Two posts and Scott's first vlog...

We got our first package (stuffed padded envelope) from Scott. It included some candy that he’s been raving about (Haribo Pico-Balla) and a memory card from his camera. On that card where a bunch of pictures and some short video clips. He decided to start keeping a 1-2 minute vlog in the morning about the happenings over there.

April 11, 2011

Dear Family,

Life is awesome! Things are going well here in Bautzen. We taught 11 lessons this week and that hit our goal so we were pretty happy about that. I’m just going to run down my list of stuff to write about real quick.

Thanks for the letters! They were great and made me laugh! So weird Tate is signing up for Centennial. Has he grown at all yet? What classes is he taking as of now? Don’t feel bad if you cant write me to often its just fun to get them.

That’s SO SWEET! about Nate! Lansing Michigan! Is he speaking English? Or what? Ah I would love to email him. I’m so stoked for him. Next time someone sees him give him some love from me.

So cool story… We were walking around just doing street contacting and we made 4 appointments in a row! It was unreal, had no clue what was going on but we did. Then a couple minutes later we made one more. So 5 in one day. In one hour! haha. It was cool and we felt like we were on cloud 9. So far we have had to reschedule one of them and one fell and one went through. So not to shabby we think.

This last week I started doing like a video journal. It’s kind of fun. I set up the camera and talk. It’s really funny to watch myself and I know it will be hilarious in two years and fun and yayaya. I really hope you guys will like it though. I think you will haha.

This last week I started asking myself every night and every morning. "How can I make tomorrow/today better than today/yesterday?" and its really cool to answer to myself. Every tomorrow is always better than today. It’s good to have that out here to because its such a schedule ya know? When I decide that a specific something will make tomorrow better that today and then make sure it happens it’s always so great!

This last Tuesday I think.. We had the weirdest lesson I have been in so far and Elder McCann said the same. We met the guy named Rolland on the bridge with his friend. They both are pretty old, weird, and like to drink. But they need the gospel to and we can’t keep it from them ya know. So we met them on the bridge and then he took us to his house and we started the "lesson." They just talked about how awesome the Book of Mormon is and everything and how thankful they were that we were missionaries. They started crying and it was actually kind of touching. However we didn’t get to like teach or talk. They just went off the whole time. During the lesson they both were drinking and smoking and offered us both, I thought it was funny. They were just interesting. One of the guys told Elder McCann to open the Book of Mormon and he did then the guy pointed to a random verse in Mormon. Then they both just went off about how true it was and how amazing the book is. I had no clue what it said in German because I just heard it but when we came home we looked it up and it was actually pretty good. I forget the exact reference but it was just funny. Some CRaZy people in Germany, and they are either really nice to us like these guys or they are very rude haha.

I started thinking about my mission in sacrament yesterday, (which I bore my testimony in) my mission is already 3 months over, almost 4. I only have 21 left!! This is ridiculous how fast time goes. I really do feel like I just emailed yesterday. So odd.

This morning I read 1 Nephi 13 and it’s when the angel shows and explains Nephi the Bible and stuff. I loved it because 8 different times it says that the bible is no longer the fullness of the gospel because men have robbed it of its "plain and precious" things. The plain and precious things are the important things we have to do, keep close, practice, etc. There are so many things that we don’t think about because they are plain, we don’t realize how precious they really are and how through them great things do come to pass. God and Christ teach us like this. We also know that they teach us through example. Why don’t we try to do more to realize how precious those plain things in our lives are, and when we teach, let us all remember to focus on the plain, simple, easy, precious things we are suppose to. I love this.

Well how’s the fam and stuff? Anything new? Make sure you send me pictures of Blake when she is born. Also of Tate’s Shakespeare play, Skylar’s baseball, Tate’s baseball, and your DC trip mom and dad! That’s sweet you guys are going to do that! Oh an investigator made me these slipper things that are so sweet! I will take a picture and send it in next weeks email with others. I don’t think I can send journal videos over email but i might try. You are probably going to have to wait till I send the card itself.

When does Jacob get his call? Tell all my buddies that I am going to write them this week. I really wanna hear from them. Hope they all are doing good.

Did you get my package? Let me know how you liked it, that’s my favorite candy so far.

Well, Love you all so much!

Love Elder Henderson

And the next week…

April 18, 2011

Dear Family,

How is life? My life is just dandy, thanks for asking. I got a list of a bunch of stuff this week so get ready!

We got a baptismal date! So sweet! We had an appointment fall through and then we decided to go and teach this other investigator and she happened to be home. We taught her about families and the importance. She has a daughter so she loved it, then we talked about how the ward is just like a big family and we all support one another etc. We asked her if we could call her Sister Mücklisch and then if she would prepare herself to get baptized so it was pretty cool. We are going to have to change the date though because she wants her daughter to get baptized on the same day, but her daughter is only over like every other week, however we are still teaching her as much as we can.

So we were walking last week just cruisin to an appointment and this guy stops us. He started talking about how he loves America and how he has been to Salt Lake yada yada. Then he says 'you should come over! We can talk about your religion ya?' haha we were we surprised by that. Then he said 'here’s my number, call me and we can make a time, I want to feed you boys.' Haha so this guy wants to give us food and learn about the gospel! So sweet! We hope it works out. Praying for him and that he will make it happen.

Oh! So we have been making a lot of food this week and maybe you could send me some recipes? For like bread? Cake? Ice cream? Pancakes? Syrup? That would be awesome. Pres doesn’t let us look up recipes so I can just ask you. Simpler the better.

This week we are going to the Freiberg Temple! And I’m so excited. We get to go once a transfer (6 weeks) if we are close enough to the temple that is. So I am pretty excited.

Mothers Day is May 8th ya? President said that we could skype so we are going to look for a way to do that, just thought i would give the heads up now.

That’s that. So this time I decided I would just tell you how a typical day here in Germany goes. We wake up at 6:30 every day and pray personally and then do our exercising. I can only to tri's and push ups and abs. Then I shower and then eat whatever I want for example peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich has been my recent favorite but also yogurt with granola. Pancakes also. I would love a recipe to make them from scratch though with some syrup recipe.

Then at 8 we start Personal Study. I actually have started doing EVERYTHING in German. So ya personal study is in German. It’s a little hard but I am learning more and more German everyday and I am still getting a ton out of the scriptures. I have to take it slow going through them too ya know so I get more stuff than I would normally sometimes.

Then we have comp study, which we only speak German through. We plan for our lessons that day and read BOM share thoughts from personal study etc. Then we have Language study. Here I just study like vocab or grammar principles. So more of the school kind of studying. It’s fun. I am learning so much and I am really getting better and speaking. I could not be doing this if I wasn’t on my mission though. Like I could, but I would not be going as fast as I am.

Then we head out for talking to people and or lessons. We come back around 12 or 1 for our mittagspause and eat then head back out again. If we are far away we just eat a Döner wherever we are or stop by a bakery. Then we are out talking and teaching more ‘til about 9 when we come back. We plan and then change and have a midnight snack maybe, talk, etc. Pray and then sleep. It is so fun. I’m loving it. Everyday there is something new or a person that needs the gospel and it is so cool to see them feel the spirit and share that experience with them ya know?

Anyway I don’t know what else to tell ya. Elder McCann and I are rockin it. Our companionship is really strong and I am so blessed to have a sweet trainer. Love you all so much and Good Luck with everything!!

Elder Henderson

We’re looking forward to the phone call on Mother’s Day!

Elder Henderson's first vlog entry

It seems like much of his vlogs revolve around food.

Where in the world did he get that from?

Update and Pictures from Bautzen, Germany

April 4, 2011

Great email from Scott today with a couple of pictures. From the sound of his email he’s doing great!

Well hey everyone how’s is life!? Things here rock. It’s been going well. I started keeping a list of things I need two make sure to write about throughout the week so I’m just going to run down that list.

First, I discovered pretty much the best cereal in the world! haha actually no but it’s good! It’s called NOUGAT KISSEN and it is cereal with nutella in the inside haha! It is pretty rich and I can only have a small bowl but it’s so good. I like to just have it dry mostly. It’s a good snack to just have sittin on the desk ya know!

There is this candy called PICCO BALLA.. Oh meine güte. It’s so good! haha dad’s type of candy for sure. I will send home a bag. I hope it stays normal haha. It really is like little things of unbelievably tasting sugar slash licorice. Quality stuff.

Elder McCann and I were doing doors like three days ago k. We were waiting for our appointment with this HUGE kid names Moroni. How cool is that? We really gotta teach him he could be in the ward and fit in nicely. Anyway as we were klingling the doorbells on buildings we rang one, and it just kept ringing.. So weird it went on forever! We finished like 30 minutes after and it was still going. haha I just thought it was really funny.

I decided why I have been called to a foreign mission. It’s so I can focus on REALLY listening and not just yappin my mouth. I wasn’t ever really a yapper. But here I can’t be at all and in order to really understand I have to listen so intently and try really hard. It’s a good trait I hope I can acquire quickly. Along with speaking German haha. I actually had an instance where I was talking to this girl on the street and I did the WHOLE thing! It was so sweet. I felt so cool and really boosted my confidence. I am speaking with the kids in the ward and the members and they are helping me a lot.

General Conference was so good wasn’t it!? I loved it. So many of the talks just like reinforced me. I loved the one from the 70 talking about pain and how we grow stronger from everything. It’s so true and I feel like I have experienced that along with every single one in the world. But not every single person in the world looks at our pains in a beneficial way. Especially here in Germany. It’s alright though. We actually went to talk to these two people sitting by the river after they got done and were just chillin. They told us they didn’t have any time. I was so mad haha. They were watching paint dry!! But Elder McCann helped me realize all the many possibilities they could have said no as well like they were on a date or something. It was just the worst excuse they could have used haha.

This last week we got to spend a couple days in Görliz because that’s where General Conference was being broadcasted and we got to sleep over at the other Elders’ apartment. It was really interesting to see how other older elders functioned.

These are great elders but they kind of are just going through the motions I felt like. It kind of really made me realize it’s easy to just start going through the motions and how important companionship unity is. It made me really not ever want to lower my standards no matter how long I am out here on the mission.

The rules are not just guidelines they are rules ya know? We are blessed if we follow them and no one is above the rules. I just thought it was interesting to see them function. It’s interesting how you can see someone react and choose to be good because of their example, and in spite of their example. That’s what I decided my mission is about. Setting an example. I know that’s the best way to help and serve. Someone in General Conference said that, it’s so true. It was good for me. I had a cool experience here one of my first couple days that I don’t know if I wrote about.

Did I say anything about when we went to the Berlin Wall site? Let me know maybe I will share.

Love you all! Take care!

Elder Henderson

We have his new address and have included it in the blog here. It seems like the mail is taking less than a week (or thereabouts) to get here. We’re still not sure how long it’s taking to get to him, yet but write away so he can receive a steady flow.

First post from Germany!

It was good to finally get an update from Scott after he arrived in Germany. And to hear that he is having a great time.

March 28, 2011

It’s so fun here. I hope I can keep this attitude I have. I think I can as long as I consciously try. Like yesterday I was so tired and wasn’t that excited to go talk to people and then I realized it. From then on I switched gears and had so much fun talking to people. I know we can choose to have a good attitude and I am so grateful for that! The only thing that is hard about it is doing it. But try it! I promise it will bless your life.

This week we got right to work after I got my comp. He is a stud. Elder Bradly McCann, He is from Ogden. The day after we got paired up we had four teaching appts. It was nice to jump right into the work ya know? We have a lot more investigators than I thought we would and it’s so fun. One old lady Love to death is named Frau Rill. She believes in the Bible 100% and says she is about 80% sure about the Book of Mormon haha. I tried bearing testimony to here about it last night and of prayer and everything and she just said 'I know, I just have to KNOW.' Apparently the missionaries have been super duper patient with her and she is just going to have to take her time. She is moving forward every time though, I pray that she will accept it and come to church.

Pres Pimmental is Sweet! We got there and he took us to the mission office to do a ton of random stuff and paperwork with the APs and stuff and Sister Pimental made us lunch and then he told us we had to take a nap! It was so nice and so good for all of us I think. Then we went to a restaurant to eat and after we street contacted for a good hour or so. It was so cool, and now I do it everyday.

German is coming along. I had a time yesterday when I just went off while talking to this girl on the street and it was soo cool! Elder McCann looked at me after and said 'You can speak German!' haha it made me feel much better about what had happened. I know a lot more than I ever gave myself credit for and I pray that I can continually progress. It really is so great here. Germany is beautiful.

The people here are so funny. We talk and talk and right when we mention Jesus Christ they leave. Then we will say, oh well have a nice day anyway! And they turn back so happy and cheerful and say it right back. I have decided my two least favorite sayings now though are 'NAY!' haha and 'keine zeit' thats 'no time.' I am loving talking to people though.

I’m loving the food here! I haven’t had too much but its so good! Dönner's are awesome. I have only had one but Elder McCann and I decided we are going to get another one today. Look them up online or something. I don’t know how to describe them and it will take a while.

Oh! we almost got hit by a bus! haha we were walking down the street and just looked behind us and there was a bus! It was so scary we had to run out of the way. A lot of the sidewalks and streets here are made out of the same or similar bricks.

I haven’t event said where I am have I? Bautzen!, It’s just east of Dresden. The zone I am in however is called Bischofswerda, that’s a cool little town. There are some beautiful buildings here. Our apartment is super nice and pretty new.

Everyone smokes and honestly I am growing to like the smell. Isn’t that horrible haha. Also yesterday we talked to a guy who was drunk and smelled a lot like beer and he was funny, but the smell reminded me of going to Diamondback games with Dad haha. I’m so jealous of all of you who still have baseball.

How is everyone? Anything new? How is baseball going for the Boys? Traveling Dad? School Mom? I’m glad everyone liked that scripture I shared. Sky and Tate you are right behind me! Prepare haha it is so great to be here doing what the Lord has called me to do. It’s such a blessing and it already has taught me so much!

I started over in the Book of Mormon and I read something today that I really like and can apply to all of us. It’s in 1 Nephi 1.. can’t tell you which scripture but Lehi is praying for the people. Not just himself and his family. I promise when we do this and are unselfish in all we do, we learn more, are blessed more, and receive more. Promise me that you all will try to do things for other people and help and serve. Because I know that is how Jesus would do it and that is the best way for us to learn. That is why we are here (moses1:39)

Before emailing we stopped at the Bakery and got snacks while we type. Pretty quality. I got a cheese roll thing and then a Berliner, the famous jelly donut. After emailing, we are going to go shopping and get all of the food we don’t have. Really like none! So I’m excited. The missionary that was my comps before me left me a whole bunch of chocolates and those are way good. I will have to send some home and stuff. 

We went on a run this morning and it was pretty cool. I enjoyed it, My legs need some more exercise other that walking. That’s another thing, one of our bikes are broken so we have to walk super fast everywhere. Sometimes we don’t have time to stop and talk to people, which is a bummer because we pass so many people.

Tell everyone; if they write me I promise I will write them back! 

Love you all so much!

Love Elder Henderson

Take that last bit of advice and write to Scott! He hasn't said if it would be better to mail the mission home or his current apartment, yet, but I'll update if I find out.