2 april 2012...eighth letter from Switzerland

2 April 2012

Dear Mama!

Oh man I loved the uchtdorf talk and the STOP IT! Oh and the nelson talk about the plan of salvation, there were by the way a lot of talks about the plan of salvation and enduring to the end and our eternal destiny. Anyway elder nelson said that the big bang theory is like an explosion in an ink shop creating a dictionary hahaha.

I am actually doing much better and am really enjoying this place. I have decided to never be negative again and then my attitude will change with it. It has seemed to be working! We have had ridiculous success in finding people... at least people that would talk a little bit with us! We really have been basking in the blessings of the lord. That is after we have worked very hard and continue to do so.

I heard the session in german and did it in german!! I know most of the german churchy words so I got through it! I got through it very nicely! It was a joy to be able to just sit and listen for the spirit and the love of our heavenly father. I actually felt the spirit more in german this time... probably because I am a missionary. Recently I have been feeling really close to the lord and his love for all of his children. I feel his love and help bearing me up in everything I do. 

Have you also been wearing your seat belt... I saw your promise in my photo book! YOu should keep your promises! Haha prayer is probably more important than seat belts, but like you said we need spiritual and physical safety and strength. 

I also really liked the talk from the prophet when he talked about important decisions and that a lot of different decisions in life are really of no importance like should we sign billy up for soccer this year. What are we having for dinner. haha That was great. We need to look up and make the best decisions while we limit the amount of stress in our lives so that we can be open enough really receive the crucial inspiration and love from god to get through every single day! Oh yeah the gospel is so true.

Did you fly by yourself... you're crazy... the crazy lady.

Elisabeth Huber... the person that was baptized in wiener neustadt, is making so much progress in the gospel! She is feeling the spirit often and strong. I am so happy to be able to have taught her.. Or pretty much be along as the spirit taught her what she needed to know.

 I love you have the best week ever!

Elder Sonne

26 March 2012...Seventh Letter from Switzerland

26 March 2012….seventh letter from Switzerland

Hey MAMA,

We were supposed to have fast and testimony meeting... well we did

but i didn't exactly participate in the fasting... I thought it was the

week after conference! Well, so i guess i will be fasting then anyway..

Guess what!! We got to go to the temple!! WOw That was cool and auf

deutsch! Super awesome. I had a tough time trying to say patriarchal

in german.. its not easy.  Im so jealous...(that you and erica and jared went to general conference in Salt Lake City) actually, not really, I'm fine just strolling down to the church which is 1 minute away and spending the whole day there watching general conference and not having to park and worry and not

be able to see. Its better. so, we watch conference on saturday nigh tand sunday the whole day! 

Its good to hear that brian liked the pictures haha. (picture of scott with the shirt that brian gave him)

The granola bars were wunderbar! Oh yeah thank you!!! 

My companion is learning the guitar.. and we don't have much time to play. 

So, we found some people with the family name, schenk, who came from eggiwil; (relatives on my grandfather's side who are traced back to the 1500's) i didn't know if you had already heard that.

 They weren't too interested in the gospel.

The gospel is all about experiencing and doing; not knowing. If we know and don't do, that is actually worse than not knowing and not doing. Know it and then do it. That's how it works. Only do.

In Doctrine and Covenants 9:6 it describes the will of the Lord being the best.  

That has helped me to be happier and to know I am here for a reason.

Also 2 Nephi 26:24 and 25

I love you mama.

Elder Sonne

19 March 2012...sixth letter from Switzerland

Wow I like the smiley face !!! :) hello mama sunshine!

Wow i still cant believe that Bednar came to stake conference!!!

That is a great point (Elder Bednar's thoughts) with turning out with the love and really showing others what they mean to us and to heavenly father. He knows and we know that everyone that we encounter everyday is a divine son or daughter of a heavenly father, a brother or sister of ours. The people that cut us off on the highway, the people who yell at us for trying to share with them the most important message that could ever be spoken, the people that really annoy us and in and day out have the potential to become like our heavenly father. It is our job to help them get to that point. We cannot bear their sins like Christ but we can make it a little bit easier, we can be the link between them and that first little seed of faith that springs up unto everlasting life. Then we can sit down and eat the fruit from the tree of life together and talk about how many times they rejected the missionaries and thought that we were crazy haha!!!

I love you mama...

Oh and i am not going to be transferred for the next 5 weeks... Ill be here in Zollikofen! I love the spirit. Hey, have a great week!

The gospel is true and the field is white all ready to harvest even in the mountainous villages of Switzerland.

Elder Sonne

19 March 2012...zollikofen, switzerland

Hey Father!!! I know you were up at the matterhorn on your mission!!ahh that's soo cool. Yea that is the same spot as us!!! I was wearing a jacket and shorts because I didn't want to wear my jeans because they are uncomfortable and I wanted to enjoy my p-day!! The people in the gondola with me were laughing about it. They thought it was pretty funny that they were wearing ski stuff and I was wearing shorts... but it was actually really warm that day and especially on the ride up there! No I do not know anyone named Nehrkorn.

Thanks for the words of encouragement! The people here are opening up and the time to work is now... or in a couple hours when p-day ends haha! have a great week. The gospel is true and we need to be active in our faith like it says in james 1 verse 6. The work is good and hard.

Elder Sonne

12 March 2012...fifth letter from Switzerland

march 12 2012...zollikofen, switzerland

we went to the matterhorn today and it was really beautiful... I cant really describe it in words I will just send you the pictures.... We went up to see the matterhorn, but apparently there is a ski resort there. So we rode up in the lift with a bunch of skiers and they were looking at us a little weird. But they were from America, and sweden so they were friendly haha.

Its great to have the opportunity to feel the spirit everyday.

My companion was baptized about a year and a half ago... almost one year after he was baptized, he went on his mission.

We are eating with the members quite often and have regular contact

with them. Our bishop has been stressing working with the members here and letting them know that we are working together.

We do missionary work everyday. I am so tired. We talk to a lot of people who don't like us. But some people don't know who we are...Mostly the young people. We talk to people on the street and from door to door. and in the bus and in the train. We go by on some inactive members sometimes and active members other times. We are always trying to find people and have organized an easter walk in the woods so that people can invite their friends. We have really been pushing the members to get active with their friends because its almost impossible here to find people.

The picture of me with the deodorant was in switzerland; where i finally found the real deodorant!

have you been wearing your seat belt!!??? Hey sorry that I don't have a lot of time, we were busy and i need to wash my shirts! Love you!

Elder Sonne

oh and how is jacob... is he coming soon?

12 march 2012

Hello Vatter,

ahh, you had a translator (Rick spoke in the Spanish Branch).... I thought you suddenly learned Spanish or had the gift of tongues. The week was great, it was good to hear from you. Thank you for your words of wisdom. I love the gospel. Sorry I didn't have very much time to write!

I love you

5 March 2012....fourth letter from Switzerland

5 march 2012...Zollikofen, Switzerland

Hey mama

I have been really praying with some fervor like Enos... He wrestled for his soul and the people. I haven't done any good yelling that carries to the heavens but its good...this week i read in Jesus the Christ that true prayers are not filled with words, but with deep yearning and heart throbs. That Is cool! Sometimes I ask Heavenly Father how he's doing... its pretty cool.. just to have a nice conversation with him.

yea my companion speaks english... but we speak only German to one another.

the people here speak some english.. we have an investigator who is from america so i can let my vocabulary loose on him haha.

maybe I'll head over to eggiwil in a couple of weeks thats a good idea.

i think we have daylight savings... not really sure.

have a great week, I hope i wont be as tired this week. Yesterday this spirit was so strong at church that i basically cried the whole time and then was so tired i fell asleep when i was studying german afterward. Completely dead from the spirit!

I love you!!! the church is so true ahh!

Elder sonne

Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 1:32 PM:

Hey Father!!

Did you get a chance to do the scripture and church `activity` thing?? it has really helped me to come closer to heavenly father... Today I figured out something about mercy and justice... there are two things which the resurrection of jesus does... gives us our bodies back and brings us back to be judged. The mercy part of the atonement has two effects. The first is that we don't have to pay for our sins the second is that we can be clean and go back to live with heavnely father. The first... the punishment for sins has to be made either by us before the resurrection in hell or by jesus. It is our choice to let him take the burdens from us. When we do this, he also promises that we can be made clean to live with God again. The one is to satisfy the demands of justice (punishment) the other is to make us worthy to live with God and actually be clean! I am so grateful for jesus christ, our older brother who suffered so that we don't have to and who suffered for our eternal joy and happiness together with heavenly father. Dad, isn't that sooo cool ???!!!

My companion is from Coburg in bavaria. the names of the missionaries in my district are elder schulzke, elder nakkin( who used to live in st. louis and knows tanner pretty well, he now lives in utah and it turns out that I hung out with him at byu!) elder Sanderson from utah, elder Ramsbottom from England and elder and sister Fox.

yea im still in pretty good shape! I just bought my first swiss chocolate today so don't worry about it... I won't get fat, I'm too prideful haha.

Yea the people here aren't soo bad... the real potential is in the youth of the place... we will get em!!! We have been having great success with that.

Have a great week and I love you

Elder Sonne

27 February 2012...third letter from Switzerland

27 february 2012...Zollikofen, Switzerland

Hey vatter, (father)

haha the people knew when you came?! thats awesome!

(scott's Father, Rick, commented that the people in Switzerland were very aware when the new missionaries came to town...transfer day...He was in the french speaking area of Switzerland in the 70's)

Zone conferences are once every two or three months. We had one recently and it really was good. He talked about faith a lot and really applying the principles we learn. I have started to apply the things that I learn in the scriptures that i should do, and I have quite a long list of how to improve myself and specific things that I can do to be a better missionary. Maybe you could try that out.

He also stressed getting revelation when we go to church. We should bring a question to church that we want answered and write it down. We should then pay attention to the spirit and not exactly to what the people are saying, really pay attention to the spirit and by the end of the meeting, the question will be answered. Oh, and it works. I have done it 3 or 4 sundays in a row. Try that out its really cool and you feel the spirit much more when you are really paying attention to him and not the speaker. (When Rick spoke as a high council member in March, he mentioned this and suggested that people try it)

(Rick asked how big the zone is) I have no idea how big the zone is here... maybe like 20 missionaries or 25. There are 6 missionaries and a senior missionary couple in the district. We are doing an exchange today with the zone leaders. It is a little bit tough to have a german companion because he is really german and everything must be precise for him... other than that, we really don't talk much because we are talking to people on the street. And otherwise, sometimes about star wars.

Yes there is snow and recently we have seen some really beautiful mountains when the sky is clear you can see that the horizon has mountains surrounding us.

Everything is great i just got my fingerprints taken today and i am finalized as legal here.

We usually eat fruit and cereal for breakfast, for lunch we usually have sandwiches and noodles and sandwiches for dinner. oh, and we had tacos the other night which was really festive... not a whole lot of time to cook or live or breathe....

The drivers license is not a big deal... i can't drive here anyway without an extra test so i do not think i will be driving.

A woman in our ward traced some of moms relatives to the 1300s so maybe i can ask her about that!!! (ancestors on my father's side have been traced back to the late 1500's in Eggiwil. Switzerland)

I love you and have a great week!!!

Elder Sonne sun

20 February 2012....second letter from Switzerland

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.

Haha...Yes, (I looked up scott's address on google earth and asked him about his apartment location and what something meant that i could read on the back of the bus next to his apartment) it's right across from the train and bus station in Zollikofen! We are about 3 minutes from the church and from the temple. ... the words on the back of the bus means "sorry that i am so slow!!"

(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