A Real Dog, PTSD, And Border Crossing

Hallo Lieblingsleute!

 

I gotta be honest, at this point I am out of intros so we will just get right into it.

This week we were able to meet with quite a few members. On Friday we met with a member who had been dealing with some medical issues, but is looking to come to church again. She has a pretty small apartment, but does not have the corresponding size of a dog. She has a 100 pound German Shepherd-Doberman mix named Ace and he is still only about 2 years old, but really does not understand how much he weighs. It was however a nice change from seeing all these tiny rat dogs (no offense to you chihuahua and mini poodle owners)  . He was jumping around like crazy and licking me, but Elder Reid was sorta worried he was gonna get eaten. It was a lot of fun because he reminded me of Maya! I'm telling yall... I'm the dog whisperer (plus now I can shout commands in German, which really seems to work). Oh yeah and the lesson was really great. Despite Ace going insane, we could really feel the spirit as we all watched Elder Renlunds talk from this last conference.

 

This week we also met with the Petho family for dinner in a park, and their baby Emily would just be sitting looking at a tree or something and then start screeching at it at random times. Their other daughter was running in circles around the park screaming her lungs out. Children truly are a gift from God!

 

We also met with 9 yr old Alice this week, who only did not get baptized when she was 8 because she was scared of water, so she decided to wait. Now we are teaching her and she said that she is "traumatized" by previous missionaries (who had the absolute best intentions) who have tried to teach because they always go fast and so she forgets it all. She described it as if she had been deployed to Afghanistan before or something. She even used to hide from the previous missionaries at church because she didn't want them to talk to her about getting baptized yet! But we talked to her and said how we want to teach her exactly how she wants to learn. She bore the most beautiful testimony. She said she knows the church is true, and I asked why. She said that because not only does it make sense, but she has prayed about it and God has told her. I wish we could all have such a strong and simply beautiful testimony like her. I guess that's why Christ told us that "whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God ''. At the end of the lesson she said she would write in her journal that she loves the missionaries, so that was nice to hear!

Today we went to the place where the Netherlands, Belgium, and German borders all meet! Don't tell president but I may have stepped over the line into Belgium and the Netherlands....

 

Not too much else that was exciting this week. I am getting better at talking with people, and Elder Reid and I are just having a great time. Speaking of which, we were fasting on Monday as a mission for our friends of the church, and I, without even thinking, stopped and talked to multiple people that I normally would have never talked to. A young guy sitting at a bus stop with his headphones in, a person on his phone in a crowded bus, and a couple others. Fasting really does have power. In Alma 17:3, the sons of Mosiah taught with the power and authority of God and they had the spirit of prophecy and revelation through  much prayer and fasting. It really is powerful, try it out!

 

Anyways, I think that's all for this week y'all. Feel free to send an email my way, I always appreciate them

Love you all!

 

1. At the border... where's the wall?

2. Eating with Michael Zhang again

3. Us and Ace

4. One of the big old city gates




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