Monday, March 28, 2016

WEEK 3-28-2016 EASTER THOUGHTS

Well, Happy Easter everyone!

I hope you had a great Easter!  We had a pretty quiet Easter here. Elder Vasai was not feeling well when we got to church, and then started to throw up, so a member drove us back home and we spent the rest of it inside.  I think he is doing well, just lack of vitamins but today he has been doing a lot better.  So I went straight away to cleaning the apartment on Sunday and just trying to fill my time with some important things.  One of those was cookies.  At this point I already cleaned the entire apartment, so I thought Why not make some cookies.  And I have to say, those were the closest things I have ever tasted to cookies from home.  And then he woke up for about an hour and gave him some food and then went back to bed.

But before Sunday, we actually had a pretty busy week.  We have been traveling a lot to little tiny villages and visiting people that we have been finding.  Whenever we visit this little town called Niebull, we seem to always run into someone who wants to learn more about the gospel.  Last time we ran into a man and when we went back to visit him this last week, we had about 30 minutes before our bus came (because they come once an hour) and so we walked around the bus station for a while and started talking with a guy and he had interest in learning more.  So things are looking up.

I think the best part of this week was to remember what happened over
2000 years ago.  It was something I never really thought about as I was back at home, but this time, I remember waking up and just wanting to read about what happened with the Savior on this day.  I remember going to bed on Thursday knowing that about 2000 years ago, the Savior suffered for my sins, so that I may become clean from them.  And then waking up on Sunday, thinking that today the Savior was resurrected.
It was just a great feeling to think all about that.

Well we have another jammed pack week of traveling.  We will be going to travel to Berlin this week so that Elder Vasai can pick up his iPad.  I am truly loving our time together.  We just seem to have fun and to be silly sometimes, but not foolish.  And I like that.

Well, I love you all and I hope that you have a great time at General Conference.  I miss you and hope all is going well, especially with a new baby around the house.

Love,
Elder Bretzing


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

3-21-2016 IT'S EASTER

Well, Hey Family. 

Its nice to hear that the weather is great and that it is sunny and everything... I don't have to tell you how it is here because I think I have mentioned it almost every one of my emails.  But its ok.  The happiness is found in other places as well other than sun rays... Even though sun rays are really nice.

Hey! Still no answer concerning a certain baby from Kevin or Hana!? What gives? I think I am starting to forget a little bit about this week with what happened..... if you catch what I am saying..... 

Well I will try to muster what I remember.  I remember that Elder Vasai doesnt like doners. Those are the tasty treats of Germany.  And so I took him for his second doner and he almost threw up.  So now when I mention that word, he cringes.  And that was sad because I like doners but its ok we can all make sacrifices for our companions.  We went to a KFC here in Kiel and those things are super rare for District Meeting and he felt like he was home.  That was a funny site and then I told him, ok we are not coming back until 6 months from now. Or at least until we separate from each other.  

We have been finding some people, but that have been some interesting people. I dont know if I already explained the story about our wonderful friend who is secretly a Jehovah Witness.  Its been interesting.  He wants us to now come over when their missionaries are there.... I am not too sure about that.  The last time I ran into their missionaries, we just were going into circles.  If there is anything I want to teach Elder Vasai, is not to be a bible basher.  That is not how we do things.  But the man has been interesting to teach.  He is stuck on the word of wisdom.  Not really what it teaches, but that the word of wisdom is everything tha God says, but we have been having a hard time explaining to him that that is a specific commandment given to us by God.  But that is our story with him.  We will see how he is doing. 

We were also able to participate in a service project called cleaning the streets of Schleswig-Holstein.  That was also really fun.  We were there and the most things I think I picked up were cigarette butts.  But it was interesting to find what people throw away to the streets.  But it was really fun because we also had a new convert there with us and he has just been doing great.  You can truly see that he wants to do a lot of good, and at every opportunity, he is loving to learn more about the gospel and how he can better understand the doctrine behind it.  It has been such a great opportunity to work with him.  

That has really been the new things of late.  I am sorry that there is not really much more to report on.  I hope everything is going well and that all things are going good with the baby with Jeff and Nadine. Let me know when it finally comes.  I am excited to get to know some new faces back at home!

Love,

Elder Bretzing

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

WEEK 3-14-2016 SOMEONE TOLD ME I ONLY HAVE 17 MORE EMAILS...THAT'S WEIRD!!!

Heyo Family!

Well, like I stated above, I was told by a missionary in my district, that I only have 17 more of these, and that is pretty scary.  But I guess I just have to make them good!

This week was pretty normal, except for the few adventures we were able to embark on.  We started the week by calling everyone that was in our phone.  We do that a lot, but this time we were able to meet with a very interesting man.  For privacy issues, we will just call him John.  We called John on Monday, and he seemed really interested to meet with us and I have no idea what the missionaries taught him because I can find no evidence in our apartment that they even taught him, but he is under the investigator section of our phone.  But he seemed really nice, and then so we scheduled out an appointment really fast and he wanted to meet the next day.  So we are kind of excited, and when we got there, we had no idea what to think.  We even invited him to be baptized on the first appointment (I wanted to show Elder Vasai that it can be done) and he agreed.  Then we made out another visit for the next time.  And the next time we were on exchange with the zone leaders (that should answer the question for mom. I am no longer a zone leader.  Haven't been one either since I have been here in Flensburg.) and we found out that he is seriously addicted to some bad substances.  That's putting it nicely.  So we are going to try to meet with John and see if he has the desire to give up these bad substances.  We then told our Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionary about John and our two appointments, and they started to laugh and they were surprised that we found him again. They also knew a lot about John.

Elder Vasai and I have been doing good.  He is a great missionary.  I just love his courage that he talks to everyone.  And then he starts laughing when people talk back to him and he just looks at me and says, "what did they say?" I remember being that young on the mission.  He has this habit to always say yes when people ask him a question.  Like today, when we got our haircut, they asked him how long he has been in Germany and he kept saying yes.  It was funny.  I let him figure things out on his own though. I am there when he has questions but I love the conversations that he has with people.  I will have to send more pictures and videos of us.  He brought those skirt things that Samoans and Tongans wear with him on his mission, so we took some pictures like if we were island missionaries.  Needless to say, we try to have fun with each other.  I want him to know that having fun and doing work go together well.  

Oh, I just thought you would like to know because I am still laughing a little bit about this.  But there is a new thing in our mission, where all the missionaries should now receive callings in the wards and branches where they are serving. So our branch president found out about this and on Sunday he came up to me smiling, letting me know that he is thinking about a calling for me.  I told him to let me be a ward greeter.  We don't have any callings like that yet, but I could be a great one.  But whatever he decides for me to do, I will do it.  I thought that was interesting.  So maybe in the next two weeks, I will find out what I am going to do in this branch. I do not know if that means that I will stay here to the very end.  As long as I am with Elder Vasai, that would be great.  We have so much fun together.  The best is that he doesn't trust me yet when we go places and try to order food. He always thinks I am trying to pull a prank on him with the language, but I haven't tried anything with him yet.  I have to wait a bit until he lets his guard down.  

I think something that I really learned this week is to recognize where the miracles are.  I just feel like the Lord is refining us in a certain way.  I have often asked myself the questions, "Where are the miracles that I want to see?"  People who are super interested where they find us on the street. Or people who have the desire to come to church and just enjoy it and that strengthens their testimony.  Those have been some miracles that I have been hoping for, and this week we saw the exact opposite.  We saw investigators and members struggling with what they have, not knowing if they want to go further in the process. And that no one wants to come to church, for reasons I know not, but we keep asking how we can help them. Naturally, when someone is in this situation, he starts to look at himself.  Am I doing the best I can? Am I being obedient and worthy enough?  But I learned at the end of this weekend, that the miracles can be found somewhere else.  In me. In ourselves. I know that Elder Vasai and I are being obedient, and that we are worthy, because I can testify that the Spirit is working with us.  I have felt his presence at times and I know that He is with us, guiding us where to go. We always happen to have "coincidences" but I know that there are no "coincidences" only divine guidance.  I have seen a son of God, growing to the point where he is excited for a future, where we wants to be of service, and help others. I have seen a missionary who does not just give up when we reach the end of what we think the line and there is nothing there.  There is no end of the road.  But these are some things that I have learned.  Just don't stop.

Well, those are a few of my thoughts from this week.  I love you all and I will be sure to send pictures soon!  

Love,
Elder Bretzing


P.S. I still have not received an email from Kevin telling me the name of the new baby or if it is even a boy or a girl.  So.... I am still waiting....   

Monday, March 7, 2016

Week 3-7-2016 TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Hey family!

Well, another week come and gone and this week was a walk down memory lane.  In different ways as well. But allow me to shed some light on my thought.

So off I went this last Tuesday to spend another day in Meissen  and that was fun. All I remember on Tuesday was all the train rides I had. We started at 08:00 in the morning and I did not arrive until 21:00 (8:00pm).  And I was alone the whole time! It's ok, that is ok in our mission to be alone on a train, as long as someone comes to pick me up on the other side.  But that was also the interesting part. So I had to transfer trains in almost every big train station, and there were no missionaries there either. Especially in Hamburg. I had to find my train all by my own (which is not even a problem because a. I am a big boy and b. I know Hamburg main station like the back of my hand) so
that felt weird the whole day. Fortunately, I found missionaries later and I got to help them for the next day. The missionaries in Meissen were both brand new and so for all of Wednesday, I was showing them around and getting them aquatinted with Meissen. That brought back a
flood of memories, because I got to see some of the old members! It was such a joyous thing for me to be able to see them again. It was just great. And when the word got around that I was in Meissen for one day, they all started to call the phone and I got to speak with them.  It was just a sweet memory for me to see them and to be able to understand them all this time.  That was great. And there was even an investigator that was in Meissen and when we visited her, she freaked out and was screaming, Your Back Your Back! But I had to tell her not for a while, just for one day.  

Then came thursday, the day I was able to get to meet my new companion.  His name is Elder Vasai.  He is from Alaska, but was born in Samoa.  He is absolutely great. Even now as I am writing, he is trying to give away a book of mormon to a danish man, and I had to finish it, but he is just great. A giant ball of energy.  He asks everyone how they are doing and if they want to learn more about mormons.  I just love it.  I know we are going to enjoy our time together.  And then we got to travel back and spend the night in Hamburg in my old apartment, because we would not of been able to make it back at home.  And that was also a trip down memory lane.  

But these past few days have been great.  We had testimony meetings and my companion bore his testimony on how he loves doners and that he wants everyone to feed us bratwurst when we come and visit them.  They all just laughed.  I had to share that because that was my favorite thing about Sunday.  

Well, that all that has happened in the past few weeks. I will definatley let you know how things are going.  We have a pretty busy week ahead of us and so it should be really fun.  I am looking forward to these next few months and I know they will be great.  

Well, I love you all and I am excited to here from everyone.  Ihope all goes well with the baby shower and the baby coming soon.  Send pictures!

Love,

Elder Bretzing