Tuesday 7 August 2012

August 6, 2012, Hannover


Dear Family,

 Thanks for the email that you sent me! I'm sorry that I can't write all of you back most of the time, but I love hearing from you. You probably all know what I’m up to because mom posts my email, lol.

 I'm glad camp was good mom, and that the weather has turned around for the better !

My week has been interesting. So, something funny that I forgot to write you last week was that Elder W and I went to the “Bahnhof” (German vocabulary at end of letter) to take a “Zug” to a “Dorf” outside of Hannover to eat at a member's house. We went on the train and Elder W was talking to the Zone leaders and thought he was on the wrong train, so he got out. When I tried to follow, the doors closed and wouldn't let me open them. Then the train took off with me inside it and I laughed and waved goodbye to my companion, haha. I “steigt aus” at the next stop and waited for 7 minutes for the next train to get back to the “Bahnhof”. I didn't have a phone so I just sat and waited. I got back to the “Bahnhof” and found Elder W waiting for me. It was really funny. It was weird though being alone for the 20 minutes that I was, but I’m all okay and I don't expect it to happen again, lol.

This week we had an investigator lesson with a guy named N. He's from Iran and he has about 50 homing pigeons. Apparently he breeds them and sells them or gives them away for gifts. They are real cool; they fly so high that you can barely see them and sometimes, while they are flying, they will just play dead and barrel roll down towards the ground, and then flap their wings again. They do black flips, too, to show off, haha.

 So,  Elder W and I are speaking German from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM every day, so it has been helping me improve my German. We also split up one night to try to find one new investigator before coming in. I was able to teach this awesome lady. I walked up to her and asked her if she believes in God. She was surprised but smiled and said yes. I then asked her how she came to believe in God because not to many people believe in Him. We started talking about the family and how God blesses and strengthens the family. Then she asked me if I wanted to sit down and talk for a while with her. It was awesome. We talked for about 10 minutes getting to know each other. Her name is S and she has 2 daughters between the age of 20 and 25. Elder W came by and sat down with us and we were able to have a really powerful lesson with her about life and the Book of Mormon. She didn't come to church this week but I called her before church and she said she had a head ache but would love to come next Sunday. So we'll see what happens. She is a really nice lady and really down to earth. She asked really good questions and I hope we'll be able to teach her again. Before we left she said that the first thing she thought when I went up to her was that I was a cop. She thought that because she had just J-walked and a couple months ago she did the same thing and had to pay 10 Euros. She smiled right when I asked her the question because her first thought was: “No way, I thought I was getting a ticket, and instead God sends me a messenger”! We laughed about it and then left for the night. It was cool.

   We had President interviews which was cool. President Kosak is a really good man and his wife is awesome. I've been able to talk with everyone I see and understand everything they are saying and never seem to wonder how to say anything back. Everything just seems to flow out of my mouth now and it feels like sometimes I just forget myself and just teach people. In the past, sometimes I would be hesitant about talking with someone, but lately I’ve been locked in and ready to find people who are ready and people who will listen, which means talking with everyone. Most of the people, even though they don't have interest, will say that they respect us for what we are doing and wish us success.

  Yesterday was Fast Sunday and afterwards we were able to teach 5 solid lessons before we got back home. In each one of those lessons we were able to feel the spirit bear testimony through us! It was really cool! We taught a Chinese girl, a Muslim who's a student,  (who we're not allowed to teach anymore because we need Presidents permission first), a guy from Africa, a member from Africa who had an Africa  friend with her, and an American Family! We got home at about 10 pm because our last appointment was at 9 pm. It was way cool and awesome that it was on Fast Sunday. Definitely a blessing and I hope that everyone we taught will come to church next Sunday.

 I love being a missionary. I feel the spirit every time I testify to people. It sucks when people won't give you a chance to share your message, or when appointments don't follow through because they don't understand how important our message is. But we're keeping our heads up and I’m losing myself in the work. Also President Kosak challenged me to read the Book of Mormon “auf Deutch” before General Conference in October. So I’ve been reading it every chance I get. When we’re on the “Bahn”  I pull it out and read. I love it and I understand it too. I love the scriptures. Something cool that I found was in D&C 29:36  “And it came to pass that Adam, being tempted of the adevil—for, behold, the bdevil was before Adam, for he crebelled against me, saying, Give me thine dhonor, which is my epower; and also a fthird part of the ghosts of heaven turned he away from me because of their hagency;”
I love that God says that His power comes from his Honor. Everything that God promises and everything that he does, he does because he needs to be honorable in all things. If he would stop being honorable and make a mistake, all his power would be gone and he would cease to be God. God walks on a very strict and straight line. That's why the atonement is so amazing. Christ pleads for our case, and compassion breaks the bands of justice. I read some of this in a talk that I'll send to you this week.

 I'm sending a SD memory card to you. To get the stuff off of it, just put it in your camera and hook it up to your computer. Then open the folder and you can take all the pictures off and there will be a 'Talk' on there too called 'The Atonement'. Should be pretty easy to do and you'll love the talk and the pictures!

Anyways, I love you and can't wait to hear from you next week! R said she went on a road trip with her family; that’s cool that you made jam with her. Maybe invite her to do it again if you need help. Oh, and the Facebook message from C, you could actually just copy it and email it to me and I could print it off here next Monday, unless you want to mail it.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Lüning.

Bahnhof = Train or subway station
Zug = train
Dorf = village
Auf deutch = in German
Aussteigen = step out, exit

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