HAPPY HOLIDAYS PART 2 VOLUME 1

Hey everyone!

It was a pretty quick week this time around!  That is, except for Thursday.  I can say with all honesty that Thursday felt like the longest day of my life.  Was it bad day?  No.  I actually enjoyed it, but it lasted FOREVER.  I think it was because we had a split in the morning, went straight to district meeting afterwards, had two lessons with a new convert and then a less active right after, and then had an emergency split.  Luckily, no actual emergency occurred, but one of the Essen Elders just had to go with his bishop to go teach their investigator, and his companion stayed behind (something about the nature of the lesson and request of the investigator that I won't spend too much text on explaining).  The split was pretty good, though.  I also had my first interview with our mission president, President Stoddard, and that was pretty awesome.  He's a really great guy.  We're getting a new President in January, though.

We tried our hardest to get some of our investigators to church.  We had a specified meeting location with one of them planned out on Saturday night, to be at 9:00 AM Sunday at said place, and we had a ride set up and everything, and the meeting location was pretty close to his house, apparently.  But unfortunately, he didn't show up.  Still not sure what happened, but we will continue to employ more ways to increase these people's desires to come to church and partake of the Atonement.  I hope we can see success with this sometime.

I also came up with a new type of contact that we have encountered several times on my mission so far.  We will be going door-to-door contacting through apartments, and ringing the doorbells on the outside of the buildings.  Sometimes, when a person wants to see who it is, but doesn't want to walk down to do it, or let them inside the building, they will poke their head out the window and shout at us to get our attention.  It's a funny image when they are on the top floor.  I've named them "Monty Python" contacts: 

 "Would you like a Book of Mormon?"

"Uh...no, sorry.  We've already got one."

*turning to other people in the room while chuckling*

"I told them we already got one."

Love it.  But it would be much better if they would just let us in and accept our entire message, naturally.

ALSO, I LOVE GERMAN.  HERE ARE A FEW THINGS I HAVE LEARNED AND EXPERIENCED SO FAR THAT I HAVENT TOLD YOU ALL ABOUT:

1.  The word for lightbulb is Glühbirne, which, when translated literally, means "glowing pear."

2.  A Meerkat is called Erdmännchen, which, when translated literally, means "Little Earth Man."  

3.  People here use "hammer" in place of "bee's knees" essentially.  "Er ist der Hammer" just means "he is a really cool guy."  I will certainly use this when I come home some day, even--no, especially--if nobody gets it.  So, anticipate that a little over a year and a half from now.

4.  In Essen Central Train Station you will often hear a German warning over the intercom, saying to hold onto your personal belongings firmly to prevent them from being stolen.  Then, an English translation plays afterwards, saying: "Attention guests.  There are TRICKSTERS in the train station.  Please be alert."

5.  "Zeug" means "stuff" (sort-of?) and "Spielzeug", "Werkzeug", "Feuerzeug", meaning "toy", "tool", and "lighter", translate literally into "play-stuff", "work-stuff" "fire-stuff" respectively.  

6.  Alarm clock is "Der Wecker", which I take to mean a translation to "The Waker".

7.  The word for groceries is "Lebensmittel", translating literally into "LIFE SUBSTANCE".

Anyways, those are the things I can currently remember.  More to come.  

Time to switch to a little more serious and important note:

This morning I read Mosiah 2-3.  I really enjoy the part where King Benjamin lists off two things to note and follow concerning God as our Father in 2:23 and 24.  I feel that much much of the chapter, he emphasizes how keeping the commandments is one of the best ways to show our gratitude to God, even though nothing we do will ever make up for all he has given us.  While reading through the chapter and Book of Mormon institute manual, I saw the following quote concerning Christ's Atonement by Neil A. Maxwell:

“Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds, ‘astonished’! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fulness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! No wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.)

The cumulative weight of all mortal sins--past, present, and future--pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow, too, a part of the awful arithmetic of the Atonement. (See Alma 7:11–12; Isaiah 53:3–5; Matthew 8:17.) The anguished Jesus not only pled with the Father that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with this relevant citation. ‘And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me’ (Mark 14:35–36).

Had not Jesus, as Jehovah, said to Abraham, ‘Is any thing too hard for the Lord?’ (Genesis 18:14). Had not His angel told a perplexed Mary, ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible’? (Luke 1:37; see also Matthew 19:28; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27).

Jesus' request was not theater! In this extremity, did He, perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His suffering--as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity--evoked His later soul-cry on the cross, and it was a cry of forsakenness. (See Matthew 27:46.) Even so, Jesus maintained this sublime submissiveness, as He had in Gethsemane: ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt’ (Matthew 26:39)” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1985, 92; or Ensign, May 1985, 72–73).

We simply cannot comprehend the extent of the Atonement and what was experienced by our Savior in the completion of it.  But we can understand that it was indeed a great suffering that was endured by Christ lovingly for us.  And we can understand that the Atonement of Him is accessible, so long as we remain humble and consistently do our best to keep the commandments of God.  I know that Christ is our Lord, Savior, and King and I am so grateful for His Atonement!

And with that, I think that's about all I have for you guys.  We're on our way to the Bochum Christmas Market right now.  I hear this one is even better than Oberhausen's (I totally assume you guys know what that means exactly).

I love you guys.  Thanks for humoring me by reading my letters, and I sincerely thank you for all the prayers.  I think about you all often, both my family and many of the awesome people I have met along the way.  

Love,

Elder Wallentine

I think this is a swan but I am afraid to make a conclusive opinion right now.  We walk by it about three times a week at least.

A letter Elder Wallentine typed on a typewriter and mailed : )

Hello dearest family,

I am far from home at this time of year. Indeed, it is a rather distant journey from our hearth of Idaho to this strange land of wispy winds and men who eat of the swine. It is also cold, and I find myself looking out the windows here oft, into the cripplingly frigid late Autumn sky. I find myself thinking about all the fond memories of our home quite often before realizing that it, perhaps, is a bit of a futile effort for me to console myself through the memories of a home far away. Nonetheless, I maintain you in my thoughts, and am sending you this telegraph from far across the sea. I hope that this makes it safely to your abode, that you may perhaps gain word that I am (quite) alive and well--still, that is.

I do ask myself as my fingers type carefully on this witchy machine, if it is reliable to type and send a letter such as this in an era of magical computer technologies of wizardry and curious contraptions. I must be prudent in the manner of which I type and the importance of what I type, for I do not trust the Deutsche Post man to deliver this letter all safely to you, nor do I trust myself to type this letter with minimal flaws of mistyping, as I have assumed you have already noticed thus far. Please be forgiving of any erors that I make in my epistle to you. That is, once more, assuming that you have successfully received this telegram from the mysterious Deutsche Post man. But never mind that, as you are clearly reading this now. I simply am writing you all to adroitly express my happy biddings to you on the morn of this peculiar holiday season. I will have likely already wished such biddings in the much more efficient and reliable medium of Google Mail, which I hope that you have heretofore appreciated, as I have greatly enjoyed your words sent to me as well.

This letter, I will note, is not written with any form of clearly ostentatious glamour, as I see typing on a machine such as this in these modern times should be done with a mind towards only the most important and special occasions. If there is an air of this detected in wake of my letter, please continue reading with minimal demur. I hope that it does not come off this way for it is already costly enough for me to trust this Deutsche Post man to safely deliver this epistle safely. I write this with only the utmost of propriety as is expected of English (speaking) men who write on typewriters.

As I was saying. These few months have been a pleasant time of my life. That is, notwithstanding the many afflictions and trials I have already had to bear. I say that with some air of light-heartedness, as things have seemed to be going quite smoothly as of yet. It has been hard at some days and weeks, but not harder than I have been able to bear. And the goodness that comes from such even somewhat challenging experiences more than makes up for it. I simply hope that things continue to get better, and that these remaining 18-20 months will be an increased blessing. I am confident that you have already heard enough about my advertures through previous letters sent in the weeks until this time. And so, I will not waste this special epistle on things that you are likely already aware of. But, as I finish typing this, I have have come to the conlcusion that I have not known what my purpose or design in writing to you all was, save it be the intention of wishing you all a happy "Thanksgiving" (which does not exist here and for the time being I must force myself to forget in a vain effort to console myself), and a happy and very Merry Christmas. Also, Christmas here is titled the "Holy Nights", or "Weihnachten", and  apparently lasts for three days. And so, even though we may not be able to celebrate the Fourth of July, or Thanksgiving, for example, perhaps this is of some consolation.

I am afraid I got myself off track once more. With my whole heart, I wish you, the Wallentine Family and Co., again, a happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas. Perhaps some day I will return and be able to spend these special times with you again. But for now, I am occupied with trying to preach the gospel and help those who stand in need of help, which I am confident you guys are already being valiant in this endeavor at home.

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Elder Tyler Wallentine

HOLIDAY SEASON: PART 1 VOLUME 1

Hey guys!

This week has been interesting.  Most of the interesting things happened on Friday.  We will just cut to the chase.

We got a call from Louis between our appointments with two new potential/real investigators.  We had been preparing to send him off well, because he had plans to moved back to Cameroon. Turns out that his flight, however, was over-booked and it was bumped a few weeks earlier.  He had to leave Saturday and is now in Cameroon.  He plans on being baptized there, and so the effect overall is still the same, so long as the transition goes smoothly and he gets in touch with the ward there as soon as possible, which we will be attempting to see happen.  I'm still a bit bummed we never got a good goodbye.

Those two investigators we met with, now, both agreed to being baptized at different times in December.  That is, if they feel this is the right path.  We got pretty excited about that, but I am trying to focus right now on actually getting them baptized.  We've set dates while I've been here, but none but two have gone through (both in the first two weeks that I got here in Germany).  

One of them is a man who moved here from China named Shen, who speaks pretty alright German and is here to study.  He was pretty open to talking with us but I am unsure as to what he actually is understanding.  We did our best to check for understanding as we taught but we still aren't completely sure.  He has scarce concept of God or any sort of Greater Power, and so this will be an interesting time teaching him.  I am not sure the direction he's going in so far, but he seemed to be enthusiastic about coming to church in a few weeks, so that at least is a good sign.  He also was open to praying on the first lesson at the end of us teaching.  We got to teach him the process and meaning of prayer and he nervously did it.  I thought that was really cool!  At the end, we asked him if he would be baptized on the 10th of December, and he accepted if he came to know these things were true!

The other man was later that night.  His named is Godwin and approached us on the street a few weeks previous asking us if we could take him somewhere through the buses and trains (We can carry a passenger with us, with the cards that we have for public transportation).  We set an appointment with him, which was on this specific Friday, and we taught him The Restoration.  He was really open and honest about everything.  I don't feel like we were just talking at him.  He told us that he "wouldn't believe everything right off the bat" but that he wouldn't deny anything either, also expressing a desire to know if it was true (Spoiler alert: it is true).  We told him that was a great desire to have and that he truly could learn of the truthfulness of the message through the Book of Mormon, which we gave him and invited him to read.  He accepted.  We then extended a baptismal invitation to him for the 17th of December, and he said that if he did feel it was true by then, he would be baptized!  

So we have dates with these two guys, as well as Mauricia, and Sina.  I think that we can really start experiencing real progress with these folks soon.  It's a matter of communication, most of all, as well as simple desire for them to come to church, because sadly, we have had no investigators come for a while (in spite of, really, high efforts that are within our reach).  We had a fast this last Sunday for all of these investigators.  We're hoping and praying and doing all we can to prepare these people.

Quick thought: In my personal study this morning I studied Jacob chapter 5.  I realized some things I previously haven't before.  In verses 47-48, it says:

"47 But what could I have done more in my vineyard? Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned. Who is it that has corrupted my vineyard?

48 And it came to pass that the servant said unto his master: Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard--have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted?"

I then read a conference quote that elaborates on this very same principle.  I think that in this case, we can see ourselves as the individual trees in the vineyard.  Many people begin to falter in faith at times because they perhaps feel that the "fruits" of the gospel are not present or shrinking from sight in their lives.  Perhaps they feel unhappy, or that their faith itself is not strong enough, or they lack direction, or whatever it may be--of the many gifts that are readily available to those to accept and pursue the Gospel.  If we feel this in our lives, I learned today that we need to look at our roots.  Are they too weak to hold up the many fruits we can experience?  If we feel lacking or diminished in faith, are we doing the scripture study and prayer necessary to receive and strengthen such faith?  I promise you all that as you focus on strengthening the roots of your faith and of The Gospel, the fruits will become apparent.  I hope we can remember this, and don't forget that the Lord is there to help us all along the way.  We read a tender phrase by him multiple times in Jacob 5: "What could I have done more in my vineyard?" He wants to, and will, help us!  Let's accept his help!

Here's a hastily drawn illustration!

In other news...Today was a blast of a P-Day.  We got to visit the Oberhausen Christmas Market, which is one of the biggest in Europe so I hear!  It's pretty cool.  I bought a hot cocoa mug and two chipmunk Christmas decorations.  I don't know.  I'll share some pictures in the coming weeks.

AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I PRESENT TO YOU MY CHRISTMAS CARD, CAREFULLY CRAFTED STRAIGHT FROM OBERHAUSEN:

Here's my stack of vocab cards I've been building.  Each card has three to four words on it, to save money and paper.  And in the background is my PROGRESS BAR for getting the vocab list I've been working on completed.   Busy language studies!

Anywho.  I think that is the only interesting stuff that I have for you all this week.  I hope you guys have good Thanksgivings!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Wallentine 

Rambling: The Weekly Missionary Letter Edition

Hey guys!

This week has been a good, and a bit of a crazy, one for me, as I'm sure it has been for all of you!  We've been able to have a lot of lessons throughout it.  Unfortunately, none of our current investigators are currently progressing because they aren't coming to church still.  But Sina, one of our investigators who has interest in baptism, has apparently started to pray, which I think is really awesome.  I expect that we and he alike will see a lot of good come from that.  Mauricia and Louis have been tricky to meet with, but we have a lesson with Louis scheduled for tonight.  I hope that works out.  We also have a lesson planned for a family tonight at 6:00!  I'm very excited for that!  Meanwhile, Kingsley is still a work in progress.  We're walking through The Restoration lesson with him very slowly to see what he believes exactly and what he doesn't.  But yeah.  That's my big update for now.

I said goodbye to my trainer, Elder Warner, on Tuesday.  It's weird to be done getting trained and to have a "regular" schedule (Not a huge change.  Just an extra hour, but still).  He was a really good companion, and we enjoyed these last few months quite a bit.  My new companion seems pretty cool.  His name is Elder Lewis, and he's from Utah.  He's about 10 or so months into his mission.

Now, I heard that Donald Trump will officially be the next President of the United States of America.  As anyone would expect, people are raving about it here.  We've gotten a lot of contacts jumping into the topic of the election as soon as they detect my obviously American accent.  It's been pretty funny (although we tend to hear strictly one side of the argument).  As much as I would like to share my stances with you folks and people who talk to us about it here, I must remain impartial as a missionary.  Besides, many of my former-colleagues in high school got plenty of that already, so this is hardly a mystery, but I will pretend that it is.

However, there is something that I've noticed a lot that I would like to write a little bit about.  I've heard this in many ways, shapes, and forms since the start of the election, from those who are or are not LDS alike, as well as from a good number of missionaries that I have spoken with.  I'm talking about the thought that the world is simply going down the drain, and that we as individuals can't do anything about it.  I've heard many people say that worldly degeneration of morals and values will only bring to pass the Second Coming, even perhaps at a quicker rate than the dormancy or, better, improvement of morality and integrity, and it has been implied or even boldly stated that we need to "just let whatever happens happen".  A more secular idea has been spread as well--being that individuals have little to no effect on the direction of society and that it will simply run in a set downward course.  

These ideas, however, must be broken.  Pertaining to the Second Coming belief I just mentioned, it is a great and righteous hope to look forward to the day that Christ will come again.  I am joyful for those who can feel that way, and I am not in any way saying that we shouldn't be anticipating it.  It's something that we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be, and something that all righteous and good people are, happy about.  I'm looking forward to that day as well.  But the world is already "wicked enough" for that to happen.  A general authority said that we find the same, if not worse, calamities here now than found in Sodom and Gomorrah--and through modern technology, these are not only localized, but globalized, abominations.  And there is the idea kept by many non-religious or LDS people that it's pointless to try and create change in a society much bigger than oneself. Whether spoken out loud or merely thought in the heart, I think this is quite commonly-held.  

To the religious or secular alike, the survival of the morality and integrity of society rests on those who stress those characters already in their family and personal lifestyles.  I don't believe it's our job to stand back and watch, hoping that things will simply get better or worse and that, regardless, some day it will all end.  It will indeed end, yes, and we look to that day with hope, but there are still people, communities, and even nations in the world that need help--politically, physically, socially, and spiritually.  There are people in the world who need the gospel.  We have a great work to do.  And on the other hand, part of the reality of our mortal situation, which I'll add is sometimes a little frightening, is that Satan will not stop his quest to corrupt the world and destroy the spirits and joy of all those who live on it.  He has an agenda, and his forces are ever trying to accomplish it.  The good news is that the righteous will prevail in the end, that Christ will come, and that Satan will be bound.  But we must be constantly vigilant and active in carrying about God's work until that glorious day!

What can we do?  That is an individual question. Perhaps one that we need to be praying about if we don't know.  But we can certainly start by doing the little things.  Serve.  Work.  Be honest.  Cherish your families.  Do what you can to make society better.  And pray for the leaders of our wonderful country.  Regardless of who the President is, who fills the seats in Congress, or who the judges of the Supreme Court are, it is and always will be the job of us as citizens to stand with morality and integrity, to act selflessly for the betterment of the country, and to uphold the divinely inspired Constitution and select leaders who will do the same.  I hope that if we do all we can for the world around us, keep the commandments of God, and seek for personal, spiritual perfection, we will find the day of the Second Coming to be a glorious and indescribably beautiful day.

Wow.  That was a lot of writing.  But, I meant every word.

I love you guys.  Thanks for the prayers, Emails, and general support for all of us out here.  Wish our investigators luck this week to COME TO CHURCH.

Love,

Elder Wallentine

Local Citizen Jumps Through Glass Wall at Bus Station Like an Absolute Madman.

Here's a picture of my trainer and I.  His family asked for proof that I actually existed (Their inquiry caused me to have an existential crisis of course).

Transfer Shenanigans

Hello folks!

This week has been crazy.  We've had some unfortunate things happen with a few of our investigators.  As a result, we weren't able to meet with a lot of them this week or get them progressing in ways that they are needing to.  It's been a little bit stressful, but not super bad because I feel we have been doing what we should be doing.  Still, we'll be looking at the many things we can do better, and I hope we can see a bit more success in the coming weeks.

Speaking of coming weeks, we got our TRANSFER CALLS.  I'm staying in Oberhausen (pretty much as expected).  My companion, Elder Warner, on the other hand, just got called to the KAISERSLAUTERN AREA.  I've heard lots of good things about it.  He'll be going to an American/International ward there.  Kaiserslautern is where the U.S. military base is located.  He's pretty excited about it.  I'll be "taking over" the Oberhausen area and getting a new companion, Elder Louis, tomorrow.  I am also officially done being trained.  I'm pretty excited about this upcoming transfer.  I'm getting passed the baton, and I'm hoping that we can really see these baptismal dates work out, as well as set new ones.  

Speaking of baptismal dates, we unfortunately had one fall throug for the 26th of November this past week.  We had a lesson with Kingsley and tried to post-pone it to December, but for now, it seems he is completely off on the idea--until he gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  We'll be teaching him for a while longer and doing our best to regain him.  I'm not sure what the outcome will be in the meantime.

We weren't able to meet with Louis this week, or get him to church.  Things keep coming up and he hasn't been able to attend.  We met with his sister, Mauricia, though and taught her The Commandments, which went really well.  We pushed for her to come to church, but she couldn't come either.  They're really ready to be baptized, other than that.  They've been so willing to accept the message and have been really working at this for a long time!  I'm praying that we can see success with them.

We tried meeting with Sina on Tuesday, and told him to meet us in downtown Mülheim.  He said he'd be there, but he hadn't been answering our calls after that, all evening.  We couldn't find him anywhere, and we weren't able to meet in the end.  That was a bummer.  We haven't been able to get a hold of him since.  The plan is to visit his house as soon as this transfer hullabaloo concludes.  He's been an awesome investigator and has spoken to us about getting his family interested, too, when they move here.  I'd love to see things work out with him.

Anyways, as I wrote earlier, I'm hoping things can pick up.  I'm really excited to see things work out with our investigators.  I think we've taught some really amazing people. In spite of these things it's been a pretty good week.  I've been noticing more and more tender mercies as time goes on and I hope that my eyes continue to open to the blessings our loving Heavenly Father gives us.  I hope we all can.

We've discussed the commandments with a bit of people this week.  I've been really amazed so far at the investigators we've taught the commandments to.  While some, in fact most, have had initial questions about at least a few, I've found it really amazing how willing so many of them have been to follow them after we do our best to answer their concerns.  Mauricia told us Saturday, when we committed her to follow the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom, that "if the Book of Mormon is true, then it is all true" and that she would commit.  That is an essential realization.   Any concern about the "validity" of any commandment we receive now can be answered and resolved when we appeal to our own faith.  Even if something we are commanded to do seems harmless initially, those who choose to be obedient because of their faith in Christ, as well as their belief in Joseph Smith to be a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon to be the Word of God, will always find blessings come to them as a result of their obedience--often in ways and measures they may not expect.  These blessings then serve to continue to strengthen our faith, and help us to increase in obedience and faith as time goes on.  The Commandments of God are given to His children so that they can be blessed in this life and in the life to come.  Though the world views them as restrictions, we can realize through faith and obedience that they are great blessings, given to us by God for our own happiness and eternal life.  That is God's work and glory.

Anyways, yeah.  THIS WEEK IS GOING TO BE A GOOD WEEK.

I love you guys!  Thanks for the prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Wallentine