Missionary Work plus Food and Cars in Halle--March 23, 2015

We received two great letters today which have been combined for this blog.
Note: if the word is in purple, it contains a link to a web page with more information. 

   “The ward I am in is the Halle Ward but it has giant boundaries, one family travels an hour to get to church by train every Sunday because they live so far away. Most of the members live pretty local though. There are about 60-80 active members in the ward and one family makes up about a quarter of the ward.

   When we ate at the members’ home last Sunday, they asked me a lot about LA—and you wanted to know the types of questions.  They asked things like: how far away was the beach? or did you see any gang fights? or how cold did it get? They were also disappointed when I told them I didn't go to school in California but went to Idaho for college.

   We are allowed to see stuff on P-Days and are actually encouraged to help us understand the culture better and help us prepare mentally for the next week. There is a Handel museum (the famous composer) and there is a chocolate factory I think we are going to next week.

   We eat cereal in the mornings for the most part but the cereal here tastes better I think. We have more lunch stuff than any other meal.  We usually have some sort of wurst for that with potatoes or rice or soup. (Mom note: according to the German food guide, Germany has over 1500 types of wurst). I haven't seen a döner with yogurt on it but it is like ordering at a fast food restaurant and I just say normal Döner. They have lamb, and onion, mixed vegetables, and all on the flat bread. It is really good.

   The autos in Germany are mostly European made (a lot of Volkswagons) but there are a lot of Fords, too, and I have seen two or three Chevy's. It is really cool seeing all the cars that they talk about on the British car show I watched actually (Mom note: he’s talking about Top Gear).

   I haven't seen any buildings from West Germany to compare to yet, but I think some of the buildings from this area (the former East Germany) that were built during that time period have a very communist look. 

   The people are nice for the most part and I love seeing and talking to so many people all day.  This week we did a lot of finding and, because we did, we walked by a lot of INTERESTING people that stopped us and started talking to us about the Book of Mormon and other stuff that concerned the world. One said everyone needs to just eat together and drink together and be happy and all I could think about was the scripture "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." He was an interesting person.

   We found a few people this week but haven't really been able to meet with them yet. The sisters in our district have a baptism this week so we are trying to get less actives and investigators to come to that but it is in Leipzig so it is a little hard for some people to get to Leipzig (mom note--it's about a half-hour train ride away).

   It is great here in Halle and I think that the key to missionary work is to stay positive and always strive to help other so we can do our part to build the kingdom of God. Like this week, we set up two service opportunities with people so that they might become new investigators or their hearts may be softened for the next set of missionaries. It is interesting in the field. I feel like we have to think in the moment how can I help but also think of the long term how can this benefit the person in the long term and who else will this effect-- like if an investigator gets baptized and goes to the temple and then does 100 family names within the next three years that is 101 (including the living person doing the ordinances)people that have had ordinances done and the opportunity to partake of salvation.

Quote of the week: "The Kingdom of God or nothing"-President John Taylor

My scripture for the week is actually a song and it is the translation of "I Believe in Christ" from German to English: 

"Christ is my Lord, and my king

I sing to him, I give him exact praise and thanks

I want Him with me my whole life long,

Christ is my Lord, the greatest son

He came to earth to live,

The sick he healed and stood from death,

I praise his name while I walk"

It isn't a perfect translation but I like how it says "Christ is my Lord" more because it has more assurance and is bolder which is what members of the church should be saying and proclaiming to the world:  "Christ IS my Lord"

Love

Elder Fisher

Halle, Groitzsch, Leipzig and East Germany

March 16, 2015

Everything is going great in the Halle area and I have more pictures this week. 

A clock tower in the center of Halle, Germany

   My area is pretty big--not only do we have our city, which we usually stay in, we have like a hundred small towns, too.  It is probably a half hour train ride to the north of our area to the south end of our area.  We buy monthly street subway cards and then daily cards for when we have to travel out of our train district (a certain area where a monthly card works for a city).  The weather isn’t bad--it rains a little bit but most of the time it is a light drizzle or something.

When we go finding we go street finding, we walk from one place to another and then for “dooring” we use what are called klingels --they are the buzzer things for apartments like the one in Jerry's apartment from Seinfield.

A church in the center of Halle, Germany

   In the ward, we go to family home evening with the single members, and Sunday School on Wednesday. The 4 missionaries in the ward are over half the ward choir and we are there Wednesday night for practice after seminary. I don't think that we will have to sing as a companionship for special music but I do not know for sure.

    This week was fun. 

A tower in Groitzach, Germany

One of the places visited during
companion exchange in Groitzsch, Germany

I had my first companion exchange in Groitzsch which is a really small town in my district. Then last Saturday, the elders from Groitzsch had a baptism for an 8 year old kid they have been teaching.  It was fun because I got to go to Leipzig and see a baptism.

Companion exchange selfie in Groitzsch

Some of the members are good about missionary work but most are not quite sure how to do it because in East Germany they weren't allowed to so it is a new thing to do member missionary work.  Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that where I am serving used to be in East Germany.

This week I had a really good pasta salad and surprisingly I really enjoyed eating it. On Saturday, we ate with a blind member of the ward and a college kid that is in the ward. That was fun and yesterday (Sunday) we ate at another member’s house.  They gave us a lot of food but the main dish was fish with pasta and they asked me lots of questions about what is was like growing up in LA.  Everywhere I have eaten has pretty good home cooked food.  We also eat at bakery's here but they are everywhere so they are pretty cheap.  We also eat at döner joints which is a turkish food.

   Today, we have to get a bunch of random stuff to fix some things that are broken in the apartment.

(a question from dad) “Is your bed made up of a sheet made in the shape of a sleeping bag and it coves a big down-filled type blanket thingie?  If looks like that, and that is what we had in Denmark...called dynabetraks” (Elder Fisher’s response) That is a good description of the blanket but it is really warm and it I think it is called a veckerdecker or something like that (mom note: it might be daunedecke which is the German translation of duvet).
   

   I haven`t taken a picture of the street I lived on yet but I will now. My companion actually knows a lot of German because his trainer made him do all the talking so he was forced to learn it. The favorite sport here is soccer but people like to play volleyball and basketball too.

   I liked dad’s scriptures this week: "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Doctrine & Covenants 121: 7-8 and thought they are really useful.

Love,

Elder Fisher

Mom's commentary: As I was growing up, I heard my dad tell of his service in the army and touring Berlin with a guide on the East German side. I remember being amazed when the Freiberg temple was announced for East Germany because it was under such strict communist rule. I also remember staying up late and watching the news conference of the people tearing down the Berlin wall. To have a son serving a missionary in that area is truly amazing.

Halle--March 9, 2015

This week’s blog post contains pictures from Elder Fisher and some other information about Halle, Germany

A photo of the street in Halle where Elder Fisher's apartment is.

March 9, 2015

Halle is good. Everything here is going great and I love the people.  The language is coming pretty fast and I am enjoying every minute I am here.  My trainer has been in the field for 3 months so we are kinda learning everything together. He worked a lot at a restaurant before he left on his mission. My trainer is also a really good cook so when we are eating by ourselves, he cooks and I try to help in some ways-- like offering some chocolate I bought or something.

The kitchen in Elder Fisher & Elder Gerlach's apartment

We are supposed to speak German most of the day and I am progressing towards doing that. There is a mission rule that “you’re German except for p-day” so I have to try to speak German all day--even with my companion.  My companion and district are great and we are all getting along great, too. Being with someone 24 hours 7 days a week isn't as weird as I thought it might be. We are the only missionaries in our apartment but there are a pair of sister missionaries in Halle too.

We do not have bikes and we take the train but there is a thing we use a lot called a Straßenbahn and that is an above ground subway. It is really cool I think and very useful. I think LA could use it and it reduce the amount of cars and people driving there. We take a Straßenbahn everywhere which is an above ground subway pretty much. We also walk a lot when we are finding--like on Thursday, we spent like 6 hours finding (meeting people) on the streets so we walked a lot but we talked to a lot of people too so it was good.

We are teaching here but the white handbook says we shouldn't ask you to pray for causes here. 100% obedience, right?

Elder Fisher's p-day snacks. Mmmmmm!

The chocolate is good here but there isn't any peanut butter here. It is kinda weird not seeing peanut butter products when we do our shopping. (Mom note: the mission president sends a welcome letter to the parents and he said peanut butter is available in Germany—so maybe they need to visit a different store)

We ate at a member’s house yesterday and I ate so much it because it was so good. I ate a bunch of foods I didn't think I would like too--just so I wouldn't offend them, but some of the foods I ended up liking was this mushroom sauce with like a thousand mushrooms, rasberries with icecream, a cheesecake with a small orange in it, and some other stuff too.

My scriptures of the week are Moroni 7:47 “But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.   and another one is the 3 epistles of John at the end of the New Testament.”

Sounds like you are enjoying your calling and I hope that everything continues going well with that. I hope everything continues to go well at home and that you and dad are having lots of fun with all your many activities.

Love

Elder Fisher

Leipzig Zone--Germany Berlin Mission, March 2015 (photo courtesy of mission blog page)

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

Last week at the MTC and a phone call from the airport.

This was Elder Fisher's last week at the MTC--we got 2 last e-mails...and a phone call from the airport today.

 The letters home arrived by e-mail on February 18, 2015. 

“Not a whole lot to write about.  It is my last week here at the MTC.  I have 6 days until I leave.  I got my flight plans this week and I stop at JFK airport and the Paris International airport and then I go to Germany from there.  I believe I am allowed to call you before I actually go on my flight but I am not quite sure what I need to do for that (note: the MTC bookstore cells pre-paid phone cards)--and it is only like a 15 minute call to tell you I am leaving the country pretty much. I leave on next Tuesday from the MTC at 6:00 and my flight leaves at 11:15 so expect a call from anytime in there. Can you DearElder me your cell phone number?  (DearElder.com is a free letter delivery service—if you send the letter by noon Provo time, it is delivered by 5pm the same day).  I forgot the flight information in my room so I can't tell you the information but I am flying delta and that's all I remember sorry.

It is about the same temperature in Germany as it is in Provo I think but I am not too sure.

It sounds like you had a fun Valentines date.   I got three boxes for Valentine’s day!  Please thank the people that sent them for me.  I can’t believe I only have one more Valentine’s Day left on my mission isn't that crazy?

I was actually thinking about asking you for (my high school German teacher’s) email so thank you for that. I will try to write her in German but I don't know how well my German actually is but I will try to do the best that I can.

Scriptures of the week are  3 Nephi 27: 27  “And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”   and then read 1 Corinthians 13: 11 “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”   I think it was a great connection I made this week with scriptures.

Love, Elder Fisher”

THE PHONE CALL

On Tuesday morning, February 24, 2015, we waited patiently for our phone call.  Elder Fisher was allowed to send us an e-mail on Sunday afternoon to let us know when to expect his phone call so I set the alarm for 15 minutes before the “start” time of 6:30 am and then the waiting began.

The phone rang about 8:45 am and it was so good to hear his voice.  He sounded good—he said he couldn’t believe that he would be in Germany in less than 24 hours.

He said he had really good teachers at the MTC and that he was able to attend the temple each week he was there except for one week when he wasn’t feeling well.

He said it was a little weird leaving the MTC after living there for 6 weeks. (during their time at the Provo MTC, the missionaries only leave to go across the street to the Provo LDS temple.)  Before they left the MTC, they were each given 50 pass along cards to hand out before they reached the Germany Berlin Mission home on Wednesday.

He said that 37 missionaries were going to Germany—14 to the Germany Berlin mission and the rest to the Germany Frankfurt mission.  One of the missionary’s moms had sent granola bars for a snack for their district to eat while they were waiting at the airport.

He asked about the family—he especially liked hearing about his nephew, Connor, and his niece, Audrey.  His new p-day will be on Mondays—he looks forward to his e-mails and mail that he receives.

We were able to speak about 30 minutes. At the end of the call, it was close to boarding time and we said good-bye until our next phone call on Mother’s Day--and we are anxiously waiting until next Monday when we get our first e-mails from Germany!

We are looking forward to the pictures the mission president’s wife will post on the mission blog in the next couple of days.

Frieberg LDS temple

February 11-- the countdown is 2 weeks until Germany

As we waited patiently for Elder Fisher’s e-mails, this scripture caught my attention: 

“And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.” Doctrine & Covenants 12: 8

Today’s blog is a compilation of two e-mails received on February 11th….

Elder Fisher with his district in front of the world map.

“The weeks are going by a little bit faster and the days do not seem as long as they did a few weeks ago. I am also getting along with my companion better and I am trying to work with others in the district better as well. I didn't really have a problem before with getting along with others in the district but I get along better with the people in my district. I can't believe that I will be out a month on this Saturday (February 14^th) that is just crazy for me to think about.

I have seem more people that I recognize from BYU-Idaho around the MTC recently so that is pretty exciting to. I got a letter from Sister ______ in the mail yesterday and if you could tell her that I really appreciated the letter that would be great.

Elder Fisher and Elder Larson pointing to Germany--their destination in 2 weeks
(this is one of the pictures his parents requested that he take)

I am supposed to get the district’s travel itineraries tomorrow sometime so once I get those I think that everything will start to set in about how I am going to Germany in 13 days. That is super crazy to think about. I think that everyone is excited but nervous at the same time about going to Germany in a couple weeks. I think I feel the same way, although I think I am more excited than nervous to go but they are both pretty equal.

I am trying hard to learn as much as I can while at the MTC but I am still trying to find ways so that I can have fun. For meals at the MTC there are usually baked potatoes at least 3 times a week and they are decent. I had a Shepherd’s pie and corn bread meal this week and all I was thinking is that mom makes it so much better.

There have been a lot of people at the MTC sick with colds over the last two week.  I am feeling healthy though so it is all good.

The Provo LDS temple on Sunday, February 8, 2015
LDS Temples

I am learning a lot about the scriptures and trying to relate most of the things I read to missionary work and myself. One example of this is Ether 12: 13:

"Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth."

How that scripture relates to me is that the prison is what is holding us back from our full potential to do missionary work-things like disobedience, unhappiness, and other things. So we need stop these things and let "the Prison to tumble to the earth"

I thought that this scripture was awesome

Hope everything is going well at home and that everyone gets better.

Love,

Spencer Fisher"

For me, the scripture Elder Fisher talked about in Ether 12 Ether 12 and its companion chapter in the Bible of Hebrew 11 are the two most beautiful and inspiring chapters regarding faith--they never fail to uplift me.

February 4--All is Well at the MTC

Elder Fisher is busy at the MTC--he will leave for Germany on February 24th. 

The following is a compilation of handwritten letters and e-mails we have received.

“Dear parents,

I love you guys so much and I am so happy to have this awesome opportunity. I love it here at the MTC and I love my district and branch presidency. Sorry for not writing as much in my emails but I find it easier to write to you through letters. I think it takes a long time for letters to get places because missionaries that live in Payson say it is taking a while for their letters to get back home, like two days (mom's note—it is about 18 miles from the Provo MTC to Payson, Utah)  I hope you are getting the letters and enjoying them.

The food is starting to get a little old here but it is still food (I think). I saw Elder Nebeker a lot when he was actually here but he left for the field on Tuesday of this week. (another mom note--Elder Nebeker was Elder Fisher’s BYU-Idaho roommate and he is serving in the Florida Ft. Lauderdale mission).

The MTC had all the elders move out of the building we were staying in and into another building this morning so it has been kinda hectic. I had a good weekend and was called to serve in the position of district leader until we leave for Germany. What that means at the MTC is that I get the mail and pass it out.

The MTC is helping me a lot. As part of the training, I hold a couple of discussions a week. The "investigators" are doing good, too, and I am learning a lot by teaching people in German. I started reading the Book of Mormon in German last week and it is going well. I have done 9 chapters so far and still going strong.

I am working hard and I am almost done with the book of Acts in the New Testament. It is a very interesting book and what some of the apostles were able to do is really fascinating. The scripture of the week for me is Alma 32. It is a great chapter about faith.

My English has gone way down since I have been here and I am starting to use German rules of writing in my English writings.  Sorry if my spelling is bad but I think in half German and half English now.

I am trying to think positive. My companion is good. Twice a week my companionship and another one have an exchange for choir. The companion swap is so my companion can go to choir practice. My exchange companion is super fun and we are usually laughing when we are together. There is a sister in my zone who goes to BYU-Idaho as well.  All the sisters in the zone are really nice, but the sisters in my district are the coolest.

I love the package I got and the cookies were not stale they were delicious and all the other German elders thank you and said that the chocolate chip cookies were delicious.

Only three more weeks at the MTC.

I love you guys and hope you are having an awesome time. Love you so much and I know that God blesses our lives so much too!!

Love

Elder Fisher

If you are interested in the Elder Bednar talk mentioned in the last blog, here are the links:

Print: The Character of Christ

Video: Character of Christ video