Woche 16

Hallo von Langen! 

This week was awesome! Miracles!!  (this is a bit long! Sorry!) 

First off sorry for last week's email being short and having a few German words sprinkled in haha.

Also this is the last week of my training! In a few days a I'll be a big grown up Missionary. My trainer, Elder Mortensen, is most likely leaving after this week because he's been here already for about 6.5 months. So I'll get a new companion next week! Nervous/excited!

This week we had a finding activity in Michelstadt again, and it was way fun. It was kinda like a scavenger hunt, but where the things you find are actually different types of people to talk to. It was a lot of fun and helped us talk to a lot of people. 

This week we went on splits again. I went to Darmstadt this time and served with Elder Rösner again. It was a lot of fun and we had some really good lessons. 

I'm just gonna share the funniest/coolest miracle of my mission so far.  It happened this week, and it is so flipping awesome. 

His name is Simone :) 

We ran into Simone like 2 months ago on the street. We talked to him and his friend for like 15 minutes. But his friend did 80% of the talking, and we did the other 20%. Simone himself didn't actually say anything at all. He just kinda smiled and listened. 

Well nothing came of our talk, but probably 2 weeks later we ran into them again on the street while they were headed off a train so we briefly said hello. Then a few minutes later in the middle of another conversation with someone else, Simone walked up and asked us for a card so that he could come to church. We handed him one and he walked off. 

Then over the next month we ran into him probably 3 more times on the street. And each time he'd show us the card that he kept in the sleeve pocket of his jacket and tell us he's coming to church. We'll he never did, so we didn't think a whole lot about it. 

Then at our street display 2 Saturdays ago, we ran into him again and talked to him. So did both other pairs of sister missionaries at different parts of the day. He said he'd come to church again, and again we didn't think a whole lot of it. 

But then he just showed up last week!! He just walked in, so we sat with him through church. He's from Italy and speaks very basic German, and no english, and the whole service is in german. But he stayed the whole time. He stayed all 3 hours of church. 

And we didn't even know his name at that point haha. But after church we got his phone number and said we'd call him during the week. 

So we did, and he couldn't meet, but he said he was planning on coming to church again. And he did! And he again stayed the whole 3 hours! 

THAT NEVER HAPPENS. 

So we met with him this Tuesday and we were planning on teaching him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ using a simple pamphlet in Italian, but he forgot his glasses so he couldn't really read. But good thing he forgot them, or we wouldn't have had the talk we did. 

He asked us "Mormons don't smoke right?" and we said "Yeah, Mormons don't smoke" so he said "Yeah I didn't think so. So I quit smoking. My friend tried to give me a cigarette yesterday and I told him I wasn't going to smoke but he insisted so I took it. Then when he left I tore it up and threw it away."

So we basically just answered a bunch of his questions, like "What do Mormon friends look like?" "What do Mormons eat for breakfast if they don't drink coffee?" "Do Mormons talk to people who aren't Mormon?" and so forth. So we asked him if he wanted to be Mormon and he said "Yeah!". So we explained that we do that through baptism, which is a promise we make with God to keep his Commandments and in turn he promises to bless us. We asked him if he wants to to be baptized and he said "Yeah!". 

Then we met with him yesterday again and talked more. And we are also meeting with him this evening again! He is so awesome!! God has prepared him so well.

I could go on for a while but I'll save some for other emails haha. He is such a miracle 

Quick spiritual thought/scripture. 

I found this scripture about a week and a half ago and it's been on my whiteboard since haha. A few of my other Missionary friends have shared it too, but it's super cool. 

Romans 8:16-18 reads:

"16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Times get tough, but we need to remember that we are Children of God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He is our father and he loves us. He walks beside us and watches over us. There is NOTHING on this earth that can stop us if we remember that. No weakness, no sin, no person can stop the will of God. And verse 19 reads:

"19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."

All of creation waits in anticipation for our potential to manifest. Every one of God's creations is waiting for the glory within us to be made manifest. And when something manifests, it means that it was something dormant inside us, that is now made brightly apparent for all to see. The glory, the potential, is in each of us. God created us in his image, with infinite potential. And he will walk shoulder to shoulder with us the entire way along our path to unlock it. 

You are a child of God! He loves you more than you can imagine. Don't you ever forget that. All of creation is cheering you on!! 

Ich liebe euch! Ich vermisse euch! Habt eine wunderbare Woche!! 

Elder Harps

Pictures:

Germany pictures :) 

Us and a less active member we visited last week. 

Our District before transfer calls this Saturday shake things up

More spring/summer in Germany

Us at that castle last week

Photoshop fun with plants!  

Woche 15

Me at a castle. 

Grüß euch! 

Langen is as awesome as ever. Life is good. 

This week was verrückt! 

This email is gonna be pretty short because I'm running out of time and I also have a headache but I have pictures! 

We had a street display here in Langen this last Saturday and boy was that fun. Right next to us the whole time was a stand of Jehovah's Witnesses, and across the street was a band (and I literally mean a music band) plus members of an evangelische Church. It was super crazy. A LOT of them came over to us and talked with us. Most of them were super nice and it was awesome. 

We had interviews with President Stoddard which was really cool. He gave me some good pointers on what I can work on and how I can be better. 

This week's thought is about something that I've found to be really important. It's about controlling our thoughts. In Moroni 7:6 it says:

"6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing."

What this means to me is that it's really important that we keep the Commandments and are Obedient, that our works are good, but unless our thoughts and desires are in line with God's will as well, it doesn't mean a whole lot. We need to hone our thoughts and desires to be righteous and aligned with God's will. And while we can't control sometimes what pops into our heads, we can control what we let stay in there. It's really important that we don't beat ourselves up for having a bad thought, but that we don't dwell on it. And, as with any weakness that comes with being human, just try your hardest and pray and God will help you. 

A super cool castle we
visited today in the Michelstadt area.
 Also we definitely ate it hard at least 50 times
before getting the handstands right. No joke

I love you all! Habt die beste Woche eures Lebens!

You're awesome! 

Tschüß! 

Us after the street display
 in Langen being fed by our
awesome Ward Mission Leader
and Relief Society President

Elder Harps

    

A view of the city of Langen taken
from the top floor of a Hochhaus

Mothers Day!

Look at that happy face! 

I knew it would feel good to hear his voice and see his smile but it was even better than expected. Mostly because he was so happy.  He said he loves his mission and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
We told him about the latest news, kitty tricks, and a virtual tour of his home that he's never been in. It all went too fast but it gave me a pep in my step all day. He makes my mama heart proud!

We all loved talking to Elder Harps. 

Woche 14

Guten Tag von Langen! 

Diese Woche war echt toll! Super awesome week! 

Me on a very festive street in Langen,
 not knowing what to do with my hands

We had an awesome district finding activity in Darmstadt this last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We talked to a bunch of people and I'm really starting to totally get over my fear of talking to people and enjoy it. We found some really cool people with some really sincere questions that we were able and to help them sort through. For instance Elder Rösner and I talked to a guy who is from Eritrea who had fought in their military for 18 years. His German was really weak, and his English was just passable enough to communicate in. He asked us how he can know which church is the true church of God. He said it is really confusing and hard since there are so many different Christian churches that all teach from the Bible, but with so many different interpretations. I, by random chance, had a copy of the Book of Mormon in Ahmharic on hand and we were able to talk to him about how it helps clarify the exact questions he had. We were able to explain using the scriptures that when we truly want to find truth, we need to ask God. It was just really sweet and he said afterward that we had answered all his questions. 

We also had Pfahl Konferenz (Stake Conference) this weekend, and it was really amazing. Our stake president is a really, really good man and good speaker. We also got to hear from a Sister who used to serve in the general young women's presidency, and her talk was amazing. I learned a lot, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later :) 

Also we had Zone Conference which was super cool! I was able to talk to some of the missionaries who just entered the MTC before we left. They are awesome, and the meeting was really instructional. I learned a lot, and recommitted myself to work harder. 

Also I've officially started jumbling my English with German grammar, which makes for some really wonky sentences haha. "We can about the Book of Mormon speak" is I think what I said to Elder Mortensen haha

We went on another Split this week! I stayed in Langen and got to serve with Elder Chamberlain, who was actually in my ward over summer at BYU. He's a really good missionary, and we had a lot of fun and did a lot of finding. 

Also funny story with that. There was this funny little old Croatian lady that Elder Fawcett and I ran into about 6 weeks ago. We passed her on the street, and then a few hours later we ran into her again so we talked to her. I've since run into her 3 or 4 more times and not once have we managed to keep the conversations under a half an hour hahaha. She talks A LOT. And she swears I can't speak a lick of German even though I understand everything she's been saying. She's super funny. She's like 5 foot and 75 with her shawl and she's hilarious. Also tells us all the time to get married already. She's quite the character. 

Anyway, on our split we ran into her again, and she was talking to someone on the street. But I wanted to say hi, and we were in the way to go by on someone,  so I just said hi and was about to go again but I couldn't get out in time and so we got trapped in another half hour long conversation haha. But her friend actually was really cool and sincere. She had some really sweet questions about what happens after this life and why there is pain and sorrow in the world. We were able to help answer them and give her a copy of the Book of Mormon so she could find them herself further. She's really awesome, and we wouldn't have food her if it weren't for the crazy Croatian lady haha. 

Elder Chamberlain and I

So the spiritual thought this week comes from something that someone said in Stake Conference. It really struck me. 

So when Jesus is dying on the cross, the Bible says:

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

Now this is a key part of the Atonement. This is the Crux of the entirety of the Plan of Salvation. This is the most important part of the history of mankind. And God leaves his only son comfortless at his time of greatest need. 

God asks us to have faith in his son Jesus Christ and to trust him. Well this is how God showed his trust in Jesus Christ. He put everything on him. He trusted Christ that even though Jesus couldn't feel His presence , he would still choose His way. He left everything up to Christ. 

And the reason this struck me so hard was because there have been multiple times recently where I have felt like I've been forsaken of sorts. That I'm given really hard trials and insecurities and weaknesses even though I'm being completely obedient. I've felt like I've been punished for doing nothing wrong. And I know that trials are ways to come closer to God, but I've had a hard time understanding why it feels like sometimes I'm left alone in them. 

But the same way God showed his trust in his Only Begotten, he sometimes does the same thing with us. Sometimes he lets us struggle because he trusts us to all choose Him even though we can't see him guiding us. When we feel most alone, that is when it is up to us to persevere. To continue our faith. And if we can have faith when we feel most hopeless, if we can continue to walk in righteousness when it is darkest, that's how we can live up to His trust. 

So now, if I ever feel like I'm trudging through life alone, I'm going to know that it's just because God trusts me to keep on trudging. 

Life is good, really good. God is good. He loves you! You're awesome! Don't give up, just keep trudging! 

I love you all! 

Elder Harps

Our district just before Sister Thurgood got emergency transferred to Wetterau

Woche 13

Servus meine Freunden! 

This week was flipping awesome. Lots of new things learned, lots of people talked to, lots of rain, and lots of miracles! 

This week so much fun. Lots happened. 

We met with a few former investigators that let us in and then proceeded to argue and rant about the church for an hour and a half, so that was fun. And by fun I mean awkward and not fun haha. 

We also moved someone again into our ward this time, and fortunately a bunch of people showed up so it only took a half an hour. 

Paul, the awesome new convert in Darmstadt

We also got to attend the baptism of Paul, a new convert in Darmstadt! He's so awesome. He's always smiling and really gets the gospel. What a stud. And his baptism was really sweet and awesome. 

We also went on splits again with the zone leaders and it was way fun. I spent the day in in Frankfurt with Elder Domingues. We had a street display in the rain for three and a half hours. It was a lot of fun talking to what few people were out and about. It was super super cold though. Also right next to us was a "Save the children" street display. And right next to them was a "save the animals" street display so the poor pedestrians got so sick of being talked to by the time they got to us haha. Really cool, really cold, good work :) 

Me pretending to enjoy the rain

I realized something this week as I started off the week feeling a little overwhelmed. I have thought, for whatever reason, and not consciously, that for my mission I was going to have a beginning part where I learn how to be a good missionary and then after I would really start to be able to work and do God's will. But that's not at all how it works. I don't know why that was in my head. 

God didn't send me here to BE a good missionary, he sent me here to BECOME one. My mission is going to be hard the entire time and I don't want it any other way. If life is easy I'm not growing. I'm going to be learning and improving my whole mission and my whole life and that's awesome.
It helped me overcome my feelings of inadequacy realizing this. Because I realized that God doesn't sit there and criticize us. He doesn't sit up there and think "Well, at least he tried, but he needs to be a lot better". Not at all. He rejoices with us every step we take. I am EXACTLY where God wants me to be. I'm not perfect, but that's okay! I'm making progress, I'm living with the spirit, I'm Obedient, I'm trying to simply lift where I stand. To contribute where possible and I've been better able to trust in the Lord. I know that as long as I don't let opportunities to improve slip by, I'm doing the will of God. That's doing my best. I don't need to be perfect. I just need to lift where I can. 

And I also realized that that's how life is. Sometimes we think, "I'm not good enough. I don't know the scriptures good enough, I'm not good at talking to people, I don't keep all the Commandments perfectly, sometimes I'm not patient, I need to love people more. Eventually I'll be good enough". But it's not true. There's a difference between weaknesses and faults. Just because aren't good at something doesn't mean we aren't good enough. We just gotta help when we see an opportunity to. And it will be enough. 

The Afghanistanian people we ate with last week

You all are awesome. God loves you. 

Life is good

Elder Harps