Gummy Bears, Girls, and Cabbage...

Liebe Familie und Freunde:

What a week! This was a week full of laughs and the Spirit and the love of the Lord. Here are some stories that highlight the week:

1. So I called Brother Peeters to see how he was doing and see if we could meet this weekend. We talked for a little bit and then he told me that he went to the store and bought 400 pounds of coal that he is keeping in his attic... He says he is prepared in case a disaster comes and his electricity goes out and he has to use his coal stove for heat and everything. I thought that was neat, and we hung up. This conversation was in English, and then I told Elder Friedrichs what we talked about in German. So I told him that Br. Peeters bought 400 pounds of coal. I wasn't totally sure for the word "coal" in German, so said the German word "Kohl", thinking it was close enough. Well, Elder Friedrichs had a slight funny look on his face and said "OK, what for?" And I said "in case his heating fails, he can burn the coal (but 'Kohl') for heat." Now Elder Friedrich's face was completely confused! He asked why Brother Peeters would be burning KOHL if his heater failed. By this time, I knew it was a German problem on my side, so I looked it up in the dictionary... and then laughed out loud! KOHLE with an e on the end is coal in Englisch. Without an e, KOHL, like I was using in the story, is cabbage. Oh mercy, and we laughed! We started thinking of the terrible smell and the low effectiveness of the heater and the house with Brother Peeters trying to burn 400 pounds of cabbage for his heating system. One letter makes ALL the difference! :-)

2. We helped a family in the ward move to a new house in the ward boundries. It was an all day event, but definitely worth our time. They had so many of these small light brown wooden cabnets from IKEA. They were so fragile that some of them fell apart as we were loading then in the truck. Everything was alright, they just have to do some repair work. Then we took that huge load of furniture to their new house and unloaded it all. Then we came back to their old house for the last few bits of furniture. There was a fairly large cabinet that he said was more fragile than the other cabinets, but much heavier. So Elder Friedrichs had a geniuss Idea to use the straps that are used to hold everything still in the truck, to put them under the cabinet and then wrap it in our hands and then lift straight up. It worked miraculously! No akward turning of the furniture, no killing the back, just lift straight up with the straps. Brother Luchs was so amazed and excited that we didn't break the cabinet that he gave us a box of Gummy Bears.. hundreds of them. About 8 Gummy Bears in an individual plastic wrapper.. hundreds of them! So we put them under our Christmas tree. We ate too many of them, but we had to get rid of them somehow, and the garbage can was not an option. Then I had a split and worked in Duisburg. When I came back, all the gummy bears were gone except two packs. Miracles do still happen today! ;-)

3. Yesterday after church and lunch, Elder Friedrichs and I walked to Martin's house to meet with him. We walked through Bahnhof and then through the bus Bahnhof. This 16ish year old girl comes up to us and asks where Bahnhof is. We were kind of confused and told her we were here at Bahnhof. Then she asked about the airport and if that was also in Bahnhof, and then we just got super confused. Another teenage girl walked up behind her, and then they said that they were just joking and just wanted to meet us and get our cell phone number to go out. I kind of chuckled and said we weren't allowed to... which was true- they wanted to meet with us, but not to learn of the Gospel! Then I explained that we were from the Church and were missionaries. The girl from the first bursted out "Von der Kirche?!" And lunged at me while belting "OH, come here!" and half jumped up into me and threw her arms around me in the restraining, hug, embrace. My arms were trapped down by my side so while almost being knocked over used my elbows and shoulders to push her off. I had no idea what to think! By this time a group of 6 or 7 teenage girls had gathered with the other two and were giggling and almost encouraging the initial hugger. She asked where I was from, and I said America. I don't know why I wasn't expecting it, but she did the exact same thing again! This time yelling "America!" The girls behind her were all a squealing, and Elder Friedrichs laughing... and I did the same thing to, but faster! Then she asked where in America. This time, I was smarter: I had my arms a little bit out in a defense position of missionary style. Then I said "Texas", and oh mercy... I thought Jessica and Makell could squeal loud... this was like a fire alarm! And the same thing happened on her side, the embrace, the squeals from the other girls. Then we said we had an appointment to get to and needed to go. All this happened in about 20 seconds, and we walked away, still not completely sure what happened. Then I looked at Elder Friedrichs and he pointed out that my face was super red! And we laughed. Oh, we laughed! It was possibly the most randomly unexpected thing that has ever happened to me in my life! Then we went to Martin's house, but he wasn't there, so we had to come back through Bahnhof. But we were very stealthy and ninja-like... The Navy Seals would have been proud. We even saw them on the other side of Bahnhof and avoided this gaggle of teenagers without even looking too suspicous! That night I did call-ins with the Zone leaders and they laughed. Oh mercy, they laughed :-)

So there was the week with laughs and smiles. That's what life is about, isn't it? Enjoying every moment, the expected and the unexpected. The little things make all the difference. I feel that is what Alma was teaching us when he taught about small and simple things bringing great things to pass. A wonderful life, a blissful existence, a peaceful and happy state aren't just given and aren't realized in the blink of an eye or a snap of the fingers. Rather, the joy that is the purpose for our being is developed one happy or fun experience at a time, one smile or laugh at a time. Maybe that's also a part of the Savior's teaching of giving us line upon line, here a little there a little. By the consistent accumulation of happy memories and joyful experiences, He can work to give us a perspective of the eternities, an ability to overcome anything and everything life can throw at us, and a beam of light contageous to all.

He is the Light of the world. His joy is full when we are happy and joyful. The purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the greatest of all blessings we can attain in this life, is that very joy. That's the purpose of life. That's the purpose of this work. What a purpose, what a cause! Shall we not go on?

Keep smiling!
Alles Gute,

--
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22

Another Day, Another Destiny!

Liebe Familie und Freunde:

One of the greatest blessings of life is that the sun sets and rises again, giving us a brand new day! Every week has seven great chances to better ourselves and come closer to Him who gives us life. Then the week climaxes on Sunday, when covenants are renewed, the spirit is felt in greater abundance, and desire and commitment rekindled. I love it!

This week I had the chance to work with Elder Trent in Wesel and Elder Birth in Krefeld. I love these Elders! As district leader, I get to do splits with everyone in my district, and as I thought, that just makes the time fly by! It is so neat to go work with other Elders in their cities and see, similar to what I said last week, another fantastic take and perspective on missionary work. They are definitely teaching me more than I could teach them.

We met with Brother Peeters again, and what we felt afterwards was that he has gotten an answer that what we have taught is true- that is is from God and is the truth. But it doesn't match up with his knowledge or intellect or studies... and he is struggling inside to accept it. The Lord's thoughts and ways are definitely higher than ours. Sometimes, I get confused trying to figure out the Gospel logically or from science or our earthly knowledge. But the Spirit of the Lord always bears sweet witness to me that the Gospel is true- it truly is listening with the heart, a voice we feel, and knowledge gained from On High. I am so grateful for a Teacher and Instructor, who teaches and instructs that which cannot be learned from reason or books.

I am so grateful for the little miracles each day, and yesterday ended with quite a few! We traveled down to MarienPlatz after church to go by some former investigators. As we got off the bus, a former investigator was standing there, with whom we had lost contact. Her cell phone was broken and she was so excited to see us and gave us her new number! The Lord wants us to keep meeting with her! Then we were walking down by the Hogwarts church and we passed by a couple. I started to talk to the man, who brushed us off and said "Kein Intresse", no interest. Then a few seconds later, we heard someone calling after us, the wife! She asked if we were from here, and I said that Elder Friedrichs is from Germany, but I am from America... and then something beautiful graced my ears... American Englisch! ..with all the hard R's and K's and everything! She said "Oh good, me too!" She is from Kansas, and had met the missionaries there, and then lived in South Korea for a while and said the Mormon missionaries were super easy to spot! She had learned what we do and our message, but didn't have a lot of interest right then to learn more. We gave her our card and talked a little about what they were doing there and everything. She was so nice and we were able to have a great connection, just both being from America, religion and beliefs aside. I love finding and talking with people who had interactions before with missionaries. It's just one more contact to the Spirit of the Lord, one step closer for them to accept the offer to learn more, one step closer to Christ.

"Ye heralds, sound the golden trump to earth remotest bound! Go spread the news from pole to pole in all the nations round, that Jesus in the clouds above, with hosts of angels too, will soon appear His Saints to save, His enemies subdue." I know that is true! Jesus Christ will return, and the purpose of this work is to help others prepare themselves for that day: "Dear Lord, preapre my heart to stand with Thee on Zion's mount and never more to part!" (Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise, Hymn #41).

Zion is rising, her stakes are expanding. Let's lift where we stand, strengthen our neighbor!
I love this work :-)

Alles Gute, und bis nächste Woche!

--
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22

Winter is Coming!

Liebe Familie und Freunde:

What a week! Exhausting, but wonderful! And it is getting cold! I am still completely confused with this whole Celcius temperature deal... I am used to 30 degrees being rediculously cold, even unheard of...below freezing! Well, 30 degrees here is actually very warm... on the verge of Texas hot. So when I look at a temperature sign on a building, and it says 12 degrees, first I ask myself "what on earth are we doing outside, we're going to freeze!" But then I realize I am really not cold, and I laugh a little and pretend I understand the celcius... :-) Needless today, we have been going around in pullovers, full jackets and gloves the last few days! And I got my Christmas packge yesterday, so we set it up under our little Christmas Tree we found in the Kellar... a little Christmas in Oktober :-)

On Saturday we had District Meeting in Düsseldorf with the Wuppertal District and Präsident Schwartz. We talked about using our talents and abilities to serve and help people in order to find people to teach. Elder Walker talked about that, and it was really helpful! I talked about our initial meeting with people, and how we need to establish our goals and expectations right from the beginning. I based it off of what the Lord said when He called Samuel to be a prophet: "When I begin, I will also make an end." (1 Samuel 3:12) I have recognized the power and received blessing upon blessing for learning and applying this principle: Having the end in sight from the very beginning, living by goals, spiritual "creation", having an eternal perspective. The Lord has truly blessed us here the last few weeks to see and understand these better. Of course, having the end in sight doesn't mean we have every step of the way figured out, and sometimes not even a clear 100% picture of what the end will be- that's why I am so grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Through revelation of Prophets, Scriptures, and us personally, we can get a clearer idea of the end goal, and be sure of the steps along the way. The Lord has been teaching me this the last little bit, and I am so grateful. I have a long way to go, but am grateful for the Lord's example when He said: "When I begin, I will also make an end".

Also on Saturday, we were able to meet with Familie Ntem. He is a member that hasn't been coming to church for several years, and his familie not yet members. They all went to church in Berlin, but are very busy now. We have been trying to get an appointment with them since March, and were so gratful for the chance to sit with him, hear about his life, read from 3 Nephi 11 together, and feel of his great spirit! He is so strong in the faith- his Bible and Book of Mormon are worn with well use! We felt the Spirit and invited him to come back- for the ward needs him. My testimony of simply inviting has been strengthened. Preach My Gospel says "Most people will not change unless invited to do so." I have seen that- a simple invitation to read or to pray, to come to church or to help, or to come and be a part, starts the process of them being able to act for themselves and receive the associated blessings. In this case as well, the Savior is the perfect example, for His invitations are soft and full of love, hoping that we act and come unto Him, open the door and feel of His love. We will be meeting with him and his whole family this coming week.

Sunday was Stake Conference and Br. Peeters came! He liked it and was able to talk with Präsident Schwartz afterwards. The Stake sustained a new stake presidency, and Präsident Kopischke of the Area Presidency was there to do so. The truthfulness of revelation from On High was confirmed as they explained what went on that weekend: The new stake president doesn't even live in the stake yet! We don't know how, but his name was known as one that was moving into the stake in a few weeks, and the Lord extended the call. He doesn't know anyone, nobody knows him- but the Lord organized it, and I was grateful to raise my hand to support and sustain them, so long as I am here in the stake. Revelation is real. Heaven and Earth are connected, and sometimes the boundary is not too perceptable. This week in District meeting we will be talking about revelation, and how we can strengthen ourselves, our companionships and our areas because of the instructions from On High.

As District Leader, I have the opportunity to go on splits with all the Elders in the district! I enjoy splits so much because I learn so much from the other missionaries! There are 52,000 missionaries in the world, which means that there are 52,000 different ways of doing missionary work- and as long as we are all obedient and full of love, then they are all correct and worth learning from. This week I get to work with Elder Trent in Wesel and Elder Birth in Krefeld. This cylce is going to fly by!

From study this week and some special personal experiences, I know that God lives. He is my Father: He loves and knows me. His Son is Jesus the Christ, the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New, the King of Kings who who will return to reign. I am so grateful and happy that I have the privilege and opportunity to bear witness that They live, that They love.

How have you seen the hand of the Lord in your life today? :-)

Thanks for all of your prayers, love and support: The work of the Lord is rolling forth!
Alles Gute,

--
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22

Elder Friedrichs, Heinsberg, und Familie

Liebe Familie und Freunde:

My new companion is Elder Friedrichs from North Germany (Lüpek?). He has only 4 months left on his mission, so he is full of experiences and has helped me so much! He also doesn't speak English, and loves to talk and tell stories, so there has been some great learning and growing this last week! I am starting to think in German, which I haven't done before, but I think that is a good sign! I have had a lot of pride about German-speaking abilities- the Lord will humble us, and give us experiences we need to learn what we need to learn, do what we need to do, and be who we need to be, in order to fulfill His work. I've seen that, He is humbling me with a wonderful companion who is so full of love and goodness, who is so genuine and happy. I know that I will need to rely more on the Lord, and trust in His power even more that before.

District Meeting on Friday was focused on what we learned from General Conference and how to reach our goals by applying what we learned. One of the greatest things we discussed was the truth that the ways of God are distinct and fixed- no middle ground. We got to discussing the Book of Mormon, and how the Book of Mormon is truly either true or false, no middle ground. We practiced helping explain to investigators this truth and apply this more to our teaching. It is so true: if the Book of Mormon is true, the Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God, and he did all he said he did, including restoring the true church of Jesus Christ. If the Book of Mormon is false, then we have nothing, just a couple of fairy-tale ideas. I know it's true. This Book and knowldge have changed my life. I prayed again this morning to know if it is true: the peace and joy, the uplifting feelings were another confirmation to me that I do know that this book is of God.

I am so grateful for families! We were able to teach Brother Peeters with the Luchs Family in Heinsberg on Saturday, and it is so neat to see a bond of friendship made- such a bond that the missionaries really aren't needed, to many extents. Elder Friedrichs and I didn't say much, but Brother Peeters learned and grew and even came to church the next day, none of which had to do with us. I am grateful that Brother Peeters was able to feel the goodness of this strong family and see the blessings of the gospel in their lives, as normal people living as the Lord wants them to. We also met Kai at church- a man who just happened to come to church and learn more! We werw able to teach him the basic truths of the Restoration, and Brother Peeters was there as well, and gave his testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith- it was so cool!

I am also grateful to have another member of my family now, Travis! I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and the ordinances that happen there. We have been able to talk about the temple with a couple of investigators here, and they light up and are so excited about the truth that they can work towards living with their families for eternity, being sealed together forever. What a glorious truth!

This is going to be a super week! From talking with all the other missionaries in the district, it is going to be a super week for this whole area! Miracles are happened, doors are being opened, lives are being touched. What an honor and priviledge to serve here at this time. I am humbled every day to put on this name tag and bear witness of Him whose church it is.

Ich weiß, dass Gott mein Himmlischer Vater ist. Er liebt mich. Jesus Christus ist sein Sohn, der der Erretter und Erlöser der Welt ist. Ich libe ihm. Ich bin so dankbar hier als sien Missionar zu sein.

Alles Gute,

--
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
Kirche Jesus Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22

General Conference Sunday

General Konferenz und Versetzungen

Liebe Familie und Freunde

I loved General Conference! I was especially touched by Elder Waddell's talk in Priesthood about missions and how the Lord has a specific plan for me and my mission. I know that is true- it's just that the Lord's plan for my mission doesn't include travel plans very often! We received transfer calls on Friday evening, and Elder Van Camp will be going down to Feucht by Nurmberg in Bavaria. I will be staying here in Mönchengladbach, and have received the calling to be our District Leader. Our district is the missionaries in Gladbach, Krefeld, Wesel, and Duisburg. I am humbled by this assignment and and excited for all that will come about in the next six weeks! Escpecially my German- my new companion will be Elder Friedrichs, a German who can't speak much Englisch! I know the Lord's plan is the best plan, and I look forward to learning all the Geman and leadership I need to be an effective messanger of His truth to these wonderful people. I am so grateful for the time I had with Elder Van Camp- I think he trained me much more that I did him. I am so grateful for his excitement and positive attitude, his diligence and patience. The Lord knows me, and knew that I needed to be with Elder VanCamp at this time of my mission. I look forward to this next phase of learnind and development, all so I can serve Him better.

This week went by really fast, and I fear the rest of my time here will just go by faster! The nestest experience from this week was with General Conference. We met with Brother Peeters in Heinsberg on Saturday afternoon and then we went together to Düsseldorf for Saturday evening General Conference, which was the live session of America's Saturday Morning. He was a little confused and had a lot of questions. We talked for a long time on the train back to Gladbach, and cleared some things up, but mostly bore testimony that he can and must find out the truth for himself through the power of the Holy Ghost. "Think about it" were the words I left him with, and we expected to see him next Saturday. On Sunday, we had the replay of Priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions, and during one, I got a call from Brother Peeters. He asked if there was another meeting Sonday night... I said "Ja". He asked if he could come... I said "Ja!" He asked if he could bring a friend... I said "Jawohl!" He drove all the way from Heinsberg with a friend for the Sonday evening session, which was America's Sonday morning. They loved it! The love the Choir, and the words of PResident Monson and the others. The neatest thing was that all the questions he had and we discussed the night before were answered in that session of Conference. What a truly great tender mercy of the Lord! I have always loved conference, but now I love it even more: it truly is no ordinary blessing!

Yesterday was a holiday, the celebraion of the Berlin Wall coming down and Germany was reunified. I am reminded of all that President Monson said in his book about the Church's influence on Germany, communist and democratic, during that time. I know that the goodness of the truth of the Church aided greatly in the fall of the wall- A temple was built, missionaries were called, congregations established, the truth taught and lived. The Savior was prophetic in His statement "the truth shall set you free". I am grateful to be here in a place where the truth played a large role in setting a people free. I see that freedom in individual lives as well- freedom from undue stress, freedom from guilt and shame, freedom from fear. That is the truth.

Sorry it is short today, with transfers tomorrow for Elder VanCamp, we had to shorten email time to get him ready to go!

I know God is; Jesus Christ lives; They love me. President Monson is a prophet of God, and the Preisthood is an actual power. Families are everything- I am excited to have a new brother-in-law on Saturday- love you Travis!
Thank you for your love and support.

Alles Gute,

--
Elder Nathan D. Garlick
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
German Frankfurt Mission
"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" D&C 128:22