Woche 46

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!!! ️️️️!!! 

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIMEEE! 

I'm so excited for Christmas! I just love this season and also I'm way excited to Skype my family haha. 

This week was really really awesome. The Lord has been pouring out blessings. 

We've been finding a lot of really cool people, who have been kind enough to hear us out and test the Book of Mormon for themselves. It's been cool to hear their experiences. 

One girl from this week, Laila, is trying to figure out which religion is right, and she said as she's been reading in the Book of Mormon, she feels peace and calm. She's been reading a ton and she's doing well. 

We were blessed this week and had a lot of appointments go through and we had a lot of cool experiences. On Saturday we had 4 appointments in a row go through and taught really cool lessons for each of them. 

So Johny is doing amazing. He has a new light about him. He stands up straighter and smiles and you can see Christ lifting his burdens. It is wonderful. He has quit smoking entirely and is reading in the Book of Mormon every day, especially through audio book haha. He said "I just love listening to the Word of God as I do things". He said he believes it's all true, and he's excited to be baptized. 

The only problem is that he suddenly had to leave to Italy to get a working permit, so that he can get a job here in Germany. He's there now and we still have regular contact with him, but as soon as we get an address we will probably send the Italian Elders to him so they can continue to teach him. He should be back within a month, but until then, he needs to continue to be taught. 

Missions are awesome. I wish I could better put into words how much I love it out here. 

This week's thought comes from a scripture my grandma shared with me last week!

She shared the scripture from Alma when the king says he "will give all [his] sins to know [God]" (Alma 22:16).

Right with that same story, I love that when Ammon disarms (figuratively, not literally) King Lamoni's father on the road to Middoni, it says 

"23 Now the king, fearing he should lose his life, said: If thou wilt spare me I will grant unto thee whatsoever thou wilt ask, even to half of the kingdom." (Alma 20:23). 

But when Aaron is preaching the gospel to him, right before he says he would give up all his sins, Alma 22:15 says 

"15 And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy."

I just think it's so cool that his mortal life, to him, is worth half his Kingdom. If Ammon had asked for more, he would rather die. But his soul and the blessings of the gospel are worth the world to him. He's willing to give up all that he has, even his whole kingdom. He will give all his sins to know his God. 

That is so beautiful to me. It reminds me of the Rich young ruler in the new Testament who wasn't willing to sell all he had and follow Christ. We So often think that we would never do that, but we actually do that every day, if you're anything like me. We often times know exactly what we could do better, but we ask God what we should do anyway, hoping he'll tell us something else. We need to give up all our vices. Not just the easy ones.

I love you all! Give a gift to Christ this week in celebration of his birth! Serve someone around you, brighten someones day, be a little more patient or open, tell someone you love them, and have a very merry Christmas :) 

Frohe Weihnachten!!! 

Elder Harps 

Pictures:

My family is awesome. This Advent Calendar is amazing. This was the best advent's calendar thing from this week 

Us at the Dortmund Weihnachtsmarkt with a creepy Santa statue

Elder Oakeson has a gift for being able to fall asleep in any position, at any time, in under 30 seconds no joke. Out and snoring in 30 seconds hahaha