September 9, 2013
Gabe sent us quite a long email this week, answering our questions and telling us all about his first week out in the "mission field," the language has been tough, but he still seems to maintain a great attitude and enthusiasm for his mission!
"Well Hello Familie. Its your Elder writing again. Another week, the first week in the field, the first week away from the MTC. I miss the MTC, weird huh? I miss my friends and roommates in the MTC, I miss our teacher, I miss being able to communicate with whoever I want, I miss the chef...I couldn't have asked for a better MTC experience.
My arrival in Germany: The field - well I arrived in Munich on Wednesday, stayed the night with everyone in the mission home that night, woke up and had meetings then they sent us all off from the Munich train station. I loved President and Sister Miles and Munich is such a beautiful city! Saying goodbye to everyone was hard. Especially since I probably won't see the European Elders for 2 years, they are stuck in the black hole a.k.a. Switzerland.
My Trainer: It's different being with one person 24-7, I can't think of enough conversations to last us all day, haha. I like my trainer, he is really nice. Our apartment is nice, really small kitchen, nice living room/main room with our desk, then our bedroom. We live on the 3rd story, the people on the same floor smoke, everyone smokes. Including one of our investigators.
Mr. "P": We have one true investigator at the moment "P". He is an older nice guy, but sadly he has an addiction. He was contacted by missionaries in 2001, and people have been teaching him off and on since then. We are "white washing" this area from 2 sisters, we have met with him once. He reads the Book of Mormon, he believes in everything and has a testimony, goes to church, prays...he has just had a life long addiction of smoking and it's just sad. He wants to be baptized and is willing too, and is constantly trying to quit. He ("P") has a baptismal date for Oktober, we hope he can keep it and we pray he can over come this terrible addiction. Tonight we are going to pick up "P" and head over to a members for FHE and have a joint teach, and then tomorrow we have a district meeting and will try and find more lessons to teach.
My introduction to Germany: I gave my first talk on Sunday, auf deutsch. It was, well I don't really know what it was, haha. To tell you the truth I don't know all what I said. I try so hard to be out going and want to talk to all the church members and everyone I see because that's just how I am, but I can't. We need to become way good friends with these members to gain there trust. I promise as soon as I can speak and understand German I am going to speak to everyone! I try to study German the best I can and pray for help. A mission is full of ups and downs. We all will experience great life changing times that we will love and enjoy, but we will also go through times where we feel down and pray for help and guidance. And even though they might seem like terrible hard times, we got to look and find the good that comes from it. Cause I know first hand that some of the greatest blessings and life learned lessons come when you're at all fours, when you are most humble. Wherever we go or are walking I wear a smile on my face. I smile at everyone and try and say hello to all those I can. The message we share is nothing but happiness and if only the people who reject us knew how great and valuable this message is we have to share. If only they knew that this great message we share is what keeps us going when we are down. That within this great message, I personally am able to find comfort day after day.
Sweetness at the end of the day: You know a neat thing, every night before I go to bed in my prayer I ask Heavenly Father to allow me to feel his enduring love he has for us before I fall asleep..and I tell you what and I'm not lying, right before I fall asleep every night I feel the ultimate burning in my chest and through out my body. It's the most comforting thing. God hears our prayers and knows the intents of our hearts and actions. He is with us every day and wants nothing more than to comfort us and pick us up when we are down. He knows what we can endure and he's there to pick us up when we feel like we can't endure any more. I love this work and know that this is where I am supposed to be and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love my mission and embrace all the challenges that it may come with. BRING IT ON.
My Trainer: It's different being with one person 24-7, I can't think of enough conversations to last us all day, haha. I like my trainer, he is really nice. Our apartment is nice, really small kitchen, nice living room/main room with our desk, then our bedroom. We live on the 3rd story, the people on the same floor smoke, everyone smokes. Including one of our investigators.
Mr. "P": We have one true investigator at the moment "P". He is an older nice guy, but sadly he has an addiction. He was contacted by missionaries in 2001, and people have been teaching him off and on since then. We are "white washing" this area from 2 sisters, we have met with him once. He reads the Book of Mormon, he believes in everything and has a testimony, goes to church, prays...he has just had a life long addiction of smoking and it's just sad. He wants to be baptized and is willing too, and is constantly trying to quit. He ("P") has a baptismal date for Oktober, we hope he can keep it and we pray he can over come this terrible addiction. Tonight we are going to pick up "P" and head over to a members for FHE and have a joint teach, and then tomorrow we have a district meeting and will try and find more lessons to teach.
My introduction to Germany: I gave my first talk on Sunday, auf deutsch. It was, well I don't really know what it was, haha. To tell you the truth I don't know all what I said. I try so hard to be out going and want to talk to all the church members and everyone I see because that's just how I am, but I can't. We need to become way good friends with these members to gain there trust. I promise as soon as I can speak and understand German I am going to speak to everyone! I try to study German the best I can and pray for help. A mission is full of ups and downs. We all will experience great life changing times that we will love and enjoy, but we will also go through times where we feel down and pray for help and guidance. And even though they might seem like terrible hard times, we got to look and find the good that comes from it. Cause I know first hand that some of the greatest blessings and life learned lessons come when you're at all fours, when you are most humble. Wherever we go or are walking I wear a smile on my face. I smile at everyone and try and say hello to all those I can. The message we share is nothing but happiness and if only the people who reject us knew how great and valuable this message is we have to share. If only they knew that this great message we share is what keeps us going when we are down. That within this great message, I personally am able to find comfort day after day.
Sweetness at the end of the day: You know a neat thing, every night before I go to bed in my prayer I ask Heavenly Father to allow me to feel his enduring love he has for us before I fall asleep..and I tell you what and I'm not lying, right before I fall asleep every night I feel the ultimate burning in my chest and through out my body. It's the most comforting thing. God hears our prayers and knows the intents of our hearts and actions. He is with us every day and wants nothing more than to comfort us and pick us up when we are down. He knows what we can endure and he's there to pick us up when we feel like we can't endure any more. I love this work and know that this is where I am supposed to be and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love my mission and embrace all the challenges that it may come with. BRING IT ON.
Send Letters: I LOVEEE letters and emails. Letters are great, but I love emails too!
Love you ALL and please pray for "P" and the people of Pforzheim, they need their hearts softened. We are off to buy groceries and stuff now. Tshüss
Elder Jensen"
Gabe's MTC District with Bruder Jentzsch (teacher) and Steve-O (chef)
Gabe, Elder Oviatt and Elder Dewey
Gabe with Elder Gubler (from Santa Clara too)
Yummy breakfast!
Apartment kitchen
No comments:
Post a Comment