Hallo Leute!
Wie geht's euch? This week was awesome. Lots more practice talking to people. Lots more doors slammed in our faces. Lots of Revelation. Super cool week.
(sorry for the long email this week)
Not a whole lot specific happened this week though. We did have a really cool district meeting on Tuesday though. And general conference! Which I will talk about later.
This weekend we helped somebody move which was fun / hard haha. German moves are different than the ones I've done in the past in America. For starters, the ward is a third the size, so we had about 6 people. The girl we were moving lived in the 4th floor up a really tiny staircase with no elevator. And Germans apparently bring ALL their household appliances with them. Everything. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, the kitchen counters themselves, beds, a bajillion dressers, and three couches. Literally the only thing left in the apartment was a few light bulbs (and even the light fixtures were packed up). It was awesome haha, but a lot of hard work. And a lot of stairs and tight squeezes.
We had interviews with our mission president this week. That was cool, but mine was actually pretty short. I'm doing pretty well and so he gave me some tips on how to work on my charity and that was about it. He's a really good man.
One thing that really stood out to me in General Conference, as a theme between all the talks given, comes from a scripture in our book of Doctrine and Covenants:
"Look into me in every thought; doubt not, fear not" (D&C 6:36)
One of the talks, given by Brother Yoon Hwan Choi, talked a lot about looking up to Christ. In this world right now, there is a whole lot of darkness. Terrorism, hate, racism, fear, hunger, turmoil, war. There is a lot of it. Sometimes it feels that we are surrounded by darkness. Sometimes it feels like everywhere we turn, all we can see is conflict. But what Brother Choi talked about, is that in these times when we feel overwhelmed and surrounded by darkness, we need to look up. Sometimes we may not be able to see through the darkness in front of us, but the Light of Christ will always be visible if we look up.
We went to a members house this week and they shared a really cool experience that happened to them. They said they, this Brother and his wife, were walking down the street, and they saw a man standing and talking. For those of you not aware, Germany right now is housing a LOT of refugees. Most of these refugees have fled from terrorism torn countries such as Syria. This man was telling everybody to build bombs and place them in places they would hurt people. He was telling the refugees to hate the Germans and to hurt them. This Brother was understandably upset. He said that he had no good feelings after encountering this man. He felt surrounded by darkness. All he felt was this sense of hatred, malice, and evil. He said that he was so wrapped up in these negative feelings, that he didn't see something else unfolding in front of him. His wife had to stop him and point it out to him. In the very same square as this man preaching hatred, was a young mother and her 6 year old son. Behind them was an elderly man in an electric wheelchair with a bag of groceries. They said they watched as the mother gestured, and then the little boy offered to take and carry the old man's groceries. The little boy walked alongside the man and chatted with him about his wheelchair. The old man was visibly delighted that this young boy was taking such interest in him, and was being so kind. The Brother said that he had been completely unable to see this beautiful scene of Charity and love unfolding in front of him because he had been unable to see through the darkness surrounding him. He was very grateful for his wife and her ability to point out the good in the world, despite the darkness. He was able to find peace where he had only been feeling anger.
It is the same thing with Christ. Sometimes, like this Brother, we feel the darkness is all encompassing and impenetrable. We need another person, Christ, to help us pierce the cloud. We need Christ to help us find peace and light in the darkness. Something really cool is that that is actually what this year's Easter Initiative is about. It's all about how Christ brings us peace. (If you haven't seen the new video, take a second and watch it at Mormon.org .
It's only 3 minutes long). At the MTC, we actually got to hear from the church head of media and he said that they decided to focus this year's Easter on peace because we are so lacking in it in the world. We are surrounded by darkness. It is so critical to have peace in this world because without internal peace, we will never have peace globally. The cool thing about peace that comes from God is that it is unshakable. We can have this peace through Christ that can endure through all hardship. The prophet Ether describes it as an "anchor to the souls of men" (Ether 12:4). When we have this peace within ourselves, we can have hope, joy, and faith despite the darkness. Yes we may still be surrounded by evil, but when we look up to Christ, we can see enough to take the next step. We can overcome the darkness. We can overcome the world.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
You all are awesome. Don't forget to let yourselves see your strengths.
Challenge this week: compliment someone at least once every day!
I love and miss you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Bis nächste Woche!
Elder Harps
PS. Funny German word of the week is "Spargel". It means "asparagus". It's funny because apparently Germans really lie asparagus because Spargel stands are a thing here. There are just roadside Spargel stands where you can buy asparagus. Super weird. Still need to try it haha
No comments:
Post a Comment