Zucchini

Dear Everybody,

Alright. Story time.

Once upon a time, the bikes that the church buys are not very good. The chain on mine keeps coming off. But we managed to make it to church this Sunday. Then we left our dinner appointment and headed out to our appointment with a new investigator. The chain came off again. A man walking by stopped to help us. He fixed it, (relatively) and we had the opportunity to talk to him. Sometimes the Lord breaks your bicycle. Sometimes He breaks it a lot.

As we continued, we were going slow so that it would not break, but as we headed up a hill, the chain clean off. (I should also mention that we had a giant zucchini with us because the members love to give us vegetables, since they think that we are really poor.) We were picked up by our ward mission leader and his dad who were driving there to meet us for the appointment. Brother Heller is really good at fixing our bikes, but he realized what the problem was. The bike frame is bent inward. Like a crescent moon. And we were still carrying the zucchini.

So we ended up forty minutes late to our appointment, but our investigator was sick, so she could not meet with us. And as we walked down we met a man who had just come home and had a conversation with him. Small and simple are the ways of the Lord.

We then started home with the giant zucchini. It turned out to be a great conversation starter. We talked to several people using it. Small and simple are the ways of the Lord.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I know that the Lord will bless you as you try to do little things. Sometimes we do not always see what He has in mind.

I would like to encourage everyone to pray for missionary experiences. And for those of you who are not sure how to work with the missionaries, ask the missionaries. They can help you. If possible watch the work of salvation DVD. The missionaries should have it (I think). The time has come for the missionaries and the members to work together as never before. Fulfill your baptismal covenant to stand as a witness at all times. Share the happiness, as our mission president says. And I echo the words of Elder Holland. When miracles seem the least likely to come, endure. Sometimes that is all we can do. Then the miracle comes. I know. I have seen so many.

As a witness of Jesus Christ called from a prophet of God, I testify that He lives. That He is hastening his work. That He blesses us in our efforts to share the Gospel with others. And especially that He answers prayers. Pray for experiences. In German, God does not hear prayers. The verb to hear is hören. The verb for God is erhören. To hear and answer. (er strengthens verbs). He wants you to speak with Him. He will speak back to you. Of this, I testify.

In my prayers,

Elder Perez

P.S. The zucchini will be of further use as bread, some for us and some for investigators/less active members.

 

 

Elder Perez serving in Germany week 2.  So happy!

Elder Perez arrived in Germany! October 16, 2013

Dear Everybody,

15 pounds exactly. Apparently my suit weighs two pounds. And don't worry. Now that we bike everywhere, I won't get fat. It is a half an hour bike ride both ways to get to church. Unless we are taking Bruder Werder to church. Then it takes 120 minutes. He is 75. Makes sense.

Germany. No, I do not have culture shock. Yes, I understand what people are saying. Germans can tell when you are foreign from the way that you talk. They usually slow down for you at first, but with me, they figure out that they don't need to. Gift of tongues is awesome. That is probably the only reason that I can still speak English. Most of the members have complimented me on my German. They are amazing people. I love them and I know God loves them too. I have conversations with normal people all the time. We have done a lot of contacting. Our ward mission leader is also amazing. His name is Mathias. (M-a-t-ee-as) He helps us out a lot.

Cultural differences are many and small. The sidewalks are cobblestone. Keys go into the lock upside down. There are no public smoking laws. People smoke everywhere. There are tons of people, because Germany has actually cities, not suburbs. Buildings are half-timber? instead of brick, so they look better. There is a ton of graffitti. The z and y key are switched on the keyboard. It is super humid. There are trees (real trees, not Utah trees) everywhere. There is twice as much air here. And no mountains. It is fairly flat. (There are some "hills". ) That sort of thing.

I am currently assigned to Leest, a city just outside of Potsdam in the former East Germany area. We have one of the largest branches in Germany, and one of the only branches that has its own ward house. The members built it while the wall was up. Pretty cool. Everyone here is really nice. Most people will at least here what you have to say, if you do street contacting at the right time. When people aren't busy, they won't pretend that they are. My trainer and I, Elder Davis, have had some really good contacting experiences, street and door to door. We have a couple appointments to come back and visit people this week. I am excited.

Now I would like to say something to the people that are preparing to serve missions. This comes from several sources namely apostles, my mission president (Most amazing man that I have ever met. Punkt.). If you are called to certain missions, and as Elder Ballard said, particularly those in Europe, people will tell you that you probably will not baptize people. Doch! (That is absolutely, unequivocally, undeniably untrue.) God is the one that grants us success and he has been preparing people in your mission to recieve your message since long before you were born. He does not command you to "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" and then not prepare a way that you can accomplish that. If you are doing everything you can to find the people who are prepared, and you put your faith in Him, you will be able to perform miracles, including converting people to the Gospel. (What a miracle is that.) Success as a missionary is not determined by the number of baptisms you have, but there is work to be done. The field is white already to harvest, and as one of the Elders put it, when a wheat field is white, that means it probably should have been harvested yesterday. I have been here for less than a week. I have seen miracles, I have seen people who are prepared, they just need the missionaries, the servants of God who are called to help them to recieve His Gospel. And that includes baptism.

That was something that has been pressed upon my mind this week that I felt that I should share.

Overall, I am doing well. Missionary work is the most exhausting thing that I have ever done. You go throughout the day, and perform the Lord's work and you feel like you could outbike Lance Armstrong. Then you get home. The Spirit stops strengthening you. As Elder Davis said, Ich will mich sterben. Ich will hier bleiben und schlafen. His other favorite phrase is, Ich könnte mich tot lachen. (I could laugh myself to death.) But we have a lot of fun. It is so enjoyable. From bike, to bus, to train, to other bus, we travel around. We preach the word, sometimes in English. There are a lot of foreigners in Germany, that don't speak German. Our shelf has the Book of Mormon is three dozen languages or so. And our apartment is on the very top floor after 72 stairs, twelve flights. (Maybe that is why we are tired at the end of the day.) But it is wonderful. There is no greater work. Love everyone. Hope they are doing well. I promise pictures after I get a SD card adapter.

In my prayers,

sincerely,

Elder Perez (P-e as in get-r-same e-ts. There is not really a z sound in German.)

 

Elders Conley, Lawyer, Perez, Morley, Randall and Hogan arrive safely and happy in Germany

 

First companion and trainer Elder Davis with Elder Perez and President and Sister Kosak
 

 

New Missionary Conference

 

 

 



Pictures at the MTC

Elder Perez and companions

The Zone at the MTC

First haircut

MTC Lessons

Dear Everybody,

This time next week I will be in Germany. We received our travel itinerary. We have a 21 hour flight to Amsterdam, a four hour layover, and a one hour flight to Berlin. Never flown on a commercial flight before. This should be a fun experience. I am very excited. The MTC is a great place. But I do not sit still well. And the MTC is a lot of sitting still. For hours. So this is my final email from the MTC. A summary of what I have gained here:

-testimony strengthened

-Book of Mormon reread... twice

-greater patience

-greater charity and love

-greater virtue

-close to twenty pounds (No idea where that is. Only difference I can detect is that my calves now look like Grant's from running. Watch out buddy.)

-greater desire to get to Germany

-stronger relationship with my Heavenly Father

-more sincere prayer

-one haircut (sent a picture)

-lots of books (Jesus the Christ, copies of the Book of Mormon, German textbook, etc.)

-different colored shoes (The brown shoe polish changed my red-brown shoes to a darker, rustic color. It looks sweet.)

-friends

-mail (Yay!)

-a deeper knowledge of the principles of teaching, the gospel, and the scriptures

-a plane ticket to Germany

-inability to speak English, spell English, or think of English words

-mediocre ability at correct German conversation

-a deeper commitment to sincere personal prayer and communication with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

-taste for music no matter how bad it is (This just comes from not listening to it.)

-taste for really good church music

-greater love of the German language in many aspects

-greater love for English in some aspects and greater disgust for English in many aspects

-how to do laundry (I already knew how, but I actually did it is the difference. Mom, the sweaters we bought were cotton. We should have bought one size bigger. I did not make the mistake of putting them in the dryer, so they fit, do not worry.)

-greater love for the Savior and appreciation of the Atonement

-greater enthusiasm to serve

-a lot more

That is a pretty good summary of what has happened. It has been wonderful, and incredibly patience trying. Until probably two weeks from now.

Gott sei mit euch.

sincerely,

Elder Perez

MTC week 4

Dear Everybody,

I keep forgetting that I am using a German keyboard. The z and the y are switched. You wouldn't imagine that to be much of a problem, but it comes up more often that you think. I have less than two weeks here in the MTC. Very exciting. We receive our travel plans this weekend according to our branch presidency. Fun. Once again I am sorry for the lack of pictures. They have to be sent one at a time, and I forgot my camera again. But I promise next time I will have pictures, for all the time that I have spent in the MTC. There aren't many of them, because they do not allow you to take pictures most places on the campus. Oh well. I have had some interesting experiences with our investigators. We read the Book of Mormon along with one of them because he had not had time to read that week. The Spirit was so strong. That is how the Book of Mormon works. It is impossible to read it without feeling the Spirit. It is the true converting power of the church. Michael is having a more difficult time. It is really hard for him to understand since he has no Christian background. But it is still coming along. Our TRC is the most enjoyable time, where we teach lessons to real German members. One of the members shared his conversion story with us. It was really neat. We also had an amazing Sunday devotional this week from David Baxter of the Seventy. I am curious if there is anywhere that you could watch the Sunday devotionals. They probably air on BYU. You could see me in the choir if that was the case. No idea. Other than the fact that I am on the verge of leaving, There is nothing else to report. Routine stuff everyday. Not much changes. I am excited for conference this weekend. It should be a nice change of pace. We have two new investigators this week. The other missionaries in our district. We are there two new investigators. I have no idea how this is going to work, four missionaries with far from perfect German trying to hold a conversation. Guess we will find out soon. I hope that everything is going well with everyone. Die Gnade sie mit euch. 

sincerely,

Elder Perez