Happy Easter: Frankfurt Week 16

March 28, 2016

Hello Family,

Thanks for the exciting email from your side, so much is going on at home and it sounds like you had a really meaningful Easter and a good time with Germans and family :)

This week was Really busy, we had zone conference and mission leadership conference, each 6 hours (including an hour for food). Zone conference was in German and we're going to hold zone trainings in German in our zone from now on. Language (learning German) is a struggle sometimes because almost everyone in the mission is from America and if they aren´t they speak good English. We have about 5 native German speakers in the mission. It's been a cool opportunity coming on my mission with a foundation of German already, first of all still seeing lots of progress in my own language and secondly being able to help others in that area.

In MLC [DN Missionary Language Center or MTC Training Center] we talked about overcoming stress (adjusting to missionary life) and our purpose. When a missionary works hard and focuses on his or her purpose- pretty much having your priorities straight on your mission- it´s easier to overcome stress. “I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work--there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.” --President Ezra Taft Benson

That obviously doesn't mean that life is easy. Rejection, hard companion, new lifestyle and other things also play a role. Hard work. Prayer and scriptures study teamed with good exercise and nutrition and open relationships = happy missionaries.

We met a man from Taiwan this week named Zack (that's the western name he chose for himself) he's studying in Frankfurt and is open to learning about God. He hadn't grown up with religion at all, so we focused a lot on the nature of God [DN also see below map for outline], how he is our Father and he loves us, (he has a body of flesh and bone, he wants us to pray and that's how we communicate with him) and we focused on God's plan. We're meeting with him tonight too.

Happy Easter! Jesus Christ lives, spread the good news.

Love,

Hayden

PS: The tech Elders Visited our apartment and put candy in random spots

The 6 missionaries in the same Apartment Building as Hayden

 

[DadNotes Below]

District Meetings and Zone Conferences

https://www.lds.org/youth/article/mission-life?lang=eng

Every week missionaries in the same local area meet for a district meeting for 60–90 minutes. One of the elders is the district leader and conducts the weekly meeting. The missionaries learn from one another through training, discussing challenges, and sharing testimonies and experiences. They also talk about how their investigators are progressing.

Every three months missionaries in several districts hold a zone conference, which is held under the direction of the mission president. Many of the missionaries will have to travel to these meetings, which are usually longer than the district meetings and can cover a wide range of topics.

DN: I believe this depicts the geographical areas of the Zones for the Frankfurt Mission. Hayden is in the bright pink (fuchsia) below the light blue.

http://frankfurtmission.blogspot.de/p/blog-page_72.html

 

God Is Our Loving Heavenly Father

God is our Heavenly Father. We are His children. He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected. He loves us. He weeps with us when we suffer and rejoices when we do what is right. He wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer.

He has given us this experience on the earth so we can learn and grow. We can show our love for Him through our choices and our obedience to His commandments.

Heavenly Father has provided us, His children, with a way to be successful in this life and to return to live in His presence. However, we must be pure and clean through obedience in order to do so. Disobedience moves us away from Him. Central to our Father’s plan is Jesus Christ’s Atonement. The Atonement included His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane as well as His suffering and death on the cross. Through the Atonement we can be freed from the burden of our sins and develop faith and strength to face our trials.

Ask, seek and knock: Frankfurt Week 15

March 21, 2016

Hello Family,

Change of plans hosting two students instead of one, and what a turn around for Austin and Emily. Growing up with 3 boys and one girl, changing to 3 girls and one boy in the house. Thanks for the run down of the activities of the week.

Mr J. [DN: Hayden sent a picture of Mr J, Hayden and his companion with the comment about Mr J’s recent baptism. So we asked who is Mr J] Probably in my first transfer here in Frankfurt I talked to a man on his bike, we traded information and visited him the following day at the Dönner Laden where he works [DN: A Dönner is sort of like a Gyro sandwich]. This man said that he didn´t have any time on that day, but that he had invited his friends. Mr J was there and two other friends as well. Mr J had already read the Book of Mormon 2 or 3 times because he found it after a missionary somewhere gave him a card. We taught him once using google translate and invited the missionaries from the international ward to teach them because they were already working with Persian speakers. Mr J was baptized and is an awesome member missionary, he´s invited lots of the other new converts in the Frankfurt international ward. Seeing how prepared he was it was really just a matter of time before he found the church. That was another cool experience and testimony of how the Lord guides those who are seeking truth. Ask, seek and knock.

In the past week we spend some good time with a few member families in the ward. Brother B, who is moving soon to Nepal to help impoverished children. Sister S who is 22 and one of the ward missionaries. He served his mission in England and we have a lot of fun together and Sister S´s mom who has a really cool story of how she found the church, feeling the spirit as the missionaries testified of the role of the Holy Ghost and being baptized about 2 weeks later.

The R family came to church last week which was really exciting. Life is slightly less stressful, so they were able to make it. (they have a lot going on) The family is from Columbia and Venezuela and we do our best to teach and communicate in Spanish. Sister R´s son´s girlfriend isn´t a member yet and is starting to investigate the church.

It is so cool to see how the relationship to God and to Jesus Christ is so meaningful and powerful to each of these people in different ways. I know as well that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He took upon himself the sins of the world, the sins of each individual so that we can repent and have lasting peace and happiness.

I love you all,

Hayden