Easter: Mainz Week 6

April 6, 2015

Hello!

Happy Easter! Agreed, General Conference (a Semianual meeting in which we hear from modern day Prophets and Apostles- church leaders) was great! Strengthening Families, marriage, focus on Christ, Grace and the atonement, loved it :) 

The week felt extra fast with General conference and a few mission meetings as well. As far as transfers go, I'm staying in Mainz with Elder Fitzgerald, working hard over here :) As far as Mother's day goes, I'll keep you updated as we figure that out [when/how Hayden will skype home]. We should have iPads or something similar by then, or a member's house, I'll let you know as we come closer.

Fun fun with animals at home and babysitting abroad :) Sending Austin away to Uncle Jeff [New Jersey] and Taylor to Germany, extra quiet week at home!

What have I been up to? Meeting with church members, active and less-active, service, talking to people on the street, Zone training (like district meetings but just with our zone) an exchange, transfer calls [every 6 weeks a call to find out which missionaries are changing areas], General conference. Easter Holiday with an empty city. We've met some people who may be interested about learning more about the church, hoping to meet with them soon. We met with Bruder Seck at Hauptbahnhof the other day, talked with him about the church and his beliefs and shared the 'because he lives video' we said goodbye and left him with Book of Mormon in French for himself (he's from west Africa and prefers French) and a German Book of Mormon for his wife, hoping to meet again this week.

Viel SPAß! [Lots of Fun] I'll focus on Zone training, which was focused on the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is amazing. Such an important tool and record of scripture, Joseph Smith said (also in the intro to the book) “the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.'

The Book of Mormon is amazing. 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ'. Totally focused on him and helping us to come closer to him. Exciting experiences and stories from prophets and peoples of the past as they look to Christ. We talked about helping people to read the whole thing, not just pieces to help tie into lessons, but the importance of reading the entire book. I love the Book of Mormon, it has been so helpful and enlightening to me throughout the years, strengthening my faith and understanding of Christ, right now a highlight in my personal scripture study. Doing my best to share the love I have for Christ and helps us to understand him more. 

Especially nice on Easter weekend as we take extra time to remember the Savior, who he is, what he did and what his life, death and resurrection mean to us.

Read the intro at home together this week!

Any specific things that you would like to hear about in emails? ward stuff, food, lessons that we have? Let me know. Glad to hear all is well at home! Love you all,

Elder Hayden Blanchard