Monday 18 June 2012

June18,2012, Forst


"The field is white and ready to harvest...!"


Dear Family!
I was so happy that Brother B offered to call you guys, haha. I told him that it was my brother's birthday and also that it was Father’s Day. He asked if I was allowed to call home for Father’s Day and I told him I wasn't. He's, like, “Well your parents can speak German so why don’t I call them after we eat”. I thought he was joking but he was serious! Brother B isn't the Ward Mission Leader, our Ward Mission Leader is Brother G.

This week has definitely been tough. I'm not gonna lie, I’ve been exhausted every day this week because Elder V and I are really trying to get things going. We've been spending almost our whole days finding. We've been blessed to find at least one new person to teach every other day. We talk to everyone with the idea that we're going to teach them. So that if they don't have any interest, then at least they know something that we believe, and that will at least get them thinking about God and Jesus Christ a little more, and about the meaning of life. It is tough hearing almost the same thing from everyone we talk to. That there is no God because if there was he wouldn't let all these horrible things happen to people. What is he supposed to do? Come down and fix everything just so people can fall back into how they were before? There's a reason it doesn't work like that, and we see it in the Book of Mormon over and over again. Everyone we talk to, we find out what their dilemma about God is, and then try teach them something that we've figured out in our own life and then testify to them.
We've been getting out of Forst and did some finding in Döbern on Tuesday, which was a failure. And then on Thursday, we did finding in Güben for 6 hours, and managed to make 2 new appointments. People generally stop and listen to us in Güben because they haven't had an LDS church there for 45 years, so they have no idea who we are. It gives us reason to keep going back, and teach people there. So we go at least once a week, but I think we'll start going twice a week. We seem to see our miracles of finding people usually, right when we start our finding, or right before we go home. Seems like a blessing of leaving on time and staying out until we're done, even when we don't feel up to it.
Church yesterday got us a little 'trunky.' The whole topic today was about Eternal Families, but everyone that gave a talk, talked about Eternal Marriage. Elder V and I looked at each other and kept shaking our heads because all we could think of were the girls that we left at home. Elder V has 6 months of his mission left starting today. And I’m still kind of fresh on my mission so we were both lost in thoughts during the sacrament meeting. He was thinking about C, and I was thinking about R. We talked about it afterwards and decided that it was a good topic to hear, but also a bit bad to hear.
I'm learning a lot from this mission so far. How to cope with the days when we don't see much success and how to deal with the people who don't even say anything and keep walking when we approach them. We had a guy try to tell us that we were 'dumbkopfs' because we believed in God and were trying to teach people. It was so sad. We talked to him for about 10 minutes and then just left because it was a waste of time. Forst is tough to work in because its small, but we still seem to reach all of our weekly goals, and if we don't reach them we're getting awfully close. Transfer is halfway over, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be here for the next one. Elder V will probably move on to a different place, and I’ll be here for another 6 weeks...so 9 more weeks in total. Wow, that seems like a long time in this little place. But I'm excited for this week and excited for the people we will be teaching this week.

 I miss you guys at home. When Brother B was talking to dad on the phone, I was so thankful and so happy that he did that for me. It was funny how excited he was to talk to dad, haha. His son, J, goes on a mission next month.
I'm in the choir to sing a song for his farewell. Brother  G's son (ward mission leader), L, is also going on his mission in 2 weeks. Both of them are going to serve in England, but in different missions. They're so excited to go, and L is coming on a joint teach with me this week on Wednesday. Elder G, (from my golden group in the MTC) and I are going to go on 'Golden Taush' this week. We've both only been in Germany for 8 weeks and will be spending the whole day in Forst. We've got at least 3 appointments set up for lessons, so we'll see how well we do haha. It's a bit scary, cause we don't understand everything people say, but it’s exciting to see how well we'll do.
The members here are awesome. They are so nice all the time, and feed us as often as they can. Sometimes I get down and a bit discouraged, and miss everyone I left behind, but I guess that’s something that will always be there until I get home. I'm definitely learning to deal with things a lot better, and really relying on the savior. 'Angels speak through the power of the Holy Ghost.' 2 Nephi 32: 3. We've definitely got angels looking after us, and giving us the strength to do our best and keep each other going.

 I'm glad you had a good weekend and that the weather held out for you guys. The weather has been really random here in Frost. It'll be really sunny and then all of a sudden rainy. But,” naja”, we work in all kinds of weather, as all missionaries do! I'm glad that your graduation weekend was a success Jeremy, and that all you guys had a good time! I Love you all, and maybe one thing you could do for me is give R's mom a call and see how she's doing. I'm sure she'd appreciate it. They had a crazy month with moving into their new house, and also with traveling to Vancouver to have R's back examined. Maybe just chat with her mom for a bit and let them know that you guys and i are thinking of them.

 I miss you guys so much and thanks for everything. Don't worry too much about me, haha, I'm doing well
 
Love you guys always and praying for you every day!

Bis naechste Woche!  Elder Lüning

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