Life is good, and that the gospel will never fail us

January 18, 2010

Man, the time continues to hurry on. I've officially been on my mission a whole year! What an awakening! I'm starting to realize that my mission isn't going to last forever...that this precious time is unbelievably short...that I have a lot of work to do before its up. For the past couple of days I've been thinking a lot about what Elder Holland said in his talk last general conference, which was something along the lines of, "Before I leave this world I wanted it perfectly clear that I testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon." As the time winds down, I've been realizing that at the end of my mission I want to know that I testified to these people as much as possible that the Book of Mormon is true. Guess I just gotta keep on doing what the good Dr. Thompson prescribed..."Buy the ticket, take the ride!"
Pleased to report that the work here in Landshut is still on the up and up. We are busier than ever (that's a good thing, however tiring it may be) and if everything goes through this week we'll have so many appointments that we won't know what to do with ourselves!
Last week we were able to set a baptismal date with an old investigator! His name is Eckhart Hardtbauer. He's been an investigator for quite awhile but was never able to make consistent progress because he wouldn't give up drinking. Elder Hansen and Elder Hintz had dropped him not too long before I got here. A couple weeks ago, however, Herr Hardtbauer called up Bruder Reisinger and told him that he felt bad that we weren't coming to see him anymore and that he was too ashamed to come to church. Elder Hansen had actually been thinking about Herr Hardtbauer for the past week, and after the news of his cry for help from Bruder Reisinger, we both felt that it was time to give him another chance. We committed him to a baptismal date for the 4th of April, and to meet with us three times a week 'till then so we could help him resolve all of his problems in time, and he accepted. Its going to be a long and winding road to get Herr Hardtbauer to baptism, but if the Lord thinks he can do it (which he does) then I'm definitely on board.
Had a really great experience Monday evening. We had decided to do what we call a "Power Besuch" ("Power Visit"). What we do is choose an area to work in where a member family lives, stop by the family and pray with them, and return after we have worked in the area to report the success. Naturally, the success part depends on the faith of the members and our willingness to give our best. We decided to go by the Klemm family (they're always willing to help us out) and made an appointment out with a neighbor of theirs within ten minutes of working in the area. It was great to return and report to them that someone willing had been found because they had a faith and excitement for the missionary work. We also got a referral from them and were able to contact her and make out an appointment with her for this week. Through experiences like these, I've gained a huge testimony of the member missionary work on my mission. President Hinkley was definitely inspired when he said that the best way of doing missionary work is through the members. The excitement for the missionary work continues to slowly but surely grow in our ward in general, which is a huge weight off my shoulders and a wonderful thing to witness.
Our other investigators are doing pretty well. Monika doesn't have a baptismal date yet but we're getting there. We'll be meeting with Tomas tonight and have high hopes for him as well. Once again, your prayers in behalf of these people will be a big help, and thank you for all the prayers that you have already blessed them with.
I hope you all are happy and healthy. I hope that you all try to remember every day what I forgot sometimes before my mission...that life is good, and that the gospel will never fail us.

Love you all! Take care!

-Andy