Meine liebe Familie....

Well well...We meet again computer. 

I am finally getting over my sickness :)  Highlight.

Another Highlight!  I got to baptize M**** on Saturday!  I will send pictures the next time that I am at the church but it was so cool!  He is great.  We should be having another baptism this weekend so we will see how that goes.  This ward is really growing well!  Since May we have had 4 baptisms...I think...maybe one more.  It is great. 

Elder Christensen and I are doing fantastic together.  Definitely one of my favorite comps on the mission.  (haha he's said that a million times)  He brings out the nerd in me :)  We have been having a lot of success and fun together so far.  

We have been working with two in-active members here in the ward who should be coming regularly to church now so that should be exciting!  We will see what happens. 

Do you know what I love?  Passing the sacrament.  I got asked to pass the sacrament yesterday and I have done it a couple of times in this ward but it was so much fun yesterday!  I had a big smile on my face :)

Elder Bednar is coming soon.  I am really excited.  He gave us a couple of talks to read that he gave before he comes so that we can get into a certain midset I presume.  I fancy a quote that he gave in one of them which I can't quote exactly but from memory...He said that a lot of times, we members pray for missionaries, that they may have the opportunity to find somebody to find, that the Lord will put people in their paths...The more effective prayer would be that of asking for opportunities for YOU to find somebody.  We are the full-time finders and the missionaries are the full-time teachers.  Your prayers will receive more answers as you pray for something that YOU can change and act upon. 

I really liked that quote.  A lot of members around the world know that and understand that and live it but the most don't.  We missionaries can tell within 30 seconds of talking with a random member, if they are a missionary or not.  'Every member a missionary!' 

I was thinking the other day...(I tend to do that a lot)...about the scripture, Moses 1:39.  BEHOLD; THIS IS MY WORK AND MY GLORY, TO BRING TO PASS THE IMMORTALITY AND ETERNAL LIFE OF MAN....That is GOD'S goal!  That is the church's goal!  That probably should be our goal!  Member or Missionary.  The members who come to church are not perfect and still struggle but they are 'built of the rock of their Savior'.  When someone walks in the church for the first time, if we have the same goal as God, and feel like we are pretty set up for eternal life with an eternal family and a strong stance in the church, THEN WE NEED TO MAKE THIS NEW PERSON FEEL LIKE A THOUSAND DOLLARS AND talk to him, sit next to him, invite him over for dinner in the week, show him love, show him testimony, help him understand.  Obviously not scare the poor kid but be there for him and make him a priority.  I guess the point I want to come to is that, we, in the church are stable, we have salvation in front of us, those people outside have nothing and some people don't want anything, but when you. see. a. person. with. a. sliver. of. hope. faith. desire. ANYTHING....you'd better be there to give him a door.  If we see that and do nothing, we are denying the opportunity to help God reach his goal and we will pay for that when we stand before Him. 

I don't want to get to Heaven and have someone come up to me and say, 'You knew?  You knew that whole time and didn't tell me?  I know I was a little prideful but I needed that...and now I have to miss out.'

Please ponder this scripture.  Moses 1:39.  Become one with God in goals.

I love you :)

Elder Hays

I LOVE MY LIFE

I will answer all of your questions :)

1. How are you?

I LOVE MY LIFE.  I think that explains a lot.  Elder Christensen are and I getting along like Trevor and Jackson as they were 4 year olds.  

2. How's mission life?

I LOVE MY LIFE.  I don't know how else to put it to be honest.  I enjoy serving the Master and love the work here.  Mission life is the meaning of change.  You aren't serving your mission right if you aren't changing everyday.  

3. How's Berlin?

MASSIVE.  Lot's of people and things to see and do and baptize :)

4. How's your new comp?

(answered in question 1)

5. Where is he from?

Provo, UT

6. How long has he been out?

One transfer less than I have.

7. What did you have for Sunday dinner? 

Potato salad with fish in it and then ice cream :)

I really am doing well. 

I don't have a lot of time for email time because I did my essays for BYU but...know that I love you and we had a great Zone Training meeting!  It was a lot of fun and we talked about the depth and frequency of prayer and how it plays a role in missionary work. We taught an African preacher (who can literally recite the Bible from memory, like seriously) about the Book of Mormon and he flipped out about how amazing it is.  We ate spicy chinese rolls.  We handed out like 1.5 billion books of mormon and then put someone on baptismal date in the zone.  One of the zone members had surgery and I got bit by a spider.  Got a tie.  Talked to another African preacher.  Ran into member randomly.  I feel like with this list that I'm gunna break out into a Tim Mcgraw song but I will leave it at that. 

Love you all!

Elder Hays

So many people to baptize in four months.

Four Months is FOREVER!!!  I have a long time here till I go home and so many people to baptize! 

I love it.  Elder Christensen is my new Comp!  He is a wonderful person.  We get along awesome and he is just super smart and I am very excited about that.  ¿Sabía usted que puedo hablar español?  It's true.  Totally had a conversation with this guy about the gospel at church on Sunday.  El Evangelio es la verdad!  Das Evangelium ist der Wahrheit!  The gospel is the truth!  Watch out book of world records!  Elder Hays almost has 3 languages down! Jk, I really said like 3 words to him and then I forgot so I talked to  him in German but IT WAS COOL ANYWAYS!  

He had a good week of finding this week...even though we had like NO time this week to do anything.  On Tuesday we were at the train station all day, getting missionaries to their assigned stations.  On Wednesday we went finding with all of the brand new missionaries that arrived that day!  (So cute).  On thursday we had district meeting and then planning. On Friday we had a day long meeting for the Zone Leaders and then the rest of the weekend we did a lot of planning for the Zone.  FUN.

I hope you are all doing well.  Keep an eye on Trevor.  He might get drafted into the army because of his immense studlyness. 

I am going to show Elder Christensen a little around Berlin today so it should be fun.  Oh yeah!  Sister Seamons is in my district!  Right when I met her she said she knew my family haha it was so so funny.  I just was so surprised.  She is doing well and is working awesome here.  

We got to meet Sister Seamons before she left.
She is from American Fork and great friends with our neighbors.

Love you!  Thank you for the bars!

Elderly Hays

Blessed

We got to play soccer today with all of the missionaries here in Berlin.  So so much fun.  We had a blast.  Nailed a sick bicycle kick and had 3 of the 8 goals.  We destroyed and now I have serious dirt on the North Berlin Zone Leaders!  I am proud of my missionaries. 

 It was great seeing Thomas.  We had some American breakfast at European prices and then just chatted for a while.  It isn't too long before I will be home!  I might not come though.  We will see.

Thomas is our Family friend who was traveling to Berlin on business.

Elder Hays and Elder Lloyd

So we have two investigators who want to be baptized on the 23rd of August.  They are both progressing pretty well and we might bump one date earlier.  It is awesome because when I first got to this area we had nothing and now it is booming.  The Lord has really blessed us. 

Elder Lloyd got transfered to DRESDEN!  Trying to take my city??  No, I am super happy for him and I know that Dresden will love him.  I get to train a Zone Leader who is a transfer behind me.  I was thinking about it the other day.  I have only had one comp, outside of my trainer who was older than me on the mission!  I have been working with younger missionaries the whole time and I can't tell you how grateful I am to do that.  They teach me!  I don't do much in that process.  They take stuff that I have and then push us both to that next step which has been such a blessing.
 

I will probably end my mission here in Berlin but we never know.  I have 3 transfers left, which is crazy and sad. 

I would love in my package....definitly quest bars...those work wonders when we don't get all of our fiber in as missionaries...if ya know what I mean...other than that I don't think I have anymore requests...I still have nuts from the last package and eat them slowly but regularly :) 

Just keep sending pictures and videos as well!  Those would make my day...

I love you!

Elder Hays

Preaching Mode Engaged

Well C____ was baptized on Saturday and got the Holy Ghost yesterday!  It was great.  She was super scared but she did great and really had a great experienece.  She has been investigating the church forever. It was really good for the ward though. 

We had a good week this week.  We found some new people and we had a great time teaching some new people who really want to learn about the church!  Fought with a couple of interesting people about the Book of Mormon.  It was great.  Fun stuff.  He called us the devil and that didn't fly by Elder Lloyd and myself so we brought the sword down...with love of course :) 

It has been so so so hot lately.  We are dying.  It is so humid and the sun is always out but guess what?  It doesn't matter because there is italian ice cream here.  BOOYA.  Top.  Anyways it is supposed to rain this week somtimes so we will see how that goes.  Ich bin gespannt.  Many missionaries are going home in these next couple of transfers.  I know NOBODY who is new.  It's terrible but true.  All my good friends will be heading home within the next month so that's a bummer...but good thing I didn't come on my mission to make friends with americans!  I came on my mission to make friends with wierd people who for some reason don't ever speak German, and guess what is wierder...I LOVE IT.  It's a ball.  I love the people here and enjoy every bit of my time here ( when it's under 30°C).  :)

We are memorizing scriptures as a mission here and I am really enjoying it.  I am up to about 20 scriptures and I can't get enough of it. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!!!

Turning 41 is a big age watch out!   °_°     Your son is passing you up but good thing grandpas don't pass 41.  I miss you a ton and am so so grateful for all that you do for me and for my family at home!  I can't wait to see you soon and to watch some football :)  It'll be a blast, lets be honest. 

I love you all and send my love out of the ghetto of BERLIN.  A demonstration happened this week.  Soo much fun when that happens...not.  Preaching mode engaged...

Love (you), Elder Hays

Germany is the Champion!

It's been a fun week :)

 

All of the missionaries in Berlin got to get together today and play soccer.  My body is seriously falling apart ha...I can't wait to go to the gym when I'm home.  I'm fine though :)

 

Well C_____ is getting baptized on this saturday!  It was great news and she let us know yesterday that she wanted to do it.  It will be great.  She, like N___, who was baptized on the 1st of June, has investigated the church for over 4 years.  I am excited for her.  Elder Hunt will be baptizing her. 

 

We have had a lot of cool lessons this week with some cool people!  The only problem is, is that they all live outside of our area!!!  The areas here are so small because it is just one city with a ton of areas so we have to pass on a couple of really cool investigators to the other missionaries.  Just as long as they get baptized I will be fine with that ;)

 

I got to go on exchange with Elder Liddiard again which was a joy.  He is such a great kid.

I am doing well and enjoying life.  It has been an evaluating week this week.  I have and still need to look at my work and to figure out what I can do better and to improve.  My personal progress is very important at this point. 

 

I hope you are all doing good and yes...Germany is the champion of the world...just take it in...

 

Love, Elder Hays

 

 

Lots to get done

Germany is still playing soccer and we hear a lot of the BOOM haha.  Even though we don't watch the games...we still know the score, how much longer the game has and who is winning just by looking out our window or while walking down the street.  A peculiar people.

I sent you pictures!  We went bowling on Saturday and that is a picture of all the missionaries in Neukölln and the Bishop's daughter Julia came along.

In the Book of Mormon I am learning more and more about telling people about the truth with love and boldness.  I am learning more and more about how the Savior did it.  How He was really straight up with these people that He loved so dearly and that is what it comes down to.  When we really love these people, we would tell them.  We would bare testimony to them.  I bore my testimony on Sunday and really emphesized baring testimony to friends.  I told them how I felt and the spirit confirmed what I said.  I told them that I don't want to show up in heaven and have someone come up to me that I had met here on earth and say,'You knew?  Why didn't you tell me?  I was your neighbor and you didn't say anything?'  That right there would be hell for any person.  It is important to have friends here on earth and everything and to have a good time but if you think about the goal of our Heavenly Father...His work and goly is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.  THAT'S ALL HE DOES!  He works to save all of His children.  Are we hindering?  Do we want to be His helper?  Sometimes we are so worried that we are going to offend a friend or an aquantance that we don't even save them.  Our Father in Heaven works day and night for our salvation by giving people chances to share the gospel, giving trials so that they might search for a God, sending angels to preach the everylasting gospel, comforting the saddend and sorrowful, and loving us enough to do it eternally.  Do we want to play a part?  We can do more.  I can do more.  Be that angel.  Be the person that when somebody needs help you don't think twice.  Have enough love for someone to tell them about the gospel. 

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-declares-i-am-the-light-of-the-world-the-truth-shall-make-you-free?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/the-cost-and-blessings-of-discipleship?lang=eng

We had a great eating appointment yesterday with a family where the parents are active in the church but the 3 daughters are not active.  They believe in Jesus Christ but don't do much to follow Him.  One of them comes to church maybe once every other month.  We came in with a lesson but at the last minute we decided to change it.  Our only goal became the point that they just need to feel the spirit.  The way we did that is by teaching about the healing and love of Christ.  We commited them to pray as a family but before we did that we asked what that would mean to them or what are their thoughts to praying as a family each night.  Instantly the mother and father started crying and saying that it would be like old times and that they would love it.  The daughters started really crying and I started crying (the poor boyfriend had no idea what was happening and was more uncomfortable then a turtle at a nascar race track).  We all felt the spirit and gave testimony of Christ and how He can help us with anything.  We commited them to pray for themselves.  We also commited the father to take us to one of his friends to help clean up his yard.  It was a great appointment because of simple, doctrinal statements, confirmed through the power of the spirit.  

We have a lot of meetings this week and an exchange so our week is already packed haha.  Lots to get done.

Love, Elder Hays