November 12, 2012, Hannover

Dear Family,

Wow I'm so excited for Charlene, Jeremy, and Colten! I can't believe how fast time seems to be going some days. I was just thinking about it this morning, that either this week or next week, will be the week that I received my mission call last year! Crazy! I seem to say it all the time and I'll say it again, time just seems to keep moving forward. It might be slow, or it might be fast, in the end it doesn't matter, it just keeps going. I can't wait to hear where Jeremy and Colten will be sent to! I'm guessing that Jeremy will go to a Spanish speaking mission, and that Colten will go French speaking, ha-ha. I'm not really sure what my guesses are based on, but that's my guess and I'm sticking to it.

 Here's the exciting news of the week...I'll tell it first so that you get the best part and then you don't have to read anymore of my email! Lol. Brother Francis Tamani got baptized and confirmed on Saturday Nov 10, 2012! We met with him on Tuesday, and he told us that a problem had come up about his baptismal date. He said that Nov 11th is Rememberance Day and since he's in the military he has to work. So, he wouldn't be at church to be confirmed a member. And the Sunday afterwards is when he would be gone for training. So I told him not to worry about it, and that I'll find out what we can do. We told him that he might be able to get confirmed on the same day as his baptism, or after Church on Sunday. I called the Mission President for permission, and he said that it was up to the bishop to make that decision. I asked him what his thoughts were on it. He said that if it was his choice, he would do it on the same day considering the situation. So, then I called Bishop, and he said that he would talk about it the next night with the Bishopric. So, on Thursday night I called him again with the Ward Mission Leader (Brother F), and asked him what the conclusion was. They said that they looked it up in the white handbook and said that it was the Mission Presidents choice. Well, I asked him if it was his choice, what his decision would be. So, he said he would approve it. So that's permission from both sides, ha-ha.

 Our Ward Mission Leader presided at the baptism because the members of the Bishopric couldn't attend, but it was a really powerful baptism! Brother C (a Fijian member) baptized him and Elder W (“Ehepaar” - couple missionaries) conferred the gift of the Holy Ghost upon him and confirmed him a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Sister Tamani was so thankful and was really happy :) It was all in English too, and a few English speaking families attended. The other elders also managed to bring their investigator with a baptismal date and he really enjoyed the service.

Our other investigators are also making progress! We haven't been able to meet with our Jamaican (G) family, because of how busy the week was, but we're hoping to see them this week. On Wednesday I “tauscht” (exchanges) with the District leader (Elder P) so that he could do the baptismal interview. I let Elder B stay in Hannover and take charge for the day as I went to Hildesheim. I prepared it and had it set up pretty easily so that they would only be in one area for the day, which he said ended up working out really well. They never got lost, so that’s good! Ha-ha. In Hildesheim I was able to catch up with Elder Myrabo who was in my district in the MTC! It was a lot of fun, and we talked a lot about how our missions been so far and memories we had in the MTC. It was a blast!

  Our Chinese investigators are awesome! X and his girlfriend J Q S, have committed to live the word of wisdom, and they invited us to eat 'Real Chinese' food with them this Sunday night! Ha-ha, they asked us what we like, and we said everything! They said 'we'll see', so we're a bit nervous now but still super excited lol.

S is also doing really good. We met with him on Thursday and we read Moroni 9 with him and explained to him how important the Spirit is in the world, and in his personal life. He understood it really well and we asked him to think about baptism. He told us that his labs have been stressing him out and asked us both to pray for him while we were with him. So we all took turns saying prayers together. The spirit was really strong and he thanked us a lot. He said that he always feels better after meeting with us and that he feels it’s because of the Holy Ghost! On Sunday we met with him again, and he told us that he solved his lab problems. He said he's been praying every day and that all of a sudden the solution just came to him while he was lying in his bed. We bore testimony and invited him to pick a date for baptism. He said he'll think about it. We also taught him the Law of Chastity and he committed to live it. We read Jacob 2:26-32 with him, and explained how much it means to God when we stay chaste. It was awesome!

  We also came in contact with a few people who have met with the missionaries 10 months ago, but then stopped seeing them. They invited us back and want us to explain to them the Book of Mormon. We're excited to teach them. They're a big African family (7 people altogether) from Ghana, and have been living here for 3 yrs. Also I called Y from last week and she's planning on calling me today for an appointment.

  Things seem to keep moving forward, and our living area seems to be getting better too, ha-ha. We now have a drier in our apartment! And we got new mattresses so everyone has been sleeping really well throughout the night! We got real rolling office chairs to sit on by our desk now, instead of metal kitchen chairs! It's looking pretty good here in Hannover, and we love the work.

   Thanks for telling me what has been going on in the ward, and I'll be sure to keep Brother Ius in my prayers. Next time you visit with Granny make sure you tell her that I love her and that I'm really happy that she's doing good and that she's as healthy as she is! I can't believe it’s starting to snow around the area at home now. Here the weather's been a bit wet lately but it hasn't been too cold. It’s been staying around 10° which isn't too bad yet.

We're getting really excited for Christmas ha-ha. We're planning on doing a few nights of Christmas Caroling by Kröpke (am beschaeftigsten Teil der Statt - the busiest part of the city) and are way excited to sing to people and hand out Joy to the world DVD's! I hope that it snows before Christmas but I’m not getting my hopes up too high, because the chances aren't very great. Naja, we'll see. I got a letter from the Smee's again, and from Sister Romney, please tell them thanks for me when you get a chance! :)

  I'm proud of all of you, I hope you have a safe trip, dad, and that Heavenly Father always blesses you and mom with enough energy and strength to fulfill your responsibilities and continue to bless others in their lives!

Love you all, “bis nächste Woche!”

Elder Lüning