The Berlin Wall

Today I was able to see the Berlin Wall while we went into the big city for our district meeting. This strip is called the east side gallery, and it's pretty cool.

Week 2 in Franfurt Order

So, a lot happened this week!

Including.......

Another sick companion.

Burning my hand on the stove.

A 30 mile bike ride.

and......

LEDERHOSEN!

Yep, to celebrate the start of Oktoberfest I have purchased myself a nice pair of lederhosen....

Bask in the Deutschness of Elder Schmalz!

Sunset in Germany

Frankfurt Order

So my first week in Frankfurt Oder has come to an end, and it has been pretty good!

My new companions name is Elder Allen. He hails from Houston Texas and has been on his mission for 5 months and.... he is a total Stud! I'm really looking forward to this transfer with him!

So Frankfurt Oder is right on the border of Germany and Poland and about an hour train ride away from Berlin. Due to our close proximity to Berlin, we have the awesome opportunity to travel into Berlin once a week for district meeting, so I finally get to see the big city! We also have another cool opportunity here in Frankfurt... that being that we teach someone who lives in Poland, so we also make a weekly trip to Poland!You might even call me a world traveler now;)

Well my spiritual thought for this week finds itself in Ether 12:4 which says
 

“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of man, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God”
 

This scripture tells us that our hope and our faith should be like an anchor for us, and this symbolism of an anchor really got me thinking this week. If you think about the purpose of an anchor... its purpose is to sink down and hold a ship steady in storms and in waves, but an anchor that stays above the surface when the storm hits is absolutely useless. But an anchor that has sunk in deep before the storm comes can and will be a support during the storm. Sometimes I feel as if my faith didn't completely sink in all the way. Sometimes I would just go to church or read my scriptures and pray just because it was the right thing to do, but now I know that my faith has sunk in deep. I understand the why behind the commandments. I now understand that our faith should lead us to act and to change. It should really "sink" in to the depths of who we are. When we let our faith sink in deep, we will have that anchor in a sure place when the storms of life come, which they undoubtedly will. We will find ourselves supported. We will be safe.

That is my challenge for you this week.

Find a way to let in your faith sink in.

Whether that be taking notes in sacrament meeting, or re-immersing yourself in the scriptures, I promise that it will help when the storms of life come.

Thank you for your emails and your prayers!

 

Hello, Poland!

This picture captures Germany pretty well. The Mercedes building, the bombed out church, the BMW driving, the flags, oh, and the two buildings that say bikini on them...

Elder Allen and I

 

Last picture as companions! Elder Fitch is awesome!

Last district meeting

Schwarma, the best food ever!

Goodbye Hildesheim

So this week we received our transfer calls, and I'm heading back to the east.

My new city is called Frankfurt Oder. It's right on the border of Germany and Poland on the Oder River.

 

My new address is:

Heilbornring 11

15230

Frankfurt Oder

Other than that we had a good week! 

We met with Alfaiz (my investigator that should be getting baptized in the next two weeks) and I took a picture with him and Brother Axel Renekke at church.

We also had the awesome opportunity to give Amaljia and Marianna (the family from Mexico City) a priesthood blessing.  They asked for one because they are facing a very big decision of whether to stay in Germany or not. so that was really cool :)

1. 

 

District Celle

Guess What Day It Is? (on the 10th)

HUMP DAY!!!!

And so I'm writing this letter from the summit of mount mission (a wonderful two years worth of experiences and learning) and I want to make a list of the twelve things that I have learned so far... Naturally, I have learned more than twelve things throughout these twelve months of serving the lord, but I thought I would keep the list shorter for readers (and the writer) convenience. 

So here we go!

#1. Attitude IS Everything.

You may have noticed that this has been a big thing for me on my mission. I seem to write home about it once every month or so... But I have really learned during my time as a missionary that your attitude will either make you or break you.

When we choose to have a good attitude it makes us a better person, and it makes you the kind of person that people want to be around. But when we have a bad attitude it breaks us down. Even the easiest of tasks become challenging, and no one honestly enjoys being around someone with a bad attitude. So yeah I have learned that attitude is everything!

#2 How to say "we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" in a variety of languages.

Serving in a international land like Germany we run into many people from many different lands and cultures... And thanks to the language barriers, a lot of these encounters turn out very confusing for both parties.

But if I did learn one thing from all my years of  Boy Scouts (that I failed! #LifeScoutForLife)  Is that we should be prepared!

So I took it upon myself to learn a word or two in a couple of the world languages of our day. Whether it be French, Spanish, Chinese, Twi, Russian, Arabic, Sächsisch, or intoxicated aka drunk man talk, I'm the guy to call! ( I can only say few phrases so don't be expecting anything fancy;) 

#3 Heavenly Father loves all of his children.

I have seen a lot in this this last year. I have seen very happy things but I have also seen some very sad and heartbreaking things. I have heard stories of wars and stories of peace, but what I have seen and heard the most is of God's love for us! 

Not a day goes by without seeing something small that reminds me of that love for me and for all of us.

#4 You really can have too much of a good thing! 

You try eating bratwurst almost every meal for an entire year and tell me how you feel about it!;)

Trust me, bratwurst are a great thing, but I'm glad that I only have a year left of eating them ALL THE TIME!

#5 Where to go when I need answers.

I have really learned to appreciate the power of prayer and scripture study, and I know ever more now, that it is through these things that we can communicate with our Father in Heaven. 

#6 The best thing to be is yourself!

We were all born with different personalities and as we grew we developed many different unique qualities,talents, and features, and these things really are such a huge blessing! 

We were made different for a reason! At times it may seem like we should try to just fit in or try to follow the crowd, but we should also remember who we are and try our best to work with what we've got, and when we work with what we've got and we try to "magnify our calling" of being our self we will see that our self IS good enough!

#7 Learning another language has its perks and other things that aren't so good.

I can proudly say that I am fluent in another language! With being fluent in another language comes some great perks like: being able to communicate with people from another nation, being able to talk behind people's backs with Grandpa Schmalz, I can watch world war 2 movies and understand everything, and I might be able to train German Shepherds;) 

But even with all those perks there are some downsides like: forgetting a ton of my English vocabulary, losing any of the English writing skills I had, being unable to pray in English out loud, knowing a bunch of cool words, phrases, and jokes that my family might never understand, but I am super grateful that I have the opportunity to learn German! Even with the downsides.

#8 When in Germany......bring an umbrella.

Seriously, the weather here is about as bipolar as Utah!

#9 The value of the Book of Mormon for all of us!

In the words of Joseph Smith 

" the Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."

I would like to add my testimony to that! On my mission so far I have seen time and time again how the Book of Mormon is true and how it really can help us! We as missionaries try to share this book with other people, we bear testimony about it because we have read it and we know that it is true, but people should not just take our word for it! One of the greatest things about the Book of Mormon is that everyone can have a personal experience with it! Everyone not only can, but should read it and pray about it, and then act upon that answer! And when they do that they will see it, they will know it for themselves.

#10 How much I truly love and appreciate my friends and family.

It's always a great thing to get emails on p-day. It's always just a nice remember that people haven't forgotten me at home and that I have some support back on the home front. Also, really nice to know that I will still have some friends when I get back!

You never truly understand how much you love someone until you have to leave them for two years. But know I do:)

#11 How to be completely independent.... Physically and spiritually.

This has been a lesson that I have thoroughly enjoyed. A mission is the period of time where everything pretty much rides on you. If you want to have a clean house or if you want to eat good food... Etc. It's all up to you. And it goes the same with the spiritual things...

If I want to take something from life it's up to me to make something of life. 

Also, I have found out that I have a knack for cooking, but I still need to work on cleaning! 

#12 That I am where I need to be.  

This is the thing that I recognize most often, and that is the fact that I'm doing what my Heavenly Father wants me to do.  Although things can be hard and sometimes I feel like I might not be enough, I'm always reminded that I am where I need to be, I am learning what I need to learn, doing what I need to do, and I'm becoming who I'm supposed to become!

Well there is a list of twelve things I have learned, I know they weren't all that serious, but yeah, that's what I've got!

Thank you for the years worth of emails, letters, and most importantly prayers! 

If you ever need anything I'm just an email away!

Love Elder Gavin Schmalz


This was taken at the mission conference a couple weeks ago :)
Where's Elder Schmalz?

I wonder if Sister Brim will ever find out that I have stolen her photos on numerous occasions...