Werdau's First Snow

I hate to say it Mom, but I may be on Uncle John's side on this one. Even after 16 months of having hardly any form of worldly entertainment, puzzles sound a bit boring. I'm not totally sure how to translate the phrase "getting back to normal," though I suppose I've only been alive for less than half of your lifetime, so perhaps there was a time that you were normal...I do hope I'm not crossing any lines with that comment :). Disrespectful children these days. That video was quite beautiful Lisa, I can't wait for the sequel. I wasn't aware you were entering the cake business. Your skills could be used in Germany; sadly German cakes aren't particularly impressive in taste or appearance. Well Andy, Elder Hunt says you may have a problem with your first and third goals for 2017. You can probably get one, but you might not be able to get both. I'm not sure what to think about the once proud and mighty Andy being addicted to listening to books, though I don't blame you. Yeah Dad, we didn't wait for the new year either. Though at midnight we couldn't really sleep due to the onslaught of fireworks outside our apartment. Glad to hear that things are going well.

Werdau Main Market

Honestly said, for the first and probably for the last time in my life, I've actually been somewhat antsy for the holidays to be over with, so that missionary work can finally get back to normal. Christmas time was awesome and brought with it a lot of opportunities to do good and to meet new people, but in terms of meeting with investigators, setting up appointments and going door to door it's been a bit of a struggle. Lots of people have told us to get in contact with them after New Years, and I'm excited to see what potential we'll have to work with in the coming weeks. There's a really legit part-member family who we'll be visiting tonight for Family Home Evening and hopefully we can make that a weekly thing. The son, Leon, came in contact with the missionaries about two years ago through our English Class; he was baptized and now we're hoping that we can help the Dad as well to develop faith in Jesus Christ.

Nothing too exciting to talk about from this last week, but the concept of letting go of pride has been on my mind a bit. So what today is known as the Werdau ward was once three separate branches. The branches came together about two years ago and since then there's been constant complaining and bitterness between some of the members of each branch. Everyone thinks their opinion of how a ward should be run is the correct one and that everyone else needs to conform according to their perspective. However, while everyone is willing to talk about these things within their own families and former branch members (and the missionaries), no one brings it up in Ward Council. All the members that we've met are amazing people, yet there's this slight breeze of contention that has a negative effect not only on a strictly member basis but also missionary work. Looking back I can see how often I have also had problems with this concept, being convinced that my way of thinking is correct and putting no deep consideration into opposing opinions. And now often I wish that I had listened while I had the chance, where I could have changed things that likely would have had a positive effect on my entire mission, rather than finally recognizing my mistake a year later. Sorry for the rant, I guess the moral of the story is be humble and try to see from the perspectives of others rather than your own limited perspective; or better yet, try to catch a glance of what God's perspective is.

I love you guys and hope we all have an awesome start to 2017 :).

Elder Larsen