Dusseldorf

Another fantastic letter from Jaren. I love that he is always positive.

Dear Family,

Well, I had the wonderful opportunity to actually see the street we lived on again last P-Day. Elder Melum didn´t mind, so in the next batch of pictures that I will send home, you will be able to see those! It was pretty surreal to say the least. Everything is still the same. The park, the surroundings, everything there is still the same. I have noticed that everything I once knew has changed a lot over the past 12 years, yet I can remember the park and the street very well because we were there the most. I just don´t recognize much else. Of course the church has changed over the last few years too, but from what I can remember it is still arranged the same way. But it has been interesting to be so close to things that were once part of my life for about 6 months.

Anyway, enough said about that. This last week has gone pretty well. We haven´t been able to meet with Roman again, but we still have contact with him and are trying our best to meet with him again when he has time. He really does want to be baptized, but we are just trying to work everything out with him. He lives in Bochum, which is about 20 miles away from us to the east, but in the Hamburg mission. He wants to meet with us though because he works here in Duisburg and it is easier for him to come here after work and such. But, we will see what happens.

So Mom, it sounds like you are getting ready to go back to school now. That´s exciting! Don´t worry about the math thing. Who cares! You get what you get and you´ll work towards what you want. You´d rather be comfortable starting on something that you can do, and then working your way up into more unknown stuff. You´ll do fine, I am happy for you, and you´ll have fun in the end I´m sure!

So here are the questions:
Q. Do you have friends in your district? I mean from the MTC or other areas you have served?
A. Yes, Elder Burr is from my group in the MTC and he is here. I really like all of the Elders in my group. They are all great missionaries. I also know a couple of other missionaries from other places, but they were never in my district.

Q. Who is your zone leader?
A. They are Elders Gruwell and Hewitt. Elder Hewitt comes from England, and Elder Gruwell comes from San Antonio.

Q. What was it like walking into the building we used to attend church at? Dad and I were wondering that. We talked about how surreal that must seem!
A. Like I said, it was pretty wierd, and crazy.

Q. Did I mention that Tanner is taking piano lessons? He loves it. I think he has a knack for playing by ear like Erik.
A. That´s pretty cool. Just tell him to keep going because he will love it later! Plus it has most definately paid off too while I have been here! In all reality there hasn´t really been a week where I haven´t had to do something on the piano or organ.

Aside from all of that, I found something that was really interesting this week. I have had a lot of questions lately on prayer. I have heard from so many people now and know for certain that one of the most repeated phrases in the scriptures is the phrase “Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” True I said to my self, but how can I improve my own personal prayers and what exactly does that mean? So, I read this thing in the latest Ensign which came from one of the members in the seventy. He had a missionary that was wanting to go home and he challenged that missionary to do the following:

1. Get up on time
2. exercise for a few minutes
3. Go shower and clean yourself and prepare for the day
4. Prepare yourself by subduing your spirit before the Lord
5. Pray
6. Ponder for a few minutes afterward by reading and thinking about the questions you asked the Lord in order to receive your answer.

Sure it was tailored to this missionary, but then this man explains that he extended it to the rest of his missionaries, and then to each of us individually. I guess the thing that prompted me to read this in the first place had to do with the fact that I wanted to improve my prayers personally. I have pretty much just done silent prayers because it is hard to do it vocally with a companion next to you all the time. So, I am trying this. I have already seen a big difference because I am trying to pray vocally more. It keeps my mind focused on what I would like to say, and keeps repetition down, and my thoughts more towards the things I should be asking for.

I really don´t have much else to add this week, plus I am really tired. I had a split with the ZL´s yesterday and I am dead because I didn´t sleep well at all. BAD BED! Grrrr! I really don´t like splits that much, but o well.

I hope that you all have a great week and have a good time. Have fun in school and such!
Pray hard!

Your son and brother
Elder Smith