Tuesday 30 July 2013

Birthday dinner with a Catholic Priest

Serving in: Reinach Branch
Companion: Elder McColgan


Hello family and friends,

Elder Robertson has said goodbye to Elder Nakken his trainer.  His new companion is Elder McColgan. He's English and left for his mission from Wales.  They have been together for just less than a week now.

On the 26 July, Elder Robertson had his 19th birthday. In my email I asked Elder Robertson how his first birthday as a missionary went.  This is his reply: 'Nothing special happened on my birthday really. I did get taken to an all you can eat Chinese Buffet by this Catholic Priest investigator in Basel. He gave me a crystal cube with Bountiful Temple etched inside.'


Gift of an etched Bountiful Temple 

Bountiful Temple gift

Well in my eyes, that IS something special.  Firstly to have a Catholic Priest as an investigator and secondly to have him take you out for dinner.  I can't help but wonder who gave this to the priest in the first place! =)

This reminded me of a wonderful Mormon Message on Why Mormons Build Temples.  Krister Stendahl takes part, he's a Church of Sweden bishop and shares his feelings towards the work in the temple.  He obviously feels the importance of such a sacred work.

It's a great message! Take a look.
                       

Monday 29 July 2013

A few pics by email ...

Serving in: Reinach Branch
Companion: Elder McColgan


Elder Robertson in Interlaken


Breath taking Interlaken


Dorneck Ruine





Friday 26 July 2013

Elder Robertson's 1st Missionary Birthday!

Serving in: Reinach Branch
Companion: Elder McColgan

Happy Birthday Elder Robertson!!

I'm feeling a little emotional today as Elder Robertson 'celebrates' (I use that word loosely) his 19th birthday and his first one as a missionary.  The things we take for granted like being able to say 'happy birthday' in person, exchange presents, share a birthday cake and that all important birthday hug.

I hope he has a great birthday serving those in his area, his Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  By giving service and showing love to those he meets, he will gain far more than sharing a birthday cake with us ... looking at it that way ... Let's get the cake baked and celebrate in his absence! haha

What a difference .... 19 years make!

Tuesday 23 July 2013

A visit to Interlaken and an investigator at church

Serving in: Reinach Branch
Companion: Elder Nakken

I had resigned myself to not hearing from Elder Robertson yesterday.  I'd been hanging on my inbox since I had seen daylight and waited patiently, ok not so patiently for his email to arrive.  We got to 16.30 and finally Elder Robertson emailed.

While I had been anxiously waiting he had been visiting an area of Switzerland called Interlaken.  He said it is 'spectacular' and we need to visit the area together, post mission.  He is sending some photos through the post, so as soon as I get them, I will update the blog.  With the powers of the internet I had to search to see just how nice this Interlaken place is .... and even just from google it looks absolutely beautiful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlaken
How gorgeous is that?

Let's see how his photographs compare!

He also had been busy helping some people in the area move house the weekend before.  A husband, wife and brand new baby girl.  The husband attended church last Sunday and said he would like to come more often and bring his family with him.  I'll bet there was no thought for home that Sunday! =)

He's doing great!

Thanks for reading and keeping up to date with his mission.  You can leave comments too, I'd love to hear from you!! =)

Monday 22 July 2013

Staying in Reinach

Dear Friends and Family

Elder Robertson is staying in Reinach and will get a new companion.  I don't have any more information at this point but wanted to remind you that this coming Friday, 26 July is Jacob's birthday and if you can, it would be great if you could send him a birthday card.

Please click on this link for the initial call for birthday cards.

Thank you again for those who have already posted theirs!!

What a difference an ice-cream can make!

This is a continuation of the email dated 8 July 2013 ...

Elder Robertson writes: 'The experience only got better; after doing all we could, (read about that experience here) we decided to go tracting on a street in Basel before our train arrived. We had barely walked along the first street to move to a quieter, less populated area where we could speak with people when a man walked across the street and approached us. Speaking English, he offered myself and Elder Nakken an Ovalmatine ice-cream in the knowledge that we worked all day on the streets, and walked off before we could speak any more with him. Elder Nakken's question of "Are you a member?" was made only more memorable as the man clearly stated "No." and disappeared amongst the crowd. This too taught me that the light of Christ is in everyone, and that although some blessings that come after all we have done aren't immediately visible, some are!!

I love this experience for lots of reasons.  Firstly, I love the fact someone was moved on to do a kind deed for my son and his companion.  I've been blessed with great friends who have done lovely acts of service for Jacob whilst he was in the MTC.  You can read about the Cookie Day Delivery and  package from friends by clicking on those links.  These acts of kindness were a huge blessing to me as well as Jacob.

This simple act of service was from someone who doesn't go to the church we go to, he was a stranger on the street, who just followed a prompting to do a good deed that day.  I would love to know who he is to thank him.  Secondly, what I love about this 'ice-cream moment' is that this man did this 'just because'.  Just because he wanted to do something nice for someone else.  He wasn't looking for recognition or reward as 'he disappeared amongst the crowd'.

So today I say ... do something nice for someone, pay it forward!

A knock on Federa's childhood door ...


Here's a few 'catch up' posts to make up for missing a few weeks.

We've been in England - our first holiday without Jacob.  It was really quite strange and we missed him loads! As we drove back into Germany yesterday, it felt good being closer to him! Even though we've been on the road and busy with activities and visiting family and friends, we've still enjoyed our Email Mondays.

Keeping him posted on Andy Murray's huge Wimbledon achievement on winning the male singles, Elder Robertson responded by telling me that they had knocked on the childhood door of Roger Federa.

He also shared the following experience: "... firstly we found a woman from Ecuador who had currently been living in Spain. Her story is as follows: she came to Switzerland the previous day and slept on the street overnight. She had no money and came ill-informed to Basel expecting to find somewhere to stay and work, despite knowing neither English nor German. She had an address and a name but the two didn't match as we tried to help her find this place. Thanks to Elder Nakkens history in the Basel ward we were able to work with a memeber to try and figure out how we could help her. There wasn't much we could do for her. We met up with this member in Basel and this woman the same evening to better assess the situation. After calling the bishop of the Basel ward, there was yet again no immediate solution. 

As it turns out, this woman recognised us as we met her by Dornach Bahnhof. She had met with the missionaries in Spain and had a baptismal date for the 14th August. She prayed and resolved to go out and try some alternative plan to find somewhere to stay. This experience increased my testimony of prayer and member-missionary work."

It was so good to hear that he and Elder Nakken have been the Lord's hands in helping this woman.  Just the smallest acts of service make a huge difference in the lives of those around us.
(Email dated 8 July 2013)




Tuesday 2 July 2013

A call for birthday cards ...

Yesterdays email was soooo brief, I almost missed it!  Who had longer emails than me from him yesterday? I wonder who's going to own up to that? haha

I'd sent Jacob a photo in my email to him of his youngest brother Thomas, of his broken glasses.  Some of you will have seen it already.  He loved it.

Apart from that he didn't tell me much.  Apologised for lack of photos, ie NONE and said I should have some next week ... it seems too long to wait!!

On the 26th July, Jacob will celebrate his 19th birthday.  This will be his first birthday on his mission.  I would like to ask you who know him to send him a birthday card or a birthday postcard. I think it would be so special for him to receive a flood of birthday mail.  A few of our/his friends have already jumped in on the idea.  Thank you!!

It only has to be simple but you can be as fun or creative as wish.  Here are some ideas I've come across ...

first 'missionary birthday' card


doesn't have to be love hearts ... =)


Very smart! 

There are loads of ideas out there.  If you make a card yourself or find a humorous one that you would like to share with me, either privately or to use on the blog, I would love that! 

If you don't have the address of Elder Robertson's apartment send me a comment on here, FB or email me and I will get that to you.  With exception to parcels, it's best not to flood the mission office with lots of birthday mail, they are so busy already with their work and the increased missionary numbers. 

Thank you all in advance! =)