26 September 2011
Grütze familie und freunde,
This week has been just about the same as the other weeks.. some good and some bad... but with the help of the lord we can endure anything...
This week, we have received so much food from people... on Wednesday or Tuesday we got a 20-pound gift basket of vegetables from a less active member. On Thursday, we received three pizzas from one family and 2 meals worth of food from another family... we have actually ended up with more food today that we had a week ago after shopping... so we don’t actually have to shop for food this week haha.
My German has been getting much better this last week. I’m not sure why, but I think something in my head just clicked and I can pretty much communicate what I want to say. It occasionally comes aus (out) slow, however, it comes out eventually.... we had a street display on Saturday and towards the end, I started talking to some Americans and I couldn’t think of some English words to say because I had been thinking in German and speaking so much :) Also, during this street display, I found a couple who were actually very interested in the gospel and the Book of Mormon... He actually quoted to me Galatians 4 verse 10 to 12... do you have that scripture memorized?? It really caught me off guard because I was just about to quote it to him. It is about the gospel being laid upon a foundation of apostles and prophets... I also was telling him about Joseph smith and he said all right... that is great, but what does it mean to me? If God still speaks to men, shouldn’t he have a living prophet right now? YES HE DOes …it was so great... their names are the Schoenfelds!
So yesterday, I gave a talk in church.. It turned out to be the longest talk I have ever given because I was speaking super slowly... I spoke about the apostasy and the restoration.. I compared, as best I could in German, the apostasy to the darkness which covered the Nephites and Lamanites after the death of Jesus. It was so thick that the people could feel it. There could not be any light it was so dark. The gospel, the light and truth, came back to the world when Joseph smith had the first vision.. The heavens are once again open and we have the light of the gospel.. But most of the people in the world are still living in darkness.. They are living as though the restoration never took place. It is our responsibility to share the light... We are to be the light of the world. A city which is set upon a hill cannot be hid. Let our light shine and show people living in darkness to the light and the iron rod of the gospel. ... That’s the shortened version of it in English... it didn’t go over very well because I hand wrote it instead of just telling the story. My handwriting is awful so I could exactly read it; it was a little embarrassing but I got through it.
Today I found a talk from Elder Bednar in the apartment. In this talk he describes 3 ways to study the scriptures. The first is to read from front to back and understand the story and to feel the spirit. The second is to study by topic while reading from front to back. The third is to search by finding connections, patters, and themes within the scriptures. It was really good and it has changed the way that I plan to study. The church is true and I am so excited to hear the words of a living prophet who receives revelation for the entire world; For each and every person.
Bis Nächste woche!
Elder Sonne
