Man, being in a car area is quite the experience. I feel like I don't know how to do missionary work anymore. When you spend your whole mission in medium sized cities and then come to an area that covers a heck of a lot of ground, you have kind of remold and turn your brain on again to come up with a whole new game plan of how you're going to do the work effectively. That's what Elder Vogel and I are in the process of doing, and I think we've got a good hold on things now after the past two weeks of kinda running around with our heads cut off. Well, maybe It was just me feeling like that. Who knows? Its really cool to be working with Daniel again. He definitely hasn't forgotten what he learned on his mission. Our ward here has a lot of the same issues, as far as missionary work is concerned, as Erlangen did, and we're taking the things we did in Erlangen that worked, modifying them a bit, and trying them out in this ward. Over the past few days, and especially in church on Sunday, I came to this realization that this ward, and the gap between them and the missionary work that needs to be bridged, may be the reason, or at least one of the main reasons, why I was sent here to Unna. I think that one of my greatest strengths as a missionary is my ability to build good relationships with the members and wards here, and maybe that's just what this ward needs in order to make some progress and heal some wounds that have been caused by fallings away. Last night we taught a great family whom I think stand as good a chance as anyone of being baptized. They are friends of a member in our ward who has taken them to church with him a couple times before I got here. We taught them about the restoration last night, and watched the Restoration DVD with them. The children are pretty hyper-active, but extremely bright and susceptible to the spirit. One of the boys even participated in our teachings and explained to US a principle with an angelic innocence and clarity that really touched us. The father, Herr Lauderlein, is very open, and very interested in the gospel. He also has that key support system of a member friend, which is always invited. I'm really looking forward to teaching this family and ask for your prayers in their behalf. Hope you all have a great week. Take care!
Once again, I'm writing my first email from my new area. It's been an interesting first week. It's very strange to be in a car area again. I don't know how much I like it. This is kind of a dead area, and it's harder to do a lot of contacting to find new investigators when you're driving around to these little towns and villages all the time. Guess we'll just have to plan things out well and get some good strategies going. From what I understand, a lot of missionaries have spent their last months on the mission here, sort of puttering out early and coasting through it, not getting much done. That's definitely not what I want to do. I've been working hard to be more obedient and more loving so I can be a better tool in the Lord's hands for my last run, and I don't want to further slow down the work in this area, nor in Germany as a whole for that matter. My new companion, Elder Vogel, is pretty young on his mission. He's a pretty cool guy though and has a really great taste in music. We've been able to have some pretty solid music discussions and have a common love for Art Rock (David Bowie, Velvet Underground, etc.). I always try and take those things that I have in common with my comps and make that a common topic of conversation in order to build unity and focus on what we have in common instead of our differences. It was a blast to be able to chill with Daniel again. We went over to his house to talk about the missionary work on Thursday, and it was great to see that he hasn't lost his urgency for the missionary work one bit. This ward has a lot of problems, and needs a strong ward mission leader and some strong missionaries to get things going. I think he and I will be able to do some real good work together like we did in Erlangen. Not too mention we'll have some good laughs as well just like the ole days. After all, when all is said and done, he Achtmann and I are truly partners in crime. One great thing about this area is that it's gorgeous. It covers half of the Sauerland, which is basically like my first area minus the alps. It'll be nice to have some good aesthetics in my last few months. I'll definitely be able to get some good pictures out of it.
I don't quite know how to start this letter without sounding cliche', because what's going down now has been the same ole story for my whole mission...that's right...I've been transferred again! Just when I thought I had FINALLY proved myself faithful, at least when it comes to transfers, the Lord has seen fit to test my faith to the very end. On Wednesday I will be going to Unna (a huge car area in the Dortmund Zone) to work with Elder Vogel. I'll also be the District Leader there. I thought I would be able to get through my whole mission without a leadership position, but hey, what can ya do. The best part about this transfer, however, is that the Ward Mission Leader in the Unna ward is none other than Daniel Achtmann, my best bud whom I served with in Erlangen for almost four transfers! It's gonna be a blast to be able to hang with him for the last few months of my mission.
Unfortunately, my last full week in Wuppertal wasn't particularly eventful. We had a mission wide apartment deep cleaning day on Friday, and a lot of our time was consumed by preparation for it. But now our apartment is immaculate clean, which I must admit is nice.
It's always a wonderful opportunity on the mission to attend conference. We always have the opportunity to see the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions live and the priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions recorded on Sunday. I must say I've truly come to appreciate conference on my mission. What an incredible blessing it is to have living prophets who speak for the Lord to us, and specifically for us in this time. It's always interesting to me how every conference seems to have overarching themes. This conference to me seemed to be a lot about gratitude, agency, and obedience, all things that I have been pondering on quite a bit lately. I've come to learn the importance of being obedient to even the seemingly little or less important commandments in order to build character and in order to have the spirit in our lives over the past month or so. This is a lesson I should have learned quite a while ago, but I'm grateful that I have learned it, and that my Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity now to improve myself so I can be a better tool in his hands for the next three months.
Last night after Conference, as I said some goodbyes to Members here that I have grown to love, just as I always have in all of my areas, the importance of what I've learned through transfers on my mission really came to fruition for me. I found that it wasn't any easier than it has been before to say goodbye, but I was, and still am, almost totally calm and at peace about it. On my mission the Lord has taught me that, in life, we will always have to say goodbye to people and places that we love, perhaps never to see them again in this life, but if we trust in him, we will always be where we need to be, and there will always be new friends to make, new and rewarding relationships to build with people, and moments and memories that will enrich our lives and continually mold us into the beings that our heavenly father has sent us here to become.
I love you all and pray always for your happiness. Have a great week!
September 27 Just want to quickly report that this week was a good one. We met again with a great family in our ward yesterday who really want to bring some friends of theirs to the gospel. I think if we work with this family in unity we will be able to help these friends of theirs come unto Christ. I would like to now take the opportunity to dedicate the rest of this weeks email to my dear Grandma Donna Lou.
My beloved former mission president, President Condie, told me something just before I left his mission that has helped me a great deal to put into perspective all of the sacrifices we make in this life. As his youngest daughter was married in the Salt Lake temple a few months ago, President Condie, despite his permission to leave the mission for a few days to attend the wedding, had to remain in Germany with his missionaries. What he told me and other missionaries was that, while missing the wedding of his youngest daughter was for him a very challenging and heart-wrenching sacrifice, it was a very small sacrifice compared to the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for all of us. For me, being here in Germany, unable to say goodbye to my dear grandmother before she left this world, has been a sacrifice indeed. But a very small one compared to the one my savior made for me. He lives. And because he lives, we all will also live again, and be reunited with all of our loved ones to enjoy each others company in the eternities. This is more than just a comforting thought. It's the truth, and I'm grateful for that knowledge in a time when I need the peace that comes from it in order to complete the task that my Heavenly Father has given me here in the mission field. Grandma was always such a bright ray of sunshine in my life, the absence of which I have felt since I received the news of her passing. I will miss her warm and tender hugs and her incredible sense of humor. This earth has lost a little brightness since her passing, but the heavens, in all their brightness and glory, have become brighter and lovelier upon her arrival. 'Till we meet again Grandma,
August 12
There are weeks on the mission where the work seems to be unsuccessful and you feel like absolutely nothing worked out...but then you look back at the successful moments of the week and realize that miracles did actually happen. Here in Wuppertal, such a week has just past.
On Monday evening we had an appointment with a family we had found the week before. We had reached their neighborhood a little earlier than we had thought, and decided to do some street contacting with the 20 minutes that we had. We contacted a man just about to enter his apartment building. It seemed that he just saw us as another couple of preachers that weren't going to be able to answer his questions as he very curtly asked us "Who is JESUS? WHY ARE WE HERE? WHERE do we go when we die?!" For the sake of time, we told him that we couldn't explain it all right then, but that we DO have the answers to all of those questions. It was very interesting to see his 180 change of attitude toward us within seconds as he realized that we might have what he was looking for. We made an appointment out with him and will be meeting with him tomorrow. A few minutes after contacting him we also made an appointment out with a young Muslim guy who seemed to have a very genuine interest in the Book of Mormon. Its funny how there are days on a mission where we hit the streets and talk to people for hours and see nothing from it, then a couple days later are able to make out two appointments in fifteen minutes.
On Wednesday, The Düsseldorf and Dortmund zones met in Düsseldorf for a meeting with President Ninow about some new training for missionaries world wide. Preach My Gospel is staying the same, but the First Presidency and the Mission Office have changed the teaching curriculum a little bit to focus a little more on teaching skills and learning how to teach people more effectively and helping them more effectively along their personal journey towards baptism. In other words, The teaching curriculum is changing so that Missionaries can be better at teaching people, not lessons. For the rest of my time on the mission, and then on until May 2011, there's going to be a lot of related adjustments and training to put us up to speed with what is going to be taught in the MTC. I'm really excited to be a part of it because I feel like I'm being a part of new revelation for the Lord's work.
On Thursday, after some unsuccessful hours, we were sitting on a bus rather depressed. A man sitting next to us, however, turned our evening around, by taking an interest in our conversation when he heard us speaking English with each other. He answered a question we had about a stop we needed to get off at, and then we proceeded to ask him if he spoke English and where he learned it and so on. We got off the bus together and told him a little about our message. He informed us that he had already met with Missionaries from our Church, but had a half hour before his next bus and had no problem chatting with us till then. We had a great conversation with him and made an appointment out for this coming Thursday.
As the time is winding down, I'm determined to see some miracles before I go home. I'm very tired, but at the same time have a boost of urgency as my time on the mission goes shorter and shorter. I hope that you all back home are healthy and happy, and I pray for you always. Take care!
-Andy
August 23
It never ceases to amaze me how big of a crime it is to be really unified and get along really well with one's companion. After only one transfer together, Elder McArthur is being transferred to Siegen, and I'll be left in Wuppertal with a pretty new missionary to spend the next transfer running around with my head cut off. Ah well, I guess I'll have to just keep on doing what the good Dr. Thompson prescribed; "Buy the ticket, take the ride." It's been a transfer of hard work and good times, and while I'm sad to see my good friend leave just when we've only begun to really get the ball rolling in our area, I know well enough that this is all in the Lord's hands.
In any case, our last full week together turned out to be what I would call a very solid one. It started off and also ended with some very good experiences while street contacting. Earlier in the week, we decided to take advantage of the city center in the evening and talk to people there. Near the beginning of our trip, a very attractive 20-something girl came walking our way. In such situations, I usually listen to my initial "she's too pretty" instincts and keep on walking, but in my zeal to find someone to teach that evening, I instead listened to the spirit, which was telling me to talk to this girl. She was in a hurry and couldn't talk to us at the time, but gave us here contact information and said that another time she would love to talk to us about God and her faith. We haven't been able to get a hold of her yet, but I still have a really good feeling about this girl and have high hopes that we'll be able to help her come unto Christ.
On Friday we also decided to do a bit of street contacting before a dinner appointment with some members. We came across a Husband and Wife and their 6 year old son sitting on a bench whom I decided, for whatever reason, not to approach. Luckily, the man decided to approach us instead. He told us that he had seen us around quite a bit and wanted to know exactly what it was that we did. We proceeded to share our message with him and his wife seemed to know quite a bit about our church. Their son was a really bright kid and also asked a lot of questions. As we continued to talk to them a young guy about our age came walking up the pathway and interrupted our conversation, mistaking us for Scientologists at first (I guess Scientologists have missionaries that go street contacting and stuff now. Whoda thunk?) and became even more rude when he found out who we really were. As we had already made an appointment out with this family, and were now running late for our appointment, my initial reaction was to tell the young man that if he had any real interest in hearing our message, we'd love to talk to him another time, and then leave. But he continued to badger us, accuse us of being Salesman, and making accusations about our character and motives. That was when Elder McArthur and I decided that our appointment would have to wait. It was time to proclaim our message boldly and stand up for the truth...for Christ. As I kept talking to this family we had just talked to, Elder McArthur bore very powerful testimony to this young man and cleared up his stark misconceptions about our church. This family that had watched the whole thing even started defending us and our religion. What was truly great about the whole affair, however, is that at the end of this heated conversation, this young man's demeanor had completely changed because of Elder McArthur's powerful testimony. It was one of the only times of my mission where I've seen someone's bad attitude toward the church take a 180 turn around within minutes because of the undeniable power of the spirit. I'll always be grateful to Elder McArthur for teaching me how to really reprove with sharpness and show a greater amount of love afterward. I'm also looking forward to meeting with this family that we found in the process tomorrow.
Our most frustrating, yet most promising endeavors here in Wuppertal are currently with two golden families. One is Dennis and Julia, a really cool young Russian couple with two little girls who we've been teaching English to for awhile now. We've built a very strong friendship with this couple, and in our last appointment with them finally talked about how we wanted to share our message with them and their family. Dennis, who was very quiet when I first got here, really opened up and asked a lot of questions. He's a great man, who wants a solid future and foundation for him and his family. This is indeed, a golden opportunity, to teach a young family who want to hear our message. There's just one complication. We found out that they live in Remscheid, which is just barely out of our area and in Sollingen's. If we do end up teaching them more extensively, there's a good chance we'll have to hand them over to the Sollingen Elders. Normally, I wouldn't be as nervous about something like that, just bummed that I wouldn't be the one with the opportunity to teach such a great family. My real concern is that a sudden change to two completely different missionaries would hinder their progress. After all, it was our friendship with them that sparked their interest in the first place. Guess I'll just have to do everything in my power and let the Lord take care of the rest, as always.
Our other awesome family is the Husseini's. They're from Iran, and had had a baptismal date a few years ago that fell out due to lack of contact. We were able to get a hold of Frau Husseini and made an appointment out for the next evening. We found out that she had lived in Utah for awhile and loved our church and it's members. Her husband and two daughters, one 16 and one 22, were also wonderful people and listened intently to what we had to say. There is nothing we want more than to baptize this family, and we would be able to do it pretty easily if it weren't for Frau Husseini's incredibly busy work schedule. Her husband's German isn't good enough to get a job, so she is currently the only one working in the family, and works 8 hours a day every day. This makes it nearly impossible to get a hold of them, let alone meet with them on a regular basis. But, we've felt very strongly that this family needs to be baptized and will keep doing are best to get them there.
IF there's one thing I could ask for from everyone back home this week, it's your prayers. I feel a great weight on my shoulders in my new calling of taking this area over from a great missionary who has been here for almost a year, and will feel very secure knowing that the Lord is by my side every step of the way, and that you all back home are puttin' in a good word with the big man for me.
Love you all. Have a great week!
-Andy
August 30
I've officially survived my first week in Wuppertal without Elder McArthur. It's a tough gig, but it's like I always say, you can get busy workin', or get busy dyin' (said in a narrative Morgan Freeman voice). Naw, but in all seriousness, it's been pretty chill. Elder Durrant is a really cool guy and I'm sure we'll be getting along just fine. It's wierd to be working with someone so young on their mission again. He's in his fifth transfer right now, and leaves a lot of the talking to me, which I can handle. It's just a bit of a new experience.
The first couple days of the week consisted of elder McArthur seeing some last sights before he left Wuppertal and saying his goodbyes. Being transferred from areas I've loved has become almost second nature for me, but for Elder McArthur I could tell it was somewhat of a new and strange experience. He's only had three area's and was in Wuppertal for almost a year. I could tell it was very depressing and shocking for him to be leaving HIS city...his second home where he worked so hard for so long. As bad as I felt for him, however, I must say that I was grateful for the opportunity to be the one staying in the area again. President Ninow doesn't move people around as much as President Condie did, so the chances of me staying in Wuppertal until the end are pretty good. But as I've learned countless times before, you never do quite know what's going to happen.
Elder Durrant and I have been doing a lot of street contacting and going by less actives for the past few days. We haven't seen a lot of success, but had some really good conversations with some great people, as is always the case with street contacting in my experience. It's starting to really get to me, because I know there is someone in this city that is ready to accept the gospel and enter the waters of baptism, I just can't seem to find 'em.
...And as much as I have a vision for the investigators that we already had, they also prove to be a little weary. Wang is still Wang, interested first in improving his English, and second learning a little bit about God. The guy has so much potential, but just can't see the need for having God in his life at this point in time. One thing about him that never ceases to amaze me, though, is the way he prays. His words are always so honest and pure. He literally offers up the thoughts in his mind and the desires of his heart to God in a way that I've never heard any member of the church do. It's amazing how much one learns from investigators as one teaches them.
On Saturday we met with Dennis and Julia. As it often goes on the mission, our lesson with them did turn out exactly as I had hoped. The spirit was there, and I could tell that Julia was feeling something and listening intently, but Dennis, despite his desires to believe in something higher, and find a good foundation for his family, told us three or four times that he would have an extremely hard time believing something he could not see. He told us that as a child he saw some things that caused him to stop praying and believing in God, and since then as not really been able to believe in much of anything. At the end of our lesson I could tell that I was frustrated, which made me feel terrible, like I had perhaps, in my zeal to help this wonderful family, pushed him to hard. I hope and pray that the testimony I bore and the invitations I extended him were taken as they were meant to be given...out of love, and that I didn't hinder our relationship with them in any way.
for the next few days we'll have a brand new missionary, only four days in the field, working with us. His companion will be in Frankfurt for leadership training for he next few days, so I've got a fairly new missionary AND a greeny on my hands. What a circus! Hope all is well with everyone back home. Have a great week!
-Andy
September 6
Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe with the staunch smell of cigarette smoke giving me an irritating headache. The walls are of a soft spongy like material....Like a twinky....like a twinky.
....Sorry, keep starting my emails with Morgan Freeman narrating moments. Now to get down to the meat and potatoes.
We had another tough week here in Wuppertal. The situation is thus; No matter how much finding time we put in, we can't seem to find anyone with interest, and the investigators we already have aren't making any progress and not meeting with us regularly enough. I'm reaching a very challenging and frustrating time of my mission. I want to lead someone to baptism more than anything before I go home, but can't seem to find that person no matter what I do. I feel a great weight on my shoulders at this time, but I think I just need to rely more on the Lord, exercise a little patience, and trust in the fact that if I do everything in my power, all will be well.
The only investigator we were really able to meet with this week was Wang. He's doing as well as ever. Elder Durrant and I decided that the only way we're going to get him to make any progress is by actually extending commitments to him again (duh). On Thursday we gave him a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read until our next visit. I think that as he reads the book of Mormon on his own and prays about it he will feel the spirit and develop the beginnings of a desire to actually take on the gospel. If that doesn't work than I have no idea what would.
Elder Durrant and I are having a good time together. I'm glad that I have the opportunity to work with him and that I once again have a companion that I can work hard and play hard with. We've been trying to be really diligent and have had some pretty funny adventures along the way. We had a really interesting three days with Elder Telfer, the greeny that we took care of while his companion went to the leadership training in Frankfurt. The poor guy had only been in Germany for five day when he came to us and was still smack dab in the middle of the greeny freaked out and scared of everything like a deer in the headlights phase. On the first evening we told him to feel free to get whatever he wanted to eat and he poured himself a bowl of frosted flakes and started eating 'em try in fear of asking for some milk. I finally told him "Hey man, you can have some milk with that if you want." and he timidly replied "Um...yeah...that would probably be a good idea." Man oh man, that first transfer in the field is quite the nerve-racking experience. It was also quite the experience for me this past week to look back at what it's like to be so new when I'm near the end. Made me realize how much I've changed and how much progress I've made.
On Thursday we met with Kenneth, a pretty new convert in our Ward from Nigeria, and had some pretty interesting food. It was rice, with a sauce that consisted of bones with a little meat around the outside of them (Kenneth can eat those things whole, I don't know how he does it), chicken hearts (which were actually pretty tasty) and some type of fish. I always love the way Africans just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and cook it.
Well, I think that'll do it for this week. Elder Durrant and I are going to check out the Zoo here in Wuppertal. Love you all! Take care!
-Andy
September 20
Unfortunately I was struck with a cold this week, which slowed things down quite a bit. But the week turned out to be better than the last, despite the restrictions.
Wang is still Wang, but is starting to realize the importance of our message. I think he's realizing that the world is a confusing place, and his desire to have a more stable foundation in his life is growing. He always prays at the end of our meetings and every time he prays the spirit is very strong. I've never heard more honest and sincere prayers from anyone in my whole life. It's amazing how someone with no religious background whatsoever can pray like he does.
On Wednesday we met with Rupert Wenniger, a man in our ward who was baptized in 2005 but never confirmed. He has a few big concerns, tithing being one of them, that have kept him from making his baptism complete and enduring to the end, but when we met with him on Wednesday we asked him about how he came in contact with the church and how he gained a testimony, and I think it reminded him of what he had felt when he made the decision to be baptized in the first place. We committed him to meet with us regularly and gave him a soft commitment to be re-baptized and become active in the church again, to which he accepted. He's been pretty flaky with other missionaries in the past, but I've never been the one to let things like that discourage me from working with people who have real potential.
This Sunday we had lunch at the Barluscke's, and awesome family in our ward with tons of potential to do some great missionary work. After lunch we shared a spiritual thought with them and invited them to decide as a family on three or four names of friends or acquaintances they have with whom they'd like to prepare to meet with us. They accepted the invitation and seemed really sincere in they're desire to work with us. For me, this meeting with this family was a particularly poignant experience. As I bore my testimony to them that I knew that there were prepared people in Wuppertal whom we needed to work together to find, the spirit confirmed to me very strongly that what I was saying was true, and in turn bore witness to this family. It was just the boost I needed to continue in all perseverance and diligence in my work here in Wuppertal.
I'm in the middle of a very challenging part of my mission. I'm more tired than ever, and feel often times that I'm runnin' on fumes. The lack of success in our work, combined with my health problems this week, have also caused me to have a few moments of wanting to just give up. But in the depths of such moments, the Holy Ghost has reminded me that the job is not yet done, and that there are still people that I need to help, and most importantly, that the Lord is with me every step of the way. A truly wonderful thing about agency is that when bad things happen to us that our out of our control, it gives us the opportunity to sit back and say, "Ok, what can I learn from this that will make me stronger?"
I'm looking forward to this week, and hope that it treats you all well back home as well. Take care all,
July 19, 2010
As I sit and contemplate on the events of this past week, I realize what an incredibly foolish "Doubting Thomas" I've been. On Tuesday morning, the day before transfers, Elder Schwitters and I received a call from President Ninow informing us that plans had changed and that I would be going to Wuppertal the next day. For me the news was devastating, and my love for Schweinfurt caused me to forget for a little bit that the Lord has always sent me where I needed to be. The day consisted mostly of me packing, grumbling under my breath, and feeling sorry for myself. I think my biggest frustrations, however, came from first, not having the time to even say goodbye to all of my dear friends in the ward (with the exception of a select few), and second, the feeling I had that I had not done all I could do to accomplish what I originally wanted to accomplish in Schweinfurt, and that I would now never have that time back to do it.
The next morning the Pfisters drove us and all my luggage to the train station. I was still pretty emotional and down, and having to say a rushed goodbye to the Pfisters didn't help. We stopped in Würzburg to meet up with the other Elders and Sisters from our zone heading up north, said some more goodbyes, and then there I was, on the way to Frankfurt and officially in brand new territory. A couple hours later, as the enormous Frankfurt skyline became bigger and bigger on the horizon, panic started to replace sadness. I realized that everything I had become familiar with over the past year and a half was behind me, and that I was, in many more ways than one, entering new territory.
Being at the Frankfurt train station with a bunch of missionaries that I didn't know didn't exactly help my attitude, but the change started once I got on the train heading north up to Düsseldorf. From the moment I got on that train to the moment I laid my head on my pillow that night in Wuppertal, peace slowly replaced all of my panic and heartache. My first evening in Wuppertal was very pleasant. As Elder McArthur and I started getting to know each other we discovered that we had many common interests and were going to get along very well. We had a lesson with Wang, a Chinese student with a great desire to come closer to God, during which I fully realized that the Lord had once again sent me to a new area in his infinite wisdom. When I think about it, it still makes me sad that I had to leave Schweinfurt, and all of the people there that I loved, so quickly and unexpectedly, but I've been really amazed at the peace I've felt about the whole situation since I got here. This peace doesn't come from myself. It comes from the one who knows exactly how I'm feeling and exactly where I need to be. This peace comes from the Atonement. It is times like these when I am so grateful for what my Savior did for me. I should never have doubted that I was being sent to the right place, and am grateful to my savior for showing me once again that as we do our best, all will be well. It's as simple as that folks. Yes we will have trials in this life no matter what we do. There will be pain and sorrow in our lives despite our good actions. But if we do our part, the Atonement makes it possible for us to, in the words of Hunter S. Thompson, charge through the big brick walls in our lives, come out the other side covered in chalk and dust, and look real good doing it.
Love you all! Take care!
-Andy
July 25, 2010
I heard from quite a few Elders that Wuppertal was the rainiest city in Germany. Today I'm finally witnessing a bit of what they were all talking about. Since we left our apartment this morning the wind hasn't let up, but it's a refreshing change of pace amongst a very hot, humid summer in Germany.
My first full week in Wuppertal was a very good one. Elder McArthur and I are getting along very well. We're both semi-liberal intellectual artists and philosophers and enjoy helping each other with our different film and book ideas and sharing angry rants about both left and right-wing politics. Not to mention we do some pretty good missionary work together.
This week we started meeting with Wang, our 26 year old Chinese investigator, three times a week. Last week it was he who actually suggested that we meet more often, which was a very pleasant surprise considering the fact that the ideal situation for a missionary is to meet with investigators three times a week. In our last three appointments with him, we've seen very small steps in the right direction, but also a lack of desire to really test out the gospel. I think Elder McArthur described the problem we're having with him right now the best... Our goals are first: to help him find God and come unto Christ, and second: to help him improve his English while Wang's goals are first: to improve his english, and second: to find God. Wang's biggest setback in coming closer to God is the fact that he is very happy and independent right now, and feels no urgency in coming closer to God at this point in his life. As we've been trying to teach him the importance of not procrastinating the day of one's repentance, it's been interesting for me to see that a lack of trials and hard times can be a bigger stumbling block in finding God than having them.
On Friday we spent the evening in Düsseldorf for a District Leader council. As Elder McArthur attended the meeting, I went with one of the other District Leader's companions to do some street contacting. After the meeting Elder McArthur told me about some discussion that went on there that I pondered about and thought would be worth mentioning. I guess the meeting was focused on how we could improve the work in our Zone, and conversation led to the usual things like missionary skills and strategies. Finally Elder McArthur and Elder Hohman, one of the other district leaders, spoke up and rocked the boat a little. They expressed their concerns for focusing to much on skills, strategies, and temporal things, and a lack of focusing on the spirit and being spritually uplifted. I thought a lot about that and came to the conclusion that sometimes as missionaries, we get so concerned about all the numbers and business and "technical" side of being a missionary, that we lose our focus on the most important aspects of being a missionary, feeling the spirit and having the spirit with us. Without the spirit, this work just doesn't, well, work.
Getting to know this ward has been an interesting experience. The dynamics of a German ward are very interesting, very entertaining at times, and very different from American wards. I kind of forgot that after being in the half German, half American ward in Schweinfurt again. There are some wonderful people in this ward however, and as always, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to get to know them. Every Sunday evening we're over at the Lobeck's for dinner. Brother Lobeck is an old, crusty retired sailor with a mouth to match his old profession. I think he's the manliest man I've ever met and always has something hilarious to say. Our ward mission leader, Brother Schienagel, is very involved in the work and very concerned for our well-being. My love for him grew a lot on Sunday when I had an experience with him that made me realize how much he cares about the missionaries. At the beginning of priesthood meeting, a brother in the ward gave some announcements and as I talked about the ward cookout that happened on Wednesday, he talked about how sad it was that the missionaries didn't bring anyone to the cookout in-front of everyone, making us look like a couple of bums. Brother Schienagel immediately raised his hand and very sternly made sure that it was clear that it wasn't our fault that we couldn't find anyone to accept the invitation to come to the cookout. I've been criticized by members before in other wards, but never had someone else in the ward stick up for us like Brother Schienagel did. His appreciation and love for us was apparent in this situation, and I feel like the missionaries will always be in good hands here in Wuppertal as long as he is the ward mission leader.
Love you all and hope you have a great week!
-Andy
August 2, 2010
It was quite the omen this afternoon to open my email account and see the title of Mom's latest email--"Time is Ticking"--blaring at me when I've already been fully aware of how the time is quickly winding down. Yes, the time has indeed flown by, and continues to tick with an unnerving echo, but it has left me with a new sense of urgency to use the little time I have left to find someone whom I can lead to baptism.
Our mission currently as a goal of 200 baptisms for this year. We are currently at 90 as far as I know, and have some hard work ahead of us in order to reach that goal. Teaching 20 lessons a week has also become our focus because we have also been promised by the area presidency that if we do so, our number of baptisms will double. As excited and ready as Elder McArthur and I were to start getting a lot of lessons in this week in order to make some great leaps and reaching those goals, this past week didn't quite yield the fruits that we were hoping for. For whatever reason, we were able to get a hold of hardly anybody this week, and found almost no success in our own efforts of finding people on the street. The good thing about this week, however, was the fact that Elder McArthur and I have both been on our missions long enough to know that sometimes, no matter how hard you work or what you try to accomplish, some weeks just kind of turn out like our last one. The important thing is to keep doing everything that lies in our power, and then stand still to wait for the Lord to do his part...and unlike us imperfect beings...He ALWAYS does his part. After all, this is HIS work.
Now, back to our part of the deal. At the end of our tough week, Elder McArthur and I had a pretty hardcore planning session and planned on how we can get 20 lessons this week. We have several names of people we can teach (which is always better than just a number...this work is afterall about people), and have also given a lot of thought to how we can work better with the ward. Anybody who knows me knows that I am a dedicated advocate of working with the members, and we have some great families in this ward with a lot of potential. Tomorrow evening we'll be meeting with the Barluschka's, a family who just sent their oldest son to my old mission (tear), and we're hoping that we can ignite their excitement for missionary work and start working with them on finding a friend who they would like to have us teach in their home.
Elder McArthur and I continue to have a good time together. Our moderately liberal opinions blend well together haha, and our common interests have proven to bounce off each other quite well. We've helped each other out quite a bit with our various story, book, and film ideas, and in a discussion about the Inklings, the old writing club with such members as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, decided that when he comes to BYU we'll have to organize a writing club of our own. We've also helped each other rekindle our flames in this last season of our missions, which is really what's most important.
To close this email, I feel impressed to simply share my testimony with you all. I would like to testify to you of the joy that comes with sharing the message of the gospel to our fellow men. Sometimes they accept it, which brings a joy that one could never imagine, and sometimes they don't. When they don't, it's sad, and some days gets very draining. In Landshut, Elder Ray and I even had a hardcore Russian baptist tell us that we were servants of Satan because we preached the message that we did. It brought joy to my soul, however, to be able to tell him in that moment, without a doubt, that he was wrong...that we were servants of Jesus Christ...that we were called by him to declare this message to the world. I know that that is true... that HE LIVES, and that he leads this church today through the prophet Tomas S. Monson. I'm so grateful that the Lord has given me this knowledge and allowed me to share it with the great people of this great land.
Take care all, and have a great week!
-Andy
June 7, 2010 Looks like the gloomy weather has let up and summer is finally here. As excited as I am for the change, I'm remembering how unpleasant it is to be in a bike area in the middle of summer. Especially when you spend a whole day riding out to the outskirts of your area to contact potential investigators. But hey, I signed up for this kinda stuff, so all I can do really is just enjoy the journey and savor this precious time on my mission that seems to be winding down faster and faster.
My "second" first transfer in Schweinfurt is almost over, and come July 1st, I will officially be a missionary in the Germany Frankfurt mission. As for the near future, I know I'll be staying in Schweinfurt and am just fine with that. As for what happens after Schweinfurt, I guess I'll just have to buy the ticket, and take the ride.
This week brought us some success, some frustration, and for me, one big realization that the time is flying by, and has been for awhile for that matter, faster than I've been able to fathom. On Tuesday, Elder Schwitters and Elder Nichols met with Annie Locarino, a less active member we have been working with (I was on companion exchange in Würzburg with my ole buddy Elder Wilcoxson). Her Boyfriend Clyde was there and started asking questions about the gospel. Elder Schwitters answered his questions and asked him if he had interest in learning more about what we teach and what we believe. Clyde responded very positively and we'll start teaching him this coming week. I had the opportunity to meet him a couple of weeks ago and can already see the great potential he has in accepting the restored gospel.
Our appointment with Herr Ledermann this week was fairly rough. We were very straight forward with him, as we had planned, told him that there can only be one true church, and that he must accept all of what we teach him, or none of it, but it seemed that there was just no getting through to him. The man is living in denial, and for the past year, since I last met with him, has been wallowing in his own justifications for having a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon while remaining in the Catholic Church to the point where he can twist anything we say, or teach directly from the scriptures, to fit his agenda. As frustrating as it was to get to the point of argument with him for almost an hour and a half, it is good that he now knows where we stand, and that our goal of teaching him is to baptize him, and most importantly, that we do all we do and say all we say because we love him. Teaching him for the next little while will be a real test of my patience and perseverance, but I know that this man has come too far to stop where he is. How he will get pack this big spiritual wall he's run into is a mystery to me, but I just gotta believe that if I do my part, then the Lord can work miracles in this man's life.
We announced our new member program in Sacrament meeting yesterday, and already have a bunch of appointments with the members. We're hoping that what we do with the great members of this ward over the coming weeks will help us to build good relationships with them and bring forth fruits for the missionary work here. As the great members here bore their testimonies yesterday, I realized that this ward deserves great missionaries that will help them to bring about miracles here. My greatest desire is to become THAT missionary.
Hope you all have a great week! Take care!
-Andy
June 14, 2010
It's been a pretty solid week here in Schweinfurt. Our work here is slowly but surely picking up. I've seen areas go from being dead to seeing great success in my Mission lifetime, and have no doubt that the same thing will happen, and is currently in the process of happening here. We've met with quite a few families in the Ward to start our new member program and are already building great relationships with them.
We had a great lesson this week with Herr Bomas, a former investigator with whom the Elders before Schwitters and I had lost contact. He was more open and willing to try out what we teach than anyone I've met with for quite awhile. We made out what we call 3x4's with him, where we'll be meeting with him 3 times a week for 4 weeks, and also asked him if he would be baptized if he discovered for himself that what we teach is true, to which he positively and openly replied yes. This man has as good a chance to be baptized as anyone I've met with, and Elder Schwitters and I are both really excited to see what the Lord does with him.
On a less inspiring but interesting enough to mention note, I've had two bike accidents in the past two weeks. But I must say, I'm pretty proud of myself for going almost a year and a half on the mission without having a bike accident. Anyway, the first one was on companion exchange with Elder Wilcoxson (an ole buddy from the MTC) in Würzburg. How it all went down was, I was riding Wilcoxson's companion's bike, which has really thin wheels, and got the front wheel caught in the track of the street trolley and ended up flipping over the top of the bike and rolling about 20 feet in downtown Würzburg in front of the entire city. The funny thing was, I was wearing a jacket, yet my shirt was completely dirty, but nothing hit my tie.
My second accident happened this week. We were cruisin' down a large steep hill and I started coming up on an older lady on her bike that I could tell was about to veer right in front of me to turn into her house. If it weren't for the car coming up the hill at the same time, I would have just been able to veer around her, but there wasn't enough room and enough time to stop, so I ended up just barely clipping her and sending here crashing over her bike on to the road. Luckily she wasn't seriously injured at all and was super nice about the whole thing. In any case I was able to check another box on the "Typical Missionary Experiences" list.
This week we'll be seeing the Condie's for the last time on the mission. They'll be visiting our Zone one last time before the change over to the Frankfurt mission. It'll be a tough goodbye for all of us I think. It was strange this past week to have my LAST interview with President Condie, and realize that the Wisdom of this amazing man that I respect and admire so much would no longer be available to me as it has been for my entire mission. But hey, this is the Lord's work, and I know that he's put me where I need to be. As he always has.
Have a great week and stay classy!
-Andy
June 21, 2010
Dear Sisters and Elders in the great Nürnberg Zone,
Greetings from wet, but ever so green München! I hope you’ve had a successful weekend and are ready for a new transfer, which, beginning 30 June 2010, will include being introduced to Sister and President Ninow. You should prepare yourselves for what will be the best part of your mission!
Thank you for your goodness and good works. After you’ve prepared yourselves today, please use your best efforts to find new investigators and teach as many lessons as possible this week.
With love and appreciation,
Robert G. Condie
Germany Munich/Austria Mission
June 28, 2010
Well here I am on my second to last day in the Germany Munich/Austria Mission. As every missionary in every mission would say I'm sure, I've had the opportunity for the past year and a half to serve in the best mission in the world! It's been quite the adventure, from lots of success to times of almost no success, from great companions to...well....great companions that gave me a lot to learn and think about, and always something of eternal significance to do and learn. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the new Frankfurt Mission now, and even more grateful for the opportunity to be in Schweinfurt for at least the next nine weeks. When I came on my mission I thought that a lot of weaknesses I have would vanish rather quickly, but as it turns out, it hasn't quite worked out that way. I find myself still working on those weaknesses at a point where I thought I would be much, much further in my personal progress. Through my frustrations, however, I've realized that the atonement has made me realize that I don't need to be perfect in order to be a worthy representative of Jesus Christ. As Nephi said, "I know in whom I have trusted." The Saviors ultimate sacrifice has taken on a new meaning for me on my mission, allowing me to overcome things I never thought I'd be able to overcome and giving me the strength to bear witness of him and his restored gospel.
As Jim Morrison once said, "No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn." Right now for me is the dawn of a new beginning, in a new mission, and the last fourth of my mission. I am more determined than ever to make this last six months the BEST six months of my mission. I hope you all back home now how much I love you and pray for you always. Take care and have a great week!
-Andy
July 5, 2010 As of last week I am now officially a Missionary in the Germany Frankfurt mission. For the past months I've been sitting around talking about how ready I am for the change, how I've been there done that, but now that it's actually happened I'm finding that it's quite a bit more stressful for me than I thought it would be. On Friday we met in Nuremberg with President and Sister Ninow. I think it's a rather obvious thing to say, but they are definitely not the Condie's. President Ninow was a pretty big business man for the Huntsman Corporation, and it shows in his style as a mission President. A couple of times, Elder Schwitters kinda leaned over and said to each other, "Hey, do we have Donald Trump for a mission president now or what?" Despite the total difference being something I was completely unprepared for, I'm very excited to be working with President Ninow for these last six months of my mission. He and Sister Ninow have a great energy for this work, which is probably what I need to "keep it up" in the last hump so to speak. The poor things have taken parts of three other missions into theirs, and are in the process of combining four mission cultures into one. I really like their approach, however, which consists of starting from the ground up, learning from each other and building a whole new mission culture. Amidst all the headaches of dealing with new procedures, feeling like a greeny again, and possibly being transferred out of the only place in the mission where I know anybody, I'm still sure that the Lord always puts us where we need to be.
As of now, however, I'm still in Schweinfurt. The longer I'm here the more I grow to love this ward. Being away from one's family is a heck of a lot easier when he has an amazing ward family and feels loved and taken care of. Yesterday in Fast and testimony meeting, as I listened to the touching testimonies of members that I know very well and have a deep love for, I was reminded once again of the great gift that the Lord has given me in allowing me to serve in Schweinfurt. This ward deserves a Missionary that will give them his best, and it is my greatest hearts desire to be that missionary as long as I'm here.
Hope you all have a great week. 'till next time!
-Andy
July 12, 2010
Hope your week hasn't even been close to as stressful as mine. I can't remember the last time a week has gone by this slow for me. I think within the past few days I've developed a tumor, a hernia, a couple of ulcers, and was not too far away from having a complete mental and physical collapse...OK it might not be as bad as all that, but fetch...I was stressed. Now let me explain to ya why.
The Frankfurt mission transfer cycle is three weeks later than the Munich mission, so before the switch we were all told that we wouldn't be touched by it and have a nine week transfer as opposed to the usual six week transfer. Well, as we should have guessed, President Ninow had something else in mind. After having our Nürnberg zone under his watch for two weeks, President Ninow decided he was going to mix things up right away in order to integrate this mission fast. According to my good buddy Elder Bailey, still one of the Zone Leaders here, informed me that President Ninow is more than a little unhappy with our performance as a zone, the two biggest problems, according to him, being disobedience and "faith to find." Our area was even specifically mentioned due to our low numbers over the past two weeks. At this point everything was still speculation, but what we did know was that the chances of Elder Schwitters or I being transferred from Schweinfurt was very likely. As you all may remember, my last tenure in Schweinfurt was ended abruptly by a mid-transfer change, and the thought of that happening again, especially after all the work Elder Schwitters and I have been doing to build great relationships with this ward, was nauseating. It was this news that made the week inch along as we tried to do what we could to have at least a last good week before the transfer call came.
In our old mission, transfer calls came on Sunday morning. In the Frankfurt mission, however, transfer calls come Saturday night, which I soon discovered leaves me in stress all day anticipating the call that could drastically change the next few months of my mission. And sure enough, after hours of nauseating stress, our phone rang at 9:15 Saturday evening...but it wasn't a transfer call...it was Elder Wilcoxson, our District Leader, informing us that we wouldn't be getting transfer calls until Sunday evening...which meant another entire day of waiting with stressful anticipation, on top of going to church and not being able to tell the ward anything except, "We might be transferred so in case I don't see a again, bye, but if I'm still here we'll see ya in couple days at our appointment." By yesterday evening though, at the urge of Elder Schwitters, who can handle transfers much better than me, I was much calmer as I ceased pacing the floors and just sat, breathed, relaxed, and found great solace in the scriptures. I read a lot of comforting verses from Doctrine and Covenants, which strengthened my testimony once again that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God (there's no other way that the words I read could be so comforting if they weren't revelation from God). As 10:30 finally hit with no phone call, we thought for a second that we might be in the clear and that by some miracle we would be together for another transfer. We decided to call Elder Bailey to make sure that calls were done before we went to bed, however, he quickly informed us that, not only were they still making calls, but that we should expect one. My false sense of security faded quickly and sure enough we received a call from the assistants 15 minutes later. To my great relief, I discovered that I would be staying in Schweinfurt and receiving Elder Craighead as my new companion, a "hardcore ex-zone leader" who will be going home after our transfer together. Elder Schwitters is heading up north to Wuppertal, and needless to say is not too happy about it. Elder Jenkins, the assistant, asked us to be honest in our feelings about the change and we told him that it wouldn't have been our first choice, but we do know that whatever happens is the Lord's will.
I'm so grateful to my father in heaven for letting me stay here to further the work in Schweinfurt. I'm still a little stressed about being as under the radar as I think I'll be for the next six weeks, but I also know that all will be well if I just do what the Lord has sent me here to do. I can't quite find the words to describe my feelings of lingering stress mixed with a new calm and vigor for my assignment over the next six weeks, but for anyone that does want to know exactly how I feel at this moment, look up the song Alive by Pearl Jam. I think It would sum 'em up pretty good.
Love you all. You are in my prayers as always, and I humbly ask that you keep me in yours as well. Take care and keep on truckin'!
Man, being in a car area is quite the experience. I feel like I don't know how to do missionary work anymore. When you spend your whole mission in medium sized cities and then come to an area that covers a heck of a lot of ground, you have kind of remold and turn your brain on again to come up with a whole new game plan of how you're going to do the work effectively. That's what Elder Vogel and I are in the process of doing, and I think we've got a good hold on things now after the past two weeks of kinda running around with our heads cut off. Well, maybe It was just me feeling like that. Who knows?
