Dear Mom, Dad, and Family,
Well, things are going well here, and I am glad to have recieved the Christmas package! It was so cool, and thanks for the CD´s and the sheet music and the shoes. (This was Christmas music and CD's. . .) They are still coming in handy, because I have to sub for the ward organist this week because he will be gone, and no one in the ward can play the piano or organ besides him. So, I am excited to have the opportunity again to help out. That will be the second time here in Saarbrücken and probably the tenth Sunday that I have had to play in Sacrament meeting since I´ve been here. So it doesn´t happen every week, but, often enough that I am glad I can be there to help!
As far as the charges go, I am glad to hear that you noticed. (We noticed that $220 was pulled from his account in Germany and Steve immediately knew what it was for, even though UPS promised he wouldn't have to pay on his end!) I felt so bad for having to pay that much! I knew that I no longer have the funds to pay it, so it is really your money that I spent. I did try to explain to them that I didn´t have to pay, because on the billing form attached to it was Dad´s credit card number. They crossed it out, crossed out the part that said he would pay and then selected the receiver to pay the price for it. I was a little confused when I first got there because they asked me if they could charge the last name, and I hestitantly said yes, thinking they were referring to Dad. That wasn´t the case though. The lady turned around after she entered something into her handy dandy charging device and told me, "alright, that will be 164 euro." I said, Wie Bitte! One more time! She then started to get frustrated after I told her that I wasn´t prepared to pay for it, and that I needed to go withdraw the amount. I just do not carry that much money with me at one time, my goodness! So, Elder Taylor and I went down the street to the nearest bank and came back. I hoped that I didn´t overdraw my account, that was the first concern I had, and second, why I was being charged. So, when I got back, both Elder Taylor and I started asking questions and wondering why on earth they charged so much, and why dad's info was crossed out and someone else put the missing info in. Anyway, to say the least, I was not happy last P-Day. I saw that the package had been sitting here in Saarbrücken for the past two days, and that it couldn´t be delivered until I had contact with them. (Yah, so they could collect MORE MONEY!) So, I prepared to go down there and get it myself. Well, on my way there, the AP´s called me, telling me that this lady called from UPS and wanted to know if it was okay to keep the package there, or send it back to the US. I said I no. I was so confused why the AP´s recieved a phone call and I did not. As far as I know, you don´t know their number. I could be wrong. But the AP´s said that they tried to call my number, but it didn´t go through. (I do have to admit that we called the number he gave us at Christmas just to explain the package problem, and we couldn't get through!) My phone is fine! And I have no record of UPS ever calling me to let me know what was going on, or what they could do. You are probably just as confused as I was, and I am still confused as to what happened and how. I did pray that you would find out that I had paid the price of the shipment, because there was absolutely no way for me to let you know until now. The Lord truly does answer our prayers. Anyway, I didn´t feel too well after I received the package, I was so drained and in shock afterwards and after so many weeks of dealing with the post and UPS and not knowing what was going on, I was just pooped. But thankyou for everything!! (It's sad my missionary couldn't even enjoy his Christmas when it finally arrived and that this whole package thing has been such a frustration to both of us!)
Now, as for what has happened in the week, and to try and uplift your spirits after that little dilema, I´d like to share a pretty cool experience I had this week with one of our investigators. I have told you a little bit about William and Charity, how we met William a few weeks ago on the street and invited us over to his house. I think I told you about the amazing spirit we had when we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Well, we went back to teach them last Friday, so just a few days ago, and finished up teaching the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was amazing and very strong. Charity, we found out, has Blood Cancer, and was told that she would die, seven years ago! She is still living strong, and thanks the Lord for the many opportunities she has had, since she first found out about it. William, on the other hand, came in late to the lesson. But, once he arrived, we clued him in to what we had just told Charity, and Charity even taught what we told her, to him. As soon as the lesson ended, William stood up, with a big grin on his face and told us, "I can come to your church anytime I want! I know that your church is true! Tonight, as I was walking home to come to meet with you, a voice came to me and told me to stop, and look down. As I looked down, I saw a little piece of paper with a plastic cover around it. As I picked it up, I noticed that it was a bus pass for the month of January. I said to myself, how is that going to help me? It is the 31st of January right now! Well, that same voice said to me, ´look behind it.´ So I did. To my surprise, I saw that there was also a bus pass for the entire month of February! But I told myself, Lord; I can´t take it, it is someone elses. I then looked down at the pass, and it had no name. I looked all around me to see if anyone was there who may have dropped it. There was no one. So, I walked home, and then you invite me to come to your church. Before tonight, I had no way of getting to church. I don´t have a car, I don´t have anything. I could walk, but that would take forever, especially if Charity comes. But, now I know why the Lord told me to pick it up, and now I can come to church with you for the entire month of February!" Well, we were shocked to say the least! but in my Journal I wrote that it is truly "by small and simple means, are great things brought to pass." Alma 36:6-7, And, " I know that the Lord giveth no commandment to the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I Nephi 3:7. It really was a small and simple thing. It was just a bus pass that ended up being on the ground. Sure, you hear about that all the time. But, look what happened because he followed the promptings of the spirit! Then he, recongnizing the importance of going to church, now had a way prepared that both he and Charity could make it work! It was a testimony booster to me that the Lord works wonders in today's world. But, when you are a part of the world, you fail to see the everyday miricles that the Lord provides. Yet, when you are not of the world, but in the world, your eyes are opened, and you realize how much you have been blessed, and also realize how blind the world is. The faith of William and Charity is incredible to me. Everything that we have taught them they have accepted, and their hearts are open to recieve more. The Lord truly does prepare those who are willing to follow him.
Now, a funny story. Elder Taylor and I were doing doors yesterday, and we came to this one house. We started to go down the list of names on the Klingel, one by one. We usually switch off after someone answers. Well, it was my turn. I pushed the Klingel and all of a sudden, you could hear the entire house start to bark! I was not even inside! I was out on the street and could hear at least 3 or 4 dogs barking at once! Well, this older lady answers and I gave her a typical door approach. She then said, "Es tut mir sehr leid, Ich habe keine zeit yetz, Ich hab ein bösen hund!" And then she hung up. I could hear the dog barking right at her, like it was barking at me through the phone, since there is a little speaker box by the list of names. Well, that statement directly translated says, "I am so sorry, but I don´t have time right now, I have an evil dog!" I laughed pretty hard at that one! It isn´t too often that you have an evil dog, an angry one yes, but an evil one? WOW!
Well, to answer your question, I thought Grandma´s caramels were still pretty good! They were hard because they were cold, but, after being in the apartment overnight, they softened up a little bit, so they weren´t rock hard. Tell her thanks for me and that I love her!
It sounds like you like meeting the Uchtdorf´s daughter! (I met President Uchtdorf, his wife, and daughter at the Jazz game last night. They sit 3 rows up from us.) The ward I am in right now is in the Heidelberg Stake, so the same stake that Elder Uchtdorf was the stake president of when he lived here in Germany. Lots of members say that he was very intense and lovable, and are happy to have him in the First Presidency. I´d have to say, he is one of my favorites!
Well, hope you all have a good week! It is nice to hear from you all again! And Erik, what on earth were you doing on that snowmobile?!!! WOW! Glad to hear everything is fine though!
I Love you all!
Gott Segne Euch!
Your son/brother,
Well, things are going well here, and I am glad to have recieved the Christmas package! It was so cool, and thanks for the CD´s and the sheet music and the shoes. (This was Christmas music and CD's. . .) They are still coming in handy, because I have to sub for the ward organist this week because he will be gone, and no one in the ward can play the piano or organ besides him. So, I am excited to have the opportunity again to help out. That will be the second time here in Saarbrücken and probably the tenth Sunday that I have had to play in Sacrament meeting since I´ve been here. So it doesn´t happen every week, but, often enough that I am glad I can be there to help!
As far as the charges go, I am glad to hear that you noticed. (We noticed that $220 was pulled from his account in Germany and Steve immediately knew what it was for, even though UPS promised he wouldn't have to pay on his end!) I felt so bad for having to pay that much! I knew that I no longer have the funds to pay it, so it is really your money that I spent. I did try to explain to them that I didn´t have to pay, because on the billing form attached to it was Dad´s credit card number. They crossed it out, crossed out the part that said he would pay and then selected the receiver to pay the price for it. I was a little confused when I first got there because they asked me if they could charge the last name, and I hestitantly said yes, thinking they were referring to Dad. That wasn´t the case though. The lady turned around after she entered something into her handy dandy charging device and told me, "alright, that will be 164 euro." I said, Wie Bitte! One more time! She then started to get frustrated after I told her that I wasn´t prepared to pay for it, and that I needed to go withdraw the amount. I just do not carry that much money with me at one time, my goodness! So, Elder Taylor and I went down the street to the nearest bank and came back. I hoped that I didn´t overdraw my account, that was the first concern I had, and second, why I was being charged. So, when I got back, both Elder Taylor and I started asking questions and wondering why on earth they charged so much, and why dad's info was crossed out and someone else put the missing info in. Anyway, to say the least, I was not happy last P-Day. I saw that the package had been sitting here in Saarbrücken for the past two days, and that it couldn´t be delivered until I had contact with them. (Yah, so they could collect MORE MONEY!) So, I prepared to go down there and get it myself. Well, on my way there, the AP´s called me, telling me that this lady called from UPS and wanted to know if it was okay to keep the package there, or send it back to the US. I said I no. I was so confused why the AP´s recieved a phone call and I did not. As far as I know, you don´t know their number. I could be wrong. But the AP´s said that they tried to call my number, but it didn´t go through. (I do have to admit that we called the number he gave us at Christmas just to explain the package problem, and we couldn't get through!) My phone is fine! And I have no record of UPS ever calling me to let me know what was going on, or what they could do. You are probably just as confused as I was, and I am still confused as to what happened and how. I did pray that you would find out that I had paid the price of the shipment, because there was absolutely no way for me to let you know until now. The Lord truly does answer our prayers. Anyway, I didn´t feel too well after I received the package, I was so drained and in shock afterwards and after so many weeks of dealing with the post and UPS and not knowing what was going on, I was just pooped. But thankyou for everything!! (It's sad my missionary couldn't even enjoy his Christmas when it finally arrived and that this whole package thing has been such a frustration to both of us!)
Now, as for what has happened in the week, and to try and uplift your spirits after that little dilema, I´d like to share a pretty cool experience I had this week with one of our investigators. I have told you a little bit about William and Charity, how we met William a few weeks ago on the street and invited us over to his house. I think I told you about the amazing spirit we had when we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Well, we went back to teach them last Friday, so just a few days ago, and finished up teaching the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was amazing and very strong. Charity, we found out, has Blood Cancer, and was told that she would die, seven years ago! She is still living strong, and thanks the Lord for the many opportunities she has had, since she first found out about it. William, on the other hand, came in late to the lesson. But, once he arrived, we clued him in to what we had just told Charity, and Charity even taught what we told her, to him. As soon as the lesson ended, William stood up, with a big grin on his face and told us, "I can come to your church anytime I want! I know that your church is true! Tonight, as I was walking home to come to meet with you, a voice came to me and told me to stop, and look down. As I looked down, I saw a little piece of paper with a plastic cover around it. As I picked it up, I noticed that it was a bus pass for the month of January. I said to myself, how is that going to help me? It is the 31st of January right now! Well, that same voice said to me, ´look behind it.´ So I did. To my surprise, I saw that there was also a bus pass for the entire month of February! But I told myself, Lord; I can´t take it, it is someone elses. I then looked down at the pass, and it had no name. I looked all around me to see if anyone was there who may have dropped it. There was no one. So, I walked home, and then you invite me to come to your church. Before tonight, I had no way of getting to church. I don´t have a car, I don´t have anything. I could walk, but that would take forever, especially if Charity comes. But, now I know why the Lord told me to pick it up, and now I can come to church with you for the entire month of February!" Well, we were shocked to say the least! but in my Journal I wrote that it is truly "by small and simple means, are great things brought to pass." Alma 36:6-7, And, " I know that the Lord giveth no commandment to the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I Nephi 3:7. It really was a small and simple thing. It was just a bus pass that ended up being on the ground. Sure, you hear about that all the time. But, look what happened because he followed the promptings of the spirit! Then he, recongnizing the importance of going to church, now had a way prepared that both he and Charity could make it work! It was a testimony booster to me that the Lord works wonders in today's world. But, when you are a part of the world, you fail to see the everyday miricles that the Lord provides. Yet, when you are not of the world, but in the world, your eyes are opened, and you realize how much you have been blessed, and also realize how blind the world is. The faith of William and Charity is incredible to me. Everything that we have taught them they have accepted, and their hearts are open to recieve more. The Lord truly does prepare those who are willing to follow him.
Now, a funny story. Elder Taylor and I were doing doors yesterday, and we came to this one house. We started to go down the list of names on the Klingel, one by one. We usually switch off after someone answers. Well, it was my turn. I pushed the Klingel and all of a sudden, you could hear the entire house start to bark! I was not even inside! I was out on the street and could hear at least 3 or 4 dogs barking at once! Well, this older lady answers and I gave her a typical door approach. She then said, "Es tut mir sehr leid, Ich habe keine zeit yetz, Ich hab ein bösen hund!" And then she hung up. I could hear the dog barking right at her, like it was barking at me through the phone, since there is a little speaker box by the list of names. Well, that statement directly translated says, "I am so sorry, but I don´t have time right now, I have an evil dog!" I laughed pretty hard at that one! It isn´t too often that you have an evil dog, an angry one yes, but an evil one? WOW!
Well, to answer your question, I thought Grandma´s caramels were still pretty good! They were hard because they were cold, but, after being in the apartment overnight, they softened up a little bit, so they weren´t rock hard. Tell her thanks for me and that I love her!
It sounds like you like meeting the Uchtdorf´s daughter! (I met President Uchtdorf, his wife, and daughter at the Jazz game last night. They sit 3 rows up from us.) The ward I am in right now is in the Heidelberg Stake, so the same stake that Elder Uchtdorf was the stake president of when he lived here in Germany. Lots of members say that he was very intense and lovable, and are happy to have him in the First Presidency. I´d have to say, he is one of my favorites!
Well, hope you all have a good week! It is nice to hear from you all again! And Erik, what on earth were you doing on that snowmobile?!!! WOW! Glad to hear everything is fine though!
I Love you all!
Gott Segne Euch!
Your son/brother,
Elder Jaren Smith
2 comments:
Oh my, you have a missionary?! How did you get so OLD? Just teasing. I guess I have one old enough to be a missionary too but she is a girl so she has another 1.5 years before she is old enough to serve. It was so fun to get a note from you. I just got back from Cambodia so I haven't had time to look through your blog but I will try to next week and find out what has been up with you. Take care,
Effie
I love that his letters are so detailed and long! Mine would have been like that too, had I been able to type out an email instead of hand writing letters. I'm so much faster at typing!
We sure love Jaren!
Oh - and I can definitely help you set up two different blogs the next time I'm up!
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