Accompanied by a Reporter!?: Mainz Week 5

March 30, 2015

Hello Family!

Glad Austin's having so much fun with soccer, and yes, I did meet more of Taylor's friends. Last Wednesday I went on an exchange to Langen, Taylor's first area. Looked through records that he wrote, through his apartment, met people that he knows, and spent the day with a missionary who goes home in 2 weeks. I'm just starting while he's packing his bags. It was a fun change of pace :)

More answers for Austin [dad note:Hayden’s youngest brother Austin wrote]. Yes, the Germans are nice. Not all of them, but are all Americans nice? Overall doing well over here :)

Mom :) Yeah, On Target [dad note: A local indoor shooting range, not many in So Cal] would be so fun! I wanted to go there to but never made time, maybe in two years. Spring break, so nice. Enjoy, take a nap. Dad, the pizza [pictured in previous blog enter] was actually really good, I can't remember what/how it was different, but it was tasty. Members and friends feed us well and Elder Fitzgerald and I both know how to eat tasty food without spending too much, we do really well. We do similar things in our ward council, [dad note: answer to a comment from dad to Hayden] aware and working to help people come back, help anyone who needs help. Serving with love. Again, the Mainz ward is so good :)

I'll send a picture soon, the temple was amazing, und ich habe alles auf Deutsch gehört, naturlisch :) [I did everything in German, naturally] Not sure about Geography [ward boundaries], but we have a pretty big area, trains and buses are essential. And the kids are really cute and fun, great families in the ward.

Pre-trained, you should get a rescue dog, already old enough that he/she is pottytrained! Looking forward to a good surprise when I come home. The dog can sleep in my room. [dad note: Hayden wants a Dog, we just did some dog sitting and commented to Hayden that we like dogs that are already trained, as you see he wants us to get a dog….he’ll keep wanting]

The man we met on the train works at an Italian Restaurant and we're planning to go by tomorrow :) He's from Pakistan though. [see last blog]

Emily's having fun in track then, how are you doing Emily? And the plane crash is really sad, hear from some members in Langen.. rough news. 

Overall this week was great! Tiring, but very good :) I fall asleep before my companion is finished with his prayers. He says long prayers and I'm really good at getting to sleep :) Going to the temple was great, service, the exchange in Langen. AND, on Friday we were accompanied by some reporters. A nice woman from Mainz Allgemeina Zeitung and Thomas, was 'a missionary for the day'. They got there at 8 were there with us just about the whole day, filmed and did some studies with us, went to a lesson, had a church tour, and they came to a member appointment as well. Hoping all went well, as missionaries we wanted to show that Mormons are normal people who strive to follow Christ and find joy in that. Interesting day, lots of fun though, I'll let you know when we hear about anything being published.

A big focus this month in the mission has been diligence and using time effectively. Starting with a vision, and praying that you can understand Heavenly Father and his vision (Elder Blanchard may have some good ideas, but God definitely has a more inspired direction, no question there). Setting inspired goals to reach that vision, making plans to work towards your goals and diligently carrying our your plans. I know that as we involve Heavenly Father in this process, as we prayerfully set inspired goals (whether they relate to missionary work, or worthy life endeavors in General), and plan to achieve them, we will be supported and we will be SO much more successful. quote found in preach my Gospel related here:

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”

–Elder M. Russell Ballard

Set goals prayerfully, pray for Heavens help in achieving them. Work hard. See miracles.

Have a great week, thank you!

Love,

Elder Hayden Blanchard

Frankfurt Germany Temple

A new Bishop and a Pitch Fork: Mainz Week 4

March 24, 2015

Hello Mom and Dad,

Happy Tuesday, happy P-day :) Haven't gone to the temple yet, but that will happen in a few hours. To answer your question as far as food with members, we have member contact almost every day, I haven't kept track day by day as to how many times per week we eat with members, but we are fed well in the Mainz ward :).

Fed well physically and spiritually :) This ward is so strong and good! We had a potluck again after church because a new Bishop was called on Sunday. Bishop Nabrotski is amazing, he led the ward so well and really magnified his calling as Bishop. He'd been Bishop for about 7.5 years (first in the Wiesbaden ward, there was a split) and now Bishop Staiger will be leading the Mainz ward. The Lord really prepares and qualifies those whom he calls. It was also such a sweet Sunday because so many less-active members came, 3 people with whom Elder Fitzgerald and I are working and a woman who is investigating the church, being taught by the Sister missionaries came.

Again, loving the sacrament [sacrament meeting] and really taking that time to reflect on the week, reflect on the Savior and his sacrifice for each of us. The Sacrament, renewing the covenants that we make with our Father in Heaven when we are baptized. One of my favorite passages regarding those covenants is Mosiah, when the people whom Alma taught were taught about those covenants that they were entering into. 

Mosiah 18:8-11

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

Read the rest of that Chapter for family scripture study or home evening! So good, so important to understand. These promises that we make at baptism are so real and powerful, we will be divinely supported as we always strive to live up to this covenant.

Sidetracked by good things :) I'm adjusting well, loving Germany, progressing in German, in understanding of the Gospel and in inviting people to come unto Christ. Answered prayers :)

Glad Austin is liking his new team and Emily is enjoying track and other fun things she works on, staying busy.

Yesterday we spend most of the day working on a member's farm. Clearing leaves and such, (I got to use a pitch fork, that was fun). Elder Fitzgerald and I had both prayed about it and felt good, even though it is kind of different to spend a whole day in physical service rather than talking with people and teaching lessons as we normally do. It was so sweet and so much fun, again, such good people here! On the train ride there, looking around I noticed a friendly man, we smiled at each other and boarded the train, not much past that. At night, heading back, I saw him again so I decided to go see how he was doing, start a conversation. We chatted for a while traded information, He was busy at the time, but gave us a card for the restaurant where he works, said to stop by and that we may be able to meet on a Monday or Tuesday sometime. The good of service, and the opportunity that we would not have had if we were not on the train. Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not on thine own understanding. We had a good, inspired day :)

Have a great week, be safe, have fun, have Austin and Emily tell me some stories.

Love,

Elder Hayden Blanchard

Week of Service - Mainz week 3

March 16, 2015

Hello Mom and Dad!

Thanks for the email and glad you liked the photos, success there :)

What a wise beehive  [check link for definition. Hayden’s Mom teaches a this age group at church], such an important principle. We definitely can pray to help forgive others! So important. Thinking about Christ like attributes and spiritual gifts, growing and improving in general, we can pray for all of these things. Faith, hope, charity, love, virtue, knowledge and so on. SO many good thing that Heavenly Father will help us to achieve. Setting good goals and really praying for help and support, involving our Father in Heaven is so important.

Yep, Mainz does have their own ward [congregation]. Although when we do exchanges [missionaries pairing off with a different companionship]  I will be in Langen, so I will likely get to say hi to people who knew Taylor on his mission. Next door to his first area :) As far as exercise, the time for exercise is from 6:30-7, then we start on breakfast, showering, etc, getting ready for the day. The alarm goes off at 6:30, getting that much needed sleep :) I made some fitness goals and wrote out a general work out plan (Monday jump rope, Tuesday chest and back. that sort of overview) and morning exercise is going really well haha.

This week was solid. We made a goal to have contact with ward members every day, either stopping by or teaching a lesson (or both of course) and achieved that, so that was a lot of fun. Our ward is amazing! I love it so much! SO helpful, supportive and good. They love missionary work, it's so exciting to help here. As far as the subject, week of service: we helped hand [hang] a picture (big metal picture of Mainz, drilled holes into a concrete wall) and Elder Fitzgerald helped with some computer problems at one man's house. The next day we dug holes in Bruder [Brother] Meyer's backyard (kind of like roto-tilling I guess, just digging small holes with a shovel) and the next day we helped with a Saturday morning move. Lots of fun! And the second 2 were solid 'service lifting' opportunities. Getting a nice mid-day workout :) sore feet from walking and sore back from lifting boxes, I slept really well :)

As far as studies go, I just started reading the Gospel according to Mark. Reading in the Book of Mormon daily and reading about the life of Christ is wonderful. I decided to highlight the words 'immediately' 'straightway' and anything like unto those. 1st chapter alone there were so many. Marks writing is a great reminder of how we should immediately obey when given commandments. Both from the scriptures and from prophets today. Immediately course correct as we make mistakes. Immediately follow Christ, just as his disciples did when he called them. Ask yourself personally, 'what more can I do to come closer to Christ? How can I personally follow Him, live my life in accordance with his doctrine, with the principles that he taught?'

Enjoy, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Blanchard 

Ward didn’t link well so here is definition, sorry if it’s a repeat.
Wards

As in the ancient Church, members of the Church today are organized into congregations. Large congregations (approximately 300 or more members) are called wards. Smaller congregations are called branches. A ward is led by a bishop and two counselors, who constitute a bishopric. Branches are led by a branch president and two counselors. 

Taylor sent us this picture and said 

"We [the missionary with Hayden] served in the same zone for 4 months while I was in Hamm and in the same ward for 6 months in Karlsruhe.

different people but we share beliefs - Mainz week 2

Mar 9 at 5:34 AM

Mom and Dad,

I actually didn't get this email till today, wasn't in the inbox last week! Sorry, I thought that you just left it at the letter from President Stoddard for the week! My companion is from Orem and he's been out for 6 transfers so far. Church was so much fun, yesterday and last week. Fast and testimony meeting last week and this week was ward conference. Love this ward, they are so strong and love each other so much :) German is great, really hasn't been a worry or a struggle at all. Doesn't mean that I don't have plenty of room to progress, but I can communicate well with people - they understand me, I understand them, it goes well.

The weather is great, no complaints over here! A lot warmer than I expected actually. And as far as interviews, etc. everything went really well. Anmelded (announced my residence in the city [registered his current location with the local government])  going to work on a visa this week and start the process for a driver's license as well.

So many questions :) We're working on finding investigators and I think we'll have at least one by the end of this week, doing good work with less active members and bonding with the ward though. Story on less active friend later.

Street contacting is very different. I'm comfortable talking to strangers just as a general idea, but directing the conversation to be more gospel and Christ centered is a change of course. Often people don't have time or aren't interested, but the times when we can share our testimonies, experiences with prayer, try to help others come closer to Christ, those can be really sweet conversations.

Thanks for the updates! Mission prep, Austin's soccer, Cooper, family updates, Glad everything is going well!

Love,

Elder Blanchard

Mar 9 at 7:03 AM

Mom and Dad,

Yep, Elder Fitzgerald is my trainer. From Orem Utah. He loves dance, he's good at cooking (sometimes we do our own thing and sometimes we share food wise) and he loves the gospel. As far as exercise, It's hard to be awake enough right after hopping out of bed to get really good exercise, we both exercise in the apartment though, nothing to crazy. We're very different people but we share beliefs, a desire to love and serve the people of Germany, and love of the Savior.

Got the pictures loaded to the canon cloud today, success! post some to the blog if you want, there were a lot. Not too many of Germany yet. We visited an Evangelisch Kathedral for P-day last week. So there are some pictures of that. Lots of MTC pictures, people there, etc. Enjoy!

Nice to hear news regarding family happenings, way to go Emily! Track star. No shin splints or anything like that going on? Driving, CCP and the ACT, staying real busy over there!

Taylor writes me consistently even with his busy schedule :) I appreciate it. Seems like he's having fun, learning a lot, enjoying dating. Happy and healthy. Looking forward to possibly seeing him here when he comes for an internship.

Mainz is really close to the temple, about an hour away, we can go one P-day per transfer. The weather is great, no snow. Heating up fast over here.

So much is going on at home!!! Thanks again for your email and glad everything is going well on the home front.

This week was a lot of fun, hard work. We're still working on finding new people to teach, we try to see ward members some time each day as well. Last week we had a really cool experience with a less active member. We taught and discussed together the restoration of the Gospel, such a good lesson. Always a good reminder is the principle of prayer. Receiving answers to prayer and praying with real intent- intent to act on the answers to prayers- is so important. Prayer and really building a relationship with our Father in Heaven is so important. Trusting in the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-6.

Have a good week, have fun, love each other!

Love,

Elder Blanchard