Late Post

Wow, I am so sorry this email is late! This coming week we have an incredibly busy week. We have Zone Conferences and so Elder McGinn and I have been working on preparing those this whole time. Things are staying super busy but also really good as well! I find the weeks go by faster and faster as I am here.

This past week was a busy week for us. We went on a couple splits so that was good. I was able to go down to Wiesbaden and work with Elder Noorda.. He is for sure a preach my Gospel missionary and knows exactly what missionary work is.. That was cool serving with him and seeing how he works. I was also down in Nürnberg with Elder Allen. Elder Allen is such an awesome Elder and really knows what missionary work is as well. My wish would be to have every missionary be like him. He has such a strong testimony of the Gospel and we had a lot of fun. It was stormy that day but we were out contacting in the rain and had a good time together. We also had a lot of service this week. It is always a good feeling forgetting about ourselves and just going to help someone who needs help.

We were able to meet with Daniel again this past week and went through the commandments. He committed to follow them. He is one of the most prepared people I know. He is such a cool guy and I have so much respect for him. He is loving the Gospel and really making huge changes in his life. Whats cool as well is, Jessica invited Daniel and also her Cousin Gabriel who is 13 years old to take the lessons.. We have been teaching Daniel but Gabriel has also wanted to take the lessons so we are teaching him to and he will get Baptized soon. The Lord has been blessing us a lot. The baptism for Daniel is this Saturday so that will be good. The only problem is that we will be traveling the mission the next 3 days for all the Zone Conferences so we won't be able to teach him. Gabriel will be baptized either by the end of this month or beginning of next year. Yet another huge testimony for me why I came back.

 I am so very grateful for the people who have helped me in my life to become the person I am. I have learned so much through all the trials I have had. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real!! We can use it in our lives in so many different aspects. It's all apart of God's plan for us and it's there to make us become better. I want my will aligned with the Lord's will. And in this time I have never wanted it more. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what helps people become happy even in this crazy world. This week as I was reading in Alma I came across this verse.. Alma 36:3 says "And now, oh my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day".

The Lord is waiting for us to be ready enough to be willing to follow his will. I encourauge each one of you to find what the Lord's will is in your life is and do it. Doubt your Doubts before you doubt your faith. Be strong, live the principles of the Gospel and you WILL be happy. It's as simple as that.

I love you and miss you and pray for you daily, Have a great week!

Elder Emery

Christmas Season

Hey, I don't have too much time today but I hope things are going well for all of you. Things here in Germany are continuing to progress and this week was another super busy week for us.

We had transfers this past week so a couple days out of the week we were strictly just in the mission home. We had our meetings there and were able to meet with all the trainers and new missionaries and train them. Another great thing was we have a new investigator.. Her name is Lina.. She is 19 years old and is the daughter of a less active couple! Started talking to her about taking the lessons and she is excited and wants to learn more about the Church. She is super cool so I hope things will progress with her.

I was on 2 splits this week with Elder Lovelace and Elder Simpson. 2 great Elders who really love the work. We were able to do a lot of missionary work. On Saturday, Elder Simpson and I were able to do 7 hours of straight finding.. It's been freezing cold here in Germany so that was a bummer.. But we talked with a ton of people.. Unfortunately, we didn't see too much success out of it but talk about a mission and building character.

Daniel is still preparing to get baptized on the 20th so keep him in your prayers. The work is moving forward.

This week I learned the Atonement from a different perspective. Talking about how we can forgive others for something they did to us. I think its the natural man in us to say that "someone hurt me and I can't forgive them for that". But one thing that I learned this week is that if we really want to receive forgiveness for our sins from God.. We have to be able to forgive others for what they do to us. This was such an important lesson that I learned this week.. Continuing to get more humbled and humbled as the weeks go by. D&C 64:10 "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men". Such a powerful lesson. 

I love you all. I pray for you daily.

Elder Emery

He is the Gift

Family, I think this is the best time of year.. With Thanksgiving and then Christmas around the corner it is a great time! We had a great week here!

Just want to start off with some good news.. We set a baptismal date for Daniel our investigator for December 20th!! It was such a cool lesson and was super spiritual.. Talk about the Lord preparing someone to partake of the Gospel. His story is absolutely amazing. What's even cooler is that his girlfriend is a member and has just barely been reactivated and brought him along.. She wants an eternal marriage in the temple and now since Daniel is getting baptized they can do it! So that was a high of the week.

Another high was Thanksgiving of course! I loved it and it really felt like I was at home as we went to the Robertsons. Thomas, Shirley and David were there as well and we were able to share the new intitiative, "He is the Gift" with them. They are 2 families who I love dearly and have made us feel at home so many times on the mission. I am grateful that we were able to spend Thanksgiving with them and we had a huge turkey and mashed potato feast. It was a great night!

This week we also were able to do transfer planning where we planned for the coming transfer and made the necessary changes. Transfer day is this Thursday. Elder McGinn only has 1 more transfer and then I will be getting a new companion. The time goes by super quick but nothing is better then being in the service of the Lord. 

This past weekend was another great weekend. We were able to go down to Heidelberg where I saw some good friends. Sister Lyons who I served with in Darmstadt is serving there and she is honestly an angel! She is one of the strongest sister missionaries I know. Elder Brown and Elder Mayne as well are studs! So that was cool to catch up with all of them! We had another Thanksgiving down there and it was great!

This week was a great week and I am so happy.. I wouldnt change this mission for anything! Again, I am so grateful that I came back and I get to be apart of such a great work here in Germany! I love it so very much and have been blessed to be here. I swear I have changed more in these past 2 months then I had in my first 17 months of my mission! This is the time of the mission where I understand and speak the language and missionary work is just second nature. Which is great. It is helping me be that person that Heavenly Father needs me to be. And again serving along side my best friends in other missions and my boys here in this mission. I love this work. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Have a great week!

Elder Emery

Thanksgiving

Hey Wonderful Family

Well I don't have to much time today but thank you for all the emails! Know I love them and am grateful for all the letters and emails I receive! This week was a really good week! Things went super well and we stayed really busy. We were able to go on splits this week with the Ramstein American Elders who work with all the Americans, Elder Pratt and Elder Boam. We were able to go on base where people in the army live so that was really cool. Just how blessed we are to have people who serve our country for the freedom we have. 

We had MLC on Friday which was a really good meeting.. With this new initiative, "He is the Gift" coming out, I had the opportunity to introduce it during that meeting and it went really well. The church is amazing with things they do. 

Friday night we were on another split with the Nürnberg Elders and they came here to Frankfurt. I was with Elder Hobson. We met a 27 year old girl named Nancy who is half American half German! She was really cool and it was cool.. We both walked passed her as she was looking at a bus schedule at a bus station. We both had a feeling we should talk to her.. We talked to her and we are meeting with her this next week! Great experience. We weren't able to do a whole lot of work in our area this week because we were driving all over.. But we were able to go visit Jessica in the hospital and then Daniel came to church for the 4th straight week.. So that was cool to see our investigator come! 

We met with some members this week and then just continued to prepare for this next week where we have to do transfer planning where we make all the switches for the mission. It should be a good week! I hope you guys have a wonderful week. I pray for you daily and continue to be grateful for all the support that I have around me! Because this week is Thanksgiving I challenge you all to write down a list of all the people and things you are grateful for.. We have a few appointments for Thanksgiving but I love this time of year.. I am grateful for so much that I have been given in my life! The Lord is Good!

Elder Emery

"The nearer a person approaches the Lord, the greater power will be manifest by the Adversary to prevent the accomplishment of his purpose". Heber C. Kimball