Thoughts on General Conference

October 3, 2016

   I really did love conference! I thought it was a really amazing experience and they focused on helping people and being happy for the most part I think. I really enjoyed Elder Hales’ talk, I have actually gotten very fond of his talks and character while on the mission. I also noticed he was able to stand up this conference so that was very good to see. I watched conference in the stake center here in Hamburg and that was really good. We watched every session except for one (the last one) so we got most of it this past weekend and we will be watching the rest of the conference this week sometime. We didn't get together to eat with the other missionaries but we got something to go so we can have food in our stomachs as we traveled and we got a bag of knock off Twix candies for our enjoyment.

   The week was pretty good and I enjoyed it except for a few fallen out appointments. We did not do any exchanges this past week but we did go with them to the stake center to watch conference so we got to spend some time with them. This past week we also went to a place called Bad Bevensen and Schwarzenbek. Other than that we did not get around to much.

   Our plans for P day today are to clean and nap or read because it is a holiday in Germany called Tag der Deutschen Einheits so everything is closed. This Holiday is for the coming together after the Cold War ended and it was again one Germany.

   My companion and I are doing well and we are still getting along. I am happy to be staying together with my companion, we are extremely different people but we get along pretty well. I think I can work with just about anyone in the mission field at this point because in the worst case scenario I know when the companionship will end at the latest. I think my companion is trying to get me trunky though, I mostly just want to eat American food though, and Mexican food.

   Luckily I read dad’s email first before I read your email mom and I cannot help to say that I chuckled a little bit that dad will be the Bishop of the singles ward (mom note: one of our favorite family movies is The Singles Ward). I think you both will enjoy it. I wish you both the best of luck starting next week.

   Scripture of the week:  Doctrine and Covenants 18:12-13 “And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!”

Quote of the week :"Saints are a joyful people" President Nelson.

I love you wish you a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Lauenburg, Hamburg, Luneburg, Frieberg

September 26, 2016

   Sounds like you had quite a full week! I hope you were able to enjoy it as well. I can hardly believe how old my niece and nephew are becoming, they will be completely different people when I get home I think.

   We are both staying in Lauenburg and the work is going good, almost all of our appointments this past week fell out though, so that was sad.

   We ate at two houses this week and both of them made us chili for the food. Another member we met with gave us American chocolate cake which actually tasted American and was super good. Other than that, we did not have any eating appointments.

   For P-day today, I will be visiting Hamburg and doing a little bit of sight-seeing there. Other than that, I do not have any plans.  The farm house I took a picture of was in a really small village with like 500 residence and I do not remember the name. The church in the pictures was in a place called Lüneburg in our area, which is also where we bought the Reese’s Pieces.  There is a store there that has a lot of American things that they sell there but it is still a German store.

   We are able to go to the Frieberg Temple when we have a new convert, a reactivated person come with us, and we are able to tour the temple with an investigator as well.

   Elder Gerlach’s (his missionary trainer/1^st companion in Germany) plans for when he gets back are to go on a date to General Conference and then after that he will be going to BYU Provo and studying there.

   That is too bad that Brother H_____ passed away, he was like a grandpa to me, or at least I felt like that. However I know he has a great work to do on the other side now and that he is no longer in pain.

   Scripture of the week: Helaman 3:26 “And it came to pass that the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing and uniting to the church of God, many souls, yea, even tens of thousands.”

   Quote of the week: Spencer W. Kimball “A year ago now I was in Japan and Korea, and … I seemed to envision a great movement when there would be thousands of local men prepared and anxious and strong to go abroad. … I seemed to envision again Mexican youth and Latins from Central and South America in great numbers qualifying themselves for missionary service within their own country and then finally in other lands until the army of the Lord’s missionaries would cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep.” (April 1974)

Love you and hope that you have a great week and everything.

Love,

Elder Fisher

Zone Conference, Cold Summer Weather, P-day Plans

August 8, 2016

   Well that is interesting about the weather (mom note: we were having a heat wave), I have been tempted to turn the heater on at night here a couple times now.

   That is cool about Elder Hefner (knowing his return date) that means you guys will probably get my flight plans next month! Exciting stuff!

   This week we had a conference in Hamburg, and there was a member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy there. It was good. We stayed the night with elders serving in an area that my companion has served in before. We mostly learned about how we can just reach a little bit more and trying to reach our full potential. It was pretty good, I took a few notes while we were there.

   We actually did not have any service this past week, we did teach the young mother with the baby again and it was good, however the baby just runs around the whole time and he can be distracting.  We also met a former investigator from Bangladesh his week and he seemed pretty cool, he is a younger guy that can speak like 4 languages!

   For breakfast I usually eat a slice of bread, nice bread from the bakery, with cream cheese smeared on top, then a slice of cheese and a type of sliced meat on top. Then a hard boiled egg, I usually would make them for the week. We usually go shopping at a local grocery store called Penny, we wear church clothes on Pday as well...it's wonderful.  We are going to Bielefeld for Pday again, we will go and do stuff there and then we will have companion exchanges again.

   There is are different types of festivals almost every week, quite honestly though, it is mostly an excuse to drink and party excessively. So we do not go to most of them.

   This coming Saturday we have our transfer calls, and I am really hoping for a change (mom note—Elder Fisher has been in Minden almost 6 months).

   Scripture of the week: Alma 40:23 “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”

   Quote of the week: "we ain't pacing, we racin" (a companions old track coach)

   Well I hope you have a good week and are able to enjoy the vacation coming up. I hope for pictures as well.

Love you Mom and Dad. Hope you have a good week, and safe drives.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Thanksgiving in Germany and Zone Conference

November 30, 2015

Elder Fisher and Elder Westbury helped decorate
a Christmas tree for service.

   I am staying warm here in Germany but dry is the harder part seeing how it rains about every other day at least.

   You asked why Californians can’t get licenses in Germany-- The rule about the license is a Germany rule and I am not completely sure why but they have this rule for certain states like: Oregon, North Carolina, and a few other as well. It kinda stinks but it is whatever, at least my companion lets me drive the grocery cart every Monday.

Zone Conference Lunch on American Thanksgiving.

   I did not meet anyone interesting this past week because we were out of our area quite a bit this past week for the zone conference in Hamburg and we were doing lots of lessons and service as well this week, so we did meet people but no one too crazy or interesting. We had one eating appointment and we had Leber Käse with a fried egg and potatoes as well. It was good.

   The zone conference was in Hamburg on Thanksgiving Day and it was good, although the more meetings I go to on my mission where I have to sit for long periods of time makes me realize more and more that I cannot have an only office job. At zone conference we learned about member missionary work.  As part of the zone conference we watched the "A Savior Is Born" video and we learned about using the new video from the church.  We ate a very German lunch for American Thanksgiving: rot kohl, potatoes, and this dish that was meat with a pickle in the middle. It was good but mom’s cooking is always better. When we got to where we were overnighting, the other elders and I got 6 pizzas (from the store), Fanta, baguettes, and a large cheesecake to eat for our actual Thanksgiving meal. It was a feast. 

Thanksgiving dinner in Germany--
pizza, soda, baguettes, and cheescake

     I will try finding a Christmas market at the right time because they’re sometimes difficult in the smaller cities to get at the right times. What I mean by that is they only last 4-5 days in one city and then it is over. But different cities have them at different times.

For the iPod I usually just play whatever songs come up and my companion says if he likes it or not, it is a lot like with dad and iPods in the car.

   I studied and finished the end of Mosiah this past week and it amazes me every time I read the story of Alma the younger and how much he changed.

   My scripture for the week is actually a part of a song:

"How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is giv’n!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of his heav’n.

No ear may hear his coming;

But in this world of sin,

A German candy egg made from chocolate
with a toy inside---isn's that Snoopy??

Where meek souls will receive him, still

The dear Christ enters in." 

     from “ Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”

   Quote of the week: "Fra-Geel-a--it must be Italian." The father in "A Christmas Story"

   Transfers are next week but I don't know if I will be transferred or not but I would like to stay in this area a lot. My companion and I really do work well together I feel like.

   I don't really have anything else to say except that I would like some of the Thanksgiving pictures. I really do enjoy the pictures.  I hope that you all have a great week and wish you all the best.  Love you.

Love

Elder Fisher

Elder Fisher with his new messenger bag...
his first one was falling apart.

*****Mom note.....If you haven't had the opportunity to watch the video Elder Fisher mentioned, you can find it by clicking on the title named in the letter or by going to www.mormon.org.  I hope you will take the time to watch a beautiful presentation inspired by Isaiah 9: 6

Celebrating a Birthday on a Mission, Bad Bentheim Ward, and Thanksgiving plans

November 9, 2015

Elder Fisher’s dad asked: “Well, you're a year older but the question is, are you any wiser?  Did your companion sing happy birthday to you in German?  Any cake?”

Elder Fisher in his new suit.

And here is Elder Fisher’s response:

   Well the wise man built his house upon the Rock and I haven't even built a house yet so that might be saying something dad. My companion and most of the Germans sang the Happy Birthday song in English so that was pretty cool I guess. I didn’t get cake—but I got an apple pie from a member in my ward like 3 days after my birthday so that was good. As for the rest of my birthday, we spent it at a district meeting and the district sang Happy Birthday to me. We then had a lesson with a less active member and it was super spiritual and good.  For the last part of the day, since my companion had a meeting the next day in Hamburg, we drove somewhere and overnighted in a place called Leer (about 80 miles from Bad Bentheim) and those elders made dinner for us and it was a fun day (just not a lot happened).

   As for the Bad Bentheim ward, yes, we do have a branch ward mission leader. We are not sure what we are teaching in our monthly Sunday school (which is next week) but I am sure it is something good. We usually check it a few days before so we are not quite sure yet. Our ward does have the annual Primary Sacrament Presentation--it is next week here and the whole ward is so excited about it too.

   Since our ward covers so many cities, we work a lot in certain cities.  We decide which city we are going to visit and we go and work in one city for a few hours.  Then we switch cities after a few hours and basically, we set up our appointments to go with the cities we are.

   As for Thanksgiving, Germany doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving but we have a zone conference that day so it is kind of a celebration for the missionaries.  However, there is a lot of Christmas stuff out already but the stores are not enclosed malls here--I would say everything it set up pretty close to how the W_______ Shopping Center near home is set up—all the doors open to a central area and the center area is open.

   I am looking forward to our Christmas call—you asked if I could read part of the Christmas story…can I read the scripture from Luke when the Angel visits the shepherds in the field?   I am excited to meet my future sister-in-law at Christmas during our Skype call.  I hope that they can get everything for the wedding planned, too.  Instead of holding up my pictures for the photos, I heard of these things called cardboard cut outs and that might work for me so I can be in the family pictures.

   Scripture of the week 1 Corinthians 13:4 "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up," 

Quote "I don't know many things, but I know some things" -someone

   Thanks for all of the stuff and the birthday email, I hope you have a good week. Love ya mom and dad.

Love

Elder Spencer Fisher