This week we...

did some pretty normal missionary work, which includes walking and talking, teaching and preaching, and a variety of other rhymes that I'm too lazy to come up with at the moment!

But something I did not do this week was take any pictures....... sorry mom! I forgot to grab my camera.......7 days in a row.

This week we were able to meet with a lot of our investigators and some less actives that asked for the missionary lessons again so that it will be easier for them to come back to church. So that was pretty awesome!

We also had the opportunity to have a mission wide conference call about the new video that the church has produced "Because He Lives", and how we can and should use it in our missionary work. One of the things we talked about was to commit everyone who reads our letters to go and watch it, so I invite you all to watch this awesome video and then write me an email about your thoughts. Ready. Set. Go. 

Yeah, so pretty much this week was an average week of missionary work and I'm so grateful that I could have it.

 

This next week is going to be amazing. We have Easter and General Conference! That's a Spirit packed week and I am so excited! 

Remember the reason for this Easter season. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

I don't know how many of you have been in my church building or have seen my missionary plaque, but on it is one of my favorite scriptures; 3 nephi 5:13
 

Siehe, ich bin ein Jünger Jesu Christi, des Sohnes Gottes. ich bin von ihm berufen worden,sein Wort unter seinem Volk zu verkünden,damit sie immer währendes Leben haben können.

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

This scripture is true!:) I may not be perfect or as studly as Mormon, but I'm trying my best and I'm sharing this message.

He is risen and through him we can be resurrected too and we can live with our families forever.

How cool of a message is that!? I testify that it is true and that I love being able to share it!

Have an awesome week, and thank you for your prayers and your support!
 

Love Elder Gavin Schmalz 

Getting lost in the German forest

So this week has been a good week! We were able to get a lot of work done and I`m finally kicking my cold!

This week we walked a lot! haha Who am I kidding, we walk everywhere! 

On Tuesday we walked to a small village called Olexdorf. Olexdorf is a farming village that gets a bus that comes through it every 4 hours and is probably 5 or 6 miles out of the city, so we just walk down the long country road and talk to people as we go. This week as we were in Olexdorf doing some doors and meeting with some people, but we decided we wanted to take a different route back to Itzehoe. This "road" led us deep into the forest so we were a little bit worried, but it eventually led us home. That was our adventure for this week!

 

 

We also met with Eoidi the son of Johanna, one of our Investigators, to teach him English. Johanna wanted us to teach him about the Book of Mormon. Johanna and Eoidi are from the Dominican Republic and they speak Spanish and a little bit of German. (I wish Grayson or Lanie or Gentry were here so they could help me with this language barrier) Meeting with Eoidi is one of my favorite things to do. This time we asked him if he had heard of Joseph Smith and he said "I'm pretty sure I do, let me think" then told the whole story of the restoration...........  We were shocked! We asked him where he had learned about this and he said...."South Park".........First off, what the heck? And second, Eoidi is 9 years old!!!!! But he is stoked to learn the real story and he loves reading in the Book of Mormon with us!

 

This week has been a great week, and next week will be even better!

Being a missionary is the Greatest!

Thanks for the prayers and for the emails!

 

Love Elder Schmalz

Sickness, sweat lodges, and a brothel?

So this week we were sick, and being sick on your mission is the worst! It doesn't matter how big you smile or how excited and happy you are to share the gospel, people don't seem to like being sneezed on very much. Luckily, no one got sneezed on, but nobody wanted to talk to us either....

This is a very frustrating thing for a missionary because our purpose is literally to "invite others to come unto Christ" and in order to teach someone you must be able to talk to them. During lunch time we decided we were going to get rid our sickness as fast as we could.... which quickly escalated into us wearing all of our winter gear and doing a variety of exercises. As you can guess....... that did absolutely nothing except for make us more tired and sore...but we pushed on and went finding. 

The location for our finding was the biggest building in Itzehoe. A 16 story apartment building.....

so we spent the day climbing stairs and talking to people, and all in all we found no one new to teach... but we did accidentally find a brothel...(really people?.....gross) So that building isn't only the biggest building in Itzehoe but apparently the greatest and the most spacious......;) (oh, missionary humor!)

Other than that we did some really good work this week. Two of our lessons turned into us boldly defending the faith (bible bashing...... I hate it!) and we set a baptismal date with Johanna our investigator from the Dominican Republic! This week has just been fantastic and I'm super excited for what this next week will turn into!

 

Now for the spiritual thought!

This week Elder Garner and I had the opportunity to teach a lesson in district meeting on diligence, then afterward we sang Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel. This song is just great! It teaches us how we should being working. With a heart full of song! Now, unless that song in your heart is a sad one or you are just not a happy person, how can you be sad?! We get to live and love and work with our families and our friends!

I just love being a missionary and I love all of your support! I sure hope you all have a great week!

Pictures

#1 our sweat lodging experience

#2 our looks of utter disgust from the top of the great and spacious building after our ordeal

 

 

First bunkbeds and now spiders! oh, and Sister Brim!

Okay take a look at the first picture and tell me what is wrong.... that is a spider that is bigger than a GUMMY BEAR! last time I checked I'm in Germany..... not in some rain forest or in Africa?! I found that sucker underneath my chair as I was studying and elder Garner freaked out, so of course I caught it and now I'm keeping it in a jar...... but we have a mission rule that we can't keep pets so we will see what happens to it after emails....

Okay, so this week was AWESOME! We got to go into Kiel for zone training meeting and guess who was there? Sister Brim! First time being in the same zone as one of my best mission friends, so that was really exciting! In zone training meeting we had an awesome lesson on finding joy in all parts of the work.  

This week we really did some awesome work. We actually set a baptismal date and we found 4 new investigators! 

Elder Garner and I get along great and being a missionary is absolutely THE best thing ever!

Here is a scripture that has been on my mind lately!
"and he that is faithful shall be made strong in every place; and I, the Lord, will go with you." D&C 66:8
I love this scripture because it tells us that all we need to do is be faithful. It doesn't matter what our abilities are or weaknesses are as long as we are trying out best to do what is right, and then our Lord and Savior will help us. He will make up the difference, but we first must do our part.

So yeah, what a great week! I hope everything is going well with everyone!

Liebe Grube, Elder Schmalz
 

Neumünster Zone Training Meeting

Bunk beds.... why did it have to be bunk beds? it's a hoe, and rain lots of rain!

First off, whoever emails me the movie I just quoted first wins a special prize! ........ probably just an email.     HINT: Replace the word bunk beds with snakes........

So I made it to Glückstadt safely after a 5 hour train ride in a compartment with a very large and very grumpy gentleman who was sleeping. I luckily managed to avoid waking him from his slumber but some people were not so fortunate!

I met Up with Elder Garner (my new companion) in Hamburg and I also ran into Elder Bretzing, my trainer, who is now apparently the new Hamburg Zone leader! What a stud!

Elder Garner is the son of a military man and has lived practically everywhere in the United States. He is an awesome missionary and I'm definitely going to be learning and running a lot this transfer. Our area is called Glückstadt because that is where the church is, but we technically live in the city of Itzehoe pronounced like  "it's a Hoe!"  and it is super pretty and I will definitely be taking a lot of pictures once it stops raining...... so that might be never.

The ward is awesome! My new district is awesome! Pretty much everything is perfect here other than the fact that we have a bunk bed! I despise bunk beds! The newer missionary in the area gets the top...... and the mission has turned me into a really old lazy man who thinks having to climb to sleep is a stupid idea! 

But other than that, its perfect!

Yeah, its really just been a great week and I'm really excited to get to work!

My new address is: 

Holzkamp 23

25524 Itzehoe

Deutschland

Thank you for the love and support! I will tell you all about the work and our investigators next week!:)

Oh and I just found out that Raju was confirmed this last Sunday so keep him and his family in your prayers as he is adjusting to life as a member!

Also, please pray for my German!

Love, Elder Schmalz