February 25, 2013

                Well this week WAS AWESOME! We had zone conference, sadly it is possible that that is my last zone conference for a while, but who knows, miracles happen and or maybe I will "accidentally" miss my plane. hahaha jk Don`t flip out mom, its just a joke. Oh we also had an auststellung in Zurich. also possibly my last one. Sometimes the people here are just so funny. 
                Otherwise we had a busy week. Benjamin is doing great. His baptism will be on the 24th of March, so 2 days after I leave, but it is better that way. Besides some lucky missionary will get to have a baptism right at the beginning of his time in Chur. 
                As for Pres miles, an emergency came up so he was unable to go with us to Yuri after church, but he talked with Yuri at church which was cool. Yuri really has a testimony of like everything, but refuses to be baptized. He just wants to take his sweet time and not get rushed into anything. But he is a stud, and he will be baptized soon. I am sure of it. Besides in a few weeks I can teach him EVERY DAY through skype. 
                We also taught a cool Muslim guy named Lotfi. He is hardcore Muslim, totally convinced that he is right, but also very smart and willing to listen and ask questions. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon, and hopefully he will read it. We should be having an appointment with him today, but he canceled it because he is busy. But we will meet with him soon :) 
                Man, I really don`t know what else to say than I just absolutely, without a doubt love missionary work. It is so much fun. The church really is true, and it’s true for everyone. People absolutely HATE it when we say that. For them it sounds fanatic, absolutist, etc and etc. And sometimes it is tempting to weaken the statement of the Lord by saying "it’s true... for me" But as much as this statement might make us or other people squirm in our seats, we can not change reality. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the Life, NO one comes to the Father except through me." I testify with all my heart that that is true. Christ is and was the ONLY person capable and willing to descend below all things that he might save all things. Salvation and exaltation come only in and through the name of Jesus Christ. And he commands NONE to depart. ALL are invited to come unto him, and enjoy the blessings of his infinite Atonement. I testify that the full reality of those blessings depends on the making and keeping of gospel covenants. As missionaries we truly are opening the doors of the celestial kingdom. The church is true, the priesthood of Almighty God has been restored, and through the atonement of Christ ALL mankind may be save, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

liebe
Elder Terry

February 18, 2013

Dear Mommy,

            Well I am sorry that you have had a stressful week, we had a really good one, if that makes up for it :) hahahaha well it should
            Anyways, we met with a lot of people. First of all Benjamin, everything is going great with him. He is making a lot of progress, and we will meet again with him today. Everything is going to be ready for his baptism on the 24th of March. That is awesome!
            Yuri is also doing good. We aren`t exactly sure what the Lord wants us to do to help him, but we are sure that we need to really get him to pray. So that will be our focus this week. Kurt is also still doing great, and hopefully might be baptized soon. 
            We also found 2 new investigators this week. The first is Joseph Hunziker. He is pretty much a less active Jehovah’s Witness. He smokes a lot, and I don`t think he is actually a member of their church, but he believes they are right. He knows a lot of stuff about the bible, but doesn`t actually know the bible. We met with him and tried to teach him the restoration, but he just kept going on and on about how the trinity isn`t God and the Holy Ghost isn`t a person and on and on, and then finally we asked him where any of this stood in the bible, and he had no idea. Then we tried to teach him from the bible, but he didn`t know where the book of John was. Yet he knows that only 144,000 people will be taken in to heaven, etc. Hopefully we can help him to read in the Book of Mormon and get a testimony of the truth. 
            We also found a cool young couple, Christa and Christof, and they are Methodist kinda, but open and really nice. Hopefully we will be able to meet more with them. Pretty much we have been super busy, oh and I don’t know if already said this, but we decided, to paint our apartment. I am really excited. Anyways also cool, this Sunday Pres Miles is coming to Chur. We are excited to see him. We have zone conference tomorrow as well, so we will see him more then once :) 
            Anyways, I have been studying/pondering about how I can best help the missionaries in my district. It is interesting how knowing that I only have a few weeks left changes my perspective. Suddenly some things don’t seem very important, while other things are suddenly VERY important. One of the things that has suddenly become important is seeing our potential. I mean, as missionaries we so often tell people that we and they are children of God, but can we begin to understand what that means? It means that we have an unlimited potential. Our Father created the universe and everything in it, and the seed of this power is within us, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ can be activated. So often we experience difficulties and think we are incapable of solving them, that we are somehow inferior to our task or calling, yet we all have the divine potential to "posess all the Father hath." I give my testimony that that is God`s goal for us, and that He will never give up or settle for less. I know that with his help we can do all things!

Liebe
Elder Terry

Elder Moore, Elder Schulzke, Elder Nielsen, me, Elder Müller, and Elder Schilling.
and that suit that I am wearing is the new one that I bought.

February 11, 2013

Dear Mom,
            Montana sounds like it was really good. Sorry I missed it. hahaha I did get an invitation in the mail though on Saturday. That was cool. So a lot of stuff happened this week. First of all we had transfer calls. Or more accurately, we didn`t have conference calls. Remarkably, unbelievably, Elder Nielsen and I will be staying for a record 5th transfer together. Poor Elder Nielsen. Stuck with his trainer and in his first area for 7 months.... pray for him :) hopefully he will be able to endure it, but I am excited for it. 
            Anyways, this week was BUSY. Tuesday we had zone training in St Gallen, and I got to say goodbye to Elder Rosenvall :( Wednesday we went to the temple, from Wednesday to Thursday i had an exchange with Elder Müller, then transfer calls Friday, and Saturday we had a mission wide area book finding day. Pretty much I wasn`t in Chur. But anyways, on to the important people our investigators. So we actually didn`t end up dropping Yuri. We were able to have 2 really great appointments with him. The first one about keeping the Sabbath day holy; the second about the Atonement. And Yuri told us that he wants to get a little more serious about preparing for baptism, (no date yet) but he came to church on Sunday to Sacrament Meeting, and also gave a friend a Book of Mormon and made out an appointment with another friend and us for 2 weeks. So please keep praying for him. The baptismal date is going to come soon I can feel it.

Anyways we also had a really cool experience with our investigator Bruno from Colombia. He texted us last week and said that he didn`t want to meet us anymore and had no time for us. So I called him to ask him if we had offended him somehow, and he explained that he is just busy with work and having a hard time, and then invited us to come over on Thursday. But then on Thursday he wasn’t home, and texted us that he didn`t have time, and wanted to be left in peace. So we wrote him a note and bought a mango and left it for him. The next day he texted us and invited us to come again this week. Hopefully it actually works this time. 
            We also had a great appointment with Denisious. He is the cousin of an investigator. We were able to talk to him about the Book of Mormon, and he is excited to read in it and find out if it is really true. 
            Man, this email looks really short, but I am pretty sure I covered everything. I hope that you have a great week!

Liebe
Elder Terry

February 4, 2013

Dear Mom,
                This past week has been awesome. Like planned we went to St Moritz for p day and watched the world championships for bobsled and skeleton. It was pretty cool. Anyways I also went to Zürich on Wednesday to lengthen my visa so that I can stay in Switzerland. I can`t lie, it is really weird not to be going home next week. It has now been officially 2 years since I left, and next week Elder Rosenvall and Elder Jacklin and Elder Esplin from my MTC group head home. Aren`t I lucky that I get to stay? Anyways on to the spiritual good stuff.
                This week was awesome. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting, and all of the testimonies were about missionary  work. I absolutely loved it. (Oh a shout out for Trent Howard: Sasha from Switzerland says hi. He says he played on the PG soccer team and knows you.)   Anyways back to the spiritual, the lessons with Benjamin are going great. We were able to talk to him about Sabbath Day observance and the Law of Chastity, and everything is going awesome. He understands it all and wants to do what is right. We also had a great appointment with Bruno Leber, a guy from Colombia. At the end of the appointment he gave us a hug and told us that it really helps him a lot that we come and visit him and share the gospel with him. That was really cool. 
                Other news... Yuri is struggling. We aren`t really sure what we can do to help him, and Pres. Miles suggested that maybe he needs a break from our visits. So we’ll probably explain that to him this week. Hopefully it will help him get his head on straight. 
                Other than that, we had a finding day in Richterswil, and ended up going door to door for a long time, but we found a really cool lady. We rang at her door and through the speaker she asked who we were, and we said  that we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ and she said Of the latter day saints? the Mormons? Come in. Turns out she knows a family that are members and she has a lot of faith in God, and has a lot of family difficulties. We had a really great lesson. It was awesome! 
                Well I am not sure what else there is to say other than the church is simply true. And missionary work is simply the best! Have a great week!

Liebe
Elder Terry