Moving a Piano, German Pastries, and Member Referrals

November 21, 2016

   Well dad, I do not remember how mom's homemade pies even taste so HA! I will think of you while I eat Germany pastries and by fresh bread from the bakeries that are on every corner here.  We will be having our zone conference in Hamburg Wartenau ward on Thanksgiving day and we will be eating some German food, I do not know which ones yet.

   This past week we went to Lüneburg and helped move a piano down from the second story of the apartment building and then moved the piano up to the upstairs of the person’s house we moved it to, needless to say I was slightly sore after that service activity but the brother gave us a referral afterwards so that was really cool.

   What I love about this ward is now that the ward trust us a lot, we are averaging getting one referral a week which is extremely difficult in Germany, let alone in a small town area with very few people in it. I would say that that is my favorite thing about this area. I have not had any companion exchanges recently but we are planning to do a few this week, we will see if they actually happen or not.

   I feel like I have been reading in 3 Nephi for the past several weeks, but I read in German and really try to understand everything the Savior taught the Nephites very clearly and understand the commentary that Mormon writes as well so I enjoy that.

   Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 26:13 “Therefore, I would that ye should behold that the Lord truly did teach the people, for the space of three days; and after that he did show himself unto them oft, and did break bread oft, and bless it, and give it unto them.”

Quote of the week: "He is the Gift" Christmas initiative from two years ago.

Love you and I hope that you have a good week and enjoy your Thanksgiving feasts!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Fisher

Birthday, Focusing on Missionary Work, and Abendbrot

November 14, 2016

   For my birthday, we had dinner at a member’s home. We had Abendbrot which consists of bread, butter, cheese, and meats. It is one of my favorite things about Germany and I will definitely be missing it as well when I am not here anymore. We also had something called Grünkohl this past week and Schweinfleisch, and Kartoffeln, another very classic northern German winter meal.

It's snow time!!

   My new companion is Elder Bullion and he is from Tennessee and has lived in Kentucky as well, he is a convert of about 4 years now, he is REALLY into music and wants to go into music education as well. Before the mission he graduated high school and he also worked for some sort of factory and that is how he paid for his mission.

   Our plans for Pday are once again, emails, lunch, and naps.

   So we are going to have Zone Conference on Thanksgiving and they do usually make us food, but it is not a Thanksgiving traditional meal but a traditional German meal. I will be getting my packages on Thanksgiving.

   We met a very nice lady from Ghana this past week and we taught her the first lesson.

The Christmas Markets will be up in a couple weeks here and we will be going to go and see them and I am super excited to see them again, I love these markets.

   The investigators are coming along pretty good, we are hoping to get at least one in the water before I head out and so we are working on it. The companion and I are doing pretty good, I knew him from my MTC group.  I think that we have both changed since the MTC. I am trying to make the last few weeks good by not thinking about going home. I have actually gotten a lot better since my last companion left since all he talked about was home and kept saying that I am going home soon. I liked my last companion but that made it difficult to focus.

   It sound like the missionaries are doing some work over there, I would love to stay in California just to help them get people to church and stuff--that is a huge thing I am going to miss after my mission, missionary work. I know I can still do it, but it won't be the same.

Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 17: 21 “And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

Quote of the week "whom the Lord calls, he qualifies." Thomas S. Monson

Love,

Spencer

Staying in Lauenburg, a Birthday Dinner in Germany, and Sharing the Gospel

November 7, 2016

   Well, my week was busy (and very chilly).  I hope that you are enjoyed your first Break the Fast as the singles ward bishop as well, those were good memories for me when I was in that ward. It sounds like you had fun decorating the tree at the temple for Christmas

   The past transfer was a good one (mom note: a transfer is usually 6 weeks), we had a baptism so that always makes it better. My current companion will be leaving and I will staying to finish my mission in the Lauenburg area.  My companion will be someone who was in my MTC group who extended his mission an extra transfer.  I am pretty excited to be staying because we have another person we are going to try to set up for a baptismal date for the 3 of December!

   I haven’t gotten my birthday cards and packages yet…I will be getting the packages at the end of November at the Zone Conference, so on Thanksgiving day, I will have my packages.  On my birthday, my companion and I ate at a member’s house on my birthday and she made us Knödel (dumplings) and Rotkohl (red cabbage) and Schweinfleisch (pork). Then for dessert we ate a lemon cake which was really good.

   I have been reading in 3 Nephi this past week and really have enjoyed that.  This week we went finding in Lüneburg and Schwarzenbek and a couple other places.

   So this past week we got a referral from a member and this referral is named P____.  He came to church and we have already taught him the first two lessons and he believes a lot of it is true and he asked us about baptism, we did not even bring baptism up until he mentioned it in the first lesson with him. He is really amazing, even the member who referred him was shocked at how prepared he is!

   Scripture for the week 3 Nephi 11:5-7 “ And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them:  Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name--hear ye him.”

   Quote of the week: "If you miss the fun, you miss it all" Jeffery R. Holland

Hope that you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Fisher

Missionary Exchanges and Birthday Plans

October 31, 2016

   The week was good, we had exchange and I was with Elder Matis and he is a good friend of mine, someone I will stay in touch with after the mission as well. I will be eating at a members house on my birthday, and she loves America so I will probably be eating cake this Friday. I will probably get the box you sent at the end of November because that is when we have our next zone conference so we can get our mail.

   I have been studying in 3 Nephi and I prepare lessons that I give every week in District meeting which takes a little bit of my studies away. My favorite lesson to teach this week was probably the fifth lesson in Preach My Gospel because that is the only lesson that I personally taught this week. I met a lady from Ghana this past week who knew the church on the streets on exchange.

   Our ward hasn't had any activities yet, however we do have one the 12th of November and we will be raking leaves, so that will be pretty fun.

   The next transfer is coming up this next week, we will be getting our call this coming Saturday what will be happening, then I will tell you guys next Monday what actually happens.

   Scripture of the week: John 6:67-68  “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

   Quote of the week: David A. Bednar "Believing Him with our whole soul comes as we press forward along the covenant pathway, surrender our will to His, and submit to His priorities and timing for us."

Thank you for the Birthday wish and I will make sure to eat some Kuchen on my Birthday.

Love,

Elder Spencer Fisher

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