Monday, May 9, 2011

Week of May 9 from Prenzlau

Liebe Familia und Freunde!

Well hello once again from the splendid city of Prenzlau!  Not much new to report this week i suppose. My new companion is here safe and sound, not sure he likes the city here too much, but he´s way cool and pretty chill so i have a feeling this will be an okay transfer.

So mother´s day was naturally a very special day for me because I TOTALLY SKYPED WITH MY FAMILY! That was pretty much the highlight of my week i´d have to say. It was so awesome to be able to see their faces and talk with them. I´m way happy our mission allows skype... but i can see how lots of missions don't. Those couple minutes after you hang up the phone and know that it will be 7 months before you talk to your family again are pretty rough. But it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be i suppose.

On the missionary side of things, this Mother´s Day was horrid for Church attendance. We had 6 members there today, which is was sad because that´s a really small sad number, but really good because i had an hour Sunday school lesson that got dumped on me Saturday... so overall wasn't my best most well prepared effort, it still went good, but an hour lesson on Honesty is a bit hard with little preparation. It´s kinda like... ya... just be honest? Not way too complicated. But of course we were able to have plenty of controversial discussions about honesty, so that filled up the time a bit more. I also found out i will be speaking in Sacrament next week again! Woo hoo. That means out of 4 sacrament meetings i will have attended aside from the 2 fast and testimony meetings and GC and Distric Conference, i will have had half of the meeting to talk in 3 of them. I also called myself to be the branch music leader (who doesn't enjoy just a little bit of unrighteous dominion) so ya, i knew there was a reason i brought my baton from home.:)  It will be fun to conduct sacrament meeting, pass the sacrament, lead the hymns, and be one of the two speakers... all i can say is too bad i never finished learning to play the piano.:)  But ya, it puts a lot more pressure on you knowing that if you should have investigators at church, and well just in general actually, a large portion of making the Sabbath enjoyable and uplifting rests on your shoulders.

So our two baptisimal candidates are both having a very hard time at the moment. One is like spiraling down in depression, and the other is physically in the hospital very sick. And most all of the other new people we found just didn't show up or weren't there for appointments this week, so ya, it´s gonna be another very long, very hard week here Prenzlau.  We´re launching our new youth basketball league project here this week though, so hopefully that will spark a bit of interest and get a new perspective on us here in Prenzlau.

Well anyways, the work is hard as can be here, but it moves forward, unbelieveably slowly at times it seems, but still forward. I dont know how i haven't given up sometimes, i don't know how i just keep talking to people despite the 97% fail rate of a good conversation... but i echo the words of Gordon B. Hinckley "It´s not as easy as they say it is, but it´s not as hard as you think it is" Somehow the Lord finds a way to give his servants strength, over and over and over again. In the name of ..... oh wait haha, ya that´s just how it is.:) Love you all so much, thanks for all the love and support. Have a wonderful week!!

-Elder Ött

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