Hallo Hallo Hallo,
Zuerst werde ich gerne eine
Schriftstelle teilen.
"Vertrau auf den Herrn und
tu das Gute, bleib wohnen im Land und bewahre Treue! Freu dich innig am Herrn!
Dann gibt er dir, was dein Herz begehrt. Befiehl dem Herrn deinen Weg und
vertrau auf ihm; er wird es fügen. Er bringt deine Gerechtigkeit heraus wie das
Licht und dein Recht so hell wie den Mittag." Psalm 36,3-6
Well hello everyone! How do you
do? I wonder if anybody reads these anymore...haha just kidding. But anyways
this week was interesting as they usually always are. And as usual I have no
idea to go about writing what happened. It seems that our efforts in finding
people seems to no longer be a problem but keeping those same people is a
another story. It seems that every appointment that we set up seems to fall out
except for a few of them. One of them being the most interesting in all reality
and funnily enough the place where we find the most people is in the sketchiest
part of town. Basically in the general area of where we actually live if I want
to put it honestly. Haha the scriptural story of Alma and his brethren who were
preaching unto the Zoramites remind me of our current situation and the first
few verses go like so..."1 And it came to pass that they did go forth, and
began to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their
synagogues, and into their houses; yea, and even they did preach the word in
their streets. 2 And it came to pass that after much labor among them, they
began to have success among the poor class of people; for behold, they were
cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel. 3
Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship
God, being esteemed as filthiness; therefore they were poor; yea, they were
esteemed by their brethren as dross; therefore they were poor as to things of
the world; and also they were poor in heart." That is basically our story
here in Bremerhaven.
To continue a little bit of
what I talked about last week. We met with the Bulgarian family again and they
were surprising glad to see us. And of course the language barrier was still
there with only the 14 and 15 year old sons able to speak with us on basic
levels. However we still had our handy dandy Google translator nearby! We ended
up staying there for the next two hours because we have to talk to each other
through the computer. I really don't know if I have ever seen such a sincere
family with the desire to know about the gospel. They even had their own
questions and asked about random things that I wouldn't have even thought
about, for instance like circumcision and if that needs to happen. We ended up
talking about baptism with this whole family and they of course expressed their
desire to do so but are afraid because they had thought that they all needed to
be older and are not sure when they all should be baptized. Not to mention they
are missing a lot of the basic knowledge even surrounding baptism in general.
But what I thought was the most amazing thing about meeting with them is that
they only have one Book of Mormon, because we only had one in Bulgarian. But
despite that they all had read a chapter each day since we gave it to them,
each one of them passing it on to the next person as they finished the chapter.
Now that is amazing to me. That is better than some missionaries who are on
their missions, let alone many members in the church. It really is quite sad to
meet so many foreigners in Germany and to find that they are so ready for the
gospel, yet their German is lacking so much that they cannot fully become a
part of the ward or branch because of it. But however I am planning to bring by
a Book of Mormon in German so that it can help them to learn German. I mean it
helps me and many other missionaries to learn German so why not them?
Something else possibly worth
note of sharing was last week when we were during our usual family home evening
with one of the members. Elder Pilling and I sang a few hymns for our spiritual
thought. He played the piano and sang while I just sang. I had never done
anything like that before or with any of the members in Germany. It was a nice
little experience to say the least. I am just trying to give you the image
in your head of me singing in German in some faraway place in Germany in some
German member's home. Haha. I am just trying to give you pictures in your head
of my comings and goings in Germany because I am horrible at taking pictures. I
just always miss the perfect opportunities.
Anyway, to give you another
view of my possible future as a missionary…Last week after district meeting,
President Kosak came to the church in Bremen where we were having district
meeting, in order to talk to the Zone leaders that were already there. However
he ended up talking to our whole District as well and after said random 45
minute discussion with President and my District. We all began to head our ways
back to our areas and of course, President still needed to talk to the Zone
Leaders. But before leaving he got a hold of me and told me that I was a one of
his potential candidates as a district and zone leader. So that is a very
imposing responsibility in the near future. In one sense it is almost exciting,
but in another sense it also brings a feeling of inadequacy. That is
essentially the mission itself though. You are either going forward or
backwards, there is no in-between. The better you do and the more that you
become, the more the feelings of inadequacy come and the more the influence of
evil one tries to bring you down. And so I pray for the direction of the Holy
Spirit that anxiety may be replaced by inspiration without wishing to look
back, but rather to note the progress of myself now. And I also pray that I will
place my "trust in the Lord and do good"" so that it may also be
said of me, as it was of Joseph of old, as I live as an example of the gospel
of Jesus Christ," can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the Spirit
of God is?" (Gen. 41:38)
God lives. Jesus is the Christ.
This is His church. This is my humble witness to you today. And I hope all is
well back home or wherever you may be. I pray and think of you always.
Tschüss,
Elder Foster
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