Hallo Meine Schätzen!
So this week we had transfer calls and the verdict
is.....I'll be staying in Hannover and my new companion will be Elder Johnston
who was serving in Bad Bentheim but will now be serving with me. I will get to
meet him tomorrow. I am pretty glad though that I get to stay in Hannover for
at least one more transfer. Even though I am sure everyone in the ward and
everyone that I teach is probably a little bit confused or possibly complexed
that this is my third companion in my first city. Quite hilarious to say the
least and even more so that for my last two companions this was their last
transfer so they both went home.
Now the report of the week.....or the long blur of a week if
that makes any sense. On Tuesday I went on exchange with the district leader
and oh what a breath of fresh air was that. I went from a lets say trunky
companion to a companion that was more than happy to go finding. Unfortunately
Elder Gerharty the district leader is being transfered to Dresden so I won't
get to hear his funky Jersey accent on the phone at night anymore. Haha so on
that day we found some good contacts and we actually met a woman named
Mahboubeh who is from Iran and she was such a nice lady. She even asked us what
came next. And said she would love to come to church but didn't know if she
could this Sunday. And here is why I say this and how it applies to my
missionary life. Everytime we invite someone to come to church or go to
institute or watch general conference. Everytime and I mean everytime it is
something that they would've absolutely loved to see or hear...but then of
course they are not there. Hopefully more oppurtunities will arise for these
people that I teach. Something else that I have learned or have seen is never
to underestimate the value of member and inactive member lessons. Just this
week me and my companion went to this place called Burgdorf that is in our area
to go help a less active family move a piano....yes a piano, out of a basement
up a very narrow and steep long staricase no less. And from this one little act
of service. The family came to church this Sunday and they want us to come back
to Burgdorf and talk to all their neighbors and other less active members in
the area. Which there used to be a ward back in the day there...now there is
nothing. The Lord truly will bless you with many oppurtunities when you simply
serve him and his people in whatever ways you can find. Safe to say that me and
my new companion will be going back there and will be going through the member
list a lot more often now.
This last transfer was kind of a struggle. It was a seven
week transfer so it was even longer than usual but really at some points it
felt like a set-back. A lot of the people that were really making progress with
and even had baptism dates with kind of fell out. Unfortunately the events in
their lives and the events in our lives kept us from being able to visit them
as much as we wanted and needed to. And unfortunately some of the other people
we teach or the people we meet on the streets are really struggling honestly
with pride. Just this week I read a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson about
pride that said,"The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren't
interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's." And it is
unfortunate to see that in so many people since I have been here. Sometimes
though you have to drink the bitter cup and know that there are times when you
must accept the situation and reach upward and outward. I will not let
self-pity or despair beckon me from the course I know is right. The Savior set
the compass: I must be born again in spirit and heart. I am very grateful to be
a missionary and already only after a few short months I already feel like a
completely different person than I was when I first entered the MTC. The
mission may be a sacrifice to some but to me it is truly a blessing and the
small and simple principles of the gospel have been opened up before my eyes
that they are now of great value and the scriptures themselves have become an
endless library of knowledge and joy. With this next transfer I will try to do
as President Gordon B. Hinckley has said. That the only way he knows to get
anything done is to get on his knees and plead for help and then get on his
feet and go to work. That combination of faith and hard work is the consummate
curriculum for learning the language of the spirit.
Sei mutig und stark!
Elder Foster
