American Style, Taufe!, And Heinerfest

Hallo alle!

Sorry I missed sending an email last week, I was pretty busy! I have a bit to talk about, so sorry it might be a long email. I will separate it into what happened 2 weeks ago and what happened last week.

 

TWO WEEKS AGO!

On Friday we met with our friend Sam who was referred to us by other missionaries. He is already ready for baptism! He is from Iraq and has met a couple times with the Elders in our mission who speak Persian. We talked to him a little about baptism, and we asked him to pray if that was something he wanted to do. So he did and the next day he said "I want to be baptized on July 10th!". We were so surprised, and although it won't happen on July 10th because we still have some more to teach, it will definitely be soon. He is so awesome and his faith is so admirable.

 

On Saturday we had an awesome devotional + grill with the young adults in our ward. The ward I am in is actually pretty close to the size of an American ward, but even more young people, which is so awesome. Grilling in Germany is just like it is in the US, just bratwursts instead of burgers. If you want to get hot dogs here, they are in these jars filled with mystery liquid and branded all over with things that say "AMERICAN STYLE!" "TASTES LIKE USA!", and a bunch of other lies.

 

On Sunday, Shuheng was baptized (Taufe means baptism in German)!!! It was such a spiritual experience and he was so excited. He said that after he was baptized he felt so clean and happy. He even bore his testimony afterwards and said how he was ready to help bear others' burdens and comfort those who stand in need of comfort. He is awesome!

 

On Monday we met with a new family from Croatia (Grandma, mom, and some young kids). They both speak English, but when we asked if they also spoke German they essentially said "over my dead body". For some reason they are holding a grudge against the German language. I'm not sure why, because it may be a hard language, but it is definitely one of the romantic ones. If you want to woo someone, learn German, trust me. They had a little bit of contact with the church in Croatia, and apparently the Grandma's uncle translated the Book of Mormon into Croatian in the 70s (not sure how much I believe her, she also told me she has read the Book of Mormon 3 times but has never heard the name Nephi before.....). We had an awesome lesson with them, and the Spirit was so strong as we bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. We also had a family home evening with the young adults and played ultimate frisbee! It was a lot of fun and I must say, I have become quite good at frisbee. I will have to add professional frisbee players to the list of careers that I want to pursue after my mission.

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Frankfurt on an exchange with Elder Lauener (that Swiss guy). It was cool because the first exchange I ever went on in the mission was with him, so we were both commenting how crazy it is, how fast time flies and how much both of us have changed already (in a good way, I think). We met with a 7th day Adventist who insisted that he had to educate us on how the Sabbath had to be on Saturday. We tried to just agree to disagree, but he felt responsible to change what we thought, so let's just say the conversation went on for a long time. 

 

On Thursday we got to go to the temple!!! It was only my second time going through, and I did it all in German which was really cool to experience. I was a bit nervous at first, but I understood pretty much most of it and it was so cool. I am so grateful that I got to go!

 

LAST WEEK (I admire you if you still have the patience to read more)

On Thursday evening we went over to a young adult's house and had some dinner and talked about the missionary work here in Darmstadt. However, because of a huge festival going on here in Darmstadt called Heinerfest, trying to get home was a nightmare! We were waiting for a bus that never showed up, so we called our mission leaders and told them, so we had to walk home late at night through the festival, and it was such a weird feeling since I haven't been outside past 10:00 for over a year (mission rules are such a different lifestyle thats for sure!).

 

On Saturday the sisters asked us to visit these two people who we thought were members in 

in order to give them a blessing to help them manage their stress and health problems. They were so kind and so grateful to receive the blessings, and it wasn't until after that we found out that they aren't members. That made the experience even cooler. Never be afraid to ask for a blessing. I have seen their power while I have been on my mission. They lifted people up, they have helped them recover from illnesses, and they have helped them feel God's love, which is the most important thing. If you are going through a hard time, or need heavenly help, whether or not you are even a member of the church, ask for a blessing!

 

On Monday we had Zone Conference! Elder Worthington and I spent a while planning for it with some other missionaries, and it actually turned out great (with me things usually tend to crash and burn, so I was surprised). We played some awesome games, and we talked about how if we want to be better people, or more specifically better missionaries, we need to develop Christlike attributes and focus on Jesus Christ! Oh yeah, and happy 4th of July!!!!

 

Anyways that is probably it for this week(s), sorry for the long email. I love you guys, miss you guys, and will see yall next week!

Landon

 

1. Young adults and us at frisbee

2. Zone Conference!

3. Us eating some Döner with Nils and Alex, two young adults from the ward

4. Trying to get home through the Heinerfest!

5. On the way home from the temple.

6. At the temple with Nathan, a young adult from the ward

7. The city "Schloss"

8. Shuhengs baptism!

9. We were all obviously ready for the picture

10. Shuheng and us at his baptism!