2013 - My spiritual breakdown

Hey friends! :)

4,588,601. That's the number of people that like mormon.org on facebook right now. It has nothing to do with this post but I just think it's amazing and I feel I should share it. Social media are just such a neat, non-intruisive way to share the Gospel! If some stranger knocked on my door and told me he would like to speak to me about Jesus, how many people would not open the door, even if they were receptive for the message if they just listened? A lot. Heck yes. But if a friend shared an inspirational quote or video from mormon.org on my facebook profile, that would get me much more interested :) Social media is the Missionary tool number one of the future and even of the present. And millions will join the Church because of the inspiration they receive from things shared on facebook, twitter and pinterest. Now, that's amazing! :)
So, I invite everyone who reads this to share a Mormon message or a quote as their status or on a friend's wall right after reading this post, and watch the magic happen :) It really works, I promise.

What this post (my first blog post) back in Germany is about is a very statistical spiritual breakdown. haha. I don't know if anyone really cares. But maybe it will be interesting. Now, be aware that I don't really know what I'm going to write. I'll just let the Spirit guide. 1 Nephi 4:6 practical application right here! :)

What a great year it was! Here are some highlights:

Baptisms!

Baptisms are so amazing! I wrote about it in my last post (check it out :) ). I had the pleasure to attend yet another one here in Germany this weekend, but this is not all! There have been four converts baptized this year in my ward in Germany this year. As far as I can tell all are still active and strong :) Of people I know (like really), Martin and Adrian got baptized, but there were many, many more I got closer to after they joined the Church. Altogether I've attended some 15 to 20 baptisms this year and if I somehow can make it, I'm usually there if I can because it's so important to show support to those going this important step :)

Missionaries!

I am blessed with so many friends who are serving Missions, many (Sisters in particular) who have left this year. Those include:

• Sister Kartchner in Washington Federal Way
• Sister Horlacher in Cape Verde Praia
• Sister Horlacher in Kentucky Louisville
• Sister Whatcott in Tennessee Knoxville
• Sister Sheridan in Denmark Copenhagen
• Sister Packard in Denmark Copenhagen
• Sister Nielsen in Ukraine Lviv
• Sister Zisumbo in North Carolina Raleigh
• Sister Alston in South Dakota Rapid City
• Sister Watts in Russia Vladivostok
• Sister Gamble in Washington Kennewick
• Sister Bailey in Australia Brisbane
• Sister Boudesoque in New Jersey Morristown
• Sister Hassard in Ukraine Doneczk
• Sister Schumacher in Brazil Porto Alegre North
• Sister Frederiksen in Hawaii Honululu
• Sister Rogers in Canada Calgary
• Sister Tribe in Canada Montreal
• Sister Ungermann in Alabama Birmingham
• Sister Hamblin in Massachusetts Boston
• Sister Carter in Spain Barcelona
• and my biggest hero of all, Sister Starr in Georgia Atlanta 
• Elder Evans in Chile Antofagasta
• Elder Billings in Canada Edmunton
• Elder Ferguson in Singapore
• Elder Christensen in Alabama Birmingham 

I have probably forgotten tons of people, but with the exception of a few, all those above have something in common. I went to their farewells. Wow. What a year it has been for my Missionary friends :) I definitely have some amazing company :) Not to mention all those who leave soon. This list would be a little too outrageous haha ;) 

My Mission call!

I've been called to the Alpine German-Speaking Mission to do something full-time that I've done all along...Missionary work! :) I'm so excited!! Getting a call from the Prophet of God to serve in the Mission out of 405 that is for YOU. 

Going through the Temple

...because a Mission isn't a saving ordinance, but this is. Thanks to my buddy Danny Rubio (curtesy of the Massachussets Boston Mission) for taking me :) A day I will never forget! Here's proof :)

That will do. What a great year 2013! What a great year 2014 ahead :) See you then! :)

Pascal

Farewell Talk

Many years ago, when Howard W. Hunter, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,

visited with Missionaries at the Provo MTC preparing to serve all throughout the world, he was

asked for one piece of advice that would apply to all the Missionaries present. After short

consideration, he replied, "I want you to remember that you only have a limited time to serve the

Lord full-time, but the rest of your lives to think about it." Now here I stand before you, as someone

who has been a member of this Church for a shorter period of time than the intended length of this

"limited" full-time service. What a pleasure it is to speak to you today.

As I prayerfully decided on a topic for this talk, much came to mind. This Gospel has certainly been

put into place to enrich and bless the lives of all of us! However, we are withholding ourselves from

many of those blessings and joys of life if we lack hope.

In the scriptures, we learn that hope is a certain belief. Unlike factual knowledge, however, it is a

certain belief in things to come. It is a strong manifestation of trust and faith in the plan that the

Lord has for each one of us. It means that we give ourselves to Him, trusting and knowing that good

things are to come, regardless of how dreary our current circumstances may be.

The old words of wisdom hold true: A man may survive three minutes without air to breathe, three

days without water, three weeks without food, but no three seconds without hope.

As Moroni, an ancient prophet in the Americas, worked on compiling the records now known as the

Book of Mormon, he commented in the Book of Ether: "Whoso believeth in God might with surety

hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith,

maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always

abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

In this statement, we learn two basic truths about hope: First, it is present in those who believe in a

loving, caring and merciful God. Think about it: The most perfect, powerful and great being in the

universe has promised you to receive all the blessings He has in store for you, if you stay faithful

and live righteously. And, as the perfect and loving being God is, He does not break promises. I can

ensure you that He will hold true to the things He revealed to you, by Himself and through the

words of the prophets since the beginning of times. And, certainly, His blessings are far greater than

you can imagine and with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ, we can certainly attain them. Now,

may I ask, is that not reason to hope?

Second, the world is a better place if hope is a widespread fire rather than a rare glim. There is, of

course, much to be fearful about these days. Think about terrorism, wars, government crisises

around the world, financial woes, national debt, unemployment, the loss of importance of the family

throughout our society, and much, much more. At first sight, there seem to be enough compelling

reasons to justify your personal lack of hope.

However, it is not so. While the commotion around us sometimes seems overwhelming, we live in

what most likely is the most choice time in world history. The fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

is restored, along with all Priesthood keys, and most importantly, we may peacefully go to sleep at

night with a certain knowledge that none of these things will ever be taken from the Earth again.

Never before in history has this Gospel been known to and accepted by more children of our Father

in Heaven. Never before have there been more worthy Priesthood holders throughout the world,

seeking to serve all those in need. Never before have there been more full-time Missionaries

seeking out and teaching those who have been prepared individually by our Heavenly Father to

receive this Gospel. And, finally, we know that families can be together for eternity and that death is

nothing but a temporal barrier between us and those we love. On a more worldly, but no less

important note: Never has a larger percentage of the world population had access to clean water,

enough food, medical care, hygene and education. And with combined efforts of people of all faiths,

we continue to work on improving further. Do not be deceived by those who make their living off

bad news. There is much to be optimistic and hopeful about.

When pondering about hope, I cannot help thinking about one of the most influential men in my

own life. For most of my childhood, I was raised by a single mother. Through dedication and hard

work, she managed to always ensure a fairly comfortable income for our little family of two.

However, since her job required her to often work long shifts with limited time to take care of me,

my grandparents also played a major role in raising me. Thus, without a real father to relate to

through most of my childhood, my grandpa became my first and most important male influence. We

spent much quality time together: In the summer, we would often go on bike rides or go swimming.

In the winter, we would often solve puzzles or watch winter sports on television for hours.

My grandfather grew up in humble circumstances. Born in western Poland to a family of

glassmakers, his occupational fate was predetermined. After the end of World War II, him and his

parents were expelled from Polish territory, like thousands of other Germans living in the same

area. He grew up to be an excellent soccer player in East Germany, began working at the worldfamous

Zeiss glass-producing company in Jena, but often felt discouraged about his future in the

communist country he lived in. Despite being employed at the most acknowledged glass factory in

the world, he often encountered weeks and even months at a time without work. He knew, though

not necessarily being a young man of Christian faith, that there must have been more for him in

store to hope for.

One day, as his soccer team played an away game near the border between East and West Germany,

he decided to take a leap of faith and escape from the country that held him captive. He hid

underneath an abandoned bridge that crossed a small stream that, at the time, marked the border,

and waited for the change of the border guards. As the exchange came, he ran for his life, and

finally made it into the freedom of a West German refugee camp. While he was fully aware of the

hundreds of others who had been imprisoned or shot to death for similar escape attempts prior to

his, he later expressed to our family that his hope for a better life for his family and for a better

world as a whole led him to making his decision.

I am eternally grateful for the hope, courage, faith and vision that my grandfather had as a young

man. After the joyful life he wished and hoped for, he lost his second battle with cancer six years

ago, actually exactly six years before the day I will report to the MTC. I miss him dearly, and I

know I will one day see him again and thank him for everything.

My dear friends, this Christmas season comes as an annual reminder to us that without hope, there

would be not much for us to be. As I accept my calling from the Lord to serve as a full-time

Missionary in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission for the upcoming two years, I testify to you

that Jesus is the Christ. Through Him, all things are possible and should be hoped for by us. He is

truly the Savior and Redeemer of the world. And He calls you home ceaselessly, with open arms, to

your Father in Heaven. I know that when I give my all to Him, He will give His all to me. Never

 

forget that the Lord has been merciful with you, and that He will continue to be so. This is His divine

 

and unchangaible promise to you. Remain faithful, hopeful and trust in the Lord. This is my prayer

 

for you, in the sacred name of the Savior of the world, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Dawning of a Brighter Day :)

Friends! :)

I have the best excuse EVER for not blogging in over a month. I fully immersed myself into my schooling. Now, it was not necessarily successful (i.e., there probably wouldn`t have been much of a difference had I had a social life over the past month) but still, I am proud of myself and of my level of commitment.

What`s new, you may ask? First and foremost, I would like to thank more than 1,000 people for visiting my blog! I just logged into the admin pane for the first time in forever, and this statistic just blew my mind :) You guys are awesome! :) That includes you, dear random strangers, and also all future Missionaries who I have yet to meet. This blog-stalking phase before and after getting my call when I just googled random Missionary blogs from everywhere...yup. I`m not alone with it! :) That is true relief right here. This is quite big for me, indeed.

Second, my farewell is this Sunday! Three months before I leave (this is probably record-breaking). It`s my last Sunday in Utah before flying home to Germany for some family-time. And since I have nothing scheduled for a German farewell yet, this is gonna be my farewell. My talk has been written for about two weeks now and I feel very prepared and ready to give it :) I`m also speaking with Cectpa Fullmer...what a great opportunity! She is amazing and I couldn`t wish for a better co-farewell speaker. She`s truly gonna be rocking it in Siberia... :) My talk will be on hope, quite an essential trait for someone serving a Mission in central Europe (BUT it works! See below!). All are invited. Ogden LDS Institute Chapel, this Sunday at 10:50 a.m. :)

Third, school is done. Wherefore I`m blogging again. And I do indeed have my Associates Degree. :)

Fourth, I got my flight data. And here it comes. I`m flying out on March 20, early in the morning. No surprise right here. BUT now on to something shocking. From Cologne, I am not flying straight to Manchester, as I had previously expected. I am flying to MUNICH instead. And then to Manchester. How many people can seriously say about themselves that they flew into the city with their Mission home before going to the MTC? I am flattered. But then again, this leaves us with a regular round trip flight from Munich to Manchester to Munich. Which is probably cheaper for the Church than doing it the fancy way :) I`ll be in the field for good on April 2. Just FYI.

Fifth, I want to make this post at least a little bit spiritual, in that I want to say how much I love baptisms and how much I love to see people change their lives prior and after. Actually, the Savior has His hands in this big time. However, that shouldn`t discredit the effort that each convert (young or old) makes in their life to change and to emulate the life of Jesus Christ, and to adapt those principles to themselves. I loved having the opportunity to witness two wonderful baptismal services this past week here in Ogden. The Spirit was so beautiful and strong and many people showed up even though there was actually a blizzard going on outside.

Now, what do baptisms look like in Europe? The same. It`s the same Spirit, commitment and Priesthood authority involved. I joined the Church in this very place and I have gotten enough of a sense for the nature of Missionary work there. It`s not easy, at all, but if you are a preparing Missionary called to serve in western Europe (maybe even the Alpine German-Speaking Mission), I can testify to you that baptisms, miracles, reactivations and many other things happen here, just as elsewhere. For example, the Germany Frankfurt Mission (the Mission just north of us) is likely going to baptize somewhere between 50 and 60 converts this month! This is quite amazing and reasonably close to many U.S. stateside Missions. And, honestly, nothing will keep this from happening everywhere in Europe pretty soon. We might never be the South America of the 1980s, but there are certainly people everywhere throughout Europe (and probably MILLIONS of them) who have been prepared to receive this Gospel and are only kept from it because they know not where to find it (Credit where it`s due...Amos 8:11-12). There might be no more exciting time to shed light, hope and happiness to a part of the world where all three things are notoriously lacking. :)

I`m excited to serve as a Missionary! So. Very. Excited. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all of us and that, if we but turn our hearts to Him and use the ultimate sacrifice He so willingly provided for us, we will not only be filled with eternal happiness in the life to come, but also in this life, right now, and at this very moment. Sometimes, the world tries to instill in us the thought that our lifestyle in hope for a better next life means that we have to miss out on the joys and blessings of the NOW. But nope. Actually, following our Savior Jesus Christ is a source of INSTANT joy and happiness. The real kind. Not the counterfeit. :) I have felt the weight of my sins lifted, and I testify that it`s real and that there probably is no better feeling :) I invite you all to learn about it! The true nature of God, who is our literal Father in Heaven, and who loves us and is seeking to bless us consistently. The nature of eternal families. And the true nature of hope. :)    

Love,

Elder Friedmann :) 
  

Letter to President Miles :)

You heard right. I decided not to wait for my President to contact me. I did, as any good citizen would do, contact him instead, along with his wonderful wife. And I mailed this letter today :) Here are some of the less personal things I wrote:

President & Sister Miles:

I am so grateful to be able to write you this letter. I know that I probably should have done so a little earlier. Nevertheless, I still think it might be a good idea to write to you before we meet in person a few months from now. 
My name is Pascal Friedmann and I have been called to serve in your Mission. I will report to the England MTC on March 20 next year and I will be on the two-week fast track which means I will probably get to Munich early in April. I am very excited to meet you and your wife, and to serve the wonderful people in your Mission. Be aware that I love them already, and that I always have! My family, with the exception of my parents and one of my grandmothers, all live in the Mission boundaries. I also have many friends that live all throughout the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. Almost of all them, including my family, are not members of the Church so I was very happy when I opened my call, hoping to be able to make a difference in those people`s lives. As you prayerfully decide on where to assign me, feel free to consider that most of my family lives in the area that belongs to the Heilbronn Branch, and that it would mean a lot to me if I had the chance to teach those relatives while I`m on my Mission. They are grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, so this should not interfere with Mission rules. 

I`ve probably been a little impolite by starting this letter without introducing myself. I`m 20 years old, I was born and raised in a small farm town just west of Bonn, Germany, and I currently live in Ogden, Utah where I attend Weber State. I eventually plan on transferring to BYU and on majoring in either Public Relations or Business. I was baptized in February 2012. I love the Gospel. It is the foundation that I have decided to build my life on. It is simple, fulfilling and, most of all, incredibly beautiful. I am eager to share this knowledge I`ve gained with everyone I meet. Expect me to be obedient, virtuous, committed and hard-working from day one to the very last moment of my two years in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. My testimony is not up for debate. It is firm and strong as it was the very night two years ago when I had finished reading the Book of Mormon, went on my knees and took Moroni up on his challenge to ask God if it is all true. I got my answer and it stands to this day, and I know that if I stay obedient and do what Heavenly Father asks me to do, it will stand forever. I believe that you, President, probably know that the Church is true. And it is. I know it too. You can take my word on that. 

I sound like a broken record, but I am really, really excited to serve Heavenly Father`s children as a Missionary. I cannot imagine doing it anywhere else anymore. I have been called to the Alpine German-Speaking Mission for a reason and I know that this is the place where I need to be. I cannot wait to meet you! Great things are ahead! :)

Best wishes, 

Elder Friedmann

Call!! :)

Friends,

first of all, I want to apologize for not writing much in the recent past. Life has been STRESSFUL, crazy and sometimes frustrating. Satan certainly does have some fiery darts and he sent them all my way. In addition to that, this is a Mission blog, and not an "Elder Friedmann rambling about his pathetic life blog". Therefore, little on such topics that could distract from the most important duty of this life. But, since there must be opposition in all things, something good has certainly come as well. It's...my Mission call!! :)

Now, since all the three people who sometimes read my blog probably all know it anyways (and have done so for the past two weeks, ever since my call came), I bet you are all just so excited to know where I'm going. Tumbleweed enters the screen. It is...

GERMANY MUNICH.

Well. The Mission actually does have three names, and I think it is the only Mission in the world with three legit names. And they are all somewhere in my call package. So, to clear up some confusion I might have caused by telling you different things, I will now mention all three and explain their biggest weakness. In case anyone does have a better name, I'm pretty sure the First Presidency would gladly take your suggestions to rename the greatest but also weirdest-boundaried Mission in the universe. But there we go:

GERMANY MUNICH: If you're one of my friends or acquaintances from Utah, I probably told you this name. It works great because Germany is a fairly well-known country and Munich a fairly well-known city. Missions have been headquartered there since WWII almost without interruption, so some people might know others who were actually called to a Germany Munich Mission when this name still appeared in the call letter. But, besides southern Germany, my Mission also covers all of Austria, most of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and a tiny little part of Italy. In other words, if it only says Germany, we're falling way short from reality.

ALPINE GERMAN-SPEAKING MUNICH: This is the official call letter name. It is long and twisty to the tongue but besides that, it seems to make sense: Everything that speaks German in the Alps is in the Mission. However, knowing the area a little better, there are two major problems. First, only about half of my Mission area is actually in the Alps (Munich itself, for example, is not really) and second, especially Swiss people do NOT speak any kind of German. Seriously, it is considered a language by itself with different grammar and vocabulary from standard German or something that someone speaking standard German could comprehend.

GERMAN-AUSTRIAN: This is, believe it or not, the Mission you would write letters and send packages to if you were trying to write me, at least according to the call package. It ignores that most of Germany isn't in my Mission (but with Berlin and Frankfurt, respectively) and that Switzerland, Italy and Liechtenstein also lie (partially) in my Mission.

In addition to the confusion, the map won't upload. Argh. But I'm gladly showing the package map to everyone ;)

What else would you like to know? Well. I'm going to the England MTC on March 20 where I'll be staying for a little less than two weeks. Yes. All of you who have all their dates memorized in advance, this is a THURSDAY. Who else reported on a Thursday? Anyone? Pretty sure I'm very unique among my CM and RM friends! :) Take that! ha :)

Richard Miles is my Mission President. He's from Bountiful and he's going home in July so I'll be with him for only about three months. His wife is Elder Nelson's daughter. Pretty epic. :) We shall see who comes after him but I know great things will always be ahead :)

Time to go. There will be a video of my call opening rather soon but I need to retrieve the actual file so bear with me on that one :)

Ich weiß, dass Jesus Christus unser Erlöser ist. Er lebt, liebt uns und er ist der einzige im Fleisch geborene Sohn unseres ebenfalls liebenden, ewigen und allmächtigen Himmlischen Vaters. Er kennt uns besser als wir uns selbst, mit all unseren Schwächen, Stärken und unserem vollen Potential. Christus ist für uns gestorben, damit wir von unseren Sünden umkehren können und uns so vergeben wird. Nur so, nämlich durch Ihn, können wir zu unserem Himmlischen Vater zurückkehren und dort mit Ihm und unseren Familien in ewiger Freude leben. Gott hat einen individuellen Plan für jeden von uns, damit wir dieses Ziel erreichen können. Auf diesem Weg liegen Glaube an Jesus Christus, Umkehr, Taufe, die Gabe des Heiligen Geistes und das Ausharren bis zum Ende. Im Halten Seiner Gebote segnet Er uns mit Stärke, Glauben und Hoffnung. Joseph Smith hat Seine Kirche, die Kirche Jesu Christi, wiederhergestellt. Thomas S. Monson ist heute sein lebender Nachfolger und Prophet, der stellvertretend für Jesus Christus Seine Kirche leitet. Durch Studium in der Bibel und vor allem im Buch Mormon, sowie durch persönliches Gebet können wir ein persönliches Zeugnis von diesen und noch viel mehr Dingen erhalten.

:)

Love,

Elder Friedmann  

 

Of locking your heart

Hey everyone! :)

What can I say? What a week it has been! Well. Actually it was not outstanding in any way. Very few new great spiritual insights. But I guess that comes with growing up in the Gospel (you know how I mean it...). Brother Simon from Institute shared a while ago how that works: When you`re 14 and start Seminary, you`ll just learn so many new things at once that it overwhelms you and that you walk out of class with a smoking head each day. When you get older, the new things you learn become less and less and all you are really adding are perspectives and repetition. This is where we need to work on our personal progression the most. I feel like, though I`m far from knowing everything in the Gospel (and anything, for that matter), this is where I`m at right now. It`s been a long time since someone shared an eye-opening principle with me. BUT I can still learn something each day when I read the scriptures, go to Institute or to Church, or talk about those principles to someone else. :)

Anyways, last night was great and probably the highlight of the week. We got a group together to read the scriptures. I just LOVE doing things like that because I`m so used to studying alone. But in a group, you just multiply what you learn. It`s amazing and there was certainly a great Spirit in our group :) We studied in the Lorenzo Snow manual and talked about unity. But it ended up being a lot more about service in the end. Which, I feel like, is the true essence of unity. If we stand united, it automatically means that we care for each other and that means that we are willing to serve. Makes sense, huh? :)

The greatest insight though is what I got at the end of the night. Our friend Mary, who also happened to be a part of the group, mentioned in a conversation about dating how...well. How it`s not the time for me to date right now. IT IS MY TIME TO SERVE THE LORD. While I knew this was coming somewhere down the road in the near future, I was surprised to really hear that from someone right now. But: How right my friend was! There is usually a lot of talking going on about locking your heart and throwing the key away for two years, and I actually feel like this might be the time for me to do it. And since most girls say no anyways when I ask them on dates, I feel like there won`t be much loss. Oh, and I won`t be one of those Missionaries who build a shrine for their girlfriend either. So that`s good :)  Mary also says that I`ll be married within three weeks of coming home. Weird! But I`m definitely accepting applications from the time I`m stepping off that plane in two years haha :)

In other news...I`m meeting my Stake President Wednesday night and he *should* be able to submit my papers. We`ll see! :) I`m so excited :) And I`ll let you know in a timely manner how my interview went. But really, I`m not concerned :)

I know the Church is true! <- That`s my testimony for today haha :) It`s short. But I`m not struggling. Don`t worry haha :)

Tons of love! :)

-- Pascal

A whole new pillar of reality

Howdy y`all! :)

Though about a day late, I congratulate you all for surviving the "cliff hanger" from last time! I really hope none of the two people who actually follow my blog regularly have died of tension. Even a 50% readership loss would be bad. You know...the whole "worth of souls" thing is getting a new meaning haha :)

However, I will not release the tension all at once. That would be just as bad for you! Therefore, here is a little teaser story:

Last Sunday afternoon, after Church, I traveled down to Roy to visit my host family. Those times are always exciting! I love them so much! :) Not only for the many great things they`ve done for me, but altogether. But this time coming into Roy, I was honestly a little scared. Here is what happened: Two week before, I had also been in Roy, intending to share my Mission plans with the family (which doesn`t have a very positive outlook on organized religion [anymore]). I had them almost set up all the way. I had talked to them for a while, then helped my host dad with the payroll for his daycare, and when we got done I was almost getting ready to invite them out for dinner. Well, I`m not even sure how it happened, but all of a sudden my host dad was talking about the Church and about homosexuality and intolerance and race relations, and though not blindly bashing the Church as less classy people might have done, the Spirit had withdrawn from the room within the fraction of a millisecond. Aaaargh! I could have banged my head against the wall. So I skipped my confession and postponed it for another while.

Then, before the camping trip to Paradise, I e-mailed him if I was allowed to borrow his sleeping bag (which I had done before, and he said I always could. But I still felt like asking). In the same e-mail, I also mentioned that I would love to come back to Roy on the upcoming Sunday to talk about some things. Like, some big things. Which might be a shock for them right now but which would probably benefit them as well in the long run. I didn`t mention my Mission but I figured that they would get the hint...and either accept it or kick me right back out. I knew they usually would never to the latter to anyone but still...there was a subtle fear within me to say the least.

When I got there, my host mom was still upstairs fixing this week`s payroll, and my host dad was downstairs watching golf. He was very happy to see me, greeted me with enthusiasm and said, "Well, so I thought you would be here to tell me about your Mission plans? So, where are you going?" He wasn`t mad or disappointed at all. As I explained the layout for my plan, he just got up and gave me his longest hug ever! :) I was SOOO happy and this was such a relief :) He also told me how happy he was for me, how much he admired my dedication and how excited he was for the adventure ahead of me. :) Oh, and he says that it would be funny if I got called to Hong Kong, because I always emphasized how much I disliked listening to the Cantonese language while sharing my host family with another exchange student from Hong Kong. Haha...well, Heavenly Father would certainly be very humorous if that happened. And I feel like it could. This might be something I need to be taught haha ;)

So, after this wonderful exciting story, let`s get to what you`ve all been waiting for (unless you follow my facebook posts, in which case you already know): Bishop`s interview! Yay! :) The second-to-last step to submitting my papers. And it went great! :) In fact, by the time we had scheduled it to begin we were already done. My ward clerk called me in about 40 minutes early, which I really appreciated. There is not a lot that I feel like sharing from the interview itself because it was actually really technical, although you could cut the Spirit with a knife. We just talked a little bit about how special my role as a convert Missionary would be, how great of an impact I could have on investigators with my background. Then we had the actual worthiness interview, which lasted for about two minutes and then we went over the call process again. In the end, Bishop said that he would recommend me for service, and that he would create my portal account by Sunday. Yay!! :) I should also get my interview with my Stake President scheduled no later than Sunday. I`ll keep you posted! :)

Anyways, going on a Mission has just gotten so much more real to me! I definitely know now with more certainty than ever that it is going to happen, and that it is going to happen SOON :) And I love this feeling :)

Have a wonderful weekend! I gotta take off because I will soon be kicked out of this computer lab. Anyhow, the Church is true! I know it :)

Love :D
-- Pascal      

A week of miracles!

Hey everyone! :)

I would LOVE to write you 104 blog posts titled like this from my Mission and I promise in some ways I will! I`m a little sorry about being late with this, but this past week has not only been miraculous but also really busy.

Guess what? School is almost out! And miracle number 1 here, I`m probably gonna make it without having to pull all-nighters. I wasn`t sure that this was gonna happen but it looks like it! Also, I can see three A`s and one A- approaching. I need exactly full credit for a straight A in my Mass Communication class and I have a paper and an exam left. If I get full credit for both, it will be an A. If not, an A-...so, 3.93 is my most likely GPA, which is AMAZING for me not being really focused while still in Germany. Except I probably won`t get an A in the only class I really need for my major, but that`s ok. :P

Second, now entering the real stuff: I have my Bishop`s interview tomorrow night! So I will be expected to get my clearance to schedule my Stake President`s interview very soon (granted it all works out - It should, but still, prayers would be nice!). I`m two steps away from turning my papers in :) And I can actually see the pre-drawn footsteps in front of me now, so that`s awesome! And very helpful haha :) I love shrinking to-do lists. But actually, the real miracle is the Bishop who will be conducting the interview. It is...Bishop...*tension is rising*...STROMBERG! Yes! I`m getting to stay in the 18th ward with an exception rule! Bishop Stromberg talked to the Stake Presidency about my case and they`re good with me staying. Tender mercy right here! I know the Lord needs me in this ward for one more semester and I`m glad that His anointed servants actually agree with me on that one.

However, as of now my records are still in Germany because they have never been pulled over. In order to remind my clerk in the Bonn ward of the urgency of this transfer (because my interview is tomorrow), I decided to e-mail him. I was really sure it would still be my good friend, Brother W______, but to my surprise, he was released since I moved. The new ward clerk is Brother O_____! There is a really, really neat story about me and the O_____ family because there is an unlikely connection between us. I don`t think I`ve ever told anyone about it so here it comes: A little over a month ago when I was still in Germany, a new family from America moved into my ward. As usually everyone does, I greeted them and asked them where exactly they came from. They told me they were from Georgia, and I was like "Hey! I have a really good Sister Missionary friend serving there right now! Do you by chance know Sister S_____?" I told them that she was very spiritual and had a character sweeter than cotton candy (You gotta know, she was still in her first area, and there are about 800 Missionaries in Georgia right now - Chances for them to know her were SLIM). To my surprise, they said yes! In fact, Sister S_____ had just been at their house for dinner and had even helped them move! :) I was really amazed! The week after, being my last week in my home ward, they took a picture of all of us and sent it to her. I gotta ask sometime if she ever replied to this or if she was just...stunned? haha I`m not sure what I would be! ;) So, that`s me and the O_____s.

Ok, so as I am writing this post, I`m really going back and forth. This is NOT organized, but I`m writing blessings and miracles down as they come to mind. So...remember how I told you a couple weeks ago that I would die and go to Paradise for a couple days? Well, I didn`t quite die, but I still made it to Paradise :) We combined two wards and went there for a camp out. To Paradise in Cache Valley, that is. But it could have totally been the real thing. It was a wonderful feeling to just get away for a couple days :) We had two service projects and a natural waterslide that led straight into a pond we cleaned for one of the projects. So when we were done, we grabbed some tubes and went down the slide, again and again! I probably went like 70 or 80 times. No kidding. By the end of the day I wished there had been a gondola going back to the top :) It was SO much fun :) So much, I forgot something very essential: Putting on sunscreen. At an altitude as high as the Alps or Snowbasin, on a cloudless 95-degree afternoon, for about five hours. That was FATAL. When I went back to the campsite, everyone was looking at me and asked me if I was hurting. I actually realized earlier that I had made a mistake but didn`t quite make up for it because it didn`t hurt immediately. It was maybe five in the afternoon, so I put my clothes back on, played some Apples-to-Apples, ate dinner, played some football, attended a great fireside by a real bonfire with our Bishop`s brother, played some truth-or-truth (truth-or-dare with only the truth option) with some great people I met who turned out to be new in my ward, made some s`mores and went to bed. It was all good, to the surprise of everyone I talked to. Actually, I was spending the night all by myself in a huge tent intended for eight (!) people. William, with whom I had shared this tent the night before, had to go home in the afternoon and my two other friends, Stuart and Kurt, decided it would be a good idea to sleep outside underneath the stars. So I was alone. I`m not sure if this was the worst thing though. It was probably what saved everyone else. About 10 or 15 minutes into the night, I started to feel really warm and at the same time I started getting chills, worse than I`ve ever had them before. I was literally bouncing on and off the ground and had a hard time staying in my sleeping bag. My skin felt like it was on fire but I feel like this cooled off all my internal organs. That`s my theory behind the chills at least. This was going on for maybe half an hour and I felt like I was gonna die, seriously. I was just in total apathy and started hearing voices and having visions (of the bad kind). It was horrible. All of a sudden, I felt a prompting to get out of my tent and walk over to the restroom, in the middle of the night. I tried to put my shoes on but I was shaking so bad that I couldn`t keep them in my hands, so I stayed barefoot. It was also pretty cold by then and I wasn`t sure how I should feel about it. But I went and did. Somehow, I made it all the way there and locked me in for what felt like half an hour, at least. Good thing that no one had to use the restroom...anyhow. I just went there and prayed for a miracle, that someone would find me and help or that those chills would just go away. From one second to the other, and maybe five seconds after the prayer, I was just normal. No more chills, and my skin felt somewhat normal. I couldn`t believe it! I gingerly walked back to my tent and went to sleep, from which I didn`t wake up until the next morning. My feet and shoulder still hurt the next day and my shoulder still does (a little bit when I touch it) but I`ve generally been fine ever since. :) I just know that Heavenly Father is aware of us. We can hurt ourselves through DUMB decisions but when we see our mistake and turn to Him, He will deliver us at His own timing! I`m glad this timing came very soon for me! :)  I learned a lot of Gospel lessons that night. I think I`d love to use them all in a talk sometime (Bishop? Are you reading? :) ).

I have a lot more to tell and another really cool Mission-related story to share, but I`ll make it a cliff hanger. I`ll write about it later this week, along with a little note on how the interview went :) I just want to close out with my testimony that I know that Christ lives. There is a God! And He is not just there existing in endless passivity, but He is our Father! We are His children. He loves each of us stronger than we could ever imagine, no matter how far away we are from Him. And He helps us and He wishes for nothing more than to bless us when we keep His commandments. So go and do that and you`ll see! :) His commandments are there to help us. And even if we mess up, we can always turn to Him and He will embrace us again. I know it, because it has happened to me, SO many times before. I cannot wait to bring this message to those who may have never heard about it before, because I know that it can change lives to the better and that this is the way to true and eternal happiness! :)


LOVE you all! :)

-- Pascal 


     

      

Prepare NOW to return with honor

Hey everyone! :)

I think that posting on this blog around once a week is really what it is going to come down to. I mean, that`s what I`ll be doing when I`m a Missionary. I know my parents won`t believe right now that I will be writing them one letter a week but hey, it`s gonna happen! And they can`t do a thing about it. ;)

First off, even though it doesn`t have much to do with the topic of this post, I have to announce that I have probably seen the neatest thing EVER last Wednesday, and it all happened because of a really weird prompting. So, I decided to get dinner at this heavenly place called Eastside Diner on Harrison Boulevard here in Ogden, and I was facing some off-time right after (about an hour or so) until I could legitimately go over to a friend`s new place to embark in a little apartment shower. So, after eating extra slowly, I left the restaurant and saw myself with nothing to do for quite a while, wherefore I went on a walk. I walked around part of the neighborhood I used to live in last year and felt some major nostalgia, and when I realized I still had like half an hour, I decided to walk around the Dee Events Center. Just like that! It was weird, because really, there is nothing to see there in this giant parking lot. But I just felt strongly that I should do it. After walking around for a good 20 minutes not knowing why exactly I was doing it, I decided to finally go over to my friend`s place. Anyhow, I walked by our Stake Center and saw that they had just got done with EFY for the day, which means like 800 youth of the Church were headed for the exits. And, here`s the great thing...all of them were singing Called To Serve! Just like that. No one told them to, but they just did it. The Spirit was so strong, I almost started crying! :) Such an awesome display of love and readiness to serve among the youth of our Church :) I can`t wait for all those who sung that night to be Missionaries :) I really want to give a hug to all of them, right now. It was just an amazing sight! For anyone who needed another testimony about God`s chosen generation (see my second-to-previous post), this would be it! I wish more of you could have been there to see this. I literally had tears of joy in my eyes while walking by. And y`all know how rare that is. It maybe happened to me once before haha :)

The actual topic of this post though is a pretty basic one. Preparation. Now, the closer I get to going out (Five months?? Ya bet! It will be there in a jiffy!), the scarier the thought of going on a Mission becomes. Let me clarify: I`m not peeing my pants yet. I know over a million people have successfully done this whole Mission thing before me. And when you look at just the last few years and the experiences I`ve made, I might be among the, say, 10 most prepared percent of those, ever. But I also know that I will return much more mature and brave and wise when I get home, so there must be a lot of potential for me to learn.

So, I made a pledge to prepare myself more diligently by doing a lot more of the little things and actually doing them consistently. So, here is my pre-Mission bucket list :)

[ ] Personal Scripture Study: Half an hour + /day
[ ] Prayer: Adding depth. Pray more for others than myself. Pray for my family & the Missionaries and the people they teach. And, pray before every meal and throughout the day, if necessary. Overall, make prayer a permanent companion.
[ ] Service: Once a day, AT LEAST. Oh, and just be kind and offer help to everyone.
[ ] Church Attendance: Don`t miss a Sunday till I leave. Severe illness exempt.
[ ] Personal Worthiness: See Jacob 6:12.
[ ] Temple: Go every two weeks. Be endowed by November 1 and do at least 3 proxy endowments, one sealing and one baptism session as a Priesthood holder.
[ ] Splits: It`s a little hard in Utah, so I would say one split a month, or at least five while I`m here.  
[ ] Letters to serving Missionaries: Now, that`s interesting. Brother Simon from Institute asked us last semester to "raise our bar" in certain personal ways, and writing letters to Missionaries was one of the things I really wanted to improve on (and I failed epically). So, I want to write two Missionaries a week! At least :)
[ ] Institute: GRADUATE. This is my big goal, and it`s awfully close. Also, serve more efficiently and do everything to help the Presidency and the Council.
[ ] School: Get my Associates and at least a 3.8 for the fall and a 4.0 for the summer. Make sure I`m good enough for BYU before I apply there.
[ ] Social: Keep a social life and have some fun. That would be great!
[ ] Financial: Save as much money as possible before going out.

Those one dozen points should hopefully turn out to be really helpful. I want to close with my testimony (since the computer lab is about to close) that I know that preparation to return with honor is something that has to start way before going on a Mission. This path should be entered early and not be left for anything. I love Christ and His Church and I know with more and more certainty that it has indeed been restored on the Earth today, and that I am a member of it. :)  And so should you by the way, if you`re not already. Go to mormon.org and ask the Missionaries there. They can help you! :)

Much love to y`all! :)

-- Pascal

        

...but God will bless me in the end. :)

Hey there! :)

Wow, what a week it has been! Essentially, there is not so much to write about, so this blog post will be a little shorter than the last one (after I realized that the last one was about as long as all the other ones combined! haha). So, let the fun begin!

Something I re-learned last week were the blessings that come from attending Institute. The second block of the summer semester is almost over, but still I had the desire to take some classes. I favored night classes this time because I figured that it would be a good kind of schedule to start the day with personal scripture study, then work on school stuff for a few hours, have some fun in the afternoon and then have some more fun at the Institute at night! :) Also, I have been blessed with having exceedingly many friends in my Wednesday and Thursday night classes, which is awesome given how little time with an actual social life I have left. I better enjoy it while it lasts! :)

Anyways, I hadn`t quite realized that in the past, but night classes tend to have a devotional aftertaste. It feels like we`re actually talking about a whole specific block of topics, rather than just rushing through chapters of scripture and talk about whatever we run into. I LOVE it! :)

Tuesday night was Mission Prep and for the first of probably many times I realized how old I am. For an Elder at least. I know that 90% of the males in my class will be home from their Missions when they reach my current age. Crazy! It was still great to be able to be sort of a mentor, both as a convert and a pretty mature (oh well...) guy. And they all went to Fremont, which makes me wonder if they don`t have Stake Mission Prep classes in Plain City, West Haven, Taylor and Kanesville. However, I liked them despite their unfortunate high school selection haha :) So, what can I say about those 18-year-olds? They are fantastic! They have a great Spirit. They just need to get their scriptures down...but it might just have been this group. ;) The topic was Learning by Faith and Brother Sims gave an excellent presentation. He built it around Helaman 3:35 (look to your right in this blog - It`s one of my three favorites listed there!) which earned him extra sympathy from me. Then we talked about things that we could ask investigators to do in order to help develop their faith. I loved our answers:
- Bring them to Church (even if there`s no one else there)
- Ask them to try out commandments and see if they work
- Help them to develop Gospel habits
- Do FHE with them
- and, and, and... :)
Wonderful things are going to be brought to pass by us if we actually do that :) Then, finally, we had maybe ten minutes left, and we were asked to practice inviting our "investigators" to be baptized! Like, in the right way, with the right phrase and everything: "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God? We will be holding a baptism service on...Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that day?" This is SO important to have down in your memory! Because the way it`s worded is so powerful. How could anyone say no to that? :) I totally can`t wait until I extend this invitation for the first time as a Missionary. But until then, it has so many other applications, such as:
"Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and go on a date with someone holding the Priesthood authority of God? I will be watching Despicable Me 2 on Friday, July 26 at 8 p.m. Will you prepare yourself to accompany me on this date?" :) Here again...I`m not sure how anyone could say no to that ;)

Wednesday night was another really special lesson. It was in my Old Testament class with Brother Simon (love this guy!) and the topic was...marriage. Well, kind of. We really did talk about finding the right wife (or appealing to the right husband, I guess) most of the time, but something else stood out to me much more. THE TEMPLE. And its symbolism. I have obviously not been through the Temple but Brother Simon told us that the entire endowment was essentially from Genesis 28-32. That`s pretty awesome! I can`t really prove it, but from the few things I know about the actual endowment ceremony it made a lot of sense :) So...I committed again to prepare myself at all times to enter the Temple worthily, so that when the day comes that I go through (which should be in a few months) I will be able to learn what I need to learn, and at most to enjoy it! To be honest, I`m at least as excited to go through the Temple as for my Mission...cause the endowment is a saving ordinance. A Mission is not :)

Thursday was a really good Book of Mormon class. We talked a lot more about obedience and faith...mostly in the Book of Ether and a little bit in Mormon. The highlight, however, was that Brother Shepherd (my teacher) is actually good friends with Elder Fingerle of the Seventy! Which is cool, because I know him (well, kind of...). But he promised me to e-mail Elder Fingerle and tell him hi from me. Now, this would be the ultimate test about whether I`m famous in the Church in Germany or not. haha :D Probably not. But that`s no problem for me. I just enjoy touching lives wherever I can.

Friday, a new friend and I went to the Draper Temple and we almost died on the way back. Saturday, Madison gave her little farewell at the Burger Bar before leaving for the Washington Kennewick Mission (wooot! :) ). And I almost died again. No big deal...I`m just so glad I don`t have to drive in Utah.  

On Sunday, I finally got to go back to my real YSA ward! Oh, how I used to hate it when I first moved there, and how much I love it now! It was fantastic :) I`m not sure what turned the members in this ward around so much, but if I had a chance to go to Church with those people every day, believe me, I would. We`re actually doing a little team-building camp up in Paradise early next month (that`s in Cache Valley...not quite the Celestial Kingdom yet). I`m really excited for that! :) They also had a ton of baptisms this summer and I don`t even dare to think about what`s gonna happen when everyone is moving back into the dorms. I think our Missionaries are gonna SWEAT from just running from lesson to lesson. Good thing they will be able to cool off in the font so often :)

So, after Church, I met with Bishop Stromberg. I had intended to finally create an account in the Missionary recommendation system and fill out my papers online, but it didn`t happen. Firstly, my records were still in Germany. I could have thought of that. Secondly, and that`s the real problem, I live outside the ward boundaries. Thus, my Bishop is now in negotiation with the Bishop of the 15th ward in order to keep me right where I am. Just keep me in your prayers! I don`t want to walk to Church one hour each Sunday now that I live in UTAH. And, more importantly, I do not want to take my papers to a third ward because even transferring them from one ward to another is kind of a nightmare.

Anyways, I just know with all of my heart that God will bless me when all this is over. His anointed servants will call me on the very Mission I belong in, where I will be blessed with opportunities to bless countless lives :) The Church is true, people! I know it more than ever :)

Love,

-- Pascal :)    

  



 

Behold, God`s chosen generation!

Dear friends! :)

Sunday was a day I looked forward to with tremendous excitement. It was Sunday, July 14, my first Sabbath back in Utah. Now, I must say that I had two farewells scheduled for that day and ended up going to neither of them. I decided that it would have just been incredibly stressful to get to both of them since they were pretty far apart. So, I went to my alternate YSA ward, which is where I`m going when I stay in Roy over the weekend. It was fabulous and it`s definitely been a while since I`ve been to Church in Utah and attended the entire block in the same ward. Just so relaxing!

Anyways, followed by Church, I was looking forward to a fireside with Elder L. Tom Perry up in Ogden. It was for Pioneer Day. Now, something that is really a substantial difference between America and Germany that here, it is legit to celebrate things early. In this case, the Mormons of Weber County sent a message to the world that they are crazy and willing to celebrate their big holiday ten days early, with fireworks, a fireside and a crowd of roughly 10,000 on fire at Weber State`s campus for both. Of course, I was right in the middle of it.

I had only heard Apostles speak live on two previous occasions so I was really excited for this event. I was looking and thirsting for deep spiritual truths, so far away from both the previous and next General Conferences. However, at first glance, I was quite disappointed. I`m aware that there are probably a lot of people in Ogden who take great pride in their city`s history (and rightfully so), but I felt like this was all Elder Perry talked about. In the very moment it felt like he drew all his spiritual power from his special witness of Christ that he has in his heart, but never actually shared it. As someone who comes from a part of the world that is not very spoiled with visits from General Authorities (and Apostles in particular), I wish he would have said more. And other things. It seemed like an LDS historian could have said the same things as he did.Just to prepare you though, I will be a little hypocrite and employ an exceedingly great amount of history in this blog post.

When I reflected later upon some of the sentence pieces he mentioned, one Gospel truth really stood out to me. Elder Perry talked about how his generation was the generation that risked their lives on behalf of their faith and was ready to make great sacrifices for the things they believed in. In short, he challenged our generation to match up with that and stretch to demonstrate the same level of dedication.

I`m not really sure if this is what he meant to cause in me, but I had to think about some of the remarks I`ve heard very frequently (to say the least) over the last few months, especially since the October 2012 General Conference. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, our generation is the generation chosen by God to finally lead His Church out of obscurity. It is the golden generation that has been looked upon since the beginning of times by Prophets to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.

We all have heard about some of the signs of the times for these latter days, but I brainstormed and found a few that are really Missionary-work related. Watch out, it`s getting awesome!

1 - When the Savior called His Disciples in the Old World, he instructed them to be "Fishers of men". Now, how does a fisher survive? Is one fish for a whole two years (say, one convert [the Missionary himself] on a Mission) enough to eat in order to gain strength? Or ought there to be more to meet basic needs? When the Savior walked the Earth and in the first years after He performed the atonement, thousands made the decision to follow Him and be baptized. We sometimes tend to think that Christ and His Disciples and the very early Church were some kind of small, isolated cultish group that stayed amongst themselves and grew to today`s size just by procreation and crusades. But not so! Acts 2 tells a different story. The original Disciples and the Missionaries of the early Church were indeed fishers of men, they baptized thousands of converts and the Body of Christ grew to a remarkable size in an even more remarkably short amount of time.

2 - Now, one dispensation forward from point number 1. On April 6, 1830, when the Church of Jesus Christ was formally reorganized, it had a whopping six members on its rolls, including names as prominent as Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery - but not very many more altogether. By the end of 1830, there were 280 members, by 1831 there were 480 and in 1832 there were 2,661. Perhaps the greatest thing about these numbers is that they came to pass with a very, very tiny Missionary force. For instance, the membership growth of 2,181 during the year of 1832 (for rough orientation, in the early Kirtland years) happened with probably not more than 20 actual Missionaries. That year, each of those Missionaries probably baptized far more than 100 converts. How did that happen and why doesn`t it seem to happen today anymore (at least not regularly)? In D&C, we repeatedly read the extended call to preach the Gospel "to the congregations of the wicked". So, what happened was basically that the Missionaries walked into another church`s service and taught them about the Restoration. Despite being rejected quite a few times, the successes of that method added up to incredible results. The Church was always just strong and large enough to be almost impossible to extinct, despite its opponents regularly trying. Also, those Missionaries were indeed fishers of men.

3 - When the first Missionaries arrived in Britain in 1837, they were even more successful than the Missionaries who preached the Gospel in the United States at the beginning of the decade. They baptized thousands of converts in Northern England, particularly in Preston and, to a lesser extent, Manchester. We often tend to believe that the late 1990s were the time when Church membership outside the United States surpassed domestic membership for the first time, but this is not quite correct. In fact, those early Missionaries to Great Britain (and also the mainland of Western Europe) were so successful that Great Britain had the most members of any country worldwide around 1840, even though this trend quickly reversed due to mass migration to America. Later, these faithful Saints from Britain were credited with playing the most important role of all members in settling the Territory of Deseret. Indeed, those Missionaries were also fishers of men.

4 - Another prophecy extended several times in the scriptures is the bringing forth of the Gospel to "the islands of the sea". Now, Great Britain is an island, though a big one. So are the islands of the South Pacific (anyone remember The Other Side of Heaven?) where Missionaries performed and still perform amazing miracles among the native population. New Zealand, where the arrival of the "white men who bring with them the truth" (who happened to be early LDS Missionaries) fulfilled a long-held prophecy of the natives, also consists of two main and a few smaller islands. Not to mention Japan. Taiwan. The Philippines. Madagascar. Papua New Guinea. Ya know, all those places where you were once able to or are still able to baptize hundreds of converts in two years, appear to be islands. It seems that often, despite some exceptions, people in island nations are more receptive to the restored Gospel than those residing elsewhere. I really can`t tell you why. I just know that Prophets told the world about this many centuries ago, and that their word holds true today (as always).

5 - Some might say that today, the fishers of men have perished. Died out. Gone extinct. That this type of thing is just not possible anymore. And I`m convinced that they were probably correct with that statement ten years ago, but not anymore today. It`s a slow process and it doesn`t happen overnight, but there are signs that the fishers of men are coming back. Probably no other place in the world ties all those prophecies above together in a better way than the small islands of Cape Verde, situated off the west coast of Africa. After Sister Raychel Horlacher, a good friend of mine, was called to serve in these islands at the beginning of the year, I got really interested in them and did some research on the Church there. The first Missionaries arrived in 1989 but were driven out only months after they came. Shortly thereafter, they returned and preached the Gospel, particularly to the youth of the islands. Many of these early converts were studying ministers of other faiths. Thousands joined the Church and after this first generation matured, the first two stakes were created recently with probably many more following in the near future. What is fascinating is that the work has been speeding up dramatically over the past two years or so (thanks to Irma Horlacher? :) ). New congregations are created nearly each month, baptisms are a very common sight on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the perhaps greatest achievement is the skyrocketing number of Missionaries serving from Cape Verde. The future looks bright for the members from these wonderful islands, because the fishers of men have come again. And they will soon do so throughout the world, finding those who have been prepared to receive Christ and to come home to Him. :)

6 - Our Heavenly Father has indeed begun to speed His work. Another fallacy might be that this happened overnight (well...kind of night) on October 6, 2012, when President Monson announced the lowered Missionary age. However, through divine inspiration, the youth of the Church has been prepared for this day for years. Looking back and thinking about it, I cannot believe how surprised me and many others were by the Prophet`s announcement. Beginning in 2004, here are some of the milestones pertaining to Missionary work that prepared this chosen generation for October 6, 2012 and its aftermath: The publication of Preach My Gospel. Raising the bar of personal worthiness. The edition of the Missionary Handbook. Earlier teaching opportunities in Young Men and Young Women Programs and Seminary, including a new overall curriculum for all. Priesthood leaders` increased emphasis on splits with Priests and full-time Missionaries. The New Member lessons. "I`m A Mormon" profiles recommended for each Missionary. Reassignment of the global Missionary force away from less receptive to more receptive parts of the world. Elder Holland`s plea for more Missionaries during the October 2011 General Conference. Et cetera. The Church knew decades ago that most of those things would be necessary for this Gospel to fill the Earth one day, yet none of these changes were actually implied before 2004 when PMG came around. The reason why I think this was the case is that the youth of the Church wasn`t ready for them to happen earlier.

Not blaming or talking down at generations past, but I see in this (my own) generation a dedication, love for the Gospel, knowledge and personal readiness to share it with everyone that has been unheard of in generations past. Never before has a generation been so tempted, affected by the influences of the world, and permanently tried by the adversary to be led away from the path of truth. But also, never has a generation been so blessed by the power of obedience as much as this generation. Our Heavenly Father knew exactly what kind of opposition we would face, wherefore He reserved some of His most precious children to begin the spiritual fight in this final battle for righteousness. Looking at some of the wonderful people who surround me daily, I struggle to understand why I am one of those reserved for the last days of the latter days, but I know there is a reason for that. Dear Elder Perry, my friends and I accept your challenge. And we know that we will pass if we stay obedient. :)

Love,
-- Pascal            

Sharing the Gospel...on airplanes :)

Hello everyone! :)

I think I finally figured out why President Uchtdorf always talks about airplanes at Conference. It`s not that he`s one of the most famous and acknowledged pilots in German history, but that airplanes are just a great place to do Missionary work. Think about it: You`re stuck for a few hours with often complete strangers and the odds are really against them running away from you. Ever since Elder Corbridge shared that in a devotional, I`ve always prayed before stepping on an airplane that I would have an opportunity to share my testimony with someone around me. Needless to say, the Lord really worked miracles for me every single time! :)

As some of you may know, I traveled a lot this summer in order to visit my family in Germany, and my flights there (Salt Lake-Chicago-Duesseldorf, and back the other way around yesterday) were my test run for airplane prayers for Missionary opportunities. Here`s the play-by-play analysis:

When I sat down on my flight to Chicago back in late April, a young Hispanic lady of about my age sat down next to me. I was really excited! She looked really nice and we soon started talking. Within just a few moments though, I had figured out that she went to BYU and that her and two other girls were on their way to Lithuania to teach English for the summer (Emma and Alex, both of whom I count to the most dear readers of my blog...this is a shout out to you! :) ). All three of them were members so it seemed like there was not much to do about sharing the Gospel. However, I am just so glad for the wonderful friendship we were able to start on that flight! So I assume it was totally worth it :) I just feel like we`re inspiring each other so much these days. AND...Sister Watts is going to the Russia Vladivostok Mission in October and who knows, maybe I`ll join her (that would be cool by the way! :) ).

On to the second flight that day, and that`s where the first real Missionary miracle happened. I got to sit next to a lady from Cologne who had moved to Chicago with her husband, and now she was traveling home to see her family (kinda like me...except for the marriage part haha ;) ). So, as we were talking about where we came from and what we were doing in America, I mentioned that I live in Utah. So, she was asking about Mormons and whether they were really as weird and crazy as everyone was telling her in Illinois. Lesson right here: Answer the question that should have been asked! So, I told her that I was actually LDS myself, and that I absolutely loved it. She was surprised to say the least! But then she asked a lot more questions. Turns out, she had actually almost been to Church once but didn`t want to stay for three hours, so only her sister went. Anyways, I told her that our main service, the Sacrament Meeting, is only a little over an hour and that the rest of the three hours are two classes in which we talk about how to become more Christlike and learn about the scriptures. I also told her that we sing three to four hymns during Sacrament Meeting as a congregation after she said that she really likes church music. I invited her to check out a Sacrament Meeting when she`s back in America and she said that she would. :) I have no idea if she actually did but I shared the lds.org maps tool with her and she promised to use it. Ya know...it`s all about planting seeds :) I might never know if something grew out of this one but I opened my mouth and great things happened! :)

After a lot more Missionary work done while home in Germany, my flight back came around yesterday. So...another chance right here, and it worked out pretty great! :)

I sat next to a man from Ohio who was on his way home after a vacation in Switzerland. Again, we talked about where we came from and after I said that I go to school in Utah, he asked me if I went to BYU. I told him no, but that I had plans to transfer there soon after getting my Associates Degree at Weber State. He asked if I was Mormon and I said yes! :) But unfortunately we didn`t carry on the conversation for about another three hours or so. However, all of a sudden when Chicago came closer and after we both had taken a little nap, he asked me if all of my family was Mormon. Well, since I`m a convert and the only member in my family, I said so. And he asked for my conversion story, which I just felt inspired to share with him. As I said in an earlier post, I try not to throw it around the room all the time because it`s really just very personal, sacred and precious to me. But in this moment it just felt right! :) I could see he was moved. After I shared the experiences I`ve had with the Book of Mormon and how it contributed to my conversion, he asked if I had ever read the Bible (I`ve read it all the way through :) ). He was surprised I did not find the Book of Mormon troubling considering what`s written in the Bible. I just bore a really powerful testimony about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible testify of exactly the same things: Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God! He lives! He is the Savior of the world and through faith in Him, we can be saved and washed clean from all our sins! And that this is really the message of both books, and that this second witness is just another tool of God to bring people home to Him :) He said that he was super surprised that we actually believed that and he said that as a non-denominational Christian he believes in the same things! And he said that this second witness function of the Book of Mormon actually makes a lot of sense as long as it doesn`t contradict the teachings of the Bible (which it doesn`t). He still said that he was happy with what he believed in but promised that *if* Missionaries knock on his door someday, he will definitely listen now! So...I hope someone in the Ohio Cleveland Mission is reading this and is living up to it! Especially since he said he wouldn`t give me his name or address so he knows that when the Missionaries still come to his house, it will be inspired.

On my way to Salt Lake, both me and my neighbor slept pretty much the whole time haha :) But I`m not sure if we wouldn`t have felt too tired to talk much anyways.

It`s also just fascinating how I have never made the first step in any of those conversations. We just say hi to each other and all of a sudden we`re ALWAYS down to talking about faith. :) Now...where would that be happening, hadn`t all these people been sent to me by divine inspiration and hadn`t they been prepared to receive me? :)

I just KNOW with all certainty that the principles I just testified of are true! They work :) Go and try it! Read the Book of Mormon. Come to Church. Ask Heavenly Father in prayer if this is what you should be doing, and He will answer that it is! What a loving Heavenly Father we have who is so willing to share with us - Showing us how we should share His message with everyone we meet! :) I have to get much better at this but I`m learning :)

Love you guys! :D

-- Pascal



 
 

Guided in my efforts

Howdy everyone!

Today, Sunday that is, I reflected on some of the things I did in the past to strengthen my testimony of the Savior and His atonement, cause here's a pre-Mission truth: You'll gain a testimony of Satan. For real.

Things just have been crazy this past week, in a rather bad way. I was so busy with school for about the last month or so and all of a sudden I hit this "assignment gap" that is somewhere hidden in each of my semesters in college so far. All of a sudden there is NOTHING left to do, and once this happens my overall motivation to do anything just collapses. I have no idea how to prevent it and under normal circumstances it takes me a couple weeks to reboot to normalcy (let's hope that moving back to Utah doesn't count as normal circumstances). I've made mistakes this past week in particular. I've had a hard time getting up early, a hard time reading my scriptures, a hard time praying and I just felt like I had hit a wall with everything I am supposed to do as a preparing Missionary.

So after that slow week, Friday rolled around, which means I get to see this friend of my grandma. She is super nice and talkative and also really interested in the Church. I'll call her Tina for the sake of protecting her identity. Well, so Tina had been trying to come to Church with me all summer but she always had other things pop up that prevented her from coming. So this week she said that she would be there unless she gets really, really sick. It felt great to get her to go to Church again because she told me how much she felt the Spirit last time. So I told the Sister Missionaries in my ward, asked one of them to sit by us, and guess what...Tina didn't show. I have not the slightest idea about what happened but I can tell you, by the time the Aaronic Priesthood holders blessed the Sacrament I was really freaking out about it. It was just disappointing to know how ready Tina is for the Gospel and how receptive she is to the Spirit...and yet see her struggle so much with keeping self-implied commitments. I guess that's just Heavenly Father's way of showing me what I need to prepare for when I'm really out there serving, but I still think that being bummed about that was the right thing. To an extent, at least.

Anyways, as the tray with the bread was passed around I just felt like I needed to do something to bring the Spirit back into my heart because by then I had pretty much lost it. So I just pulled out my scriptures and started reading D&C Section 6 from the beginning. Let me mention that I just love pretty much everything about that section! It might be my favorite chaper in the entire canon. Anyways, a verse that I had never really given much consideration to hit me right in the face:

22: Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.

That also happened to be the very moment when one of the Deacons offered me the bread. And peace overcame me all of a sudden, from one moment of being upset to the next moment being completely calm and reassured in my faith! That was such a powerful experience, I can't even put it into words. 

If you're a Missionary, you've usually been an active member of the Church for quite a while (I'm one of the shorties with less than two years underneath my belt) and we tend to forget too easily about how this very first firm testimony felt like when we received it. I still had a very powerful memory about what I felt after I knelt down one night pleading with my Father in Heaven about the truth of all these things, but in my daily life and also in a normal Church setting I forget so easily! Now I think I know why God sent me in the way of an endless crowd of people who always wanted to hear my conversion story (first and foremost Brother Stringham from Institute who asked for it literally each week...). What a powerful reminder this has been for me!! :) It was just exactly what I needed to read and I know that me opening my scriptures during the Sacrament was inspired, as well as my choice of that chapter. Let me tell you...It was the first time I've ever done that!

I just love this Gospel and I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father! They are both so great!! :) And I can't wait to share all this with those I'll teach on my Mission :) 

Love you guys! :D

-- Pascal

Missionary Application Picture

Tender Mercies: Medical & Dental

Doctor's appointments have something scary about them. It runs within my family. For as long as I can remember, my Dad has never seen a doctor and my Mom is close to being tied with him (except for the like two times she almost died...). They both get sick but neither is comfortable with the presence of a doctor. So...I assume one cannot run away from their DNA ;)

I scheduled my medical and my dental right after talking to my Bishop about my papers. You need to understand that Germany is NOT like Utah. With everyone being insured over here, urgency is the only measurement for how quickly one gets an appointment. And going on a Mission is a really, really strange thing and has the lowest urgency anyone could ever think of. That's what I thought at least.

However, to my surprise, it was quite easy to get an appointment scheduled. From memory, here is my conversation with my doctor's receptionist:

- What can I do for you?
- Well...I need a medical check-up. Just some general things...
- How old are you?
- 19, gonna be 20 next month.
- Sir, I'm sorry, but we don't do this kind of thing for people under 30.
- I need it though. I am preparing to be a Missionary for my Church for the next two years, and I need a medical for my application. (by that time I was expecting one of the receptionists to pull out a hammer and go for my head)
- excitedly: Oh, I understand! Where are you going?
- Well, to be honest, I will not know until after this medical.
- How is that possible? Well, what needs to be done?

I showed her my papers and she told me to wait for the doctor to arrive. Five minutes later, he came and asked me what kind of medical problems I had. I was perfectly healthy and went through yet another round of explanation. Well, I tried. He interrupted me and asked if I know one of his collegues. Needless to say, that collegue is in my Bishopric! It's just crazy how small the world is. Anyways, he just checked me through the next day (perfectly healthy, that is!) and I left the papers with him and he filled them out. All that was necessary beyond that was testing my blood group, which he told me would be a good three week wait. Now, that's a problem.

Right after scheduling my doctor's appointment, I went to see my dentist for the dental appointment. The receptionist also asked a ton of questions but she was just the NICEST and most kind person in the universe. I kid not. Anyone scared of going to the dentist at this place must be crazy...She said that the only available appointment within the next two months was two weeks later (because someone had just cancelled in that slot). So, I accepted and figured it would be no problem at all.

Fast forward to the day before my dental. I was just frightened. haha my doctor said that once the bill for the blood group test is sent to my home, the results are there and my papers would be ready to pick up. My dental was on Friday. It was Thursday afternoon, one week prior to when my doctor expected the blood group test results, and guess what...THE BILL CAME IN THE MAIL. Just like that! Miracles happen :) I went to pick up my papers at the doctor's office right before going over to the dentist.

So, I must say that my dental habits are not as lazy as my regular doctor-going habits. I really do go to the dentist every year for check-ups, and the check-up last year was...a partial disaster. My dentist told me I would need to start flushing or my teeth would fall out in ten years. And I did not flush ONCE this past year (probably not very clever of me). So, I guess I was scared. I just sat down in the chair and my dentist started the check, just going like "Oh, those look great!" and "Fantastic!" and "There's not even a little bit of tartar on them!". I was sure that she had been kidding but I guess she didn't. Really, after half an hour she said that all was fine! I was amazed :) She filled out my papers and then stumbled over the wisdom teeth part. She then asked me (cause she had seen my x-rays): Oh, and when were your wisdom teeth removed?

I told her that they had never been removed. She looked at me in surprise and told me that I didn't have wisdom teeth at all. Like, not only that they were unlikely to ever make trouble, but simply that my wisdom teeth DID NOT EXIST. She also said that the odds for that were like one in 500 so I guess I'm special :)

I just took my papers with me when I was done and it was all good :) Ready to go right here!! :D

Just writing this post has shown me once again how true 1Nephi 3:7 is! There is a way for those who seek to obey! I know that I've been so greatly blessed just for my desire and preparation to serve that this has been made possible to me. I love God! :) And I know that this Church and this Missionary program is indeed HIS work and not the work of men! :)

Love y'all! :)

-- Pascal
   

Welcome to the Bloggernacle!

Howdy!

My name is Pascal Friedmann, I'm 20 years old and I am currently preparing to serve as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! :)

This blog will provide insights of my journey through the application process, my preparation and e-mails and pictures from the field. I will share spiritual insights on occasion.

Here's a bit about me:
I was raised in a small town near Bonn, Germany, and first learned about the Church of Jesus Christ as a foreign exchange student in Utah. After investigating for about two years I made the decision to be baptized and another little less than two years later, I'm getting ready to serve as a full-time Missionary (I might share my whole conversion story at a later point). I love the Gospel and I know that the Church I joined on a very cold and breezy day in the February of 2012 is indeed the same Church that Jesus Christ established during his mortal ministry here on Earth. I am SO excited to take the joy this knowledge has brought me to those of Heavenly Father's children who have been prepared by Him to receive it as well! :)
As for all else, I'm a journalism and public relations student at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. I love my family and my friends to death and I enjoy cooking and basketball. That's me in a nutshell! :D

I hope you enjoy my blog! It might be a little empty at first but I should be getting my call mid-September-ish and then I'm gonna get it going :)

Peace out! The Church is true, the Book is blue! :)

-- Pascal