Wednesday, December 28, 2011

December 27, 2011

We had a great conversation with Andrew Christmas Day!  Of course I thought of more questions after he hung up so this letter is answering questions.  Also, I finally posted the pictures Andrew sent Riker and they are on the blog, you may have to look down a post or two to see them though.

            Okay well I have limited time today, so I will try to answer everything as fast as I can, but if I forget something, I am really sorry. Anyways first of all, It was great being able to talk to you all. I think I was able to say everything I wanted.
Transfer calls were Friday and Andrew and his companion are staying together for another transfer.  Yes, I will reach my year mark in Switzerland, in Wetzikon, and both Elder Sullivan and Elder Alston are staying as well, so that is cool. I think we will go to Lichtenstein next Monday, but we will see. Andrew wants to go to Lichtenstein so he can have a stamp in his passport so he will have a stamp from all 4 countries in his mission.  They are not allowed to preach or street contact.  If there is a non member or less active that requests them to visit they are allowed to go to that house and talk to them but no proselyting.
During the phone call he mentioned that his shoes are starting to separate in the area where the shoe bends near the toes.  He is trying to decide whether to buy new shoes but wanted to try shoe goo first before spending money on new shoes:  The shoes are doing okay I think. The shoe goo really helped, but I also haven`t had much of a chance to really walk in them, so I will let you know for sure next week.
Do you need new socks?  I am good on socks,  I just need to sew up a few of them.
A few letters ago he mentioned they were getting companionship ties and I asked him if that meant they had matching ties:  And comp ties, well our gml ( I don't know what a gml is or if he typed it wrong in his hurry...General Mission Leader?)  gave us ties, so now we have comp ties, but that is probably a tradition that will die, because ties in Switzerland are super expensive. In Germany or Austria you can get them between 3 or 10 euro. In Switzerland it is at least 25 franken for one, so yeah, not worth it at all.
Thank you everyone who sent us Christmas cards, and a special thanks to those who sent a card to Elder Williams. It really helped him out a lot! So thank you all, you are the best!
Did you get to do any sightseeing in Bern when you went to the temple?  In Bern there was no sight seeing, and yes we did a session. In German.
I think that is pretty much all of the questions, have a great week in California, (we are visiting Mike's parents over the break)
I love you all, thank you so much for all you do.

Liebe
Elder Terry

Friday, December 23, 2011

December 19, 2011


Grützi völ und Frohliche Wiehnachten!

That is hello and Merry Christmas in Swiss German! Anyways, this week was awesome, because it finally snowed! Switzerland is finally the winter wonderland that it is meant to be.
Anyways, this week was pretty solidly awesome. First of all we had a great ward Christmas party. The Chelso family and Peter, our Jewish investigator came, and they all
loved it. Peter was super impressed, and he told us and Bishop Uchtdorf that this will not be the last time that he visits our church. And we are going to the synagogue with him on Saturday, so that will be AWESOME. But the ward party was even awesomer because
Carmen came with her husband that is not a member, as well as a lot of the less active members that we invited. It was a super awesome event. I loved it.
And then Sunday was a super good day as well because Ralf came to church again. And we watched the First Presidency devotional. Man that was so good. I love president Monson. He is so cool, and his talk was so awesome. Anyways, the rest of our week was great as well. On Friday we had a street display/caroling event, but it was raining SUPER hard. But we sang anyways, and we were able to find quite a few interested people, which was awesome. Then the rest of this week we had a lot of fallen out appointments. Everyone is getting sick or else they don`t have time to meet with us. Oh well. We will find some new people.  
Anyways, this week was awesome, and I get to talk to you in 6 days! YAY! Love you all and have a great Christmas! And don`t forget, you can`t ruin Christmas, even if you burn down the drapes. So everyone relax a little bit and enjoy the real spirit of Christmas. There is no better way to celebrate Christmas then in the service of our fellow men. That is the reason why Christ came to this earth. The son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister. I know that as we follow Christ`s perfect example our joy may be full as we lift others and share the light of Christ!

Liebe
Elder Terry

Monday, December 12, 2011

more pictures

These pictures are from the Zurich Weihnactsmarkt






December 12, 2011


December 12, 2011

            Anyways, this week was awesomely interesting. First of all I had an austausch with the Ebnat elders. And I can`t remember if I already said this, but another elder went home, so his companion came to Ebnat and they have been covering both areas. So I got to work in a dritt (threesome) for a while, which was cool. And even more cool, there was snow in Ebnat!!! Man I was so excited! I totally loved it! We went dooring in the snow, and totally found a sweet old lady who let us in and gave us tea and chocolate. She wasn`t too interested in the restored gospel sadly, but she was super nice and we shared the Christmas story from the bible with her.
            Other then that we have had a lot of fallen out appointments this week. But we did go to the Bern temple. And man, the temple is the best. There is nothing better then the temple. It was so nice to get to just feel the spirit so strongly, and remember that the Lord is awesome. Anyways that was definitely almost the highlight of the week. 

Elder Terry and the Bern Temple
Elder Terry and Elder Alston (Elder Sullivan's companion)



















The highlight is that R----- came to church!!!!!!! IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!! R----- is this investigator who has been investigating the church for 6 years, and has only been to church once. 1 time in 6 years. That is 1 out of like 300. So when I first came to Wetzikon we met with him a couple times, and then told him that until he was willing to change his life there was nothing we could do for him. But on Friday after we went to the temple he sent us a text message, explaining that his girlfriend had dumped him, and that he wanted us to pray for him. Which we did of course. And then he came all by his self to church!! IT was awesome.... to be continued in 1 minute
            okay I am back, I ran out of internet time on that account and had to buy a new one. Anyways, yeah R---- came to church! Yay! Unfortunately Familie C…….. couldn`t come, which is totally bummer, but next week!!! Yes! I am super excited, hopefully it will snow in Wetzikon soon, it is just been rainy, so I am bummed, and I am starting to get sick, but sick is an opinion, so we haven`t had to stay inside yet. Hahaha.  Don`t worry mom, I just have a sore throat, but I am being smart and drinking lots of Swiss herb tea that is supposed to cure you, so I will be fine. No worries. Anyways, we met with P-----, our Jewish friend again yesterday. He is super cool. I really like him. He is the nicest guy ever. We have really good gospel discussions with him, and he is coming to the ward Christmas party on Friday, so we are pumped. Hopefully we will have a Jehovah’s Witness and a Jewish guy at the ward Christmas party. Cool right? I think it’s awesome. And we are probably going to the Jewish Synagogue with him on the 24, so that will be sweet as well. Anyways, the work is marching forward here in Wetzikon. We are trying our best to be dedicated to the Lord and do as the Apostles have asked us and open our mouths and talk to everyone. I know that this gospel is the plan of happiness, and that true peace can be found only in and through Jesus Christ. Keep the spirit of Christmas alive, and don`t you frown, cuz Sammi Klaus is coming to town! (that is Swiss for Santa Claus) Anyways, I love every single one of you! Thank you for your love and everything.
Liebe
Elder Terry 


The Bern Temple
Elder Terry in Wetzikon


Don't know where this is..must ask next time
 Here is a funny story about these cookies.  Elder Terry had asked me for a recipe for chocolate chip cookies so I sent him one.  The only problem is that in Europe they don't really use brown sugar, or it's hard to find.  Andrew asked in a bunch of stores about brown sugar and they didn't know what he was talking about.  I think he finally found some in Zurich.  This was his first attempt at making them with European sugar.  I asked him if the the clumps were nuts and he said ,"No it's butter."  Not sure what happened but he said the next batch turned out better.  It looks like he also had a hard time getting the brown sugar to blend but give him an "A" for effort!

Elder Terry's first attempt at choc. chip cookies

Monday, December 5, 2011

December 5, 2011


            It was fast Sunday as well here, and it was a great meeting. L_______, our 11 year old investigator from Eretria came alone again. Her mom had appointments again and her brother slept in. But she is loving church and the Book of Mormon. It is so cool! Anyways this week was a good one. We met with P_______, a Jehovahs witness who has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time, and we answered some of her questions about the spirit world and committed her to read Alma 40. It is sometimes difficult to talk with her, it always turns into an argument, and that is not at all how to teach with the spirit, so that is frustrating, but we are working on it.
            We also met with C_________ and her sister Ca_______. Turns out that Ca______ isn`t (if you read further I think he means “is” here and not “isn’t”) actually a member, she has already been baptized, but never had her records sent over. So that was a little weird. An investigator became a member without us baptizing her.... weird, but the end results are the same, so it’s all for her eternal good. Anyways, we met twice this week with her, and on Tuesday we gave her a blessing because she has been having bad dreams, and then on Thursday when we met we found out more about why exactly she was having bad dreams. She told us that she has been hearing a voice in her head and he tells her weird things, and she pretty much wanted us to perform an exorcism, but instead we dedicated her apartment and advised her to pray and read in the scriptures daily, especially when she is hearing things. We are praying hard for her, and hopefully things are going well.
            Our other solid investigators are family Ch______. We had an appointment on Thursday, but our joint teach canceled on us at the last minute, and we couldn`t find anyone else, so we ended up not being able to meet. Which was super ridiculously frustrating, but I just have to learn to trust that the Atonement will compensate for everything, after all we can do, even fallen out joint teaches.
            We did find a cool guy on the street this week. His name is P_____, and he is Jewish. He is about 25 and super nice and he invited us over to talk with him sometime. So we went by on him and he let us in and we had a nice discussion (I don`t really like "discussions" but this one was pretty good), and we were able to explain a lot about our church. He is super strong Jewish, and doesn`t want to change religions at all, but he is super friendly and loves to talk about religion, and he invited us to come to the synagogue with him one week, and he wants to come to church with us, and he also took a Book of Mormon and promised to read it. I am super excited to see what happens, because like it says the Book of Mormon is written especially for the Jews. So hopefully it will live up to the hype, just kidding, it will definitely be great if he will really read it. He also gave us ties because he collects them, and we are going to give him some ties when we go back. It will be awesome.
            Anyways I am sorry that this letter is going to be so short, but we are going to the temple on Friday, so we have to have a shorter p day today, but MERRY CHRISTMAS! This is the most wonderful time of the year, and it is the BEST time to bear testimony of Christ, both in word and in deed. So everyone go do something Christ-like for someone else. You will be blessed and feel the spirit of Christmas filling your soul. Still no snow yet, but I already have hot chocolate. So I`m prepared! Love you
Liebe
Elder Terry