Stake Conference

 

Hallo Familie! Und Andere! Seiet gegrüßt! 

We were walking home last night from an appointment with Familie Soucek, they are really great, and we found a cool statue. I will send a picture of it. We just thought, huh? Way cool. It is the same concept as the Living Christ statue at Temple Square, and the little description also mentioned the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro. It was right across the street from the zentral friedhof. And the weather has been beautiful the last few days, I am happier when the sun shines and the sky is blue. I guess it is kinda like Superman, gives me energy. Haha. But really. 

This week we just had Stake Conference, and it was really good! It was a broadcast to all the German speaking stakes in Germany and Austria and Switzerland. The speakers were Elder Schwitzer from the 70, and then the 2nd counselor of the General Relief Society presidency, and then Elder Bednar and Elder Hales. :)  They basically all had some connection to Germany. They kept talking about how much they love Germany, and I hope the Austrians didn't get offended... haha. They understand. They were all really good talks. My favorite was probably Elder Bednar. We were sitting in the English room, because broadcasts, like General Conference and stuff, are just not completely the same when translated (but the translators do a good job, not to take away from them, it is a tough job). Then Elder Bednar started his talk, and it took us all a couple seconds to realize that he was being voiced over. And then it all clicked in our heads and we hurried quietly into the German room to listen to Elder Bednar give his talk IN GERMAN!!!! It has been 41 years since he served in the South German Mission. It was so cool! And the members loved it. It was a great meeting.

We also had a meeting on Saturday which we all attended, where they spoke about missionary work and the vision for the upcoming year. The missionaries sang the prelude music. and they had a video put together from some videologs their missionaries from their stake have sent them. It was way cool. President and Sister Miles also came to our Pfahlkonferenz, and spoke to us, for their last time (in a Wien Stake Conference, I mean). (Pres. and Sis. Miles will finish their mission president service at the end of June this year.)  And on Tuesday, Elder Weston and I are going to visit Br. Caletka from the ward with Pres. and Sister Miles :)  They are spending their time until Wednesday here going to appointments with the missionaries. 

Last week on Friday we had an activity with the Young Men :)  Elders Botcherby and Curtis did a Schulung activity with the younger ones, and the two Priests did splits with Elder Weston and me. We had a couple families we wanted to go by on, at the  request of the gemeinderat (ward council), but one of them fell out. So we all went together, we four, and visited another famlily from the ward. The mother is a member but I don´t know if the kids are, and the husband is not. But we finally got in and were able to get to know them. It was great.

 

Oh, Elder Curtis is from Boise :)  We talk about Idaho often. So far we have no connections, except he was in Mountain Home once. Haha. But he is way awesome. We have had some fun times already, I have no worries about our apartment. Elder Weston is still doing great, too :)  He says hello. 

 

Why are all these great places closing before I get home? The candy store and the bakery. Darn it. So ist es. Buy me one last pomegranate Tootsie Pop, if you find one. Liebe grüße von mir. :)

 

I got an email from Bruder Ehlen this week, which was really great. He gave me some good advice for the rest of the mission. I love that guy, and Bruder Evans, too. I don't know if the MTC teachers understand how much they change our lives, get us started on the right foot of this incredible journey, but I will always be grateful for them. 

 

Ah, I am running out of time, we have to go shopping. I love you all, am grateful that Dad´s surgery went well, and I know the Lord watches over us. 

 

If you want to join the Wien Stake´s vision for this year, it consists of three points that we will all live. 1) Pray daily for charity and for opportunities to bring others closer to Christ. 2) Pray daily for the missionaries BY NAME and for the friends of the church by name. 3) Open your homes to the missionaries! Their slogan is "Living the gospel means sharing the gospel with joy." Pretty cool :) Come, join with us!

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

Okay :)

First, I will send some pictures of the Zentral Friedhof here in Wien. We went jogging there this morning, because it is Elder Jones´ last pday here in Wien (I will tell you about transfers later). 

 

 Johann Strauss :)  Cool!

 

Beethoven (not actually buried there, just a memorial)

 

Mozart, also not buried there, he is actually buried in a

different smaller cemetery in Wien,  not too far from us.

But here is the memorial. 

 

4th: Brahms :)  Yeah, I have been there!

 

Well, it is cool to be in Wien. :)

So, first off, transfer news!  I am staying here with Elder Weston!!! But now the craziness comes in: Elder Botcherby is also staying, and getting a new companion, his third companion here as Zone Leader in Wien. Elder Curtis, who was half trained by Elder Orchard in Klagenfurt when I left Klagenfurt. He is cool :) and Elder Jones is going back to Munich! We have been worried about losing Elder Jones because of visa problems, he still hasn't received his Austrian visa. We were afraid they would have to take him away before he got detained and such for staying here illegaly haha. Well, the Lord had plans for him, because Elder Jones got called to serve with Elder Orchard as the new assistant! Should have seen his face when President Miles told him that hahaha. It was a total surprise because Elder Jones has only been zone leader here for 2, and normally they stay for 4. But we are excited for him :) He and Elder Orchard were trained by the same elder, too. So they are mission "brothers." They are going to do lots of good :) Man, when you get doing this for as long as I have been doing it, you get really excited for changes. It will be different, and it will be good. 

Anyway, last week was way fun in the catacombs! We weren't allowed to take pictures, so you will just have to come do it yourselves. I will take you up on the Vienna/Klagenfurt tour. Although, you also have to see everywhere else I have been.... I have to see it again someday. Someone from Mountain Home has to be called to this mission, so I can tell them all about it. I will probably cry when I hear about their call. Someone has to come see what I have seen. If you want to smell what I smell, just go stand in the smoker box at the airport. Nothing too special about that... haha. Anyway, back to the topic. The beginning of the tour was okay, we saw some coffins of dead archbishops, made of copper and airtight, some copper urns that have the entrails of some famous people preserved in alcohol (you could smell the alcohol, it was pretty gross thinking about it). Then there were some statues and broken stuff from WWII bombings, and the 1 ton bell clapper from Austria´s most famous bell, which hangs in Stefansdom. The bell also fell in the bombings and got destroyed, so they made a new one. Anyway, this was all cool and interesting, but all 7 of us 19-25 year old guys were thinking; "Come on, where are the bones?!!" Haha, and then we got them :) We saw some of the masss graves, where they have like 12.000 bodies that were just thrown in, yeah? There were lots of bones, and they had a couple decaying skeletons laid out on display for us. And then there was another mass grave, and these people all died of the bubonic plague. Sick! (Literally...) That was cool. History. And then there was a little room where they used to send criminals down to stack the bones like firewood. Looked very nice. Yes, we young Mormon missionaries were satisfied :) hahahaha. It was cool. 

We didn't get to meet with that guy who texted me, he cancelled on Monday and then never answered us again. We met with A_____ again finally, he kinda just disappeared for weeks. We talked about Jesus Christ and what He does for us, because A_____ just doesn't understand why any of this matters, I don´t think. But we finally found a point where he understood what we meant about sinning, doing things wrong, making mistakes, and we just told him that Christ takes the guilt and pain from us when we repent. Yeah, I basically thought some more yesterday about the fact that I love learning and teaching, but I narrowed it down a bit, thinking that I just enjoy answering questions, whether they be from me or from others. So when my investigators aren´t asking questions, what is the point? They have to use their agency to want to learn anything, and we just introduce the Restoration or God´s plan for us, and they have to ask questions about it, otherwise I feel like I am just trying to throw a sales pitch. And I don´t like that feeling of not-getting-anywhere. So I am looking for those with questions, because I have answers, and if I don´t, I will find them, and show them how to find their own through the scriptures and prayer and so on. 

I have two transfers left on the mission. 11 weeks. I don´t have time to speak English anymore!! One of my goals is to forget English (it won´t ever go away, I just won´t use it except as needed), or rather, speak only German. I also just want to change and get out of the slumps that I have been in. Yeah, like you said, there are good days and bad, but my overlying attitude and feelings were not much on the happy side. But I am changing, I decided last night to just change. Maybe that is what I am supposed to have learned from all this anyway. So I am just going with it. Wish me luck. Thanks for your prayers and love which have been constant through it all.  

This last week I had some thoughts about the phrase "Return with Honor." We learn in D&C 29:36 that honor is God´s power. Like I discussed last week, the coach´s honor for the rules of the game gives him repect and honor from those under him and around him. As I thought about this phrase that they throw out at us missionaries, return with honor, I realized what that could mean. God´s power is His honor, or His obedience. So when we want to return with Honor, we must learn now on our missions to be 100% obedient, so that we can do so for the rest of our lives and eternity as well. And then I thought back on all the hard times I have had so far on the mission, and I realized that I probably wouldnt still be here if I had not kept the rules and regulations of the mission, even when I just didn't understand sometimes. Sometimes, I looked at my situation and wondered why in the world I was even trying, why I was even here, but I did NOT ever just give up and become disobedient. Yeah, maybe sometimes I was keeping the rules out of duty, just so I wouldn´t feel bad putting on the nametag every morning, but I am trying to make obedience my quest, so that I may return with honor. That is why I am still here. 

I will begin a study this week about wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. I am excited. Some of the scriptures I found that sparked this idea were Job 28:28 (although that whole chapter is good), Ecclesiastes 1:18 (this one intrigued me, because who wants sorrow and grief? I will figure out the puzzle :) ), Ecclesiastes 7:12, usw. Basically, I looked at proverbs and ecclesiastes and it talks a ton about wisdom and knowledge and stuff. I will see what I come up with. Feel free to study along, let me know what ideas you have. Game on. :)

 

I love you all, hope you have a great week! Thanks for being awesome :)

Elder Jalen Gibbons

PS Someone sent this quote thing to Elder Botcherby. I like it :)

 

 

Servus

 

Hallo :) It´s Monday again. Surprise! 

Last week we had zone training meeting on Tuesday and zone conference the following day, Wednesday, and then the rest of the week flew by. Well, I could tell you a bit about last Monday, shall I? I bought new lederhosen. And they are actually WAY cooler than the ones I bought in Bayern. I will send a picture :) Elder Botcherby and I had a little "fashion show" that night to try on the things we had bought. It was fun. And today we are going as a district to take a tour of the catacombs beneath Stephansdom, the big church :) That should be way awesome! I am excited.

Tuesday the zone training meeting was also awesome, I was just so happy and felt like I was on fire, I was just having so much fun in roleplays and such, and I wish I was always like that. I don´t know what it was, exactly. But I noticed a big difference in the way Elder Weston and I taught together. When I was just happy and excited and having fun, he came right along with me, and would say what he could say in German and it just worked really well. I want to have that all the time. Especially since I didn't feel the same way the next day, or the day after that. I have seen the difference it makes, and now my quest is trying to figure out why I was in such a good mood, so I can reproduce it. I need it. The chase never ends, eh? Zone conference was still really great, found out it was my last zone conference. Wow. So we had Elder Orchard, Elder Botcherby, and I there, all from the same group, and this is our last round of zone conferences. Krass.

And on Wednesday night we took family Simic to a pizza, popcorn, and propheten party at the young single adult center. We watched "On the Lord´s Errand" about Pres. Monson. Made me want to be more like Pres. Monson. Mostly just in the recognizing-spiritual-promptings aspect. He is a great man. 

On Friday, since we are still trying to find interested people, I had a sudden idea. In our phone there are 105 numbers labeled as potential investigators--so people who gave their numbers to the elders and then apparently nothing more happened. So, I wrote a text and announced the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ had restored His church to the earth, and talked about the Book of Mormon being proof of that. And I asked them to let us know if they have interest. And likewise, in the case of no interest, they could let us know and we would delete their number from the phone if they requested. So. Out of 105 people, we heard from 3%. That is  3 people hahaha. And from those 3 people, 2 asked us to delete the number. One, however, called and we are meeting him today at the church! Yay!!!! That means that 102 people just didn't answer yet. So, in the end, it didn't really help clean out the phone yet, but we are meeting with someone today, so I am happy! After all, we did talk in zone conference about many different ways to find people.

The Simic boys had lots of fun at the temple! I think it went really well. Bobi, at our last appointment on Saturday, just bore his testimony to us. I could sense that he was...different. Like he had been touched by his time at the temple. I am very glad  :) Mariya had missed them so much, she worried herself sick while they were gone, literally. Well, Margarette is headed to Serbia in the next few days, so we will never see her again haha. But she really wants missionaries to come visit her in Serbia. I just don´t know if any missionaries are there. I am going to give the office the info for Mariya´s parents and let them figure it out. It is okay, the Simic family looked me up on facebook and sent me a friend request. So I will be able to find them easily. 

Well, I had some cool thoughts at zone conference, I don´t even remember how exactly I started thinking about it, but my question was this: what makes a good coach? Oh yeah! The assisstants were talking about sports, about how we as missionaries are here in the last minute of game play (the Lord is hastening His work, D&C 88:73, mark it up, you are living it now!) and hence I thought about this question. What makes a coach a good one? I thought, well, he needs to have played the game before. You don´t want the world's best chess player to come teach you how to play hockey, oder? (Granted, he may be really good at strategy, but that is beside my point). He has to have knowledge and experience in the game. With that knowledge and experience, he is able to see the whole picture. He has been in those situations before. He knows what to do. The coach, an honorable coach, knows the rules and regulations of the game. And HE LIVES THEM HIMSELF! And expects his players to do the same. He cannot tolerate disobedience (caused, of course, by the agency of his players) and will hold to the fixed punishment. If he tried to pull any strings, he would lose that honor and good standing as a coach, yeah? Get fired. A good coach loves the game, and he loves his players. He knows every one of his players. Their strengths, their weaknesses, and he knows where and when and how to use them to help them gain experience. After all, it is better when you shoot your own goal, rather than watching others score themselves, or having someone make you kick it where they want you to. When you score your own goal, it is your own experience, you are happier and excited that you made it so far, that your practice paid off. 

 

Yes, life is like a game of Fußball (or basketball, or hockey, or whatever you will), and our Heavenly Father is our coach. Alma 30:44, don´t you see how everything, even man made sports, point to the existence of an almighty God and Creator? Everything is a likeness of the plan that God has for us, and we have something like sports, even, to remind us how it works. Listen to the coach. Live how He lives and expects you to live. And one day, you can be a coach, too. 

I hope you all have a great week and score some awesome life goals, ja? I love you all :)

Elder Jalen Gibbons

PS Hope you like the lederhosen :) I do!

Hallo!

Well, President Miles has got my ecclesiastical endorsement done, so I gues all I have to do is check out classes. How in the world did I get any priority for registration? Interesting. Now I have a chance to  get some of the classes I want haha. Anyway, that is an update on that. 

As for Mom´s question about the  trachten suit, I have basically given up. But I am actually going to buy lederhosen today :) Time is running out. I have that money from the whole VISA mishap, which Dad said I could just use for things I want before the end of the mission, so I am getting the lederhosen again. It is a must in the mission :) Nothing else says Alpine German-Speaking Mission as good ;) hahaha. Just on the temporal, material good side of things. 

On the spiritual side of things, yesterday was AWESOME! I had a great time at church, and I literally felt like the Spirit opened up my mind and I get excited to learn and figure something out, and let me tell you, the things I figured out about agency are still going through my head. I told the other Elders that I was busy unfolding the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, when they asked why I was so preoccupied with note taking and such. Haha, of course it is all just how it makes sense in my head, I am not receiving revelation for anyone other than me. You should see the notes in my planner, they are all over the place. I love the thrill of the chase, in this case chasing the truth of the gospel and the plan of God. It just makes me happy. Learning and such makes me happy. It is the same feeling I had when I rewrote my stoplight analogy last week, I am just much more focused and have more brain power. And afterwards I was exhausted, towards the end of the day. But my thoughts continued until this morning, when I made some connections that have eluded me until then, and things are still going. I love it. I could tell you all, but I won´t :) because the choices I have made in my life, which have led me to being here and thinking about these things, have prepared my mind for such things, which is why it means a lot to me. Maybe it is not what you need right now, or it wouldn't make sense to you. But when the time comes later, yeah, you can ask. I can´t really explain it over email anyway. But I testify to you that knowledge is light, and that God speaks :) and things make sense, I promise. The catch is, YOU have to make sense of them ;) Anyway, such things get me excited :) sorry.

Well, we werent able to do FHE with the Simic familie, because they all had a bad case of the flu. Dang it :( but they got better and we visited them on Saturday. The boys, Bobi and Michi, left today to go to their first temple trip :) I am so excited for them! They are such great kids. This family is incredible. They look for light and they grab hold of it and won´t let go. They tell their family who comes to visit, and I think at this point that is our best bet for finding new investigators. As Elder Weston and I walk around an ice cold city, we often wonder how nice it would be to have our schedules filled by the members. We go by on people who aren´t there, can´t get ahold of the people who we've found, and the only lessons we have had the last couple weeks were with the Family Simic (and Familie Sumegi, we went and taught them twice as the zone leaders were in Munich this last weekend, they are great). So thanks for letting me write about this, because that gave me a good idea of just teaching the family who have already heard so much about the church from Familie Simic. Super :) 

I get frustrated sometimes when I look back on a week and can´t really see what we have done. But I get over it :) We met with Christopher, for example, the texting guy, on Saturday, and it was a way good appointment, but he just said he wanted to study and he would contact us. It was good what we did, I feel we did the right thing, and listened to the Spirit, but they just have agency. Dang it ;) haha jk, we wouldn't be here if we didnt have agency. It plays a key role in all of the plan. So it is okay. We don´t have any investigators, but we are going to take that time and focus it on less actives and other members. The Lord is leading this work. 

Elder Weston and I are doing great! We just do our best at giving our best. I don´t know anyone who has a bigger heart, or who is so willing to learn (except maybe me, on the learning part... haha). He keeps us all fed, he keeps the atmosphere light, and his German has improved so much. He still doesn't like where he is at, but hey, step by step. I have no idea what will happen at transfers, but he really wants to have another transfer with me (aw, that is sweet). I stopped worrying and wasting my time thinking about transfers a long time ago, probably when I realized they were limited. We shall see what the future holds, but in the next two weeks, we shall see how much more I can learn from his example of love and his eagerness to become better and improve. He is a great man. 

Anyway, I don´t have much more to say. Don´t worry about me :)  Make good choices, for indeed, many choices are for our eternity. (See Decisions for Eternity, Elder Nelson, Oktober 2013 GC). And you will see how much more powerful you are when you make good choices and follow the Savior´s way of life, and then you shall have power over the fiery darts of the adversary. Law and order will always be more powerful than the chaos that Satan creates. :)  Your choice.  

 

I love you all, and wish you the best! Have a great week! Nice job on the date, Nathan! ;)

Elder Jalen Gibbons

Hello!

Elder Botcherby and Elder Weston both ate XXL Döners,

the size of which in emphasized here when sitting next to my normal Döner. :)

Here is Stephansdom in the light (what little light there was...) 

 

Then we went to the city. I bought myself a new swatch,

and some stickers for my guitar :)  Well, the Austria flag one is a patch

 that I will superglue to the inside of my bag.

I photobombed Bobi :)

Bobi and I ready to eat!

 Viktoria and I, showing off our awesome earmuffs :)

Roasting marshmallows over candles :)

 

This was a fun week. Poor Elder Weston was sick with a fever for two days. But I got lots of time to think and study, so that was enjoyable. The first day. Haha. On the first day I rewrote my stoplight analogy to more fully compare it to the course of this life and the purpose of life. Complete with scriptures. Yeah, I don´t think I ever told you that analogy. I came up with it in Stuttgart, and thought more about it on Christmas day last year, and it was solidified last week. (You will see it when I get home, I am sure. Remind me.) Although I could probably go more in depth. One day. I wrote my thoughts regarding said analogy out in my book of revelation. So that kept me occupied the first sick day. The second was kinda just random, I read about Joseph Fielding Smith in the Sunday School handbook thing, I sang some songs, and I eventually decided to try for the second time in my mission to make Buchteln, that recipe I got from Sister Kaiser in Klagenfurt. They turned out okay, but a little doughy. We scarfed them down anyway haha. Yes Mom, I still have my guitar, that was one of the two things I managed to hold on to, along with my little carryon bag. And now I have some cool stickers on the back of my guitar, from Stuttgart, Bayern, Wien, Austria, and I even found a Kärnten sticker :) Now I have something for each of my areas on my guitar. 

Otherwise, the week really was fun! Elder Botcherby and I tausched on Tuesday, and it was a lot of fun to work together. We went by on lots of members to strengthen our relationships with them, and we just talked. It was our first official tausch where we got to work together, since the MTC. Crazy, man. 

By the way, that scripture that Dad found was awesome. (John 4:34-38.)  I laughed out loud as I read it. Four months. Not bad. Tender mercies, they are real.

I actually used Grandma Madsen´s talk about Uncle David for district meeting this week, to start off the meeting with a stong spirit. The theme of the meeting this week was "Adapting attitudes through the Atonement." Figured Mom would be proud of my alliteration. ;) The power of words... anyway, I heard from the zone leaders that some of the other missionaries in the district, who are all relatively young (yeah, anyone is young relative to me and Elder Botcherby...) are also struggling with being burnt out. It took me 20 months to reach this point, and it hurts me that these young missionaries are experiencing these things already. One of them talked about how he lost his "golden power" and feels like he is just at the point where he is enduring. Dang it, that is how I feel sometimes, why is he to that point already? But in reality, as I write about this, I just thought about how strong these new missionaries must be, the challenges that Heavenly Father sees fit to put them through. If they are strong enough now to learn how to move forward despite tremendous difficulties, then they will be incredible. That is proof that the Lord calls and the Lord qualifies. Anyway, the district meeting was about being able to adapt our attitudes to missionary life, which went right along with Sister Miles' topic (oh yeah, we had interviews with President Miles with this distict meeting) about the new booklets "Adjusting to missionary life." That booklet is way cool. If you can't get Nathan and Kate such a book, they can look at mine when I am back. It is so insightful and inspired. It has given me lots of ideas. But the meeting went way better than I thought it would, thanks Spirit, and I hope that everyone else learned as much as I did. 

I asked President Miles the same question I asked Dad last week, just to see if he had ever experienced such a burn out on his mission. We had a great conversation, and it also gave me lots of insight. And then Sunday night there was a fireside thing about "Why God lets suffering and bad things happen?" Which basically just reemphasized the purpose of my struggles. To learn and grow. And so it goes. 

As for that one appointment that I made out from calling everyone, we went there, Elder Botcherby and I, and the guy we were looking for sat us down, gave us juice, and then took off. And left us with his family-in-law, who couldn't speak German and kinda just wanted us to help them get work in America. Kinda disappointing. But, we have an appointment for Saturday with the guy I was texting, and I hope that goes well. I was telling him about the different study manuals and stuff that the Church has, and he said he wants to be able to just sit down, read scripture, discuss it, and apply it to our lives--good, I told him that is what we do haha. And he likes talking about spiritual things in English, so Elder Weston can take more of a part, too. I am excited for that. Then gestern at church I got a call from a random number in our phone, someone I have never met, and he asked about church, and wants to come next week! So thanks Heavenly Father for such miracles. 

We kinda introduced the concept of Family Home Evening to familie Simic last Monday, and tonight we are doing a real one :) We are going to teach about the Restoration for Mariya´s sister, and hopefully figure out how much she actually knows and then we can help her prepare for baptism, too. :) I am excited. 

There is lots to do, people to help, smiles to bring, and hearts to fill. Even when the weather is FREEZING. We can bring a fire that will stay, when they choose to learn more about the everlasting restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Thanks for your prayers and love. I love you all :)

Elder Jalen Gibbons

Difficult and Joyous

Guten Morgen!  I have a headache, and sitting in a somewhat smoky internet shop doesn´t help. But it is okay. Sorry in advance if my email is kinda bleh. 

Last week was an interesting one! Monday we went and introduced the family mission plan to Alex, the chef, and he was way excited about it! We are excited to work more with him. He is so great. Then we went to the Simics', and we talked about the priesthood and the boys' duty in the church, from D&C 20 and such. And Mariya asked what her job was, and she was way excited when we told her that she would get a calling from the Bishop. She is so awesome. I love that whole family. We went back to them on Tuesday and talked about the scriptures, about how many plain and precious truths have been taken from the Bible because of all the translations and such, and how the Book of Mormon is there to help us see the truth, to confirm the doctrine of Jesus Christ (see 2 Nephi 3:12). I love seeing the light in Mariya´s eyes when she realizes the truth and it all just falls into place. We weren't able to meet with them on Wednesday, and on Thursday we went shopping with Mariya to this Caritas place, but I was disappointed. There was only one single trachten suit, and it was too small for me. But good for Elder Jones, it fits him perfectly :) He looks good! And you know how much it cost? The lady looks at this BEAUTIFUL trachten suit, and says, "8 euro." WHAT??!!! What a steal. Mine back in the day was 30. But yeah, Klagenfurt´s Caritas had like a whole row of old trachten suits. This place was smaller and had not very much. SO I didn't get anything. It was okay, it was fun spending time with Mariya and the other elders. We went back to the family on Saturday, and Elder Botcherby helped Bobby with his talk, which he gave yesterday! It was so awesome :) Yesterday Bobby passed the sacrament, and I was just astounded thinking about how no more than 4 weeks ago, these people weren´t even members. And now Bobby passed the sacrament, Michi got the priesthood, too, and both boys are so excited to go to the temple in the beginning of February. I just love seeing them taking part in the ward, like one of the men who blessed the sacrament today was baptized just last Oktober. So cool :) But anyway, on Saturday, we talked to family Simic about missionary work :) and I had an idea during personal study to read through the Articles of Faith with them and show them how they could use them to answer people's questions (yes, thank you Elder Perry :) ) and they loved it! And there were just more things falling into place and it makes Mariya so happy! We read number 10, about the Tribes of Israel, and we said that they were also from one of the Tribes of Israel, because they were gathered :) and she smiled and said that she wished she could know from which tribe! SO :) we told them about patriarchal blessings. And she was SO EXCITED! She just loves this, mensch. They love their triple combos, too. I love them to death. 

Yeah, we also met with Br. Caletka and got to do the family mission plan with him. He is also so great. We show up on Tuesday, and he pulls out this really nice guitar, and plays us "I am a child of God." So he let me play around a bit with it. I was messing around on my guitar during the week and I realized that some chords I played reminded me a song from Shrek, the "Hallelujah" song. But none of us knew the words. So we kinda made some up. But then I played it at Br. Caletka´s and he whipped out his laptop and gave me the lyrics. Yay, that is one of my pet peeves, when I can´t remember things like that. It was fun to connect that way with him. He still makes really good hot chocolate :)

Otherwise, all our appointments with investigators fell out. Thank goodness we were with our new converts and less actives, otherwise we would have had little to nothing. We went to the funeral on Tuesday for Br. Ochoko, yes he is the husband of that woman we struggled to find with Br. Zornig. I couldn't get ahold of Bruder Zornig this last week, he was out and about. We gotta get by on his friends!!!! That was basically our only hope as we started weekly planning last week. We had nothing scheduled for this week. I didn't want to plan for an empty week, so I decided to grab the area book. And I called every single person in the area book. Took me about an hour and a half. And I got nothing out of it. Until about 30 minutes later, when someone called back and I made an appointment for Tuesday, tomorrow. Yay! We will committ him to be baptized so that he and his family can be together forever. And that was it. But then last night, we got a text from a number not in our phone, and it said, "Why would someone choose to become a LDS/Mormon? It´s not a requirement for going to heaven, I presume." So we looked through the whole area book again, and found this guy at the very back. I had actually talked with him and he had told me to call him next weekend. But I guess talking to him started his thought process again. Well, we had a good question to answer! And we did so by living what we had preached to the Simic familie the day before. Here was my reply: "Good question. If you know of the Articles of Faith, written by Joseph Smith as a declaration of what we believe as a church, number 3 states that the requirement to get to heaven is to follow Jesus Christ and be obedient to the laws and ordinances of His gospel. We also believe (number 5) that these sacred ordinances must be performed by somone called of God with His priesthood authority. When we seek an answer from God as to whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet called by Him, we can know that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet and said authority from God was restored unto him, and has run in an unbroken chain in church leadership until today. Do you believe that Joseph Smith could be and is a Prophet of God?" And he answered that one and said "Thanks. My knowledge is limited so all I can say is that Joseph Smith comes across as a great spiritual leader." And I said that he most certainly was. And I told him that he just had to read the Book of Mormon and pray to find out if Joseph Smith was a prophet. Does all of this sound familiar to you? This is exactly what we learned and practiced in district meeting last week, the fact that everything comes down to the testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It is true! He said he was busy this week, but I told him to try and read a bit of the BoM and let us know if he has questions. And then next week we will meet with him and help him understand this process of gaining a testimony. That was a great miracle for which I am very grateful. Two possible potential investigators from all those calls, and I am happy :)

Last week was a very difficult one. Elder Botcherby and I talked a lot about the way we were feeling, namely that we both felt that we were going kaputt (that means broken). We have just been doing the same thing for 20 months (this last week, January 16th) and we were struggling trying to find that joy that we have felt before. As Elder Holland very eloquently described, I looked at myself as a broken vessel, trying to run on empty. Burnt out. I don't know, did you ever have any such experiences, Dad? It was way rough on me. But things are better know, Elder Botcherby read a quote in PMG, in the section in chapter 4, pray with faith, that has changed things for me. I feel better, and even though this whole life is just a roller coaster of ups and downs, I am least confident that I can make steady progress upwards. I am going to live that quote everyday, possibly for the rest of my life. So it goes. 

As I look back at my mission, I may have said this before, I don´t feel like things have gotten easier. If anything, Heavenly Father keeps throwing more and more at me. But through that I can see now that I am becoming better, I can understand better, I am even more emphatic, and I am strengthening my testimony (that was from Pres. Monson, end of Saturday morning session, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." Good talk!). I am very grateful for the chance to be here. For these opportunities to learn and grow. And Mom, I wanted to thank you for those talks you sent to me, from Gma and Gpa Madsen from the MTC. They helped me change my attitude in the midst of my trials last week. And Uncle David is my new hero. That talk on the Atonement touched me very deeply. 

So, to end, I quote what Grandma said in her talk, "Mud or Stars:" Two men looked out from prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw the stars."  Which would you rather see? I am going to look more for the stars, I will change my attitude and renew my fascination of this land and these people. Through that I can increase my love, and I will be happier :) Try it out. 

Um, I didn't hear anything from President Miles about Argentina, sorry. I will send a reminder in my email to him today.

I love you all, and I know that the Atonement can make up for anything that is unfair in my life and in yours. "In the best of times and in the worst of times, the Savior is always there" (paraphrased quote from same Pres. Monson talk mentioned above).

Have a great week!

Elder Jalen Gibbons

PS--Hey, I was watching "I´m a Mormon" videos, and I found my stake president here in Wien :) Go to http://mormon.org and look up Helmut Wondra. I was at his parents-in-law´s house for Christmas when we skyped, we spent the night with him and his family :) And it is in English!  Love you! 

Up on the Roof

Elders Botcherby and Gibbons

 

Schönen guten Morgen, schönen guten Tag, ich schreibe euch was, weil ich euch mag. :)

Schon eine Woche vorbei, ist ja der Wahnsinn! We decided gestern as an apartment that we will only speak German now. Elder Weston was the one who asked, and we agreed, and then the GML, ward mission leader, told us the same thing at church, because he can see that Elder Weston gets frustrated when he doesn't understand what is going on. We all feel that way, or have felt that way, but the German is coming etwa langsamer for my companion, and even though he is pretty good at just going with it and winging it, he doesn't understand as much German as he'd like. So we are speaking only German. It is good for us older missionaries, too, of course. And it is back to normal for me, after speaking only Deutsch mit Elder Horlacher. One day it will just click. That is our biggest focus right now as a companionship and as an apartment. Just tough it out. Good life lesson. 

The week was good, we spent lots of time in between appointments and meetings and stuff just contacting the people on the street. I love that feeling when you just talk to everyone who walks by and even though tons of them just ignore you or stop for a second and then walk away, I feel unstoppable. Of course, that is still not the most effective way to find people, but we are good at it. I think that every person who says no just brings us closer to the one who says yes!.We met our goal to get 10 potential investigators, which is the standard of excellence for the mission, and this week we upped it a little bit. We didn't get to go by on those people with Br. Zornig, but we want to do that this week. We did go to a before-funeral ceremony thing for the Br. Ochoko, and that was a neat experience. There were lots of friends there, and they did I guess a somewhat traditional African farewell party. We sang Kumbaya and stuff like that, and a Catholic priest talked to us. The funeral is tomorrow, we are going to go support again. 

We had an awesome zone training meeting on Tuesday, the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders do a really great job! While we were there, the Ehepaar (senior couple) the Strongs invited us to come on Tuesdays and Thursdays to the Young Single Adult Center so that Elder Strong can work one on one with Elder Weston with German. So I sit there and read talks from Conference in German, or talk in German with the other missionaries who are there. (Speaking and writing are the best practices). Sister Green and Sister Motto are there usually, both of whom I know from Stuttgart, so it is fun to talk with them about Stuttgart when they finish teaching English to their "students." I hope that these classes just give Elder Weston practice and experience. I am very grateful for the Strongs' efforts. 

Oh, Bobby Simic was ordained a Deacon yesterday :) and all four of them who got baptized received a triple combo from the Bishopric. They were so excited! Michi wasn't there gestern, he was at his grandma's, so next week he will be ordained a Teacher. Mariya, the mom, wanted to meet every single day this week, and we are working more today, so that we can go with the Simics to Caritas on Thursday. Caritas is where I bought my first trachten suit :) so we will see what I can find! Ich bin begeistert. (By the way, I am sending a picture of me and Elder Botcherby from our rooftop, we went up there to watch the sunset and to sing at the start of comp study. But Elder Botcherby says hello, and wanted me to send a picture of us.) Anyway, we love familie Simic and we are so excited to see them this week so often. We are talking about the Priesthood today, for the boys. 

We met with A_____ on Saturday night and showed him the church! And we made it very clear why we want to meet with him, that we want to help him follow God and be happy in life. He wants to follow God, and we invited him to be baptized when he prepared himself. He wasn't completely sure at the moment, but he came to church gestern and liked it, so we will see where it goes for him :) As for the familie S_____, I believe they are doing well, but they haven't come to church a single time since I have been here. Some excuse comes up every week, I guess. But the zone leaders meet with them often. 

We went by on the cupcake man again, who we found at the beginning of last transfer, and we gave him a Book of Mormon and talked to him for a little while. He is really nice, and doesn't like how "cold" the people are here. He is Austrian, I think, but his family wants to move away from here eventually. So he respects what we are trying to do. I also bought a real American style cinnamon roll from him, and it was heavenly. Also gave me a headache. So sweet. He is a great guy. 

We have lots in store this week, hoping to get some new investigators from the people we have found. But we did notice something last week, at least I did as I was talking to everyone on the streets. We wanted to focus on getting to the Restoration as soon as possible, and how everything comes down to the Book of Mormon, and whether or not they have a testimony of it. Just like I said last week, if people are going to make sense of our purpose as missionaries and make sense of the message we are trying to give them, they need to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We were just talking about investigators and what their needs are, and everything just came back to the Restoration, to the Book of Mormon. And when I focused on that in my contacting, the Spirit was there to give testimony and I felt more effektiv, even if they didnt want to learn more. I spoke the invitation, like Mom said, and that was the best I could do. Always trying to become a "Preach My Gospel" missionary! So study chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel and see how you can use that in your efforts to recgonize missionary opportunities, like you told me about. Keep it simple and powerful. 

I wish you the best in that aspect, and much fun this week! I love you all! :) Mach´s gut!

Elder Jalen Gibbons