Woche 34

Grüß euch nochmal!!

This week was another great one. Langen is flipping the best. Sorry again for the long email. I know I've been kinda inconsistent haha. Long then short and long then short. Sorry! :)

Soroush is doing awesome. Like way awesome. I wish awesome people like him could refer themselves like he did all the time. It would make our job way easier haha. He came to church again this week despite the really long ride and crazy train connections on sundays. He loved it again. Elder Sticht and I were on split this week here in Langen, and had one of the coolest lessons of my mission so far with Soroush. He has been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and told us he feels the spirit every time he does. He really wanted to give his friend a copy of the Book of Mormon so he gave him his own copy and then went onto lds.org to keep reading until we could meet with him and give him another one. WHO DOES THAT?? Soroush, that's who. Well he had a lot of really cool questions written down to ask us. We started going through answering them all. He asked us what our doctrine was, and what kind of rules/commandments we follow. We had prepared a lesson on the Plan of Salvation, which explains where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after this life, and also had prepared to teach him about a few of the commandments. So it was perfect.

He loved it all as we taught him. He was nodding and agreeing and asking questions and writing notes and it was fantastic. When we finally managed to communicate the idea that we experience hardship and trial here in this life so that we may have experience and learn, his face lit up, and he said "Das ist richtig! Das ist richtig!" (That is right! That is right!). We continued teaching and it went really really well. The spirit was very strong.

He said at the end of the lesson "That good feeling? I feel it a lot. I know that what you told me is right. I know it is from God and that you are sent from God". IT WAS SO COOL. HE IS FANTASTIC

Still working on getting the Manics down the seemingly endless road to their baptism. They continue to make good progress and overcome slowly and steadily everything in their path. They are awesome.

K so funny story.

Yesterday Elder Adams and I were walking down the street, and we walked past this shop. After we walked past, we both stopped. We looked at each other, and said "what was THAT?" so we backtracked a few feet and looked in the window. Low and behold we saw the creepiest "police man" statue I have ever seen before haha. We looked at it in stunned horror for a second, then turned to each other and started laughing at how we both had stopped and noticed it haha. It was really funny. Also really creepy. Picture at the end :)

This week's thought is on the importance of work.

As Joseph Smith describes his story of how he was able to receive revelation, I noticed something cool about what he wrote. In verses 11 and 12 of Joseph Smith History it reads:

"11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom,let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again,knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God,I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible."

In his story, Joseph did a few very important things to receive an answer to his question. One is that he read in the scriptures and prayed. These are commonly cited and very important. But what I thought was cool was that he said that he received this first inspiration from the Bible "While I was laboring". It is really important that simply because we have questions or doubts or concerns, we don't stop laboring. Labor is how we show God our faith. He WILL give us answers and comfort, but we cannot stop. Persevere and continue to work at it, and you will receive an answer as Joseph did. 

I know this Church is true! I know that Christ is my Savior and Redeemer! I know that  God loves each of us. He knows and loves you. Now have a great week!

Tschüß!!

Elder Harps

Woche 33

(This came Tuesday but I am only now getting it posted.) 

Surprise! Pday is on Tuesday this week, because we wanted to go to the Frankfurt Auto Show. Should be cool :)

This (half) week was awesome. It really hasn't been that long since Thursday so I don't got a whole lot to report.

Soroush came to church on Sunday and loved it. He has already read through the first two books of Nephi and said he gets a good feeling when he reads in the Book of Mormon. He's way cool. We have another lesson on Thursday with him, and we are very excited :)

William we are so working with but we missed the appointment on Saturday and haven't quite managed to get back in contact with him. Hopeful all works out, and we aren't too worried.

Me holding a friends pet snake :)

The Manics' lives are as crazy as ever. We are still working on getting them married and baptized. Dzula is still having some pain from her pregnancy but it's getting better so we are very happy. Lots and lots of prayers have been answered.

Funny story from last night. We were along down the street and a guy sitting on the side said something to us. We sealed over to talk to us and he was totally plastered hahaha. He told us to watch it and not fall into the ocean and pointed at the street haha. We told him thanks and he said (in German) "Wait, do you want some of my coffee? Actually, wait no, my coffee is beer, but you get what I mean". Elder Adams and I just walked off laughing. 

We also got to have zone conference this week which was awesome. I learned a ton. Also though it was yesterday so I haven't had the opportunity yet really to sort through it all and come up with something for to share, so I'll make sure to do that for next week.

Ich hab euch lieb! Gott liebt dich! Habt eine gute Woche!

Elder Harps

 

Double Rainbow (Doppelregenbogen!!) in Langen

Woche 32

Elder Adams and I

Grüß euch!

This week was awesome. Again. Missions are awesome and especially missions in Langen.

This week we were able to meet with Mary again and teach her the message of the Restoration again. She is so sweet. She seriously has a new glow about her and she understands everything so much better. She makes creative connections and comments and she is just doing awesome. We are way sad that she is headed back to Liberia on Sunday. She will be a great strength to the ward there.

We've been bouncing all over the place this last week trying to get a hold of our investigators and other people we are working with and we were finally able to get some appointments coming through. So many have been falling out, but we have started really seeing some really cool things start to happen.

One guy we are excited to work with is named Soroush. He's from Iran and he's way cool. He is already a devout christian, but has had a hard time finding a church that he feels really practices what it teaches. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he's been reading from it. He already has an awesome relationship with God and knows how to receive answers to prayers. He told us he feels good when he reads in the Book of Mormon, and he's accepted a baptismal date for October 7th! He is way cool and very prepared. Even though he literally lives in the furthest possible corner of our area.

William is also someone awesome we started teaching this week. He was actually found by the sisters during a finding activity this last week and we were able to meet with him. He's from Brazil and has lived here for 7 years already. He doesn't really know a whole lot about God and Jesus Christ, aside from the fact that he knows he believes in them. He is super excited to learn more about them from us. As we taught him the message of the Restoration, the spirit was very strong. We pointed it out to him in the middle of the lesson, and he said " yeah, i can feel it. It's subtle but its there". As we finished the lesson and challenged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he said "you know that feeling? I can feel it stronger and stronger". We told him that it is the Holy Ghost and that that is how he will recognize his answers from God. He's way awesome and we are planning on setting a baptismal date with him on Saturday when we meet with him again.

K so long spiritual thought time again haha

While eating breakfast one day this week, the lyrics of this hymn really struck me. 
"Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!"
I think there are a lot of things we fear in life. We fear things, like clowns, spiders, snakes, and disease. We can fear other things like the opinions of others, missing out, public speaking, and the unknown. There are a lot of scary things in the world. A lot of things to be afraid of. But I think this fear that this hymn picks out is even more subtle:
"no toil nor labor fear" 
This fear is interesting. We need not be afraid to work. But why would we be afraid to work? I can definitely understand not wanting to work out of laziness or weakness or lack of motivation, but why would we FEAR work? 
I think it's not because of the work itself, but what it means to truly do the Lord's work. To truly do the Lord's work, one must entirely give himself up. To really put your whole energy into serving the Lord, we need to give up our will, our desires, and our vices entirely. We cannot truly serve Him if we are holding back. We must serve him with all our "heart, might, mind, and strength". And THAT is scary. It is at least for me. To think about really truly letting go. I'd be worried that it might not work, that I'd lose myself and be unhappy doing the will of someone else. I don't know exactly why it's scary to think about giving up my whole self to the Lord, but it is. It's really hard to truly toil and labor. 
Is scary because we don't know what will happen. The Lord has promised us blessings, happiness, and salvation if we give ourselves up to him, but if we have never done it before, how can we know if it works? We can't, and that's scary. We need to have faith.  
And when we have faith, "Grace shall be as your day". God WILL reach out in strength and love to comfort and support you. He will lift you so that you can overcome anything that comes your way. He will be your crutch in time of need. It will not be easy, because if it were easy you wouldn't grow. But he will always be there to make sure that you make it out in one piece, no matter how dark it may appear. He will raise you to heights you've never dreamed of. Never even knew were possible. I know this because though I'm not perfect at giving my will to God, I'm trying really hard to get there, and I've found strength and power in myself that I never could have imagined was there. God helps us unlock our own potential. He helps us and supports us like the children we are. We all are learning to walk after Christ, and God holds our hand and helps us back up when we stumble. But we CAN learn to walk. To run and to jump with joy. 
"Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well, all is well" 

The next verse reads:
"Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?" 
How can we expect God to teach us to walk if we won't stand up? How can we finish the race if we aren't willing to take the steps? How can we "think to earn a great reward / If we now shun the fight"? God has promised us strength, grace, love, happiness, eternal Families, and EXALTATION. How can we expect him to give us these wonderful priceless gifts if we won't even try to walk? If we are only going to half heartedly put our effort to this toil and labor, how can we expect a great reward? 
President Henry B Eyring said something along the lines of "The Lord doesn't want your time. He doesn't want your service. He doesn't want your energy, your work, your money. He wants you" 
Are the promises of the Lord-- Happiness, peace, Humility, love, charity, prosperity, joy, eternal families, salvation, even Eternal Life-- not worth everything we have to offer and more? Is it not worth it? The Lord our God has promised us eternal happiness with him and our families if we will truly follow after his Son. If we truly give ourselves to this labor. I can have that. You can have that. We all can have that. Any person willing to follow Christ and do the will of the Father truly will receive eternal life. It's a reality. But we must work for it. Truly work. Truly toil and labor. 
I know it's scary. I'm still working on it. We all are. Sometimes it may seem impossible. But we have a living, loving God on our side. He is our Father and we are his children. He will never leave us alone. He will always prepare a way for us to succeed. And as we stumble, as we get up time and time again, as we lose ourselves, we will find ourselves. All is for our benefit. It is for our experience. We will soon have this tale to tell. We will learn and we will grow and we will enter into Eternal Life. For the Lord has promised it. 
"Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!"

Sorry again for the long email! God loves you! I love you all! Habt eine schöne Woche!

Elder Harps

Woche 31

Phillip's Baptism!! 

This week was also way awesome!!

The work here in Langen is on freaking fire!

So on Saturday PHILLIP WAS BAPTIZED!!

It was a way way cool service! His best friend is on a mission in Utah right now, but he recorded a video of him bearing his testimony of this gospel and we were able to play it at the baptismal service. It totally surprised Phillip and he was so happy. I'm sure I wasn't supposed to see it, but he teared up several times throughout. He is such a stud. I'm way happy for him. Lots of people showed up and supported him, including his parents who are strongly Catholic. It was really really sweet. I've never seen him smile so big as after he was baptized. He has had a new light about him these last few days, as we had the chance to meet with him again afterwards. It is so so cool to see the change in him.

After the Baptismal Service

Mary is doing awesome as well. She too has really taken a new light to her. She is more confident and understands more. She smiles all the time and even laughs more easily. She is so sweet and humble. She heads back to Liberia in a week and a half and I'm way sad to see her go. But she will be a great strength for the church down there. She is super excited to go down there and invite all of her friends to hear from the missionaries and come to church. Her son is already a member down there, and she will slide right into the ward there with him. She and Phillip are so awesome!

We are still working on getting the Manics to baptism! They are so sweet and humble. Despite so many obstacles thrown in their way by Satan, they are pushing through slowly but surely. We are still trying to get them married, but it's a way big bureaucratic nightmare here in Germany, but we are making progress. Way stoked about them still. They are awesome :)

So this week's P-day was really weird because it got delayed a bit so I don't have a whole lot of time. But this week has been so so fantastic. Elder Adams and I are working our hearts out and seeing miracles every single day. This work is real. God leads it. It never ceases to amaze me how God can direct the work so that not only are people being prepared to enter into His church, but also enabling us missionaries to grow and progress in the process. He knows exactly where we need to be and when we need to be there. I know this is where I'm meant to be. God is real, and He is good. :)

That's all I got this week. Sorry if I didn't get to respond to you this week! Our email time got way wonked up. Love you all! God loves and knows you! 

Habt eine schöne Woche!!!

Elder Harps :)

apparently this is exercise equipment.
More like eggplant basketball on a chain

WE FOUND A HEDGEHOG AND IT WAS SO CUTE!

 Baking Lemon Meringue Pie for Pday today :)
Pie is sadly not a German thing, and it was way way good