From Mom 10/4....Good Buddy
Dear Family,
We’ve just had a fun and inspiring two days. It is Zone Conference time again but this time it was announced that it would be a two day affair. The first day we were to have a zone P-day. We were told to come in our P-day clothes and be ready for some sports and games and fun. President and Sister Rakow showed up in Levis and t-shirts and were right in the middle of everything. There was a football game going on. Most of the Elders were having a lot of fun with that. I think they were all trying to show off their high school football skills with lots of long passes and fast running. Of course, it wasn’t tackle but it was more than touch. They had to bring the guy carrying the ball to a complete stop. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. Then there was “Ultimate Frisbee”. That was a lot of fun. You had two teams and passed the Frisbee to others on your team. When you caught it, you had to stop and pass it to someone else. Between people jumping up and down in front of you when you were trying to pass and trying to find someone on your team who was open to pass it to, it was a bit of a challenge. If the Frisbee touched the ground, the other team got it. You couldn’t run with the Frisbee and the only way to score was throwing it to someone behind the goal line. I even intercepted the Frisbee from the other team one time and I threw a short pass for a score once. The Elders and young sisters were very kind to me. President and Sister Rakow were playing that too. We saw a different side of them. After the more physical games we did a bunch of relays. One was where four or six people were in a line and one of our legs was tied to the leg of the person behind us. Then we had to run down the field and back hoping we were all on the same foot at the same time. We were supposed to learn the principle of “working together” with that game. Another was carrying a ping-pong ball in a spoon and holding a volley-ball between our legs and “running” to a set place. It was hilarious to watch and a lot of fun. Inside there was pool, ping-pong and fooze ball and lots of sandwiches, cookies and juice. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed just doing something completely different and getting acquainted with each other. We had the choice of driving back to Wurzburg and coming back the next morning or just staying in Nurnberg so we opted to stay. The Mengs and us got a motel and just relaxed after all our activity. We even found a Kentucky Fried Chicken place and enjoyed the food. The Elders all stayed with other Elders and went out tracting for 2 or 3 hours. I’m so thankful we aren’t allowed to go tracting but have so much respect for those young missionaries who do what they are supposed to do. There are some perks to being an “old” missionary. After we came back from eating, we taught the Mengs how to play 3-13. They really liked it. To help us remember we were still missionaries, we read some articles in the Ensign and caught up on some of the back issues of the Church News, both of which we receive at each Zone Conference.
Today was our regular zone conference with lots of good counsel from our leaders and from President and Sister Rakow. They always have good ideas to help us to be more effective in our works. One of the things they emphasized today was to relax and enjoy the work-----don’t be robots. Be enthused about what we’re doing and be genuinely interested in people we meet. President Rakow is very well read in the scriptures and spent a lot of time explaining things about the gospel some of the Elders had questions about. He talked a lot about what it means to be “covenant people”-----who were covenant people and why we make covenants. We make covenants to protect and preserve the priesthood and so we can receive blessings from the Lord. The ultimate goal of covenants is to receive eternal life. It is through the covenant people that the Lord speaks to all of His children on the earth. He asked that we read in the Book of Mormon every day and also read and study from “Preach My Gospel” every day. Then study the Doctrine and Covenants. He said we can read the Old and New Testament when we got home! He has talked to several Elders who have a goal of reading all the standard works while they are on their mission and that’s not what he wants. The Book of Mormon is such a great tool in missionary work and he wants us to know what’s in it. By the way, we have just completed reading it for the second time since we’ve been here. Our goal is to read it one more time before we come home. I love that book!
We felt very good about our dance last Friday. There were around 30 young people there and about 12 adults. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for here that is a lot! They seemed to have had a good time. We started around 7 o’clock There was lots of good food and everyone enjoyed eating and visiting. I was wondering if kids dance at these dances but at about 9 o’clock they started dancing. In Germany, it’s not unusual for a woman to just go out and dance alone and we saw some of that too. About the time it was supposed to end everyone was dancing and didn’t want it to end. Finally at 11 o’clock we stopped the music. It was 1 minute to midnight when we finished cleaning up and putting things away but we felt really good about how things went. It was well worth the worry and work!
Petra is still a big concern. We received an e-mail from her and she said that as if right now, she has no plans of returning to church. That about broke our hearts. Many people in the ward have tried to contact her but she isn’t answering her phone. They ask us what’s going on but we don’t know. How we wish we did and could help her get back on track. We’ve had several people who have been converts to the church tell us that the same thing happened to them a few months after they were baptized------that it’s just a big change to make in your life but they are so glad they rode those rough times through and are so strong in their testimonies of the church now. We hope and pray every day that Petra will do the same thing. She is so loved by everyone in this ward. I hope she can come to know this.
Sunday we got a new bishop. Bishop Moffitt is now in Twin Falls and will start his job their next Monday. He is working with a group of seven pediatricians and is so excited to be a civilian now and having a regular job. He loves working with newborns in the neo-natal unit and that will be what his specialty is. He’s a wonderful man. We’re glad he will be close enough for us to visit sometime. Our new bishop is a native German and is just a great guy. His wife is the Primary president. Ever since we got here we hear of how “Bother and Sister Seeger made us feel so welcome when we came into the ward.” Now that Brother Seeger is the bishop. I think that says a lot about what kind of person he is.
We are looking forward to conference this week-end. One inactive sister-----the one who gave us all her church books, wants to go to the Relief Society broadcast and Anna Berner said she might come to one of the sessions with us. We thought we had lost Anna this week when we were there. She just seemed really frustrated with some of the things we were talking about but she just stayed with us. She has a hard time accepting that God and Jesus Christ are two separated persons but we feel she is starting to come around with that. She is such a dear lady. She reminds me so much of Grandma Price. As I sat across the table from her and looked at her, I felt myself getting all choked up thinking about Grandma Price. Anyway, when it was time to go she got out her little appointment book and asked us to come in two weeks. We so hope she will come to a conference session. Alex is her grandson and we’re hoping he will ask her to come with him.
We met with the sister who was baptized a couple of weeks ago. The Elders still haven’t been to see her or even called her since she was baptized. We just wanted to see if she had some questions about the church that she wanted to talk about. She is very interested in Family History. In fact, she told us that the second week she was at church, the lesson in Relief Society was on Family History and that was a strong witness to her of the truthfulness of the church. She is excited to learn more. One of the members of the bishopric takes care of the Family History center in the church here and has said he will go with us to her place so he can show her how to get going on her work. She is so excited. Another sister in the ward who is a returned missionary has asked if it would be okay if she gave this new sister the new-member discussions. She has really gone out of her way to befriend her and we think that would be a great idea. That is how it is supposed to be done----by the members. This new member just seems really solid in the gospel.
Not a lot of exciting news this week. We’ve stayed busy and have talked to a lot of people. Sometimes the steps are very small and the progress very slow but as long as people are willing to have us come into their homes and talk with us, we feel very encouraged. Getting people back active in the church is no easy thing. They seem to recognize the need but letting go of the habits that have kept them away is a hard bridge to cross. We just keep trying.
Every day there is more color in the trees. It is beautiful but definitely looks and feels like fall. We’ve had a lot of rain but it hasn’t been too cold. We’ve only had our winter coats out one time so far. We were surprised to hear about the snowstorm there last week. I remember more than once when it snowed during potato harvest. Like Camille said, “And here we have Idaho.” We hope there is lots of snow there this winter. It sounds like we will be hurting for water if we don’t get it.
You are in our thoughts and prayers every day. We love each one of you so very much and look forward to being home with you again. We have three more Zone Conferences and it seems like they roll around quickly.
Much love to all of you,
Mom
We’ve just had a fun and inspiring two days. It is Zone Conference time again but this time it was announced that it would be a two day affair. The first day we were to have a zone P-day. We were told to come in our P-day clothes and be ready for some sports and games and fun. President and Sister Rakow showed up in Levis and t-shirts and were right in the middle of everything. There was a football game going on. Most of the Elders were having a lot of fun with that. I think they were all trying to show off their high school football skills with lots of long passes and fast running. Of course, it wasn’t tackle but it was more than touch. They had to bring the guy carrying the ball to a complete stop. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. Then there was “Ultimate Frisbee”. That was a lot of fun. You had two teams and passed the Frisbee to others on your team. When you caught it, you had to stop and pass it to someone else. Between people jumping up and down in front of you when you were trying to pass and trying to find someone on your team who was open to pass it to, it was a bit of a challenge. If the Frisbee touched the ground, the other team got it. You couldn’t run with the Frisbee and the only way to score was throwing it to someone behind the goal line. I even intercepted the Frisbee from the other team one time and I threw a short pass for a score once. The Elders and young sisters were very kind to me. President and Sister Rakow were playing that too. We saw a different side of them. After the more physical games we did a bunch of relays. One was where four or six people were in a line and one of our legs was tied to the leg of the person behind us. Then we had to run down the field and back hoping we were all on the same foot at the same time. We were supposed to learn the principle of “working together” with that game. Another was carrying a ping-pong ball in a spoon and holding a volley-ball between our legs and “running” to a set place. It was hilarious to watch and a lot of fun. Inside there was pool, ping-pong and fooze ball and lots of sandwiches, cookies and juice. I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed just doing something completely different and getting acquainted with each other. We had the choice of driving back to Wurzburg and coming back the next morning or just staying in Nurnberg so we opted to stay. The Mengs and us got a motel and just relaxed after all our activity. We even found a Kentucky Fried Chicken place and enjoyed the food. The Elders all stayed with other Elders and went out tracting for 2 or 3 hours. I’m so thankful we aren’t allowed to go tracting but have so much respect for those young missionaries who do what they are supposed to do. There are some perks to being an “old” missionary. After we came back from eating, we taught the Mengs how to play 3-13. They really liked it. To help us remember we were still missionaries, we read some articles in the Ensign and caught up on some of the back issues of the Church News, both of which we receive at each Zone Conference.
Today was our regular zone conference with lots of good counsel from our leaders and from President and Sister Rakow. They always have good ideas to help us to be more effective in our works. One of the things they emphasized today was to relax and enjoy the work-----don’t be robots. Be enthused about what we’re doing and be genuinely interested in people we meet. President Rakow is very well read in the scriptures and spent a lot of time explaining things about the gospel some of the Elders had questions about. He talked a lot about what it means to be “covenant people”-----who were covenant people and why we make covenants. We make covenants to protect and preserve the priesthood and so we can receive blessings from the Lord. The ultimate goal of covenants is to receive eternal life. It is through the covenant people that the Lord speaks to all of His children on the earth. He asked that we read in the Book of Mormon every day and also read and study from “Preach My Gospel” every day. Then study the Doctrine and Covenants. He said we can read the Old and New Testament when we got home! He has talked to several Elders who have a goal of reading all the standard works while they are on their mission and that’s not what he wants. The Book of Mormon is such a great tool in missionary work and he wants us to know what’s in it. By the way, we have just completed reading it for the second time since we’ve been here. Our goal is to read it one more time before we come home. I love that book!
We felt very good about our dance last Friday. There were around 30 young people there and about 12 adults. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for here that is a lot! They seemed to have had a good time. We started around 7 o’clock There was lots of good food and everyone enjoyed eating and visiting. I was wondering if kids dance at these dances but at about 9 o’clock they started dancing. In Germany, it’s not unusual for a woman to just go out and dance alone and we saw some of that too. About the time it was supposed to end everyone was dancing and didn’t want it to end. Finally at 11 o’clock we stopped the music. It was 1 minute to midnight when we finished cleaning up and putting things away but we felt really good about how things went. It was well worth the worry and work!
Petra is still a big concern. We received an e-mail from her and she said that as if right now, she has no plans of returning to church. That about broke our hearts. Many people in the ward have tried to contact her but she isn’t answering her phone. They ask us what’s going on but we don’t know. How we wish we did and could help her get back on track. We’ve had several people who have been converts to the church tell us that the same thing happened to them a few months after they were baptized------that it’s just a big change to make in your life but they are so glad they rode those rough times through and are so strong in their testimonies of the church now. We hope and pray every day that Petra will do the same thing. She is so loved by everyone in this ward. I hope she can come to know this.
Sunday we got a new bishop. Bishop Moffitt is now in Twin Falls and will start his job their next Monday. He is working with a group of seven pediatricians and is so excited to be a civilian now and having a regular job. He loves working with newborns in the neo-natal unit and that will be what his specialty is. He’s a wonderful man. We’re glad he will be close enough for us to visit sometime. Our new bishop is a native German and is just a great guy. His wife is the Primary president. Ever since we got here we hear of how “Bother and Sister Seeger made us feel so welcome when we came into the ward.” Now that Brother Seeger is the bishop. I think that says a lot about what kind of person he is.
We are looking forward to conference this week-end. One inactive sister-----the one who gave us all her church books, wants to go to the Relief Society broadcast and Anna Berner said she might come to one of the sessions with us. We thought we had lost Anna this week when we were there. She just seemed really frustrated with some of the things we were talking about but she just stayed with us. She has a hard time accepting that God and Jesus Christ are two separated persons but we feel she is starting to come around with that. She is such a dear lady. She reminds me so much of Grandma Price. As I sat across the table from her and looked at her, I felt myself getting all choked up thinking about Grandma Price. Anyway, when it was time to go she got out her little appointment book and asked us to come in two weeks. We so hope she will come to a conference session. Alex is her grandson and we’re hoping he will ask her to come with him.
We met with the sister who was baptized a couple of weeks ago. The Elders still haven’t been to see her or even called her since she was baptized. We just wanted to see if she had some questions about the church that she wanted to talk about. She is very interested in Family History. In fact, she told us that the second week she was at church, the lesson in Relief Society was on Family History and that was a strong witness to her of the truthfulness of the church. She is excited to learn more. One of the members of the bishopric takes care of the Family History center in the church here and has said he will go with us to her place so he can show her how to get going on her work. She is so excited. Another sister in the ward who is a returned missionary has asked if it would be okay if she gave this new sister the new-member discussions. She has really gone out of her way to befriend her and we think that would be a great idea. That is how it is supposed to be done----by the members. This new member just seems really solid in the gospel.
Not a lot of exciting news this week. We’ve stayed busy and have talked to a lot of people. Sometimes the steps are very small and the progress very slow but as long as people are willing to have us come into their homes and talk with us, we feel very encouraged. Getting people back active in the church is no easy thing. They seem to recognize the need but letting go of the habits that have kept them away is a hard bridge to cross. We just keep trying.
Every day there is more color in the trees. It is beautiful but definitely looks and feels like fall. We’ve had a lot of rain but it hasn’t been too cold. We’ve only had our winter coats out one time so far. We were surprised to hear about the snowstorm there last week. I remember more than once when it snowed during potato harvest. Like Camille said, “And here we have Idaho.” We hope there is lots of snow there this winter. It sounds like we will be hurting for water if we don’t get it.
You are in our thoughts and prayers every day. We love each one of you so very much and look forward to being home with you again. We have three more Zone Conferences and it seems like they roll around quickly.
Much love to all of you,
Mom
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home