Monday, November 16, 2015

WEEK 11-16-15



Hey Everyone,

I hope that everything is going on good back at home.  It is week two and no letter.  I know that there will come one soon so I am not too worried, but I do hope that everything back at home is going on ok.

I guess I can tell you how my week has been going.  It was sure an interesting week.  It started off very busy.  We had a lot of meetings that we had to go to with our zone here in Schleswig-Holstein.  They were all really good because we were able to come together and help the zone a lot.  If anyone is preparing to go on a mission, my extra advice that I would tell them is get used to a lot of meetings.  You are not always on the street or the typical imagined two missionaries going door to door in the middle of no where.  There are a lot of meetings that missionaries will attend, to discuss the welfare of the missionaries and what we can do or focus on as a mission/zone/district.  And so I really enjoy these meetings because I feel that a lot can be done and help and support can be found there.

This week was just hard as well when it came to our proselyting because whenever we thought that we had time to go and talk to people, our time was occupied by something else.  Which is quite interesting what one of the things that occupied our time was.  So we receive a text message from our mission on Friday morning, that we were going to have a mission wide conference call.  During the conference call, we learned that Elder Ballard would be stopping by to visit our mission and he wanted us all to gather in Berlin, so that we could see him and talk with him.  That was really fun.  So for two days, we were running around like headless chickens making sure everyone in our zone had tickets to get to Berlin and that everyone was doing all the things they could to be prepared.

And that was a fun meeting.  It was just great.  All of it.  Watching him enter the room, and the Spirit confirming to you that that man is one of His chosen servants.  It was just great, and the humor and laughter that he brought just felt homely.  It is hard to explain it but he taught us simple doctrine but in a way that we all left leaving that room with more insight on the simple things.  What he really did was remind us of what we already know.  And that is the beauty of it.
He taught us solid basics.  The importance of talking to people, of being good and powerful teachers and always remembering the importance of asking for understanding.  It was great.  I loved my time with it.
And he just taught us and created an environment that everyone was comfortable in that room and that we were truly being retaught.

What I learned from that meeting is the importance of improvement.  As I got to shake his hand, he told me to enjoy my mission.  And everyone says that.  But what it this time different than all other times? And at the end of the meeting, he is talking about that we just do not have time for a lot of things. He was talking a lot about getting along with your companion and your attitude towards the work and what not, and he just kept repeating, "you just don't have the time for it!"

So that was a cool experience.  Other than that, everything is going well here in Kiel.  It has been a weird time here in Kiel, because it is just been a weird transition.  My mind likes to wonder and play the guessing game of how long I will stay here, but I try not to.  Or I just have to keep telling myself that whatever happens, happens.  And the Lord knows I can handle it.  I love Kiel.  The people and the place here is beautiful.  It is just sometimes hard to be the leadership role.  Sometimes it wears on you.  But I do have to say that I love working with missionaries.  I love getting to go and visit their district meetings and getting to talk with them weekly on the phone.  But there are times, that the leadership role takes a toll on you.

Hey but i hope everything is going well on back at home.  It really is ok about the letter I know that one will come soon so do not worry, if you are, about the letter.  I love you and I know that I will hear from you soon.

Hey, a really interesting thing happened this week.  So it was dads birthday, and I was a little down for a while.  And I did not know how to get out of this funk.  I was trying my hardest to not think about it and keep going and it wasn't working.  Well, at the very end of the night, I remember just sitting there, staring at the ceiling, and our neighbors are all college students, well, the first time I have heard this since being here, but the neighbors just decided to crank up some music and it was Led Zeppelin and it just reminded me of dad.  Just for clarification, I did not turn on music, but our neighbors cranked it so high, that we heard it through the walls.  But I smiled and knew that he is still there and with me. And I fell asleep like a baby.  So everything is going good!

Love,
Elder Bretzing          November 2015 Leadership Training- Hamburg Zone


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