Strange week in Saarbrucken

Here is Jaren's letter for the week.  I would like to write something that has been on my mind since his last letter, but I don't have time right now.  It will have to be later.

Dear Familie!

Well, as you can see from the title, it is really a weird week for both me and Elder Taylor. We have had so many good experiences together and it will be sad to see him go. But it is also weird for me knowing that I will have a new companion next week and I´ll find out on Saturday who it is. I am a little nervous though as usuall, not knowing what will happen, but just remember that the last time I was transfered it went okay. Oh, and just so you know, last week was a little weird and hard, but this week we have so many member and investigator appointments that we hardly have time for anything else. Quite the contrast from the past two weeks.

On an interesting note, we were just told that Elder Dallin H. Oaks will be touring the mission next week and the entire mission will be meeting in Frankfurt for a special mission conference. Everyone is very excited. I guess the twelve are touring Europe right now because the French Elders that meet in our building said that Elder Bednar came and toured their mission and spoke to them as well. It is very exciting to say the least, but I know that whatever Elder Oaks says will most likely be the mission theme or focus for the next year! I´m not kidding!! Präsident Ninow takes whatever Area Seventies or members from the Twelve say seriously and applies it to everything in the mission. It has been really cool to watch Präsident Ninow change the focus of the mission since I have been here. Lots has changed from before, and I don´t have time to explain it all.

On a happy note, Elder Taylor and I did meet with Alex on Saturday. He was the one that I called on the phone that night. We had thought long and hard about what we could teach him because he told us that he wanted our help to answer his questions. Well, it takes a lot of prayer and asking the Lord what his questions might be, but both Elder Taylor and I had the impression that we should re-teach the Plan of Salvation to him. Well, we planned that and stuck to it. On Friday night, we called Alex again to see if he was still okay with meeting us the next day. He told us yes, and added, "and bring the first topic with you." Well the first lesson is the Restoration. We both looked at each other and asked, "What should we do? Should we stick with the same lesson we have planned for him, or do what he wanted us to do?" Well, we thought about it and prayed and felt that he really needed the Plan of Salvation instead, but that we could refer back to the Restoration and tie what we know about the Plan of Salvation to it. Obviously, if you believe in the Plan of Salvation, you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. That was the mindset we had as we went into this lesson. Well, the next day we go into the lesson. It took a while for us to get going because Alex wanted to know who we were, where or what state we came from, all of the typical introduction questions and so on for a few minutes. Then, we asked if we could start and he said sure. We asked who could say the prayer, and to our surprise, he wanted to say it. Well, it was an amazing prayer! And very powerful and full of gratitude. He then said, "alright, I have a few questions for you." The first one was "Alright, I have been studying Buddahism lately, but have a question about the next life, what happens to our body when we die?" Excellent question I thought, and then it dawned on me, wow, the power of inspiration and revelation is real! I´d hate to think what would have happened had we not kept with our original plan to teach this lesson. Well, we used Alma 40:23 "The soul shall be restored to hte body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost: but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame." He read it through twice and said that it made sense, and then asked about the body and the spirit. "What happens to the spirit?", he asked. Well, another great question, and we then read Alma 40:11-14 with him that talk about the Spirit World. Then this lead to the earth and what we must do on the earth. Then we asked him, but why are we here on the earth? He told us that he didn´t know. So, we took him to the beginning and tied back into his original question. He looked at after all of this and said, ah, it makes sense now! He then pulled out this pamphlet that the former missionaries gave him the year before and pointed to a picture of Christ leaving the tomb, dressed in white and glowing, with a wonderful glorious body and said, "so this is what is meant by the restoration." We told him yes. He then said, it makes perfect sense to me. We explained to him as well that life is a tiny spec on a long line of our existance. We lived with God before, and we can live with him after, but without the experience we gain here in this spec on this line, we can´t live with God after. He then told us that that was very similar to what Buddahists believe, but asked why we couldn´t live with God. I then asked him, "Are you happy when you can choose for yourself what you want to do everyday, or when someone tells you what to do?" He said it was far better to choose for ourself. I then asked, "what happens though, when you make a bad choice?" He said, "well, you´re sad, you have sorrow." I told him exactly! So, if God told us what to do without finding out how to do it ourselves, how could we ever learn? We wouldn´t, and we wouldn´t have happiness or sorrow. We then used 2 Nephi 2:25 and 27 to explain it more. 

Well, afterwards, he told us that he had a few friends that have died recently and was wondering more than ever what would happen to them. He also told us that this is the most logical and most complete plan that he had ever seen. It was obvious that time had prepared him, and he had real life experiences to use, that helped him to understand the plan more than he did before. I know now too, more than before that God truly loves all his children, but he doesn´t necessarily work on their time and when they feel it is best for them, but on the Lords time. I also know that when you are prepared that the Lord does plant thoughts in your mind to say when you need them the most. I felt that way too.

I didn´t have too much more this week, but this was the greatest miracle of the week, so I thought I would share it with you all. 

Anyway, on with the questions:

Q.  How many baptisms has Elder Taylor been a part of while he has been out?

A.  I really don´t know. He showed me once, but I seem to remember that he had 4 or 5 if I remember right. Not sure, I just know that it was more than one.

Q.  How are William and Charity?

A.  They are both doing well. It is hard to explain to William what we are saying because we first read with him in English then he reads the same thing in Twie, his language. But, it is probably for the best. He also came to Church on Sunday, but couldn´t stay for Sacrament Meeting because he had to be back to help Charity. He told us that he would for sure be able to stay for the whole time next week. We also gave him a baptismal commitment as well. I don´t think he fully understands what that means, because he asked when he could be baptized. He told us that this week wouldn´t work out, and we told him that it wouldn´t for us either and that it would have to be a few weeks out. Unfortunately we think that he is fairly attached to his church and might be paid for it, so explaining that to him might be a little difficult. We´ll have to see.

That's exciting that Elder McGowan gets to come back.

Q.  Does he just extend his regular mission call?

A.  I think that they just keep the same call. He´ll be in Germany for the same amount of time as any other missionary, but whether or not he had to stay at the MTC for 6 weeks or the full 9 weeks again, I really don´t know. 

Q.  What does President usually talk about in an interview if you don't come prepared with something?

A.  He usually just asks if we are doing okay and if there is anything he can do to help us. So if we don´t have any questions or concerns, it is usually over, not much more to be said.

Hope you all have a good week and have fun in school. By the way, hows Holly doing with getting college paper going and all? Isn´t it about time? Anyway, Mom, thanks for the experiences, it helped me too! They are fun to hear!

Love,

Your son,

Elder Smith