Happy 4th of July!

Well, the 4th of July here is nothing compared to what it is like in America... Ha
but it still was a solid day. Actually, we were able to celebrate Elder Lindsey’s birthday that day so that was a lot of fun. We went over to Christian Ottiker’s house and were able to have a Rochlette dinner.. An amazing German dish. I swear all we do is Eat, Walk, Teach, and sleep!! ha but it’s been good so far. This week a ton happened but I will try to tell some of the main points.

On Tuesday we actually were being followed by a newspaper writer. It was really interesting and sometimes awkward because we were out contacting and she would pretty much take pictures of us talking with people and interview us after we would talk. That day we got a referral from the Elders in Mainz.. They told us to go talk to this guy named Fahrad in Oberursel.. To come to find out Fahrad actually lives in a Refugee camp and it honestly was the scariest experience. We walked in there and people were just insane.. They were honestly scared by 2 missionaries walking in with a reporter behind them. We got yelled at and people would hide and scream at us.. What makes it even better is we didn’t find Fahrad.. Ha so we ended up leaving that situation as quickly as possible but we really couldn’t leave because people were blocking us from leaving.. We spent about 45 minutes there and it was a little bit sketchy..

After that experience we went to a couple members’ homes that night and taught a few lessons and then got interviewed by this girl. I am really interested what she writes in her article after the experiences we had with her.

Another cool story, so EVERYONE here in Germany smokes! Everywhere you go there is someone smoking. We were waiting for a bus and we were standing right next to these 2 girls that were smoking and it smelled awful. I was actually kind of getting sick of the smell. There was a sign right behind us that is an advertisement for smoking and on every cigarette box it says, "Rauchen kann tödlich sein" which means "smoking can be deadly." Well to make a long story short I was getting sick of this smell and so I turned to them and said can you read the sign?? It says "Rauchen kann tödlich sein," then I asked what they thought about that?? -- I was just being blunt and honestly would have never said that in my life I just said it out of nowhere.. Ha but she ended up telling us how she started and she wants to stop. We ended up getting her number so I guess being pretty bold works here in Germany. haha

On Saturday we were invited to go play soccer over in Bad-Nauheim. The Usingen, Wetzlar and Freidrichsdorf wards were all invited. The train ride was about an hour up to Bad-Nauheim but the scenery is beautiful. When we got there they had already started and I honestly thought it was a bunch of professionals playing soccer.. They were Incredible!! Ha Elder Lindsey and I joined the game and it was so hard.. ha I remember playing soccer as a little kid so I mean I had some moves I guess. The only one that worked for me was kicking the ball ahead of everyone and out running everyone and chasing it down. I actually was successful and scored twice.. ha it was a lot of fun and through that we got a couple new investigators. Whatever works to get investigators we do. After we played soccer we had a BBQ and just enjoyed the rest of the night. It was such a fun experience but honestly I am SOOO out of shape.. I have been soo sore these past couple of days! Hahaha it is so hard to even walk but it was so worth it to finally get out and play some sports.

This week was a lot of fun. I have learned so much and just seeing how happy people are is everything. I have grown so much in this work and love every single moment. The days seem to fly by. It’s weird to think it’s already been 2 months since I have been out. But I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry this letter is a little bit shorter. Hope everyone’s 4th of July was great. I always have you all in my prayers. I love you all

Elder Emery