Companion’s Description of Elder Mayle

Elder Mayle is a firecracker! He might be short, but that doesn’t stop him from braking down walls of concerns and destroying J-dubs. He is from Colorado, not Utah, and is proud of it, but enjoys Utah culture, such as BYU and many, many Temples. He has two little sisters…one who is 18, just throwing that out there. He attended the Y before his mission studying (insert Major). He is like the kid from August Rush, or better to say, August Schnell, because he plays like 8-9 instruments, his main one being the piano…and organ…and violin…and guitar…sometimes. He plays Lord of the Rings really well on the piano. Elder Mayle can sleep at all time, in all things and at all places. He is really good at making people laugh and feel comfortable and can do a sweet southern accent, which he once used to contact a bunch of students…they didn’t understand him. Some of his weaknesses are chocolate, especially German chocolate, Veranstaltungen at Catholic or Evangelisch churches, and bread. Give him any one of those things and you have him in the bag and he will have to yell “It’s a trap!!!!”. Elder Mayle’s favorite book is legitimately the Book of Mormon and he has a super strong testimony about it. He also knows the gospel really well and can explain it so that a kid can understand it. Elder Mayle is also really awkward. If I were to describe Elder Mayle as an animal he would definitely be a Duckbill Platapus. Elder Mayle wishes that more girls would write him…just throwing that out there.

Written by Elder Martinez A.K.A. Gomez A.K.A. Sanchez of Worms.

Teaching the Gospel in Different Ways

4.10.2012
Hey, sooo, it’s Tuesday! That means P-day this week. Worms is great! I’m lovin it here. Like mentioned, it’s pretty hot, though the weather’s been cooler this past week. Today we’re going to Heidelberg to visit the zoo. Elder Sanchez and I have been seeing lots of success since we’ve been together. We’ve been averaging 10 lessons and three new investigators a week, which are the best numbers I’ve seen on my mission. But numbers aren’t everything. We’ve got a couple of people that are on the brink of baptism. They’re making tons of progress, and I’ve noticed changes in their lives in the short time I’ve been here. The ward here is pretty good, though it doesn’t top Solingen. Last week we took some chalk and drew the plan of salvation in the middle of the city. It was so much fun! There were some little kids that came and helped us out, even though they had no idea what we were doing. They just walked up and asked, “Hey, can we color with you guys?” Sure! So they helped out. We had a lot of people asking questions. We also went around handing out pieces of paper that said, “He is not here, for He is risen!” and mormon.org on it. Lots of people took them. Yeah, that’s all of the highlights that I can think of. Have a great week!

Elder Mayle

New Zone, New Companion, New Experiences….

3.26.2012
So yeah, I’m in Worms now. It’s…different. It’s super hot down here. In Solingen, we basically never see the sun there, and it’s always raining. But, here, it’s like living in a desert. It’s really hot. All the time. But it’s all good. It’s exciting to be in a completely new part of Germany. I’ve spent my whole mission in the same two zones, and now I’m down south, a little closer to the Black Forest! Except the Black Forest is a lot father south. I’m not actually close to it. So I got a new companion, the name being Elder Sanchez, from Mexico! Just kidding, he’s from Utah, but his dad is Mexican. He’s the same age as me, so we’ve both got the same amount of experience, and we’re going to do really well in Worms. They’ve been seeing a lot of success lately. They had a baptism last transfer, and we’ve got some good investigators. It’ll be a great transfer. It’ll also be a short one…only 5 weeks. We’ll see what adventures it brings. Have a great week!

Elder Mayle

Watch Out Worms, Here I Come!

Surprise, surprise! I’m being transferred. That’s something I was not expecting at all. My companion, Elder Liddle and I, get along super well, and we’re actually the “Dream-Team” companionship of the Düsseldorf Zone. We work so well together. We have different strenghts and weaknesses, and we compliment each other so well. We are tearing it up here. We found our first investigator for the transfer, and of course I’m heading out to a different city right when this one lights up. It seems to be the story of my mission and all of my areas. Big stuff happens and then I leave. But I’m pretty excited to go tomy new area…Worms. No, it has nothing to do with crawly, slimy things. It’s a very historic city. Martin Luther was there for awhile and that’s where he was outlawed from the Catholic church. Also, William Tyndale first published the English translation of the New Testament in Worms (said Vorms). I’m excited to go to such a historical place. There’s currently an argument going on between Worms, Trier, and Cologne as to which of the three the oldest city in Germany is. Sweet! It’ll be cool to work there. It’s nice and warm down there, I here. My mission president told me it would be better for my health than a super rainy city like Solingen. It will be an adventure. I can’t think of much else to say other than that. So have a great week!

Elder Mayle

Elder D. Todd Christoffersen Was Here…

3.12.12

Hello hello! So last Thursday was pretty sweet. We got to see Elder D. Todd Christofferen in Düsseldorf! It was pretty cool. And as mentioned, I got to provide the music for him. That puts the count up to two Apostles that I’ve performed for. Not a shabby count, ah? I enjoyed his visit more than Elder Bednar’s. He took the time to shake everyone’s hand, and when he spoke to us, he didn’t stand at the pulpit, he came down to the floor and stood right in front of us (and I mean RIGHT IN FRONT, because I was sitting in the front row. I could’ve shaken his hand for the full time he spoke to us. He talked a lot about the Gospel of Christ (Faith in Christ, Repentence, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the End) and just helped s understand how to teach that to those who want to learn more about the Church. It was amazing. He’s a super cool guy. Very funny, but also very smart and wise. He mixed in a lot of hilarious comments while teaching. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great experience. I wish we could’ve had more time, but that just never happens. Such is life. Other than that, no really big news. We still have yet to find an investigator, but we’re working really hard. We’ve talked to loads of people, but they all say the same thing, like I said 18 months ago…”No time.” No time?!? No time for Christ?!? Whatever. We just move onto the next person. You can’t force people to take time for something they don’t want. Transfer calls are coming this Saturday. We’ll see what happens. Have a great week!

Elder Mayle

Slow Week…

Howdy doody,
So this week was pretty interesting. We talked with a lot of people that turned out not to have interest. Oh wait, that happens every week. We did invite one girl to baptism, and she said yes! But, she doesn’t have time to meet with us, or to come to church…so, that doesn’t mean much to us, other than the fact that sometime in the future, a girl might be baptized because we talked to her and gave her a Book of Mormon. We’ll see. And I’ve been practicing for Elder Chrostofferson. That’s that. I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll go ahead and get off. Be excited for next week when I talk about Elder Christofferson!

Elder Mayle

This week’s Theme…”Dusseldorf”

2.28.2012
I felt like this week went by super fast. Probably because we were in Düsseldorf pretty much the whole time. On Thursday there was District Leader Council there, so Elder Liddle had to go (he`s from Orem, BTW), and on Friday we went back to go to Zone Conference, and on Sunday we were there  for Stake Conference. All three of those things were really good. For the District Leader Council I just sat around with all the other missionaries who were there only because their companions were district leaders. We just kinda hung out and talked about whatever. On Friday we had Zone Conference, and that was pretty awesome. It wasn’t my favorite Zone Conference. I felt like there wasn’t a lot of energy, somehow. Probably because it was early this time. Most missionaries had to wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 to get there on time. Which is weird. Usually they don’t have it that early. Whatever, that’s how it was. Side note: It’s really hard to get up at 5 and then stay awake in a 8 hour meeting. Especially since we’re always constantly exhausted anyway. But I made it through. Stake Conference was really cool. Well, the actual conference was really hard to pay attention to. It was a special broadcast, and Elder Nielson and President Eyring were the presiding authorities. That was really cool, but because it was a broadcast for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, they muted the English and we listened to their translators, who were in Salt Lake. I almost fell asleep because they were so monotone. It’s really bad of me to say, but I don’t think I got anything from what they said. But before and after was really cool. I got to see all of my Krefeld friends! It was so awesome. They all recognized me and asked me how I was doing and where I was and if I was still playing piano and organ for my new ward. One of the members said that I should just do a split with the Krefeld elders every weekend and play organ in their ward. I would love to do that, but unfortunately, that isn’t allowed. One of the members, Sis. Kreuzer, came up and gave me hug. They were one of my favorite families, and I was one of their favorite missionaries. It was super cool to talk to them again. I told them that I had visited Krefeld a few weeks ago, and they said that next time I should call and see if they have time to meet. We’ll see. I really want to, but it does cost us money to get up there, and it takes a large chunk out of P-day, and 8 hours isn’t as much time as you think it is. So that was pretty much our week. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Elder D. Todd Christofferson is coming to Düsseldorf on March 8th! And today I got an email from President Schwarz…guess who gets to provide music for the three hour meeting? I’m excited. That’ll be two Apostles that I’ve played for. It’ll be super cool. So that’s the week. We’ll see how this week goes. Have a fun week!

Elder Mayle

Working with Elder Liddle

2.19.2012
So we had a pretty good week. Elder Liddle and I work very well together. We are two different personalities, have two different attitudes toward what missionary work is, and have had different ways of working our entire missions. We’re working on finding that balance between him and me, but it’s going well. There aren’t any problems, just ways that both of us can improve. He’s more of the type of, “If I’m not outside talking to every single person that I can see, then I’m a bad missionary.” I prefer working with the members to help them develop their faith and testimony so that they feel comfortable being member missionaries. Like I said, we’re finding the balance so that both of us feel happy with what we’re doing. (Luckily for me, Preach my Gospel says that the best way to do missionary work is through the members…that means that the compromise edges closer to my side). Anyway, we’ve been seeing miracles on a daily basis. It’s amazing how we just kind of run into people who are like, “yeah, Christ is good. I would actually like to learn more about what you believe and see what you’re all about.” It’s been pretty awesome. The ward here is great and supportive. Next Sunday we have Stake Conference, so I’ll get to see all my friends in Krefeld ward! Have an awesome week.

Elder Mayle

Master and Padowan

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! My birthday was okay, but, like last year, I ended up being in a train all day. First, an Elder came down from Duisburg to join us in Solingen, then we went to Dortmund together to drop off Elder Christensen with his new companion, and then we started heading back. On the way back, we found out that we didn`t have to be in Düsseldorf until 3:30. We had a couple hours, so I said, “Let`s go to Krefeld!” So we did. We went and I visited Karl-Heinz, the non-member who`s always at the genealogy center at the church. It was cool to see him again. Then we went to the Krefeld apartment and hung out with the elders there for a little while, because they were unable to go out and work that day. Then we went to Düsseldorf and I picked up my new companion, Elder Liddle. He has served in Bamberg, in Nürnberg Zone, and Nordhausen, in Erfurt zone. And, he was trained by Elder Anderson II, whom I trained, so that makes him my grandson. We`re super excited to work together. He said that he`s heard a lot about me from other elders, and we were in the same zone for a couple transfers, and he said that he thinks I`m one of the best elders he`s ever met, and now he gets to work with me! That was nice to hear. This is his first transfer as district leader, so he`s not sure what to do, but since I served a long time as a district leader, he said he`ll be able to learn a lot from me. So it`s kind of a Master and Padowan set-up we have here. We’re working really well together, and we`ll continue to do so, I think. We set a baptismal goal this morning for 2 baptisms by the end of April. It will take a lot of work, and a miracle from the Lord, but it can definitely happen. On behalf of all the missionaries in the world, thanks for all the prayers that come our way!

Elder Mayle

Transfers… new companion coming in

Yellow! Soooo…the baptism happened! Everything went as we planned it. Elder Christensen baptized her after church, and we had a pretty good turnout.  I’ll send pictures…crap, all the pictures are on his camera. So, I’ll get those to you some time. But I will send a few photos. On Saturday we got transfer calls, and Elder Christensen is heading out to Paderborn, which is east of here. We’re pretty sad, cuz we wanted to stay together. I’ll be getting Elder Liddle, who has recently been serving in Bamberg. He’s been on a mission for about a year (I think I see a pattern with my last few companions). Other than that, not much is up. I’ll start sending pictures!

Elder Mayle