Quick letter

Hallo,

Seems like everything is going good besides you all being sick. That is not good to hear and I am sorry that happened. Being sick is not fun but I hope you feel a lot better now. This week was an awesome week for us. I learned a ton this week.

So to begin the week, we had a meeting with all the missionaries that were in the MTC with me. I got to see my old companion Elder Lassley and all my buds from the MTC. I was super excited and it was a lot of fun. It was the Golden Trainers meeting so we all met up and had a meeting down in Offenbach. The topic was the Atonement. It was so cool and was so spiritual. I absolutely loved it. That day was super rainy too and just the dark clouds too. We had to walk a long way too so we were just drenched. Elder Lindsey had to stay in Frankfurt for a meeting so I was supposed to go to Weterau with those elders. We got to the Bahnhof (train station) and realized that there were no trains going out. The weather was too bad and I guess there were trees all over the tracks. So we ended up waiting about 4 hours till the zone Leaders came and picked us up. It was super hectic at the Bahnhof. It was actually a really interesting day and a lot of fun.

So I stayed in Weterau that day and then I actually stayed there again on a split with Elder Henderson. Since my companion is District Leader I get the opportunity to split with everyone in the district and experience something new. So I was up in Weterau twice this past week. That place is absolutely beautiful. This week I get to go to Usingen. It’s cool just experiencing different areas. I learn so many things.

Friday when I came back from the split, Elder Lindsey and I had an Investigator appt. with Jose. It was incredible. We set a Baptismal Date!!!! I was sooo happy. It’s for Aug 31st. It was the coolest feeling also. We asked him to get baptized and he said he wanted to but he wanted to ask Heavenly Father if he should. So we all got on our knees and he said a prayer. Once he was done with the prayer it was silent for about 30 seconds. Then he just said. Yep I need to get baptized!!!!! I was so happy and the spirit was so strong. We are so excited for Jose. He is such a great guy. So we actually have 2 baptisms that day. And we are teaching a family of 3 right now and they are super interested. The work here in Germany is picking up.

Another cool but sad experience we had was on Friday night.. We were eating with Christian Ottiker.. (one of the coolest guys) and we received a phone call from the sisters saying that an older lady in our ward, (about 85 years old) had fallen walking home from her temple work. She fell right on her face and actually broke her nose and her face was sooo swollen. So we went over there after our appointment, we knocked and saw her and it was so sad.. Her face was so swollen and did not look good at all. We asked if she was hurting and she said "No, Not at all." We walk in and look at the table and it is set up for dinner... that hit me hard. At a time where she had just barely broken her nose, she wasn’t caring about herself but she was caring for us. At a tough time for her she was thinking about others and not herself. I learned that even through hard times to care for others. That is what our Savior did for us. And she did the same thing for us. The blessing was so strong and I absolutely learned sooo much.
So yesterday at church I actually had a talk.. Wow it was so awful..  I sounded so bad. Ha but it was really cool. We had 7 investigators come to church!! That is unheard of and we were super excited.

I love you all.

Elder Emery

Another week has gone by

Geez it is so crazy how fast weeks go by on the mission. Everything just seems like a blur. But there were a lot of great experiences we have had so hopefully I can explain all of them.We have our investigator Jose, he is from Angola and absolutely loves this gospel. He is so humble and loves learning more and more about what we have. We met with him and a member on Thursday night and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had yet. We gave him the first lesson and he was so excited. He kept asking more and more. We finally challenged him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true or not. He wanted to pray right then and there. So we all got on our knees and he prayed in Portuguese. That is his Mutter Sprach (native language). We didn’t understand anything but he had the biggest smile when he finished. It was silent for a while and everyone was just smiling so big. Ha I have never felt the spirit that strong. I felt so good. It’s amazing how much better my German is when the spirit is there. I felt so calm and just took everything in. I absolutely loved the feeling. Jose came to church again yesterday and is so excited to learn more. We are going to set a baptismal date hopefully next time we meet with him.

Saturday was one of the coolest days I have had so far on my mission. We had this finding activity down in Mainz with our district and also the Mainz district. We started right in the center of Mainz at the single adults building. It was fun. We had to get to the new ward house by only contacting people and asking for directions. We couldn’t use a map or GPS or anything. It was actually perfect because people were so willing to help when we bring up the church in a conversation. It took us about 5 hours to walk and get to the church. But in that time we probably contacted more than 40 people and gave away about 5 Book of Mormons. My German is finally starting to be a lot better. I can finally talk enough where I can have a full conversation. I still mess up because that is normal but I have figured if you just talk to people the language will come the quickest that way. German is a hard language I do have to say. But that activity was perfect. It was a new way to find people and to contact.

That night we went on splits and I was with Elder Noorda. Elder Lindsey is the new district leader so he goes on splits with everyone in the district at least once. So I go on splits with everyone. It is a lot of fun. Elder Noorda is also pretty new to Germany. So it was a lot of fun because both our German is not super great but we still went contacting and talked with a lot of people. I have learned not to have any fear for people. If you just are nice and smiling then some people accept what you are saying. But mostly people just walk past like we didn’t say anything. Some people get freaked out if we talk to them too.. It’s been super fun though. The best way I have found out to work the best if you just compliment someone on something. If you tell them they are nice they get all excited and they talk. We do whatever to help people out. Every opportunity we get we help someone out. It has been awesome.

Sooo yesterday was fast Sunday and it was one of the hottest days that we have had this summer here in Germany. So to get to our church we have to walk a ton. And we have to wear our suits so it was absolutely frying. Germany is humid and was super hot. So we were pretty much drenched going to church. There was one fan for all of the sacrament meeting room. So it was pretty rough. It has been so hot here the past few days.

Yesterday we met with a family named Familia Amtmann that are Born Again Christians. WOW is what I will say. They know the Bible better than anybody. We brought Bruder Brunotte for a joint teach from our ward who actually was a Jesuit Priest before he read the Book of Mormon and was converted. Bruder Brunotte is this 6’7 man that is smarter than anybody I know. He has 5 different majors and his apartment is filled with thousands of books. He is a genius. He is super friendly and every week he wears these awesome suits with these massive ties. I will take a picture then send it home. But they are sweet. Anyways, he came with us to this joint teach with Familia Amtmann.. And he absolutely is the best teacher I have EVER seen. I learned so much from that guy and how to teach. He bore testimony so powerful and so perfect the spirit was so strong. It was incredible. They only believe on the bible and believe all other books come from Satan. Bruder Brunnote bore solemn testimony of the divine power of the Book of Mormon and it was awesome.

This week was a good one. We are meeting with a family of three this week that are awesome also. They are Investigators who love what we have. The work here in Germany is picking up. We just need to continue with the prayers and keep having faith that it will get better and better. Thanks for the support everyone. I love you all.

Elder Emery

                                            Elder Noorda and I up in Weilberg.

 We are friends with these kids. We see them a lot. We were on splits and we were walking and all of them ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and they were all drunk. It was pretty bad smelling. But I got a picture with all of them. haha

                          Bruder Brunnote!! He is awesome, he is the bigger dude that is super happy.

 Sister Chard and I. She lives up in the Rices ward and is really good friends with them. She is one of the sisters here in Friedrichsdorf.

 Elder Lindsey and I. There is the Palace in Weilberg. It is soo pretty. That's where we went last Saturday for our P day

Hallo!

Guten Tag from Germany! 

Love getting letters and hearing that everyone is doing well. Seems like everyone is just staying busy and getting a lot of things done. That is so good to hear for me. Being thousands of miles away sometimes is hard but I know the Lord is watching over and protecting all of you.

This week was actually a pretty long week. We got a TON done and I have never been so tired in my life. This was a really good week for us and it shows that the work here in Germany is starting to go up. When I first got to this area it had just barely been opened. So there were really not a lot of potential investigators. This week we now have 6 progressing investigators and they are legit too. This week we met with 3 of them and it was so sweet. 2 of them are from Africa and we found them on the streets. Both of them came to church and they absolutely loved it and participated in everything. It was so humbling watching how happy they were by coming to church. Jose is from Angola and absolutely loves what we are talking about. He told us that he has never felt that happy in his life and the feeling he was getting he had never felt before. Akuya is from Ghana, Khumasi actually, so I told her my best friend was serving there and so she got excited for that. But she is awesome. She can’t read so we are getting her a Book of Mormon tape so she can listen to it. It’s awesome to see how happy people are.

So we are trying to work a lot with the members in doing missionary work because it’s so hard to contact. Honestly, people are SOO scared to talk to us and they are super mean about it too. We were on the bus the other day and we complimented a guy on his watch to try to start a conversation. And he just started yelling at us telling us to not talk to him and yeah. Out here on the mission you really grow a strong skin and just ignore those people and move on. It’s so sad sometimes but it’s so humbling. It’s worth it for the people you do talk to and who are super nice. As a missionary you really notice every little thing that happens. So many people are caught up in worldly things and its soooo sad. If only they could know this amazing gospel and just find out for themselves how amazing life is. But like I said, we are trying to do member work and it can be hard sometimes. Some members are absolutely awesome and know how to do it. Some members think missionary work is going door to door and handing out a Book of Mormon to people. For members, missionary work is just bringing up the Gospel in a conversation or something. It really is not that hard and I encourage all members to do missionary work. It’s the coolest feeling ever.

This week we did a lot of service too. We helped a lady in our ward this week and it was some tough work. When Germans move, they move everything!! Ha every little drawer, kitchen, lights, everything! It’s incredible. We worked for like 7 hours on Friday and got up early Saturday morning and worked another 6 hours. It was a lot of work. Germans really don’t have houses. They have more apartment style houses. So it is hard getting and carrying everything up the stairs. But we moved her in and it was good. Another really cool thing here is we live in Bad Homburg which is like the rich part of Frankfurt. So the Cars we see are insanely awesome. Maserati’s, Audis, Bentleys, Lamborghini’s.. They are sweet!!

A little more about my companion and then I will finish up this letter. So my companion is Elder Lindsey. He is originally from Colorado but lives in Pleasant Grove now. I did not know him before the mission but he is honestly one of the coolest guys. He is super friendly and talkative. He has helped me so much with my German and has shown me just how to love people. He plays sports and is super athletic. We have the same personalities. It is so much fun being his companion because we have fun but we get the work done. I do have to say, we are pretty dang funny. We just have fun! He is an awesome Elder and we have really become best friends. I am so grateful for him and it has been so much fun.

Anyways, that was a really long letter. Sorry for that but I just had to tell you guys everything. We are headed up to Weilburg today for our P day and going to visit a castle so I will send you some pictures next week. Germany is absolutely awesome and I love it here. I love my mission. Sometimes it is really frustrating and really hard. I have never been this tired in my life. But I absolutely love it and wouldn’t change it for anything. I hope all is well and I love the letters. I am doing great and learning so much. I am so grateful for the people I have in my life. I have definitely changed so much and have grown to love this Gospel more and more every day. I love you all.

Elder Emery

  This is the Konietz family. Their little girl is so cute and they're really cool

Jan Osterloh is a young single adult. We have been working with him trying to bring him back to church.

And thats me in Oder Rosbach. It has been raining a ton this past week so that was fun to be there and walking in the rain.

 Bruder Bauman is a member. He has had a tough life but is awesome. He works on temple platz and loves us.

That's a view of the temple and Friedrichsdorf. Beautiful!!

1st Transfer Done

First to start off, a big congrats to Jackson and Cherese this week! We got another Emery in the family and he is super cute. Hope Cherese is feeling better and all is well with that. It’s crazy that they already have 2 kids. And when I get home McKade will be Treyton’s age. Crazy stuff..

Well this week was a little bit slower. But it was awesome and we learned so much more about missionary work. Really cool thing; We learned a ton about family history work. We are using these fan charts to contact people. It was really cool because most of our family history is done all the way back to 9 generations. It was insanely cool to see all the different family links and everything. If you get a chance visit FamilySearch.com. It really reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa Emery and also Grandma Parris. I think they would be super interested in it and would love to see the line. So if you guys read this email check out that website and sign up. It has Grandpa Emery’s Charts from the 30’s and back. You can see the original paper work and everything. I highly recommend you guys to check out that website.

There wasn’t a lot that happened this week. Last Tuesday we gave 3 blessings in one day. A guy in our ward had torn his Achilles tendon, so we went to the hospital and gave him a blessing. We gave 2 more blessings that day to people. It was so cool to feel that spirit that we have felt.

So while I was reading my emails my mom wanted me to answer the question, "What does family mean to you?"

Family to me is everything. The first thought that came to my head is when something happens my family was the first one there to help me. I love my family with all my heart. I never realized how much my family was important to me until I came out on my mission. My parents have taught me so much in my life. They taught me how to be a better person then I could ever imagine being. They have supported me in everything I have ever had. Basketball, golf, and life. They are 2 of the hardest workers I know and I am so very grateful for them. They have showed me what’s really important in my life, and how to be an example and be willing to help whoever needs help. Thanks for being such great parents and being wonderful examples to me. My siblings now: Geez, where do I start? Ha we have never had such a close bond with each other. Jackson, Alex, and Annie have been my best friends ever since I was little. I know we got in fights and stuff but I have never had such a supportive family in everything I do. They are so supportive in me and have taught me so much about the person I want to be. I am so grateful for this Gospel and being able to live with my family forever. They have shown me the way and the hard work ethic. I know I have been a pain to them sometimes but they know how much I love them and I wouldn’t be here today without them.

I know this week was a tough week for my mom and her siblings. It was the week my Grandpa Parris died 15 years ago. My mom has always told me that he was there supporting me at my games in spirit and was always leading me to do right. I know how great of a man he was because the stories I have heard. I was lucky enough to live 4 years with him and I remember being a young boy riding in the car with him. He was a great man and I know he is watching down on us all the time. He was a great man and I know my mom loves him very much. I am so grateful that we can live with our families together forever. 

I love you all and I hope you guys are doing well. I love reading all the letters. Keep them coming please. They mean so much to me. And people have asked me what they can send.. Send Ties please :) I love ties now!! Haha that’s the only thing I can switch up what I wear every day. So ties would be awesome. Thanks for all the support. This work is awesome.

Elder Emery