Christ centered testimony: Frankfurt Week 9

November 21, 2016

Mom and Dad,

Hi! Glad to hear all is well on the homefront. I'm doing well over here too. A lot happened this week so I'll start with a quick overview and try to go in some detail afterwards. Samson lesson, Mission tour with Elder Adler. Rollladen. Fix van. Sammy/finding. Heidelberg.

We had a lesson with our friend Brother S this week. He's been a member of the church for just under 8 months. We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and strengthening our relationship to the savior through reverence during the sacrament. He is from Eritrea, a country near Ethiopia, and English isn't his first language, so paying attention during meetings can be difficult [Dad Note: recall, Hayden is attending an English speak congregation in Frankfurt]. It's a lot better though, to teach about the Sabbath day and how keeping it helps us to have a life "filled with joy and peace" (PmG pg 74). Than to just say that we need to be quite and only use our phones as scriptures during church meetings.

Elder Adler, a member of the 70, visited our mission this past week. Of the many things that he shared some that stuck out to me were: the importance of frequently sharing Christ centered testimony- that has been a lesson Heavenly Father has taught me throughout my mission. He talked about how important it is to be ourselves, the church doesn't hire actors, God wants powerful representatives with their personalities, experiences, and feelings.

We also had our Rollladen, a wonderful German shade device that can turn day into night in any room and is made of sheets of metal, fixed. The cord that you pull to pull it up or put it down had broken and our main room was dark for a bit over a week. Let there be light. We had our van fixed because the locking system was broken and that's not a good thing in downtown Frankfurt.

We were able to go for an hour and a half on Thursday and found a man from Eritrea who's interested in learning more, Sammy. That's exciting.

We went to Heidelberg this week to pick up a Sister from a doctors appointment. As I was backing up the van I forgot to throw her suitcase in the trunk, oops! A few hours later we drove back because a nice lady at the nearby university called the number on the suitcase. I'm glad there are great people living in Heidelberg.

Have a great week! Love,

Hayden

Testimony:Frankfurt Week 8

November 14, 2016

Mom and Dad!

Hi! Sorry for the late reply. 

Last week was an exciting one. We got to watch all of the dominoes of purchased tickets fall as the transfer unfolded. Luckily we didn't get to hear or watch much in the way of train departure, which is a good thing because that means that trains were on time and Elders and Sisters were punctual as well.

We helped with the newly arriving missionaries and returning missionaries. The day in Frankfurt was busy and successful as we directed missionaries to and from the street display, where we also participated and talked with people. The street displays are still so much fun to me. Each one is a nice break from office work, a time specifically dedicated to talking to people and inviting them to come unto Christ. I've come to treasure my time in past areas more and set personal goals to share my testimony a lot when I come home. A testimony is such a huge gift from God. He allows us to get to know him, strengthens our faith, answers our prayers, and hopes that we in turn choose to stand as a witnesses of His goodness so that others can come to know and feel it as well. God is so good :)

We had a lesson with Mr A again this week. He's really busy between work, getting his masters and working on his German but he knows it's true. We taught the doctrine of Christ, the cleansing power of the atonement followed by the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. He recognized his repentance process in meeting with us, reading the scriptures and praying more.

Mr H was baptized in Heidelberg yesterday! I sent you a picture. That made me so happy to hear of someone who we loved and worked with so much (still love, currently not working with) entering the waters of baptism and making that sacred covenant with God. So good.

I love you! Thank you again for the birthday wishes and I hope you all have a great week.

Hayden

Keep Turning Outward: Frankfurt Week 7

November 7, 2016

Hello Family,

Thanks for the update. Are you feeling better, Mom? You mentioned last week that you were feeling under the weather.

Today we drove to another city, Michelstadt, to clean up an apartment that is changing from an Elder to a Sister area and to get a tire changed for the missionaries there. We had a fun drive there and made it a p-day activity, going with the district and picking up a few souvenirs while we were there. The tire had a nail in it and we had planned to get the whole thing changed at a shop. My old MTC companion Elder Barnhill and I drove the car to the euromeister shop and organized the change. After waiting for a few minutes the man changing the tire came out and informed us that there was no leak or hole. The nail wasn't deep enough to puncture and must have fallen out on our drive over. There was also no spare tire in the car, so we ordered one for the incoming Sisters.

This week we spent a good chunk of time doing transfer planning, planning train rides and logistics for the upcoming transfer scenario. That took probably 4 hours on Thursday and most of Friday and Saturday. I made my companions some spanish stew while they worked on that, bringing back good Heidelberg memories.

We also had a lesson with the Ds, a member family in the ward. They are Italian and Brother D loves to hug and speaks so lovingly as well. He's been a young mens leader working with scouts for the past more than 20 years. Making a difference in young men's lives and sending them on missions for quite some time now. We talked about Preach my Gospel and how powerful of a tool it is for members and missionaries. The first presidency promises, "more happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among [the Lord's] children." That is beautiful and so true. It is a principle that goes far beyond missionary service, a principle for life. We can have more happiness than through any other way as we serve and love God's children, our brothers and sisters, we can and will have more joy than through any way. Keep turning outward, serving and loving!

Love you,

Hayden

Hayden's in the middle row of seats

In the Office

Accountability :Frankfurt Week 6

November 1, 2016

Subject: Reply :)

Hello!

Hey, glad to hear you're doing well at home. I'll start by answering a few questions. We have a basement that we store a lot of stuff in, we could fit more for sure (not everything that was at the apartment we were closing), but we don't have enough space in the van to feasibly take a whole apartment of stuff with us.

Looking back at the week it's hard to know what to share. It's been fairly uneventful with office work and normal missionary work sprinkled in. In the office: I'm caught up on orders and have the rough inventory that I wanted to make. Knowing what I have is really helpful so that I don't accidentally order things that we already have too much of. I just finished organizing everything with driver's license translations, who in the mission has one and is working on getting a German license and things like that.

We had a few appointments with senior couples this week, the Markles and Kirks for example, who work in the office with us. Tomorrow we have the Kirks coming to us and will make food for them and they can teach us a lesson! At the beginning of the week we met with a nice couple in the ward and I was really impressed with some comments that were made. In the course of our dinner conversation we talked about some fitness goals that they were working on and during our lesson we naturally talked about goals in missionary work. The Sister owned her actions and said that she simply hasn't had enough desire or "has been too lazy" to exercise. She later made the comment that she uses "the excuse" that all of her friends are church members to not share the gospel as much as she could. Without diving into the topics of how we could adjust our goals and make slow progress instead of no progress, or how she Does share the gospel with her church friends as well ('cause we all need to hear and feel the Savior's love and testimonies of it), I'd like to comment on accountability. I was so impressed that she didn't blame her inaction on anything or anyone else. There was no, "I don't have time" or "it's not my fault". She recognized and owned her actions and decisions and was honest with herself. As a side note, this family does great member missionary work, being a good example to their friends, inviting people to activities and even to hear lessons from the missionaries. She recognizes what holds her back and that enables growth.

The stake president in Frankfurt is also all about accountability. When Elder Taylor and I asked him what he would like us to focus on with the missionaries he wanted us to  help the missionaries to develop a good "return and report attitude". We should finish assignments quickly and correctly, take responsibility for our actions and be excited to report back as a result of that.

This coming week ends the transfer over here. We're getting ready for an exciting week of transfer prep (buying tickets and such) then sending missionaries across the mission next week. Hope you all have a good one.

Love,

Hayden

I don't know if Dad remembers, but at some point in growing up I remember being told not to use the phrase "it's not my fault", thanks for teaching me to be accountable.