I Gave a Talk: Wetzlar Week 17

November 30, 2015

Hello!

Happy Monday! I´ll start by answering some questions ´cause I´ve been making a habit of that :)

The camp stove he [DN: Austin] can use. The hammock.. Sure. It´s not a toy though and if it´s cold he needs a good sleeping back more-so than in a tent of course. The next transfer call is next Saturday morning, so IF I´m being transferred then I´ll know by next P-day. I really don´t know. I would love to stay but I´d also be happy to go. It´s a great ward, great people and great investigators, At the same time, going to a different area right before Christmas I would get to know the members really fast spending so much time with them right when I get there. There was only one change in the entire zone last transfer and in the past 2 transfers there has only been 1 change in our district each transfer, so there´s a storm coming. (not in a bad way, lots of change is fairly likely). I´ll let you know.

Glad to hear that Thanksgiving was so much fun :) I made myself some yams last night, the brown sugar isn´t good like ours, but it works, they´re tasty :)

Mr N came to church again this last Sunday and we had an awesome lesson in the Gospel principles type class. Elder Regehr and I were surprised to find that we were teaching, so we read from 2 Nephi 31, about the Doctrine of Christ. Through Christ being cleansed of sin. Faith in Christ and his atonement, Repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It is so clear in the scriptures and the spirit was so strong as we simply read, discussed and shared our testimonies about these things. Mr N is really getting along with the ward members well.

I also gave a talk on Sunday. I had it all prepared, (I sometimes write talks during language study) then I forgot it in a train. So I gave a 10ish minute talk in German off the cuff. It went pretty well actually. Before I left I had started to write my talks in English by bullet point like dad, I think I can start doing that in German now too. Definitely still going to write stuff during language study, but I don´t have to write my talks as word for word essays now.

Other cool things from the week.. I´ve started having really good exercise. The key for me has been to simply get up and start walking in place then joy. Not that I have every had a problem waking up on time, in the past I would get up and kind of do some push ups or squats or something, and it´s not that I´m going to change that, but warming up quickly and doing quicker, more cardio based things has taken my Frühsport [morning Exercise] to the next level. I also got Christmas at zone training! Thanks for the push up bars and ab roller! That makes a difference (I figure I´m only out for 2 years, if I open a present early I can get more use out of it)

I went to Hanau and interviewed Marcello for baptism. He´ll be baptized this coming Saturday, we´re really excited for him :)

Have a great week, carry on!

Love,

Hayden

Different opinions: Wetzlar Week 16

November 23, 2015

Hello!

Mr D (mexican friend) Unfortunately we haven´t seen Mr D since that first night, our appointment fell out. We´re probably going to visit the language learning place where we met soon and see if we can find him again.

Refugees. Different opinions, very true. I would say that most of the opinions that I´m exposed to are positive. Germany is saving a bunch of people who Islamic extremists would probably destroy. Seems pretty good. This is the second time that people from the camps have come to church, they really like it communicating is just hard. One of our investigators (persons getting to know the church) Mr N, grew up in Germany but his parents are from Iran and he helped translate on Sunday. He´s awesome, it was so nice to have him at church, then he joined us and a great member family for dinner.

People with baptismal dates: Mr N has a baptismal date and is doing well. Progressing, happy, getting to know Jesus. The other day he asked why we talk about Jesus so much (in an honest questioning way, not intending it to be bad that we talk about Jesus a lot), we´re going to teach him the plan of Salvation this week and then he´ll understand more why Jesus is so important. He makes everything possible!

We hadn´t had contact with Ms C for a few weeks and were really worried, got a call from her last week and she said she was recovering from the flu. Herr H... Doesn´t quite understand priesthood authority and what the claim of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon entails... He says he´s coming to church next Sunday. Mr J is really busy with work, helping his son with his business. Other investigators are doing well too, Mr S (drink shop) is doing well and has more employees so he´ll probably be able to come to church soon.

Austin, camp stuff. Of course. I can´t even remember where I got the camp stove stuff, he can keep that. As for the chair, that has special memories, don´t break it or get it filthy, but go for it. [Dad Note: Austin’s scout troop is planning a 50mile hike this summer and Austin asked to borrow some of Hayden’s equipment]

Taylor asked if there are any specific things that I want from America. Some Christian rock would be nice (not the hard-ish Christian rock, keep it mission appropriate. I´ve got some sidewalk prophets and Jason Gray, which are good) The perfect push-up portable push up bars (i think they´re somewhere in my closet) would be great as well as an ab roller.

Is there anything specific that you would like for Christmas? Christmas markets are opening up :)

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hayden

Help People Make it to Church: Wetzlar Week 15

November 16, 2015

Hello!

What did I do for my birthday, Missionary work of course :) We gave a Book of Mormon to a really nice homeless man, talked to more people in the Fußgängerzone (pedestrian zone) in Gießen then went to church for a little party that a sweet member prepared. Cupcakes for dessert, they had candles with the number 20 in them :) Are Elder Regehr and I keeping fit... He´s gained some weight since he´s gotten here, I gained a little bit since we came together but have since lost it. It´s too dark in the morning to run and we usually do our own thing for exercise. The other day I went on a split in Hanua and got a really good workout. A member there got some weights and benches for himself and the missionaries and they´re in the church so we got there at 6 and I got to lift that morning. Nothing really heavy but it was nice :) Bench and front squat mixed in with burpees, pushups, dips, mini back and forth jog in the cultural hall (slippery floor) and plank. Fun circuit.

What a cool story from grandpa! If I lost a mission journal now, (I have a journal from age 14- 18 which ends with mission stuff then just about 3 more completed journals) that would be tragic. What a good example of faith and answers to prayer.

From my week:

I had my birthday. We taught our Jehovah´s Witness friends and Unificationist church friend which always motivates me to have very focused scripture study and study for people´s needs. Our awesome new member, Boakye (pronounced Boachae kindof, if that makes sense) from Ghana made it to church. Poor guy has had work problems and lots of stuff going on, he hasn´t made it for the last 3 months or so, he was so stoked to be there. We were really excited to. Elder Regehr and I were talking a little bit how it´s kind of interesting, one of our biggest goals as missionaries is to help people make it to church. We get so excited when people come! Why? You need to come to church and actually know and feel what it is to know if it´s true. Reading the Book of Mormon and praying are also absolutely essential. At church we feel the spirit, can receive answers to pray and take the sacrament (bread and water each Sunday, symbolic of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, as we do this we also renew the promises made when we were baptized). And it´s just nice to spend time with friends and family every week, bond over common faith and values, reconnect, etc.

When we were at Boakye´ his son G also made some tasty meet, covered with Chili pepper or something really spicy. It hurt but it was really tasty and I just wanted more. One last fun thing: two refugees from Iran showed up at church on Sunday and we started teaching them (have a lesson with them tonight too). One of them can speak a little bit of English but not much, the other speaks none. We communicated almost exclusively through Google translate. iPads, the Lord is hastening his work. The refugees are so humble and grateful, such a treat to teach them.

Till next week,

Love,

Hayden