Christmas 2014

So this last week was Christmas, as you all know and I spent it:

Singing in a senior home!

Watching German children open presents!

Eating a ton of awesome food!

Learning and growing closer to my Savior! and

Teaching lessons and finding new investigators!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, I absolutely love it!

I can honestly say that this Christmas has been the best one of my life! I love being here in Germany and I love doing this awesome work. Hopefully next week I will get all my pictures and I can show you how awesome my Christmas was.

I hope you all had an awesome Christmas!

 

I found out that I will get to go to the Freiberg Temple I think the first week of January before it is closed for renovation :) and I am so excited.  I might still be in Germany when they re-dedicate it!

 

Skyping home was so fun:) and mom, I will start taking more pictures of myself.

Christmas Eve

Here are some pictures of our awesome Christmas Eve with the Volger clan (with opa and oma ortleib and also steffi). He is our branch president. We spent the night caroling at the alteheim (retirement home), and went to dinner at their home. This is what our dinner table looked like, and after dinner we all got gathered around and some of the members of the family prepared something for us to listen too. We got to hear stories about Christmas in the DDR time, and that was really cool.

 



P-Day Is Friday This Week...

but highlights from this past week were....

 

1. A huge gust of wind attacked me and blew my magnetic name tag into the river... identity theft by mother nature.

2. I spoke German (not exactly new).

3. We taught some Germans how to make Mexican food and sloppy joes to great success.

4. Oh and four new investigators!! (and you all thought I wasn't working)

 

So, you will hear more from me on this Friday!

 

Fröhliche Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

Remember the reason for the season

 

-Elder Gavin Schmalz

Week Seven? Is it, I've lost count

So this week I turned 19 but that wasn't the biggest thing that happened this week.

On the 13th we woke up to a phone call from our mission president and we were told to be in Berlin by 3:00. It took five hours of train rides and walking through cities we didn't know but we made it to Berlin. The whole reason for the call and the rush to get to the City was some sad news. Elder Bretzing found out that his dad had passed away in a car accident on the 12th... My birthday.

He was able to Skype his family for a few hours and that helped him to decide to stay on his mission.

Elder Bretzing is a stud. Can you all keep him in your prayers this week? You can also shoot him an email to tell him how awesome he is! His Email is Matthew.bretzing@myldsmail.net

While my companion was Skyping with his family, the office Elders gave me a tour of Berlin and I got to see all of the sights. Loved it! When we got back, President asked me to help him give Elder Bretzing a blessing, the spirit was soooo strong. Yesterday we got driven back to Meissen by President Kosak and he went to church with us.

It's weeks like this that make me really appreciate the gospel of Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation.

We can live with our families again and that is why I am here in Germany. To help share that amazing truth with everyone I meet.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! Thank you for the love and the support also!:)

 

Here are some pictures...

 

The Beautiful German Countryside

Weihnachtmarkt

My Birthday Haul

I bought myself a hat with deer fighting on it (pretty legit) and a Michael Buble Christmas cd.

The ward made me a cookie cake and gave me some chocolate and this really cool limited edition Meißner Weihnachts Käse (Meissen Christmas cheese) cause they know that I love cheese.

Elder Bretzing gave me a mug with a bunch of bears on it. (super cool)

and I opened my birthday cards! So awesome! I absolutely loved reading what everyone said 

and thank you for the birthday and thanksgiving cards in the mail:)

Here is our Christmas Tree!

 

 

 

 

Dresden, Leipzig, and Chemnitz December Zone Conference and Christmas Packages

Week Six

Another awesome week in the land of Germany!

This week my companion got something called a witches bullet. Its pretty much where a muscle gets so cold that it tightens and pinches your nerve and it lasts for 3-5 days, so that was an adventure. He woke up and he couldn't even move and half his body was numb, he got the witches bullet right in the lower back and he was immobilized for a day and a half!  This threw off our whole week, not only did we lose a day of proselyting but he cant carry any weight so I have twice as many books!
But I did learn two things... 

#1 Don't get cold in Germany.

#2 That this really is Gods work! 

 Although we had some set backs this week and even with my companions back problem, we still worked as hard as we could to share the gospel and we still found success!

While my companion was sick, I had the opportunity to clean and work on the area book and make some phone calls (super fun!), and while doing so I found two investigators from two or three years ago that had slipped through the cracks and stopped receiving lessons (most likely because of transfers) and we called them and set up appointments with both of them. They both are still really interested in the church and didn't know how to contact missionaries again. We are meeting with them this week and I'm pretty sure its going to be Awesome!

I just want you all to know that this church is true! I know that without a doubt in my mind. and I promise that if you earnestly seek to know that for yourself, that you will receive a testimony of it also!

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes! I will probably tell you more about my birthday adventures that are coming up next week!

Have a Great 3rd Advent

 

Love, Elder Schmalz

Week Five

Helige Kuh!

Germany is really cold!

This week has been a week full of canceled appointments and a drunk guy who insists my name is Eddie!

In Germany they celebrate the 4 advents. They are the four Sundays proceeding Christmas and they are a huge deal.  This Sunday was 1st advent and I was asked to sing in sacrament meeting for the branch and the mission president and his family so that was really cool! Also because of first advent almost all our appointments fell out and we spent a majority of this week tracting.... which Germans don't like at all, especially during Christmas/advent time.

It was still a great week! We found a new investigator named Michael , who needs help building his house, so we have a new person to teach and we get to learn about construction! We also helped the Weidlich family move. Rolf is Frau Weidlichs ex boyfriend and he likes alcohol..... a lot. He was put in charge of watching the children.....(worst idea in the whole world) he let them run into the street and climb on stuff and all and did a terrible job, so I ended babysitting a drunk man who was babysitting a bunch of kids. Super fun! He, in his drunken state thought my name tag said Eddie Schmalz and called me that for the whole 4 hours of moving and continues to call me that when he sees me on the street with all of his drunken friends so that is funny!

So yeah, super good week!

I hope you were all able to watch the video "He is the Gift", it is really good! I want to invite you all to think about what Christmas really actually means and what you can give to others.

I love you and I hope everything is going okay at home.
 

Love "Eddie" Gavin Schmalz

This week we will be looking forward to receiving a video of Eddie Schmalz eating the hottest currywurst ever. It has been described as "friggen hot"!

We also learned that he might get to Skype to us on Christmas thanks to some kind members in his area. Oh, I hope so. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed...