[April 4, 2011]
Hallo Guten Tag von Deutschland!
Ich habe eine sehr gut zeit heir gehabt. Meiner Trainer, Elder Anderson ist wunderbar! Wir arbeiten hart, und es ist sehr gut weil es der Arbeit des Herrns ist. Die Stadt, Nordhausen, heir ist klein und schön! Es gibt auch die beste Pizza immer! Ich habe für euch sehr viele Liebe. Ich bin sehr dankbar für alle euer Gebete. Danke Schön!
Ok, just thought I'd let everyone practice a little german! This past week has been a blast. We worked hard here in Nordhausen until Thursday and we improve each and every day. We had General Konferenz and I went on my first split in Deutschland. I went to a pretty big city called Gera. We worked there for 2 days and went to our district center in Erfurt for General Konferenz. General Konferenz was pretty awesome I must say even though I missed the last session on Sunday. The split in Gera went really well and we had a lot of success. The bed I slept in though smelled like moldy socks. I was pretty upset and I'll make sure if anyone sleeps in my bed on a split it will be very clean for them. There weren't any blankets or anything I could use on the floor, so I just prayed for patience. I made it through sleeping in that bed for 2 nights, but now I'm more grateful for my clean bed at my Wohnung in Nordhausen. At conference I saw there was some snow in Utah. I bet that must have been fun. It's actually really warm here in Deutschland and beautiful. I ate my first Döner, which is a really tasty meat sandwich thing. I thought of the people doing track and all that it must have been a fun weekend to run. Usually there's a meet conference weekend. I can't make any promises, but I'm probably coming back an Olympian because the past week we ran up some major hills trying to get back home on time before 9:30. I'm loving it here on my mission. I love being a missionary!
Before I go further I want to say I love you all, and I'm grateful for your prayers because I've really needed them. The field is white here in Nordhausen, and Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and I just need to be strong enough to turn to Him and submit my will to His. I've seen how I've needed the strength from the prayers offered in my behalf. I love you, my wonderful family and I hope all is well. I've not been able to write letters home yet, but I'm going to send some today. I want to know if Rosie has made a choice on what school? I'm curious to see which school she picks. I hope Mike and Jake and Julie are all doing well in school and things are good. I hope Robert is doing well with His new job, and I'm curious to see how he likes it so far. I love you all and thank you Mom and Dad for being such wonderful loving parents to all of us. I pray for each of you each day because I love you.
I'm doing very well and I'm really starting to love the work and the people here. It is a blast to be a missionary! On my split to Gera, I learned 3 main things: When things seem to be going bad or something like that is happening, that's the time when we can't give up because that is a good sign that Satan is just trying to stop us from having an amazing experience. 2nd, We need to have the love enough for the people so that we talk to everyone and follow the Spirit. If we don't have the true love, we are nothing! That is so clear to me out here on the mission. When we love, we may testify boldly, or we may just give them a smile and say, "Is there anything I can do to help you?" It's all about the love, and if we truly study the Preach my Gospel section on Charity it becomes clear. When we see and treat people as Jesus would treat them, we will truly be much more effective missionaries. Also, the 3rd thing is that people on the street don't know what we're doing, so immediately the first sentence after saying "Entschuldigung," must be a testimony. If not, they don't feel strong enough the power of God and may just blow it off and say "Keine zeit." Gordon B. Hinckley says in Preach my Gospel that if we plead with God to have our tongues loosed that He may speak through us, the people will respond under the influence of the Spirit. (That way we will find more people) That's what we need to do because the people need the gospel. They need salvation. Eternity is at stake.
General Conference was so awesome! I felt the Spirit so strong, and I learned so much. I learned I can be twice as successful as I currently am. I'm not sure exactly how that is possible, but I'll figure it out with the Lord. Conference made me feel humble, inadequate, and distilled a desire to awake and arise from the dust, and be a man! Pres. Eyering in one of his talks said that with the Lord more things are possible than we could imagine. My goals and expectations for the people in Nordhausen are realistically a little lower than they should be, but if more is possible than I could imagine, it must be truly wonderful and glorious what we could do here with God. I loved the story of the Deacon's quorum president who received revelation to have 12 deacons, and not just 5 in his quorum. He felt scared, inadequate and didn't fully know what to do, but with the Lord, the unimaginable became possible. My companion and I have such a huge responsibility there is no way we could do the unimaginable things for the people here. I don't know how we'll take a leap of faith and turn the work around and speed it up, but it is do-able. It will take much mighty prayer and study. People are waiting for us to figure it out, and really get it so we can help them. Not just their salvation is at stake, but mine is too. I'll be judged for all I do, or don't do. I need to live up to my privileges in the priesthood just as President Uchtdorf talked about it in priesthood session. I realized I need to change more, and that I need to truly receive that revelation little by little with the Spirit. I feel like a changed person so far in my mission, but I need to repent more and be at my potential. I'm really excited to improve each and every day. It takes a lot of patience and practice, but it will come if I'm diligent. I want to become my Father in Heaven's right hand man.
I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that we have a loving Heavenly Father that loves us very much. I know he hears and answers our prayers and wants to help and bless us. I know that living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not always the easiest thing, but it is the power unto Salvation. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all, and my Savior especially. I remember everyday the pain that I can't even imagine. It's truly humbling to know I represent Him. He motivates me and helps me in a very real sense to live my life and do his work. I know He can bless us with His power. He will if we turn to Him and His Atonement. It's not fake at all, it's so real that I couldn't do missionary work without it. I love Him very much. I need to love Him more. I love you all, and hope you have a good week. Read the scriptures, do your best, go to the temple, and pray everyday and see all the love, peace, strength, joy, and happiness of God that you can feel. I love you and I pray for you.
Mit Liebe,
Elder Matthew James Liddle
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