Jaren stays in Saarbrucken (woohoo)

Here is Jaren's letter for the week.  He sounds good.  I told him in his letter yesterday that I thought they would be staying together.  It is nice to have his trainer as one of his Zone Leaders.  He's getting closer to getting his package from us and we got our package from him.  I am hoping to get photos up soon for you all to see.  They are only through November, when he sent the package.

Dear Family,

Well, first off to mom. I found out what happened to my package. Last week, I went to the German post office with the USPS number you gave me and explained the story to them. The lady that helped me was pretty nice about it and looked into on the spot. The good news is that it hasn´t reached me yet, but it is still coming. The problem was that the German post didn´t like what you wrote on the paper stating what was in the package, (used footwear, food and recordings?!?) so it was held during the christmas season at Customs and I end up having to pay 20 euro for it when it comes. (I already paid $49 on my end!) I guess you are just supposed to state that you are sending missionary supplies, not every single detail that is on the package. (I wish the post lady would have told me that! Maybe I can educate her for future missionaries going to Germany.) Wish I knew that sooner, it would have helped a lot, and would keep it from going to customs! GRRRR! O Well! So, don´t fret over it! The USPS just saw that it made it to Germany, but the whole delivered to the destination was a little messed up, it was delivered alright; to customs. Anyway, they gave me the new tracking number for the package so I´ll give that to you so you can see for yourselve. So far it says that it is on the truck ready for final delivery. Because I have to pay, they have to leave an orange slip in my box, because I can´t pay the delivery man for it. So, it shouldn´t be sent back. Anyway, hope this helps! Here is the new number, you´ll have to look at DHL´s website for it.

641600805038

Anyway, this week has been a very crazy week, and all is going well. Of course crazy with transfers and all, but nothing is happing to me or to Elder Taylor, so that is nice. I really like him as a companion and I really didn´t want to leave here! I really like Saarbrücken and so it is nice to stay a little longer, who knows, I could stay here for a really long time too. Elder Taylor has only been in four areas on his mission. But, he was in Köln for a year and he has been here in Saarbrücken for 6 months. The other two were very short. Crazy!

Another cool thing that has happened with transferes is that one of our zone leaders is leaving, and the new zone leader replacing him is Elder Norton! I was really excited to hear that he was the new zone leader here! He was Distrikt Leader in Hanau last cycle and now he is ZL. He is an amazing missionary.

As far as the work goes, things are picking up. We have talked to quite a few people the last week, and have had several lessons. We have a couple of new people that we will most likely be meeting here over the next couple of days. It is really exciting. Bassam, the one investigator that has come to church for the three weeks came to church again last week for the fourth week in a row! We are so excited for him. We are going through the lessons with him a little slower than most people because he struggles a little bit mentally and our goal with him understanding more than understanding than trying to do the mission standard of getting people through the lessons in 3 to 4 weeks. We have him on what the mission calls a baptism calendar. We put all the lessons we want to teach him in the four weeks and how many times we want to meet with him. Then, at the bottom of each day, we have scriptures that tie into what we want to talk about the next time so we have something to start off with when we meet again. Another cool thing that happened with him; while we were on our way to church, we actually saw him get on our bus to get to church. That was a little abnormal since he usually walks, then, he sat down by us, and he had a suit coat on, and his hair was looking sharp and he was happier than I have ever seen him! We then had an appointment with him on Monday, so yesterday, and he was just as happy still! I told you that he struggles with depression, but I think he is starting to figure out how happy he is becoming, amidst all his trials, as he learns the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen him several times the past 6 weeks and he is literally changing his life right before my eyes. I love this work! I love everything about it! I can honestly say that it does change people´s lives, as long as they have been prepared and are ready. Others have said about him, 'Oh, he doesn´t need to be baptized because he has a difficult time understanding the gospel.' But the truth is, know one was patient enough with him before to give him the chance to understand it and give it a try. They just placed the material before him and told him to do it. It just doesn´t work that way!

Then, we have also meet with Ljube a few more times this week, but he struggles with his testimony. Not a huge suprise. But, we watched the film 'Special Witnesses of Christ` which is the testimony of all the twelve apostles and the First Presidency back in about 2000. Afterwards, Ljube looked at us and said that these men have been doing good all their life, and that they can have a testimony because of it, but I can´t really say what they have said because of the situation that I´m in. More than anything, I think he doubts his own ability to gain a testimony of Christ and the love he has for him. He also has to be willing to change, and know one can do that for him but himself. With that said though, I think we will be talking a little bit about how we can gain a testimony, or strengthen the one that we have.

I am really glad that you finally received my package this week, I honestly have been more concerned about it than I was for yours. I have pictures and letters, none of which could be replaced if they were lost. I tried to check it before I actually read my emails today, and nothing was there about it! So I was really relieved to see that you got it!

Glad you liked the put on the armor of God video we made, It was a lot of fun to make! We actually did that for a family home evening at a members home back in Hanau. The kids really loved it a lot!  (I wish I could have shown the clip for my sacrament meeting talk on Sunday.  It was so cute.  My kids loved it.  I will try to see if I can post it on the blog.)

So on with the questions:

Q.  Who was the missionary in the MTC with the "Bleed Red" University of Utah shirt?  Is he one that made it to Germany?

A.  Now that was Elder Crump, and he really hates the U. So when his girlfriend sent that to him, and she told him that he had to wear it, I laughed at him! He really didn´t like it at all, I told him that I would take it if he didn´t want it, but it was a home made shirt, so he decided to keep it. Probably a good decision on his part.

Q.  Would you like me to send another blank picture card?

A.  That would be good. The one I sent wasn´t full, but I thought that you would like to have some pictures than nothing at all. I think the email cafes here are a little better, so I might actually be able to send some pictures to you more regularly. But once they are full, I will send them to you. You can copy them onto your computer, but it might be good to keep the card with the pictures on it if the computer crashes.

Q. I'm dying to know what happened with transfers but I'm sure you will tell me in the opening statement of your email!
A. Guess not the opening statement, but you pretty much guessed dead on!

Q.  When did you have time to make your "armor" in the pictures you sent us?  I'm thinking you have too much time on your hands?  JK :)  I think missionary work there is much different than what I was able to do in North Carolina. I'm not even sure I could compare the two because of culture, transportation methods, and where people live.

A.  True, it took a little time, but we did it in the evenings after we got home, and on a P-Day. It was a lot of fun though, maybe a fun FHE activity, or primary activity to do. That is what happened to us anyway. The family liked it sooo much that they wanted to take it and donate it for use in the primary! They asked if that was OK and of course we said yes. If we needed to borrow it or something we could always take it back.

Hope that all is well, have a good week, Oh, and a scripture for the week, 'Proverbs 25:28; A man who is not in control of his spirit is like a city that is run down without walls.' Not quite word for word because I used the German Bible, but it is really close.

Gott Segne Euch!
Your son,
Elder Smith