Monday 24 February 2014

Feb 17,2014, Hamburg

Hey!

Well I'm all packed up and finished saying goodbye to investigators and members. I love you and I'll see you soon I guess! I have mixed emotions but I'm excited non-the-less, so don't worry, lol. I'm just worried about getting a cold from you guys now, lol. Anyways, safe travels and see you soon!!

Charlene have an awesome mission and enjoy it...it goes so quick!  I'll email you don't worry!

Love you all,

Elder Lüning

Auf Wiedersehen meine Freunde!
Alles Gute!
Tchuss!

Monday 10 February 2014

February 10, 2014, Hamburg

Dear Family,

   So...down to my last week. Unfortunately the baptisms won't be happening this week. But...we are planning on having 5 investigators on baptismal date by the end of this week! B. will be baptized in 2 weeks, and T. really took time to think about baptism a lot. He didn't meet with us at all this week, but came to church on Sunday to tell us that he came to the decision that he wants to be baptized! So we set a new date for March to ensure that he's ready.

   The others are a German married couple. They are about 50 years old and have heard a lot about the church. They're a referral from a member in a different ward and they are so prepared. They asked what they need to do to be able to be baptized. It's exciting. And the last one is a man from Iran who we taught last week. He's a student who just got a job from Deutsche Bahn. He came to church and I introduced him to a bunch of people and he loved it. We're meeting again on Tuesday. So this last week will be an exciting one.

    I love you all. Sorry I don't have time to write much. I'm going to take the time to enjoy these last 2 P-days before I see you all again. Thanks for the emails Mom, Dad, Kass, Scott, Jeremy, Charlene!

    Love you and “bis bald”!

     Elder Lüning


Monday 3 February 2014

February 3, 2014, Hamburg

Dear Family,

We have 2 baptisms planned for the 15th and 16th! We're hoping and praying that they will go through! We're going to do everything we can!

            This weekend was crazy; let me tell you a little about it. Our train left from the train station at 6:28am on Friday to Berlin. We set our clock for 5:15am  and it didn't go off!! We woke up at 6:00am, and threw our clothes on and ran to catch the bus leaving at 6:10! We barely made the bus and it's a 20min ride to the Bahnhof, …and the bus driver was taking his sweet time! We're like, “Come on!” We were praying like crazy that we'd catch that train. Well he made it in 15mins to the Bahnhof and we barely made it with 2 minutes to spare, ha-ha. That was so stressful! We then bought shaving stuff in the Bahnhof and shaved at the church in the bathroom, lol.

On the way home all the trains were canceled and were replaced with a bus. So we bought our ticket and ran to where the bus was leaving from (a completely different train station) and just made it in time. The bus driver looked at our ticket and said...ja,  Deutche Bahn does this a lot!  You can't ride with me with that ticket. We just looked at him in disbelief. He told us to go talk to DB information. So we went all the way back to the main train station and the man luckily gave us our money back for the ticket...but now it was like, 7:30pm -  no trains back to Hamburg. So, we had to stay the night in that AP's apartment lol. Ja...Abendteuer (adventure) :J Oh and we were running around the whole time carrying the sisters boxes of Books of Mormon, lol.

   Thanks for your emails, and I'll do everything I can these last 2 weeks to finish strong! Mom, I haven't spent money yet, but probably will today. Kass, thanks for the email, and I hope things go well with the      P-90X ha-ha! Charlene keep being you, you're awesome! 

I love you all,


Elder Luening

Saturday 1 February 2014

Jan 27, 2014, Hamburg

Mom, Dad,

I love you. You really are amazing parents. I read your emails and think about how selfless and how loving you both are. Dad, you said you changed as a person on your mission, and I don't know how anyone could go on a mission and not change...but I guess, sadly, some manage to do it. My mission President is an amazing man. He's so loving and so direct and helpful with everything.

My week was an exciting one. F., our french speaking investigator came to church yesterday with sad news that he will most likely be getting deported back to Italy on the 6th of Feb. He is appealing the case, but it's not looking very hopeful. He spoke with a member for an hour and they discussed it together. He's obviously off of baptismal date for now, but will be coming to church next week. We hope that we can find out where in Italy he'll be so he can at least continue to get spiritual strength from members and missionaries there.

    B., is now on baptismal date for the 9th of Feb. 2 weeks! J And he brought a friend to church yesterday who also wants to start meeting with us. Then an investigator from December came to church and he will be baptized on the 15th of Feb. We sat and discussed where his testimony was at and asked him if he would like to set it as a goal to be baptized in 3 weeks. He's been to a baptism before and said, “Ja. das hört sich prima an! (Yeah, that sounds prima!) We  explained how he would be interviewed then and read through the baptismal interview questions with him to see where he was at. Then we started from the beginning and taught him the Restoration. It was awesome! He felt the spirit and he wants us to make a reading calendar for him to prep him for his baptism. We're excited for him!

   I'm personally doing really well. Sometimes I get lost in thoughts of what's gonna happen when I'm back?! What's it like to be a normal person again...what do normal people do?? Ha-ha. But yeah, glad that that's still a little while away. I love it out here. I've learned so much, and I'm still learning tons.
I love you all and have a great week,

Elder Lüning