The Work Begins

The new missionaries arrive in Berlin!

Elder Fisher left the Provo Missionary Training Center on February 24, 2015 at 6:00 am.  He rode to Provo to the Salt Lake Airport. His flight were from Salt Lake City to JFK to Paris to Berlin. He arrived in Berlin, Germany around noon on February 25, 2015. If you look carefully, you can see him in the arrival photo.


The letters are a combination of two letters:

"I’m glad that you enjoyed the pictures on the mission blog. 
I am serving in Halle which is pronounced like Holla.

     My companion is Elder Gerlach and he is from outside of Brigham City, Utah—so he is not a native German. We live in an apartment off of a marketplace. There are 4 missionaries here and it is a larger city so there are plenty of people for us to talk to. Actually it is our companionship and a pair of sisters and there are a total of 6 companionships in the district.

I have been out finding (tracting) a few times now and it has been fun. I feel bad because I can't speak German well so it is difficult for me to contribute but I can understand a little of what the people are saying and they seem to understand me as well.

Elder Fisher with his trainer and President and Sister Kosak

    My first Sunday was Fast Sunday and I did have to bear my testimony in German. I didn't even feel that scared or nervous but I reminded everyone that every member is a missionary to try to get the members to help. The ward I serve in is really cool but also small--there are like 60 active members in it. It is fun though.

    The keyboards are different here the z and the y are switched so it is confusing to type for the first 10 minutes I was on here (mom note: I left the “z” and “y” mix ups in that he is talking about to show what he is talking about). We actually get 2 hours of email time but about half an hour is used for reading president's emails and sending him an email.

     Everything is pretty good. I have been fed by members twice now. One was a tomato soup with chunks of tomato in it, then we had a type of pork, these potato dumpling kinda things, and Brussel sprouts, which are prettz good, and, for dessert, we had a fruit cream pudding thing and the raspberries were really sour. I also ate strawberries this week at the other dinner which was bratwurst, grapes, strawberries, bell pepper, I think, and bread. It was really good. I actually haven't had kraut yet but I hope to have it soon. I haven't had a lot of German chocolate yet but I plan on eating more this week.

     I haven't reallz had a chance to take pictures yet but I promise you pictures next week. Hope everything is well at home and that your strawberry plants grow well.

     Mostly it is fun here--I feel happier since I have gotten here. It is pretty cold, it is staying right at around freezing temperatures right now but all is well in Zion. I love the city and the people and the members in the ward I am serving in.

     A scripture I found this week is Hebrews 3: 14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”  and another is Preach my Gospel the section on what a successful missionary is I just seemed to study that section a lot this week. (I have included this section at the end of the blog)

Hope you have a good week. I love ya and take care and enjoy the little things in life,

Elder Fisher"

From Preach My Gospel, chapter 1

You can know you have been a successful missionary when you:

• Feel the Spirit testify to people through you.
• Love people and desire their salvation.

• Obey with exactness.

• Live so that you can receive and know how to follow the Spirit, who will show you where to go, what to do, and what to say.

• Develop Christlike attributes.

• Work effectively every day, do your very best to bring souls to Christ, and seek earnestly to learn and improve.

• Help build up the Church (the ward) wherever you are assigned to work.

• Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments.

• Teach and serve other missionaries.

• Go about doing good and serving people at every opportunity, whether or not they accept your message.

When you have done your very best, you may still experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself. You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you.”

If you would like to know more, please visit Mormon.org