Baptism Day and Missionary Referrals

October 24, 2016

   I am doing good over here and the work is going good.  I am enjoying everything for the most part, we had a couple of slow weeks but the next few weeks look like they will be better though. The bishop of our ward here gave us a referral this weekend and will be giving us another one here pretty soon, and another member also wants to give us a referral to teach as well, so that is very exciting for this area, especially since it is a lot of smaller towns and normally harder to get ward members to refer people for us to teach or to even go by on.

Baptism day

   We had a baptism on Saturday so that was pretty good. The baptism was for a 10 year old Greek child whose father started coming back to church and he wanted us to start teaching his son. He was baptized by his father and he is really happy to be baptized and a member of the church. He also told us that when he gets older, he wants to serve a mission in England.

Baptism day--with the Elders

   My companion and I are doing fine, we think we might stay together for a third transfer and he will send me home, but we will find out in a week what happens. For p-day we will be enjoying Lauenburg and meeting with our new convert as well.

   We did not have any eating appointments this past week, we had two exchanges with missionaries though so we were still very busy. For one of the exchanges, the elder that I worked with took 8 years of French and started learning Arabic before he came out on his mission, so that was cool to learn about.

   Companion study we pretty much plan our appointments for the day. For personal study I read in the Book of Mormon then prepare a lesson that I have to give every week at district meeting. I studied a lot about prophets this past week and that was really interesting. That was really nice of you to have the sisters and the investigator over for dinner, I am sure that they appreciated that very much, and I am sure that you and dad will know the missionaries a lot more during his time as a bishop.

   The weather is turning cold, and I am not overly ecstatic about it getting cold either. I miss the California weather for fall and winter sometimes, to be completely honest. Yes the weather does look like it will be getting colder as well, which I am not overly excited about, since we are riding our bikes most places now.

   Scripture of the week Helaman 16: 23  “And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, Satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people upon all the face of the land.”

Quote of the week: "Do it" Spencer W. Kimball

   Thank you for the pictures that you send, I really do enjoy them even when I do not say that every week. I do not really have too much else to say but I hope that you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Winter weather, Lauenburg, the role of missionaries

October 17, 2016

   Well the cooler weather also means no sunshine, and I am speaking from experience now, the sun does not shine here in the summer and I think that is part of the reason that we are so tired.

   Lauenburg is very small, my smallest town yet. It is 100 Kilometers long so about 62 miles long and it is only small towns, the biggest place in our whole area is about 40,000 people living in it and most of them are college students. It is a very village like feel, very beautiful here, but it is nothing to exciting that goes on here.

   For P-day we are not doing anything too spectacular because, like I said there is nothing to exciting to do here. I did not get to meet someone that interesting this past week but we did get to teach someone about the commandments and someone else about the 5th lesson, she wasn't too interested, but she was an eight year old girl so it was understandable.

   We do not have any other responsibilities in the ward besides missionary work which is really nice actually. We are having a baptism this coming weekend and we are really excited for that and really happy for it.

   Scripture of the Week: 1 Corinthians 2:2 “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”

   Quote of the week: "The missionaries are there to help others come closer to Christ." Member of the stake presidency here.

Take care and enjoy your week.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

Enduring to the End, Scripture Study, and Greek Casserole

October 10, 2016

   We taught a few lessons this past week and they were all really good I think and I received a lot of good ideas for life and such things and just activities I can do with the gospel. It is an odd thing to learn I guess but it is really good to learn.

   My favorite meal this past week was a Greek casserole dish that was really really good, and I have no idea what was actually inside it either.  Today for Pday we have a Lunch appointment with a member and other than that, to get my companion a haircut. 

   I am trying not to be trunky but it can be really hard sometimes.   I have been studying just about everything, the Book of Mormon, Ensign articles, and Doctrine and Covenants with a few other things here and there at night to help strengthen me.

   Scripture of the week: Helaman5:12 “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Quote of the week: "forget yourself and get to work" Gordon B. Hinkley

Love you dad, I wish you a good week and a good start to being a Bishop!

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

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

October 12, 2016 Hamburg Zone TrainingThe

The Hamburg Zone on October 12th

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 Meeting Picture.