Talking Is Scary, Q&A, And A Big Church

Hallo Alle!

 

What a good week. Being a missionary is exhausting, but when you have really put in hard work and tried your best, it feels pretty darn good.

 

This week we had a couple of lessons with friends of the church but we mainly focused on street and train/bahn contacting. Even after having been on a mission for 7 months, lemme tell you, talking to people is hard. You may get better at it, but it definitely doesn't get easier, or at least not for me. Being in Germany makes it a bit harder because although Germans are nice most of the time, they tend to be a bit more closed off and suspicious, especially of random kids with name tags trying to talk to them about religion (like me). So we get flat out rejected a lot, but hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (except for the weather here. It has almost killed me, and I definitely don't feel any stronger). You would never think that Landon would ever get tired of talking huh? 

 

Missions really do change you.

 

We also have a friend we are teaching named Omar and wants to learn a ton. He came to church on Sunday, and afterwards he came up to us and we started talking. We walked around the church building and he looked at one of the paintings of Jesus and just started throwing some big questions at us. He said we could discuss the questions the next time we meet, so if anyone wants to help us answer them, here are some of his questions. 

 

1. If God is almighty, why can't He just say that we are forgiven when we repent? Why did Jesus need to be sacrificed?

2. If God is almighty, why does He follow laws? (Like laws of nature, justice, etc.)

3. If a sacrifice really was necessary, then Jesus is awesome for dying for us, but why did God send Him to die? Isn't that cruel on God's part? Why didn't God just sacrifice himself instead of His son? 

 

The questions are sorta successive, all pretty much based on the first one. But if you guys want to help us out, email me back with some of your thoughts! I'd appreciate anything!

Anyways, as you can see, teaching is always a lot of fun.

 

I also learned a lot about Jesus Christ and the Spirit this week. I have learned that as I try to change and be better, that is when I hear the Holy Ghost and really feel Christ's support and love. But as I get comfortable doing the same thing over and over again, that is when I tune myself out. As I strive to constantly improve, I have really noticed Christ's support and an increased motivation. He doesn't just help me when I have already improved, He helps me even when I just have the wish to be better and am just STARTING to try to improve. The Lord loves effort, and will reward you when you give it.

 

Also today we went to Köln (Cologne for all you English speakers) and saw the cathedral there. I've heard so much about it and seen so many pictures, but seeing it in person was totally different. We went up in the tower as well which was really cool but I think my hands almost froze off. They prevent you from falling off with tons of guardrails, but it doesn't matter if I just die of hypothermia. But anyways we were also lucky enough to be up there when they rang the bells (it was pretty darn loud) and while we were inside the cathedral they started a service so we also got to hear the organ play. It was honestly so mesmerizing to hear the organ in this HUGE cathedral and see the light coming through all the stained glass windows (I think I almost shed a tear). It was honestly so cool and made me appreciate architecture even more. My number one bucket list item is to now become really good at organ and then be able to play in a cathedral like the Kölner Dom. 

 

Anyways it was a good week y'all. I will talk to yall next week.

Tschüsseee!

Elder Lando

 

1. Kölner Dom

2. Me and Kölner Dom

3. Inside of Kölner Dom

4. Pretty stained glass in Kölner Dom

5. Top of Kölner Dom

6. Pretty light in Kölner Dom

7. Side of Kölner Dom

8. Big bell in Kölner Dom (there were a lot more, but that was the big boy). 








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