Moin!
Ah yes already at the end of another transfer, which means I
have done 4 transfers out of 16 that I will have in Germany. And if you divided
that in your head you would know that means I am 1/4 of the way done with my
time in Germany. I still can not tell whether the time is going by fast or
slow. The easiest way I can go about explaining it is that the days go by slow
and the weeks go by fast. However back to the point of the email. This week was
a little bit eventful to say the least.
First and foremost we had mission tour this week, which
means that a few zones came together to hear from Elder Kepischke who is a
seventy. And oh what a good experience that was, it brought a much needed hope
and renewal of strength into my mind. It also made me remember of a principle
that I had at the start of coming to Germany that I had somehow lost on the way
to the present. And that was to be bold but not just to be bold but to do it
with love. To do all that I could for the members and the investigators, to not
worry about where I measured up but rather to give all that I had. Because in
D&C 4, the first memorized scripture for any missionary, says in the second
verse,"see that ye serve him with all 'your' heart, might, mind, and
strength." Emphasis on the "your." And as a missionary and
really as a human being in general, the Lord only asks that we give the best
that we have. Not what someone else's best may be. And to me that is truly a
comfort. Something else that I learned during Mission Tour was something about faith
that I am almost ashamed to admit that I didn't quite understand until this
point. Your faith can only be measured by what you do. Although in the
scriptures it may say that your faith can move mountains. That does not mean
that you will exert all spiritual energy or something until it moves. But
simply pick up a pick and shovel and get to work on removing that mountain.
Maybe that sounds a little bit crazy but that is just to explain the concept.
Here is a more realistic example, okay so as a missionary we ask people to come
to church all the time. Some missionaries may say, I have the faith that, that
person will show up to church. That is the wrong concept of faith. Because that
is involving the free agency of the person. However, if when you extend the
invitation, you also ask them to come with a question to church, or you ask if
you can call them to remind them, or if you arrange to meet them at their house
and take them to church yourselves that morning, or something of the like. When
you are actually using your own actions to help someone get to church, your are
exercising your faith that it will turn out for the benefit or for the
accomplishment of the end desired result. You may just say that is a missionary
being intelligent. The only thing I can say to that is try putting faith into
your own actions, and you will see the difference. Maybe that was already
common knowledge but for me that opened up faith for me in a whole different
way.
In other news apparently there was a hurricane warning for Bremerhaven,
and my companion and I had no idea. Because of course we are completely cut off
from the communications of the outside world. No TV, Radio, or Internet so how
could we know? So we were basically almost outside for a hurricane..haha
whoops. The port flooded though because the wind was blowing so hard that it
pushed all the water onto the shore. We didn't even know there was a hurricane
warning until we were at an eating appointment at a members house on Sunday. So
yeah I am sure you could imagine how well missionary work went for the past
couple of days because of the stormy weather.
Other information that I guess is of worth noting. Yesterday
I taught the lesson in priesthood meeting at church. I am not sure why they
asked us because we teach the gospel principles class anyways, but oh well what
can I do? However something that is really nice that I get the opportunity to
do because I am in a branch is that I got to bless the sacrament this last
Sunday. I mean it feels a little bit different because I say it in German, but
it was still a nice experience to be able to do that again. In the past
blessing the sacrament was truly a treat for me because of the spirit that
always come along with it. It was nice to look out at the members as they partook
of the sacrament, and to ponder upon its significance, it added strength to my
testimony to say the least.
And oh yeah I am getting a new companion and staying in
Bremerhaven. Haha forgot to mention that part of the whole transfer ending
thing. This will be the 5th companion in the 5th transfer. Woohoo! haha lets
see how long I can go for without getting a new companion after every transfer.
No I think I will stay with my next companion for longer than a transfer this
time. But yeah that was a glimpse into my life for this last week. I hope you
all are doing well back home or wherever you are. Hopefully things don't change
too much while I am away unless its for the better. Because I get the feeling
that June of 2016 is a lot closer than I may think. I hope and pray that we all
can grow and accomplish something within this period of time.
Tschüss,
Elder Foster
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