I'm Basically Half Nigerian, Story Teller, And Crazies

Hallo Alle!

What a week! 

 

This past week we met with most of our friends. And for the most part it has been going pretty well! We met with our friend Treasure and Paul (who is a member) on Saturday and we had some tasty Nigerian food (I still remember the Nigerian member "Prince" in Saarbrücken who said that I eat like a real African man... I still take that as the highest compliment anyone ever could have given me). We talked to Treasure a lot about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which includes baptism). We essentially invited him to be baptized without directly saying the words, and he is pretty conflicted, but said he will pray about it, which is the most important thing he could do!

 

This week we also met with our friend Farhad. It was online through zoom, but we had a member, Amir (who speaks Persian), there with us, so the two were able to talk for a while and we didn't even have to do much! We were doing it in a bookstore, and everyone was looking at us, probably thinking "do these two white boys really know how to speak Persian?". It was a really awesome lesson, and Farhad even prayed for us which was a huge step for him.

 

I have really gained an appreciation for all the stories I have heard on my mission. Shout out to my man Aydin who we stopped on the street yesterday, and after a long religious conversation, told us how a couple weeks ago he was hanging out with a "lady friend" and then she drugged his drink, he fell asleep, and when he woke up 5 hours later, his new phone was gone. What a shame.

 

This week we saw a lot of miracles in finding people. A guy I messaged on facebook really wants to meet and develop a belief in God, and it turns out someone we talked to at a bus stop (we didn't even have a spiritually-related conversation, but still exchange numbers) is actually pretty religious, but decided he wants to get back into studying the scriptures so we will be meeting with him soon. We also started a German class for all the international people here (many of them are students, but they all speak English, just no German), and have so far seen a lot of success with that. I also made a post offering service and help with yardwork, moving, etc. and a lot of people are also interested in that! A girl even invited us over to show us "german culture".... not so sure about that one, especially after the story Aydin told us on the street...

 

So far I have come to learn a couple real important things on my mission. For starters my time management is a lot better (still not the best). Don't you worry when I get home I will definitely never procrastinate again!!!! I say that now but we all know when I get back to school that could change in a millisecond. But the biggest thing that I have probably learned on my mission so far is the importance of Loving, Sharing, and Inviting. My purpose as a missionary is not to try to trick them into getting into water by bribing them with candy and then baptizing them only so that we are able to increase the numbers of our church. My purpose is rather to show them love and real interest in their problems. I share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them as something I know can help them. And then I invite them to come closer to Jesus Christ. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I am not supposed to be a salesman. I am supposed to serve others as Christ did, and show them how beautiful the Gospel can be, by living it.

 

Today we went to the pretty town Monschau again, and it was a lot better because it wasn't pouring rain. It was a lot of fun, and we even met two American members of the church who are actually living in the Netherlands for the military, so that was cool! 

 

You know me and German culture don't always mesh completely, especially when it comes to personality. However, it may sound odd, but I have really come to appreciate the crazy people here. They are totally a different kind of crazy than the crazies in the US. Here I would use more of the word.... peculiar. Shout out to the guy who just walked up to us at the bus stop, asked if he needed a doctor's note to buy weed in California, and then proceeded to tell us that he was about to go talk to some Mormons (after he was done with us), buy 40kg of marijuana, and then turn in for the night. Sounds like a full day to me!

 

We also have a friend named Peter John who is mentally handicapped, but is still capable of doing pretty much everything. Meeting with him is always an adventure, but I have grown to always look forward to it because he believes he is quite the funny guy. For example, since Elder Reid can't understand much German, Peter started pretending like he could speak English and just started spitting out gibberish. It took Elder Reid about 5 minutes to realize that Peter was actually not speaking in German, and Peter got the biggest laugh out of that.

 

Also do I look Dutch? Do I sound Dutch? I'm not totally sure why but yesterday was the 4th time someone has asked me if I was Dutch after talking to them for a while (I will take that as a compliment on my accent... I would prefer being asked if I am German, but Dutch people are pretty cool so I think it's an honor)

 

Anyways, sorry for the long email, but it was an awesome week!

Love yall, miss yall, and talk to you next week!

 

1-5. Monschau! (Wow im pretty white)

6.Also here is the picture from elder uchtdorfs conference with the mission. can you find me?