January 20, 2013

Dear Mommy Dearest,

                That is super cool that Hannah is going to Uruguay. Crazy stuff. But as for the pressure to go on missions..... better that then a lot of other things. So no room to complain. As for the Swiss knife that works on computers. I have thought about buying that one, but I thought that I would buy it in America because it would be cheaper. But apparently not.... I will probably buy one. They really have a Swiss army knife for everything. And in our area is an outlet shop from Victorinox and Wenger, so if someone wants something, I can get it. Anyways, you might also have noticed that I spent some money. I replaced my shrunken sweater, and splurged on a new suit. A whopping 59 Swiss Franks for a sweet suit. I don`t know why they are so much cheaper here, but now that I know I would never buy one from Mr Mac. 
                And I agree with Bishop Maxwell. I try to study about the Sacrament every Sunday to get ready for church, and I am frankly embarrassed by the lack of respect I showed for this sacred ordinance. This is an invitation from God to come to his house, to sit down with him, review the week, and if we prepare, then we receive forgiveness for the mistakes of the past as well as strength to fortify us for the challenges ahead. Who in there right mind would refuse such an invitation? 
                Anyways, this week has been both enlightening and difficult (I think that  those two words go together very often. Coincidence? I think not) anyways, we had a zone training meeting, and afterwards we did finding as a zone in Zurich. I got the chance to work with an Elder Jimenez from California, who has only been on his mission for 3 weeks. We literally talked to everyone, and in the end we had no contacts. After that I worked with Elder Kalkbrenner in Winterthur (he is one of the zone leaders) and once again we talked with everyone but found no one. That pretty much sums up the last two weeks. It has been a good experience for me because I have learned a lot about trusting in the Lord, even when things seem to just get worse. I think of the example set by our savior, Jesus Christ. From the moment he was betrayed until his death, things seemed to just go from bad, to worse to worst, to worse then the worst. I wonder if he ever asked himself why, or if he ever thought that maybe this was happening because he had made a mistake or done something wrong. The amazing thing is that he didn`t do anything wrong. That he was perfect, yet still was made to struggle. I love this quote from Elder Holland 
                "When we stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen us. In the end He is there to save us, and for all this He gave His life. However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world. As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit of His disciples the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side—signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect; signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you; signs, if you will, that problems pass and happiness can be ours. Remind others that it is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of His love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice."
                Anyways, our investigators are doing good. Benjamin, the guy from Ghana, is doing great. He came to church, is reading in the Book of Mormon, and is making great progress.  Yuri is also doing great. He is now done with Ether and hopes to finish Moroni this week. Then we will see where he is at in regards to baptism. So keep him in your prayers.
                We also had a cool experience this week. We had an appointment with an investigator on Friday, but he canceled because he was busy. We happened to run into him on Friday a few hours before our previously scheduled appointment, and he told us he had to help a friend move. We offered to help, and he accepted. We ended up being able to help this really nice old lady move, and she gave us her number and address so that we could come visit her sometime and share a message with her. That was really cool. I can really give my testimony that this work is lead by God. He has the divine capacity to direct each one of us. I have truly felt his loving embrace this week, and I know, without a doubt, that Jesus Christ lives. 

Liebe
Elder Terry

ps I might not do emails next Monday. We might move our p day to Saturday the 2 of Feb to go to the world championships in bobsled and skeleton in St Moritz. just FYI 
love you