May 13, 2013, Kiel

Dear Family,

   Hey, just a quick email. Thanks for the email and for Skyping! It was awesome to see you guys and to be able to talk. So, I talked to President about my extension. He said that he will check to find out if I can or not, because it’s tough to get permission now, since all the new missionaries are coming in.

  I also thought a lot about if I want to see you guys or not when you come to Germany. I decided today that I'd rather not see you Mom and Dad, lol. I do need Presidents permission and I did ask him. He said he would allow it if that was something I wanted, but I did really think about it a lot and I decided that I don't want to see you guys. Ha-ha, that sounds bad, but I feel like it would be dumb seeing you for a little bit and then having to wait until we Skype or until I'm home again. I think I'd rather do without the little distraction. I hope that all makes sense. Thanks for being willing to, but I'd feel better if I don't see you.

  But yeah, definitely visit the families in Forst. I'll send you their address next week. Dad, you know Brother B. a little bit, you spoke with him on the phone last year on Fathers-day :). They a great!

   Also we're hoping that our Investigator, E. gets baptised this Sunday. He needs to quit smoking, and if he doesn't make it then we have to push his date back and help him to not give up! We know he can do it and he knows he can too. We're meeting with him today and we'll see what happens.

  I love you guys.

  Thanks for summarizing the talk for me, Mom. I also have a little spiritual thought:

John 13:36 ¶Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

I thought about this, and this is before Christ goes through the garden of Gethsemane. We could not ever go through what he went through. But we know that we will all at one time or another go through our own personal Garden of Gethsemane if we want to return and live with God. Thankfully, we have someone who's been through it for all of us, and can help us when the time comes! He is the one that can give us a stronger back!

Love you guys, hope you have a good week

Elder Luening