Woche 81 von 102- Missionary Broadcast, Zürich and Insti!!!
Wie
guäts?
I guess I'll begin with my notes from Mondays "Specialised
Training" session where we watched the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast,
seen as I added Monday’s info into last week’s email. I have handwritten notes,
so I'll just add the major bits that stood out to me! It began with Elder Neil
L Anderson- and there were a few things I got from his part; the first being
that whenever you don't know what to speak about, speak of the Saviour, cause
it is His gospel that is our purpose. Always keep His name on your lips. He
also said in there to "ask yourself regularly- Am I personally using the
Atonement in my life, every day?" Pretty good question to be fair, cause
when we do we can really testify of it from an honest and personal experience.
Then it went to the previously filmed segment from Elder David A Bednar with a
group of missionaries- His focus was more on using and following the Spirit. He
focussed on how, when our companion is teaching we should be having an intense
spiritual focus on what is going on in the investigator’s mind and heart and
what they need. He also spoke about revelation and how we do not need to know
that it is revelation, we just need to have the faith to press forward and go-
thoughts are revelation! Bishop W Christopher Waddell spoke about how boldness
shows our faith and love for the Lord and His gospel. Then Sister Bonnie L Oscarson
discussed in another previously filmed segment with missionaries about teaching
people, not lessons and how we need to prepare to be able to do that, we need
to have the knowledge, to be able to change our plans as directed by the Spirit
to teach the person- not just check a box off on a teaching record. "Fill
that treasure chest (with those little gems of knowledge)". Then there was
another video part, but I didn't really take any notes on that part, as a less
active called up, so I needed to take that call and by the time I got back in-
that part was almost over. Then Elder Dallin H Oaks spoke about retaining and
activating. I took quite a few notes on this one, so he mentioned how we need
to have the gospel rooted in the marrow of our bones and that we need to know
who we are and what we do. We are Sons and Daughters of God- everything else is
subordinate to that fact- we are royalty! Introduce righteousness and the laws
of Heaven on the earth- it is for the interest of the world and salvation of
all mankind. We are called to testify of Jesus Christ and invite all to do what
He would have us do. It is all for the work of the Lord and our own eternal
life. He then warned to not look back with regret. Pray to be able to look back
on your service as something good, worthy, honest and true. We must be more
than clean to enter into His kingdom. We need to be changed, be able to resist
temptation and sin. He then exhorted us to "Preach nothing but repentance
unto this generation... Your paramount responsibility is to Teach Repentance
and Baptise Converts." I have a loads more notes from it, but that’s just
the main points I got out of it, which I wanted to share!
P-day,
Dienstag! It felt a little strange to be fair doing p-day on a Dienstag.
Anyways, so after studies we went shopping, back home, then off into Zürich, as
I needed to get Dad his Birthday present and send that off! So did that and
chilled in Zürich for a bit, then we went to re-anmeld my companion, as his
Ausweis was coming to an end. Not supposed to be a p-day activity, but seen as
we were in Zürich anyway, it made sense, so we don't have to waste time doing
it another day. Then we headed back to Wetzikon to do emails! Home to eat
something before picking A up to head to Insti; so this evening was basically
filled with Institute! It was so good to be at Insti again! I've missed Insti!
The class was talking about the different accounts of the first vision and also
about seer stones. It was interesting and Bruder U explained it perfectly, like
it made complete sense, even though it was a little different to normal! I
would explain, but I wouldn't do it any justice to the way Bruder U taught it.
So
Mittwoch, after studies we headed over to the chapel to meet with A. We went
over the Plan of Salvation with him and he loved it! Lessons with A seem to
always be a little longer than normal, cause we have like 17 days until his
baptism and still have quite a bit to work through, plus we answer his
questions, so it was another great lesson. He's still going strong! After A,
time was running short and we had to head over to a less actives in Rüti who
has a few problems, so we went and helped her out and had a little lesson with
her. Then seen as we were in Rüti, we figured we could go by the other two less
actives who lived there, but they weren't home. So we headed off to Stäfa, as
we felt we needed to go by a few people there. We popped by to see Familie K.
It was cool! We helped her out a bit. So yesterday evening there was a pretty
strong storm and they have like one of those good sized trampolines in their
garden (it's only a small garden, cause they live in an apartment block, but
like the trampoline is like one of the 6ft ones); so the storm removed the
trampoline 30m away from their place into the path of another building, which
was over a few bushes. Legit, the storm must have been pretty darn strong,
cause that thing was a decent weight! Then we helped put a door on a new
cupboard, as the door was too heavy for her alone. So after that we shared a
spiritual thought and headed to Sis R. By this time it was like 17uhr, so we popped by Sis R real quick to
share a quick spiritual thought and to set up an appointment, as we don't have
her number. She can talk forever, so we had to really keep it short as we had a
train to catch to be back at the chapel for 19.00 and to drop something off for
Schw. G, which she asked us for. So yeah! Then this evening we had the
JM-Aktivität! So we began with a bad missionary role play and asked what we
could do better. Then we spoke a little about missions, then did a random
object roleplay. I did this in the MTC; so everyone has a completely random
object and then each person has a principle from one of the 5 lessons in PMG. The
roleplay is that you have to teach that principle using the object in some way.
It is actually really fun and legitimately, every single object can link in
some way to every gospel principle. Then we did that twice each time with a
different object and different principle. Some of the ways those JM did it was
really good! Then we spoke about how everything links to the gospel and that
missions are also supposed to be fun and life changing; then bore testimony and
then had a Q&A session. It was actually really good! Then we had GMK on the
phone as our GML is in Military during the week and we had no time on the weekend-
and that was basically our day!
Donnerstag!
So after studies we headed out to Schw. G again, as she asked us yesterday
night if we could help her with something, but we had to run to get to the
chapel for JM. We promised to come by this morning to help her and this time
she wanted some things from the attic, but she wanted to go up there as well to
actually see, so we had to help her climb up to the attic. Bless her, she's a
little legend! So we helped her out before coming home to have lunch. Then
going off to skype R- didn't work again, so we used up the internet hour we
have on a Thursday! Then out for a bit before spending the evening with S.
After
studies Freitag morgen we tried to hunt out a joint teach for
an appointment this afternoon, which was only set up late last night. We
finally got one and then had mittagessen. Then we decided to do weekly planning
at the chapel whilst trying to skype R again. His wifi was being dodgy still,
so we just did a messaging chat with him whilst weekly planning. Then we needed
to head off to an appointment with H. We took J with us and it was a pretty
good termin. After that, we had another termin, but our JT fell out, so we
asked J if he fancied coming along, but he really didn't want to. He's just a
real honest guy, so fair enough. We call like everyone possible and nobody is
available, so J came with us anyway! He is such a funny guy! So we went over to
Schw. M, where we had fondue for dinner and for the lesson we watched Joseph
Smith- Prophet of the Restoration. Last time we were there she opened up a bit
about a concern she had, so we spoke about it and she has heard it all so many
times in the past, so we thought: What can we do to help her out? The only thing that we could think of which
hasn't been done or been shown before was that movie, cause it says so much and
really is a strength to know how true the restoration really is. It was cool- and
she definitely felt something. Then we headed home to plan and that was our
day! This week has gone by soooo fast!
Samstag-
after studies we had mittags and headed out to Uster to do a few vorbeis and
finding. It wasn't all that great, cause nobody was home! Sucks! So that was
basically our entire afternoon. Then early evening we headed to the chapel as
the PV were doing a dinner for the Single Adults in the ward and we were
invited along as well, so took A with us. It was pretty cool to be fair. We
ate, played games and had a spiritual thought all from the Primary kids. 'Twas
a fun evening. Then after that we headed back to A's place, as he lives between
us and the chapel. So we had a lesson with him, where we basically talked about
all sorts of stuff. We read quite a bit from the BoM as well and went through
the baptism interview questions, so he knows what he needs to know and we can
help him work through struggles! Legit though, pray for him! He is making great
progress still and can be ready on the 27th, but there’s still a few things he
needs to work through, but he is still Gold!
Happy
Valentine’s Day! Sonntag began with getting ready and heading to the chapel for
Chor! We only have Chor every now and then, so it's pretty cool. Although by
the time we get to the next practice I normally forget, so it's not the ideal,
but hey. Church today was pretty sweet! So A came and this time he bought his
brother along. He basically just told him that he has to try it out, so he
came. Sacrament meeting- the talks were pretty good. One was on Prophets,
another on Gratitude and the last was about Teaching. Oh, also I have a talk on
this coming Sunday, so we'll
see how that goes. They didn't even give me a theme, so I need to work out that
one first! Oh the joys! Well, after Sacrament we held an investigator class for
A and his bro. It was pretty cool. We touched on a few things and he was saying
how he's seen a really positive difference in A and wants the same for himself.
Like honest, his brother seems so legit! We have another appointment with him on Tuesday evening, so
pray it will all go well! Then Priesthood was lesson 2. It was a good lesson, but
I don't even know how to explain what it was about in English, so you'll just
have to read it if you want to know. It was on peace and finding peace and help
and stuff through Christ. It was a really good class! After church we had
Gemeinderat, which was normal Wetzikon Gemeinderat. Honestly though,
Gemeinderats here in Wetzikon are probably some of the best I've been to! Then
we had a Pot-luck! It's like having mittagessen together as a Gemeinde! 'Twas
cool! So that was basically our afternoon and we helped clear up afterwards and
got left with a load of food. Then we headed home and studied and that was
basically our day!
Well I
wish you all a great week!
Alles
Liebe,
Woche 82 von 102- Can you believe that..... 20 weeks!?!? Time
needs to slow down!
Höi
zäme!
P-day!
So after studies I spent the morning writing up my talk for Sunday before we
headed out to shop! Then back to the apartment to clean and to the chapel to
write some emails. Took a little break to grab a Dönner for a late mittags,
then back to emailing again. Not too much actually happened today! Then this
evening we were over at the Famile L for Abendessen and FHE! I love that
family! They are sooo cool and just soooo fun to be around, so it was a real
nice evening. Then we got back and still had a bit of time, so we went by A and
did a little lesson with him, put a plan together as to how we are gonna tackle
this smoking issue, so we'll see how it goes! He's great though! I am so tired,
so there really isn't much else to say about today!
Dienstag!
What an incredibly strange yet awesome day! So we headed out at 9.25 to get to
St Gallen for zone training. Although we got there a little bit earlier as
Elder Hiemer called me up yesterday to ask if I could cut his hair for him
before zone training, so I did that and then we had zone training. Unfortunately
we could only stay for an hour of it, as we needed to leave to get to an
appointment which was set up way before anybody mentioned zone training, but
for the hour we were able to attend was really quite good! The whole thing was
basically based on the BoM! We headed off early to get back in time for our
appointment and collected a box of English BoMs at zone training, as we were
all out of English ones and one of our less actives wanted some to give out to
friends, so on our way home we were taking the second of 4 trains which we need
to take to get home from St Gallen (it's ridiculous) and we get off the train
and head to the Gleis for our next train, then just as we get there, Elder
Kilgore is like, "oh man! I forgot the Book of Mormon box!" - so we
run back to get it and legit, just as we get onto the Gleis, the train pulls
off! It wasn't supposed to leave for like another minute as well, so that was a
little annoying. So now there’s a box of BoMs on a train which was going all
the way to Lausanne! Fair enough! Maybe someone will get baptised because of
it- there is a reason for everything and all, right? Well, we finally get to
our appointment in perfect timing and had a pretty good discussion. We met the
Familie K (neighbour of the U’s). It was a pretty cool lesson. We focussed more
on helping them understand and how the gospel is there to strengthen the
family. Then we met with A again. He's moving tomorrow to a new place. We spoke about tithing
and he accepted it. He just loved the promise in Malachi; that the windows of
heaven will be opened and there won't be room enough to receive it. He thought
that was krass, so accepted it like that. We also covered the Ten Commandments,
which were no problem and watched a talk from President Monson, so that he can
know who he is for when he gets asked the question in his interview. Oh and we
committed him to watch 'On the Lords Errand', which should help him even more
to gain a testimony that President Monson is a Prophet of God! So that was
sweet! Then we met with his brother- J! We did a church tour with him and then
did a little goal setting discussion, in which we set another baptismal date!
Like, what is going on here! So his date is the 30th April! Oh mensch!
Those guys are crazy though! Like its only two weeks today since we first
taught A and set a date with him!! Like, what! It is so cool though, we teach
him with A and it is just so awesome to see how excited A gets as we teach his
brother together. Then we did a Resto lesson, which went on past 9.00, but hey
we set a date. Exciting stuff is happening here! It's craziness! The Lord is
really blessing Wetzikon right now! The downer of the day was calling up the DL
to tell him we were gonna be late home and give him the info to pass on that we
have a new baptismal candidate. Like, he was so not excited or happy for us. He
was just like "oh that’s great, I'll pass the info on" in like the
most monotone, bored voice ever! We also told Pres and he was super excited to
hear about it, so we ended with a good one! Haha! Well, that was Tuesday! What
a day! Oh, we also had a totally schwarz "Swiss Split"- so my comp
went out with Elder Justesen to get a box of BoMs from the car, so I was left
with Sister Justesen as my companion- in all honesty, I never realised that
until after he had left, but to be fair it was zone training, so we were with a
load of other missionaries as well. so it's not too bad then!
First
things first, Happy Birthday Dad! I hope today was a great day for you! After
studies today we had lunch and then headed to the chapel to print a load of
stuff off for Sister R, whom we then went to teach. Then we did a few vorbeis
before heading over to Uster for another appointment. It was strange, but I'm
way too tired to write up all the details- sorry. Then this evening we were at
the Familie Z for Abendessen. 'Twas great, but I'm still dead tired, so
unfortunately Mittwoch doesn't get too much of a description, tut mir leid!
Donnerstag
was a day where after studies we headed to meet P in Uster, but he never turned
up.... Again! So we did a load of vorbeis again and had a lesson with a
potential, so that was pretty cool! Then we headed back to Wetzikon to meet
with A, went through the Taufinterview again with him and this time he is
completely ready apart from stopping smoking, but he's committed, so we just
need to work at that and he can be ready on the 27th! Then this evening we spent
the evening at Schw. M. It was interesting! We spoke about the Priesthood with
her which was pretty cool, but yeah! Then we went to give someone a blessing,
which is always a sacred experience- and that was our day! I am like completely
burnt out. I have never been so tired in my entire life, as I have the last few
weeks! We just have so much to do at the moment, its crazy!
What a
day! I was burnt out still, so this morning was a very chill study/planning
morning! Then after mittagessen we headed out to Uster to meet with a less
active. It was pretty cool. We read 2 Nephi 3 with him and spoke about church.
He speaks Spanish and enough Deutsch, but he just told us how he really finds
church difficult because of the language barrier and stuff. But yeah, he's
coming on Sunday! Then we headed back to Wetzikon to meet with A again. We
spoke about Priesthood and rights and responsibilities and ordinances of the
Priesthood. He loved it and said that it all just makes complete sense. He is
soooooo ready! Really, he just needs to stop, but he really wants to.... So we
are now fasting with him! (2x in 2 days, this better work). Oh, we also taught
his friend C who came over and had a little lesson with her, went over our
purpose and started the first lesson. It was an interesting one! Then we spent
the evening with S! We took a new tactic with him- so when we go we don't
really do much talking at all, we just sit there for him to speak and then he
leads it into a gospel based discussion and then we join in. In all honesty it
is working beautifully- so life is great! Oh and we called up Pres to ask him a
question as the ZLs had no idea and he was like- oh, I always get excited when
I see that Wetzikon are calling me. You guys are really tearing it up down
there. Then he asked me how I would feel if I moved this transfer after all
this success? Soooo..... Who knows what’s happening with transfers! I was just
like, well it will be a bit sad, but then we just build up the next area, cause
each area has just as much potential as the last! Well, I might get an early one
tonight as we're heading off early tomorrow!
I think
I might be coming down with something. I've had a nasty headache for the past 3
days or so and it's not going away. Plus I now have this cough, which is
frustrating, but hey! Well, anyways, Samstag was temple day, so we had a super
early get up, to head to the temple. It was a really nice session and I bumped
into one of my MTC teachers in the celestial room, so I just go and sit down
and feel that somebody is looking at me, so I look up and this guy is just like
(auf Deutsch of course)- ‘Do I know you?’ and I'm just like- ‘Maybe’... Then
he's like- ‘Are you an Elder?’ and I'm like- ‘Yeah!’ and then he says his name
and asked if he taught me in the MTC; then the penny dropped and I was like- ‘Aahhh,
yeah!’ So that was pretty cool! He was there cause he just got married...
Pretty cool! Then after that, we headed to grab some lunch before heading back.
So this evening we had a lesson with A. We spoke about Temple and Geneologie
Work, which he thought was super cool! He is soo ready, but the only problem is
the smoking, so unfortunately this Saturday isn't going to work, so his new
date is the 26th March, that way we
now have another month to work through it! - and that was basically our day.
So I
woke up this morning with a stinking headache, super sore throat and my nose is
blocked, like I feel dead; but we headed to church anyway, had chor and then
sacrament meeting. I gave my talk and the other two talks were really good, so
it was a good meeting. A, J and H came to church today!!! That was pretty
awesome! Then we had a class with A and J, which was pretty good! After church
we headed to the D’s where Schw. D ordered me to sleep for the rest of the day
once we get home, so we headed for home after mittags and I just died, so there’s
not too much to say about Sonntag!
Well,
that was basically our week! I'm still ill, which isn't helpful cause we have
so much to do this week!!! Arrrggghhhh! So annoying! Well, I hope you had a
great week! We have Mission Tour on the 8th March! Also, transfer calls are on
Saturday so we shall see what happens! Any predictions? Well, have a great
week!
Alles
Liebe,
Elder
Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
