2015-2016- Frohes Neues!
Grüezi,
Grüezi!
Natürlich, wie immer Montag! We began after studies to clean the apartment, before popping quickly to Migros to grab a couple of things and pick up emails and send a couple as well! Then home, where we had a little snack because of our appointment tonight. So, for the rest of P-day we basically then headed to Zürich to do a bit of after-Christmas shopping .. Wahey! Then home and to the chapel to do emails! 'Twas lovely! This evening we had an appointment with La Famiglia T! So that is why we had a snack at lunch! They are Italian, so I figured they would do a typical Italian meal as Ash talks about and right I was! Oh Mensch! It was soooooooooo goood! So it was like 5 courses and each course was super amazing! They even said that today was small, because of the last few days being Christmas and they've eaten so much, so we are lucky ‘cause we get a small meal! They come from Palermo! The kids all speak German and Italian, but the parents only really speak Italian, so we had an Italian appointment and the daughter translated most of it, although honestly I caught quite a bit of what they were saying before she even translated it, Good old Ash using Italian words in her emails and the gift of tongues obviously playing a part; but man, they are such a cool family! I want to learn Italian, so we can work more with them! Arrghhh! Ash would love this family! They are so cool, but now I've experienced an Italian dinner appointment, so I know how you feel Ash. We shared the Jenga Spiritual Thought with the Christmas twist, so used the cartoon video in Italian- that was so good! The Italian translation for that is so good, in German it’s legit just the English video with German subtitles, which is bad, but Italian is like perfectly done!
Typical Dienstag! Studies and then headed off to Winterthur for DV! It was pretty good; I had the Deutschtipp so that was fun.... Not! This weeks’ Christlike ‘mas Attribute is/was Diligence, so we spoke a lot about that and then teaching again and it was alright. Like President has a training plan, which the DL gets and we basically all follow this plan for DV. Well, we had distriktessen and then did some finding, as per, in Winti. I went with Elder Kallenborn and like the first lady we spoke to was like ‘Oh yeah, where’s your church’? ‘When does it start?’ ‘Oh sure, we can exchange numbers’ and ‘You can call me and remind me to come’! Haha! It was so cool, but so random. Then like the rest of it, no such luck! We had some cool conversations, but no more potentials found. Then quick to the chapel to get times for when we need to leave for our appointment this evening and then we basically had to leave sofort. We went round to the E's for abendessen. It was so good and they are such an awesome, spiritual, clever couple! Mensch! It was an awesome evening! We shared a spiritual thought taken from when Christ receives news that John the Baptist was beheaded and instead of automatically taking some time out; some quiet time after learning of the death of a loved one that we would all normally do, He instead served, He carried on, comforted and fed the 5,000. Then after all of that, He went into the mountain to pray and have that time. Christ knew what was most important, He knew the plan. He continued to serve even though He was also going through a mourning process. Christ really is our ultimate example! "Look to Him in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
Mittwoch began following studies with heading to Migros to do some shopping for the one and only Schwester G! She is such a legend.... so she asked us to come round to help her do a few things and then she called yesterday if we could pick a few things up from the shop for her as well, as the milk man normally sells fruits and stuff for her to buy, but he's on holiday, so she was all out. We did a bit of shopping for her and then went round, put the stuff away whilst chatting to her and then did a few more things in the garden and then a couple in her apartment. Legit, this woman is incredible- she's 98 years old and has had such a hard life, but she is soooo positive and strong in the gospel and ahhhh, just mensch, she's amazing! Then we headed home to grab something before heading to Zürich to meet P, but as we were almost there he called to move the appointment to tomorrow. 'Twas a little annoying, as it takes about 35mins to get there and then another one then to get back! Arrghh! So we came home, had lunch, finished a bit of study before heading back out. Then this evening we were invited to the Familie DR! They are so cool! It's the Mom and two kids, a boy and a girl and she invited Schw. R, A, a less active and one of our investigators. It was so cool! Dinner was amazing! Schw. R is Italian and made pizza for dinner, so we had pizza and salad. It was really good, all from scratch. Then we shared the cartoon Christmas video, cause technically Christmas is sort of still going and then we went round the room and everyone said what it means to them that Christ was born. Oh mensch! The spirit filled that home! It was immense! I am so grateful for the power of the Spirit and for the amazing blessing a mission truly is. To be able to associate with and get to know such Spiritual giants! I love it! Then on our way home, I thought I saw a controller come up on the train, so grabbed my pocket to get my wallet out with my GA and my wallet wasn't in there. Luckily it wasn't a controller, so all was fine in that case, but I was freaking out cause like, that has everything in it, drivers licence, GA, bank cards, insurance card, temple recommend, Aussweiss, like CHF50. I was stressed and I had no idea what happened, like I didn't remember putting it in my pocket before we left the apartment, but at the same time I always check my pockets whenever we get off a bus or tram or train to check everything is there, so I was really confused as to where it could be. I was like praying so hard that it would be at home when we get there or that someone turned it in, just that all would be well. That was honestly the longest journey home ever.... So we got home and thank goodness, it was sitting on my desk, so that was my little miracle from the day. Although I'm still super confused as to how I never realised that I didn't have it when I always check to see I have everything when we get off transportation, but yeah, Miracle! Then we almost died- as when we were walking across Bahnhof from the train to the Bus a freaking firework goes off right next to us, legit, almost died. I went death for a few seconds but all is well now, so that was basically the adventures of New Years’ Eve's Eve!
Happy New Year’s Eve! So Donnerstag began after studies by popping to the chapel for computer work time, before heading out to Zürich to meet P! We went with him to an Italian restaurant and it was really good. We had Pizza again, talked and shared a spiritual thought about Sacrament. It was the Mormon message 'Always Remember Him'. It is so powerful, just the way Elder Holland puts it is incredible and then we headed back to our own area, sorted a few things before going out. Then this evening we were at Schw H with A again! It was a really nice evening, we had Fondue Chinois and then played games, shared a thought and then it was coming up to 22.00, so we had to head home .. and that was basically New Year’s Eve, we'll just sleep through till the New Year .. or so I thought, but at like Midnight fireworks started, so it woke us up, but I really couldn't be bothered, so just dropped my head back on my pillow and fell straight back to sleep!
Natürlich, wie immer Montag! We began after studies to clean the apartment, before popping quickly to Migros to grab a couple of things and pick up emails and send a couple as well! Then home, where we had a little snack because of our appointment tonight. So, for the rest of P-day we basically then headed to Zürich to do a bit of after-Christmas shopping .. Wahey! Then home and to the chapel to do emails! 'Twas lovely! This evening we had an appointment with La Famiglia T! So that is why we had a snack at lunch! They are Italian, so I figured they would do a typical Italian meal as Ash talks about and right I was! Oh Mensch! It was soooooooooo goood! So it was like 5 courses and each course was super amazing! They even said that today was small, because of the last few days being Christmas and they've eaten so much, so we are lucky ‘cause we get a small meal! They come from Palermo! The kids all speak German and Italian, but the parents only really speak Italian, so we had an Italian appointment and the daughter translated most of it, although honestly I caught quite a bit of what they were saying before she even translated it, Good old Ash using Italian words in her emails and the gift of tongues obviously playing a part; but man, they are such a cool family! I want to learn Italian, so we can work more with them! Arrghhh! Ash would love this family! They are so cool, but now I've experienced an Italian dinner appointment, so I know how you feel Ash. We shared the Jenga Spiritual Thought with the Christmas twist, so used the cartoon video in Italian- that was so good! The Italian translation for that is so good, in German it’s legit just the English video with German subtitles, which is bad, but Italian is like perfectly done!
Typical Dienstag! Studies and then headed off to Winterthur for DV! It was pretty good; I had the Deutschtipp so that was fun.... Not! This weeks’ Christlike ‘mas Attribute is/was Diligence, so we spoke a lot about that and then teaching again and it was alright. Like President has a training plan, which the DL gets and we basically all follow this plan for DV. Well, we had distriktessen and then did some finding, as per, in Winti. I went with Elder Kallenborn and like the first lady we spoke to was like ‘Oh yeah, where’s your church’? ‘When does it start?’ ‘Oh sure, we can exchange numbers’ and ‘You can call me and remind me to come’! Haha! It was so cool, but so random. Then like the rest of it, no such luck! We had some cool conversations, but no more potentials found. Then quick to the chapel to get times for when we need to leave for our appointment this evening and then we basically had to leave sofort. We went round to the E's for abendessen. It was so good and they are such an awesome, spiritual, clever couple! Mensch! It was an awesome evening! We shared a spiritual thought taken from when Christ receives news that John the Baptist was beheaded and instead of automatically taking some time out; some quiet time after learning of the death of a loved one that we would all normally do, He instead served, He carried on, comforted and fed the 5,000. Then after all of that, He went into the mountain to pray and have that time. Christ knew what was most important, He knew the plan. He continued to serve even though He was also going through a mourning process. Christ really is our ultimate example! "Look to Him in every thought; doubt not, fear not."
Mittwoch began following studies with heading to Migros to do some shopping for the one and only Schwester G! She is such a legend.... so she asked us to come round to help her do a few things and then she called yesterday if we could pick a few things up from the shop for her as well, as the milk man normally sells fruits and stuff for her to buy, but he's on holiday, so she was all out. We did a bit of shopping for her and then went round, put the stuff away whilst chatting to her and then did a few more things in the garden and then a couple in her apartment. Legit, this woman is incredible- she's 98 years old and has had such a hard life, but she is soooo positive and strong in the gospel and ahhhh, just mensch, she's amazing! Then we headed home to grab something before heading to Zürich to meet P, but as we were almost there he called to move the appointment to tomorrow. 'Twas a little annoying, as it takes about 35mins to get there and then another one then to get back! Arrghh! So we came home, had lunch, finished a bit of study before heading back out. Then this evening we were invited to the Familie DR! They are so cool! It's the Mom and two kids, a boy and a girl and she invited Schw. R, A, a less active and one of our investigators. It was so cool! Dinner was amazing! Schw. R is Italian and made pizza for dinner, so we had pizza and salad. It was really good, all from scratch. Then we shared the cartoon Christmas video, cause technically Christmas is sort of still going and then we went round the room and everyone said what it means to them that Christ was born. Oh mensch! The spirit filled that home! It was immense! I am so grateful for the power of the Spirit and for the amazing blessing a mission truly is. To be able to associate with and get to know such Spiritual giants! I love it! Then on our way home, I thought I saw a controller come up on the train, so grabbed my pocket to get my wallet out with my GA and my wallet wasn't in there. Luckily it wasn't a controller, so all was fine in that case, but I was freaking out cause like, that has everything in it, drivers licence, GA, bank cards, insurance card, temple recommend, Aussweiss, like CHF50. I was stressed and I had no idea what happened, like I didn't remember putting it in my pocket before we left the apartment, but at the same time I always check my pockets whenever we get off a bus or tram or train to check everything is there, so I was really confused as to where it could be. I was like praying so hard that it would be at home when we get there or that someone turned it in, just that all would be well. That was honestly the longest journey home ever.... So we got home and thank goodness, it was sitting on my desk, so that was my little miracle from the day. Although I'm still super confused as to how I never realised that I didn't have it when I always check to see I have everything when we get off transportation, but yeah, Miracle! Then we almost died- as when we were walking across Bahnhof from the train to the Bus a freaking firework goes off right next to us, legit, almost died. I went death for a few seconds but all is well now, so that was basically the adventures of New Years’ Eve's Eve!
Happy New Year’s Eve! So Donnerstag began after studies by popping to the chapel for computer work time, before heading out to Zürich to meet P! We went with him to an Italian restaurant and it was really good. We had Pizza again, talked and shared a spiritual thought about Sacrament. It was the Mormon message 'Always Remember Him'. It is so powerful, just the way Elder Holland puts it is incredible and then we headed back to our own area, sorted a few things before going out. Then this evening we were at Schw H with A again! It was a really nice evening, we had Fondue Chinois and then played games, shared a thought and then it was coming up to 22.00, so we had to head home .. and that was basically New Year’s Eve, we'll just sleep through till the New Year .. or so I thought, but at like Midnight fireworks started, so it woke us up, but I really couldn't be bothered, so just dropped my head back on my pillow and fell straight back to sleep!
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| In Zurich |
Happy New Year! Today began after studies with a bit of weekly planning before having mittags, did a bit more weekly planning and headed to Winterthur to tausch! I'm in Wetzikon with Elder Fischer! We basically ended up finding, which was pretty good, although there were barely any people on the street! It is New Year’s Day to be fair! Then this evening we headed to S with Bruder E. It was actually one of the best lessons we've had with him. We spoke about looking for the positives in others, but especially in ourselves. Then it was basically time to head home, so we headed home, had abendessen and planned!
Oh mensch! What a day! Well, we always do studies and I'm bored of writing it now. We headed to open the chapel Samstag morgen for the Familie DR who called last night saying that they need to clean the chapel, but have no key, so could we open it for them. We went and opened it and then helped them clean the chapel ‘cause we are nice like that. Really, we had no other appointments, so figured doing a bit of service would be a good opportunity. Then headed home, had a quick lunch and began our Auswertungsgespräch! Then we headed to Winti to tausch back. We tausched back and headed back, popped to the chapel to check on times for the rest of the day ‘cause we had a district finding "day" planned in a dorf in Frauenfeld area from 15.00-17.00 and we had an appointment with our Bishops’ family at 17.30, so we needed to see times and stuff. It turned out we couldn't do the finding day, as when we get there we would have 20mins to find before we needed to leave to get to Bishops; place. We did some finding and organising stuff before heading to Bishops! It was so cool! He has such an awesome family! We shared the Jenga Spiritual Thought and they loved it! We also spoke quite a bit about the work and investigators and how we can help the ward. It was really a great evening!
Sonntag morgen we headed to the Gemeindehaus bright and early to have our first GMK with our new GML! I have to say it was probably the best GMK I have actually had! He is so pumped and ready to go... Bonuses of having a recent RM as your GML! So we did the normal GMK stuff and then he was like I want to start doing member splits, get some ward missionaries called and maybe even hold some member ausstausches; if your President is okay with that. He has a load of ideas, so we're excited to work with him. Then church! It was a really nice testimony meeting and I set myself another goal that I'll bear my testimony each testimony meeting, so I did! Then Sunday School and Priesthood were also great! Book of Mormon year! I'm excited for it! Then in Priesthood we spoke about goals and working towards them and how goals lead us to progress. There was quite an emphasis on spiritual progress, which was really nice, as normally when people speak about goals they focus more on the worldly stuff, but in the next life, how much will that really mean! Then we chilled and chatted for a bit with the members and set up some appointments before heading to the Familie D for mittags and a spiritual thought. We shared the Sacrament one again and it was again really spiritual. Then we popped quickly to the chapel to print something which we forgot and whilst we were there a member knocks on the window, so we let him in and we ended up giving him a blessing. The spirit and the love that we each felt that the Lord has for each human being during that blessing was indescribable. Each time I have the opportunity to use the Priesthood, my testimony of the reality of it, of the fact that the authority to act in God's name has been restored is just strengthened every single time. I don't think it was just coincidence that we needed to go to the chapel at that time to print something. Even if it didn't seem like a spiritual impression to print something, it must have been, because he really needed a chat and blessing! So lesson is - follow the promptings you receive from the spirit, even if they seem small and quite insignificant, ‘cause it can lead to be able to serve someone! Then we helped another member sort a load of old photos to submit for family history and church history and stuff in Switzerland. Yeah! That was fun! Then home, had dinner and planned! Then I cut my hair again ‘cause it really needed a cut .. and that was basically the week!
I hope you each have brilliant weeks!
Alles Liebe,
Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxx
Woche 76 von 102- Ausweis Verlängert, IKEA, Pflegeheim besuch, ZM's und
ziemlich viel Erfolg gehabt! Oh, ja! Und eine taufe!
Höi zäme!
V-tag! Actually the Deutsch way is never actually used, but hey! So we headed out to shop, cleaned a bit and then headed to Stäfa to meet with a less active member. It was cool. We spoke about all sorts of stuff and we were there for like well over an hour. We spoke about G and told her we'd send her the talk from Brad Wilcox to read! Then we met with another less active and shared a video with her. Then finally headed back to Wetzikon and it was getting late, so we headed to finish p-day by doing some proper email time! 'Twas great to chat a little! Oh and whilst we were doing that S called us! Like he never calls us and he basically just tells us that something hit him when we were there last with Elder Fischer and Bruder E and he's thought a lot about something Bruder E said and wants to try and relight his torch so to speak, but he wants to take things slowly. So we are super excited about it all!
So Dienstag is the day where we head out for DV! I can't even remember what happened! It was actually a pretty good meeting to be fair. We did a Distriktsauswertungsgespräch where we each give one thing good and one thing that the distrikt can improve on. It was pretty interesting to see what the distrikt actually thought about it! Then Elder Fischer spoke about this weeks’ attribute of Obedience and what true obedience is. Just some notes I took was about willingness to be obedient- why do we do it, because we have to or because we want to? It isn't questioning why we should do it, we just do it ‘cause we love the Lord and know that all things will be for our benefit and learning. How real obedience is placing ones heart and will on the sacrificial altar, giving it all to the Lord. Then Elder Heller spoke about goals and about also having long term goals. How important it is not just to have goals, but to have a plan to help achieve those goals, otherwise there is no point in them, as you'll likely never achieve them without a plan, which lead into the Sisters assignment about Weekly Planning and having an effective weekly planning session. It was good! Then we had lunch together. Then we left ‘cause we needed to get to the Kreibüro, so I could extend my Ausweis! We missed district finding this week! Sad times! So we finally got that sorted and then had to pop into IKEA, as the hinges of one of our cupboards in the kitchen just completely snapped off for like no reason whatsoever last night! So the Kreisbüro is near an IKEA, so we decided it made the most sense to pop in then, as it's also the nearest IKEA to where we are, so we did just that. Found the hinges we needed after trawling through the place to try and get to the Hall bit where you pick up stuff and as per - it was packed, just as IKEA always is. Well its Swedish prices in Switzerland, so who wouldn't go for it! Then time was getting on so we headed home, fixed the cupboard quickly before heading to S. That was actually pretty good! He really wants us to visit his wife as well who’s in a care home type place, so we'll do that tomorrow! Then home for a bit of bendessen and the day was fast over!
Mittwoch after all of our studies we headed out to Rapperswil and it is pretty beautiful there. I forgot to take pictures ‘cause we were too busy trying to find the Lords’ elect! Although we didn't have too much success this morning, so we headed home to grab mittagessen before popping out to the Care home where the wife from S is. We waited for J to arrive, as he was our JT for the day. We went in, brought her a little gift, sang a song and prayed with her and that was like the extent of our visit, as it's not really a visit, as she can't talk and the right side of her body is paralysed, but she seemed to enjoy it. She hums along to the hymn we sung and she did like a blowing kiss-type gesture, which I believe means danke! Then we met S downstairs in the Cafeteria afterwards as we planned and spoke to him again for a while and had more Peppermint tea with him! It's like a tradition, whenever we meet with him, we have Peppermint tea! Then we headed to the chapel to get something and then finding for a few hours and home! It was a pretty nice day! Tomorrow is pretty full, so it should be a good day!
Donnerstag was a crazy busy day! We began by popping to the chapel to get train times for our appointment, before leaving to actually get there! We headed down to Meilen to go by a less active family for lunch and then shared a little lesson about looking for the hand of the Lord in our lives, shared a Mormon message from President Eyring and then went round the room and everyone shared one thing where the Lord had blessed them that very morning. It was pretty cool! Then we set up an appointment, so we can start teaching her kids, who aren't members, so that will be pretty cool! Then ‘cause we had J being our JT again we went by a former who lives not too far from this family and she was home, so we shared a quick message, as we needed to head off to Stäfa for our next appointment. That was cool and we set up a return appointment with her. Then we headed off to our next one with C! She's a bit less active and is going through quite a difficult time right now. She is so cool though. She really would be active if she felt she could be, so we shared the Mormon message of Esther and spoke about courage and trusting in the Lord. It was really nice and the Spirit was really strong. Hopefully she'll be at church on Sonntag! Then we had to run for the bus to get to our next appointment. Just made it in time. So we swapped JT’s for another return missionary and headed over to Reini with A. Again, it was a pretty good lesson. We planned to speak about recognising the Spirit, but that had to change. He realised how important this all was and how important baptism is and so we talked a lot about that and his questions and stuff. It was pretty cool to see that though, just to see him realise what this all actually means and how important it really is .. and oh my goodness, A is a brilliant joint teach! She is totally still in missionary mode, which is so cool! Then it was getting late and we headed home for dinner and planned. It was a pretty packed out and effective day and we got to spend the majority of it with recently RM’s!
So Freitag morgen, we'll begin with studies. So another goal I have this year is to actually study and prepare for the lessons we have on Sonntag. So I was studying the student manual for Sunday school and they have a part in it which is. I actually have no idea how to translate this properly to English, "Ideas to discuss with the Family"??, or something like that, you know what I mean! Well, it says in there to list people, friends, colleagues and neighbours that do not have a Book of Mormon. Think prayerfully about the list and how you will introduce and give a BoM to at least one of these people on the list. So my challenge for you this week is to do that, to list and prayerfully plan how you will do it and then follow through with it. As with every commitment we give out as missionaries, I will be following up about it next week if you don't report back on it in your emails! So after some pretty good studies, we headed out for a bit, including popping by the chapel. Then out again for a bit of finding before popping home for mittagessen. So after Mittags the plan was to do Weekly Planning, oh and we got an SMS from Frau M cancelling on us tonight, which sucks.
V-tag! Actually the Deutsch way is never actually used, but hey! So we headed out to shop, cleaned a bit and then headed to Stäfa to meet with a less active member. It was cool. We spoke about all sorts of stuff and we were there for like well over an hour. We spoke about G and told her we'd send her the talk from Brad Wilcox to read! Then we met with another less active and shared a video with her. Then finally headed back to Wetzikon and it was getting late, so we headed to finish p-day by doing some proper email time! 'Twas great to chat a little! Oh and whilst we were doing that S called us! Like he never calls us and he basically just tells us that something hit him when we were there last with Elder Fischer and Bruder E and he's thought a lot about something Bruder E said and wants to try and relight his torch so to speak, but he wants to take things slowly. So we are super excited about it all!
So Dienstag is the day where we head out for DV! I can't even remember what happened! It was actually a pretty good meeting to be fair. We did a Distriktsauswertungsgespräch where we each give one thing good and one thing that the distrikt can improve on. It was pretty interesting to see what the distrikt actually thought about it! Then Elder Fischer spoke about this weeks’ attribute of Obedience and what true obedience is. Just some notes I took was about willingness to be obedient- why do we do it, because we have to or because we want to? It isn't questioning why we should do it, we just do it ‘cause we love the Lord and know that all things will be for our benefit and learning. How real obedience is placing ones heart and will on the sacrificial altar, giving it all to the Lord. Then Elder Heller spoke about goals and about also having long term goals. How important it is not just to have goals, but to have a plan to help achieve those goals, otherwise there is no point in them, as you'll likely never achieve them without a plan, which lead into the Sisters assignment about Weekly Planning and having an effective weekly planning session. It was good! Then we had lunch together. Then we left ‘cause we needed to get to the Kreibüro, so I could extend my Ausweis! We missed district finding this week! Sad times! So we finally got that sorted and then had to pop into IKEA, as the hinges of one of our cupboards in the kitchen just completely snapped off for like no reason whatsoever last night! So the Kreisbüro is near an IKEA, so we decided it made the most sense to pop in then, as it's also the nearest IKEA to where we are, so we did just that. Found the hinges we needed after trawling through the place to try and get to the Hall bit where you pick up stuff and as per - it was packed, just as IKEA always is. Well its Swedish prices in Switzerland, so who wouldn't go for it! Then time was getting on so we headed home, fixed the cupboard quickly before heading to S. That was actually pretty good! He really wants us to visit his wife as well who’s in a care home type place, so we'll do that tomorrow! Then home for a bit of bendessen and the day was fast over!
Mittwoch after all of our studies we headed out to Rapperswil and it is pretty beautiful there. I forgot to take pictures ‘cause we were too busy trying to find the Lords’ elect! Although we didn't have too much success this morning, so we headed home to grab mittagessen before popping out to the Care home where the wife from S is. We waited for J to arrive, as he was our JT for the day. We went in, brought her a little gift, sang a song and prayed with her and that was like the extent of our visit, as it's not really a visit, as she can't talk and the right side of her body is paralysed, but she seemed to enjoy it. She hums along to the hymn we sung and she did like a blowing kiss-type gesture, which I believe means danke! Then we met S downstairs in the Cafeteria afterwards as we planned and spoke to him again for a while and had more Peppermint tea with him! It's like a tradition, whenever we meet with him, we have Peppermint tea! Then we headed to the chapel to get something and then finding for a few hours and home! It was a pretty nice day! Tomorrow is pretty full, so it should be a good day!
Donnerstag was a crazy busy day! We began by popping to the chapel to get train times for our appointment, before leaving to actually get there! We headed down to Meilen to go by a less active family for lunch and then shared a little lesson about looking for the hand of the Lord in our lives, shared a Mormon message from President Eyring and then went round the room and everyone shared one thing where the Lord had blessed them that very morning. It was pretty cool! Then we set up an appointment, so we can start teaching her kids, who aren't members, so that will be pretty cool! Then ‘cause we had J being our JT again we went by a former who lives not too far from this family and she was home, so we shared a quick message, as we needed to head off to Stäfa for our next appointment. That was cool and we set up a return appointment with her. Then we headed off to our next one with C! She's a bit less active and is going through quite a difficult time right now. She is so cool though. She really would be active if she felt she could be, so we shared the Mormon message of Esther and spoke about courage and trusting in the Lord. It was really nice and the Spirit was really strong. Hopefully she'll be at church on Sonntag! Then we had to run for the bus to get to our next appointment. Just made it in time. So we swapped JT’s for another return missionary and headed over to Reini with A. Again, it was a pretty good lesson. We planned to speak about recognising the Spirit, but that had to change. He realised how important this all was and how important baptism is and so we talked a lot about that and his questions and stuff. It was pretty cool to see that though, just to see him realise what this all actually means and how important it really is .. and oh my goodness, A is a brilliant joint teach! She is totally still in missionary mode, which is so cool! Then it was getting late and we headed home for dinner and planned. It was a pretty packed out and effective day and we got to spend the majority of it with recently RM’s!
So Freitag morgen, we'll begin with studies. So another goal I have this year is to actually study and prepare for the lessons we have on Sonntag. So I was studying the student manual for Sunday school and they have a part in it which is. I actually have no idea how to translate this properly to English, "Ideas to discuss with the Family"??, or something like that, you know what I mean! Well, it says in there to list people, friends, colleagues and neighbours that do not have a Book of Mormon. Think prayerfully about the list and how you will introduce and give a BoM to at least one of these people on the list. So my challenge for you this week is to do that, to list and prayerfully plan how you will do it and then follow through with it. As with every commitment we give out as missionaries, I will be following up about it next week if you don't report back on it in your emails! So after some pretty good studies, we headed out for a bit, including popping by the chapel. Then out again for a bit of finding before popping home for mittagessen. So after Mittags the plan was to do Weekly Planning, oh and we got an SMS from Frau M cancelling on us tonight, which sucks.
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| Package from Ashleigh arrived |
So Samstag began without any frühsport, as we had to get ready to be on time to leave before 7.40 to get the train to Beautiful Bern! So today was tempeltag! Basically the temple closes on Monday (today when I send my journal entry home) for like 3 weeks, so today was our last opportunity to go this transfer, so we took it! It was a really nice day! I love getting to go to the temple. It is one of the blessings of serving in Switzerland! Then afterwards we popped to the Döner place down the street to grab lunch and there were a few members there, so we went and sat with some members from Gemeinde Aarau, chatted with them and got to know them a little. Then they left and we left a few seconds later and it turned out that they told the guy that they were paying for ours as well, so when we go up to pay afterwards he's like "they already paid for you". Legit! Some members are like the sweetest people ever! Love 'em! Then we headed back home, got home for like 30mins study, as we needed to plan a spiritual thought for the Familie G whom we then headed out to. So this family are half-Swiss half-Chilean (no idea if that’s the politically correct term for people from Chile, but you know what I mean). She is a member and is very active, her husband isn't a member and the boys are semi-active. They are really cool though and such an awesome family. We spoke about the BoM with them and committed them to read for 20mins every day in the BoM! It was a really cool evening! Great way to finish a great day!
What a day! Sonntag is probably one of my favourites! We began the day with GMK with our awesome GML! Then church began! The meeting was really good! There was one talk on Family History, which was really good. Then the other one was about Enduring to the End and it was brilliant- probably one of the best sacrament meeting talks I've heard! Then after the meetings we had the opportunity to give a member a blessing with the Bishop. Oh mensch! I seriously cannot stress how real the Priesthood is! It is such a blessing to have all of these opportunities to exercise that power as a missionary! Then we joined the JAE class for Sonntagschule! J gave it and it was about what we can learn from the Book of Mormon about the Godhead and the Gospel. Again, it was great! Then todays Priesthood class was an overview of the life of President Hunter and it was really interesting! Then we had Gemeinderat, which was pretty good, nice and short! Then off to the Familie D for mittags! We shared the Jenga spiritual thought and oh my goodness, it was probably the shortest game of Jenga I have ever played! Haha! They are such an awesome family though! Then we popped home to grab something before heading to the baptism of the L's daughter. It was such a beautiful baptism! I love this family! Then we headed out to Frau M this evening and did like an intervention lesson ‘cause she is making like no progress and hasn't been to church for like months now and we just don't know what to do with her. So we spoke about a few things and she actually read this time; and she opened up to us about a few things and we ended up having a really spiritual lesson. It was so good. Then we popped to the chapel to pick up some food, which the L’ told us they would leave a few left-overs for us after the baptism and Schw. and J D were there doing some family history, so we chatted with them a bit before heading home and the day was done! Legit this week has been a boss of a week! We have had so much success! Like our average number of lessons so far this transfer is 3-4 lessons a week, this week we had 12 lessons! Like legit!
That was basically the week! Well, we have zone training tomorrow, so that will be fun and interesting as President sent out another Info and Reminders email and said that zone training should be a maximum of 2 hours. In the past they have always been 3 hours and even then they have gone well over, so cutting it down to 2 hours will be very interesting! Then Saturday is transfer calls! Who knows what will happen! This transfer has been strange, like it's felt like it's been forever, but at the same time it also feels like it's gone quickly. So any transfer guesses before Saturday? Will I stay? Or will it be like last Christmas and my Christmas transfer will just be a one transfer area? Well, today we are having district p-day in Winterthur, so I am sending this whilst shopping in Migros again and then we’ll be at the chapel playing games with the district.
Well, for now I will wish you all a Schöne Woche! And don't forget Friday’s Commitment!
Alles liebe,
Elder Ammon Robertson xxxxxxxxxxx
