November 28, 2011 Showaddywaddy!

Well hey guys!

So this week has been pretty jam packed. We had a great thanksgiving thanks to some awesome members and we also had one after Zone Conference.

Our Zone conference was pretty cool. We had a seventy there Elder Kopischke or someone. He was the stake president in Nürnberg and he definitely knows his stuff. He talked a lot about changing our mentalities. He talked about how we need to change our mentalities to always finding. It was really interesting. There weren't any new insights and we had heard all of it before. It was however a change from what President Schwartz wants us to be doing which is work creatively. We had this little confusion cleared up later and we even made a few little connections in what he wanted us to be doing.

So President Schwartz was at our sacrament meeting this week which was cool. He talked about missionary work of course and had a great missionary correlation meeting afterwards with him. This is where we cleared up the confusion with Zone Conference. It was a really spiritual meeting.

So you wanted me to get my testimony down for Christmas? English or German? or both? haha. I will start to write it down this week so I can send it off next week for emails. As for that care package, I hope I get it sometime! Haha.

I finally left my area too! I went up to Erlangen with Elder Paulfreyman and we had a good time. We had a couple of good lessons reading out of Deuteronomy and teaching this guy about Christ. It was really cool.

Well, with the weather change and all, it's been really hard on my mental state. Don't worry I am not going crazy, but I am starting to get sleepy all the time and sometimes it's hard to stay focused. I am told it is because the sun goes down at 4 in the afternoon and we get up when it's still dark. It's kinda annoying but whatev. Don't worry I am taking my vitamins!

As far as my emails with President Schwartz go, I have been trying to keep my emails more on subject and keep things on the right track. I know that there are a lot of elders who only tell him the fun and exciting things ( a point he addressed at zone conference) and none of the challenges. I think that this gives an inaccurate picture of how the mission is going. Then again there are elders who give emails just complaining wanting to go home. I have been trying within the past few weeks to keep things on task as well as give him accurate information about what's going on and some of the challenges I have.

This has honestly been the hardest email to write so far. I have this pounding headache and I am really having trouble concentrating on anything. I am not really sure why. Other than that, I am doing great and trying to get past this slump.

Thanks for all the emails you all send me. I really love you guys. Thanks for all your support.

By the way, I need to buy new pants... I went to iron them on Sunday and I didn't check the temperature on the iron and it melted a nice little spot on the leg. I will check some pants out but I will wait to buy any. It feels like sometimes things just don't want to go the right way.

Well enough of that.

Until next week!

Elder Trevor Baker

P.S. A member played us this song called 3 steps to heaven by showaddywaddy and said that this is what we need to do to get home. You can google it if you want. Haha

November 21, 2011 Hallo!

Well hallo. So another week another week. Seriously these things fly by. Can you believe that it's almost december?? I left at the end of Feb.!! Time has been flying.

Well we got sister missionaries this past week. They are legit like usual. I always say that sisters do the work of 3 sets of elders. This is due to a variety of reasons which would take far too long to go into right now. So...

Sadly, the past few months have been full of the slow tedious side of missionary work. There really isn't anything new to report, except for one thing. And that is how much I love learning.

So I guess I will talk about what I have been learning because, for some reason, that seems (at least visually) all that I am doing here. I was listening to a Hugh Nibley talk that he gave at BYU some time ago on the subject of Brigham Young and how much he loved learning. (As an aside, I learned that Hugh Nibley can speak German) And I was inspired from that point on to take control of situations and search for things that I can learn from them. In the talk, he talked about how we need to seek knowledge from the best books available. How we need to learn the sciences, the arts, history, literature, languages, and so on and so forth. It was really cool. It made me miss college but at the same time I feel like when I get back, I will be better prepared for it.

I have been really searching the scriptures for new insights that I never before had, as well as using the teachings of people like Hugh Nibley, Cleon Skousen, Truman G.Madsen, and Bruce R. Mconkie. I have been loving it. I don't know whats happened to me! I have all of a sudden started to love reading! AHHH!

Well, we have had lately extra time of mission wide finding time. On Wedesndays we have stuff like "consecrated finding time" which to me personally sounds a little redundant because my time here is already consecrated.

Well we did it, and had some interesting people answer doors and such. One old lady was real nice to us but didn't have any interest. We talked with her for about 15 minutes. Then we talked to a woman who very violently slammed the door in our face. It was funny. I think she was being rude on purpose. Haha. Then we talked with a guy who said that Christ never existed. Then, Elder Jongejan said that he definitely did exist. Then there came the door. Haha. It was something that we just have to work with.

So, the weather here has been changing (why is the weather always a topic of discussion? haha...) and it has really been getting cold around here. I have busted out the heavy coats and stuff. Hopefully, it doesn't get too bad.

Last night we went by a member to drop off a Book of Mormon in Turkish and the members were like come on in! So we came in and talked with them for a while. (They are seriously like the coolest members here.) We even got a ton of ice cream and got some Christmas stuff to send back home! So be expecting something in the mail in a little bit. I love Christmas time!

So let's see... we moved the sisters in which was cool. I am way jealous they have an apartment overlooking the old city and it's a very nice one. We spent almost all day moving boxes of furniture up these stairs to an elevator. It was just crazy.

I also went to ward soccer night which was cool. I turned down the notch on the soccer though which was nice.

Thanks guys for sending me emails every week. Especially Grandma in Phoenix, Sean, Grammie, Mom, and Everyone back at the house. I know I don't really respond specifically, but I do read your emails every week.


So what's the status on that package? Is my birthday package supposed to turn into a Christmas package? Let me know what's up.

Thanks guys Love you all!

Elder Trevor Baker

November 14, 2011 Staying in Nurnberg!!!

Hey Guys, this week we got transfer calls and I get to stay in Nürnberg for Christmas! Yay!

So basically there are a couple of cool things in Nürnberg during Christmas time. There is the world's Largest (so I hear) Christmas Market. As well as it being the Christmas capital of the world. So that means I may send a few things home for Christmas!

There are a couple more developments of late. Such as the weather all of a sudden plunging. It's gotten really cold here. I have started wearing gloves and a scarf. And its only Autumn, I get to experience Winter here in a month or so. Yay!

Strange story--so I think we talked to a cannibal this week. He was talking about some crazy religious cannibal thing which I didnt understand at first. But he decided to give out some reading material (which we took, innocently) and took it home. Then as we started to read through it, we found out what it was. Haha, we got rid of that fast.

Well, this week has been pretty same old same old. It tends to happen like that when you stay in an area for over 3 months. I am trying to get better at writing things down that I see and hear.

Thanks everyone for sending me mail. I have sent off all of the letters that I needed to write and perhaps I will be able to send some German chocolate home soon.

Thanks guys, I don't really need anything out here. Keep up the work (whatever it is)!

Elder Trevor Baker

Listening for the Spirit November 7, 2011

So what's up guys?

First off I got Dad´s email as well as Emma´s and Mom´s and Grandma´s! Thanks y'all! (I have to represent my southern twang) And the emails were nice; they help me get by week by week.

So this week has been pretty good. We definitely had a lot going on. First off, our new (ish) investigator was at a baptism! (Not hers but a kid´s) and she thought it was great! She is honestly the most (dare I say) golden investigator that we have ever had. She regularly attends church, all the activities, we are getting her involved in institute, and she has been reading (she is somewhere in Alma I think) and it's been going great. The only setback is that her parents have something against the church. That can be addressed though. We have awesome members.

On a side note, I found something very interesting out this week. We were at some kind of missionary meeting and I found out that in the school curriculum here, they teach that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is on the same level as the JWs and Scientologists. I could not believe it. However, the German govt considers us non sectarian or something like that and the govt puts us on the same level as the Catholics and Protestants. Just some interesting tid bits.

Anyways with our investigators we always see how it goes and take it from there while always listening for the spirit. It works out great. I love the way teaching works.

Anyways, back to the investigator. We had an epic joint teach with out ward mission leader and his wife. They explained points that we could not really elaborate on in German (let alone English). It was stellar. When asked if she would set a baptismal date, she said "not yet" due to her parents. So I guess we need to figure that one out.

We also had a great lesson in Priesthood this week. We taught a nice lesson on Preach my Gospel and how it applies to members as well as missionaries. (That means you all should get one; it really is good) We talked about scripture study and how we can make it more spiritual. I am of the doctrine that we learn faster through the Holy Ghost. I have seen it here with myself and as well as my companion. It's really awesome. I have learned so much. I dont think I could write everything down, even if I had the time.

Anyways, back to the Priesthood class. In Preach my Gospel there is a section about learning the language. It not only emphasizes how we as missionaries can learn the language faster, it talks about those who don't speak English. It encourages them to learn it because of how important it is to learn another language. There are also other conclusions I have drawn from that. I would have to write them down so I can send you another email next week. I made a couple of those points in Priesthood class. There was one member who was like... "Well the language of heaven will be English!" It was pretty funny.

Well, Thanks guys for sending me mail (LaShae) and I am honestly working on writing letters (honestly Pday is our busiest day).

Thanks for all the Prayers and have a good week!

Elder Trevor Baker