20 February 2012...Zollikofen, Switzerland
(I just spoke with Annagreth Bailey on the phone and she said to tell you that they are thinking of you....and here are some ideas from her about Switzerland!..Yes, it is tough and the people in Switzerland are mainly middle class to upper middle class...no poor, so they are very satisfied...they have all that they want and more...they are liberal minded and intellectuals and a lot of them are atheists...the churches are very empty! She thinks that the best way to teach is to have the members invite their friends to church. Most of the swiss church population are older people right now...)
Mom...
so in relation to what annagreth said... Yea I have been praying about what we can do here and working through the members is really what I felt like is the best way to work.
OH and we taught an inactive woman with an old member. At the end, the man told us that we were great missionaries. and then today, we saw an investigator today who has been going on and off with the church for the past 25 years. He said that I am one of the most motivated missionaries he has ever met... I thought you would like that :)
Haha... about german...(we asked scott how German is going) We taught a man named rajeev in english and at the end I prayed in english.. or at least i tried. I ended up starting in english and finishing in german because I couldn't make it through the end completely in english.
(We asked him if the 3 missionaries that traveled to Switzerland, on the day he did, got the last 3 american visas) Yes so we were the last ones to make it! I have a visa until 2021. SO, i think I will be here for a while.
Oh and yea, Eggiwil (Eggiwil, Switzerland is where my ancestors are from...The Schenk Name....paternal side of my family...traced back to the 1500's) is very close to me, not in my area but very close. An old member knew about the Schenks in Eggiwil and there is a woman in Utah who is also from the Schenks who married some general authority. I know that the missionary work is worth it! We have really been tearing it up here trying to find people.
20 February 2012 Zollikofen, Switzerland
DAD,
Every single person here knows us. It's like we are in Salt Lake, but they are not members. In the last transfer, they gave out 5 Book of Mormons and this past Tuesday, we gave out 6. We are really working hard and I think it is starting to pay off. We started to find some more people and got a couple of numbers the last week and made some appointments on the street. It was really cool.
We are the last american missionaries to be able to get a visa for more than a couple of months. One of the last 3 missionaries.
There are 150 missionaries in this mission and I have no idea how many in switzerland. We use public transportation usually.
The way we talk with people really depends on what the spirit says to us. We talk sometimes about the family... being truly happy, jesus, the book of mormon, the purpose of life, the spirit, prophets, and usually always tie it back to the book of mormon and joseph smith.
Its been tough with a german companion because he is so exact with everything he does and it really bothered me for a while but its better when we just let things go and be happy because what has happened has happened and the way we take it depends how we live our lives; who we are and what quality of life we live.
Its really tough to have a good attitude sometimes when I really think about how the people aren't listening and their amount of suffering in this life and the world to come will depend on if i talk to them... SO, i have really been working as hard as a i can to talk to every single person I see!
Have a great week and play some golf for me!
Elder Sonne
