Monday, April 7th,
2014
Today was our P-day and
these days are always great when they come around. They come around at exactly
the right time every week. It’s right at the point where you feel burnt out and
don’t feel as if you can go forward. Tonight we finished emailing at 6:00 pm.
We had to prepare the church for Family Home Evening. As Uni/YSA Elders it is
super cool because we get be at every activity. Unfortunately none of the
people we talked to came. But it still was a solid night and we had a good
number show up tonight. Daniel is a good friend of mine and it was cool because
he told me he sent in his papers a couple weeks ago. He is such a great kid. He
is already prepared to go on the mission. He knows a whole lot about the
Gospel. Next week he wants to come study with us in the mornings. So that will
be good. Get him prepared for his mission right?! We finished up with some
dinner and then Nanchuan wanted to play some basketball with me. So him and I,
Daniel and Pauline all went to the gym and played some basketball. Nanchuan is
such a good kid. He got baptized a couple years ago. And is going to finish
school then go and serve a mission. He just has one more year of school and
that is it. Overall tonight was really solid. We got a lot done today and the
relationships we are building with all the Young Single Adults is going great.
One more thing; during the spiritual lesson and I was just sitting there and
this sentence came into my head and I believe it applies to me in every single
way: “Enjoy Life, Have fun, Enjoy the blessings from Heavenly Father”.
Tuesday, April 8th,
2014
Today was a busy day. This
morning we got some personal study in. I had a little Lesson today in Zone
training so I prepared for that. It was about one of my favorite missionaries
in the Book of Mormon.. Ammon! I talked about how Ammon was an example,
Reliable and Hardworking and how we all need to be as Ammon. Serve the people
out of love. This work is only going to get harder and harder. It was a good
lesson. I am learning the most out of the things I teach. How bad do you want
it, right? Today we had Zone training down in Heidelberg. It is about a 1 hr 10
min train ride down there. It was actually a very good training. We sure
learned a lot. I learned a lot about how I can become better. We learned about
4 solid things that I believe all of us can benefit from. We learned about
Agency, Responsibility, Taking control of your life, and Accountability. These
are vital for us to make progress. Especially when we want others to trust us.
One thing that I thought was really cool and spiritual was President was there
doing interviews but he came in and did a little lesson. He talked about how
people are praying for us. And it was cool he asked us the question “What is
your Mom/Dad/Brother/Sister praying for you about”? It really hit me, sometimes
as missionaries we think our families forget about us. Sometimes we don’t even
realize that our Family is praying every day about us. The mission is very
tough. We need all the prayers we can get. It was super cool because we went in
a circle and everyone had to say something. The spirit was super strong and I
believe we all learned something new. Today some of the things I learned at
Zone training were Being Bold, Honest in Everything, Be like Ammon, No
hypocrisy, Love and serve God till the end. Overall it was a great conference.
After the conference we all rode back to Darmstadt. We were supposed to meet a
Potential Investigator tonight but she called and canceled on us right when we
got to Darmstadt. I have to be honest. It has been extremely hard these past 2
transfers. When Elder Nilson got here we had 5 investigators and all 5 of them
left. Elder Nilson and I are finding and finding and we are not seeing any
success from the work. Him and I get along really well. But we just not have
seen any success whatsoever. We have tried everything and will still continue
to do everything we can. That has been a little frustrating because you want to
see things you do. It’s like shooting Free throws. You mark how well you are
doing. Say you shoot 5/10 and then next time you want to go up making a couple
shots to 7/10 or something. But you keep shooting and shooting and every time
you keep shooting 5/10 and you’re just stuck. No matter what you do or how hard
you work it is always going to be 5/10. We are doing everything we can to
contact all our Potentials we have ever met. And also find people who are ready.
But that’s okay. So we went finding for some time and then came home and called
a bunch of Potentials. We talked to some people and only made one appt with one
of them. So hopefully this will go good.
I am tired. Goodnight.
Wednesday, April 9th,
2014
Today was another long day
of meetings. Today was the Golden Trainers meeting. So all the new missionaries
and their trainers go to this meeting to learn about how the mission life is
and how we can be better missionaries. The meeting started at 11:00 and ended
around 5:00 so it was a lot of sitting. But the things we learned were perfect.
We learned so many different things and it was super cool. We were talking
about Stress Management on the mission and being humbled. The meeting was super
good. It was really good because I saw some of my closest friends as well. I
saw Elder Lindsey, Elder Lovelace, Sister Chard, Sister Carlson, and Elder
Bonzo. It is always fun to see some of your really good friends that you served
with. So that was fun. I learned a lot today. The number one thing I learned
today which I have used all my life was this, “There is no growth in the
Comfort zone”. That was powerful to me today. After the meeting we came back to
Darmstadt. We had a lesson again with this family. They are honestly such a
cool family. They are all just crazy and have fun doing what they do. They are
fun and outgoing and its always fun when we go over there. We read together in
Alma 18. Always such a great chapter to read. After the visit, we rode back up
to the church. It was cool because on the way we were talking with people. And
then the other Elders called us. We picked up the phone and obviously started
speaking in English. As we did that and got off the phone these 2 American kids
came over and started talking to us. It was super cool because they came over
and started talking to us. They were from California and the other one
Philadelphia. They are actually studying here. We invited them to sports and to
family Home Evening. They said they will come next time. So that was cool. We
got to the church and we had Ward council tonight. So we talked a lot about
missionary work in there. That was a cool. The ward is catching on and getting
excited about missionary work. So we are just trying to find people to teach. Overall
today was a great day and we got a whole lot done.
Thursday, April 10th,
2014
This morning we got our
studies done. We are singing this Saturday in a ward thing for Langen Ward. So
we practiced this morning on our song. One thing I can say is I cannot sing
whatsoever. Our family was not blessed with that talent. Haha, but we then came
back and got a bunch of planning done for the coming week. We set some appt up
for this weekend.
Friday, April 11th,
2014
After yesterday we got a
good nights rest last night. I slept really good. I fell asleep at about 9:30.
We just go and go and go and never get any breaks. So I decided to just crash
last night. We finished with planning and then moved on. Today was a good day.
It was another day of holding strong to the faith. We had 3 less active lessons
tonight. The first one was with a member. We talked about the talk from General
Conference about sleeping through the Restoration. We talked about how we need
to rise up. How we need to be as people. And just have fun in life and enjoy
the ride. We have our mistakes we make. But this life is all set up for us. I
learned a lot about each and every single situation on my mission. We had
another appt out in Crumstadt again with another Less Active family. It took
about 1 hour from Eberstadt out to Crumstadt on the bus. We met with this
family. We have been meeting with them for the past few weeks. He works a lot
and says he is too tired on Sundays and that is his rest day. His wife is super
nice and just supports her husband. So we promised them the blessings they will
get when they come to church. And had a great lesson there. That was a solid
lesson and the spirit is always there in these lessons with them. That appt.
ended our night because we had to take the bus all the way back. Today was a
solid day and even though there were doubts, There was a lot of Hope and Faith
as well.
Saturday April 12th,
2014
This morning we finished our
studies. I have really been studying Preach my Gospel. It has such a power and
so many good things in there. Whether you’re a missionary or not. This book is
a book of learning. I learned lots of new insights with it and my goal right
now is to be a Preach my Gospel Missionary. So it has been good studying that.
Today we played basketball with a couple potentials that we met. That was a lot
of fun. Boy oh boy am I out of shape. Running back and forth. What’s funny is
you never really know how much direction change you use in basketball. So as we
were playing I kept getting really dizzy. One time I had to even go sit down. I
wasn't sick but it was just funny when you are not playing everyday and haven't
played a legit basketball game in a year. You really feel it. That was good and
a lot of fun. After that we went into Langen. There was a singing concert at
the church there that one of our Young Single Adults set up. It was a great
program about Jesus Christ and being the Savior of the World. It was really
cool. There were a bunch of songs sung and a lot of scriptures read about his
life. That was really cool and we had a great time. After that we went
contacting and talked to a lot of people and actually gave a Book of Mormon out
to a friend of ours that we ride the Bus home with every night. This guy we see
a ton every night when we are coming home. He works at a hotel so we always
joke with him and we brought up the Gospel and he took a Book. So that was
cool. Another busy day and glad that I learned so much today.
Sunday April 13th,
2014
Fast Sunday is always a good
day because we get to hear so many different testimonies. Church today was
really good and we got a whole lot done. Today at church this guy showed up and
so Elder Nilson and I talked with him. He was a little skeptical but we talked
to him about the first vision and what we believe. He is a German Guy just
searching for the Truth I believe. He said that there are 160 churches in
Darmstadt or something and that he has visited 143 of them and that he will
visit all the other ones. It was super interesting. He left after Priesthood Meeting.
Not sure if he had much interest. Church was good. Its always good because we
just get to talk to Members the whole day so that was cool. Everyone today was
super happy about everything. After church we went down to Seeheim. We went and
visited with a young family of 3 who I care about a ton. They are super cool. The mom served here 5
years ago as a missionary and actually converted him as a missionary then came
back a couple years later and married him. He has such a sweet conversion story
that I want to get from them. We talked about Jesus Christ and how he helps us
in our lives. They have a lot of questions that aren't necessary. I think they
have a lot of doubts. So we are helping them realize that some questions we
don't have to worry about. But that was a good lesson. We came home and I had
to do call-ins with all the elders and sisters. It was good day and a solid
week. Learned a lot of different things this week that were very up and down.
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