture.

Bern Switzerland Temple

Solothurn

Elders Harradine & Hadfield

Love you all, make good choices this week. (:
Elder Hadfield

Elder Sam Hadfield

Fritz-Kaeserstrasse 16

CH-4562 Biberist

Solothurn

Die Schweiz