Member Missionary Work and Other Things

September 28, 2015

Elder Westbury and Elder Fisher

    This week has been pretty good. Elder Westbury and I are doing pretty good with working together.  We have already had people come to church every week so far during this companionship and transfer. We have been focusing on working with the ward more because it is more effective than finding (knocking on doors or contacting in the street) and we have been making lots of plans about how we can get people's friends to church and to meet us "Mormons" and see that we are pretty normal people.

    As for cooking, I think the better cook of the two of us is me but we cook different things so he is good with what he cooks. I think we aren't bad but we aren't the best cooks. My favorite thing to eat in Germany is bakery food. I usually get a sandwich and a dessert once a week from a bakery, but I like most of the food here. We actually send our emails from McDonald's every week now because there is one close to our house and we can use the wi-fi for 3 hours there--and it is a nice McDonald's, too.

Elder Fisher's shoes.

    For one session of General Conference we are going to another branch in our district and watch the Sunday morning session there. We are not too sure how and where we will watch the other session right now but we will eventually find out.  Our branch is actually part of a district, but I think that the district is pretty close to becoming a stake though.

    We actually didn't have service opportunity this week because we had a lot of meetings that we had to go to but it was still a fun week anyways. We like doing service because it really helps with softening people's hearts or at least sparks some interest for people to listen to us.

    Scripture for the week is actually the Introduction to the Book ofMormon written by Mormon.  I read it today and it was really good.

    Quote of the week is from Bruce R. Mckonkie, "There is no way of overstating the importance of this book of Nephite scripture in the salvation of men in the last days"

    I sent pictures today so you can see some of the fun that I am having here in Germany Berlin mission. I love you and hope that you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Fisher

A Mustang sighting on the streets of Germany

Ducks!!

How the supermoon looked in Germany on September 27th 

 

New Companion, Family History Work, and Continuing in Bad Bentheim

September 21, 2015

   This week was just all around a good week--the work is going pretty good and we has a little bit of success this past week.  My new companion and I are really trying to just focus on being obedient and improving the missionary program here in Bad Bentheim.  We found 5 new investigators this week and we did a lot of stuff and also came up with a lot of ideas on how to help the program here and make the work go more smoothly and work better.

   My new companion’s name is Elder Westbury and he is from Williamsburg, Virginia.  He will be celebrating being on his mission for a year next month-he came in the same group as my trainer did. My new companion is really excited to be out here on his mission and we are excited to work together.  Elder Westbury didn’t go to school before his mission but I think that he worked.  He is planning on attending BYU-Idaho after his mission so he is asking me lots of questions about it. 

   Elder Westbury and I have a lot of similarities and interests in common—like the fact that neither of us are from Utah, and he likes country music too!  He is the type of guy that makes you want to be better. I think that we will have a good transfer together and will have lots of fun times together.

   When I was waiting for my new companion, we worked out the train schedule so that my new companion would show up before my last companion left so I didn’t have to wait at the train station.

   We actually didn't end up teaching the lesson on Sunday, the Young Men’s president did, but we sat in there because it is good to build a relationship with the youth I think.  The lesson was on the commandments and what they are.

I am still in the car area and it is fun.We do not have a set service project exactly but we usually have service about 2-3 times a week.

   It is cool about seeing the zone conference at our church building--I cannot really imagine what a zone conference in a smaller geographical mission would be like because when I see a missionary at a zone conference they can live 150-200 miles away and we are still in the same zone!

   I will send pictures next week.  We were going to email at the McDonald’s to use the free wifi but there is a new McDonald’s opening tomorrow so the old one closed yesterday and we will be able to use the new McDonald’s next week.

   That is too bad about BYU losing but there is always next week. My quote for the week—“ Quote of the week. "Life is like a football game."

   

   Scripture for the week Malachi 4:5-6 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Spirit of Elijah scripture, from the things on I have seen on my mission, this promise is true and will really help in the hastening of the work.

   Love you mom and dad and hope that you have a great week right now--thank you for the scriptures you shared--they were really good.  Next week can you send me a family history story?  I am trying to do more with family history work in my area because it really does help people to understand the gospel better and help less actives see the purpose of temples more clearly.

Love,

Elder Fisher

Staying in Bad Bentheim, New Companion, and Cars/Bikes

September 14, 2015

   I am staying in the Bad Bentheim branch and my companion is leaving to go to the border near Poland (in eastern Germany). My new companion is transferring from Hamburg and was in the same arrival group as my trainer, Elder Gerlach. I am really excited to work with him.  It sounds like my new companion really wants to work and wants to be here so I am really glad.  

   You asked about a companion exchange: A companion exchange is when we work with another companion for 24 hours. It is fun and it gives us a chance to talk with other people and to work with someone else for a day.

   Members do help with the lessons and we go with the members if we want them to--I think that the members in the ward are really good at helping us and actually doing missionary work. I wasn't able to really teach any discussion a this week but I was able to teach someone about eternal marriage. The Sunday School lesson is going to be something from the month of September and we are teaching it next week, I am going to discuss it with my next companion.

   I think that the biggest thing I have been focusing on this past month is acting on impressions from the Holy Ghost and recognizing those promptings as well. I really tried focusing on the spirit a lot this past transfer and tried to just really focus on becoming a man of faith.

   We use the car everyday but try to use our bikes when we work in our city. There are a lot of McDonalds and KFC in the west so we tend to eat there quite a bit.

   It was great to hear about BYU winning their first 2 football games of the season --that is good for BYU but it is kinda weird to think that college football started and I didn't even notice.

Scripture for the week is Mormon 1:1 and the quote for the week is "some of those people are spare tires and some of them are flat tires"

Love you mom & dad and hope that you have a good week!! and that you can keep cool too!!

Love,

Elder Fisher

Being Multi-Cultural in Germany, Fall Arrives, and Missing American Chocolate

September 7, 2015

   The season is definitely changing here but the weather just kinda dropped 10 degrees so the leaves are just going to falling off and not change colors. I will take pictures of the tress in fall and send them to you. I now have a lighter rain jacket to wear right now because it rains a lot but isn't cold enough for my winter jacket. 

   I haven't really gone sightseeing since I have been here but we might see a castle next P-day that is down the street from the church.  I am taking more pictures than I am sending because it takes time to upload pictures to the computer and I have a lot of pictures. I also write down names of other missionaries in my journal.  There is this thing called a tschüss book (this literally translates to “bye book”) in the German missions—each missionary has one and as they leave an area, other missionaries in missionary’s distrikt or companionship write a note and put pictures in the book. It is hard to explain but I will have a good example to show in 2 years.

   My companion is really into fishing so we talk about different places to go fishing in Idaho, Utah, and California (that I know of)--he is really loves catching catfish and bass.  Transfers are next week and we both think that Elder Rosenvall might leave because he has been here for 4 transfers already and that is a pretty long time in a small area to stay in the same spot but we will see what happens.

   In Germany, we teach both immigrants and Germans but I would say mostly immigrants though. We have heard a lot about the Syrian immigration happening and I have met a lot of people that are actually immigrating into the country from other places too. They are really nice people but a lot are Muslims so they are pretty religious and don’t really want to hear about the gospel.

   We have a really multi-cultural branch so when we eat at member’s homes, we will have Dominican Republic food one day, German food the next day, Russian food another, and Dutch food another day. It is completely different from the eastern German way of cooking of only German food.  This week we found a store that has Reese’s peanut butter cups and has a small American section of the store where you can buy Pop Tarts, A-1 sauce, Jack Link's beef jerky, and other stuff but it is like 3-4 dollars more than it would be in America. I’m glad you got European chocolate at the candy store but I get real European chocolate every week so that doesn't sound like such a crazy thing for me anymore--but American chocolate sounds cool.

   Today I met a kontakt guy that I hadn't met before and my companion said hi to him.  My companion started asking about how the guy was doing and all that. He then told us about another kontakt we have been trying to get a hold of who had gotten married and moved somewhere else so that was good to know and find out.

   Scripture for the week is 3 Nephi 11 when Christ comes--I love this chapter so I just chose the whole thing.

   I do not have any crazy stories from the week but it has been a good week.  I hope that you are having fun and that you are keeping busy. Love you lots.

Love,

Elder Fisher

Interviews, Tender Mercies, and Pictures!!

August 31, 2015

 

Elder Fisher!!!

 I am doing good.  I figured that you went to Sequoia from the pictures you sent but the smoke in the air doesn't sound to fun (there has been a forest fire going since July 31, 2015). Sounds like you got all your nature sightseeing done between the bears, deer, and trees. It will be interesting to go back to Sequoia and see actual mountains again and to listen for any people speaking German because I think a lot of people from France and Germany go there to visit (mom note: there are a lot of tourists from Europe when we visit). However, I prefer that I am on a mission too, than to be in Sequoia, because I can't teach trees the gospel!

Elder Rosenvall--his companion

   I haven't fixed the picture situation but I am working on it. I will check the technology store next to my apartment next Pday because we are kinda busy today. (mom note: this was fixed because there were pictures sent later in the day!)

   This past week I had my first interview with Präsident Fingerle and that was interesting and he is totally different from Präsident Kosak. It is literally a world of difference. It was good because I got to know him a little bit better and he got to know me a little bit better. You asked what a mission tour is-- A mission tour is when a general authority comes and teaches at a zone conference. It is cool.

 

Elder Fisher called this "the classic missionary
nametag picture"

 When we teach Sunday school (Sunday School is only on the 3^rd Sunday), the members decide whether or not they will study the other lessons but we usually just pick a lesson and teach it to the 2 active youth in the ward.  When we play basketball on Friday, we wear our P-day clothes but still wear our name tags and we still talk to people about our church. Every week I answer someone’s questions about the church.

   I haven't heard anything about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir touring Europe (summer of 2016) but that is cool that they are doing that.

 

A view from his apartment in Rheine Germany

 I have seen tender mercies from the Lord on my mission, one is when a companion and I do not do a good job teaching a part of the church's history or a lesson. The investigator later does find the truth for themselves and still thinks that we are great teachers (sometimes it is hard to agree with that). It is a tender mercy for others and myself because others find the truth that they are looking for and I do not lose the opportunity to teach someone about the Great Plan of Happiness because of a mistake I made while teaching another lesson or when I didn't answer a question quite as good or directly as I should have.

Sunset from his apartment in Rheine, Gemrnay

   My favorite thing to study this month has been "how to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ".  It was a very interesting topic to study and helped me realize that I can do a lot more to become a disciple myself.

   I love you mom and dad and I hope that you have a good week and that you have fun with all the things you are going to do this week.

Love you and hope for the best.

Elder Fisher

(mom note: if you would like to know more about starting your family history or about temples, please visit Family History at Mormon.org or Temples at LDS.org