He's Back!

Here is Jaren's letter for the week. When Steve came into the bedroom this morning before I made it out of bed (he was coming back from exercising) he said, "I think your boy is back!" I knew he didn't mean Erik because Erik is getting up later and later every morning and I knew he was late getting up this morning, also, so I knew he hadn't turned a new leaf! I said, "Jaren?" I threw back the covers and ran to my computer. This is like the letters of old. . . welcome back, Jaren!

Dear Familie,

Wow! It has been a very busy week for us over here, a good change from what it has been in a long time. In fact, the district had its best week ever in the last 6 months, to which all are very happy. To be quite honest, it was a miracle! It was what we needed. It really wasn´t a huge change, but to say the least, a step in the right direction! Now we just need to do it again, but it will be much better now that we have our hopes higher than before.

We actually finished painting our apartment on Wednesday. I don´t mind painting, but it is a huge pain in this work! It literally took us from morning until evening for those three days to do it all, and a little time on Tuesday to write to you all, for which I was grateful! Then, we had interviews on Thursday, which went well. President has changed them up a bit for the last couple. He does a companionship interview, and if we want it, a personal interview. I not only wanted a personal interview, but I needed it so I could see what I could do for everyone, or to find out if there was something more I could try that I hadn´t yet in order to get us up and going. I remember President telling me in my first interview here in Duisburg that he sent me here to fix the area and the missionaries. He also told me that it hadn´t produced much for the last year and a half, and hoped that I could fix it. Talk about nervousness, and feeling like I had to do my best and then came those two difficult cycles. (I can only imagine the stress he must have felt in the three months with his last companion and not getting out much.) Then in this interview, I told him that the work was going better and that I had talked with all the Elders about it in a District Meeting, what we struggled with, how we were going to fix it, and then set our minds on doing it. I have just felt like I have expended so much energy, but it availed very little. But I also know that we have very good Elders, who right now feel very overwhelmed at the task that lies ahead! But, with faith we get things done, and we will start small. That is what happened this last week. It was small, but it worked because everyone contributed to it somehow. I love hard work, I love problem solving, I love the Elders here and love working with them, but life isn´t always easy, but we make it what we want it to be regardless of the circumstances around us. I feel that way all the time. Everyone that we talk to goes on and on about the financial crisis and why God would allow such things to happen and on and on. I then try to tell them (as long as they listen) that the things that happen around us are not done by God, but that we are given our Freedom to act, as well as everyone else. That gives us both good and bad surroundings, but mainly the reason we are surrounded by so much evil today. But God is constant, the principles of the Gospel are constant, and the peace it brings to the soul is always going to be there if you want it. Just as the scriptures say, Christ stands with open arms waiting to recieve us gladly, but we have to be the ones to make the steps to get there! Life can be difficult if all we focus on is the bad and the difficult, but with an optimistic attitude, you see the end from the beginning, and you manage to put all the difficulties to the side and just do, and you are happy doing it! That is what has got me through life so far, the mission, and it is how I plan to live the rest of my life till the day I die.

Anyway, another story of the week. Last Monday, we were klingled (our door bell was rung by) by the Jehovas Witnesses and they asked me this question “What do you think about paradise after this life?” I told them a little about what we believed and then it came to the next question which was “Why are there so many religious denominations throughout the world today?” That I couldn´t let stand, but it required too much time than just at the door, and I couldn´t invite them in, so we set another time to meet, which was for Friday. Elder Lofthouse was on a split with me, and Elder Bennett was with his companion, so we just went and prepared something small about the Restoration. When we met these two, one was a pretty large guy with glasses, and about 55 or so, and the other was 25 and much smaller with glasses as well. When they saw us they said “Oh, you must be the Mormons! We were expecting someone a little older than you, but that really doesn´t matter.” I thought to my self, "gee, what is that supposed to mean?" Then as we were walking to this bakery to sit down, the older one says “So, how long do you do this service, 2 or 3 years right?” I told him 2 and then he replied, “Well, I have been doing this for about 35 years, so quite a few years longer than you.” He wanted to know what we had planned after our missions, and he seemed to think that we just did our 2 year service and called it done. I was going to explain that we did this full-time, but when we go home, we still serve, just not like we can here due to other circumstances, but he just cut me off and continued to talk. But I thought to my self, "wow, they have a totally different view of this work than we do." But it continued to get even more interesting when we sat down and Elder Lofthouse asked if we could begin with a prayer. They said no, because their beliefs were too different than ours that a prayer wouldn´t do anything for our meeting. Then the older man started out with “Who is God?” and we stopped him and said, "wait a minute, we were asked the first question here, can we answer it? Then you can tell us what you think." They said sure. We then went into the Joseph Smith story, but only with a lot of rude interuptions from this older man. He then asked us “Who then is Jehovah? You two just need to understand the basic foundation that there isn´t just one God but two.” I then said, well, actually we believe in God the Father and His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost, that they are three distinct personages and yet act as one. But he didn´t like that and blurted “but the spirit doesn´t have a body.” He basically refused to listen and continuously flipped through his scriptures and tried to force all this information down us. We basically got through our part in a clear and logical way. He on the other hand, did not, and brought up so many different topics that it wasn´t easy at all to follow or understand. “I am not the author of confusion” says the Lord in the new Testament. This man amazingly enough came to the realization that one of us was right and the other was wrong, and neither of us were going to back down on our stance. We gave honest simple testimony, and bore it in the name of the Jesus Christ.

Now I don´t say this to make you think we were arguing. I wasn´t and neither was Elder Lofthouse. But this man said that his favorite scripture was the one found in John 15 that says “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye should love one another as I have loved you.” Yet, he was putting his face right up to Elder Lofthouse and raising his voice everytime he spoke. I felt emptiness in his words, even though he claimed he had the Holy Ghost. I felt a little bit like Joseph Smith when he said that “everyone understood the same passage of scripture so differently” that they couldn´t even come to a certain conclusion to who was in the right and who was in the wrong! Thankfully for us we are past that point. We have a prophet, we are able to recieve revelation through the spirit, and tell between false doctrine. But I learned these few very important lessons about our work as I basically sat in as an investigator to them:

1. He boasted of his own strength and accomplishments in the beginning before we even sat down.
2. Prayer is a way we invite the spirit to be with us, even if it is with people of different faiths. It is fundamental.
3. He never professed that he knew anything by the spirit.
4. He never extended a commitment to read, pray, or to meet again.
5. He never showed any deep love for us as he taught.

All of these things are things we do second nature in our lessons! I also learned to be very grateful if any one listens to us for more than a couple of seconds, as that is a miracle in itself! People just don´t share everything with people they don´t know, yet it happens all the time to me! It was just very interesting to see how it must feel for those we teach, and I know of a surety now that this work is the work of the Lord. We don´t just go up to people and persuade them with our craftiness and own devices to join our church without knowing really what they have done. He also didn´t invite us to repent in anyway, which is number two for us in our church as the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel! People join our church because they feel the spirit, and it has testified to them personally that it is true; and that doesn´t come from anyone else, but the spirit itself. I may help them along the way through the process, but I don´t make the decision for them.

Anyway, before this email gets too long, I´ll try to answer your questions:

Q. How are you and Elder Bennett getting along?

A. Well, first, Elder Bennett and I are getting along just fine. The work has actually increased, but that doesn´t take much here when there really wasn´t anything going on before. So everything is doing much much better.

Q. Are you in need of another journal? I know I filled almost two in my 18 months out.

A. As far as my Journal goes, I have a ways to go before I fill my second one up. I filled the small one up pretty quick, but I have a second one that has about 350 pages in it, and I have about 250 left. So I should be pretty well off there.

Q. Is Elder Norton from Pleasant Grove or Lindon?

A. I think that Elder Norton is from Pleasent Grove, and not Lindon from what I remember. I know that he went to Pleasent Grove High. And to answer your other question, he didn´t train again until these last two cycles, and the Elder he is training is from Hungary I believe, so yeah, thats that.

But, I hope that you all have a great week, thanks for everything, and for your love and support. I´ll be calling you in three weeks, thats exciting! Anyway, have a great week, and God Speed!

Ihre Bruder und Sohn,
Elder Smith