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