Insights and Events in the Life of Elder Harps: Woche 10

Hallo meine Freunde!

Diese Woche war wunderbar!

Lots of things happened this week. I hope I can remember them all.

Street display in Michelstadt

First off, this last Saturday we did a street display in a city called Michelstadt. It looks like it comes out of a story book. It was so pretty. Funny though, at the same time we were doing our street display, a big scavenger hunt type thing was going on. So a few groups of people were wandering around the city taking pictures of different things. Which meant that the same people kept walking through our little square. So we kept accidentally talking to the same people over and over haha. Some of them weren't too happy, but ah well :)

Elder Roesner and I

We also did some more splits this week. So Elder Roesner and I were companions for the day in Langen. Funny thing is though, both of us have only been here for 4 weeks and we had an appointment in an area I've never been to! We only missed our train stop once! And fortunately there was another one coming the opposite direction 30 seconds later. We had a lot of adventures being two brand new missionaries haha. We walked around our appointment's house twice looking for it, we went down the wrong street for another go-between and ended up getting a potential Investigator of of it, and we saw a guy mowing his lawn with a pair of scissors. Lots of fun haha

Also, the bus drivers here are crazy. I swear I'm standing at a 45 degree angle in every turn. And they floor it everywhere haha.

But easily the best part of the week was last Thursday night. We had a Fireside meeting with the missionaries in the Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Friedrichsdorf Zones, and all the ward council members from within those stakes. And President Uchtdorf came and spoke to us!!! In German!! It was so stinking cool!!(Listen to one of his talks)

Elder Uchtdorf , Member of the First Presidency

I was very much freaking out. He talked about the importance of living the gospel in our wards. That we need to live our lives and work together and be an example of a Christ like community. It was really helpful because he spoke about how ward councils and full time missionaries can work together. Super super flipping cool.

Jesus Christ emerging
from his tomb.

Spiritual thought this week is about the enabling part of the Atonement. Alma 7:11-12 says that Christ took upon himself not only the penalties for our sins, but also every single pain, sickness, and hardship we have ever gone through,so that he can comfort us in our time of need. This also enables us to overcome anything that life throws at us. This part of the Atonement I have a very strong testimony of. I've seen its power in my life personally time and time again, especially here on my mission. But something I've never really understood is why exactly we have this part of the Atonement. It always has been something I've appreciated, but it always seemed to me that this part was just something extra cool about the Atonement, but not something necessarily that Christ needed to do.

However, this part of the Atonement is not only beautiful, it is incredibly necessary. This part of the Atonement makes everything okay. It means that no matter how hard our life is, we can find comfort and strength in Christ. This is really important to the plan of salvation. If this wasn't a thing, then if you were born into poverty, that's it. Stinks to be you. Yeah you can have salvation still, Christ can still redeem you, but as for life right here and now? Tough luck. God is then a respecter of persons. He favors some people over others. But that can't be, or God isn't God. So then in order to make everything fair, we can't have our agency. We can't be allowed to make life any worse for anyone else, or God is not fair. Without agency, there is no point to life. We can't learn, or grow. We can't become more like God. And that's the whole purpose. So there goes the plan.

That's why the enabling power of the Atonement is so important. It makes life fair. Yeah some people have harder lives than others, but anybody, when they rely on Jesus Christ and have faith, can overcome anything thrown at them. Anything. And so it doesn't matter what trials or tribulations come our way. We can learn from them. We can grow from them and become stronger. Any thing unfair about life is made okay through Christ. We can still have our agency. It's okay if we make mistakes. God has provided a way for all of his children to find peace and happiness in this life. All unfairness can be overcome through Christ.

Again, you all are awesome. Life is good out here. I wish you all an awesome week!

Bis nächste Woche! Tschüß!

Elder Harps

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