The latest update (April 18, 2016)

April 18, 2018

   Well sounds like everything is going good with you guys and with everything else. Not too much to tell this week, I shipped another companion off and I got another companion who likes to rebuild/remake computers for fun. My companion is from Roy Utah he has been out for about 14 or so months so just a little bit younger than me on the mission. His last area was Greifswald. His name is Elder Zachary Illum.

   I have not gotten tired of the bike yet but I think I tire my companion out sometimes because I ride pretty quickly.

   The last few times we have been meeting in Bielefeld for district meeting. There are 8 missionaries in my district and there is a sister in my district who had the same Book of Mormon class as I did my freshman year and she actually sat behind me, Of course we found this out once we had a conversation about BYU-Idaho and the Book of Mormon teachers that we had.

   I have been studying the book, "Jesus the Christ", a lot this week and reading about the last year setting of his life and the book opens your eyes to the type of person that Christ was and that he really did care so much for these people he was teaching and performing miracles with. (Mom note: if you are interested in reading the book, it is available as a free readable download on gutenberg.org--you can click on the title above for a direct link OR as an audiobook here: "Jesus the Christ" audiobook )

   The interesting person for this week would be a lady that helps with foster kids full time and she tries to help them all that she can, she said we can come by again but she can never promise if she has time because of the kids and also her normal life as well.

I tried making an omelet this week, but it did not turn of the best.

   I have been enjoying my mission and every week is just going by faster and faster and I feel like the mission is just normal like now and it is just flying by. Now because of my mission I like planning out what I am going to do every day and I find dooring okay now and I love Europe and the culture here, I never thought that those things would happen.

   Scripture for the week Matthew 16:24-25 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

   Quote of the week "The mission isn't the best two years of your life, it is the best two years for your life."

   That is about all that I have for this week but I hope that you have a wonderful week and that you have some fun experiences.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Obligatory post

So, I got this on my blog writing page today:

"European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent. 

As a courtesy, we have added a notice on your blog to explain Google's use of certain Blogger and Google cookies, including use of Google Analytics and AdSense cookies. 

You are responsible for confirming this notice actually works for your blog, and that it displays. If you employ other cookies, for example by adding third party features, this notice may not work for you. Learn more about this notice and your responsibilities."

So, to anyone in the European Union visiting this blog...WELCOME! and I have not put any cookies on this blog page.  There are links to websites that visitors might find interesting but no cookies.

As an additional note: I have no idea how to imbed cookies of anytime so if they are there, I have no idea how that happened.

Thank you for allowing me to post this and the next post will be about Elder Fisher's experiences in Germany.

Missionaries Helping Missionaries and Transfer Week

April 11, 2016

   Germany is good this week. Yes, transfers are this week and they did affect me. I am getting a new companion and he will be the first companion that will be younger than me on the mission. His name is Elder Illum.  My companion, Elder Hunt will be going to Wilhelmshaven. This next transfer (starting April 13th) will be 7 weeks and the one after that will be 5 weeks. I am not sure why they will be like that but just so you can keep track of the next couple of transfer dates. I only have six transfers left too! That is still a while but I never realized how far I was on my mission until I thought of that yesterday.

   I was able to listen to the whole conference this past week and it was really good I would say that Elder Kearon’s talk was probably my favorite and as a missionary in Europe right now I know what he was talking about.

   This week we spent a few days with the elders in Stadthagen because one was really sick and they had appointments that they needed to go to and we decided to help them out seeing as we did not have appointments those days so one of us stayed with the sick companion and the other one went outside to work with the other elder. Then we had another companion exchange with the elders in Bielefeld on Friday and Saturday which was fun, I was in Bielefeld. While I was in Bielefeld, we taught a family and then played soccer the next day with Elder Adler who is one of the Seventy in Europe. 

   The branch president is probably the person who we spend the most time with in the ward but I get along with pretty much everyone in the ward fairly well which is good. There are 65 or so active members in the branch but not everyone is there every week so sometimes we only have 30 or so a church.

   We have a few people that we are trying to meet with right now but for the most part we are just trying to find new investigators and get something better going. This week I met a family in another ward that is making pretty good progress and accepting the gospel pretty well and that was pretty cool to see someone that is trying to repent and come closer to Christ.

   I enjoyed studying from Jesus the Christ a lot this week and have been reading it mostly in my spare time at the beginning and end of the day and I have read about 100 pages or so in the past week and a half I think.

   Scripture of the week D&C 42: 22 :Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.”  Wwe shared that as a spiritual thought with our newly married Branch President

   Quote of the week "Let us be men." Elder Christopherson

T   his week was good, it kinda went by pretty fast though and we were really busy everyday so that was nice but not too much to write about. Love you and hope that you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

General Conference, Service, and Bike Riding

The missionaries in Elder Fisher's district

April 4, 2016

   It feels like spring for sure in Minden but it is supposed to cool off for a few days here soon and then warm up again. The weather here in Germany is crazy I tell you.

   The work is slow but we are working, I feel like every day on my mission it has gotten easier to get out the door and go and do missionary work.

The decorated Easter egg trees Elder Fisher mentioned
in last week's letter

   Last week, for Easter, we ate with a family in the ward and we ate a lot. They gave us soup, salad, lasagna, ice cream, and a cake too! I didn't eat dinner that night or breakfast the next morning I was so full.

   Well I hoped that your cinnamon rolls that you got for General Conference tasted good (I do not remember what they really taste like) I have been enjoying German pastries the whole weekend!

He said this was "something cool looking"

Elder Hunt and Elder Fisher

   I really liked this past conference. We watched conference in English because it is always better to hear it in one’s native tongue. We watched conference in a neighboring ward building in Stadthagen and spent the night with the elders over there because we would have gotten home pretty late if we came home that same night. For the Sunday morning session of General Conference, which is on from 1800-2000 (6-8 pm) here we watched it at our branch president’s house because we caught a ride home with him from Stadthagen—he had come for the sessions that we watched on Sunday morning at that building. We still need to watch the last session of conference but the rest of conference up to where I have watched has been really good and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the talk from Elder Mervyn B. Arnold about less active work or that is what I understood it to be about that. We will be watching the last session of conference that next week in church as far as I heard.

   The bike riding is going good, I do not think that my companion enjoys it as much as I do, but I enjoy it a lot more than walking everywhere. We usually just ride our bikes [instead of taking them on a bus] because taking our bikes on a bus costs extra money and it is not that much more time effective.

   We went to this one small town this week planning to go by on old investigators and we ended up hiking up this huge hill and once we got to the top it was just farms and we had a view of the whole valley below us, it was cool to see.

   I have seen a few boats here in this city because there is a big canal that goes through this city and a lot of boats that use it.

   My favorite thing to do for service on my mission is to do yard work, because it is outdoors, you can get your hands dirty, and you can wear normal clothes as well.

   If I had some time after my mission before I had to leave for school I would probably try to get more into wood working to but since I am leaving right away I want to do wood carving because I can do that just about anywhere with any block of wood.

   Scripture of the week: " 1 Peter 4: 6 For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." (this was used in a conference talk, too)

   Quote of the week: "murmuring is the scriptural equivalent of childish whining."(Elder Renlund)

   I am keeping dry and enjoying my time. Love you and hope that you have a wonderful week and hope you can enjoy April too.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

At the Stadthagen church building watching General Conference
(missionary selfies are the best!!)

Bikes, Bread Pudding, and Precautions

March 28, 2016

   I heard about the Belgium Brussels bombing and the mission president sent everyone a text to be careful and told us to do certain things--just common sense stuff like:  do not go to airports or large train stations and stuff like that, and to be inside when we are supposed to be.

   I am still loving the bike even though it rains here like every single day but it is refreshing and nice. We are for sure able to get more places with the bikes and the rides are a lot better than walking everywhere. Yes, I am safe, I know you always worry about that, but I am a safer person. I haven't had a flat tire yet (knock on wood).

   Our ward usually has something to do during the week and stuff like that but actually activities I would say once a month or every two months.

   For Easter, Germans put decorative Easter eggs on their little tiny trees when they have them in their houses and sometimes they have other stuff to decorate, too. but I have mostly noticed the decorative eggs.

   We usually eat at a member’s house, I would say about once a week on Sunday, this week was more because of Easter, however. I am eating healthier too over here because at member appointments they feed you so much and the whole week you try to recover from it. I usually have cereal and fruit for breakfast, meat and a type of bread for lunch, and then I usually have fruit for dinner and I feel a lot healthier and happier. Oh yeah, I probably never mentioned this but it took me going on a mission to start liking: strawberries, raspberries, pears, current berries, mangoes, and other fruits. I also eat the ones I liked before too like bananas, apples, oranges, and grapes. I am still working on the vegetables though.

   I made bread pudding this morning from the recipe that you gave me and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it and it tastes really good. The reason I asked for the recipe is because there is a member originally from Jamaica in my area and he was talking about his childhood and how much he loved bread pudding so I wanted to make him some. (mom note: I've only made bread pudding once so I had to find a recipe on the internet.  If you would like to try the recipe Elder Fisher made, it can be found at this link: Bread Pudding II at AllRecipes

   We will get to watch most of most of General Conference this weekend but we will not be starting until 18:00 on Saturday. 

   This week we met a family from Africa that could have a lot of potential in the future, I will keep you posted.

   I enjoyed reading the first few chapters from the Book of Mormon this week, I am studying it a little bit with the institute manual in German.

   Scripture for the week: Luke 3:16 “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire”

   Quote of the week: (I want to share 2, one funny, the other a little more serious): "So ist das Leben für den Fremden ohne Hemde" translation "That is life for strangers without shirts"(got it from a member)

   "what's the point of running, if you are running on the wrong road." -someone

Love you and pray for you. I wish you a good week. 

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Hannover Zone March 2016