WEEK 7-13-2015

Well howdy Family! 

This week has been a new week.  We were able to meet with President Fingerles and their whole family on Wednesday and that was a really cool expierence!  They are a really cool family and I hope that when i get older that that is how my family will look like and be so willing together as a family to go on a mission.  Now, I know that I will never be called as a Mission President but it was a cool expierence to be there and to take part in it.  I look forward to working with them more.  It has been very interesting, but they only will speak German with us.  I think that they really want us to learn the language and to do the best we can.  But that has helped me so much because ever since they have come into the mission field, when I am around them, I do not feel so self concious about my German.  And that is something that has been very helpful and kind of a strength booster for me.  And I have started to write him back in German in my weekly letters and man that takes alot of time now.   

This week was also really cool because about three weeks ago, Elder Weakley and I found a really cool family, named the Adzovics and they have been making slow and good progress.  We had a big giant summer festival at our church for the entire city of Hamburg and they came!  It was great!  They are a huge family and the ward absolutely swallowed them up and was super nice with them.  They have already made friends with most of the kids here there age and we are hoping alot of good things from them.  The most amazing part is that the two boys are deaf, but they are the most loving and patient boys that I have ever met.  I played basketball with the older one the entire time and it goes to show that you do not have to understand or even hear each other to have a good time and laugh about it.  I will keep you updated on how they are doing.

 

In the mission, we have a new focus on really pushing to get our new investigators to go to the temple as soon as possible.  And I find that such a great goal.  We have been working with alot of the new members here in Hamburg and really start preparing them to go to the temple.  So far, we have about 5 people ready for a temple trip to Frankfurt Temple, too bad we cannot go with them, to be able to perform in baptism for the dead.  It is such a great time, and it has been helping with the reactivation of some of the new members here who have been touch and go lately here in hamburg.

 

Yes, I absolutely loved all the pictures!  I am still trying my best to get pictures of me in the shirt still but I keep forgetting.  Tell Olivia that I am so proud of her and that she looks adorable in her pictures!  Next time she celebrates her birthday, I will be home (well, I will be home probably like 2 weeks after)  but you can go ahead and tell her that now.  We will see what really happens as that time comes speedily around the corner.  

 

I hope everyone is having a great time and if they have time to shoot me an email when they have free time.  I know that my track record of responding to emails have been very bad, but I have been kind of kicked in the butt from the sisters and elders here in Hamburg for not responding to alot of emails, so if anyone would like to shoot me an email I will try my very best to respond in the next little bit.

 

Love you all!

Elder Bretzing

 

The Adzovics

WEEK-6-29-15

Well hey loving family! 

One more week gone... But congratulations about the baby?! Are they already thinking of names for her? That will be strange to see a new face when I get home. But it's cool I am excited for it! 

This week has been really weird for we had transfers and I was the only one who stayed out of the original elders and sisters who came with me to Hamburg. So I had to say goodbye to sister Stacey and elder Silver.  They are really cool missionaries.  Sister Stacey is probably one of the best missionaries that I have seen and elder Silver had a great sense of humor.  So it is different around here, but life moves on! And the best way to cure a sorrowed heart is to work! So we have been getting to work with ideas and things that we want to do with the zone for this upcoming month of July.  We really want to focus on the finding of the missionaries so that has been keeping me busy.

 We have two new missionaries in our area, sister Murdock (who is dating someone from the 10thward I think) and elder chadez.  We are happy to have them with us.  We haven't gotten our new mission president yet, he flies in tomorrow.  But I have already made a goal that when I see him this Friday for mission leadership council that I will give him a huge hug! I am excited to work with him and get to know him and his family.

Our investigators are doing good.  We have been keeping ourself busy.

I often find myself wondering how it gets so late and before I know it it is bedtime.  But it is different here in Hamburg in the summer, the daylight doesn't go away until 10 o'clock in th evening.  Which gives us plenty of time to talk to people on the street.

Well that is it from my side today, I am sorry that my letters keep on getting shorter and shorter I will try to make them better.  Tell everyone I say hi and that bishop needs to stick in there until I get home!

Love ya,
Elder Bretzing

WEEK 6-22-15

Hello all:

No I won't write you in German today even though it is super fun.  Transfer calls came and I am staying here in Hamburg for another transfer.  I will send my companion home  after this one so it is probably a good chance that I will be staying in Hamburg for another three months.  It is good.  I am happy that the lord needs me here.  It will be sad because all the missionaries that I came into Hamburg with are leaving on Tuesday.  

Just thinking about the past four months here in Hamburg, I have been thinking a lot about the missionaries.  I really want to help them and see the potential that they have to be successful missionaries and that they see the success they deserve.  So if I could say, there is a big fire that has been lit under my butt to help these missionaries get things into gear.  There is a reason that the Lord has kept me here for another transfer and I want to find out why.

Our investigators are doing good.  We have a man right now who is probably the most faithful man alive.  His name is Kobena Kyere.  He is a great man.  You will have to make me tell the story about him.  He has the desire to be baptized and so we are working hard with him to see this happen.

But that is it in a nutshell.  We get our new  mission president next week and so on Saturday there will be president Fingerle instead of Kosak.  I will be sad but determined to help him.

Love you! If there is any questions that I did not answer please let me know! I send everyone my love and wishes! 

Love, 

Elder Bretzing 

WEEK-ONE YEAR MARK

Es ist komisch zu denken dass seit ein Jahr, bin ich auf Mission gewesen. Es ist schwer vorzustellen wie es gerade fühlt.  Ich blicke auf alle die Zeit zurück, und denke dass es alle eine tolle Zeit war.  Dass es kostbar war.  Ich habe viel mehr Sachen erlebt und gelernt dass ich je zahlen kann.  Ich würde sagen dass am wichtigsten Ding, dass ich gelernt habe geht um Mitglied-Missionar-Arbeit.  Ich habe ein starkes Zeugnis dass das wenn ich zu Hause bin, dass ich das immer machen muss.  Alle die Erfolg, der ich je gesehen habe, ist im Verbindung mit dem Mitglieder.  Ich weiß dass wenn ich zu Hause bin, habe ich mehr Arbeit zu tun.  Die Arbeit des Herrn geht immer voran!  Und ich gehöre dazu.  Nicht nur als Missionar, sondern als Jünger Jesu.  Dass ich der Herr versprochen habe, an ihm immer zu denken und ihm nachfolgen.  Ich bin dankbar dass ich ein Mitglied der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der letzten Tage bin.  Dass ich jeden Tag habe, mich zu verbessern.  Ich meine, es ist wunderschön nachzudenken, dass der Himmlischer Vater gibt uns Gelegenheiten, wobei wir ihm immer dienen und Ehren können. Und dass wir Fortschritt machen können.  Ich bin dankbar dass er den heiligen Geist uns geschenkt hat.  Er ist immer dabei, wenn wir würdig und Gehorsam sind. Ich bin dankbar für dass Sühnopfer.  Ich habe euch alle lieb! 

 

TRANSLATION:

It's funny to think that since a year, I've been on a mission. It is hard to imagine how it feels straight. I look back on all the time and think that it was all a great time. That it was precious. I have experienced and learned that I can ever pay a lot more things. I would say that the most important thing that I have learned comes to member missionary work. I have a strong testimony that when I'm at home, I have to always make. All the success that I've ever seen, is in conjunction with the members. I know that when I'm at home, I have to do more work. The work of the Lord always comes ahead! And I belong to. Not only as a missionary, but as a disciple of Jesus. I promised the Lord to think of him always and follow him. I am grateful that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That I have every day to improve myself. I mean, it's beautiful to think that the Heavenly Father gives us opportunities, but we always serve him and honor can. And that we can make progress. I am grateful that he has the Holy Spirit given to us. He is always there when we are worthy and obedient. I am grateful for that Atonement. I have all the love you!

Yeah, I wouldn't really try to translate that because I used a lot of missionary and church terms and I don't know how well it would be translated in Google.  But have fun, the mark of a new year! It doesn't give me a headache anymore to write in German! Love you all!

 

And tell Olivia thank you for such a wonderful letter! I appreciated it and it was so great to read! Love you!

Elder Bretzing 

WEEK 45

Well one more week come and gone, and it's been a weird week.  And my hump day is not till next week, so next week I will write about the one year mark.  Besides, I don't want to admit that it has been a year yet.  I hope you got the pictures and they came through ok.  Some of them are pictures where we are at a eating appointment with the sister missionaries in our area with a really cool American family in the ward.  They are the best and I was super thankful for their love and support.  An other picture that we had was the elders in our area taking us out to this sort of 50s diner in our area.  It doesn't taste anything like home.  Especially because the patty is like meatloaf, it was weird. And the other photo was my birthday present to myself.  It was a license plate that I as able to find and they were willing to print my name on it.  It was really funny.  I don't know why but we felt that we should make mug shots with them. 

It was a weird zone conference.  We started to sing God be with you till we meet again and I started balling.  I am going to miss president Kosak but I am just as excited to create a good relationship with my new president.  We were able to share our love with each other and I got to give him and sister Kosak a huge hug.  He even promised that he would come to my wedding and be there to support me.  So that's two people who I know that will come to my wedding.  They have been such a great support for me and such a great example.  I have really cherished the moments to be with them and learn from them.  He thought the picture was amazing.  I thought he sent you an email because he forwarded it to me and that was how I was able to get the picture.

 

 

 

The work continues to go on here in Hamburg.  Step by step. We have been really struggling with really keeping Investigators to teach.  We find a lot of people, but they will either not pick up their phones anymore or have no more interest to meet with us.  We in our program have really been working with new members and converts.  We have found a lot of people who have been here in Germany for a while and did not know that there was a church here.  So it has been great to help them and to help them reconnect with the church.  Now, as the summer time starts, a lot of our new converts have found jobs and they are not really being good for them.  They are not finding the most stable jobs and so they end up working long hours and almost everyday so we have that working against us. 

The zone is going good.  They are all great missionaries and I am thankful that God trusts elder Weakley and I to watch over them.  We have been having a really good relationship as a zone, but we have not really seen the measured progress that I thought we would start seeing.  It gets hard sometimes but I know that God is with us and whatever happens, it is His will and we are the ones that have to learn to do His will, even when it doesn't seem like what we want to do at the moment.

 

This week, I will be celebrating my birthday at a leadership training meeting that will take the whole day so that is going to be fun.  At least I get to see president Kosak there.   I feel that some of the missionaries want to do something for me there so I just have to be willing to let them.  It is a weird transition here as it now comes another day of firsts, which is stupid because I don't like thinking that but I really can't fight it.  It's weird knowing its my first birthday without dad.  I think it helps being on my mission and it's really my first birthday without everyone but it is still weird. 

 

Well. I love you all here on my side.  I will give Hamburg your love and greetings and I want you to know that I miss you and love you all.  I'll hear from you next week!

Elder Bretzing 

WEEK 44 Celebrating the BIG "22"

June 10, 2015 Celebrating in Germany



 

 

 

WEEK 43

Hey Everyone, 

Another week already gone.  Another crazy week.   

It is really crazy now that the seasons are starting to change.  Now all the crazy people are starting to come out again.  Hamburg is really weird because it will be sunny and humid, and then rain a ton at the same time.  Wherever we go, we have to have our raincoats with us.  That is how it really is everyday.   

This upcoming week we will be having a zone conference so that would be really the only time I would get the packages or I would have to wait for a while after.  It is crazy to think that this will be my last zone conference with President Kosak.  I do not know how I really feel about it.  And we do not need to worry about celebrating the birthday... I am too old.  But knowing my companion, he will make me celebrate it so I will let you know what we will want to go and do.   

Sorry there is nothing really to report on the work this week. We had alot of fallen out appointments.  We also had an appointment this week and it made me realize how much of a salesperson we can be sometimes.  But in one of the best ways.  It was just weird and funny.

Well, Love you and again I am sorry for the short email. 

Until Next Week,

Love,

Elder Bretzing