Letter to My Friends - October 2, 2020

Letter to my friends,

I am so sorry not to have communicated earlier.  I knew it would be busy, but I had no idea how busy it would be.  We have heard several times that becoming a mission president is like jumping on a speeding train.  I have decided that isn’t what it is like.  It’s like being hit by a speeding train.  There are so many moving parts and you are a vital part of each one.  Another good analogy we heard was it was like being in the ocean during a storm.  You just get that breath of fresh air and get slammed down as another wave slams you down 20 feet deep.  Last week I had a maximum of 6 hours of sleep each night and on 2 nights I had 4 hours.  Things keep coming up that you weren’t expecting that require immediate attention.  Yesterday, we got up at 3 am yesterday to say good-bye to 5 missionaries at the airport.  We took another sister to the airport at 7:30 am and then another this morning at 5 am.  I am always tired, but it has been fascinating to see that I always seem to have the energy I need to get through the day.

Elder Borcuti of Romania

I know we all struggle with trials and challenges, but we always need to remember how blessed we all are.  This morning, we just took Elder Borcuti to the airport for his flight home after having served for 2 years. Elder Borcuti is from Romania and he is a good man and was a great missionary.  4 years ago, 2 elders met him street contacting and he joined the church.  His parents were very strongly against him serving a mission.  His parents are divorced, and he has 2 younger brothers.  He is the only member in his family.  He paid for his mission himself.  He is returning home to parents who are antagonistic to the church.  The nearest church is 2 hours away from where he lives.  His future is markedly uncertain.  He had his own small business that he gave up in order to serve a mission.  He will be starting all over.  Elder Borcuti will be a future leader in the church in Romania.  He will stay strong and change the lives of so many.  In retrospect, I realize how little my sacrifice was to serve a mission compared to Elder Borcuti.  We drive 5-10 minutes to church, not 2 hours and how often do we find ourselves struggling to get there on time.  As I watched him go through the gate after giving him a hug, the following thought came to my mind, Elder Borcuti is a “voice in the wilderness” but his voice is strong.

Transfers

I just did my first transfers.  It was so difficult.  We sent 7 missionaries home and since we aren’t really getting any more from the USA, every transfer I need to remove missionaries from Wards and Branches and close cities.  I called the Branch President and Stake President from Siegen to tell him that we were removing the missionaries.  He was so sad.  They had 2 members at church a few weeks ago and he talked about possibly closing the branch.  The members here deal with so many more difficult things than we do back home.  In Utah, it is easier to go to church than not because of social pressure but here it is the opposite.  We have an inactivity rate of 15-20% of our youth in Germany.  Many are the only member in their school. They must be so strong in the gospel and that is the amazing part, they are very strong.  As I was closing 3 areas a strong impression came to my mind, and that was to send new missionaries to Mönchengladenbach.  We haven’t had missionaries in that city for some time.  Why would you send new missionaries to a city when you are closing apartments and removing missionaries from other cities?  I told the Stake President and he called the church leaders in this city.  He called me back to tell me that the members in this city prayed about their area and they had set a goal to have 60 active members in the city by January 1^st.  One week later, the stake president called them to tell him that we were sending missionaries to their city.  He said that the missionaries were an answer to the prayers of the members of this good city.

You hear stories about transfers and mission presidents, and it is an interesting experience.  I had 2 elders and 2 sisters in one city.  All were good missionaries, but the sisters were superstars.  I had a transfer drawn up where the elders were moved out of the city leaving the strong sisters to carry the branch.  The transfer just didn’t feel right.  Finally, several days later I removed the sisters from the city and put the Elders back in and as soon as I made that change, everything felt right.  It wasn’t the logical choice, but it was the Lord’s choice.  One missionary has struggled with companions and I worried and struggled over with whom I should transfer him.  Finally, it felt right, and he wrote me a letter telling me how much he loves his new companion.  I was surprised how many times missionaries would write in their weekly letters, “I don’t know why I am telling you this but . . .”  What would follow was information that I desperately needed to help me with transfers.

One stake president shared with me that he had a vision where he saw members of a city where they have had a branch for 60 years.  He saw the members standing next to a building that was clearly one of our churches.  The problem was that he didn’t recognize the building.  This small branch doesn’t have a chapel, they meet in a rented room.  He notified Salt Lake City that in his 5-year budget, he needed money to build a new chapel in this city where they have had a struggling branch for 70 years.  We don’t even have missionaries in this city but guess where one of the first cities will be where I send new missionaries when we finally get them from American?  3 stake presidents gave me their vision of the future and it involved rapid growth of the church.  The missionaries in this mission are truly part of history.

Book of Mormon

We are having some trials in our mission and I have asked all the missionaries to get a new fresh hard copy of the Book of Mormon and read it in the next 3 months.  I have asked them to highlight passages about Jesus Christ and also the Atonement and make notes in the margins about personal revelation you receive while reading.  I had a copy of the Book of Mormon that had already been highlighted and I thought it would be fine if I highlighted under a different color.  I read it one day and honestly it was an absolute nothing.  The next day I rode my bike to the mission office and picked up a new copy.  I read the same 6 pages highlighting as I went and it turned into such a spiritual experience.  I received specific insight and guidance into how to deal with some of the problems in our mission.

I had a really special experience just before our first Mission Leadership Council.  We had only been here just over a week and I was about to face our leadership and we were just trying not to drown.  I prayed for help and asked Father in Heaven to show me what I needed to teach our missionaries at this meeting.  I opened the Book of Mormon randomly and pointed to a scripture.  Jacob 5:61-62.  That was special.  I then read the entire chapter of Jacob 5, one of my least favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.  “I get it, the stupid trees aren’t doing well so graft some of the branches unto other trees”.  This has now become a favorite chapter because of all I learned focusing on our mission at this time.  I would encourage you as my friends to participate with us in this endeavor.

Sarah Frei video 

We shot the video for Sarah Frei at Zone Conference.  As you may recall, Sarah is the 17 year old sister of one of our missionaries.  She was hit by a drunk driver and critically injured.  We spoke with Sarah and her mother a few weeks ago by Zoom.  I mentioned that I after talking with Sarah, I felt we needed to do more for her, and a making a video came to mind.  Zone Conferences were coming up and I thought we could do it there.  One of our sister missionaries came to mind and when I called her to help with the video, she said that she had written in her journal on August 2^nd, “Make a video for Sarah Frei”.  Such experiences are always special. We had all the missionaries write a favorite name of the Savior on a piece of paper and then we sang Sarah’s favorite hymn, “I need thee every hour. I then asked Elder Frei to sing the last verse solo.  It was so touching.  Afterwards, Elder Frei mentioned that he had really been struggling with this and had considered going home to be with Sarah.  He kept feeling like he needed to do more.  When I called him to ask him to sing a solo he said, “This is an answer to my prayer.”  I asked Elder Frei to video an introduction, but he called me and asked if I would do it.  Debbie and I were in Heidelberg, but it was raining all day and we couldn’t film.  After our meetings, it stopped raining just long enough for us to drive to a perfect spot overlooking the castle.  Parking is always horrible but right in front, there was a parking spot.  Just as we started filming, the church bells started ringing and I knew it was for Sarah Frei.  The Lord definitely has a hand in our lives.  With the permission of Sarah, we will post this on our blog

 We wish you all the best,

 

Dan