Hey everyone!
Wow, this last week was a long one filled with ups and
downs, victories and defeats- just a little bit of everything. Training is hard
work, but it´s super fun and my son and I are making lots of great memories
together! It´s weird how in the mission field every week has a lifetime´s worth
of memories but when you sit down to write about it you just have no idea where
to begin...
Well on Tuesday I had to go to a leadership meeting in
Hannover with a lot of other good friends in the zone. It´s so weird to look
around and see the new leadership in the mission... I remember when some of my
good mission friends were training a lot of these guys. The mission is in super
good hands though for the transition coming up in the next 2 weeks. I´m grieved
to the depths of my soul to have to say goodbye to president Pimentel, but it´s
kind of exciting to get to see a new president come at the same time. Anyways,
after that meeting, one of my best friends on the mission came back to
Braunschweig with me and we had an awesome exchange together and learned a lot
from each other. He lived in the same apartment as me in Berlin for a few
months, so it was fun to work with him closely and reflect on good times. Haha
can´t say the exchange was as edifying for my golden however. In Hannover a
crazy lady came into the church saying she was possessed by demons, and one of
the missionaries tried to cast them out only to have her scream and freak out
even more... haha definitely not the best experience for a brand new missionary
to have to witness, but he´s doing a lot better now. There´s always a bit of a
learning curve you have to get over when you first get to Germany. The MTC just
pumps you up out of your mind, but you realize very quickly that the word "elect
few" is very literal here in this mission. Very very very few people are willing
to even give you the time of day, but once you get used to it, you realise that
there still are people to be found and it keeps you going. I think the hardest
transition for him, I think though, is not ever eating, drinking, or going to the
bathroom. I forgot how much we don't eat in the mission sometimes. We haven't had
hardly any eating apps lately and when members don't invite us... well then it´s
just a bowl of cereal in the morning, noodles for lunch, and no dinner haha and
it kills him. I just always tell him though, "Elder, man shall not live by bread
alone..." I don't think he´s a big fan of this mentality, haha but he will learn.
;)
Wednesday we met with an old investigator and talked about the
Restoration. He absolutely loved the message and we instantly invited him to be
baptised. His dad is a pastor and says the scriptures say you can't be baptised
again, but after explaining to him what a real baptism is, and reading Acts 19
with him, he understood and accepted so we got a sweet new baptismal date. I
really hope it goes through too. It would just kinda be extra cool because that
means I could start my mission with the baptism of a Nigerian and end with one
haha, but he´s got a long way to go. Also one of our coolest long time
investigators said her first prayer out loud in a lesson! It was beautiful and I
don't know if she recognized how beautiful it was and how much it meant to us. She is
really so awesome! The rest of the week though was mostly filled with finding
lots of little concerns and trying to settle them with our other
investigators... ugh there´s just so many problems in the world and the more
people you teach the more you are exposed to it... why can't they see that the
gospel answers all problems!!? Oh well, patience and perfect love can do
anything with anybody.
On a very bright note though, our first baptism
is all set up to go through this Sunday. He is sooooo ready and just one of the
coolest people ever! I´m really excited for it, it´s hard when you go a very
long time working hard without baptism and it´s just going to be nice to sit
back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. He´s going to be baptised by a member
and everything is just set up like a dream! I´m super excited!
Well not
much else more that I can think about for this week. It was just spent like most
other weeks. Working as if everything depended on you, praying as if everything
depended on the Lord and just teaching the good word. We spend a LOT of time
just traveling, but I like it though because we have a clear purpose in mind and
it helps time pass when you know exactly what you´re doing. We are super blessed
to be teaching so many different people and to be in such a great city! Oh,
tomorrow president´s son is going to come up with a train and spend the night
with us so I can say goodbye to him. Man I´m gonna miss him and them so much!
Hopefully I'm not too much of an emotional wreck this week! Anyways, hope you all
have a great week back home. Love you all so much!
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