2017 Reunion

2017 Reunion

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Commitment and Perseverance

Though Elder Featherstone has changed the details, it goes something like this.
"The farmer told his wife he was going out to mow the north forty. On his way to the machine shed, he noticed a loose board on the corn crib. So he went to look for a hammer and some nails which he remembered leaving on the back porch. This led him through the garden which he noticed was quite weedy. He decided to weed a row of carrots, telling himself that he ought to weed a row a day.

About two-thirds of the way down the carrot row he straightened up to rest his back and, looking over his shoulder, he saw he had left the gate open and some hens had come into the garden and were scratching up his sweet corn. It took about fifteen minutes to get them out and back into the hen yard. It took another half hour to mend the hole through which they were getting out. After that he figured he had just as well gather the eggs. As he began to do so, he noticed that the nests needed more straw; so he left the eggs and went after a bale of straw. Is he was about to pick up the straw, he noticed his pitchfork had a broken handle and remembered that he hadn't fixed it. So he went to the machine shop to hunt for the new handle he had bought. While hunting, he stumbled across the mowing machine and remembered he was going to spend the day mowing. It wasn't much past 10:00 A.M.; so he decided to return to his original plan.
Only he remembered he hadn't greased the mower. He started to hunt for his grease gun. After some searching he remembered that he had left it in the garage. When he found it, it was empty, and he didn't have a refill. So he got in his car and went to town to get some grease. As he passed Sleepy Corners he stopped at Sleepy Joe's for a doughnut and a glass of milk. Some of the boys were there, and he learned that the bass were biting down at the reservoir south of town. He got home about lunch time. After lunch, on his way to the machine shed he stumbled over the hoe he had left in the garden. He remembered hoeing up some worms and decided to see if he could find some to set aside for some evening fishing. It didn't take long to get a can of worms.
At this point he decided the day was pretty well shot anyway, and he had just as well go fishing right now instead of waiting until evening."

Do you see yourself here in your daily missionary life - sometimes? This is a story about a farmer who fails to get his work done because he lacks firm commitment.  The opposite of this sort of aimlessness is well-directed persistence based on proper planning. Persistence eventually and finally wins. Sometimes worthwhile things come easily; but usually they come hard and slow.
PMG, page 195 states, "commitment is an essential part of repentance. It is the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently following through on that decision."

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Real Growth in the Germany Berlin Mission

Sic Parvis Magna- greatness from small beginnings - Sir Francis Drake:
This week in the mission home yard -



Then a visit of President's "Tree of Life" in the Pückler Park in Cottbus. It's a Red Beech tree.




Sunday, May 26, 2013

Last Zone Training Meetings - Interviews May 2013

Zone Hannover East
Zone Hamburg
Zone Hannover West
Zone Oldenburg

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Missionaries who Catch the 'Spring' Wave

District Lauenburg ready for work!



Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Zone Dresden missionary life

Get to know the cities you serve in, the beautiful landscapes, the history, and you will love and understand the people better.



P-day wisely used in the Saxonian Switzerland.


Missionaries conquering the Bastei.


District Dresden at the temple.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

We Pray For Our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson and His beloved Wife, Sister Frances J. Monson


Photo by Gerry Avant
President Monson and his wife, Sister Frances Monson, pause outside the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple after the first dedicatory session Aug. 21, 2009, which was his 82nd birthday.

Our beloved Sister Frances J. Monson passed away. We're happy for believing in Eternal Families and we pray for our prophet.
From www.ldschurchnews.com: “Search far and wide, high and low, but it’s doubtful you’ll find anyone less willing to talk about herself than Frances J. Monson.”
In 1998, she and President Monson received the Continuum of Caring Humanitarian Award from Friends of St. Joseph’s Villa, a care center in Salt Lake City. I think she was a bit uncomfortable about being put in the limelight, but she graciously agreed to deliver a speech at the award ceremony. She was a giver who never wanted credit.
“I perhaps would have been content to perform my service in life by raising our children, participating in the Relief Society, and helping others as my time and energy permitted,” she said upon accepting the award. “But because of the Church callings my husband has had throughout our married life, I have, with him, witnessed more pain, more suffering, more need among God’s children than otherwise would have been the case. If I have been able in some small way to help alleviate such suffering, such need, I am most grateful.”
She quoted a famous psychiatrist who gave a lecture on mental health and answered questions from the audience. Someone asked, “What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?”
Sister Monson said, “Most people would have expected him to reply, ‘Consult a psychiatrist.’ To their astonishment, he replied, ‘Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need and do something to help that person.’ ”
That is how Sister Monson lived her life. She found people in need and helped them.
She liked this poem by Emily Dickinson:
“If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can cease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.”
Sister Monson did not live in vain.
“When the Savior was here upon the earth, He taught, He blessed, He served,” she said when she was honored by Friends of St. Joseph’s Villa. “Now that He no longer walks among us as a mortal man, it is left to us to do His work, to minister to the needs of others. He has no hands but ours.”

Let us follow her example, dear Elders and Sisters. 

Zone Training Meetings-Interviews in Chemnitz and Dresden, May 2013

Zone Chemnitz 05-13
Happy Zone Chemnitz 05-13
Zone Dresden 05-13


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Stake Conference Dresden - "60 missionaries" Choir

What a moment of edification! 60 missionaries singing in a Missionary Choir like angels at Stake Conference in Dresden. As Area Seventies were attending Elder Olson and Elder Leimer!!




Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Goodbye to Sister Avanesjan - leaving to Provo MTC - We pray for you!

Sister Avanesjan and Sister Beesley

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Mission Life May 2013

Elder Schuerer [Neumuenster] as the good helper for APARTMENTS! Thanks to you
Leipzig Sisters Darrington and Woodward ready for Service Project
Missionary work is hard and exhausting.

Zone Training Meetings with Interviews in May 2013

ZTM Berlin North
ZTM Berlin South
ZTM Leipzig
ZTM Neubrandenburg

ZTM Neumuenster

Returned Missionaries return again - Elders Baker, Ott, and Hamilton [May 2013]

Family Baker with Elder Jonathan Baker visiting Mission home
Returned Elders Ott and Hamilton visiting Mission home

Monday, May 6, 2013

May News - new Missionary Couple and Visits

Our First East German Missionary Couple - Elder/Sister Hengst from Saxony
Brandenburg Visit with Elders Dryden and Blau
Former Elder Ryan Shepherd and parents visited Mission Office


Saturday, May 4, 2013

First MISSION LEADERSHIP COUNCIL, May 3, 2013 - with Sister Training Leaders

22 Zone Leaders, 2 Assistants, and 8 Sister Training Leaders


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Eleventh Zone in Hannover 05-2013

17 new Sisters and 8 new Elders = 9 new Proselyting Areas

New Missionaries and Their Trainers - May 2013 - Welcome in the Germany Berlin Mission

Elders Beck and Youngblood
Elders Grenko and Rich
Elders Linderman and Wilde
Elders Marshall and Crotts
Elders Seedall and Becar
Elders Tanner and Lee
Elders Tolbert and Fredrickson
Elders Whitehead and Meeks
Sisters Dunlap and Shipley
Sisters Hayden and McBride
Sisters Knoll and Jardine
Sisters Babbitt and Miller
Sisters Bradshaw and Sadler
Sisters Champenois and Cameron
Sisters Child and Keller
Sisters Cluff and Nilson
Sisters Diederich and Madsen
Sisters M. Hansen and Schoepf
Sisters Jensen and Johnson
Sisters McCandless and Pickett
Sisters Odenwalder and Gray
Sisters Peine and Lartey
Sisters Schmidt and Piteck
Sisters Wallin and Veselka
Sisters Woodward and Darrington
Trainers May 2013