Woche 18: The Lord Will Bless You

I don't know who sent them these mustaches but I seriously laughed so hard when I opened my email this morning and saw these pics Be sure to look at the rest at the end of the email!

I cannot believe that Cedara is already leaving! It seems like yesterday I heard about her call and now she is leaving! That is crazy! And it is so funny that we have the same scripture passage on our missionary plaques.

So if I stay here in Schwenningen I will be able to go to the Temple in November towards the end.

Do you find some aspects of your mission hard? How do you overcome those feelings?
I feel like the hardest part of the mission right now is trying to speak Deutsch. It is quite difficult to speak when you have no idea how to say it using correct words and correct grammar. But I don't beat myself up, I just trust in the Lord that he will help me.

Have you driven in Germany yet?
I can't drive here. Deutschland won't transfer licenses from Missouri.

I really do need to get you a new camera. Your pics are blurry. Or maybe you don't know how to take pictures, lol
Both, I am not that great of a picture taker, but the camera also doesn't know how to take pictures either.

You always say Elder Wilkins is crazy, is he the same age as you? Is he just fun and silly?
Elder Wilkins is just hilariously crazy. But a lot of fun.

What has been the biggest cultural shock so far?
I feel like I haven't had a cultural shock here. It just seems like normal life to me. Having everything in Deutsch, speaking Deutsch, and just life.

Woche 18:
Montag
Monday was pretty regular. We naturally studied in the morning and then went to email. We then went shopping and then just chilled. At 5 we went to a members house for dinner. They fed us Chili and some ice cream. It was really good. We then shared a scripture about the tree of life. Afterwards we sang "Ich weiß dass mein Erlöser lebt".

Dienstag

On Tuesday Elder Cavin had a doctors appointment. Luckily everything is fine with him. Yay, he is all healthy! Anyway, after the doctor said we could go, we went to go eat lunch. And then we had an exchange with the Singen Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Mickelson. He is from Utah. But we went out to go finding when we returned to Singen. It was a little nerve wracking being with someone way older and in a high leadership position but the fact is that he is still a regular missionary. He isn't something spectacular. In fact the spectacular thing is how he is just a regular missionary like me and everyone else. We also went and taught some referrals. It was way cool.

Mittwoch

We unfortunately had to cut our exchange short because the Deutsche Bahn was on strike for some reason. It is funny because they are always late so what could they possibly be wanting? So we went home. Sister Birk called us to pick up some cake and scones. And we dropped them off at the Gulla twins house and quickly celebrated their birthday. And then went to the Hasse Family. We shared just a small message about repentance. Afterwards they gave us some cookies.

Donnerstag

On Thursday we had another exchange. But this time I went to Schaffhausen in der Schweiz with Elder Dooreman. He is from Belgium. Anyway, we had a blast. We ate lunch and then went to personally thank a member who held a family home evening for the ward. And then went to go teach a lesson at the church to a less active. We taught the final part of the Plan of Salvation, which is death to the Judgement. It was pretty interesting. He is a bit slow because of certain medical reasons so we had to break everything down. It was a good test to see if we could teach the very basics rather then blasting him with deep doctrine. That was pretty much the day.

Freitag

Friday morning, we exchanged back in Singen. /we travelled back to Schwenningen and then made our way to Donaueschingen to have lunch with the Schwings. We shared a small thought about listening to the Lord. So it was about when the Saints didn't want to leave Jackson County because they had a little prosperity. And then the Lord said, if you would only listen to me and move, you will be so much more blessed that there would not be room enough to receive them. And then we went to Bruder Ulfik. He is one interesting man, but he is way cool. He was like some Scientist when he was younger. Super smart and genius.

Samstag

Really the only thing that happened on Saturday was having a lesson with "J". Bruder Justaga led the discussion and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was really good and simple and basic. They also fed us breakfast and then we helped them move some cupboards.

Sonntag

Sunday was really cool. We naturally went to Priesthood. I gave the missionary report for the second time. Then we had a lesson on Love and Charity. We talked about the different things we do to express that love. Such as trust, belief, and kind words. We then had a lesson in Isaiah. I can't remember quite what was going on but we read in chapters 40 to 50. And hen after Sunday School, Bruder Schwarzwälder asked if I could be a door server. Naturally I said yes. But then Bruder Becker asked if I could play the piano since the ward pianist was away. So I asked Elder Wilkins if he could be the door server since he wasn't too familiar with the selection of hymns they chose. So I ended playing for all of Sacrament meeting. The first song went great. But then the second was a little nerve wracking. It was the Sacrament hymn but I never heard of it before. Oh mensch, luckily the Lord helped and I was able to play it. The Lord really does help you with everything.

Ich weiß dass wir einen Propheten horte haben. Ich weiß dass das Buch Mormon wahr ist. Ich weiß dass diese Kirche durch Joseph Smith wiederhergestellt war. Ich weiß dass Himmlischer Vater und Jesus Christus uns lieben. Ich weiß dass Jesus Christus für uns getötet war.

Ich habe euch Lieb. Bis nächstem Montag! Tschüß!