Tribulation and Jubulation: Mainz Week 8

April 21, 2015

Hello Family,

Glad you liked the video :) Mainz Allgemeine Zeitung is the local newspaper. Mainz is a large city (like large enough that in our Grammar book Mainz is often mentioned/used) and the newspaper has a website as well of course. 

Emily! So much fun at German camp, I remember that :) have her send me a letter in German (or an email, letters are cool too) 

Austin as well. Gut gemacht beim Fußball spiel! way to go :) [Well done with soccer] Earning Merit badges as well, Little brother working on passing Taylor and I up.

School is ending already, whoa! Have fun picking up Taylor, and I will be in Mainz for at least his first few days here, potentially more but we'll see what happens with the next transfer.

Elder Fitzgerald has been our for 10 Months now, his family is in Orem, two older siblings two younger. He's the distrikt leader in our Distrikt as well now.

More mission calls, exciting ward news! Congratulations to the Sheppards! Bekah headed off as well, Connor and Tommy coming home, the Las Flores ward is staying busy :)

German is going great, still improving and growing, working on remembering and relearning Genders for words. One regret from high school German is that I didn't focus too much on learning Gender and case when I learned vocabulary. Learning Gender so that I can hide that I'm American (haha, doing my best).

Service and lifting opportunities... hmmm, I got a pull up bar the other day for my doorway and morning exercise has become more fun. The other day I was on an exchange in Frankfurt and we went to a man's house to help him paint (the international ward sister missionaries had met him there and were doing service and teaching him) but when we got there he just had questions and preferred to have a lesson, it was so much fun! Talking about Christ! He had had some really hard experiences in the past years, his wife had passed away and he had other struggles as well. Really relying on Christ, putting his trust in him helped him to get through it. he said,' there's a time for tribulation and a time for jubilation'. Holding out, trusting in God and knowing that there can be joy at the end of our struggles, being grateful the good, and when nothing seems to be going well, being grateful for Christ. He is there always to buoy us up, to make our burdens light, 'to Succor his people'. Job in the bible, losing Everything, but always recognizing where his blessing had come from and knowing that as he trusted in God things would be ok.

We had a lot of fallen out appointments this week, But, a bunch of people who we had given cards to or talked with called us this week as well, SO exciting :) Life is good, working hard, happy, loving being a missionary!

Love you all!

Elder Blanchard

My day with Mormons (Hayden in Mainz News Article)

http://www.presse-mormonen.de/artikel/ein-tag-als-missionar

from [General Newspaper Mainz] see the link above for the original

Allgemeine Zeitung

April 16, 2015 - - Edited by Dr. Ralf Grünke

"My day with Mormons has made me realize who the people behind the white shirts and black name tags are," the reporter Thomas Toth says. For the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz, he has spent a day with two missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his colleague Nadja Baran created a video post about.

Elder Hayden Blanchard (left) and Elder Joseph Fitzgerald (right) work as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mainz.

Elder Hayden Blanchard (left) and Elder Joseph Fitzgerald (right) work as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mainz.

For Elder Joseph Fitzgerald and Elder Hayden Blanchard are the "two years on a mission a time, they devote all their faith," said Toth. For one day, the journalist has slipped into the role of a missionary, prayed addressed in downtown pedestrians on the faith and visited an elderly parishioner.

 

Elder Joseph Fitzgerald From Utah.

The 19-year-old Elder Fitzgerald comes from Orem in the US state of Utah. In high school he was a ballroom dancer. His colleague Elder Blanchard is also 19 years old and comes from the California city of Rancho Santa Margarita. He has already studied one semester at Brigham Young University. Both want to become teachers after their mission.

 

Elder Hayden Blanchard, California.

Before they dedicate themselves back to their training, they are missionaries entirely in the service of their fellow men. For two years they accompany people on their way to God, encourage, give comfort and help in everyday life. The personal faith provides strength and impetus for this is not always an easy task. "He loves me," Elder Fitzgerald sums, in the video review of the Allgemeine Zeitung, together his relationship with God. "We do not see love, but we feel it," added the young missionary.

When the reporter with Elder Fitzgerald and Elder Blanchard visited an elderly woman from the church, he noticed the good fortune of which the missionaries speak. "The community takes care of its members," said Toth. It was nice to see that the visit of the religious sister brought joy.

Link to the video post "My day with Mormon"  ("Mein Tag mit Mormonen") the Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz.

Translated via Google Translate with a few edits.
The Video is about 10 minutes long in German. Starts with a quick prayer and then you See Hayden and his companion jogging to start their day.

We Will See His Hand: Mainz Week 7

April 13, 2015

Hello!

Wow, busy week on the homefront and fun weekend in Austin's life :) Lots of dog sitting and good times there it sounds like. Was this last week spring break? [Yes] Or just finding more free time?

Freetown, haven't heard of it but sounds like a really cool story [A movie about missionaries escaping war torn Liberia]. 7 years before they could get home, wow, how was Mom doing? 

Sounds like mom really enjoyed teaching the young women, good foundational principles, the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yep, I still have plenty of brown rice, haven't really looked at any stores yet. [Hayden took a lot of brown rice with, he likes it, and Taylor said it was hard to find…felt like teasing him a bit] I eat a lot of sandwiches, 'Abendbrot' grilled cheese with meat. Eggs for breakfast. Bakery items, meals with members. Potatoes, carrots, (had some tasty yams this week) German candy :) doing well over here :) Love German food!

Well, with General conference last week we weren't able to make out too many member appointments this week, so we visited a lot of people who had been previously interested in the church, former investigators. Some members who are less active, called people, set up appointments for next week.

We found someone who was interesting in learning more! He had met with the missionaries once or twice back in 2008, we rung his doorbell and now met with him twice, helping him to build his faith and understand more who God is. As much as we (as missionaries, church members) can share our experiences, who God is, how you come to know him-etc. Faith truly grows as people pray, read in the scriptures, live God's commandments and come to know him for themselves. Thinking of Matthew 5:8 in relation to knowing/understanding God more. 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God'. I don't think Christ necessarily meant See God the Father here (although that is possible if God so chose of course). But as we come closer to Him. Seek to understand who God is, we will see His hand more in our lives. I was talking about this with Elder Fitzgerald the other day. It's like when someone writes an essay. (or makes anything really) From the handwriting, to the way that ideas and thoughts are expressed (style, everything) We can tell, 'oh, Emily wrote that'. I can really see Emily in that paper. And you don't have to watch her write to know that it was her work. So also with God and His creations, works and miracles, as we come to know Him better, we will see Him more. I know that God lives, that Christ atoned for our sins and rose on the 3rd day, and that as we seek Him, seek to know Him and follow His example, we will be continually blessed and have true and lasting happiness.

Thank you! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hayden Blanchard

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