Lord's Hand in this Work

This past week was, to put it simply a weird one. Full of experiences that makes one realize how much the Lords hand is in this work.
Among the many good experiences I had this week, there was also a pretty brutal one. One I will never forget. We went by this young Russian Lady who accepted a Book of Mormon from us and seemed very interested. Unfortunately, when we went by this week she wasn't home and her husband answered the door. He proceeded to yell at us and chew us out in a way that I haven't yet experienced on the mission. We tried to explain to him that we were sorry and that we were only there because his wife had invited us to come back, but he wouldn't listen. He was too busy yelling at us about how he's sick of seeing us in the area and threatening us with the police. What made matters much worse was the fact that this guy is only two doors down from the Gypsy family, and one of them happened to be outside watching the whole thing. Not only that, a group of kids gathered around us so we had an entire audience watching us get verbally abused by this guy. But the worst part of it all was the fact that this man had taken away his wife's opportunity to hear the gospel. There is nothing more heart-wrenching than seeing someone loose the chance to learn the gospel because of the actions of another, especially when it's someone that close to them. At the end of the day when I thought back on this experience, however, some peace came to my heart when I realized that God will not punish this woman for her foolish husband's actions. There will be a time when she will have the chance to receive the gospel again.
We had a lot of really weird and great coincidences this week. We met some people, that one only meets through strange "coincidences", that really aren't coincidences at all. On Thursday, for instance, we were doing some very unfruitful street contacting, it was a German holiday, and on German holidays, everything is dead. So there we were in Stadtcentrum walking around with next to nobody on the streets. We had a few good conversations with a few people but to no avail. Just as we were heading back to our bikes, through this tiny old street, we ran into some guy watering his plants. We approached him and soon realized that he spoke English. We proceeded to chat with him for quite awhile and he told us about why he was in Germany, how he got here, all this crazy stuff that you only hear on a mission. Turns out he's from Serbia and is married to an American social worker or something of that nature for the military. He invited us into his house and showed us these sweet custom speakers and amplifiers that he had made. Olin and Karl, you would have died, the sound of these things was amazing! Anyway, we talked with him for about two hours and he invited us back to tell him about the Book of Mormon. He was seriously the friendliest person I think I've met so far on the mission and I'm way psyched to meet with him again. His name is Vladmir but he usually goes by "Komi", which is the Russian translation of "Skeeter" I guess.
On Friday, another weird thing happened. Something that seriously never happens, but did and it was crazy! We teach this guy from Costa Rica, named Luis, English class on Friday evenings and as we were walking to the church a guy came and approached us. He asked us if we were Mormon. We told him yes and he asked if we had a card or something we could give him. We were distraught because it was the one time neither of us had our cards on us. We offered him a Book of Mormon, and he said "No thanks, I already have one, I'm a member." Needless to say we were shocked. So we invited him to church on Sunday. We found out yesterday while talking to him at church that he was baptized a couple years ago but immediately fell away. He's not the friendliest guy in the world but he says he wants to get a testimony again and wants to meet with us more. Just goes to show you how led around we are, and how much the Lord is invested in this work.
We also had an institute party on Friday (Elder and Sister Koralewski teach institute to a couple of the young single adults and we always come along) and we watched this movie version of the book of Acts that was made by an Evangelical denomination. It was freakin' sweet because Dean Jones (ya know, from the love bug and Blackbeard's Ghost and all those old Disney movies) played Luke and narrated the whole thing, and James Brolin played Peter! When it was over I said "Man James Brolin was good, but I think he's way to attractive to be an Apostle."
Speaking of Movies, Elder Erekson told me that last Christmas he was allowed to watch It's a Wonderful Life! Now that I know that, I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure I get to watch it this Christmas!
Anyway, you are all in my prayers always and to answer your question Mom, yes! I do feel your arms around me and your comfort all the time! Love you all and take care!

Alles Gute!

-Andy

Transfer to Schweinfurt

Anyway, I'm pleased to say that the transfer went smoothly. My new companion, Elder Erekson, and I are getting along really well. He's a music major and has an amazing singing voice and all that. He's a little more by-the-book than and not quite as chill as Elder Hartmann was, but he's also really open minded and patient. He's a great missionary with a great work ethic and I can already tell that I'm going to learn a lot from him.
Schweinfurt is a great area! Our ward is military so its half American and most of the Germans speak English. Everything is translated and it was a real treat yesterday to actually be able to follow everything that went on in Church. The members are very warm and there is a great spirit in the ward. And from what Elder Erekson tells me the ward missionary work is great in this area, which will be a breath of fresh air from Kaufbeuren.
I think as far as the work goes, I'm liking this area better so far. Its funny, I didn't realize how spoiled I was in Kaufbeuren until I came to this area. I came from a car area with tons of eating appointments and a chill native speaking trainer to a bike area with tons of work to do and a companion who puts a little more on my shoulders than I'm comfortable with, and whats even funnier is that I'm loving it! This area is really putting me through the refiners fire and for that I am very excited and grateful!
So far Schweinfurt seems to be a very successful area! We have three baptismal dates with a possible fourth and fifth on the way! isn't that amazing?! And yesterday when we were contacting Elder Erekson and I were amazed at how nice and receptive the people were. I told him, "Wir sind nicht in Deutschland!"
One particularly fun experience yesterday happened while going Door to Door. We met this Gypsy family that was FreiChrist (Born again Christian). Born-Again's are always tough because they are so caught up in the idea that all they need is the bible and to have Christ in their heart. They just see us as another religion, and I cant say I blame them in the slightest. Anyway, We were talking with this family for what seemed like forever. They were really nice but liked to argue, especially the daughter who was practically yelling in our face, but Elder Erekson explained to me after that that was just the gypsy culture, and while we were talking with them the spirit was still there. It was different from other situations where you get into arguments or bible bashes with people. Normally once that happens the general rule is to get outta there as soon as possible, but with this family there was something worth sticking around for. Just as I was getting frustrated and wanted to leave, I saw in the Mother's eyes, who just ten minutes ago had told us she had no interest whatsoever, that she was listening to us. I saw in her eyes that, while her obnoxious daughter was being a smart Alec with us, for lack of a better term, that she knew that we were sincere, and that she respected us. And at the end of our conversation, against all odds, they said we could stop by again next week! All I can say is that its amazing what the spirit of the Lord can do.
Ok, now for my embarrassing German screw-up of the week, and this one is just ridiculous. It was eight o'clock and we were making phone calls. I had mine on Speaker phone so Elder Erekson could help me out if I didn't understand. Anyway, I was talking to a street contact and I asked him if he would like us to come over, and he said "Ja, Ja, Warum Nicht" (yeah yeah Why not). Then Elder Erekson told me to tell him "Wir haben keine Adresse" (We have no address) and I thought he told me to tell him "Wir haben kein Interesse," So after asking this man if we could come over and teach him, I told him that we have no interest! I think he was really offended, of course who wouldn't be. Elder Erekson immediately took the phone from me and explained to him that we meant we have no address, not no interest. haha after he was laughing at me pretty hard and I was too, even though I felt like a total doofus! Oh well, just another story I can talk about after my mission and laugh at I guess.
I guess that's it for now. Love you all and I'll talk to ya on Mothers Day!!!!

-Andy