Missionare versuchen während der Weihnachtszeit zu missionieren

Moin!

So it has certainly been a long time since I have felt like I have gotten to sit down and really write a letter to everyone probably because it has been. Our schedules as missionaries are definitely shuffled around a bit during the holiday season. So I haven't had the chance to even do any emailing until this current P-Day. And I am sure you all might be wondering. What is it like to be a missionary in Germany during the Christmas season? Well to share my honest experience, holidays in Germany are probably the last kind of days of the year when you want to do missionary work. And in fact, this last week we were all given specific instructions on what we could and couldn’t do during the three day Christmas holiday. They celebrate Christmas for three days (24, 25 &26) in Germany in case you were wondering. But back to what I was saying. It is kind of disappointing to be honest, you would think during the holiday season people would be the happiest and most welcoming. On the contrary nobody has time or they have guests over or they just feel even more disturbed by your presence than ever. So really it is a good thing that the holidays are over because then the work picks back up again. However Christmas is not doom and gloom for a missionary, do not get me wrong. And we were not alone during the Christmas season either. We were invited by the members over to their houses for most of the week. And those moments for me are always a nice little breath of fresh air. If there is something that I will miss when I am not a missionary, it will be that I will not really be able to hang out with members of the Church in such a way again. I will not really have very many opportunities to sit down and get to know someone over dinner and really get to see how cool people really are. I wonder quite often if there were people back in my home wards that I could've grown such a bond with or enjoyed my time with. It is just nice to form a bond with the people you go to Church with. It is nice as a missionary to feel like you are a part of the family in some way. Although it can be quite hilarious when it comes down to the missionary rules, for instance when we were at the Pitari's (branch president's) house last week during one of the Christmas holiday days. They have a little 3-4 year old granddaughter named Sophie that is always there. And she is a pretty silly little girl. President Pitari's family is Italian so it’s funny when she speaks because half the time it is German and the other half of the time it is Italian so at one moment you have no idea what she is saying and the next moment you do. But what was funny is that at one point while we were there she was holding onto my arm and she would try to sit on my lap and even try to kiss my cheek. And it was just hilarious because as a missionary you can't pick up kids and other things like that. So every time she tried to do one of those things I have to try to get away and then her whole family is trying to pick her up and get her away but she keeps coming back. Basically the relationship of a missionary and the members is pretty hilarious sometimes.

But yeah I guess you can say that things are pretty tough right now as a missionary or for me at least. I feel the exact same as I did when I first got into Hannover and we were white-washing the missionary program there. It is hard when just about every day the only thing you are doing is dooring and street contacting and trying to go by on contacts and less actives. Thinking about these kinds of times reminds me of a conversation at an eating appointment back in Hannover. We were eating with two young married couples and the rest of the missionaries in Hannover. And of course we were asking them were they served their missions. And so one of them served in Greece and the other served in Utah. The one that served in Greece did nothing but doors and the other usual methods of finding people and had zero baptisms. While the one that went to Utah did absolutely no dooring and it was actually completely discourage anyways and he got around 80 something baptisms. It really makes you ponder your role as a missionary and what it takes for you to accomplish your role as a disciple and representative of Christ. For instance President Joseph Fielding Smith served a mission in England. A country that is very well-known in church history for converting large amounts of people and even now I would say that the numbers in England are comparatively higher than to those in other European missions. But at the time when Joseph Fielding Smith served there, a future prophet of the Church, he had a total of zero baptisms by the end of his mission, although he served with all his might, mind, and strength and I do not doubt it for a second that he did otherwise. He did not see the success of his labors at that point. And although I have already seen success in my mission, I cannot say that the current situation that I am in now does not shock me or have an effect upon me because I yearn to be a striving force for good. Although sometimes I may think that I am not much to look at in terms of a missionary. I am still all the Lord has right here, right now, to fill this position. My only hope is that as I take advantage of this experience I can be magnified by the Spirit of God, and become effective and powerful. I hope only that the Spirit may bear record of my testimony. And that although many have sought for more impressive ways of saying it, singing it, or writing it, and used all matter of poetic expression. When all is said and done, the declaration which is most powerful is similar to a declaration of love in its three-word variety. I know that my Redeemer lives! My mission so far has opened my eyes to a prize much bigger than that of a so called successful mission with many baptisms but to a prize of a firm testimony that which I can build my future life upon and my future family upon. A testimony that is based on the foundation of Christ of which I cannot fall from and even more than that a promise of eternal life. And as President Gordon B. Hinckley once said, “What will the Church do for you, a man? It will give you the assurance, as certain as life itself, that death is but a graduation, and that those most precious to you may be yours through all eternity." I cannot express the enabling power of the gospel and what it has done for me already, so young and so weak in my current state of life. I could never regret my mission whether or not I saw many baptisms or other successes. I am glad to be where I am right now, even if it means I plant only the tiniest of seeds. However I will try to accomplish greatness nonetheless.

I just want to end my letter by saying that I am grateful for all of those who sent me something during the Christmas time or who kept me in their prayers. I am very grateful for all the love and support that I receive from each and every one of you. And I think and pray for you all as much as is permissible. I love y'all!

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

 

 

Umziehen

Moin!

If any of you were wondering why I didn't send a letter this Monday it is because I was moving into my new apartment in the actual city of Bremerhaven. Which is far better than living in Nordholz which is a little town out in the woods, north woods that is haha. But this move will make it a lot simpler to plan things and just plain get out and do some work. But oh goodness that was the most obnoxious move of my entire life. Mostly because of how complicated it had to be. Moving is Germany is just a pain especially if you live in an apartment. I mean we are missionaries and don't have that much stuff in our apartment but it still took four trips to get everything and us into the new apartment. I mean I am not sure if they have bigger moving vans than what we were using but it was small and we had to take every piece of furniture apart to get it out of the apartment, in the van and then into the new apartment and build it all back up again. We were up at 5am and we didn't get done until 8pm. So there is a small glimpse of what happened to me in the last week.

I am not sure what to say about this last week because really the central point of last week was basically moving and getting ready to move and talking to the landlord and having people check out or old apartment and this and that. But something of significance that I can talk about was that on Saturday we had our Branch Christmas Party. And if I want to be honest...it was probably one of the most awkward Christmas parties I have ever seen in my life. haha it was kind of robotic in sequence and not quite as comfortable for that reason. It didn't help that only a week before it one of the Branch presidency told us to do something for it. So we had to come up with something really quickly. So we tried to show the He is the Gift video and sing silent night as missionaries. But we had technical difficulties so we weren't able to show the video and we awkwardly had to give our testimonies in place of it and then sang Silent Night after much embarrassment. Haha that will be an interesting memory to say the least.

In Bremerhaven we have to do a lot more finding because we don't have as big of a teaching pool as I had back when I was in Hannover. And this week was just hard. And I don't say any of this to be pessimistic or to be down on myself. But to just honestly tell you how things go sometimes. So for instance just the other day the very first person we talked to, literally the very first door where somebody answered. There was an old man maybe in his seventies close to eighties is there. And even before I can finish what I am saying he interrupts me. And then begins to talk about how he was all alone and that a year ago yesterday his wife died and he begins to start crying a little and then talks about how they were married for so many years. And then just slowly begins to close the door as all we can say is sorry. And then right as the door is completely shut he begins to absolutely and sincerely bawl, we could hear it even better than when the door was open. I don't think I will ever be able to forget that moment. I have never cared for people as much as I do now in my entire life. It is hard to have so many people reject that which will truly bring them that peace and comfort that will give purpose to their lives. I know that Christ is the source of all peace, comfort, hope, and joy. It is not enough to just have that for myself. It is not enough for me to be the only one on my mission to grow and be blessed. But alas I will keep going. I will never give up.

But I hope all is well wherever you are right now. And I have received all of your presents from zone conference that we had last week. And I got entirely too much. I am ashamed in all of you! haha. I'm just teasing but I truly do appreciate the love you have shown me in sending me stuff although I have not opened them yet. Of course I am thinking of you all during the holidays and being away only makes me appreciate all of you more during this holiday season. You are all missed.

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

 

A Merry Zone Conference

Here is most current picture of  Elder Seth Foster at Zone Conference in Hannover on December 9th--where all of the Christmas packages and letters were distributed.   We did not receive an email from Seth this week as he was probably busy moving to his new apartment in Bremerhaven. 

Der Heilige Geist Gottes hat zu mir gesprochen

"Nicht durch das Ohr, nicht durch das Auge, sondern zu meinem Geist, zu dem, was in mir lebendig und ewig ist. "

Mion Mion,

So here I am in a new city in Germany. Bremerhafen in case you forgot. And when I say Bremerhaven I don't exactly mean the city itself but rather the area. Because I believe so far I have spent more time in Cuxhaven proselyting than I have in Bremerhafen. They are both port cities which you may have already known if you knew that Der Hafen in German means port or harbor. Even though as of right now I can't say that I know too much about this area or that I really feel like that I am right by the sea. Despite having seen big ships in the distance while being in neighborhoods. But thankfully it has been actually a little bit warmer here than it was when I was in Hannover. That or I am just getting used to the weather already. The Weather has ranged between 6 to -2 degrees Celsius, even though the sun is completely down before 4:30, but it’s not too bad as of yet and probably won't snow until the middle of January or at least according to those who live in this area.

And so to tell you a little bit about where I am living now. I actually don't live in Bremerhafen but in a village called Nordholz which is really quite the hindrance sometimes. I mean we literally have to bike through a forest every day to go proselyting and get back home, and that is if you want to take the short way. Haha The trains to leave where we live or get back to where we live only come around once every hour so if you miss your train you are basically stuck wherever you are for another hour (already happened). However there is good news in light of that. Next Monday we should be moving into an apartment in Bremerhafen, unfortunately that means there is no point in me sending you a new address. But so when we are actually in the small cities of Bremerhafen and Cuxhafen we don't have bikes those are only used for getting to the train station in Nordholz. So we use our feet and the buses. Not nearly quite as convenient as the Bahn system in Hannover and I have already had to walk some distances to get to lessons (always worth getting to an appointment though). There are four missionaries in our area a set of Elders, so my new companion (Elder Garner from the U.S. "basically" because his dad was in the military) and I and then the Sister companionship, which has someone from my district when I was in the MTC.

Okay now to talk about the Branch itself. So of course we don't have a real church building but instead meet in an old mansion, believe me, it’s not as fancy as you may be thinking right now. And we have about 30 or so active members that come to Church every Sunday. It is quite a bit different from being in Hannover where there is a full functioning ward and stake. Whereas a branch can disappear from one or two families moving or from one generation passing by. It is kind of funny too because there used to be 3 wards in Bremerhafen because there used to be an American military base in the area before they shut it down. Of course though we still have like 60 inactive members in the area. If anything I only hope I can help build a strong foundation for this branch, one that is excited and aware of the importance of missionary work. It truly is missionary work and that spirit of that work that keeps your own testimony growing. When you lose the spirit of the work in which we are engaged, you become infidel in your feelings. You say that you do not know whether the Bible is true, or whether the Book of Mormon is true, neither about new revelations, and neither whether there is a God or not. When you lose the spirit of this work, you lose the knowledge of the things of God in time and in eternity. It seems to me that many receive the Gospel because they know it is true. They are convinced in strong judgment and strong argument overpowers them, they are rationally compelled to admit the Gospel is true based upon fair reasoning. They try to follow and obey the first principles but they never try to seek to be enlightened by the power of the Holy Ghost. One of the grand keys to success in this life and eternal reward in the life to come is to cultivate the gift and gifts of the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately it took me so long to figure that out. That rather than being led by man or by my own actions and thoughts, I could be led by the very light itself.

A mission is certainly not easy but it is worth every minute of your time when you put your heart and soul into it. It is much more than an opportunity for me but a divine responsibility. Even though there are days when you wake up and you don't want to go out in the cold and talk to people who don't want to listen and the holidays come around and your thoughts drift back to home and the warm experiences in your mind are firmly set in place. I am truly grateful to be here and I only hope my faith and devotion will be there when everything else in this world seems to fight against me from getting out there and opening my mouth. Even then I cannot describe the joy and thankfulness for the knowledge that I do have and the eternal hope that accompanies with it. I know that my Redeemer lives. And I know what I must do.

I am grateful for all those who send me letters, emails, and packages. And all those of you who may find some kind of enjoyment out of these letters. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season and that you truly get into the spirit of the season rather than the commercialism hype. I love you all.

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

Bremerhaven

Hallo!
Welcome one and all to another epistle of Elder Foster. So this last Saturday morning I found out that the days of Hannover are now over and that the days of Bremerhaven have just begun. In case, you are wondering off the top of your head where Bremerhaven even is. It is more north than Hannover and it is directly on the coast. So woo that will be an interesting scene. Too bad I will be there during the winter and not the summer. But anyway, if any of you think it is lame that I am leaving right before Christmas and I am now going from a big ward where they knew me to a small branch of about 30 people where they don't know me. Have no worries because I am perfectly fine with going wherever the Lord needs me to be. I need no pampering and I am already sure my mission is filled with certain types of amenities or luxuries that other missions do not have. The only things that are unfortunate about me leaving are that I have to leave the new converts and the new investigators especially when this last week went so well. It was a good week to end on to say the least.
So an experience that I had this week that I haven't yet had before happened on Friday while we were in Bad Falling Bostel which I like to call little Britain. Because there is a British Army military base that is nearby and so we teach a lot of people that are stationed but not on the base. We had a lot to do that day and we were really debating whether it was really worth the trip to go up there and only be there for a few hours. But we did so nonetheless. And within the course of a few hours we gave about 4 lessons. It was quite a great feeling to go from one house to another and to teach so many people in such a short time. I was kind of envious for a moment of people in other missions who may really just go from one appointment to another all day long. However I still believe that it is possible here in Germany and that if anything I hope I can strive to achieve that in my next area. I hope what I have learned and how I have grown can be continually added upon wherever I go. This last Sunday after all the meetings were over, one of the members who is dear to me or at least of whom I am very grateful told me something. And that was that she hoped that I lived up to the potential that she first saw in me when I was being trained by my first trainer Elder Lyon. I too hope I can live up to the potential that the Lord may have in store for me. I only hope that my testimony will develop and become more complete and that it will be quickly accomplished in my missionary work as I turn my heart loose and let it rule my mind.

What else can I say about this week? Last Monday we had a turkey bowl with our most of our zone for P-day and I found the field for us to play on.  Also, all the missionaries in Hannover on Thanksgiving Day went to the Knabe's house and had a genuine Thanksgiving dinner and even did it with a non-member family.  On Sunday my companion and I went with the Sisters to an American family's (Priddis family) house for another Thanksgiving dinner and the beginning of Advent. Their little kids are pretty funny. It is safe to say that there will be families that I will miss and I do not exactly like that I will miss out on the people that have been recently found and those that are preparing for baptism. But alas new adventures are underway. And it is pretty crazy to already be so close to being on a mission for half a year. Time is flying by just a bit too fast. But I get the feeling that there is still plenty of growth and experiences left in the future. Sometimes weeks feel like they are going up and down. Truly, it is more about “forward and backward”. The greatest asset of a man is faith. Men who established this church made it prosper during its darkest days with unshakable faith, “men of courage, men of vision, men who always looked forward and never backward” – with unfailing testimony and unwavering faith. President Gordon B. Hinckley expressed, “Well was it said of old, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). There is no place in this work for those who believe only in the gospel of doom and gloom. The gospel is good news. It is a message of triumph. It is a cause to be embraced with enthusiasm. I hope that I can live to that kind of standard. 

 

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

 

Missionaries and Investigators in Hamburg with the Piano Guys -November 2014