From Mom 1/3/2008
Dear Family,
Well, 2008 is finally here. There have been times I thought it would never come and there have been times that I wish it would never come. It’s all a part of the ups and downs of missionary life but in spite of those ups and downs, we will always be grateful for this opportunity. I think of the experiences we have had and the people we’ve met and realize how blessed we have been to have had these experiences. Every day is different and I’m sure every missionary’s experiences are different so to tell people what a mission is like would be almost impossible. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? You bet!! Would you do it again? Well, not for awhile at least. Are you glad you did it? I wouldn’t trade the experience and this opportunity to spend all our time in the Lord’s service. It only happens on a mission.
We feel like we’re finally getting back to our work. The holidays have taken their toll on our time to contact people but the holidays are all but over and people are getting back into their normal routines again. We had a very interesting day today. I’ve talked a lot about Christian and Stephanie. Stephanie’s sister is spending some time with them. She’s probably 27 or 28 years old. Stephanie called and asked us if we would come over and teach her the gospel. I was a little concerned about doing it and asked Stephanie what her parents would think of us doing that. They don’t have a lot of good to say about the church. Stephanie told us that her parents told her not to be telling her sister about the church. Then she said, “But they didn’t say anything about anyone else teaching her.” So we went over yesterday. We’ve been a bit hesitant about doing it so we went into it with the idea that we would just tell her about the church and not teach her as if we were going to baptize her. Yesterday we talked briefly about a lot of things-----our Heavenly Father’s love for us, the importance of families, and the Book of Mormon. She (Sonia) loves to read and was so happy when we gave her a Book of Mormon. We told her a little bit about it and invited her to start reading. She asked us if we would come back today. She had read clear up to chapter 10 in 2nd Nephi and said that it was really interesting to her. Today we read together the 11th chapter of 3rd Nephi and she was really impressed with the. She wanted to meet again tomorrow but has to go back home. She said she’s coming over later in the month and wants to continue learning about the church. I just hope all this doesn’t cause problems with her family.
I mentioned last week about going to check out a referral. This is a young man from India who is here in Germany as a political refugee. Some one gave him a Book of Mormon in Hindi (the language of India) and he has been reading it and loves it. The big problem is that he speaks very little English and hardly any German. It is very difficult to communicate with him. When we met with him last Saturday we thought he must be in his mid twenties. Today a friend who lives in the same apartment building he lives in was there. This friend speaks good English and was able to help us communicate with this young man---Kumar Manis. We found out he is only 16 years old and in Germany you can’t work until you are 18. He lives is one room that is probably 14 x 8 feet. We had hoped to help him find a job here in Wurzburg and help him find a better place to live but finding out his real age, our hands are pretty much tied as far as helping him find a job. He has permission to stay in the country until February 14 and then they will decide if he can stay longer or if they ship him back to India. What a life!----no job, no family, wondering if he’s going to be sent back to India and only 16 years old. But he does love reading his Book of Mormon. With his limited English it’s hard to try to teach him anything so today we took an English Book of Mormon with us and sat at his table with him and helped him read about 10 verses. That took half an hour. He would read then if a word came that he didn’t know, he would look at his Hindi book and come back to the English one. It was amazing how quickly he started recognizing words. He said he would keep reading and we have another appointment with him next week. We’ve heard stories of people learning to read and even learning the English language through reading the Book of Mormon. I guess I just never thought we might have one of those experiences. As we sat there working with him, I couldn’t help but think, “Where else would I ever be having an experience like this?” He wanted us to have a cup of coffee before we left and was pretty adamant about it. Thank goodness his friend came back about that time and we were able to tell him we didn’t drink coffee and he explained that to Kumar. Then he asked what we did drink and we told him we would drink some Herbal tea and he said he’d have some for us next week. He’s such a nice young man. We realize more each down what a sheltered life we have lived and our eyes have really been opened to what some people have to go through in their lives.
Yesterday we were upstairs in our building talking to a sweet lady we’ve met with several times. I’m not sure she is that interested in learning about the church but she does love having us come. She loves to have us sing to her so we take our hymn book and sing a couple of songs each time. She loves “How Great Thou Art” and sings along with us. She has a deep voice, almost like a man’s voice. She used to sing in a group and loves music. Her step brother was there while we were there. When we saw that she had company we told her we would come back but they both insisted that we come in. The step brother is Russian. He speaks enough German to get by. He didn’t have a lot to say while we were talking to Edda but after awhile he came over to where we were and expressed to Edda that he wishes he could understand us. We asked Edda if he could read Russian and she said he could and then we asked her if she thought he would like a Russian Book of Mormon. She thought he would so we ran down to our apartment and got him one. He seemed so pleased and very gracious when we gave it to him. We asked him to read from it to Edda as her eyes are very bad and she can’t see well enough to read much. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in that case. So between our experience with the young man from India and our new friend from Russia, we kind of feel like we are on an International mission. It all makes for some very interesting days.
Monday afternoon all the missionaries in our district---two sets of Elders and two couples---got together and went to dinner than back to the church and played ping-pong and some table games. A couple from the ward who are in the army and are just waiting to leave for their new assignment at Fort Lewis Washington were there with us and they were a lot of fun. We played Scum and Mormon Bridge and just had a good time. We had to be in our apartments by 10:30. About 11:30 the fireworks started right outside our window and they went steady until about 12:15. It’s just what people here do on New Years Eve. All week when we would go to the store, people were buying huge amounts of fireworks. What a mess the streets and little parks around here were the next day! But it’s pretty much all cleaned up by now and life is settling down again. Tuesday was an almost impossible day to do any missionary work. We tried. We spent some time talking to people on the phone trying to get things set up for next week. The Elders called around 3 o’clock and said they had had zero success contacting people so we invited them over. I made some scones and they really liked them. Then we had about an hour study time together. We each read and told about our favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon and why it was our favorite scripture. Then we all shared some experiences we have had with the Book of Mormon on our missions. It was a great hour! Then we pulled out the Rook cards and played a couple of games of 3-13. They love that game!! All in all our New Years celebrations were good.
Tonight we went to Sister Shuster’s and had a Family Home Evening with her and her almost 6 year old Luca. I think I mentioned them in my last letter. She is a single Mom and just feels burned out trying to do everything required of her. She said Luca doesn’t like FHE and he doesn’t like it when the Home Teachers come so we told her we would try to make it an enjoyable evening for Luca. We sang a song, which he doesn’t like to do but he got a recorder for Christmas and played it as we sang. He didn’t get the tune to well but had the rhythm perfect. Then Dad gave a short lesson on the Book of Mormon and gave Luca one for himself. Then we played the M&M game and both of them seemed to have had such a good time. It was good to see Sister Shuster let her hair down and laugh and have a good time. She is pretty serious about life and we saw a new side of her tonight. It was good. We’re going to try to go back each week while we’re still here. Another good experience that we wouldn’t be having if we weren’t here.
And so life goes on here in Germany. We have a lot of people we want to meet with the next couple of months. I don’t think we’re going to have much trouble keeping plenty busy. The time will fly by and then we will fly home. And we can hardly wait!! We hope you know how much we love each one of you.
Much love always,
Mom
Well, 2008 is finally here. There have been times I thought it would never come and there have been times that I wish it would never come. It’s all a part of the ups and downs of missionary life but in spite of those ups and downs, we will always be grateful for this opportunity. I think of the experiences we have had and the people we’ve met and realize how blessed we have been to have had these experiences. Every day is different and I’m sure every missionary’s experiences are different so to tell people what a mission is like would be almost impossible. Is it hard? Yes. Is it worth it? You bet!! Would you do it again? Well, not for awhile at least. Are you glad you did it? I wouldn’t trade the experience and this opportunity to spend all our time in the Lord’s service. It only happens on a mission.
We feel like we’re finally getting back to our work. The holidays have taken their toll on our time to contact people but the holidays are all but over and people are getting back into their normal routines again. We had a very interesting day today. I’ve talked a lot about Christian and Stephanie. Stephanie’s sister is spending some time with them. She’s probably 27 or 28 years old. Stephanie called and asked us if we would come over and teach her the gospel. I was a little concerned about doing it and asked Stephanie what her parents would think of us doing that. They don’t have a lot of good to say about the church. Stephanie told us that her parents told her not to be telling her sister about the church. Then she said, “But they didn’t say anything about anyone else teaching her.” So we went over yesterday. We’ve been a bit hesitant about doing it so we went into it with the idea that we would just tell her about the church and not teach her as if we were going to baptize her. Yesterday we talked briefly about a lot of things-----our Heavenly Father’s love for us, the importance of families, and the Book of Mormon. She (Sonia) loves to read and was so happy when we gave her a Book of Mormon. We told her a little bit about it and invited her to start reading. She asked us if we would come back today. She had read clear up to chapter 10 in 2nd Nephi and said that it was really interesting to her. Today we read together the 11th chapter of 3rd Nephi and she was really impressed with the. She wanted to meet again tomorrow but has to go back home. She said she’s coming over later in the month and wants to continue learning about the church. I just hope all this doesn’t cause problems with her family.
I mentioned last week about going to check out a referral. This is a young man from India who is here in Germany as a political refugee. Some one gave him a Book of Mormon in Hindi (the language of India) and he has been reading it and loves it. The big problem is that he speaks very little English and hardly any German. It is very difficult to communicate with him. When we met with him last Saturday we thought he must be in his mid twenties. Today a friend who lives in the same apartment building he lives in was there. This friend speaks good English and was able to help us communicate with this young man---Kumar Manis. We found out he is only 16 years old and in Germany you can’t work until you are 18. He lives is one room that is probably 14 x 8 feet. We had hoped to help him find a job here in Wurzburg and help him find a better place to live but finding out his real age, our hands are pretty much tied as far as helping him find a job. He has permission to stay in the country until February 14 and then they will decide if he can stay longer or if they ship him back to India. What a life!----no job, no family, wondering if he’s going to be sent back to India and only 16 years old. But he does love reading his Book of Mormon. With his limited English it’s hard to try to teach him anything so today we took an English Book of Mormon with us and sat at his table with him and helped him read about 10 verses. That took half an hour. He would read then if a word came that he didn’t know, he would look at his Hindi book and come back to the English one. It was amazing how quickly he started recognizing words. He said he would keep reading and we have another appointment with him next week. We’ve heard stories of people learning to read and even learning the English language through reading the Book of Mormon. I guess I just never thought we might have one of those experiences. As we sat there working with him, I couldn’t help but think, “Where else would I ever be having an experience like this?” He wanted us to have a cup of coffee before we left and was pretty adamant about it. Thank goodness his friend came back about that time and we were able to tell him we didn’t drink coffee and he explained that to Kumar. Then he asked what we did drink and we told him we would drink some Herbal tea and he said he’d have some for us next week. He’s such a nice young man. We realize more each down what a sheltered life we have lived and our eyes have really been opened to what some people have to go through in their lives.
Yesterday we were upstairs in our building talking to a sweet lady we’ve met with several times. I’m not sure she is that interested in learning about the church but she does love having us come. She loves to have us sing to her so we take our hymn book and sing a couple of songs each time. She loves “How Great Thou Art” and sings along with us. She has a deep voice, almost like a man’s voice. She used to sing in a group and loves music. Her step brother was there while we were there. When we saw that she had company we told her we would come back but they both insisted that we come in. The step brother is Russian. He speaks enough German to get by. He didn’t have a lot to say while we were talking to Edda but after awhile he came over to where we were and expressed to Edda that he wishes he could understand us. We asked Edda if he could read Russian and she said he could and then we asked her if she thought he would like a Russian Book of Mormon. She thought he would so we ran down to our apartment and got him one. He seemed so pleased and very gracious when we gave it to him. We asked him to read from it to Edda as her eyes are very bad and she can’t see well enough to read much. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in that case. So between our experience with the young man from India and our new friend from Russia, we kind of feel like we are on an International mission. It all makes for some very interesting days.
Monday afternoon all the missionaries in our district---two sets of Elders and two couples---got together and went to dinner than back to the church and played ping-pong and some table games. A couple from the ward who are in the army and are just waiting to leave for their new assignment at Fort Lewis Washington were there with us and they were a lot of fun. We played Scum and Mormon Bridge and just had a good time. We had to be in our apartments by 10:30. About 11:30 the fireworks started right outside our window and they went steady until about 12:15. It’s just what people here do on New Years Eve. All week when we would go to the store, people were buying huge amounts of fireworks. What a mess the streets and little parks around here were the next day! But it’s pretty much all cleaned up by now and life is settling down again. Tuesday was an almost impossible day to do any missionary work. We tried. We spent some time talking to people on the phone trying to get things set up for next week. The Elders called around 3 o’clock and said they had had zero success contacting people so we invited them over. I made some scones and they really liked them. Then we had about an hour study time together. We each read and told about our favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon and why it was our favorite scripture. Then we all shared some experiences we have had with the Book of Mormon on our missions. It was a great hour! Then we pulled out the Rook cards and played a couple of games of 3-13. They love that game!! All in all our New Years celebrations were good.
Tonight we went to Sister Shuster’s and had a Family Home Evening with her and her almost 6 year old Luca. I think I mentioned them in my last letter. She is a single Mom and just feels burned out trying to do everything required of her. She said Luca doesn’t like FHE and he doesn’t like it when the Home Teachers come so we told her we would try to make it an enjoyable evening for Luca. We sang a song, which he doesn’t like to do but he got a recorder for Christmas and played it as we sang. He didn’t get the tune to well but had the rhythm perfect. Then Dad gave a short lesson on the Book of Mormon and gave Luca one for himself. Then we played the M&M game and both of them seemed to have had such a good time. It was good to see Sister Shuster let her hair down and laugh and have a good time. She is pretty serious about life and we saw a new side of her tonight. It was good. We’re going to try to go back each week while we’re still here. Another good experience that we wouldn’t be having if we weren’t here.
And so life goes on here in Germany. We have a lot of people we want to meet with the next couple of months. I don’t think we’re going to have much trouble keeping plenty busy. The time will fly by and then we will fly home. And we can hardly wait!! We hope you know how much we love each one of you.
Much love always,
Mom
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