Miracles

Definitely a week of miracles it seems, I guess I can say pretty much my whole mission has been one, but I would definitely say this was one of the more special ones. At the beginning of this last transfer our Zone Leader received revelation that our companionship would have the opportunity to have a baptism this transfer if we wanted it. You can imagine, Elder Sollis and I immediately committed one with another to do everything we could to make that happen. 3 weeks in to the transfer nothing had happened with any of our investigators. Our main guy that we were pushing for accepted the invitation to baptism, again, but he doesn´t know when he will be baptized. I have to be honest, sometimes you lose a little bit of hope when everything seems to be going wrong even when you think it should be going right. "Don´t receive a witness until after the trial of your faith" comes to mind. Then the Lord decided to send us a gift...to be honest, probably one we weren´t worthy of. Enter in Adeola. She is an older mother with 5 children. From Nigeria, moved to Italy, and was then sent here. She´s got a really bright smile and loves to say "amen" when we pray hahaha.

We met her three weeks ago at our stake conference. One of the members in our ward, Sister Schuster, was the one to introduce us. We gave her a blessing the next week in church met with her the next Wednesday for our first lesson. She accepted everything, including our soft baptismal commitment. Last Sunday we had our next lesson and committed her to be baptized for the 30th of November. We had one week to watch the miracle of revelation from God happen. Daily contact, wonderful members, and hard work became everything to us for this last week. She accepted everything, it was incredible. We ended up sharing with her in one of our last lessons, "Share the Gift." The program the church is putting on this winter season.

The next day we met, she had shared it with all of her friends on facebook, talked with her roommate about it, and invited her to come to church. Come Saturday we meet with our Mission President and he approves her, saying that she is an incredible woman and a pioneer for her family. Sunday rolls around and Elder Sollis and I got to have the wonderful opportunity to help this wonderful woman partake of the blessings this church can provide. Adeola Alabi is a new member of our church and I am so excited for her. It´s something else getting to see the happiness that this Gospel brings to those who want it. The light in her eyes at knowing the truth really testified to me that me being here is the right thing. We will be meeting with her friend this week and we´re hoping that we can have similar success with her as well. I can´t really say how blessed I feel right now. I have never met or seen someone that had been so prepared before. It really has been something spectacular and I still can´t get over it. I really hope I never do, because it has been a true and wonderful miracle. Great thing about miracles is when you look for them, you find more of them. The Lord truly blesses his children and when we make our account to him I hope that I can feel the peace in my soul that I was able to help another person come closer to him. There is so much more work to do and I am so excited to see how things go. A great way to start off my second year I say. Hopefully things continue to go well! Thanks for everything guys! I love you all!!

Tschüss!
Elder Lee

Here are a couple pictures of the Baptism and then some other old random ones 

hmmmmm

What a week it has been...and I can´t even tell you about it!! I am not going to mess things up by saying stuff before stuff happens :P Haha but other than that, what an incredible week it has been. I guess I should start off with the fact that our power is basically gone in our apartment. Luckily we have a mini refrigerator that is still working....so we´re running on cold food and even colder showers...we thought running around in the rain washed our clothes well enough for us to wear the same ones for the rest of the week...if you believe that we did that...well, I guess I haven´t given you good enough reason not to XD. We got a couple more investigators this week and things are looking incredibly well. All of the sudden Karlsruhe is exploding...and it is right before Transfer Calls. Blast it. Why can´t it just be at the beginning of the transfer right now. I would like that so much more!! I also had my hump day this week...way weird thought for me. This next year can only be 50 times better than the last though, so I am super pumped!! I don´t have really much time to write, we have way to much to do at the moment but I hope that you all have a wonderful week and remember that God is always there!!! 

Oh ya, Thanksgiving is this Thursday...hehe I´m so pumped!! 

Tschüss!
Elder Lee

Half Way Mark

Wow...3 days and a year will have gone by...I don´t even know what to think right now. Haha to be honest, I am a little bit scared. Everyone says that the second half just flies by...and I really don´t want it to. There are definitely some days where one does, but I really have come to love it here in Germany. Yesterday we had an appointment with one of our member families, the Friedrich´s. They are really such a great family. We somehow got onto the topic of Christmas and my chances of staying in the area, when they figured out I would probably be going little Basti gave me the biggest hug and was just like "Nooooo!! You can´t leave!! I am going to hold you here and you are going to stay." Haha I couldn´t help but laugh, Brother Friedrich than had to try and make things all emotional and tell me how much the family was going to miss me when I go. I really do love this area. I really just want to pray so badly to stay, but according to mission lingo, when you want to stay...that´s usually when you go :P So now I am stuck between a rock and a hard place lol. I also was able to give one of our investigators a blessing this week after Church. The opportunity to have the Lord´s Priesthood Authority back on the earth really is such a blessing. Sometimes I feel like these experiences help me more than they help the recipient. I am truly grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve out here and I really am so pumped for the next year and to see what miracles the Lord has in store. One of those being three new investigators for our area this week. We´re been praying to have more success with finding and as we really have dedicated ourselves and our time we have seen the Lord´s reply. I guess at times like these you just have to take a minute and look back on everything that has happened. All I can really think at this time is how grateful I am for all that I have received. This mission really has just been spectacular. There have been plenty of Up´s and Down´s but somehow, every single time, I have been comforted and helped to become better than I had been before. Definitely worth it. 100 percent. Also, really quick, I also wanted to share my thoughts on a video that I recently saw. It´s on the lds homepage but it´s the Bible Video of Peter walking on water with the Lord. I really love this video. I think it was really incredibly well done for a couple of reasons. 1. When Peter calls out to the Lord asking him if it really is him. I find myself doing that so often when I feel like I receive revelation from the Lord. The Lord seems to always strengthen me in the process and as I step into that "water" There is a realization that comes with it, that the things that I have received are truly from God. 2. As Peter is walking towards the Lord the water is not calm whatsoever...but still bearable. Which brings me to the next part of Peter pausing before he has reached Christ. His movement forward has stopped. He still is facing the Lord, but he isn´t moving towards him. I like to relate this to doing the work of the Lord. We may have received an answer that this Church is true and we may still go to church on Sunday and take the sacrament worthily. We may do all of these things but going through the motions doesn´t bring progression. That´s a major point of this Church, it helps us progress. You cannot progress by just going through the motions. That is why sincere prayer, faith, pondering, and filling yourself with the word of God are so important. This brings me to my third point. As Peter stands in the water doubt immediately begins to fill his mind. His progression has stopped and therefor Satan has a chance to come in, and he comes in hard. The thunder crashing in the background is no small thing in my mind. Just like he did with Moses, he will rant and rave until he brings you down into the depths of Hell. It is at the point of realization that he is sinking, and sinking fast, that Peter cries out to the Lord, begging, "Save me!" Have we not all reached this point sometime in our lives? The lord comes. He reaches out his hand and grasps Peter´s, pulling him up out of the water. His Atonement is that saving grace. It is what pulls us out of the water. We had Zone Training this week and I had the opportunity to gain a new perspective on the Atonement. One of the Elders, Elder King, a good friend of mine was called into the middle of a circle of missionaries. Our Zone Leader had a box of doughnuts and he asked the first Elder in the circle...actually ended up being our mission president, if he would like a doughnut. He said yes, so Elder Brown (ZL) asked Elder King to do 15 push-ups so that President Stoddard could have a doughnut. He then went around the circle and Elder King did push-ups for every single person. (Ended up being over 250 I think.) And we all watched him struggle. Some of us thought that if we didn´t take the doughnut, he wouldn´t suffer. We were wrong. For those who didn´t take he still did the push-ups anyways. As I watched him doing the push-ups for me I had an aching in my heart at the realization that my friend was being put through this so that I could partake. And that is when it hit me. Before we came to this earth, before this earth was, we were in heaven. With him. Our Brother. We loved one another and we took care of one another. Picture someone really close to you. Now picture them suffering for you. What does it change when you think of Christ. Imagine this person nailed to a cross. Imagine them suffering in the garden for all of your sins. Changes things a little bit huh? I invite you all to remember him this week, and everything that he has done for you. Just like Peter, progression is key. Just facing him isn´t enough anymore, to be honest, I don´t think it ever really was. We have to do something. As you remember him you´ll feel a need to go and do something. I felt it after this training and the more I learn the more I feel this pulling in me to do what I know to be true. Remember him, and have a wonderful week. I love you all.
Tschüss,
Elder Lee

More Bible Bashing...

Well, a part of me wants to applaud my companionship this week the other wants to smack myself for having done it. If you can´t tell from the title we had a pretty solid Bible Bash with one of our investigators this week. He hasn´t really been progressing at all and so we thought we´d address his questions as best as we could....Somehow in the middle of it all things went crazy and Elder Sollis and Erick just went at it. Erick was pumped about the fact that Elder Sollis was speaking so much in German but I guess the fact that Elder Sollis was calling him out on just about everything hit a little bit of a nerve. Seeing as we are a companionship I decided to join in. Since I am able to understand a lot more and have been memorizing a ton of scripture we basically proved Erick wrong in every single thing he said. At the time I was really pleased with it and I thought that we were being really successful, but then I realized something very wrong about the whole situation. There was a point when I realized a very specific thing that was missing in the entire thing and it actually shut my mouth pretty quickly when I did. The lack of the spirit was a lot more palpable than it ever has been, and then the Lord showed me something quite miraculous. Something really quite small, but so huge to me. I heard the tiniest sound in the background, the window was open and so it allowed us to hear what was going on outside. Someone was playing on their recorder. It was the Christmas song that is always played when you see Baby Jesus in the cradle. I then realized something very important, I wasn´t inviting Erick to come unto Christ, I was bashing with him about his faith in him. Even if I found it False, what a blessing it is to know that at least he was there. It didn´t help me with the lesson at all really. I think it just helped me remember why I was there. Something I have forgotten every once in a while. You get into the grind of things and stuff just becomes, well, normal. I think I really needed that reminder. As we returned home I was able to read a little bit from something M. Russel Ballard had written and it really affected me on how my relationship with Christ was becoming. You see so many amazing and crazy things and then somehow you look back and just feel like you´re going through the motions. We have become a little busier and I was forgetting to take time out to continue to develop my relationship with Christ. I found it super interesting. I have dedicated two years to learning more about him and also to teach others about him and still, somehow I got a little bit off track. I can´t imagine that it is any easier back home. I really want to stress how important it is for each and every one of us to remember him each and every day of our lives. Somehow the miracle that he brought about can be forgotten so quickly if we don´t remind ourselves of it always. The people in the Book of Mormon are perfect examples of just that same principle. They say incredible miracles over and over and over again and somehow they forgot those truths that they once held so dear. Halloween is over, sadly. (We thought we would dress up as Jehovah´s Witnesses...but somehow everyone mistakes us for them anyways so we just went out in our normal clothes. haha) Christmas is coming closer and so is Thanksgiving. I think that both holidays play a huge role in giving us an opportunity to be better people than we normally are. They also give us an opportunity to think on Christ and all that he has done for us. I would invite all of you to think about Christ more than you ever have before during this season. You can´t imagine the kind of change it will bring about when you do. I  can promise that. I have seen it as I have refocused on the important things in life. Thanks for all that you guys do and for all the help and the support that you have given me. I love you all and I hope that things only get better as we go along. I am excited for these next couple of months!! A time where everyone can focus a little bit more on others and not themselves. Gott sei mit euch bis aufwiedersehn. 

Elder Lee

Sonstiges

Shucks, I have been having some serious troubles trying to get members to our investigator appointments. It is definitely my fault on this one but man, there is nothing like reading in PMG and having them tell you over and over again how important it is to have members with your investigators and then failing at it...haha well, always room to improve. I guess I should start with our first "other" lesson that we had this week. We ended up meeting with a certain woman who, in our area book, was named as an Anti-Christ. She seemed really nice on the phone when we talked to her though, so we assumed that everything would be good. We show up to her house and her son and another man are there, we sit down, she gives us water and then she turns on some very familiar music...The Mormon Tabernacle Choir...If you´re thinking what I am thinking, either there are some really confused missionaries or we were about to be heading on the ride of our lives...we ended up taking the latter. After the exchange of some pleasantries Sabine began almost nonchalantly to explain some of our "beliefs". She pulled out a big Atlas and looked at me, then pointed to a certain spot on the world map. You guessed it, the Bering Straight. We then went through the next hour going over some of the craziest Anti-Mormon Material I have ever heard. Normally, she says, she doesn´t tell missionaries this stuff, but she felt "impressed" that she should blast us with it. Luckily, Elder Sollis couldn´t understand half of it, at the same time I was begging for some back-up hahaha but I could distinctly feel the Spirit with me so I stayed calm...and listened. When she had finally finished with some statements she then asked if I had any questions for her. I was grateful that I had the spirit with me, we were able to ask her some very simple questions that helped me get a better idea of the situation and what her thoughts were, etc. She had previously stated that she was unbiased in the situation but that facts were facts. She then stated that she had found plenty of very credible authors on the internet and referred us to an anti-Mormon website...I was able to turn things around a little bit and focus on prayer and the importance of going to the source of all truth. (Relate to Elder Christofferson´s talk from this past conference) I was open and honest with her and I didn´t "Bible bash" with her either...it was pretty interesting actually haha She ended up giving me a much different answer than I had expected. She talked about speaking with certain Spirits and that they help her reach a new point of enlightenment. She said they were making her wright a book and even though there were many times she didn´t want to write it she knew that she had to. (I was praying for the Spirit to stay with me very intensely by this point.) We were somehow able to get out of there by the end. We did close with a prayer though, I was actually really happy about that. Later the next day we received some texts from Sabine thanking us for our kindness. She said some more things and I kindly, but sternly, rejected the offers. After this whole experience I really have realized how wonderful it is to have the spirit with us, but I also realized something else. I´ve probably spoken on this before but I really was so impressed with the one thought "how firm a foundation" I was amazed, and I think Sabine was too, that every single thing she threw at me had absolutely no effect whatsoever. There have been times, and experiences, that have caused me to worry if I really could withstand the intensity of the atttacks that Satan throws at us. From this, over and over again that thought has run through my mind. "How firm a Foundation." My testimony of the savior will always continue to grow so long as I nourish it. There is a wonderful simplicity about the gospel that I really have come to admire. There is genuine peace when the Spirit arrives. I strive for that feeling, I yearn for it. It kills me to see and hear of people who lose it. All that is required is to exercise just a particle of faith. One particle is quite tiny in the vastness of the universe. What an invitation! The lord will never force us, we can choose to come to him. But we have to try and we have to want it. It will always be easier to not do it, to not try, but at the end of the day we´ll regret not having tried. Build yourselves on a firm foundation. There are going to be a lot of bad things coming and if you can´t hold to the simple truths that you now have you´re not going to have them after everything is done. I love you all, I wish I could share more but this thing is to long already. Have a wonderful week! Keep your chins up and always smile!...And never forget to build upon Christ!!

Elder Lee

Transfers

Well, I am going to be in Karlsruhe for the rest of my mission. There is no way out of Narnia. They burned the wardrobe...luckily it´s Narnia. I love it here!! Things have been going really well! We ended up going to the grave ceremony for a man who passed away recently...ended up just being Catholic Mass....interesting to say the least. Ah well, I can now say that I went to mass in Germany. I don´t want to be the bearer of bad news or anything but the things they do make absolutely no sense. I have been reading in the Bible and I would say easily half of the things that were done in there were against exactly what is stated in the Bible. They did have a good message about helping other Christians though, I was very happy about that. Each and every one of the missionaries came out of that room with a different feeling XD I was just struck by how many people there are out there who really do believe on something. I sometimes forget that when I walk on the streets of Germany and see the things that go on. At the same time between the other Elders you had one wanting to call everyone to repentance....another who didn´t understand anything that was being said at all, and then the last wanting to just leave the place. I really wish that I had taken some courses or studied more about other religions in the world. I still need to learn everything about my own. There are so many cool little things in the scriptures, that when you piece it together your whole outlook on the Book itself changes. I feel my testimony changing so often. There are some key principles that will always remain the same, but there are other things that can´t help but change as I learn more about my savior and what he did for me. Hahaha it´s kindof brutal realizing how little I know every time I come out of a new situation that I have been in. I have got a long ways to go...for that I am grateful though. I really have come to enjoy learning. I love seeing things from a different perspective. I still need to work on seeing things that way when I am dealing with others but I hope that one day I can be good enough about it that I can help people a lot more. Ah well, this week has been great! The stitches should be coming out in a couple of days and I will probably have a pretty gnarly scar. I hope not, but it is very possible. Meh, I´m just about bald anyways it´s not like the hair would have been growing there in a couple of months XD I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Tschüss!

Elder Lee

Stitches

Well mom, if you understand what my leading entry is about than I can let you know that all is well and that I am not dead...completely. This week has led to more and more exciting things. I now know what the inside of a German Hospital looks like...not as exciting as I thought it would be but ah well. In other news we ended up getting to visit an Anti-Christ. It was great...probably because we didn´t meet her...but her son was there and he was a recently returned exchange student with Mormon friends in America...we will be returning this week. Let us hope that there is plenty of success in store. He plays tennis so maybe I can shape up my game a little bit and use it to contact some more people haha We also ended up getting a new investigator this week. He actually was an old investigator in our area book from 2009...well done missionaries from back in the day.

We ended up meeting with him and he thought I was German...he then asked from what area I was from and I said America. He just about lost it when I told him I had only been here since January. Made my day. He´s an older Gent though, so I am pretty sure he is partially deaf. Good thing he can look at Elder Sollis´s and my pretty face. They have some serious converting power...lol This wonderful man started off with telling us that he was going to be Catholic no matter what we did....psh, we played the Holy Ghost card and now he´s going to be reading in the Book of Mormon with us. I put him as being baptized within the next year. Also, Elder Sollis has been really sick the last two weeks. I feel pretty bad for him, keep him in your prayers if you can. I got to read a little bit in the Old Testament this week...some seriously weird situations going down in those days.

I then watched a Mormon Message where they interview people about the story of Lot and his wife. Great video. I am grateful every day for the power to choose. I hope that you all choose to continue forward in the faith and to not look back. Or else I will be using you to make a sweet marinade for my steaks...lol Have a wonderful week!

Tschüss!

Elder Lee

P.S. If you didn´t like my joke...don´t look back. 

Here are some cool pics that I was able to get...and my head...sorry mom, I´ll be more careful next time hahaha

Well..

This week was a bit of a bust and I won´t even have that much time to write this letter out...soooo Elder Sollis and I both ended up coming down with the flu this week so I will give you a quick rundown of what happened...
Monday: P-Day...feeling a little sick, do some contacting, plan, go to bed.
Tuesday: Bed
Wednesday: Bed
Thursday: Two Appointments...bad idea, Bed
Friday: Bed
Saturday: More Bed...level of sanity almost down to the level of 0
Sunday: Church, Appointment, Bed
Today: Feeling much better, ending recovery
All in all I would say it was a solid week folks. I love you all, I miss you. I miss mom giving me soup when I am sick and I miss feeling healthy hahaha I got to read a ton of scripture though, can´t beat that!! Have a great week everyone!!
Tschüss!
Elder Lee

With an Eye Single to the Glory of God

Wow, what an epic week it has been. Can I just say that conference was just incredible! I seriously have never enjoyed conference so much!! It just gets better and better every single time. Just so many things that I can learn and apply. Gee, it´s just great! I´m hoping that everyone had a chance to see conference this time around and if not, you should. They gave such good advice and some really needed council for many members of this church. It is a weird feeling being in the position of a missionary at this time. I really loved the talk that President Uchtdorf gave about asking the question "Father, is it I?" It really was much needed council for me because very often I have been focusing all of my efforts on everybody else. I do find it very important though, that even when we are focusing on others it is good to perform a "self check" It is definitely important that we have a testimony of the things that we are preaching about every single day. I really found that self-evaluation is paramount in these times. Are we really on the right path? Do we really believe in the things that we do? I can testify that things really do change drastically when you understand the meanings behind them. The search of my mission has been to really get to know Christ and to understand his Atonement. The more I think about it the more I realize that it is a lifetime pursuit, but what a great thing to strive for!! I was so impressed with the council that was given. I really can´t wait for the next issue of the Liahona to come so that I can read through the talks over and over again in my free time. There really is nothing quite like diving into the gospel and just swimming around in it all the time haha. I really hope that each and every one of you reads over those talks again there is always more truth in those words than we originally have received. Just like the prophets of old in the Book of Mormon those who speak today speak the inspired words of Christ. They truly are the revealed word of God. I really feel that the focus on building a proper foundation and building it now is reason for me to think that in the next little while the persecution that will come will increase, and it will increase a lot. Build yourself on the rock of our redeemer. Christ. There is no doubt as to why those who spoke focused so much on these things. Stay on the right paths. Learn to recognize Heavenly Father´s voice. It is no coincidence. Those who stray from the path will fall. That is the destiny that lies therein. Like I have previously stated in past letters "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" You all have the council of those who are not only incredibly smart, but are wise. They are led by God, and as President Packer stated, "The Lord is no stranger to his servant." He leads and directs his church. And he does it through the prophets, just like it says in Amos 3:7. The Lord sticks to his guns. You can be sure that he will be on the other side waiting for us and we can choose to be ashamed or we can choose to be the type of servants that he needs, move forward in faith, endure to the end, and then live with him again. Decide now and never look back. We already know the kind of reward we will receive if we do. (Relate to Lot´s wife if you are having trouble thinking of a proper example haha) Sometimes we may not think that it is going to be easy but just like it talks about in Alma 32 faith is that seed that we plant, but first we must plant that seed. You must put in a little bit of work to get that seed in there, and then that seed will grow inside of you "until the perfect day". The words of the prophets are incredible. Study them daily. It really has changed my life being out here and doing that. Those who have forgotten their testimonies should watch this conference. You have been given a sure way to obtaining that testimony again. If you want it, he´s there, and he can help you with it. No matter what other people think, no matter what other people have done, no matter what you may or may not understand, don´t give up the opportunity of a lifetime, don´t waste this chance to really know God. There is no if in the statement previous because there is no if when it comes to God. He is there. He does love us. He is the Father of our Spirits. He has called his Prophets in these latter days and He leads this Church. The faults and lies of men will not, and can not, taint that truth. He is all powerful and never ending. Satan will lose. We already know that. So let´s quit giving him the time of day when he wants it. I know I am preaching to the choir but maybe someone will stumble upon this somehow and read it. Hopefully it will help them and you understand where I stand. I´m cheering you all on, thank you for the help I received when I needed a little bit of cheering for myself. I am more grateful every single day for what I have chosen. The things I have felt and seen have confirmed to me more than once of the divinity of Christ, his mission, and his role in saving the sons and daughters of man. Now is not the time to doubt. As a missionary called of God I can promise you that when you follow the council of his servants, when you read their words and pray upon them you will receive that "Spiritual Answer" That Elder Anderson talks about. You will not find answers in that category unless you go to the source. No matter how many times you talk to Judas about Christ you will still never experience the wonder of speaking with him personally. (The same with Joseph smith. You´ll never know the truth until you go to the source)  It is an exciting time, I´m so grateful that I can be a part of this wonderful work. There is nothing quite like seeing the light in someone´s eyes who has come to know at least a piece of the truth. My mission became worth it when I saw it in my own. Make it a mission of your own to see it in yourself. I love you all, have a wonderful week!! 

Tshcüss!

Elder Lee 

Victory

America beats Germany 3 to 1 in the Finals!! And the crowd goes wild!! Woooooott!! Haha as you can see we had a great game of soccer on Wednesday. It was so wonderful being on a big soccer field again. Normally when we play we´re just on the small little fields that they have all over Germany. Since we had enough people for a full on game it made things a lot more fun and interesting. I ended up scoring all three of our goals. One of them was on a header as well so I was pretty pumped about that. It was a solid game though. I love playing with Germans because most of them are really quite good and so it allows you to actually get a lot better, which I really enjoy. Other than that proselyting has been going really well out here in the Good old town of Karlsruhe. I really absolutely love it out here. The people are great! The work is great! The town is beautiful and it really is just such a blast! We ended up running into a couple of our investigators this week and it ends up the reason why we haven´t been able to make contact is because one was in the hospital and the other was on the other side of Germany. So hopefully we will be able to figure things out with all of that stuff. We had a ton of really cool experiences this week (again) but I wanted to share a really small miracle that we saw that really increased my faith. It was about 9:45 at night and we were on our way home from an appointment. As we were on the train we were talking and Elder Sollis did the exact same thing that I did so long ago. He pulled out a Book of Mormon, looked at me, and said, "Elder, I need to give this out." So we decided to get off a stop early and started walking towards home. Elder Sollis was pretty dismayed when there was literally no one outside on the street, platform, or sidewalk. I then turned to him and asked him if he had faith that the Lord could help us give out that book. He said yes. So, I said a prayer. I started off by letting him know we were willing to do what it took to find someone, that we would talk with anyone and everyone (if anyone came) and then I asked that he would bless us with the spirit so that we would be able to talk with them clearly and that we would be able to share the message that person needed to hear. I then ended the prayer and we continued walking. A car pulls up and a man hops out, we start speed walking towards him...he takes off across the street XD we should have chased him lol but we decided that would probably not make him overly comfortable to hear our message....so we kept walking. Then at the stoplight before we reach our house a man walks out between two buildings...this time we chased him. The light turned red so we caught him there and to make the long story short. He accepted the Book of Mormon and a card. He will try and visit our church when he can but he doesn´t have a phone. So hopefully he actually comes. I really was grateful though to see that the Lord really does answer our prayers. We just need to go out and do and he will help us as we direct ourselves. It has been really wonderful being out here serving the Lord. It has become such a blast! Elder Sollis works hard and he makes it so much easier to just get moving sometimes. Once you get moving it´s hard to stop. I´m so grateful to be here and I love you all! I hope that you have a wonderful week!
Elder Lee

Religion

What an interesting week it has been. I feel like every single one of my weeks here has been interesting...and somehow the next one finds a way to be even more interesting. I guess you just meet so many people with so many different ideas about life that it just throws you on a little bit of a loop every week. This week was especially interesting for me because of some of the people I talked with. I have noticed that there are very common threads with people though. Most of the time every single one of them is looking for something that they can´t find or they feel that they have found everything that pertains to them already. The other day we were able to travel up to Mannheim to go and help with a booth that the stake was putting on. Kind of like what Steph did this past week. It was in a park for a "family day" that the city was putting on. We weren´t allowed to go contact people but if anyone had questions we were allowed to answer. So we tied balloons, played games, and I chilled at the front table where the copies of the Book of Mormon were as well as all of the pamphlets. (Enter nice lady checking out picture of Jesus Christ) She then proceeded to talk to me and tell me that she was completely atheist and that there was no possible way that a god could exist because of everything that goes on in this world. We then were able to have a very wonderful conversation and by the end she was taking just about everything she could get her hands on. I then looked her in the eyes and made sure to let her know that she would be seeing me again sooner than she thought....could be taken creepily...somehow it worked.

Either way, another possible investigator. Loved it. I then was able to talk to some other great people and it was fun sharing my beliefs with them. Afterwards we traveled home and on the way back to our apartment a group of Guys called out to us "Zeugen Jehovas!" they did it a couple times. Normally I would just walk by and ignore them. They all had beer so I assumed that they had been drinking for a while. At the third time though I turned and walked back through a bunch of Patrons at this bar to talk to a group of them in the middle of it. (It was an outdoor bar) We then ended up having another great conversation in the which they told me that they thought it was really awesome that we were out serving others and they would gladly look us up. They also complimented my German, which made me feel great! I´m finally able to really just sit and communicate with people. It has been happening a lot more often lately. People actually have mistaken me to be a German. Yaya!! I must be getting a proper Baddish accent. I am just so pumped! Elder Sollis contacts everybody, he especially loves contacting younger woman because I am the one who is forced to talk. Stuff is brutal. I have to admit that I contact that group of people the least. Give me any other generation but them and I am good. Ah well, you gotta try and help everyone I guess hahaha. I really am  pumped to see how things work out. We ended up having most of our investigators drop this week so I think that the Lord is wanting us to find some others...or help us remember to always be finding people. That could be it as well. I have to head now though. We´re going to be playing a game of soccer against our stake team before the go to Berlin for a big tournament there. Missionaries gegen Members....woot this is going to be awesome!!! Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Lee

And here are some pics of Elder Sollis and I.........First week.....he´s tired hahaha

First Week

Well, these last couple of days have really brought me back in time. Sometimes it feels like forever but at the same time it feels like only a few days. Wednesday night I headed up to Frankfurt Bahnhoff with Elder Pearson and sent him off to the Land of Eternal P-Days. I´m going to miss the guy, he was an awesome missionary and I have a lot of respect for him. I then went with the other trainers that were called to the Hotel that they would have us staying in for the next couple days. I got my key and was sent to my room...ended up spending a few minutes trying to get the door open. For a couple seconds I was completely stumped as to why I couldn´t get in. That´ll make a guy feel dumb right there hahaha can´t even get in the door. You only have one key so the excuse of using the wrong one just can´t be used. Sooo after a couple of frustrated jerks on the door it finally opened for me. Seeing that new Elder Sprawled out on the bed, having fallen asleep in the middle of writing in his journal, was just to much. I started chuckling, luckily, he didn´t wake up. I then undressed, cleaned up, and got in bed. Probably 30 minutes later Elder Butler woke up and we talked for a little bit. He is from Cedar City so that´s way cool. We then fell asleep and the next morning got ready for our trainings and our pairing meeting. After a breakfast of nutella on bread and an apple. (Ya, I´m known for being a healthy eater) Then the trainers went downstairs to a meeting room and they talked to us for an hour...doomsday had arrived and I had forgotten a change of underwear for the scary stuff. Luckily, the lord blesses his servants and with Bladder under control the Goldens arrived. As everyone stacked into the meeting room President talked with us and went over some more things. They then paired us by lifting up our picture and then lifting up the picture of the Golden we would be with. After introducing myself I was paired with Elder Sollis. He is legit!!! But, I will get to that later. So after the meeting we all went to our seperate rooms and the Goldens came and we studied together. Elder Sollis and I then went with some other Elders and met up with the group again and we started walking to the train station. Halfway in we got attacked by a massive German Shepard...luckily, we were in a large group and so he just marked his territory on the mailbox in front of us and then he walked back to his humble abode. 5 minutes later we ended up having it pour rain so we all booked it to a Rewe and hid there for a little bit. We got some food and then we started walking again when it all died down. From there we went back to my home in Darmstadt. It was great!! I loved being there and just talking with tons of people again. There was a street display there so we joined in on the fun. We talked a bunch and good ol´ Elder Sollis passed out his first Book of Mormon!!! It was awesome! I loved being there to watch and work with him. We then went back to Frankfurt and joined in on that street display. For three hours I walked back and forth talking with everyone in sight. By the end of the night our companionship had handed out 8 copies of the book of mormon and had given numbers, received them, as well as cards etc. All in all I was pumped about the success and the fact that my golden is just super awesome!! Afterwards we went back home pretty late and got in bed ready for the next day with Elder Ballard. Wow, and how amazing it was to be 15 feet away from an apostle of the Lord. He walked in and I literally could feel his presence and the presence of others with him. The spiritual confirmation that followed was incredible. He then told us that we have got to do more work. We just aren´t doing enough out here, and I dare say I have to agree. I haven´t done my best and I was surprised that I didn´t throw up an excuse in my mind. I just accepted it and went to work. He talked about some other things that were really quite special. Sadly, It´s to much to write but I have it written in my journal so no worries. We then returned home and got Elder Sollis filled in on everything and planned for the next day. We then slept and hit it hard. I am so pumped to see how these next couple transfers turn out.  It really is going to be wonderful!!! The Lord is in this work, I can see it, and I saw it when one of his apostles spoke to us on Friday. We need to be doing all that we can to help him hasten his work. I thought that I was but as Elder Ballard spoke with us I realized I haven´t been. We can always do more. Never forget it. Never get complacent. Work your hearts out. I´ll be right there along with you trying to do it myself. I love you all! Thanks for everything!! Talk soon!
Elder Lee

Sweets

Well, chocolate has been on sale this week...I talk a lot about food in these letters don´t I? Ah well, chocolate is great here!! This week has been way awesome as well!! We ended up setting a couple more baptismal dates!! One was for another guy from Nigeria named Happy, and then a German named Herr Reiß. We´re super pumped for them both!! We also were able to have some really interesting experiences this week. Lots of people have just been coming up and talking to us...not normal. It´s been great though! Lots of chances to just talk with people and leave good impressions. I also had to give a talk on Sunday...I was so nervous for some reason...German flew out the window haha the ward liked it though. Said the message itself was great...what they could understand anyways...We also had a really great Zone Training up in Heidelburg in the mountains. I ended up having to play the guitar for it. Brutal. I´ve decided that I have no problem playing sports in front of lots of people but having to play an instrument is a whole different ball game. Ah well. It was fun. I ended up having to run into the forest on the side of the mountain for a very special mission. I cannot say who made me go...all I can say is that it was necessary. Then ended up having people record me while I was playing guitar on the tram ride down the mountain. We then had a crazy lady come up to Elder Pearson and I while we were planning on some benches before we hopped onto our train. She just started speaking absolute nonsense and then she ran away...that happens way to often. I feel like I am surrounded by "one-liners" Except their pickup lines are always somehow absolutely terrible. I just counter with my own, "Jesus is the Christ" or "The Church is true." Best pickup lines I´ve ever used in my life. Find out pretty quickly if the person has interest in you or not. Efficient. True. And Easy to say. Well, I´m going to be heading out now. Love you all!! You´re great!! Have a good week!
Tschüss!
Elder Lee

Kennedy

Good name Kennedy, even better experience. Kennedy is one of the investigators that my new companionship has. It´s pretty legit because he is really a very smart individual from Nigeria and he is well versed in the Bible. Ends up that we were able to set a baptismal date with him this last Sunday! We´re pretty pumped about it. We then have another investigator named Happy that we will be setting a date with as well so cross your fingers! We´re going to be getting some baptisms next transfer hopefully!! Other than that the work has been going well like always. Working hard has really given us the blessings that the Lord has promised we will receive. There still is a lot more that we can be doing and so we are working every single day to improve but things are definitely looking up and I love it! It´s great to see how the Lord has been hastening his work. It also is pretty interesting to see how the Devil is working even harder to make sure that we aren´t successful. Make sure you all are reading in your scriptures every day and that you are praying!! I hope that you all are having a very successful week!! I love you all!!

So here is some tasty food that we had, Elder Pearson and I the town of Bruchsal, and some other random stuff as well.

Splits...and perma-splits.

Well, this week has just been packed full with splits. We ended up having a surprise split and Elder Jensen left two hours later to Heidelburg...he ended up there for three days XD So I was with the other Elders for three...what a blast!! Hahahaha it was crazy and fun and we had a lot of success as well as a lot of rain and lightning...just what I love about missionary work. We then ended up getting a call from President and Elder Jensen will be training so I will be going down to the other companionship in the next three days...fun stuff. Gotta pack up and move down two floors. Woot! Wasn´t what we expected to happen at all this transfer but it´s going to be a blast!! Also got to serve for a non-member this week. It was a lot of fun, pretty intense though. There is no other word for it but there was a group of hippies there helping us out. One of them was so high I´m surprised he wasn´t floating around the place hahaha. It was just insane, I felt so bad looking at all of them because each and every one of them was being controlled by something other than themselves. Addictions can be incredibly dangerous...change your life pretty quickly and more often than not don´t change your life for the better. I hope that you all learn and understand proper limits...the effects can be so damaging. It really is quite sad. I also started reading in Alma again, I am on my second time through the Book of Mormon with Steph, we´ll see who makes it to three quicker ;) I hope that you are all reading in the Book of Mormon every day. It´s incredible to see the blessings we receive when we do. Thanks for everything you all do!! You´re great! I love and miss you!!
Tschüss,
Elder Lee

Fish Eyes...

Ever get those moments when you look at something and you know that you don´t want to do what you´re about to do, but you do it anyways because it´s the right thing to do....well shoot that blows, I haven´t had to! Hahaha I feel for you if you do! ;) hehe I bet that from my title you guys really thought I ate Fish Eyes....Bahahahahahaha shucks, to funny XD. Not really, but I ate bits and pieces of a fish head...not exactly on my priority list of things to do in my life but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to keep that investigator around. And if that means pleasing the person by eating their food....you eat it. I also watched that same man eat Fish Bones and tell me that they tasted good....Some people are just nuts no matter what way you look at it. Luckily you can still love crazy people. Trust me, I know from experience haha. Well, onto bigger and better things, We ended up setting a baptismal date with Quincey this week!! It was great! We then met again two days later and she said that it was my baptismal date and that she´d probably need more time. :P Phooey. Just when you think that you got that fish and are reeling it in it jumps out of the water, slaps you a couple times, and then goes back into the bucket. I find finding and fishing are related to each other quite often...I would really like to go fishing with a shotgun in a gallon bucket...that would be my "cup a tea" right there. I´ve never wanted to get pneumonia so badly, but I feel like freezing in the baptismal font would be much more enjoyable hahaha, Thank you Elder Holland for bringing me back down to Earth on that one. ;) Quincey is really accepting everything really well though! She already obeys the word of wisdom and everything else, she also says that we don´t have to prove to her the church is true, she just wants to read the Book of Mormon before she gets baptized...guess we can´t ask for much more than that. Let´s just hope that she follows through on everything that she says. It would be a pity to see someone so prepared not make those committments with God. They sometimes seem like they take away our opportunities but they really broaden our horizens. I hope that everyone has had a wonderful week, there were so many more cool things that happened but I just am to lazy to type them all up. Sorry! It´s terrible of me, I know. Just remember, I pray for you all and am so grateful for each and every one of you! Love you, have a great week!!

Elder Lee

Flip What a Sweet Week!

I´ve gotta say that the mission just keeps getting better and better and better. This week we had a lot of success. Ended up finding 4 new investigators and the best part about it is that one of them is a family!!! And they actually want ask us to meet with them instead of the other way around XD You´d be surprised how nice that can be sometimes bahahaha. We´re actually heading out to a Zone P-Day so I won´t be able to write a big letter and I was smart and forget my camera USB Connection to send pics soooooo ya, double for next week! We also are having a lot of success with the members. We´re finally getting them a lot more excited about missionary work. Elder Jensen has been handing out these little prayer cards to people so that they can pray for our success...having 6 investigators in Church on Sunday makes members start to believe in themselves and us a little bit more haha. The faith of the members will be the key to this work moving forward. I also want to bear testimony of Humility and a couple other things. Humility is something I have been trying to work on so much. It can be incredibly difficult, but I know that we can acheive those things when we put aside our wants and needs and follow the Lord´s. Also, We Testify of Truth every day out here and it is interesting to see how quickly one can meander from the truth with just a few simple "adjustments". I really liked what I heard about with Dad and being asked to preach "Pure Doctrine" Satan doesn´t deceive people by straight up lying to them. He adds little bits to the truth we already know and soon enough those little adjustments take us miles and miles away from our destination. Just as President Uchtdorf speaks about in his talk about airplanes....(kindof general I forget the name, but you all know what I am talking about XD.) These are the last days. The lord is going through his vineyard with his servants. As members of his Church we made a promise at Baptism that we would preach the word. Keep that promise. The Holy Ghost can not dwell in unclean tabernacles. Your thoughts are equal to your actions. The action cannot occur without the thought. If you want him around don´t pollute your mind with those things that will take away the opportunity of feeling the spirit. I´ve learned that if someone really wants something they will do it. We hear all the time how many people "want to come to church" Or "want to be better people" and then they don´t do it. If you want the companionship of the Holy Ghost you know what to do. You want to follow the Lord? Do what he says. You may see some missionaries or even members try and preach principles of what they do, not of what the gospel says. Like Elder Holland says, (Paraphrasing) "The words will be shut up in their mouths" Truth is 100%. Right when it goes to 99% it is still a lie, even if most of it is truth. Sometimes the truth can be rough...Lots or Germans are blunt...I think I am getting a little bit blunt XD Ah well, stick to the truth. Keep your heads on straight, have fun, and remember, This Gospel is True!!

Tschüss

Elder Lee

Staying in Karlsruhe!

Well, what a great week it has been!!! We defnitely had a couple ups and downs but those are the best because the Lord is teaching us something. We were watching in the Preach My Gospel videos for Comp. Study and ended up at one part where you have a couple missionaries and they just don´t know why everything seems to be going wrong and everyone is falling out...then one of them says that they aren´t really that good with finding...the Lord is hinting at something, I know it. ;) hahaha I´ve learned that a lot of times when things start to suck it´s hard to be sitting there saying, "I love a challenge, I love being thrown to the ground!!" Normally people don´t say that...at least I don´t XD But it does interest me to see the results of what happen when we get back up.

I have started to write down a lot more about the times when I have gotten back up then when I have been knocked down. It´s changed my attitude on a lot of things. I find it so interesting how we so often focus on the things that are going wrong. Kind of hard not to right? It is always a lot easier to pity one´s self and not get back up and get to work than it is to actually do it. I love the quote that says, "I know I didn´t say that it would be easy, just that it would be worth it." I am definitely not the best at looking at a massive mountain covered in thorns, quicksand, sinkholes, and lions that want to eat me and saying "Bring it on," But I have come to respect the fact that I´m not going to learn how to work the spirit and use my priesthood to tame the lions until I am thrown into the den.

I would never recommend to someone to go do things that can eventually hurt us, and make us a bit cynical, or downtrodden along with everything else that can be thrown at us, but luckily we don´t have to...the Lord does it for us ;) Hahahaha. How easy it is to blame someone else for helping us become better than we ever could have been? I sure know it´s easy to look up at the sky sometimes and be like "Why in the world is this happening to me?" But at the end of the day, we can only become better. It´s easy to get comfortable. It´s even easier to not live up to the potential that we know we can reach. The lord knows us better than we know ourselves. I believe in that statement wholeheartedly because he can put me and you into the situations that we would never put ourselves in, because he knows that we can come out on top. As a missionary I have had the chance to receive new insights, see new ways of life, and discover (only a little bit) of just how much I can take. The things that seemed insurmountable yesterday are today´s norm, and in the future they will become child´s play.

I may not have seen the sight of a blind man return to him, that he might look on his daughter´s beautiful face. I may not have seen the dead rise, or the deaf return to hearing, but I have seen the power of the Lord in my life in the little things. Day by day, night by night. Stay positive. Stuff happens. Life wasn´t meant to be perfect, we don´t preach perfection we preach of perfection through Christ. Without him it would never happen. The challenge itself and the goal is to understand him more perfectly so that we might understand more of perfection. As with language or just about anything else, as humans our best means of improving are by copying. Be like Christ, and you will become more Christlike.

Be Charitable and you will receive the gift of Charity. Be humble, and you will receive the gift of Humility. Be Prayerful, and you will receive the Gift of Understanding the Spirit. Serve One Another and you will feel the Love of Christ. Accept the challenges that come, because they will come anyways, and instead of focusing on what might suck switch it up with what´s good. We do the same things out here with our companions. Make the choice, change your attitude, Be what you can BE. Like the great I AM, it is a state just as much as it is a decision. Decide now to be in that state to be like him and you´ll see a different kind of happiness that you may have never seen before.

I bear testimony of that because I have experienced it. Without the Lord I never would have. Keep in touch with him, he is our Father and I know for a fact that there isn´t anyone that loves you more. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!! You´re Awesome!!
Elder Lee
Here we are for Transfer Calls haha Pace Family took us for an Awesome P-Day activity. Loved it. The plate of food was as big as my forearm. Gained 4 pounds after that experience...I´m sure that isn´t healthy. I sure felt terrible the next morning.

Wow, What an Awesome Week

This week was just absolutely insane! I loved it!! So to start things off we ended up having the activity part of our P-Day moved to Saturday so that we could go to the temple. What a wonderful experience that was. I absolutely love the temple. There is just such a spirit there and I love being able to experience the things I talk about every single day. So on Monday we had decided to try and go by on George again because it has been really difficult to get a hold of him as he has been working double shifts at work for a very long time. On the way back from Emails we ended up running into him on the street. We were able to schedule an appointment with him and he was really excited about it! Sadly, it fell out later on because he got called in to go to Berlin for some Paperwork...Germans love paperwork...just so you know hahaha.

We then went to our good old Brother Dörschner for our weekly appointment and had a blast playing some games and then sharing a spiritual thought on a talk by President Monson on Attitude. Great talk, I would recommend it. On Tuesday we ended up having all of our appointments fall out and so we were going to go see some less active members and we ended up running into an Investigator by the name of Prince. He was completely high...bahahahaha but at least he was excited to see us XD The girl that was with him wasn´t to happy to see us so we scheduled an appointment to come back an hour later so she could leave...we should´ve just taught them but ah well. Came back and he answered but sounded worse than before and then we couldn´t find him soooooo ya.

We then ended up running into one of the YSA´s and ended up talking for an hour and teaching a lesson so that was great! And then we ended up meeting with another member at the end of the night so all in all, it was a good day. Wednesday was great, we had a couple great appointments with Less Actives. One of them is a part member family so we are working hard with the Father and the daughter. We´ll see how it goes. The sister we are working with keeps telling us that her daughter loves us but that she especially likes it when I am around, must be my charming smile...XD lol! Thursday was the really special part of the week though. We ended up having a really great Zone Training. Our Zone Leader ended up calling everyone to repentance which I really enjoyed and then we went out and did some crazy intense finding.

We ended up chalking the Plan of Salvation by a big Church. There were tours going on all around the place and so I just started contacting everyone with my companion for the day. Elder Muller. He´s awesome. I ended up talking with a lot of people and being laughed at by even more but there were a couple really awesome experiences that I want to share. One of them came in the form of a man who was 80 years old. He seemed really quite sad as he was walking by and he ended up stopping and looking at our drawing. Que to go, we pounced on him like lions that hadn´t even for a month...okay, probably not that intense but as we started talking with him he started to cry and just started to tell us how his wife had died and he was going to just go hang himself so that he could be with her again. The testimony i ended up bearing about Eternal Families and the Plan that God had for all of his children was spoken by through the Power of the Spirit. I´m pretty sure for those 20 minutes I spoke perfect German.

Something that rarely happens with me haha It was quite spectacular watching the change come over that man and the excitement that he felt. By the end he was telling us that he was going into the Church to pray for his wife etc. We tried to get his number or address but he didn´t want to give out his address to strangers but he said that he wanted to give the Elders a call so we gave him our card and so I pray that he actually does call them. I then got to speak with a girl who was very well versed in Theology. It was great!! We ended up talking for around 30 minutes. We had such an awesome conversation and she took the Book of Mormon and said she was going to read through it. She was incredibly smart as well, I was really quite impressed. I told a couple other missionaries that she is going to be a relief society president. Called it. Just watch lol. There were so many more people and so many cool exchanges but I just wanted to talk about those two because they were both just so awesome!! We then finished the activity with some singing. It was great to just sing some church songs in the middle of tons of people milling about. Great way to get people to look at you and your stuff haha Afterwards we got some ice cream and headed back home to Karlsruhe. We then had Soccer the next day and the best Lunch appointment ever! Sister Meyer! She cooks the most wonderful German food and it just makes my mouth water thinking about it.

She is so cool! Wonderful appointment...Soccer was awesome as well. We then had to go back and get our Weekly Planning and then changed for some service at the Inactives house I talked about earlier. I got sent behind the shed to work on some stuff and the daughter kept coming back there so I called Elder Jensen over and he helped me finish everything. We then had a great dinner and shared our spiritual thought and then the Father took us home and so we finished off the night with some planning. Saturday and Sunday went amazingly well because of the Temple trip and then Church. We ended up having a couple guys in the Elders Quorum start arguing over some really unimportant things. It got pretty heated and one of them started saying some pretty insulting things about members and the missionaries. That was awkward. Luckily everyone else in the Elder´s Quorum says they really like us so now we just have to figure out how to work this other guy around. Either way we also had some really great investigator lessons this week and we ended up having some really amazing contacts and investigators in church. We ended up finding another Black, French Speaking man who wants to come to the church. FUFU contacting. Stuff is genuis. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Love and miss you all!
Tschüss!
Elder Lee

Okay, so the temple trip is in there. Frau Pfeifer, the short Spanish lady is one of the investigators. Schwester Schüster is our awesome Member who helps us teach her. Then there is Sister Meyer and the awesome food she cooked for us. Stuff was absolutely amazing and we got a ton of it. I then ran into an old family I knew in Darmstadt on Thursday. Glyndor is one of the less actives we had worked with. He is so awesome. 

Gotta Love Germans

What a great week it has been! (Just like every other week....hmmmm I get the feeling that there is a correllation between that and being in the service of the Lord...think about it) Well, things are still running faster than I can imagine. This week we have just had a ton of people coming up to us. It has been pretty interesting...not exactly normal for us over here but I have loved it haha we ended up having a way awesome talk with a hippie student yesterday and he was really curious about the gospel. He started in with a couple Jehovah witness questions but we quickly stomped on those beauties with pure truth. Gotta love that stuff. We have been teaching one of our investigators and she´ll always read what we give her and she´s just like..."ya, that´s true...but still that´s so hard for me to do." And you´re just sitting there like, no it isn´t, you just don´t want to do it! haha but you love them anyways...I will second what Steph said last week. The more we pray for our brothers and sisters the more we love them. No matter what we have a certain amount of time in every day and the more we give of our time to others the more we come to understand Christ.

I just find it so cool to read about him and all of the things he done. Read the last couple verses of John in the Bible. I like the way Christ is described there. As I go over my days at night I find it really interesting to think on the things that I have done and could have done better.  Sometimes it can be a little disconcerting when you´re like "shucks, I should have done so much more" Luckily, I know that the power of the Atonement is there. As long as we continuously try to improve we will be able to rise and be with him at that perfect day. What a wonderful time that will be. This week was a lot of fun as well, we ended up having another interesting experience with someone on the street. A guy asked us if we were praying for Germany to win. We were able to lead that into a gospel conversation and ended up talking for 30 min. We had a member stop by and she had "Dank ihm" on her phone.

Ended up making the guy ball...sadly, he was drunk. But there were hugs all around and maybe that seed will grow in him someday...if he remembers :P If not, we got his phone number...;) hahaha we´ve had a bunch of others but I think the two I have described were my favorites. We also had our appointments with President this week. That was a great time!! We ended up having to run to the Main Train Station from the Church. Probably a little more than a mile I´d think...ran in a suit...in the pouring rain...that was fun XD Ended up having a lot of experiences getting caught out in the rain without an umbrella this week...you´d think that I would have been smart enough to start packing one but every time I did, it didn´t rain and when I didn´t, it did...Heavenly Father is probably telling me that I smell or something. Ah well, it makes things way more fun! I hope that everyone has a wonderful week! I sure will! I miss you all and I hope that everything goes well!! Talk to you all later!!
Tschüss!
Elder Lee

So...I don´t think I ever really send pics in this beauty but here are a couple. The First is me and our competition sitting across from our house.
The next is the Legit clouds that were rolling around before a big storm that we had. Loved that one.
Made a soccer ball into the basketball hoop including some curtain...shot it with my foot just so you know bahahahaha XD
Yup, this was my lunch that I made the other day. Reminded me of college so I had to snap a photo.
Oh ya, this moth ended up landing on me...that was a fun experience.
We also did some service this week. Painted half of a house...rocked it.

We´re now being referred to members in the ward for our awesome painting skills...now just give us referrals to teach! XD

What a Great Week!

Well everybody! Another awesome week down, and another one coming up!! This last week started off pretty normally, had a great P-Day, got to relax and not think to much...sometimes that´s just great! We then ended up going to a family in the ward for a birthday celebration...they are crazy. So awesome, I love it..reminds me of home a little bit whenever we had a bunch of family around. The place was...bumpin...yup, still remember proper American slang ;) hahahaha but we had a great time and the cake ended up being really quite tasty so it was defnitely worth it. We then had our second Zone Conference for the month. I got to take an ICE for the first time and so I was in a train that reminded me of Harry Potter. It was sick! Ended up talking with some younger kids who were on the National Baseball team. They were pretty cool so the ICE ride went well. We then had to wait a little while before Zone Conference which meant having a party with all of the other missionaries haha. Our new president is going to be great though, he is a really loving guy and you can see just how much he cares about everyone around him. I ended up meeting him in person for the first time as well! The place may not have been what I had originally thought of but heck, no better place than a bathroom to meet somebody right? I thought so too ;) The ride back was great as well...we ended up missing our bus and so we had to wait 2 and a half hours for another one...ends up that the other elders in our area missed their first one (they left early) so the went to the office to get another ticket and ended up missing their second one because they couldn´t find it...XD! We got to have a double decker bus though and so we were pretty much alone up top so we just talked, ate, and then played some games. Good stuff, either way, we ended up finding two more new investigators this week! It´s really awesome because we have really been working hard to achieve our goals and as we have put away our Pride and worked together to make them the Lord has blessed us and we really have been able to call down the powers of Heaven. One of the new investigators is going to be moving to Italy today so that was brutal. He wants to meet with the missionaries there though so they´ll probably end up with 4 more baptisms. Which is sick!! We then ended up having him bring a friend to church and she was just eating it all up. She has two kids as well so maybe we can end up bringing a family to the church so cross your fingers!! We also are getting the hookups from a lady named Ritta. I have talked about her before. She is the owner of the African shop. Well she wants to learn German...and a bunch of her customers and friends want to as well...so we´re starting a German class in the church. Elder Jensen and I like to joke that we´ll end up starting a African Branch over here maybe that will end up coming true. We also ended up doing some service on the Fourth of July, when Germany played their game, I like to pretend all that cheering we heard was just people celebrating the fourth with us. Couldn´t be any other reason behind all of that cheering ;) Afterwards I got to enjoy some tasty meat and potatoes...that stuff was chalked full of Garlic and Onions though....not the best night I´ve ever had bahahahaha well....I slept just fine...Elder Jensen didn´t because he couldn´t breathe. Ah well, he chose the top bunk, that´s his problem ;) We also had a great round of soccer with some of the young single adults on Friday. It´s fun getting together with everyone and just having a good time. It gets way hot though, I don´t drink enough water and I am beginning to regret it. I hope that I can get over the humidity factor over here because I sweat like crazy! I always have to have a paper towel  on me so that I don´t drip all over the place. Either way, this week has been great! I hope that all of you had a good time!! I also hear that Karen had her baby!! Good job!...I don´t know what else to say cause I haven´t received a pic yet showing me how cute he is ;) haha either way, It´s time for me to take off! I love you all! You´re in my prayers!

Tschüss!

Elder Lee