Elder Hoggan is lucky enough to celebrate two days of Christmas! December 25th and 26th are the first and second days of Christmas! What a great holiday! Pretty cool miracles were the best gifts this year.
Karlheinz met twice with Elders Hoggan and Jensen. They watched the "He is the Gift" video and committed him to baptism and Karlheinz accepted their invitation! A date has been set for the 31st of January. He enjoyed learning about the Plan of Salvation and said that it makes sense to him.
Karlheinz prayed right then and there, out loud, to see if the Plan and the Book of Mormon are true. He had a good feeling after his amazing prayer and said, "I think that it's like a plant. You need to nurture and water it and then it will grow and grow until it becomes a tree!" That's exactly right!The Elders asked him to read about Alma in chapter 32 about faith being a seed.
Pray for Karlheinz as he tries to reach his date to be baptized. He works on Sundays, but needs to go to church to become a member. He's looking for an option and a miracle!
Christmas Eve was great! Metzners, a member family, prepared a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes. It was super good! That was followed by a little Christmas program, just like Elder Hoggan remembers with family at his grandparents homes. Music was played, poems were shared, the nativity story was read, and then the kids received their presents. They were hilarious. Wrapping paper was flying left and right. Metzners even got the Elders a little something. It was awesome to get to know this member family better. Bru. Metzner told Elder Hoggan about some of his mission experiences which made Steve laugh pretty hard.
Christmas morning was a little bit different. After gifts were opened, the Elders studied and then went with the Metzners to clean the church. Steve wore his new Dallas Cowboys shirt to mop the hall and bathroom floors. He really enjoyed his presents of Cowboy Gear :) Slippers, a wallet, tattoos, 88 Des Bryant t-shirt, toothbrush, a glass, and tie. Christmas was an experience that Elder Hoggan really enjoyed. Cleaning the church is a great service opportunity.
Christmas day was spent with other ward members. They had Raclette. It is a cheese that you put under a heater. Corn, onions, etc., are added to the melted cheese and served on top of a potato. It's pretty good and Steve got to eat it two days in a row!
Skype was amazing on Christmas evening. Elder Hoggan can't believe that it was his last skype home. Time has flown by! It was great to see everyone. Now that Christmas is over, these missionaries aren't letting anything hold them back. They're already back to work :)
A little snow fell on the second day of Christmas and more has come since then :)
Frau Schif is another miracle! She's doing really well and her baptismal date has been moved to the 21st of February. This week the Elders will finally get to start the stop smoking program with her. She needs prayers as well!
Elder Hoggan sends his Happy Birthday wishes to his parents! Steve wanted to close his email with some memories of Grandpa Turner who passed away on 22nd December, his mother's birthday. Grandpa is in a better place and isn't held back by his body anymore.
President Monson taught us, "To all within the sound of my voice, I declare, if a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth."
It is comforting that we will see Grandpa Turner again. Steve remembers Grandpa for being very obedient, loving, kind, and always up for a nice game of checkers and pool. Whenever Steve asked Grandpa how he was doing, he always replied, "Oh, about the same."
Grandpa had a positive attitude and was a funny man, as well. He is the one to thank for the cabin in Wyoming. Grandpa loved the outdoors and the cabin has become one of Steve's favorite places on earth. Maybe his favorite.
Grandpa and Grandma brought forth some amazing family members. Steve loves his family so much! Thanks for Everything, Grandpa! You have accepted your mission call! Grandpa is probably busy in the spirit world with that one!
Elder Hoggan sends his love and says, "You're the best!" He ends with Happy New Year!!!!!! As the Germans would say, guten rusch!
L.g.
Elder Hoggan cannot believe that another week has flown by! Christmas is next week and this is such an awesome time of the year. Steve loves being where he is and has learned more about the true meaning of Christmas. When younger, we think about the gifts. Jesus Christ is the GIFT! Check out the "He is the Gift" video and share it with others. He really is the best gift that any of us could get or give during this time of year.
Elders Hoggan and Jensen finished up their baking preparation last Tuesday for the ward Christmas Party on Saturday. They had four more Elders in their apartment, too. On Wednesday, they went to Munich and stayed over the night, because of traveling.
Wednesday was a day that Steve could have written about forever! It was so amazing! The highlights included a musical fireside put on by missionaries, hearing President and Sister Kohler speak about putting Christ first, had an awesome lunch, and gift exchange. Elder Hoggan gave away a couple of ugly ties that he found in their apartment along with a spaghetti flavored baby food and other flavors. Steve received a coin holder with a Bavaria coin. Chips are used for shopping carts at markets. Money can be used, too, but the idea is to get people to take their cart back. In America, it could be used as a golf ball marker. Elder Hoggan is pretty satisfied with his gift.
President Kohler then surprised everyone with Ipads!! Ok, that was a joke. The missionaries did get to watch Meet the Mormons instead!! That was just as cool, because President Kohler had to pull some strings :) Elder Hoggan received his Christmas package from home and that was a highlight as well. It is under his tree. So cool!
The Ward Christmas Party went well with the fortune cookie stand. Their sign read, "Leckeres aus den Schriften." Deliciousness from the Scriptures, or something like that. The cookies were a lot of work, but it was worth it. Elders Hoggan and Jensen baked about 130 along with a giant one that was on display. The members seemed to like it. Karlheinz and Thomas Boden, investigators, showed up and seemed to have a good time. All of the stands at the Christmas Market were all nice, too. There were games for children, food, arts, and crafts. Overall, Elder Hoggan thinks it was a success. He won't pursue the fortune cookie business though.
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A miracle story occurred regarding Frau Schif. She called the Elders a few weeks ago and told them that she wasn't so interested anymore in the church. She dropped them and they didn't really understand why. Phone calls were rejected, so Elder Hoggan knew that they had to stop by on Friday. They talked to her at the door and her new job added too much stress. A new appointment was made for Tuesday and their visit that day went well! It was really awesome. Elders Hoggan and Jensen were worried about her, fasted and prayed for her, and miracles do happen! Hopefully, all will go well on Tuesday.
Last Pday, the Elders were able to go to a Christmas Market in Ludwigsburg. It was pretty and today they will go to one in Esslingen. It's supposed to be super cool :)
Eine schone Woche wunsche ich euch!
Another great week for Elders Hoggan and Jensen. Their weeks never go quite as planned, but these two have learned to be flexible :) Steve shares that we need to be creators of circumstances and not creatures of circumstances. These Elders find ways to really enjoy their service and get the work done.
Wednesday night was pretty memorable. Elder Hoggan went on a split with their Bishop and Elder Jensen went with the first counselor. Bertrand was visited. He is the new member from Cameroon. Unfortunately, Bertrand is struggling due to the government only giving him 20 Euro or $25 a month to live on instead of what he usually receives which is 300 Euro. Steve and the Bishop took him grocery shopping to make sure he has what he needs. Then they got a Doner. They're super good :) Meanwhile, Elder Jensen was with the 1st Counselor trying to fix the Elders washing machine. Many things were unplugged, but it is broken. A new one will be delivered today.
Here's a crazy experience of the week. These two Elders got back together later Wednesday evening, and put a pizza in the oven for Elder Jensen. They decided to put up their Christmas things and got excited about it so they ran down to the basement. While down stairs, they realized that they had left their keys...and thought they were locked out with a pizza in the oven. BUT luckily, Elder jensen hadn't closed their door all the way :) Now their Christmas is all set up and that gave them a nice boost. Elder Hoggan loves coming home to their tree, even if Elder Jensen has his Green Bay Packers things on it.
Friday was fun. They were prepping for the Ward Christmas Party with their WML. This will be like a small Christmas Market and each organization will have their own stand. The Elders will give out fortune cookies with a scripture inside that has to do with missionary work :) Friday morning was mostly spent baking fortune cookies. Anything can be done with the internet today. It isn't super difficult, but takes a lot of time. Maybe Elder Hoggan will bake them again later in life. It was pretty fun to do and he is excited for next week!
Yesterday was amazing, too! The Elders finally got to meet with Herr Boden. He goes to church with his wife and had dinner afterward with the missionaries and a member family. It was super awesome! Herr Boden had to have surgery this past year and was lying on his death bed, but he survived and it brought him closer to God. His wife gave him scriptures to read and different things. She also brought him to church and he has felt the Spirit! Herr Boden began tearing up as he spoke about his testimony! He just needs to be taught more and shown the way of what he needs to do! The Elders are super excited for him :)
Pday brings a Christmas Market in Ludwigsburg. Next week they will go to one in Esslingen. Followed by one in Stuttgart. These places are about a 30-40 minute journey on the S-bahn or Schnellbahn. It's like a subway, but faster.
It was a pretty adventurous week. A lot of different things happened, but first-Thanksgiving!
The Elders cooked schnitzel, mashed potatoes, veggies, and a couple cakes for their district meeting. Elder Jensen's family tradition is to make indian or pilgrim hats. This was a fun activity. Elder Hoggan was the only pilgrim. He's thankful for the pilgrims! ;) Each said what they were thankful for. Such as family, friends, and America.
The day got even better when Elders Hoggan and Mickelson worked together. These two went to Sky View and compared how the mission has changed them. They shared fun memories, did some good missionary work, and know that they are better off now than they were before their missions :)
Frau Dias was introduced to the Book of Mormon and seems pretty interested in reading it :) She should be able to make progress in the gospel.
Justin was taught about the first vision. He is open and had a lot of good questions after the 30 minute lesson.
Wong is from China. He's a new investigator and has read the Bible twice. His appointment had to be moved back a week due to a train delay.
There seem to be a lot of train and subway problems lately. This delay was due to a man that jumped in the subway at the last second as the doors were closing and ripped them open. He walked away and broke the doors so they wouldn't shut.
In the coming days, the Elders will be checking out Christmas Markets. They are excited to visit ones in Stuttgart, Ludwigsburg, and Esslingen.
Prayers are offered on our behalf from Steve and he appreciates the ones we say for him, too :) He asks that we keep it up and sends his love to all :)
