More Miracles

Hey Everybody!

It looks like you all had a great week! I would have loved seeing my journal that grandma made! I haven't read mine in a while.

We had another great week over here! We have seen so many miracles. On monday evening, we met with a family (a mother and a daughter), and they were so prepared for the gospel. They wanted to know about the book of mormon, so we explained it and bore testimony. When we were done they were just nodding their heads and said "well that makes sense! I like it!" The mother, R-----, was raised in columbia and had an LDS church across the street from her house and she always loved us. The daughter, L-----, is 14 and was raised here and is very very religious. She always loved the Bible and reads everyday. We invited them to be baptized on the 16th of march and they said that they would be baptized if the recieve a testimony by then! I spoke with them yesterday on the phone ( they couldn't come to our stake conference in St. Gallen) and I just asked if they had read in the book of mormon. They said, "we love it and read it everyday!" We will meet with them tonight and we are really excited for them.

We had Stake conference yesterday and on saturday. It was a bit wierd because on sunday, their conference was a broadcast from salt lake. Elder Bednar served in southern Germany so he gave his entire talk in german! It was pretty cool! As we were watching the broadcast, one of the little girls in my ward came up to me and threw a giant bag full of chocolate into my lap. Apparantly, her family is trying to go vegan so we have been getting all of their snacks and other unhealthy things. It is all really tasty but it doesn't help me eat less sugar.

The weather here has been beautiful for the last few days. It feels like an easter morning almost everyday. One of the ladies that I spoke to on a bus said that it won't snow here but will continue to get warmer from now on, which is strange because it still hasn't snowed in Konstanz. I feel pretty blessed that I didn't have to trudge through the snow for the last few months! It got really cold and rainy, but there hasn't been any snow on the ground and that helped us with the work.

President Miles has asked that we read a general conference talk everyday, and i have found it really interesting to read from ancient prophets in the scriptures, and then to read from a modern day prophet. It is great because you see that the prophets today are just as great and powerful as the ones in the scriptures, and that they really do teach the same doctrine with the same authority. I am really glad that we belong to a church with authority from God, and I hope that we all realize what a blessing that is. I don't think I realized it until I spoke with thousands of people that haven't been led by a prophet, and because of that, they are trouble because of the lack of guidance.

Well I hope that you all have a great week again! I love you all and pray for you. I hope that you get feeling well from the cold that is going around.

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Temple Trip and the Mormon Shop

Hello everybody!

It sounds like Bryce canyon was great! It's too bad that there wasn't too much snow this year but you seemed to make the best of it.

We had a really busy week! On Monday we had an eating appointment with our branch president and he has three really cute sons who love to climb all over us. Our branch president is really funny as well. He really loves to laugh and make jokes so it is always fun at their place. On tuesday we went to zurich for our zone conference. It was really great to see all of the missionaries there and to see zurich a little bit. That always takes the whole day though so we got home in time to plan for the next day and go to sleep. We are trying really hard to find out what the best way to travel in our area is because our tickets for Switzerland cost a lot so we don't have any bus tickets in Konstanz. So we are trying to figure out if we can get both. I really hope that we do because if we get bus tickets, our area will see so much progress because we will be able to visit people much easier.

On Saturday we went to the temple! It was a really really pretty day as well. We did the 9 o'clock session and there were some members from our ward there and some missionaries from our district. I even saw some members that were from Salzburg that had visited the Haag ward. It was pretty wierd to see them all the way on the other side of the mission but they recognized me as well so it was cool. Right outside of the temple is a place called the Mormon Shop. It is a lot like a deseret book. They even sell a ton of stuff from america that apparently only mormons eat like A&W and Hot tamales. They also had action figures from the book of Mormon, but the best action figures were the missionaries. That was cool!

We got transfer calls on Saturday as well and Elder Sardoni and I will be staying together for another six weeks. I find that good because I don't want to leave this ward yet. Plus, now I have two companions with whom I have spent more than just six weeks. We are having a lot of fun and we are really excited for the next six weeks.

I will make sure to send photos of the temple in a second E-mail. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Eldredge

Miracles

Hello!

Ya, sorry I didn't write back on thursday! Pres. Miles said I could read them but I didn't know if I could write back or not and I couldn't get a hold of him to ask permission. But I prayed for you all a lot! I am doing well. I am just making sure that we are always busy and that I get lost over here. Experiences like these make you remember how grateful you are for our heavenly Father. The peace and comfort that comes from a knowledge of what happens after this life is one of the most precious gifts that we have.

The work here is going well. We see miracles often, and I know there are more that we don't see. We taught a woman named A---- on Friday and it was one of the best lessons that I have ever had. She didn't want to prove us wrong, or expect us to know everything. She was simply wanting to learn and was open to the spirit. I felt the spirit so strongly through the whole thing and I know that she felt it to. She said that she wants to come to church  and meet again soon. At the end of the lesson she asked a little bit about Joseph Smith. We answered her question and promised her that she could pray and know for herself if he was a prophet. We left that lesson uplifted and excited. The next day she texted us and said thank you for the information but she doesn't want to belong to a religion. But I don't think that will be the last that we hear from her. I am almost certain that she recieved her answer and was a little bit afraid of it. Hopefully she is willing to meet just one more time. Luckily she is very friendly and she likes us a lot so we will see.

The missionaries in Singen called the other day and told us that they met a woman who lives in our area on the train. Her name is R----- and she is from Columbia. She said that there was a mormon church across the street from her house in columbia and she loves the mormons. She then told them about how she couldn't remember being baptized as a child in the Catholic church, and she would like to be baptized in our church. She has apparantly been looking for us for years. We hope to meet with her this wednesday when she has time. she also has a 14 year old daughter who was apparantly also interested. That would be just great for this ward.

Our apartment is fun to be in. Elders Schuhmaier and Stank are pretty funny and Elder Sardoni is a great companion. We will get transfer calls on this saturday so we will see if everybody stays. Also on this saturday, Elder Sardoni are going to the temple with the senior couple in St. Gallen! Their names are the Schwabes, and they are very nice to us. They have only been here for about two months now so hopefully we don't get lost on our way there.

I hope that you are all doing well and that you have a great week! I love you and pray for you!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

Unihockey and a Ukelele???

Hey!

It sounds like you are having a great time in London! All that stuff sounds like tons of fun! I sure wouldn't mind spending some more time there some day.

Everything here in Konstanz is awesome! I really love the ward here. Many of the members feel like family and best friends to me, and when the day comes that I have to leave will probably be one of the saddest days of my mission. I hope that I get to stay at least one more transfer here.

We had a lot of cool experiences on the street this week. We met a woman who, after we began to speak, told us that she already was a member, but she hasn't come to church in a while because she just moved here and couldn't speak german yet. We promised her that if she would begin coming to church, it would help her learn german much faster. We are hoping that she will come this next sunday. We had lost contact with one of our investigators, C------, for the last few weeks and we thought that he dropped us, but as we checked our emails to write to investigators we had a message from him. He said that he was now done with tests at school and that he would like to come to church this week. But he came late to the train station and he didn't know what ticket to buy so he just got lost in switzerland on some random train. It was pretty sad because he was pretty excited.

Once a month we play a game called Unihockey with our ward. It is a lot like floor hockey and it is way fun. I have now gone the last three or four times and it is awesome now that I am getting better at it. The first week was ok but now I can actually play pretty well. C----- came to Unihockey as well and he loved it.

Elder Sardoni and I are still getting along no problem. We have a lot of fun and work really hard. The other two elders in the apartment are getting well trained on how to sound like a cowboy when they speak. They also wrote a song on the guitar that lasts forever and the only lyrics are "Elder Sardoni." So, needless to say, our evenings are very relaxing. Elder Schuhmaier hit his year mark a few days ago so after planning we all wore happy birthday caps and ate popcorn. There was also a concert given by Elder Schuhmaier on the ukelele and elder Sardoni sang. It was actually pretty impressive.

So we had a really great week even though it is getting colder and colder. Luckily there is no snow yet so that is good but i am expecting it in the next week or two. I have a Book of Mormon that I am marking in specific ways. It is really great because one of my goals for this year is to know the scriptures much better. I feel that I am doing really well and I notice the difference that it makes to not only read every day but also to know later exactly what I read and where to find it. Studies on a mission become the best part of the day.

I hope that you all have a great week! Be safe in London and let mom know that I love her even though she couldn't send an email. I will talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

P.S. about the cards, I guess I don't really need the cards that bad but i would like to maybe see some of the photos some time. I actually don't have any photos of our family to show members and investigators which many would like to see. So I don't really need the cards that bad, but some family photos would be sweet.

Along the Path

Hey Dad!  [Ed. note - Debbie had problems with her email last night and wasn't able to send a message to Parker -thus the "Hey Dad!"]

Can you believe that it has been so long since we were in London? That seems like just a few months ago. I hope you are having a lot of fun especially because you know your way around a bit more. Do you remember going through that spook alley? It wasn't that scary, but it was fun to push hanging skulls into the lady's face in front of us. She didn't enjoy it as much as I did.

We had a pretty good week here. We didn't end up getting hot water again until friday so we went a whole week without hot showers. I guess it helped us be a bit more perky throughout the day. We had a really hard time this week with getting visible results but it is ok because we did our best, and we can't make decisions for others. I am excited to

Sardoni and Eldredge

see what miracles are coming our way because we never gave up all week. The weather is reminding me of Utah because it can't seem to make up it's mind about being rainy and cold or just plain beautiful.

A man came up to us on the street this week and asked us if we were mormons, and then asked us what the name of God is. I knew exactly what church he was from. He found our beliefs pretty interesting so he asked if we could meet the next morning and "talk" about the Bible. The next morning I started my personal study about 40 minutes early just to really prepare myself before going out to meet him. We went out to the place that he wanted us to wait for him and when he came we crossed the street and walked up the road. Not to my surprise there was a Kingdoms hall sitting at the top of this street. He also brought a friend with him. We met inside their church and started to talk about the church. We tried at first to show them many of the things that we have in common but they just wanted to prove us wrong in any way possible. I was amazed to find myself remembering scriptures in the Bible to back us up and to testify from. At the end of our time with them, the man that talked to us on the street asked us what the biggest difference between our churches were. I told him, "There are many differences in our church 

St. Gallen District

that differ us from everyone else in the world. We have modern day prophets and scriptures, but the biggest difference between us and the rest of the world, is authority to act in the name of God for the salvation of man." I felt the spirit so strong when I said that too him, and I could tell that he felt it too as I looked into his eyes.

Through my mission so far, one of my problems has been that I teach too much without giving enough testimony. I learned during this meeting, as we simply bore testimony without trying to win some childish scripture battle, that the spirit is the strongest tool we have.

I also wanted to share a bit of my studies this morning. I have an assignment for the next district meeting to talk about some of our mission goals. So as I was studying goal setting in "Preach my Gospel" these thoughts came into mind:

When I imagine goal setting, I envision myself allowing for a path to be built in front of me. At the end of this path lies my desire or goal. While this path is being built, I notice the many obstacles, and that this path is not so smooth as I had hoped. In fact, now it looks very difficult! I decided that if I want to reach the end of this path, I am going to have to plan every step.

I feel that goal setting is the best way to make any sort of progress in life, and I have learned that even when we feel like we didn't get as far as we had hoped, we are still a lot further along than when we started.

Well I hope that you all have a great week! Dad, how long are you staying in London? Also, would you happen to still have those to SD cards that I sent home a few months ago? I might like to see at least one of those again.

I love you all and I pray for you all!

Elder Eldredge 

In the Dark

Hey!

You all seem to always be having a lot of fun! I would have loved to see Hogan play some basketball!

We have been having a pretty interesting week over here! There was a lot that happened this week and I don't really know where to start. I guess I will start with interviews. We had interviews with pres. Miles on tuesday in Winterthur, and that is always a good time. Pres. and Sis. Miles are really funny to be around. It was also combined with our first district meeting of this transfer and we have a few new members of our district. One of them is Elder Grenier from france. Elder Grenier was in the MTC with me so in our district we have three people from our MTC group! It is always great to see eachother again and to see eachothers growth over time. Speaking of time, today is my ten month mark! I still feel like I just flew into munich two months ago and that I should still be with Elder Stilger in Haag! It is kindof sad realizing how fast the time goes because there is nothing better than being out here.

We have had a bit of a problem in the apartment for the last few days. On friday morning, all of the lights suddenly went out. Normally when that happens, it means that somebody used the stove wrong (it has a short), but this time the lights wouldn't turn back on when we flipped the breaker. So not only have we gone with out light since friday, we have also had no hot water. So it has been cold showers for a few days. Luckily the electrician is coming this afternoon so we should be fine tonight.

A cool update, we should be getting bikes here in Konstanz pretty soon. Elder Sardoni and I just need to go shopping and find some cheap ones. We are pretty excited because most of our members lived really far away so it is hard to work with them frequently. But now with bikes we will be able to visit a lot more people in a lot less time. Plus Konstanz is a place where everybody rides bikes, so it is really biker friendly.

There is a woman in our area, U-----, who used to be a member but was ex-communicated. She has told us that she really wants to be re-baptized so we have been trying to work with her, so on wednesday we had a lesson with her and we set a baptismal date for the 16th of March. She is really nice but she just like being committed aparantly. She promised that she would finally come to church because we told her that she can't be baptized if she never comes to church, but she still didn't come so we don't know exactly what we are going to do with her to get her motivated and active.

All in all it was a great week here and we are always having fun. I would love to send you all photos of us trying to eat and study in the dark but I forgot my camera today. But expect them next week. Thanks for writing! have a great time in London dad! I love you all! Talk to you next week.

Love, 

Elder Eldredge

P.S. I got the letters and notes that the ward sent me for Christmas! Tell everybody thanks for me! It really made my day to hear from everybody that wrote something for me.  

The Bitter and the Sweet

Hi Everybody!

Out with the old...

It's been another great week out here! I am now working with Elder Sardoni and we are having a lot of fun! On thursday I sent Elder Gubler back home and picked up elder Sardoni in Munich. That was one of those bitter-sweet days because I am sad that I can't work with Elder Gubler anymore but Elder Sardoni is also really funny. I drove all the way to Munich and back and we carried Elder Sardoni's stuff to the apartment and headed out again to to talk on the streets.

While Elder Sardoni and I were out talking to people we decided to say hi to one of our members who lived close to where we were. She asked us if we had already visited deisy, another member in our ward. We told her that we hadn't but we thought it would be a good idea. So we went to deisy's apartment and knocked on the door. We heard deisy ask who it was so we said "It's the Elders!" We then heard her get excited and come to the door. When she opened the door she said to us, "Elders! I can't believe you came! I was just praying for help when you knocked on the door!" Her son, Nico, was really really sick. He had been sick for a few days and he looked like it too. We told her that we would give her son a blessing, but we couldn't go into the house because she had no husband there. We quickly got the other elders so that we were allowed to go in. Deisy asked me to give the blessing. I was pretty nervous but I knew that I could do it. While giving the blessing I had the distinct feeling that he would be healthy again. I promised him that he would be healed and ended the blessing. As soon as we were done he already seemed to have more energy and color in his face. We also checked up on them the next day and Nico was his old playful four year old self again.

In with the new!

I really learned a lot from this experience about being spiritually prepared. If I hadn't been keeping my commandments and staying worthy of my calling, I would have never been able to experience the power of God work through me.

Those videos of the kids are pretty darn cute! Ainsley has such a beautiful singing voice! I couldn't believe it! I also like Graysons up-beat style! It is too bad that everybody is sick. That must not be very fun! I hope that you all start feeling better soon!

Working with Elder Sardoni has been tons of fun already! He has been on his mission for almost 7 months now. It feels a lot different being the senior companion now. I am learning a lot of new things now that I am the one who has to take more of a leading role. It is really fun and I am trying my best to be the best example and teacher that I can. We are working really hard on german together because Elder Sardoni has been in an english speaking ward for his whole mission so he needs a little bit of catching up but he is doing really really well already. He knows more and more words every day. I will send a picture of me and Elder Sardoni and one with me and Elder Gubler in munich.

I hope that you all have a great week! I pray for you and love you all!

Love,

Elder Eldredge

P.S. Dad, would you mind making a line of authority for me? I have always wanted to see what mine is. Thanks!