Unexpected Letter

We received a letter today. I thought we would share Elder Teals testimony that he added at the end.

I have transcribed it after the image, as it can be hard to read on a small screen.

Jesus is the Christ, and the Only Begotten Son of our loving Heavenly Father. He lives ! He is a living, loving person, who guides and plays an active part in the proceedings of His church. The Lord of the vineyard is working alongside His servants as we bring in the final harvest. I will not stop until He comes and tells me that my work is done; which I know will not be until the message of the Restored Gospel has been sounded in every ear. I know that my Redeemer lives, and I will devote my life to His service. I fear no-one but my God, and I know that I am doing His work.

Thank you for your continued love and support through letters, emails, prayers and everything else that you do. I love you and miss you all, but there is no place that I'd rather be than right here right now.

I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART

WE WILL HAVE A TEMPLE

WITH LOVE ; ELDER TEAL

GREECE ATHENS MISSION

Τα βάσικα πιστεύω

Ιστορικό υπόβαθρο: Σύντομα αφού η Εκκλησία οργανώθηκε το 1830, σε απάντηση μίας ερώτησης, ο Τζόζεφ Σμιθ, ο πρώτος προφήτης της σύγχρονης εποχής και ιδρυτής της Εκκλησίας του Ιησού Χριστού, συγκέντρωσε τις απαραίτητες διδασκαλίες της Εκκλησίας στα προαναφερθέντα 13 κύρια σημεία.

Τα άρθρα της πίστης

ΤΗΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΙΗΣΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΙΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΤΕΛΕΥΤΑΙΩΝ ΗΜΕΡΩΝ

1. Πιστεύουμε στό Θεό, τον Αιώνιο Πατέρα, και στόν Υιό Του, τόν Ιησόυ Χριστό, και στό Άγιο Πνέυμα.

2. Πιστεύουμε οτι οι άνθρωποι θα τιμωρηθούν για τίς δικές τους αμαρτίες, και όχι για το παράπτωμα του Αδάμ.

3. Πιστεύουμε ότι μέσο της Εξιλέωσης του Χριστού μπορεί ωα σωθεί όλη η ανθρωπότητα, με την υπακοή στούς νόμους και τις διατάξεις του Ευαγγελίου.

4. Πιστέυουμε ότι οι πρώτες αρχές και διατάξεις του Ευαγγελίου είναι: πρώτο, Πίστη στόν Κύριο Ιησού Χριστό? δεύτερο, Μετάνοια? τρίτο, Βάφτισμα με κατάδυση για την άφεση αμαρτιών? τέταρτο, Χειροθεσία για τη δωρεά του Αγίου Πνεύματος.

5. Πιστέυουμε ότι ο άνθρωπος πρέπει να κληθεί από το Θεό, με προφητέια, και με την χειροθεσία εκείνων που έχουν εξουσία, για να κηρύττει το Ευαγγέλιο και να τελεί τις διατάξεις του.

6. Πιστεύουμε στήν ίδια οργάνωση η οποία υφίστατο στήν Πρωταρχική Εκκλησία, δηλαδή, αποστόλους, προφήτες, ποιμένες, διδασκάλους, ευαγγελιστές και λοιπά.

7. Πιστεύουμε στό χάρισμα των γλωσσών, της προφητείας, της αποκάλυψης, των οραμάτων, της Θεράπευσης, της ερμηνείας γλωσσών και λοιπά.

8. Πιστεύουμε ότι η Βίβλος είναι ο λόγος του Θεού εφόσον είναι σωστά μεταφρασμένη. Επίσης πιστεύουμε ότι το Βιβλίο του Μόρμον είναι ο λόγος του Θεού.

9. Πιστέυουμε όλα όσα ο Θεός έχει αποκαλύψει, όλα όσα τώρα αποκαλύπτει, και πιστέυουμε ότι Θα αποκαλύψει ακόμη και άλλα πολλά μεγάλα καί σημαντικά πράγματα που αφορούν τη Βαδιλεία του Θεού.

10. Πιστεύουμε στην κυριολεκτική συνάθροιση του Ισραήλ και στην αποκατάσταση των Δέκα Φυλών, ότι η Σιών (η Νέα Ιερουσαλήμ) θα χτιστεί επάνω στήν Αμερικανική ήπειρο, ότι ο Χριστός Θα βασιλεύσει αυτοπροσώπως επάνω στη γη, και ότι η γη θα ανανεωθεί και θα λάβει την παραδεισιακή της δόξα.

11. Αξιούμε το προνόμιο να λατρεύουμε τον Παντοδύναμο Θεό σύμφονα με τις υπαγορεύσεις της δικής μας συνείδησης, και αναγνωρίζουμε το ίδιο προνόμιο σε όλους τους ανθρώπους, ας λατρεύουν όπως, όπου και ο,τι μπορούν.

12. Πιστεύουμε στο να υποτασσόμαστε σε βασιλιάδες, προέδρους, κυβερνήτες και ηγεμόνες, στο να υπακούμε, να σεβόμαστε και να υποστηρίζουμε το νόμο.

13. Πιστεύουμε στο να είμαστε τίμιοι, ειλικρινείς, αγνοί, φιλάνθρωποι, ενάρετοι, και στό να κάνουμε καλό σε όλους τους ανθρώπους. Πράγματι, μπορούμε να πόυμε ότι ακολουθούμε την παρότρυνση τού Παύλου - Τα πάντα πιστεύουμε, τα πάντα ελπίζουμε, έχουμε υπομείνει πολλά, και ελπίζουμε να μπορέσουμε να υπομείνουμε τα πάντα. Αν κάτι είναι ενάρετο, ωραίο, είτε καλής φήμης είτε αξιέπαινο, τα αναζητούμε όλα αυτά.

ΤΖΟΖΕΦ ΣΜΙΘ     πηγή

Σχεδιάζουμε να προσθέσουμε περισσότερο ελληνικό περιεχόμενο στο blog στης επόμενες εβδομάδες

(The Articles of faith)

Week 30 Thessaloniki

"The highlight would possibly be yesterday's branch conference, we had 5 great talks! President Freestone talked about how Paul established the church here in Thessaloniki, and how there are still faithful saints here today, which is so true. It's strange to think that really we're not trying to build up the church here, we're trying to rebuild it!"

"We had two lessons this week, out of a scheduled, well, a lot more. It was really good to have those two though and they were both really good lessons, One was with the lawyer with whom I had a lesson when I was here with Elder Lyttel, who you may remember from last time. After 8 years of contact with the missionaries he finally has a baptismal date! The difficulty is that he is scared what his peers will think of him if he is baptised into another church, and he worries that people will use it against him (he is a lawyer), as his reputation is important. He tried to come to church yesterday and spent an hour and half trying to find the church (he's 83 years old). He rang us this morning very apologetic as he had said he would come and didn't, and didn't want us to think that he had lied to us. He is very keen to have another lesson this week, which is great."

"The  Book of Mormon and modern revelation support the Bible"

"I'm really loving studying the life of the Saviour in personal study though. I've started studying from the Bible in the Greek now that I can understand it, and I really love it. I've been using Jesus the Christ as a study manual, following along the story with the two, and I love it!

We have the My Family booklet in Greek as well, we are still trying to come up with ways to use it effectively in missionary work. I wonder, would you be able to send me some small pictures to stick in on each of the pages for the different people? If you have time that is!

I'm glad you had the chance to go to the temple with "Auntie Lizzy" 

It was so good when I was in the MTC and we had the chance to go to the temple every week, I miss it a lot! I plan to go as often as I can when I get back, I certainly won't take it for granted after seeing how difficult it is for the members here to go!"

"Church was really good, we had branch conference, so the Freestones and Everitts were here. I did so much translating that by the end of church I struggled to have a conversation in English with Sisters West and Everitt, it was very strange. In my mind I was still trying to translate, even though it wasn't necessary." From Journal entries we learnt that at church, Elder Teal translated the English Speakers and teachers into Greek and the Greek speakers and teacher into English. 

Elder Teal pointed out that they are mentioned in the picture section of the Bible  

"Missionaries were sent from Athens to other parts of Greece"

The cooking seems to be going well.. Pancake day was celebrate and the French skills of Elder Teals companion, at making and tossing crepes was very useful

Homemade cottage pie, made, eaten and washed up in the allotted 1 hour meal break

"I love you all, and I'm so grateful for your love and support! Have an amazing week! Elder Teal"

Week 29 Thessaloniki

"Brother Todi and I! 
If you recognize the tie it's because it's the one I
 gave him last transfer when he told me he really liked it"

How has your week been and how is church?

"Yeah I'm kept very busy translating, with Sacrament, Priesthood and Sunday school, but I love doing it though so it's no problem. As I speak Greek much more often than English now, it's gotten to the point where my natural instinct is to speak in Greek, and I have to exert effort to switch to English, instead of the other way around. it's so strange! I have moments when I finish a phone call or conversation in Greek, and I'm just so happy that I have been blessed with the opportunity to learn this language. I think I will miss it a lot when I come home!"

"It's so strange for me as well, I have some days when i don't speak English all day, and to think that all of you back home would have no idea what we were saying if you were in the room with us is so strange. Sometimes I have conversations with people in my head, like memories or something I'd say to someone (not in a crazy way, I'm pretty sure everyone does that) and it's in Greek, and then I stop and think, wait a second, that person doesn't speak Greek. it's so strange!"

"During the week Elder Tornar was ill with a cough/cold, so we were at home for most of the day for 2 days, but apart from that it was a good week. We didn't have any lessons unfortunately, despite planning 11! All of them were either no-shows or last minute cancellations unfortunately. We had a man in church though which was great, and hopefully we'll be able to have a lesson with him this week. We also had one of the best weeks of my mission so far in terms of names received, so hopefully they'll turn into lots of lessons for next week!"

"Haha it's the best mission in the world, I wouldn't choose to go anywhere else! It's so weird when we watch The District and see them planning a week with 34 lessons hahahaha, that would be insane here. It teaches us to see every small victory as something miraculous though, and give us a positive outlook on life!"

"The very English meal I cooked for Elder Tornar, 

Chicken, veg, mash, and onion gravy, it was so good!"

"An ill Elder Tornar keeping warm in the bathroom (it's the warmest room). It wasn't even cold in the house, I was in a short sleeved shirt, he was just feeling really cold whilst he was ill."

 "And he's feeling better now, this is him reading from the BofM in Greek this morning."

"The case I made for my Greek Preach My Gospel"

"The red mark on E. Tornar's head after he had an argument about 

personal space with the automatic door on the bus."

  

"and my new books!"

"Just to let you know, I got my books bound this week. When I dropped them off he said he would sort them out and didn't know how much it would be until he found the leather and things to do it, but that he would do it for a "good price". They are real leather and have fancy embellishing, probably fancier than I would have chosen. They are really very nice though and will last the rest of my life, so I will definitely make good use of them." 

Elder Teal used some money sent for Christmas and Birthday for these. The church doesn't publish a Bible in Greek, so he had his Greek Bible and his Greek Book of Mormon bound to match.

Some journal extracts about meeting people.

"...At Brother Todi's house we had some of his home made juice, then we had to leave in order to be home on time. As we were stood at the bus stop I knew we wouldn't be on time with the bus, so I said a prayer for a taxi to come. One did almost right away so we got in, and we had a really nice chat with the driver and left him a book..."

"We spoke to a man who took two copies of the Book of Mormon, one for his Mum, In return he gave us two drinking straws in packages? and told us to get coke because that's the best, or Fanta or Sprite?

Its so funny when we meet crazy people !"

"I had a man shout at me for being English. He asked me 'how many people did your Father kill in Vietnam?' Which doesn't make sense for quite a few different reasons"

"We talked to a lot of the guys who sell things in the street, as a lot of them are from Senegal and speak French. I was able to understand a couple of words from the conversations but I wouldn't be able to speak enough to start a conversation myself. So that's why its good that I have a French Companion !"

In other news Elder Teal informed me today:-

"Thess" is very English, Greeks say either Thes/niki or Saloniki! Just a fun fact ;)"

Week 28 Thessaloniki BIRTHDAY!

                          Elder Teal was 19 on the 3rd  February 2015

Elder Teal celebrated his Birthday on Tuesday in Thessaloniki, by ordering a delivery takeaway for lunch and a meal out in the evening. Then on Wednesday having only been back in Thess for just over a week, he flew back to Athens, with the rest of his District for a 3 day stay and Zone Conference. His return flight from Zone Conference brings his total flights on this rout to NINE. He will be getting to know the flight crew by now.

(As always clicking any image will make it bigger)

 

"I'm great! It's snowing here, it's crazy! My birthday was great, I got the parcel from the office when I went down to Athens, thanks so much! On the actual day of, we had food delivery for lunch and went to a restaurant for tea, it was great! I also had a really nice parcel from Auntie Steph, with pasta 'n' sauce, as well as some nice letters. Please say thank you to her!"

Birthday delivery Lunch 

 

The parcel referred to was one we had shipped for his birthday, it contained things he had missed, like brown sauce and gravy granules and some other fun goodies.

"Unfortunately I had to leave the HP sauce in my box in the office, as it was over the 100ml carry-on limit, but I have the gravy granules! Yeah I'll use it then, it will still be in date next transfer, or I might ask someone to bring it up when they come in the car."

ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ!

"Zone conference was really good as usual, and yeah those glasses were really strange! All of the people who have birthday's for the month have to go up and have pictures with silly glasses, and they sing Happy birthday in Greek. This month it was Elder Dastrup, Sister McKenna and myself. We learnt a lot about contacting and finding, and also watched a really good video called Scripture Legacy in the hour of scripture study with Sister Freestone"

Selfie-Stick (sent in our package to him)

 

"Selfie-stick! Haha it was a bit strange, but we had a lot of fun with it in the end. Sister McKenna was way jealous when she saw it haha! I enjoyed reading the blog entry you sent, it was interesting to see what all the fuss is about! It's great how you do links the talks and scriptures I mention!"

Greece Zone 

"Yeah we had 3 or 4 days in Athens so not a lot of time here, but we managed to do some finding in Athens, and in two hours on the evening of ZC, we gave out 9 books and took 7 names between the two of us, the most successful finding session of my mission by far! We used a few new things we've been trying, by trying to get into normal conversations rather than just showing the gospel into people's faces right away. The highlight this week was probably the two hours of finding we did the evening of Zone Conference"

Birthday evening meal out

Each week Elder Teal sends us pictures of each days journal entries for us to read

Here are a couple of extracts:

"We continued with street contacting until we had given out all the Greek copies of the Book of Mormon that we had with us. At that point we were a Frenchman and an Englishman in Greece carrying copies of the Book of Mormon in Albanian and Russian"

"Zone Conference: Elder Torner and I were asked to demonstrate a street contacting situation. It went really well and showed how it doesn't need to be complicated and awkward. We can just start a normal conversation with people and talk about the gospel as we do it."

"We had success talking to people in the street though which was good. I've learnt to be persistent and ask for someones number 2 or 3 times during the conversation, even if they say no at first. I told my companion that everyone wants this message, we just have to help them remember that they want it"

"I translated in Sacrament, Priesthood and Sunday School, but this week President Tinto wanted to make sure I had a chair in the lessons so I wasn't on my feet translating all day. Its quite tiring having to listen in one language and speak in another, and its still a very strange feeling...I'm starting to find that it takes more effort to word things when I speak English whereas wording for Greek just comes naturally now."

"Elders Leppard and Johonsson are such funny guys and we get along really well, especially with Elder Torner there as well saying things in in his really strong French accent, he's hilarious. As we traveled Elder Leppard and I sang English songs that the other 2 didnt know, and I also sang the Swedish pop song that I learnt from Elder Lyttel. Elder Johonsson said I have a really good accent in Swedish, which is surprising because I learnt it form a Scottish man"

Okay everyone I need to get going now, sorry if there are still any unanswered questions, you'll probably find the answers in my journal though.

Have an amazing week, I love you all!

Elder Teal xxxxxx

Week 27 Thessaloniki

"It's been a great week! I'm sorry I don't have any photos apart from my journal, but I'll take lots this week so you can get up to speed! Crazy you had more snow! I's getting warmer here now and it's quite nice today, which is great!

We've had a bit of rain though which makes street contacting difficult, but to be honest we havent't done that much this week as we we were super busy! We had 4 lessons and quite a few other appointments that unfortunately fell through, but we still had the opportunity to receive a lot of names and give out loads of books, it's been the most successful (in terms of numbers) week of my mission so far!

I've had so many emails with people telling me what's been going on, so I can't reply to every individual thing that's happened, but thanks for keeping me updated, and it seems like it's been a great week! Do you have any questions? no list this week haha? :P"

How is your new companion and life in Thess?

"We get along great! We speak greek all of the time apart from half an hour each day when we have English SYL (Speak Your Language), and it's so funny as he tries to do a British accent, and it's just hilarious. Apart from that we can communicate well, when he doesn't know a word in Greek or English, I can often remember it in French, and we get by fine! He's so great, humble and willing to learn, but at the same time energetic and wants to get the work done...we get along great, we're laughing all the time, and we're having a lot of success."

Elder Tornar is Elder Teals new companion, he is from an area of France outside Paris and is on the far right of this picture. The picture was taken before he left the MTC.
Elder Tornar has now completed 4 weeks in the mission field. As well as having time each day to learn Greek, missionaries are given time to learn English too. The church is global and post mission it is helpful to be able to speak English. 

"Yesterday we went to Brother Todi's house for lunch after church, it's so good to see him again!

The members were quite surprised, people hardly ever go back to Thess, some stay for two transfers (rarely), but to actually go back fully is unusual. It was so good to see them!" 

Coming week?

"We go to Athens on Wednesday, for Zone Conference, and fly back Saturday morning, so in the remaining time whilst we're here in Thess we're going to be very busy! We have a new investigator called S, who has such a sad life story and is in a very difficult situation, but is willing to learn and accepted a baptismal date which was fantastic. Unfortunately he wasn't able to come to church yesterday as he was ill however."

Probably because its Elder Teals birthday tomorrow (3/02/15) he had lots of emails to read today, Thank you to everyone that sent him a message, he apologises
 for not being able to reply to everyone in his allotted hour. It also means we don't have as much as usual to share. However every week he sends pictures of his daily journal, we don't usually include any of that in his blog but this week we have picked a couple of things to share

"We had curry and rice for lunch and I discovered that the rice we bought is actually the sort you use to make dessert like rice pudding! It doesn't matter though, it still tastes good!"

"I had a nice conversation with an old man. I asked him how was my accent, and he told me 'There are Greeks who speak worse' which I was very happy about."

"We had pasta for lunch and it was really good, it was a recipe I've not tried before using cooking cream. (Not a real written recipe, a word-of-mouth missionary recipe), that I think started from the home of Elder Dickenson and has been changed a few times by the different people that have cooked it"

In other news his friends in Cyprus have been singing ...

Post by Elder Teal.

Finally we always intended making this blog into a hard copy for Elder Teal to keep. So to celebrate his 6 month anniversary we have created the first of 4 books that has been published an ordered..

Elder Teal Greece Athens Mission by Teals | Make Your Own Book