Email from member in Bautzen, Germany

I had also meant to include this email we received this morning from a member in Bautzen that worked with Scott (Elder Henderson) in the missionary efforts over there. I meant to post it with the other entry, but I forgot. Here it is:

Dear Henderson family,
 My name is brother Lentfoehr and since I’m our branch’s missionary president, I had the pleasure and the special privilege to co-work with your son and with his companions in his first missionary area in Germany, which is close to the Czech (about 20 miles) and Polish (about 30 miles) border. 

Last week Elder Henderson left our area for Kiel, a city in the North of Germany, not far to the Danish border, because of a transfer. That means he had to cross Germany from the South East to the North East (about 400 miles). 

While he served in our ward I got to know him as a very hard-working, open-minded, diligent, enthusiastic, companionable and pleasant Missionary. 

He arrived here as a “Golden” and was warmly welcomed in our ward several months before. Since one of our prophets once said: “Every member a Missionary” I always teach our branch members to treat and welcome every Missionary as a member. This is my special opinion about Missionary work and as a convert I know that the Missionaries can find people but the members in the branch/ward have to give them a home. When Elder Henderson arrived here, he said, his German language was bad (but it wasn’t). Every time we met again, I asked him: “How is your German now?”. It was always a pleasure to see how hard he was/is working on it. I learned that we really had a very special person serving the Lord and us in this region. 

Of course we got a new Elder here in exchange, but we feel a little sad about Elder Henderson going North. He will always be welcome at our homes and so will his family! Our younger son, Nils, is also serving a Mission in Switzerland right now. I think a Mission is the best way to serve the Lord in these special times. The other day, we met a sister from the Brescia ward in Italy and she said, that these young people, aged about 20, give a very special kind of tithing to the Lord, by serving 10 percent of their lives and there won’t be a similar chance to do so in any other way and time. That really impressed me a lot, because it is so true! So far for now. Please excuse my poor English! Thank you for sending your son to our country.If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me! Very kind regards Frank-Michael Lentföhr

We thought it was pretty cool to hear from someone in the branch there. Very much appreciated!

First letter from Kiel, Germany

It’s Scott’s first week in Kiel and he’s missing Bautzen, but really excited about his new assignment there. I’ll let him tell the stories… (I’m just proud that I’m only needing to post one week)

August 1, 2011

Dear Family!

As you all know I am in my new city, Kiel. Its in northern Germany and it is really pretty. There is an awesome Harbor right down the street that we ride past every day going to contacts and stuff its really great. It kind of reminds me of Seattle or Oregon actually. I don’t know why but it does.

I left from Bautzen last week and rid a train for a solid eight and a half hours which was just dandy. At one point though I ran into and Elder who was heading the same direction so we traveled together for a while and just talked it was fun.

The very first person we talked to was this nice lady with a little boy and we talked to her for a while and she was so nice haha. She said that she didn’t have any interest, but she was so happy that we were so happy with our religion. She was way nice and then asked to have a card. We walked away and I asked if thats how all Kiel was and Elder Harder said that he hadn’t experienced that to often here haha. It was a nice welcome here though. We later went by a contact too and she said, "Ya you can totally come by again and we can talk some more, happily." Then her little boy asked if he could give us chocolate and she said "good idea!" haha the people here have so far been pretty nice. The people in Bautzen were very nice as well, however not as open I don’t think. I do miss Bautzen though. It would be so cool to finish the mission there.

I actually am coming into a Baptism so that’s exciting. His name is Louis. He is from Ecuador and is a stud. Really cool guy and has a solid Testimony. The young single adults have really taken him under their wing and just gotten him involved so that has been terrific.

One thing I do find a little bit more frustrating here though is we live right next to the University and lots of people can speak English. So knowing that it’s really easy to cheat and speak English with members or when someone on the street says "we can speak English." I am going to be more intense about my German Study because of it. I made a plan yesterday and I am excited to grow in my German.

It was really funny the other day we were walking around and we saw a girl and a bridge and I went up to talk to her and then she turned and started talking and man oh man it was a deep voice. Then we realized that it was not a woman and I was so confused for the first bit of the whole conversation haha but it was good. He... She  had a lot of good opinions and some deep insights. We gave a card and then we were on our way. It was a while before we were out of sight and sound but I had to laugh out loud purely out of shock. That was funny.

Oh we got to play soccer on Tuesday and that was sweet! We had a good amount of guys and it was indoor so we didn’t have to chase down any balls. I was Keeper, which was sick. I got to catch the ball just like catching passes and I stopped a lot. I did get scored on and hit in the face but it was worth it our team won. It was so nice to play a sport.

My comp Elder Harder is an amazing artist. Like he does 3D stuff and its legit. He wants to work for pixar someday and I can’t wait to see his name on the credits haha. He showed me some of his stuff and its awesome.

Well I love you all and I hope all is going well. Till next week.

Love Elder D. Scott Henderson

"Kindness is the Essence of Greatness"

                -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

One more request… write him if you can… even if it’s a short hello. Sometimes those are the best kind. Address is on the right of this page.