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