Farewell, Saarbrucken

Does the title of this post give it away? I mean, come on, the guy has been in the same area 9 months. We knew it had to happen at some point. I gave him a hard time about remembering how to pack for a transfer and knowing what to take with him from the home he has made for himself for the past 9 months. This will be his second transfer journey and he will be headed to his third area. Amazing, isn't is, that he has only been in two areas during his 11 months in Germany? I was in 8 different areas in 17 months on my mission!

Dear Family,

Well, this has been a tough week for me, from about Saturday on because I am leaving this time! I just don´t know what to do or think. Before I tell you where I am going, I have to say I am really going to miss this place. I have so many people that I have become friends with from the ward, and life long friends to say the least. After a while it just felt like a home ward to me because I knew everyone who attended regularly and knew them by name. I am really grateful for the opportunity that I had to be here for a while and come to know many great people. You probably know that feeling, and so yah, it is kind of hard to say good bye for awhile! But the news as to where I am going……drum roll….. I am going to Duisburg! It is 15 minutes north of Düsseldorf! I really couldn´t believe it when I got the transfer call, so really all that sadness has been coupled with great excitement and everything. We have Zone Conference in a couple of weeks and it is held in our old ward building in Düsseldorf! That is going to be a huge flashback in time. I don´t really know what to think, but you can bet that I am excited!
       And, the other thing is I hate transfers! After staying in an area for 9 months, I have completely forgotten how things were packed, how they fit together and trying to find room for new things that have come over the past few months from people in the area. Anyway, it will be tough. I also have to lug this suitcase around for about 10 hours just to get there from here. I have to go all the way to Mannheim and then to Frankfurt, then North to Duisburg and on and off several trains. Aside from all of that, it is really funny to hear people tell me about Duisburg and saying how dirty it is, which you know is true, and how flat it is, and how ugly it is. Well, I really don´t care because that is what I am used to, that was my first experience here in this country, and so that just seems normal to me. Saarbrücken is pretty, but it is just like any other German city, it is industrial and used to be more so back in the day before the war. (thanks for giving us information about your new companion, Jaren, and for letting us know if you will still be a DL in your new area. I guess I should have included some questions, after all!)
      

Another funny thing, I am pretty much a permanent citizen now. I just received my German drivers license because President requested that I get it, and now I have it. (is that a requirement for all missionaries? I didn't even know he did all this stuff!) They took my old Utah one away forever, so now I just have the German one. That of course is on top of the permanent Visa that I have as well, so it is really different than what we had to go through when we were here. You can drive with the US license until you have been in the country for 6 months, then you have to get a German one in order to drive after that. It is so interesting to see how the government works here, because I had to do this all on my own! Then, every time I go to a new city I have to Anmeld, or register with that city to let them know that I have moved there and where I will be living. (nothing has changed in that department since we lived there.) On the governmental side of things I am glad to be American! (Amen, Elder!)

       

Oh, and as far as the letter goes that was sent to Holly, that came from an Elder in the district. His name is Elder Linguard. As far as what he wrote, I really have no idea. But, he is a pretty good Elder, and he asked me if he could write her because he saw her picture. Might have to put all pictures of Holly away now! JK. But I get that a lot. So I guess they think she is pretty cool, I have no idea. (awww, still as clueless as ever on the relationship side of things!) Elder Linguard did promise me that he wasn´t going to be stupid with it, and that all condemnation falls back on him and not me! So there!!!
       

So I guess I´ll say something uplifting now. I have been studying Freedom lately, relating to the Atonement. Obedience is a key part to that. Now Mom, you told me before a quote from Oprah Winfrey, “Education is Freedom” and now I know why. (so nice to know that one of my children was listening to me throughout the years!!) We are given our agency to choose between good and evil. That is a God-given blessing to us so that we can learn and progress in this life. People can say that “I can do whatever I want in Life! I can smoke if I want to, I can do this, or I can do that.” But those people often forget this simple truth, that obedience brings more freedom as it relates to the commandments. Too often I hear people say, “how do you have any fun in life if you don´t drink?!” It is easy for me to explain to them how I feel because I have been obedient to the Word of Wisdom, but that is all they know. They feel that it is their right to drink or smoke or do what ever they please, and indeed it is, but the commandments don´t restrict, they open the door to more possibilities, and that is where they ARE wrong! Even the Lord has said “I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” D & C 82:10. The commandments do not restrict, they just broaden and widen the path of options before us. Christ suffered the Atonement for us because it had to be done. Had there been no Atonement made, we would have no purpose in being here, period! Yet, we know that the Atonement was made, that Christ really does love us as does the Father, and that we CAN choose to return to him again, but only if we are OBEDIENT to what he has asked us, which really is very little as Christ states in Matthew “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” We bring upon ourselves our own condemnation when we do not do what he asks (Hel. 14:29-31). But it is up to us. We know that God really does love us and that his purpose “is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,” but only if we cooperate with him on that plan. Our great country was founded on this principle of Freedom, the Book of Mormon confirms that fact, but then gives us the warning that we could loose that Freedom if we aren´t careful and obedient. (Ether 2:12). 

So going back to that quote, education really is freedom, because, when you continue with you education, you continue to broaden the paths you can choose to follow, but once you allow youself to stop after high school, you have stopped at high school and there is no increase. You are not like the person who made the decision to go on and get their Masters in Buisness. You are done! It is the same with the commandments of God, if we so choose to stop our progression by not being obedient, then we have stopped our progression; whereas the one who follows the commandments of God strictly, and receives all the ordinances of the Gospel receives the exaltation. It is not because of a lack of choices, or because that is how it is, but because we allowed ourselves to stop. Someone who has made the decision to drink doesn´t know what it is like not to, nor the promises that come with that until he stops and sees for himself what it is like. There are so many things placed before us in life, so many options, but none are more important to follow than the Commandments of God, because that is where our freedom lies.
 

I just felt like writing that, but it was a very interesting thing to study, something that we do all the time, and something that I think about often.
       

Anyway, I hope that all goes well in the coming week. Tell everyone hi for me! Tell bishop Sorenson hi as well. By the way, that brings me to my next question, has anything changed with the stake leadership or Bishopric at all? Just wondering because the last Ward news letter had Alton Fraizer on it, and I haven´t seen his name before on the bishopric message until now. If so, then I need to let the office know.
       

Have a great week, and bis nächstes mal!

Ihre Sohn und Brüder
Elder Smith