Dear Family,
I agree with you about the General Conference
sessions on Saturday and Sunday. (The
sessions can be read or viewed again on lds.org.) It was great being able to
take notes and listen to the Prophet and apostles of Jesus Christ! We are so
blessed to be able to go to Conference at the Church and listen to these
powerful talks broadcast by satellite twice a year. I learned quite a bit from
the Conference and need to review what I learned and like you, make some goals
and plans now. John 4: 34-35 talks about Jesus looking at the fields and seeing
that they're white and ready to harvest. This was meant spiritually of course,
and you can also apply it to things that you want to change about yourself. Now
is the time to apply the things that we learn. President Kosak (Mission President)
told us that there are 5 types of people. 1. They don't listen. 2. They blow it
off because they've heard it before. 3. They heard it before but don't want to
change. 4. They say it's a good idea and that they'll try it someday. 5. They
say it is a good idea and will try it today. It was also interesting to
see how many of the same scriptures and topics came up from all of the speakers:
“Stand in holy places”, “Stand as a witness of God”, “Come to the light”, “Obedience
will give us power to draw closer to the Savior”, “We are sons and daughters of
God”. I need to review my notes again and set some goals. Each 2 hour session
felt like it went by really fast. That is probably because I'm so used to our 6
hour Zone Leader Council meetings, or Zone Conferences and Zone Training Meetings
J!
This was a
pretty eventful week. On Monday the mission office called and said they needed
my companion, Elder G, to come to the office and help the computer tech with
the computers. So he left by train on Tuesday at around 4:45PM and I stayed with
the Senior Couple until the Elders in Rensburg came. So we were in a “Dritt” (threesome) Tuesday night. I didn't know
what time Elder G would be back at so I called him at around noon, after
District meeting and lunch in Rensburg. I asked when he'd be coming back. He
said he didn't know. So I asked around what time he would be coming back. He
said he also didn't know. So I asked if he was coming back on that day. And he
replied and said that he didn't know that either, ha-ha, I said, “Great, when
you know, give me a call me back”. He didn't call me! We were going to have a
Zone Leader Council in Berlin on Friday. He was supposed to come back Wednesday
evening so we could hit all of our appointments on Thursday, and in the evening
drive back to Berlin. Well, I called him back at around 9:00PM, and he said
he'll be staying in Berlin and that I need to drive out there on Thursday night
with the elders from Hamburg, who will be taking the train to Kiel on Thursday
and get there at around 7PM. Ha-ha, everything worked out okay, but it was
crazy ‘cause no one knew what was going to happen or what was going on, lol.
I had a good
time with the Rensburg Elders. Elder K (District.Leader) is from California,
and Elder S ( new missionary since 3 weeks) is from Brazil. (he's white but has
a thick accent J). We played soccer on Tuesday night, and then in the morning we worked
in Rensburg and Kiel. We went to appointments, and tracted a lot of doors,
finding together. We talked to a lot of cool people, and the funniest was when
someone asked if we were from UTAH. Ha-ha! We all would look at each other and
say, no, we're from Canada, California, Brazil, and my companion is from
Iceland! It was so funny and we used it to have some good teaching
opportunities with people. I had the car so we spent half the day in each area
hitting all of our appointments. We then did the same thing on Thursday. It was
fun teaching investigators and searching for interested people together.
They're great Elders and work really hard.
Mom, I still didn't
get your package, lol. What I thought was your package was actually a package
from the Benka family in Forst! They sent me a big package for Easter with
chocolate, meat, pictures and a fleece blanket in it! It was a big surprise and
really nice of them! Your package came on Thursday while I was gone and I'm
going to pick it up today! J I got a letter from the Gibbs, and Bishop Redekop. Please tell them
thanks for me!
I also received a random letter from a
person in Germany that had been investigating the Church and wanted to know how
to contact the missionaries in her area. This person looked online and found my
blog. They then wrote me and told me their experience so far with the gospel.
The letter didn't have a return address or anything, just a first name on it,
so I have no idea where it came from. It was really cool though, to get the
letter and hear the way the Lord is influencing them in their lives. I was very
surprised!
For anyone reading the blog and interested in learning
more about the Church, you can contact the Mission Office and request a
missionary visit:
Germany Berlin Mission
Zerbster Strasse 42
12209 Berlin
Germany
Tel.49 30 7152 2807
You can also contact the local Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage and they will send missionaries or search online to use LDS maps to find places of worship, congregations, directions, and other Church resources worldwide.
Google: Mormon Church Locations www.ask.com/Mormon+Church+Locations or www.lds.org/maps/
I'm glad you
guys are doing great at home. I'm way excited for Charlene and Jeremy and their
missions - just a few more weeks for both of them until they leave. (Jeremy will be in the MTC on May 1st
and in Italy on June 14th.) The weeks are going way too fast,
lol. I hope you have a great week! I'm out of time, but I love you guys! Thanks
for everything!
Love, Elder Luening
No comments:
Post a Comment