July 23, 2012

Dear Mom,

                Man, that is ridiculous that some one would do that. (I told Andrew about the shooting in Colorado at the Dark Knight Rises showing)  I didn`t even know that the Batman movie was coming out until this week. But I took a picture of an ad, so that is about as good as it is going to get for a while. Yes, I got the package, but the batteries died before I could here it all. So I will have to buy new batteries today, and then I can finish listening to it.

                Well, the news on Elder Sonne. You say his name like "Sawknee". He is from Missiouri, St. Loius.

                Well this week was cool. It was weird when Elder Sanderson left because we have been together so long, but I will see him like every week because of Zone conferences, so it is still good.

We have had a great week though. I_______ came to church yesterday, and it was great. I gave a talk as well, so that was exciting. But I__________ has made a lot of progress. It is so cool. She will be baptized on the 25 of August. She is so cool. I am really excited for her.

                Also a really long time investigator, J_____, is making a lot of progress. He was sick this week, but we met with him so that Elder Sanderson could say goodbye, and he is making a lot of progress, and hopefully within the next few weeks he will set a date that he will baptized.

                We have also experienced a lot of miracles recently. Elder Sonne and I have the goal of inviting someone to be baptized every day. Yesterday we hadn`t invited anyone and we were on our way home, so we started decided we just had to invite people on the street. So as we were waiting on a train Elder Sonne went over to a young lady and invited her to be baptized. She is from Russia and is Muslim, but said that she wanted to learn more and we were able to talk with her for a while and we give her a Book of Mormon and she gave us her phone number. Then I invited a man who was waiting for a bus to be baptized, and he missed the bus so that he could continue to talk with us, and we will be having an appointment with him today. It is really amazing to see how there are truly people who literally are hungering and thirsting for Righteousness. I know that this work is the work of God. We are engaged in the work of Salvation. Whether we are full time missionaries, doing temple work, or teaching primary, we are all engaged in the same work, bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. This is the Lord`s work, and we are entitled to his help. I hope you have a great week, and I love you!

Liebe

Elder Terry

July 16, 2012

Dear Mother,

                Well, this week was interesting. Let’s start with the cool stuff. First of all, Elder Sanderson was transferred. TO München! He is going to be the next Assistant to the President. (Not assistant president.  That’s a joke for everyone who has watched The Office) and my new companion will be.... Elder Sonne. He was Elder Sullivan’s companion in Zollikofen, and I am excited to work with him :) second cool thing. There was a baptism in Interlaken, and we went. And it was cool. Because all baptisms are cool. The End.

                Now the learning experiences that we had. Namely 15 fallen out appointments. Which at least for us here in Bern is an obnoxiously high amount of fallen out appointments. Luckily this is the Lord`s work, so if He needs or wants us to have 15 fallen out appointments, then who am I to complain or to say that we could use our time better? But that doesn`t mean that I love it.

                Hahaha actually this week was hard, but not as hard as I made it sound. It was difficult to have so many fallen out appointments, but the Lord blessed us a lot. We met with I_________ yesterday, and she will be able to come to church next week, and that is a HUGE blessing. I am really grateful that the Lord heard our prayers. As well a really cool member, Jallow, from Ghambia, got his visa extended so he can stay for at least 2 more years, and that is really a cool blessing as well.

                Well we are busy today because its Elder Sanderson`s last p day, so we have a lot to do. But I wanted to give my testimony, that Jesus is the Christ. He is the son of God, and He has invited us, over and over again, "to come unto Him", to follow Him and his example, to say and do the things that he would say and do, and to become "even as he is". He has promised us that if we do so, we shall have peace in this life, and eternal life in the world to come. Of this peace, and of the capacity of our Savior to provide such peace, even in our turbulent times, I testify, in his Holy name.

Liebe,

Elder Terry

July 9, 2012

Dear Mommy,

                I am glad that the package finally arrived! Sorry it took so long. And sorry the chocolate was melted. I guess no more Swiss chocolate for you :) oh well. And man, that is crazy. 7 fires? IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!! DECEMBER 21, 2012! I knew it was going to happen! That is not so good though. Have any houses burned, or is it only forest so far? Sorry the air is no bad, the air is really nice here in Switzerland. :) I will try to send you some Swiss air in my next package.

                This week was rather interesting. We had another super meeting with all of the district leaders in the mission in München. The zone leaders all had to go on Wednesday, and the district leaders came on Thursday and we stayed until Friday afternoon and got home Friday night at 10:30. Yeah, we pretty much lost 3 days of missionary work in Bern, but it was okay. This meeting went a lot better, we were able to get the district leaders involved, and hopefully it will help to get our excitement level as a mission up. Our zone is doing really great. We had 3 baptisms last week, and hopefully we will have 3 more this week :)

                Also on Saturday we had an 8 year old baptism from a family from Utah that lives in Bern now. It was really cool. We also were able to meet with I__________ a couple of times this week. She is doing great, and can be baptized as soon as she is able to come to church regularly. She asked for Sunday off, and her boss said that she can`t have Sunday off until August, but we had the feeling that she needs to explain that she wants to go to church, but she is afraid to do that. So please include her in your prayers. Her cousin A______ came to church again yesterday, so that was really cool, and H_______ came as well. We are excited to have so many prepared people and we are always looking for more.

                BTW I cut my own hair, but I had an accident as I was cutting it, so that is why it was so short, it is actually a lot longer now, but still the shortest it has been in a LONG time. And I don`t really need anything, I am doing good here in Bern, we have transfers this week, and Elder Sanderson will probably be transferred, we will see... hahaha I will let you know what happens next week :)

                Oh we are going to the temple tomorrow! We haven`t been the last 3 transfers because we are so busy (and we only live like 5 minutes away. Isn`t that how it always is? The closer you are, the less you have to plan and focus to make it a part of your life, and the more likely we are to take it for "granite" :) except the temple here isn`t build out of granite so it isn`t as funny.

                But we truly are blessed to have the temple so close, and man, the temple is so awesome. I am so grateful for all of the blessings of the gospel, but most especially for the blessings of Temples. There is a peace and a serenity there that brings me so much comfort. It truly is the house of the Lord. And there are billions of people, living and dead, who desperately need those blessings. And that is why being a missionary is the best thing EVER! YEAH! I love it, and I hope everyone gets the opportunity to serve one, especially RIKER! YES!

                Well have a great week, I love you bunches, and DON`T get burned!

Liebe

Elder Terry

July 2, 2012

Dear Mom,

                Sorry that the package hasn`t arrived yet. I hope that it comes this week! Anyways, we had an interesting week this week. First of all we had interviews on Tuesday, it was cool to be able to talk one on one with Pres. Miles. Also this week we had an austausch with the assistants. Actually, rewind. Pres. Miles gave everyone permission to watch one game in the Euro cup soccer tournament, and we chose to watch the Germany against Italy game on Thursday. The assistants drove from München and watched it will us at the ward mission leader’s house. Then on Friday we had a finding day, so we spent the entire day on the street trying to find prepared investigators. And man, that was a rough day. It started off actually really well, we ran into a man that we contacted earlier, and he had time, so we went with him back to his house and had a pretty good first lesson. But after that appointment pretty much no one stopped to listen to us. It was crazy, but it was also a very humbling experience, that showed me that regardless of how good I think I am, or how experienced I am, I can truly do nothing without the Lord.

                Our investigators are also doing really good. I________ is really making a lot of progress, but because of work she hasn`t been able to come to church. But on Sunday we had an appointment with her and Pres. Miles. It was really cool because Pres. Miles bore powerful testimony that the Lord has prepared a way for her to come to church. So she will be talking to her boss today, so hopefully it goes well.

                Also H_____ and M_____ are doing well. H______ is from Eretria, and he told us on Saturday that his sister was kidnapped earlier this week by a mafia from Sudan, and she was held ransom for 10,000 dollars.  He was only able to raise 6 thousand, but he spent a lot of time praying to know what to do, and on Saturday his sister was set free. He was extremely thankful to God for this blessing, and we had a really spiritual lesson.

                Well we have limited time today because we have a lot of appointments, but I must say that I am so grateful for the "tender mercies of the Lord". I know that the Lord knows me, and each of us personally, and I have felt his love this week. He directs this work, and I am grateful that he has trusted me to work with him in the salvation of souls. I love you, and I am so grateful for your help!

Liebe

Elder Terry