All the Leaves are Brown and the Sky is Gray

Fall is has arrived in full force here in Erlangen. All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray (Mamas and the Papas reference), but today its a little warmer ad we get a break from the dreariness and enjoy some sun. Its been somewhat of a disappointing week but in the end it ended up being more successful than we thought it would be.
Unfortunately, our appointments with Walter and Andreas, our two golden investigators, fell out, leaving me and Elder Jensen in stitches. Luckily, we were able to get hold of Walter last night and he sounded like he was doing well. We were able to make out two appointments for this week and will be prayin' like crazy for the next couple of days that they go through.
Elder Achtmann was sick this week so we had the opportunity to do some mini companion exchanges so they could still get to some important appointments. Elder Anderson and I went to Frau Maisel, their golden investigator, and we were able to set a baptismal date with her! Super exciting because it'll be the first baptism in Erlangen in years. Hopefully we'll be able to set a baptism with Walter as well in the next week. I would love to see him baptized before I get transferred. We were also able to get a couple new investigators that the other Elders had found in our part of the city, so things are really shaping up for us.
Had a pretty hilarious experience at Zone Conference on Friday. I guess I'll start out with the background information: Elder Achtmann loves spicy food and had bought some ridiculously hot hot sauce called "Beyond Death" at this American food store that we went to with the Bishop a couple of weeks ago. Now he brings it with him everywhere so he can put it on his food when we eat out. Anyway, It came time for lunch at Zone Conference and sure enough, Elder Achtmann busts out the "Beyond Death." Before long, President Condie happens to notice that we're putting a small drop of this stuff on our food, treating it like its radioactive, and saunters over in his President Condie way to check out the situation. He looks at the stuff, takes the bottle and says to Elder Achtmann, "I'm gonna try this, and if there are any problems, that means that you can't have it anymore." As he puts a drop on his plate we're all on pins in needles, telling him to be careful not to put too much.
After President Condie quietly saunters back to his table, Elder Lindgren, our awesome Finnish Zone Leader, comes over to our table to try this stuff out. Well he tries some, and he puts way to much on his food so now tears are streaming down his cheeks. He then proceeds to wipe his eyes, not realizing he has a big blotch of hot sauce still on his hand, and before he knows it he's in real trouble because he just put this ridiculous hot sauce directly on his eye. The hilarious thing was that as all this was happening, our table was just watching the whole thing laughing as Elder Achtmann got more and more nervous. After a couple more minutes Elder Lindgren frantically runs to the bathroom to wash his eyes out and President Condie soon follows to check up on him. Now Elder Achtmann is really freaking out. In a few more minutes, President Condie comes back into the room and walks straight over to our table. As we're all thinking that Elder Achtmann is in big trouble, President Condie just gives him a thumbs up and says, "That Hot Sauce tastes pretty good." and quietly walks back to his table. Hahaha President Condie is so legit.
Well, I hope that story was entertaining. Kind of a "had to be there" situation but since it was one of the highlights of my week, I thought it was worth sharing.
And yes, for whatever reason, I didn't get your email last week. Don't worry Mom, I know that you would never forget me, and I learned a valuable lesson from the experience. Its a strange thing to be away from your family for two years, only having contact with them once a week through emails, and I will admit, it was a little nerve racking not to know what was going on with my family for a whole week. Last Monday evening I found myself almost getting paranoid, thinking, "What if something's wrong and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it because I'm on the other side of the world?!" My nervousness and paranoia gave way to peace, however, as I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if everything was OK with my family. I was able to focus on the work for the rest of the week and not worry because I knew that my family was in my Heavenly Fathers hands, and always will be, even after I return home.
Thank you for your prayers and love! Hope you all know how much I love you and pray for you and your needs whenever I can! You are my family and are more important to me than anything! Take care and have a great week!

Alles Gute!
Andy

Simultaneously Successful and Disappointing

Dear Fam,

Here in Erlangen, the week has been simultaneously successful and disappointing. It seems that these days there are absolutely no fence sitters in our pool of investigators. Everyone is either making progress or bowing out.
Our last appointment with Walter was the best we've had yet. We had planned it to be an intense scripture study and were pretty nervous about it because we'd be going head to head with some heinous J-dub doctrine. But, as it often does, the spirit directed us to take a different approach. We went through the plan of salvation pamphlet and read it together, using scriptures to back up the doctrine. With a calm spirit in the room, Walter accepted everything just fine and was, as always, really excited about what we were teaching him. At the end of the appointment we asked him if he had prayed about what we were teaching him and he said that he had, and that he really felt that this was the right way for him. He is loving the book of Mormon and says that he understands the gospel clearer than he ever has before (well, naturally, we're preaching the truth here). He still wants to study and pray a little more before he sets a baptismal date, but he's consciously thinking about it and is well on his way. Thanks for your prayers in Walters behalf everyone! They're working!
Our new investigator Andreas Jud is swiftly making progress. Every time we meet with him we can tell that his cynical side is really fading and becoming more and more superficial, giving way to his open heart that is ready to believe in God again. We meet with him tonight and have high hopes for his future.
Unfortunately, we had to drop Ingrid Strixner this week. To make a long story short, we had a great appointment with an extremely strong spirit. When there was nothing more we could say I asked Ingrid "Do you want to find out if our message is true?" she thought for a while, and finally came to her conclusion. "No" she said. It was, as it always is, unbelievably frustrating to build a relationship with someone, know that their heavenly father has led them to us, only to see them reject the truth. Just gotta keep on truckin though. There's plenty of prepared people out there and we've now got a little more time to find 'em.
Thanks you for your prayers. I feel them strengthening me and helping my investigators every day. Hope all is well. Love you all and take care!

-Andy

Right State of Mind

Dear Fam,

First I'll relay the great news of the week. Yesterday was transfer calls and none of us got any. That means all four of us in the Erlangen district will be staying here for another transfer! We're all pretty stoked about that. Its very rare that you have a district where everyone gets along with one another so well. Man this transfer is gonna be epic!
Unfortunately, for the first time on my mission, I was sick this past week and had to stay in the apartment for almost three days. Despite this obnoxious hindrance, however, The week turned out to be pretty successful. We were finally able to meet with Andreas Jud, an young guy in our neighborhood who Elder Gneiting and I taught once. We watched the Restoration DVD with him and, although he said otherwise, I could tell it really touched him. He agreed to meeting with us twice a week, which is a hard thing to get the German's to agree to, and I'm absolutely positive that he'll quickly make progress. He's had some bad experiences with religion in the past, but says that it would be really great to find his faith again. I look forward to watching his progress over the next six weeks.
We had an appointment with Walter scheduled for this week, but unfortunately he canceled on us. We rescheduled for this Wednesday so if all goes to plan we'll be able to really resolve his concerns and once again invite him to really think about baptism. Thank you for your prayers on his behalf. Its been, and will continue to be, a tough road with him, but your prayers have worked and he continues to slowly but surely accept the restored gospel.
Last night we met with Herr Sahiti. He lives in our apartment building and we've built a really strong friendship with him. He's Muslim, but is really interested in all scripture, and really understands the concept that God's words never cease. We gave him a triple combination in Albanian with the hopes that we would be able to finally set up something in which we could regularly meet with him and finally make progress with him. Unfortunately, he declined our invitation, and we had to drop him as an official investigator, which normally is really disappointing, but with Herr Sahiti nothing has changed. We're still friends with him, and will still see him around the building and answer his questions whenever he has them. Its really frustrating as a Missionary to meet someone like Herr Sahiti, who is so close to the truths and already understands so clearly the most important principles of the gospel, but just isn't ready or willing to take the time to learn and accept the fullness of the gospel. But last night, as I thought about Herr Sahiti's situation and talked about it with Elder Jensen, I felt more and more at peace and had a very important principle of missionary work taught to me through the spirit. There are people in this world who, for whatever reason, will not be in the right state of mind to recognize the truth and accept it at the time its offered to them, or perhaps for their entire duration on this earth. I refuse to believe, however, that this is their only chance. Our Heavenly Father loves us too much to condemn us for initially rejecting something we don't understand. I am absolutely positive that there are so many great people in this world, who live great lives, who will have multiple chances in this life, and in the spirit world, to accept the Gospel at a time when they are in the right state of mind to recognized the truth, especially when the chance was given to them when they weren't. I guess my real point is, It's almost unfathomable just how much our Heavenly Father loves all of us, and, with his perfect understanding of the human condition, how merciful he is to his children.
Hope that all made sense. My writing skills are really struggling these days and it's really frustrating me. Oh well. guess I just have much more important things to worry about.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Your beloved son, brother, and friend,

-Andy

Dear Fam,

Its been a full and wonderful week. It started with a hilarious p-day and ended with an unbelievable General Conference, with some great work in between.First things first, P-day. It was quite the hilarious adventure for us. First of all, its not as normal as you would think to walk around Nürnberg in Lederhosen. Had we been in Munich or somewhere in deep Bavaria, nobody would have looked twice at us, but to be in Nürnberg in Lederhosen, on a Monday, when almost nothing special is going on, is kinda wierd. But what do we care? We get more weird looks walking around in our shirts and ties than we do in Lederhosen. And more importantly, Lederhosen just makes everything better. When you're wearing Lederhosen, the sun shines brighter, food tastes better, funny things are funnier, and pretty things are prettier. They basically have the same effects as a natural drug, but they're not against the Word of Wisdom. Anyway, the day basically consisted of us seeing the sights in Nürnberg, the famous castle on top of a hill, looking over the whole city, this huge Gothic church, common in any big German city, and of course eating at a really touristy German restaurant. But the best part of the day was when we stopped at one of these street side accordion players and asked him to play a really fast polka song while Elder Jensen, Elder Achtmann and I did a Lederhosen, Bavarian knee slapping dance for everyone on the street. It was incredibly embarrassing but unbelievably hilarious as well. Elder Anderson took a video of it, which I'll try to send today if the internet isn't too slow.Things are going really well with Walter. We were able to meet with him twice this week. The first appointment was a little rough. We taught the second half of the plan of salvation, which is completely different from what the J-dub's teach, so it was a little hard for Walter to accept, but the spirit was there nonetheless. We plan on having a solid scripture study with him this week where we use the bible and the book of Mormon to clarify the doctrine. Hopefully this will increase his testimony of the doctrine, but more importantly that the fullness of the gospel, and the priesthood authority to baptize, was restored through Joseph Smith. He already believes this, but needs an unshakable testimony to be baptize and overcome what he's going up against, an entire J-dub congregation will do everything they can to keep him from getting baptized once he makes that decision. He came to the Saturday morning session of Conference and absolutely loved it, especially President Uchtdorfs talk (also my personal favorite from this conference), so I think he's really seeing and feeling the importance of the restoration. Keep him in your prayers fam, because over the next few weeks, he's definitely gonna need 'em.Had a great appointment with the Daniel and Andrea Auras, basically my favorite family in the Ward. Daniel's a freakin' stud. The only problem is whenever we go over there He and I spend like an hour talking about Movies (He's also a big film buff) to the annoyance of my companions (Well, I don't think Elder Jensen minds too much, but I'm sure it drove Elder Gneiting crazy haha).Speaking of Elder Jensen, things are going really well with us. I've been really lucky on my mission so far to be blessed with such great companions (even the tough ones). The guy is a spiritual giant, and, like me (or at least I'd like to think so), puts his focus on loving and helping the people, which is really the most important thing. I mean, its why we're here isn't it?After all, as President Uchtdorf told us on Saturday morning (or Saturday evening for me) thats whats most important for all of us as Latter Day Saints and Disciples of Christ. To love God, and to love our fellow man. As Latter-Day Saints, we should be known as people who love God and Others. Which brings me to my food for thought of the week...Elder Jensen told me something that has really changed my perspective on what it means to be a member of the Restored Church of Christ. A convert that he knew from back home had a friend say something to the effect of, "Well you should understand, you're a mormon." His reply was, "I'm not a Mormon. I'm a Saint." What a powerful and profound statement. The time has really come, as President Eyring said not long ago, for the perfecting of the Saints. We are not, and should not want to be, "Mormons." That often can be a term with a negative connotation created by man. We are disciples of Christ, literally Latter Day Saints. The time has come to stop Pharasitically going through the motions, as the "Mormons" can do, and truly become "Saints." For that is what The Lord has called us to be as members of his church in these days.As always, you're all in my prayers, and I wish you all the best in the coming week.Alles Gute!-Andy