From Dad 6/16
Hi everyone,
Mom is awesome! Who could ever have imagined how fun a mission would be with your best friend for 18 months! It is as great as it sounds!
Yes, there are challenges and days you wonder what you are doing and what to do next. In truth those days were as frequent at home as they have been here. The big difference is who you spend your time with and what you are doing. It is so amazing to see what this experience has done in strengthening our testimonies. Since we came with our own individual experiences in the Church, it is and has been a great growing experience for both of us. No one is perfect. Of course that is no news. What we have learned is how much more we are able to do for others as a team. That has been fun. We do miss family and all the fun events. Your experience with the sea lion brought many smiles and thoughts while we watched your “friend” come up on the beach and take over the boogie board. We love your letters.
Mom makes goodies almost everywhere we go to meet with the young people. She has a loyal following. We love the flexibility a couple mission provides. Hours, car use, with whom we meet and what we do when we meet, are all left pretty much up to us. We have had 13plus discussions this week. Mom loves for us to be busy. Study is not her thing! We have three who are working toward commitment to a baptismal date. We have several less actives who have attended or are making plans to attend Church and to prepare for going to the temple. Three of these families seem very hopeful to us for being able to go to the temple. In two of those families the husband is not yet a member of the Church. One has two children who are also not yet members. These are some of our great opportunities. The love in these families is the great strength they have that will help them to get past these hurdles. It’s so awesome to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ literally changes people’s lives. Everyday we are more and more thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who introduced His Son and the dawn of the Restoration. Repentance or change is no longer a “bad” word but one full of blessings and enrichment.
We started a new challenge this morning working with Abed who was born and raised in Iraq and came to Germany in about 1999. He told us today he has born much pain and suffering in his homeland and has great doubts about the reality of God with so many problems in the world. He is searching for a peaceful existence with his fellowmen. We have learned there is a vast difference between the militant Muslims and the ones who are peace oriented. In the Muslim world there is no separation between religion, government, and the military. They are all one and the same. It helps to see the picture of what is happening in the Middle East. 85% of the Muslims in the world (about 1.3 billion) are Sunni (those who held power under Sadam Hussein) the remaining 15% Shiite are the ones in northern Iraq and together with other groups hold political power in Iraq instead of the Sunni’s. Traditions among these people are built into their religion and are of equal value as the word of God (subject to interpretation by their religious, governmental, military leaders). Our mission president said we can teach Abed but we must go very slowly. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read in it. He purchased an internet café 3 months ago and works 91 hours a week. We hope to meet with him once a week.
One of our less actives is a young adult going to school here. We meet once a month for pizza, ice cream and talk. He is a little more friendly each time and the “stiffness” in our age gap is wearing down some. There seems to be more to talk about and to plan for the future. He is in engineering and has a one of a kind mind. We hope to get him hooked up with the super activity for a week in northern Germany in August for all young single adults. It sounds hopeful.
Keep the home fires burning bright and keep the letters coming.
Love always your,
Dad, grandpa, brother, and uncle
Mom is awesome! Who could ever have imagined how fun a mission would be with your best friend for 18 months! It is as great as it sounds!
Yes, there are challenges and days you wonder what you are doing and what to do next. In truth those days were as frequent at home as they have been here. The big difference is who you spend your time with and what you are doing. It is so amazing to see what this experience has done in strengthening our testimonies. Since we came with our own individual experiences in the Church, it is and has been a great growing experience for both of us. No one is perfect. Of course that is no news. What we have learned is how much more we are able to do for others as a team. That has been fun. We do miss family and all the fun events. Your experience with the sea lion brought many smiles and thoughts while we watched your “friend” come up on the beach and take over the boogie board. We love your letters.
Mom makes goodies almost everywhere we go to meet with the young people. She has a loyal following. We love the flexibility a couple mission provides. Hours, car use, with whom we meet and what we do when we meet, are all left pretty much up to us. We have had 13plus discussions this week. Mom loves for us to be busy. Study is not her thing! We have three who are working toward commitment to a baptismal date. We have several less actives who have attended or are making plans to attend Church and to prepare for going to the temple. Three of these families seem very hopeful to us for being able to go to the temple. In two of those families the husband is not yet a member of the Church. One has two children who are also not yet members. These are some of our great opportunities. The love in these families is the great strength they have that will help them to get past these hurdles. It’s so awesome to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ literally changes people’s lives. Everyday we are more and more thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who introduced His Son and the dawn of the Restoration. Repentance or change is no longer a “bad” word but one full of blessings and enrichment.
We started a new challenge this morning working with Abed who was born and raised in Iraq and came to Germany in about 1999. He told us today he has born much pain and suffering in his homeland and has great doubts about the reality of God with so many problems in the world. He is searching for a peaceful existence with his fellowmen. We have learned there is a vast difference between the militant Muslims and the ones who are peace oriented. In the Muslim world there is no separation between religion, government, and the military. They are all one and the same. It helps to see the picture of what is happening in the Middle East. 85% of the Muslims in the world (about 1.3 billion) are Sunni (those who held power under Sadam Hussein) the remaining 15% Shiite are the ones in northern Iraq and together with other groups hold political power in Iraq instead of the Sunni’s. Traditions among these people are built into their religion and are of equal value as the word of God (subject to interpretation by their religious, governmental, military leaders). Our mission president said we can teach Abed but we must go very slowly. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read in it. He purchased an internet café 3 months ago and works 91 hours a week. We hope to meet with him once a week.
One of our less actives is a young adult going to school here. We meet once a month for pizza, ice cream and talk. He is a little more friendly each time and the “stiffness” in our age gap is wearing down some. There seems to be more to talk about and to plan for the future. He is in engineering and has a one of a kind mind. We hope to get him hooked up with the super activity for a week in northern Germany in August for all young single adults. It sounds hopeful.
Keep the home fires burning bright and keep the letters coming.
Love always your,
Dad, grandpa, brother, and uncle
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