Mion!
...gewöhnungsbedürftig und beispiellos verwunderlich, So unvorstellbar unbeschreiblich und sonderbar!
...gewöhnungsbedürftig und beispiellos verwunderlich, So unvorstellbar unbeschreiblich und sonderbar!
You know by the time I will
have finished my mission I think I will have written enough in my letters and
in my journals that it would be comparable unto a few lengthy novels. That will
be an interesting thing to look back on indeed. But oh how useful they will be
in the future because there are already people whose names I have forgotten
that I knew back in my first area of Hannover. That is kind of a scary thing to
say the least. That is why I need to take more pictures or at least send them
so they are saved off somewhere. I already regret taking little to no pictures
in Hannover so I think this time I will rectify that mistake.
So let us get straight to the
matter why don't we? So yesterday I had the great opportunity to confirm
someone a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and give
them the gift of the Holy Ghost. That was very cool and now I can actually say
that I have both baptized and confirmed people on my mission so that is pretty
cool although besides the point. It was definitely a special experience and I
could really say that I felt the spirit giving me the words that I needed to say.
It is an often heard saying that one should seek to build his gifts and
talents. I certainly feel the desire to develop this gift of the spirit and to
know he is there as I give blessings in the future. It is definitely a gift
that is above that of the gift of tongues.
So these past couples of weeks,
here and there, we have been doing some evening sport with our newly converted
member Paul. And oh let me tell you what a great breath or maybe more like a
lot of intake of fresh air that has been. It is much nicer to be able to work
out at night and a whole lot more energy too. Because at 6:30 in the morning as
we just barely roll out of bed you can feel the desperation and the struggle
occurring as me try to move ourselves to do anything. As I zombily try to do
some push-ups and sit-ups in my Aztec looking robe. So now that we have this
wonderful opportunity to get outside and do something a little bit more active.
I have only come to find how much strength that I have actually lost. Boo! But
oh something else random is that we don't even sleep in our bedroom because one
my companion likes to sleep on the floor for some reason haha it’s more
comfortable than our beds apparently and two because every morning from around
4:30 to 6:30 which is when we actually get up. The alarm clock of our neighbor
who lives through the wall goes off. And literally quite literally like
clock-work it goes off every 15 minutes as he continually hits the snooze
button. Who in their right mind has to have an alarm go off for two hours in
order to get up in the morning?!?! Let us just say I wasn't exactly filled with
charity for our neighbor. So now we sleep in our living room, my companion on
the floor and me on a mattress on the floor that I pulled out of our bedroom.
Our bedroom is now only a place where we store and change our clothes.
So we are still plagued with
the curse of finding people only to have the appointments fall out on us which
only makes us waste our time. And then go on to find more people that will do
the exact same thing to us. Something else that has just barely come to my mind
is how important it is that we have a prophet. Because I can't tell you how
many people we talk to who say they are catholic or evangelisch (protestant)
but then have completely different views of doctrine. Like for instance just
today we talked to a man who said that he was catholic but then said he doesn't
believe in a life after this one. God lives in heaven but apparently we aren't
going to be there with him. But if you asked another catholic they would
probably say that was completely false. Or another guy who said that he was
envangelisch said that Christ said he didn't need a church. But if you once
again ask another person who is evangelisch they would tell you that was false
as well. The point is how can all these people say the read the bible and
understand it and even be a part of the exact same church but have completely
different views of principles and doctrines. Now I can't say that everyone in
our church sees everything the exact same way, however because we have a
prophet because we have a direct line back to heavenly father you can
definitely see how much more united our testimonies and teachings of Jesus
Christ are. It doesn't depend on the bishop or branch president in what we
actually believe in but rather lead by the holy spirit that helps lead us to
believe that these things are true and the at we do have a prophet today.
Pretty cool basically haha.
If there has been anything that
has been exemplified these past few weeks or maybe more accurately this past
few months, I would have to say that is is persistence. Recently a couple of
days ago I came across a statement that Heber J. Grant often liked to quote.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do--not that the
nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased."
Despite any kind of hardships or any difficulties, when I have persisted to
keep the commandments, to fulfill my calling as a missionary, to look beyond my
own progression and look to helping others to progress, and to build the
kingdom of God on earth. My ability and capacity to be happy has increased
beyond what I ever could have imagined. So be persistent in those things that
are worth striving for! As always I hope all is well back home and I think
about ya and I love ya.
Tschüss,
Elder Foster
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