An Apostle speaks. And my guitar.

From Oct 17, 2017:

 

My Dear Mother,

A curse has been lifted. A burden lightened. A trial of faith is over. A time has come for prophecies to be fulfilled, and the Heavens are opened over Europe. An Apostle of the Lord has spoken! Sorry about that cryptic intro, but I;m going to start this email off with an amazing experience and I had this week. 

Found an old guitar at thrift shop.  Sounds GREAT!

 Elder Ballard recently announced a special broadcast he was doing for the Europe area, and we all gathered in the meeting house to watch it. There were some good talks given by members of the seventy and local area leaders. It was about how to strengthen our wards on Sundays and included ways and ideas on how we can make the Sabbath a delight. :) it was super cool. Then Elder Ballard took the stand. I watched an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ stand before all of Europe with no Teleprompter or paper before him and deliver a sermon solely out of his impressions from the spirit. This sermon brought me a hope and a faith that I had been praying for for the last year and a half. It answered my prayers and my questions. It pierced me to the very depths of my soul and declared a message that resonated deeply with my spirit and hopes for my mission. The message was: It is time for miracles to happen in Europe. 

A little bit of background. Every mission has a culture, and stereotypes. European missions are generally known for a few good things and a few bad things. Good things: Beautiful scenery. Interesting culture. Delicious food. Beautiful scenery. (That's a huge plus) ha... get it? ;) Huge plus? 🇨🇭

Anyway, there's also some negative stereotypes. People tend to be less open. Hearts are harder. Wards are small. The church is young. People do not stop to listen to missionaries on the street speaking about a God they no longer believe in nor worship. This creates lots of barriers in missionary work.  A lack of faith in the missionary work. A lack of enthusiasm for sharing the gospel. A lack of desire to get outside the comfort zone and risk your social standing for the truth you know to be true. That's something we all face, but it has unfortunately become not only common but the generally accepted opinion for members in our mission... We face opposition. Ward Council can sometimes feel like the greatest battle and challenge of the week. New ideas for missionary work don't seem to draw up much support, and the member missionary work gets pushed aside a lot. I've heard a phrase a lot more than once on my mission in councils where convert baptisms for the ward are discussed. The phrase is: "Well it looks like the missionaries have a lot of work to do!"

When it should be: "well it looks like we have a lot of work to do!"

Me & President.

 I may be making it sound worse than it is, but I think I can accurately say that that's exactly how a missionary feels here that has been around it for the last year and a half. This attitude has an effect on you whether you want it to or not, and it's become harder and harder because the church is actually shrinking numerically in Europe. President Ballard addressed this problem and quite literally made my part of carrying this burden much lighter. 

He stood up, made some remarks and jokes, and expressed his love for us. It was quite different and far more personal than in general conference. :) I loved it. Then he said: Do you mind if I'm a little straight with you? Will you still love me if I'm a little straight with you? Let me be straight with you. Then he began. 

He began by talking about "the danger of Apathy." He talked about our fast paced lifestyles and how we often overlook the importance of taking time to ponder. He asked: how often do you take time to "be still, and know that I am God?" D&C 101:16

 

 

He talked a little bit more about that and then starting talking about miracles. He shared a story I'll try to sum up for you. Elder Ballard once went with another Elder to Ethiopia during their horrible draughts years ago to help figure how how the church can best use its donation money to help them. Upon arriving, he felt impressed to find out how many members were in Ethiopia at that time. They found out there was only one man. He worked on the military base. They found him and offered to have a sacrament meeting with just the three of them. The man agreed with tears in his eyes, having not had the sacrament for a long time. They sat down in his living quarters with some crackers and water. They blessed it and passed it to each other, and concluded with a testimony meeting. As it came to Elder Ballard's turn to bear his testimony, he felt a strong I impression from the spirit to bless the land. In his prayer, he asked that the Heavens be opened with rain to save the people there. It was raining before the end of the day, and didn't stop for at least a week. 

He then told us to believe in miracles. Miracles come when we simply live the gospel and try to seek the will of the Lord. We need to believe in miracles. He told us that he had asked the Lord prior to his coming in the name of Christ to give us that faith. To open the Heavens on us. He said that miracles can work inside of us. 

"Brothers and Sisters... we cannot let the kingdom of God shrink in Europe. We can. Not. Let our wards get smaller and smaller. The missionaries in this part of the world are working desperately to make miracles happen, but they can NOT do it alone any longer. They can not do it alone anymore. Let miracles work within you." 

He talked about the Restoration and how much it should mean to us. He said that we need to let the spirit guide us and NEVER let anyone pass by without sharing the message of the Restoration with them. He promised us miracles if we did so. If we love the Lord, we will share the gospel. The job of the members in Europe is to create a membership prepared to receive the Lord at his second coming. It is not ready yet. He said that we already know the Lord is going to win, but he needs us to be more active warriors. It will be the members that unlock the door for the missionaries into the hearts of the native people of this land. 

Sorry i kinda spent all my time talking about that, but it touched me deeply. :) I almost cried! It was exactly what I needed to hear! I know that these men are called of God. They are Prophets, seers, and revelators. Afterwards, I noticed what kind of effect it had on the members. Things are changing. Europe is waking up! I'm excited to see what follows. :) 

Anyways... my week was good! We had that broadcast and we also set a baptismal date with a friend from Nigeria! His name if Jeff! He's awesome. :) please pray for him, that he will make it. 

Look what happened to our ping pong table..

The culprit!!!

Sorry i kind of ran out of Time but im glad to hear you guys had an amazing week! Good job with your crazy hike and then tennis right afterward! Sounds like it was planned perfectly. ;) haha. I am totally loving your idea for Gracie for Christmas. She will absolutely love that. 

Well I gotta go Mom. I'll just tell you some funny things that happened this week. 

So I made the first horribly embarrassing German mistake of my whole mission! We were talking to an investigator about how the world seeks after "instant gratification of wants" to make them happy... but the word fort hat concept is very close to another word! Instead of saying instant gratification... I said: Masturbation. -_- it was so embarrassing! The words are so similar! Ugh! 

 

 

Our friend Petra asks some funny questions about the Book of Mormon all the time. She asked us this week about why Nephi's family was complaining about Nephi breaking his bow even though his other brothers already broke their bows first, and he was actually apparently the smartest with his because it lasted the longest! She also said they were dumb to not have made an extra supply of food for such an emergency. XD it was awesome. She thinks so deeply about these sorts of things. 

I think that was it! I gotta go! I love you so much mom! I miss you! Can't wait to hear from you next week! 

Elder Tanner Larson