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...

 

Another Great Week!

This week we had the opportunity to travel to Hamburg and participate in a mission tour. We were visited by Elder Johnson of the first quorum of the seventy, he taught us about teaching with the Spirit and making sure we are focusing on the spiritual growth of our investigators and not just going through the motions. The mission tour was also great because i got to see Elder Bretzing (my trainer) and a couple of other past companions.

Hildesheim is going great and so am I!

Here is a cool scripture I found in my studies this week.

Romans 8:16-17The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.

I actually was reminded of this scripture by an old man that I talked to on the streets a few months back, and it has been running through my head ever since.
I just want to share my short testimony that we are all children of God and that He loves us so much. So much that He sent His Son, even Jesus Christ to the earth for us, and it is through Him that we can return to our Father in Heaven. Right now it is my privilege as a missionary to get to share this message with everyone I see, and I know that it is true! All people can know that it is true, and all people can be reminded of it's truthfulness if we do our part.

Love Elder Schmalz

Doing our missionary thing...

Some of the sights out and about...

The Hildesheim Branch is Fantastic!

Well Hildesheim is doing great, and Elder Fitch is slowly getting better, so

we are starting to get some real work done here and it feels good.

 

Our Mexican Family!

This last week we were able to teach our friends from Mexico City and that is going great! It is cool to see that the Spirit can still work with us with our small amount of Spanish capability and that we are still able to teach and testify with power:)

 

The Hildesheim Branch is fantastic! They love to do misisonary work, and we love to do it with them! This Sunday was fun. Do to half of the branch being on vacation, we had the awesome oppurtunity to teach the youth Sunday school class. Sweet!

 

District Selfies

I don't know why, but writing has been super hard for me the last two months as you can probably tell. I don't have any drive to write anything...

But something that has really struck me again in the last few months is how important attitude is!

We cannot choose our circumstances, but we can always choose our attitude towards our circumstances.

I am having a great time, and everything is going great! 

Thank you for the emails and the prayers, as always,

Elder Schmalz

Fabulous Hair, P-Day Picture

 

Today we climbed to the top of the Bismarck Tower with the sister missionaries and two of their investigators from Italy and Denmark. As you can tell, my hair did not disappoint... I know, I know, I need a haircut!

 

The Bismarck Tower

 

LEARNING SPANISH!

So this week we received a member referral and it is a family form Mexico City and Elder Fitch and I have been cleared to learn how to teach in Spanish, so that will be interesting!

 

On a sad note, this week Elder Fitch's pneumonia came back so we spent a lot of time inside learning Spanish.

 

We did manage to get outside on one of the days this week and we were talking to people out on the streets and we talked to this one guy who was interested and he invited us inside, but it wasn't into his house, it was into a Muslim Mosque.... so that was pretty interesting. 

All in all we had a great week! 

Thank you for your prayers and emails!

Love Elder Schmalz

 

Standing in front of the statue of the King of Hannover

 Two soaking wet missionaries after the storm of the century! No wonder Elder Fitch's pneumonia keeps coming back!

 

P-Day Adventures Visiting Marienburg Castle

Selfie with the past me who had a beard...

 

 

Hildesheim

So this week we did A LOT of street contacting, and we had a lot of fun just talking to people and getting know the city.

 

That's me off in the distance talking to a guy with a dog. Thanks to the sisters for the stalker photo!

We actually were walking around and we found a basketball game going on, so we asked them if we could join..... Germans are not very good at basketball... It quickly turned into everyone against  the two american guys... we still won!

I'm having a great time. Elder Fitch and I get along fantastic! He is a farmer from Idaho, which makes sense as to why we get along so well. His dad trains rodeo horses and travels the world doing cowboy stuff.

 

In my travels I found this book in a book store called "The Man From Utah". Can you believe it, all the way in Germany?!

My new area is absolutely amazing. I can proudly say that I love Germany because of this city. This ward is like what I dreamed a cool ward would be like on my mission. I love it!

Here are a few shots from around Hildesheim. We will be visiting a castle later on today so I will be able to take some more pictures of this beautiful city. The symbol for Hildesheim is a rose so there are roses planted everywhere you look. It smells amazing here!

Thank you for the emails and the prayers!

Love Elder Schmalz!

"Invite All" Zone Conference

Hannover-Oldenburg Zone

 

 

Good News!

Elder Fitch is better and we have permission to work!

This week I had the opportunity to go on exchange in a city called Celle. While on exchnage in Celle we were riding our bikes through a thunderstorm to get to an appointment, and as we were riding I saw this...

 

and the rain stopped just long enough for me to take a picture with it... I'm Famous!

 

All in all, it was a really good week but it was really uneventful so nothing much to report. Just happy to be out of the apartment.

 

Thank you all for everything!

 

Love, Elder A. Gavin Schmalz (The future car garage owner in Germany, because hey, I already have a sign) 

Week 2 in Hildesheim

So this week was...... Very long.

After taking Elder Fitch to the hospital once we were sentenced to do light work and to have him rest a lot. We were warned that if he participated in any hard labor or activities he would contact pneumonia.....
We tried to do our work as slowly as possible but our week ended with a trip to the emergency room...
Elder Fitch has pneumonia!
We are now not allowed to leave the apartment for any reason for the next 7 days. I did not attend church this week and will most likely be missing our zone conference where we get to meet our new mission president.
Other than that news we were able to meet with some really cool people this week before the sickness took my companion.

We taught a lesson to a group of Kurdish refugees, some of them are Muslim and others are atheist. Due to this mix of religious opinions, actually teaching anything was pretty hard. Every time we mentioned a point of the lesson they would just go off talking about their own opinions and we would lose the lesson. Eventually though we were able to pull it back to the restoration and Elder Fitch (what a stud!) bore an awesome testimony and I backed him up with my testimony, and then something super cool happened, for the first time in this whole little lesson we were able to take the reins and teach.
The only time they would listen to us is when we gave testimony about something we knew to be true. We ended up having a great time with them and we hope to meet with them again after our time of quarantine.

This experience with testimony is one of my favorite things to see as a missionary.

In pretty much any teaching situation where someone only wants to argue, the best thing to do is just bear your testimony. Almost (I use the word almost very loosely because sometimes people are just beside themselves and don't want to listen at all) every time you bear your testimony people will change, it may only be temporary and it may not be drastic enough for you to even notice but almost every time something changes. This is also something I think we can use in our own daily lives. When things start to get crazy or hard, we can turn to the things that we know and they can help us to focus on the things that matter and can bring us comfort and hope in those times of confusion and trouble.

Well, as I have sat inside for the last two weeks I have a lot of time to study and to just think about everything. I have come to the conclusion that we really are just so blessed!

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the city but I have been in an apartment for another week!

Thank you for the support! And for the emails!

Have a great week!

Love Elder Gavin Schmalz 

 

 

PS. I really need a haircut but I can't get one due to my half dead companion, so forgive me for my long hair.

 

 

My New Mailing Address

LudolFingerstraße 9 

31137 Hildesheim

HILDESHEIM!!!

This Place is The Best!

Seriously though, the city is beautiful!

The members are great! 

I have a great companion!

We are going to rock Hildesheim this transfer!

But sadly, I wasnt able to go and take any pictures or to really talk to very many people because Elder Fitch contaracted bronchitis and so I have been stuck in the apartment for pretty much the entire week.

Next week I promise to write you a better more spiritual filling email with pictures, but this week it was just not in the cards. I am pretty sure I am headed to take Elder Fitch to the hospital...

Thank you for the emails and the prayers! You are all super awesome!

 

Love Elder Schmalz