MISSION LEADERSHIP 10-13-15

LOVE FINDING THAT ELDER OF MINE AND HIS SMILE

WEEK 10-12-15

Hey Family,

Here is the weekly update!

So I am sitting here and trying to think about my week.  It has gone by super fast. If anything that is crazy that is happening, is that it is getting cold.  Like really cold.  And its not even the end of October yet.  Everyone that I talk to on the street says that it really does not snow here in Kiel, but then members tell me that it does and missionaries say that it does, so it will be a surprise if it snows or not.  And this week I got a cold, so I am trying to stay warm as much as possible.  It is really funny, because I just throw myself under two comforters with my sweatshirt on and my thick socks.  So I am hoping that soon it will pass.  We have a Zone Training Meeting tomorrow and so I am hoping that I can survive it and not sound like a sick wreck.   

We had some success with some of our friends and some not so much success with others.  We were able to have some good appointments and I will keep you updated on the progress of them.  We shared a cool experience with one of them as we were teaching him more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It was such a great time and you could really notice that this is something that he wants.  And he was super excited to know that through following the Gospel and its teachings, we can have a new start in our lives.  And so I feel that as we meet with him further, we will start to see his progress and that will be great.  Some of our other friends have been hard to contact but this week looks like it will be a busy one for us.  We actually have such a big area because one of the programs got closed down and so we have the area now and it takes us so much time and money to get out to this little city called Rendsburg, we are hoping and pleading that we can have a car.  We will see more about this plea as the time comes up, but that is really the update here in Kiel. 

Well, I love ya family and I hope everything is going well back at home!

Love, Elder Bretzing

WEEK 10-5-15 IPAD WENT MISSING

Hey Family, 

Well as the title suggests, this week was sure interesting.  I guess I will start off with the interesting part.

So this week, we had our Missionary Leadership Council in Berlin.  It was actually really interesting because this time we had it at our Mission Home.  Usually it is held at the stake center in Berlin.  However, this is not the interesting part.  So, because now that I am in Kiel, we live a little farther away from Berlin than we did in Hamburg, so that meant that we had to spend the night in Berlin so that we could make it on time for the meeting Friday morning. 

 

We had the opportunity to actually stay in the Marzahn apartment.  That was fun and memories just raced across my mind.  It looks completely different and it was nice to stay there for a day.  So here is where the interesting part comes into play.  As we were on our way to our meeting on Friday morning, something very interesting happened.  We were looking at the times and the map on my iPad on how to get to the Mission Home in Berlin.  As we were trying to buy a ticket for the Train, the machine would not take our money.  It was quite frustrating and so we were pulling out all different type of bills in our wallet to see if we could finally get it to work and get onto a train that was coming in like 5 minutes.  We figured that we could try to use coins instead and so we saw a little shop behind us and to see if we could exchange the bills for coins. 

 

As we started to walk to the little shop (I am not exaggerating, this happened in all about 30 second time span) I received that little thought to check my bag and my iPad was not there.  I remembered setting it on top of this ticket machine and so right as I turned around to look for it, it was gone.  In about this 30 second time span, someone came and took my iPad and walked off with it.

But what did I learn from this?  Even in the smallest amount of time, the worst things could happened.  And that if I do get another iPad, because now I have to pay for the last one, that I will NEVER let it out of my sight.  And so all my pictures from the last 6 months were on that machine.  And it was not backed up because we do not have the internet to do it, so everything is gone.  I am going to call Berlin services today to see if by chance the one who stole it had a change of heart.  I think the most saddened part about this experience is that I was entrusted with this great and wonderful tool and I lost it.  I could care less if i had all my pictures, I just really wish I had the iPad back.  But its too late and I cannot dwell on the past.  I know how that turns out and its not pretty.

Well, besides that, this week has been jammed-pack with activities.  We had a Zone Training Meeting that we had to plan for, and there is a picture on the blog, I do not know if you knew there is a new blog website (   http://germanyberlinmission2015-18.blogspot.de/ ) but that was our first meeting as a zone here up here in the cold north.

General Conference was good and I enjoyed it.  I am willing to start this scripture ponderizing and because we have a added focus in the mission to memorize certain scriptures and I need to be better at that, I will start there.  I am just wondering where I can put these scriptures where I see them everyday because we are hardly if at all at our apartment.  I think I might keep some in the institute center because we are there alot for teaching German or for Institute when our friends come.

Well, if there is anything encouraging I could leave with you is how I felt on the return trip home from Berlin.  I remember playing the scenario over and over in my mind and finally I stopped and I heard something tell me, "This event is insignificant in the scheme of what God has planned for you.  Stop beating yourself up about it and just make it right with God." I think that sometimes that applies to almost all the things that happen to us.  

Well, I love you and I hope all is going well back at home.  Keep me updated about the family and the ward and maybe even the dog and cats (oddly enough they are family too).  

Oh yes, please send Dudley Leavitts patriarichal blessing my way.  Did it come to you in the mail?  I requested his patriarichal blessing because I thought it would be great to have the chance to read it and come to know him a little more.  I would like to start doing that with more of our ancestors. And tell the young women thanks for the card I was able to get it!

  

My love to you from Germany,

Elder Bretzing

 8-15 Zone Conference with Elder Johnson

 

10-15 Zone Conference

WEEK 9-28-15

Hey Family,

So as you can read from the title, we had a lot of fallen out appointments.  We have had almost no lessons with friends this week.

So that gave us a lot of time to get to know the area more.  I was also on an Exchange twice this week and we were able to visit a district meeting in a city called Lübeck this week.  It was actually pretty cool. Because it is the city where my trainer served for a good chunk of his mission.  It was a gorgeous city.  And on one of these exchanges, we were in a small city called Neumünster. It is actually really funny, we had like no success there.  Everyone kept saying no and there were not that many people to begin with.  If we saw anyone in our sight, we would talk to them.  We even did the old fashion approach of going door to door.  And after every slammed door in our face (a one man who wanted to invite us to his church) we made our way back to the apartment. It was not a fun experience but I kept thinking during this whole time (this has to be like a Mormon Message type of thing). It was actually really cool, as we were walking back to the train station to meet with the other missionaries, we happen to talk to one of the last people on the road and he had interest! So the missionaries will be able to meet with him this upcoming week.

Something that has really helped me to stay occupied and to keep me busy is setting small goals for the day.  Of course, I have big long term goals, like what I would like to study and what I want to do.

But with these small tiny daily goals, that is really where I can keep my mind focused on my goal.  Like for example, we try to always find someone new each day who would have interest in learning more about the gospel. Somedays we do not find anyone,  but that doesnt stop me from being focused on my goal and that day goes by really fast and at the end of the day, I am mostly super exhausted.  But in a good way.

So if you feel like you need some help on the daily tasks and what not, try setting daily goals.  And they can stem from more long term goals.  Also mom what is really going to help is daily reading in the scriptures and if you can get everyone around, to really hold a family home evening.  I have seen that those are the big points that are helping some of the greatest families I have seen out on my mission. 

Well, I got to go.  We are teaching a German class here in Kiel and so we have that after this.  I love you all and now that I sent pictures, I hope I can get some pictures in return! 

Love

Elder Bretzing

P.s. So have you figured out the whole trip yet? It sounds like things are started to be set in stone or something. It would be nice to know what you are planning on doing. But if not, no worries.  I'll keep doing what I have been doing.

Little Elders still enjoying a fast car or two

 

WEEK 9-21-15

Hey Family, 

Well this week has been really exciting.  Lets start with how the beginning of the week went. 

I met my new companion, Elder Morton, at the Hamburg Main Trainstation.  Elder Morton is from Sandy, Utah.  He is actually really cool.  We really hit it off with each other  the first time.

I knew him a little before  from other events in the mission so I am excited to work with him. It was actually really funny, because everyone that comes from the Zone in Kiel will all come down to Hamburg during transfers, so we got to have a train ride all the way up together.  From what he has told me, we have alot of work to do and that things are starting to look up. And we sure did see some miracles this past week.

Ok, so Kiel... Well, it has rained everyday since I have been here.  I have seen the sun for only 2 hours total.  It is super cold up here and it is a beach city which is a major plus and I am super grateful for Heavenly Father sending me here when it is cold so I cannot waste time at the beach.  I have not seen it yet but I have heard it is really cool.

The ward is also a little different.  It is smaller and there was a branch nearby that was closed down so we have people who live in Kiel and people who live in an area called Rensburg.  But as I was sitting at church this sunday, my first sunday here in Kiel, I remember feeling nervous.  And during sacrament, I had this immense feeling that God is very mindful of why I am here and it was almost like  "Hey get to know everyone here and help them!" So we made out alot of appointments with the bishop, ward mission leader, and other people.

So we are getting to work.

Ok Miracles, so I do not have too much time, I am actually finishing my emails at an McDonalds because they has wifi and we are watiting to go on an exchange with some missionaries.  But, we have seen soo many miracles.  Through talking with people on the buses, we have found 2 families that are super interesting in learning more about he gospel and about family home evening and how they can have one.  So this week we have return appointments to teach them a little more.  We also have some really cool friends of ours that I still do not know all their names but I will get to know them!

But everything is off to a wonderful start! I am excited for it!

Ok, now with the things going on at home.  What legal things are going on? Do I even want to know? Is it about dad? And that was a big schock about Jeff and Nadine.  But it sounds like he has his head on right if he is looking for a better job.  When I read that, I kind of just looked up from my ipad and said, ok looks like there is another little neice/nephew that will be waiting for me at home.  But I am excited to get to know him/her. 

Well, I love you all!

Elder Bretzing

WEEK 9-14-15 TRANSFERS

Hey Family, 

Well the day has finally arrived.  I have been transferred from Hamburg!  I am going to a city called Kiel!  It is more north and from what I have heard it is like a beach city.  I am excited but it is hard to leave Hamburg.  I have been here for so long it feels like my home.  It is weird to think that I have spent almost 8 months here in Hamburg.  But I have good feelings about Kiel.  My new companions name is Elder Morton.  He is a missionary with alot of energy so I am excited about that. 

So this week was a lot of saying goodbye.  Goodbyes are always hard but I know that our relationship will stay strong.  But let me tell you a little bit about this week: 

So this week in Hamburg, we had an event called "Die Nacht der Kirchen" (night of the churches) and it is a religious event where all the churches in Hamburg open their doors after their service and they allow anyone to come and see their church.  So those who want to see the churches, they are more than welcome to come and see.  Well, here in Hamburg, we are NOT allowed to participate in that.  The committee who runs it here in Hamburg tells us that we are considered "non Christians" (Which is balony) and so we are not able to participate in this event.  However, we decided that we wanted to participate and do our thing as well.  So we had a "Open House" during this time.  We just told everyone that it is not called "Die Nacht der Kirchen" but we are having an open house.  And we gave about 4 tours!  And they were some big groups of people.  It was a really cool experience.  You know, alot of people do not like to talk about religion with us on the street, but they are interested to have a tour of the building and see what is going on.  I tell you, it was really cool.  And we had members there with us and it was such a great event.  It does not sound like a lot with 4 groups but we were so happy that people just showed up.   

It is also very weird to think that it has almost been one year since the passing of grandma.  I hope everything is going ok back at home.  It has really helped me to keep going as I have been improving my prayers.  So that is where my strength has come.  I know that there have been days where I did not even feel like getting up from the prayer position, but we are not alone when it comes to our burdens and hardships.  And lately, I have had a major focus on improving my early morning and evening prayers.  That is where is my strength comes from.  I know that someone is lifting me up and helping get on my feet.  But that continues to come as we do the things and have the desire to follow the Lord and His counsel.  

Ok, so to answer questions:  No, I have not received an email from Jeff yet but tell him to send that.  I evaluated that picture that you sent me and I saw a baby photo in the background of a ultrasound, but that is from Chad, right?  Anyways, some clarification is needed there.

 

Well, I love you all family and I hope that everything is well.  I will send you my address next week in Kiel.  And wish me luck that when I see the beach I dont become a beach bum!

 

Love,

Elder Bretzing

WEEK 9-7-2015 SHORTEST MISSIONARY LETTER TO DATE

Hello Family:

Ok do not be mad at me but I had no time this week to write emails.

But I still love you and miss you. I hope all the photos made up for the loss. I am still alive and everything is ok. Transfer are coming up and I do not know what will happen but we will find out next week! 

Foster is doing great and we are super excited to work with him. His next goal is to go to the temple we are going to help him out with that!

Love you all!

With love,

Elder Bretzing