I know wunderbar is wonderful and schones is some sort of beautiful. . . so does that mean the title of this week's letter is "My wonderfully beautiful week?" I don't know, but as always, this week was the "best week ever!" Just like every week. It's good to know that Jaren still is enjoying the work, even now that he is a District Leader. I have always loved his positive outlook on life. Germany may be just the place for such a positive person! Enjoy this weeks letter.
Well, this week has been really fun and a little crazy. I was going a little crazy because I had no idea what exactly I was doing at first, but now that it has been a week I am pretty much used to everything that I have to do. I was pretty nervous at first, too, because I am one of the youngest in the district, but yet others are looking up to me as an example and such, AAAAAH! O well, I love this work and this new opportunity and learning experience. I am sorry to say, but not too much has happened in the last week, but I am positive that the stories will come flying in in the weeks to come! Transfer weeks are always a little crazy as you probably know.
I am really sorry to hear about _________ and Sister ________. It has been a crazy time up there the past couple of months it seems. I am glad to hear though that all is well with him and such. It does sound really good and promising, maybe a little time to recover fully, but like you said, really promising from what they said at first. (I left the names blank for privacy reasons, but I let Jaren know of a couple people in our ward and their situations and this is his response.)
I am soooo happy for Jeremy! (Jaren's cousin who is a year younger) Tell him I say hi and that I wish him luck. I thought that he would for sure go to England or some place in Europe, but when I heard the Phillipines, I knew that it sounded right for him! Gosh, he has awhile to wait, though, to go into the MTC! Does he go to the MTC in Provo, or there? I think there is an MTC in the Phillipines, but I´m not sure. I just know that there are about 17 MTC´s around the world and that there is probably one there because they have several missions there and many members as well. But wow, three cousins that will be out on missions at the same time! Toll! (cool!) He goes in almost exactly one year after I entered the field here in Germany. I am so excited for him, really I have been waiting to hear where he would be going! The only sad thing is that I would love to write him, but he will still be half a world away from me! I´ll do my best.
On to different news. William´s baptismal date has now been moved to the first part of June. It is actually a holiday on the scheduled date and half of the ward, including the ward mission leader and most of the bishopric will be gone. Didn´t know that until this last week, so we are scheduling it for the week after. He is really excited though!
I am really excited about being with Elder Brown! He is a really good missionary, and he will definitely keep me going. I have a lot of hope for him and me, and I hope that we can get the work going even stronger. We are actually in a desperate need for new investigators now, but it has been insane with transfers, District Leader, new companion, baptism, all of which were basically back to back from each other, so our time has been spent just about everywhere. I really love it here though, and yeah I am with you all, I can´t believe that I am here for another cycle! More than a quarter of my mission will have been spent here when I am through, so many things and people to remember here!
Kind of on a different note though, Elder Brown and I had a great time together the night before and started sharing some stories. One of them was from his last area. I guess he became really good friends with a ward member there and he shared a story that he had heard from this man when he was on his mission. As soon as I heard it, I recognized it immediately. It was the story of the missionary that called in a bomb threat to keep his companion from leaving the country. Hmmm, sound familiar Dad?! Well, I asked Elder Brown what mission it was that this man served in and he said the _________ __________ Mission. I then found out that it was about the same time you served there dad! His name is Jörg ________ or Elder ________ back in the day. (Again, I had to protect the innocent here!) Does he sound familiar to you? He is in my area for Zone Conferences, in the zone right next to us. Guess he lives close to Karlsruhe. Anyway, thought that might be interesting to you all, especially Dad. He could be younger though too, so you may not know him.
Anyway, I´ll try to answer your questions right now, I didn´t even know that I skipped over them last time. I don´t remember being disgruntled over anything. Who knows, though.
Q. How has your first week as a district leader gone? Are the members ready to adopt you yet, because you have been in Saarbrucken so long?
A. This week has gone by okay. Better than I expected it, thats for sure! I don´t think the members are ready to adopt me, but they all know me, and I know every single member that comes to church regularly, so it really does feel like my home ward at the moment. I love the members here a lot. We actually had a service project at our Ward Mission Leader´s house. It was a blast. It was the first service project that I have had here in this area, it was the first one this year for the young men and young women. I can´t even imagine going that long without something to do. The members are just so spread out and it is hard for them with school and such to just get together and do something! But it was a blast, and they invited us to come and help and to have some kind of influence on them too. Great time! (oh, what was the service project?? )
Q. Tell us all about your new companion. We're dying to know! How many brothers and sisters. Where does he come from? Lifelong member of the church or convert? Your inquiring mother wants to know!
A. Elder Brown comes from _______, Utah. He has 5 brothers and sisters, and he is the second oldest in his family. He has been a member all his life, and his parents have as well. His Grandpa though on his dads side was a convert, and so, his Dad was basically a first generation member.
Q. Where is Elder Norton now? Where are some of your missionary friends? Where did Elder White go?
A. Elder Norton is still my Zone Leader. It has been the craziest thing for me to have him always in my zone or district from the very beginning. In fact when I had to call in numbers to him, he just chuckled and laughed a little, and asked how it was being the district leader now. I just laughed back though because my trainer is still training me. It has always been this Father/Son relationship! (This was a 3-part question, right?)
Q. What is the next holiday in Germany and when is it?
A. This Saturday and Sunday. The next one is 10 days later. I hate these holidays here. Everything shuts down, the buses run only once an hour, and there is nobody out! I usually don´t know anything about them until someone mentions it to me. Kind of nice to know in advance, but that doesn´t always happen!
Well, I hope that you all have an enjoyable week. I can´t believe that Holly is graduating this week! AAAAAHHH! Too soon! I´m not ready for that yet. Now Mom, you are going to be down to two at home. How do you feel? Oh, and Mom, did you get your package yet, I can´t remember, I think you said that you recieved it, but I can´t remember! Oh my head! Anyway, I hope that you all have a great week, and that the Lord continues to bless you as he has me. I love this work, and these people. It has been a life changing experience thus far, and I love it!!!
With Love,
Your Son/Brother
Elder Smith
Q. How has your first week as a district leader gone? Are the members ready to adopt you yet, because you have been in Saarbrucken so long?
A. This week has gone by okay. Better than I expected it, thats for sure! I don´t think the members are ready to adopt me, but they all know me, and I know every single member that comes to church regularly, so it really does feel like my home ward at the moment. I love the members here a lot. We actually had a service project at our Ward Mission Leader´s house. It was a blast. It was the first service project that I have had here in this area, it was the first one this year for the young men and young women. I can´t even imagine going that long without something to do. The members are just so spread out and it is hard for them with school and such to just get together and do something! But it was a blast, and they invited us to come and help and to have some kind of influence on them too. Great time! (oh, what was the service project?? )
Q. Tell us all about your new companion. We're dying to know! How many brothers and sisters. Where does he come from? Lifelong member of the church or convert? Your inquiring mother wants to know!
A. Elder Brown comes from _______, Utah. He has 5 brothers and sisters, and he is the second oldest in his family. He has been a member all his life, and his parents have as well. His Grandpa though on his dads side was a convert, and so, his Dad was basically a first generation member.
Q. Where is Elder Norton now? Where are some of your missionary friends? Where did Elder White go?
A. Elder Norton is still my Zone Leader. It has been the craziest thing for me to have him always in my zone or district from the very beginning. In fact when I had to call in numbers to him, he just chuckled and laughed a little, and asked how it was being the district leader now. I just laughed back though because my trainer is still training me. It has always been this Father/Son relationship! (This was a 3-part question, right?)
Q. What is the next holiday in Germany and when is it?
A. This Saturday and Sunday. The next one is 10 days later. I hate these holidays here. Everything shuts down, the buses run only once an hour, and there is nobody out! I usually don´t know anything about them until someone mentions it to me. Kind of nice to know in advance, but that doesn´t always happen!
Well, I hope that you all have an enjoyable week. I can´t believe that Holly is graduating this week! AAAAAHHH! Too soon! I´m not ready for that yet. Now Mom, you are going to be down to two at home. How do you feel? Oh, and Mom, did you get your package yet, I can´t remember, I think you said that you recieved it, but I can´t remember! Oh my head! Anyway, I hope that you all have a great week, and that the Lord continues to bless you as he has me. I love this work, and these people. It has been a life changing experience thus far, and I love it!!!
With Love,
Your Son/Brother
Elder Smith
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