Straße (street) Contacting Galore!

Hey y'all! Checking in again on another beautiful day in Deutschland!

I was pretty disappointed with our performance this past week. We did not teach any lessons. That was mostly due to the fact that it was an exam week at the university and since almost our entire teaching pool is comprised of students, they were all busy studying and were unable to meet with us. Here is a picture of the University in Magdeburg:

No appointments means we were finding! On Tuesday some of the first people we talked to were these two guys that didn't speak German so I was super excited to be able to understand a full conversation. They totally agreed with what we were teaching them and we were able to go through the first lesson with them. Both wanted a Book of Mormon but we didn't have an English copy on us so we are trying to get a time to meet up with them. We saw them again on the street the other day and they invited us to some house party...we graciously declined. That afternoon we went to the university with our area book and tried to find all of the students that we had records for. It was actually a really good exercise because we found that several people had moved and were lost. Most were not home, probably studying, so we will have to catch them at a better time. While we were walking around campus, a man approached us and said that he sees us around everywhere and has been meaning to talk to us but never had the courage. He is a professor here, super nice guy named Robert. He said he has traveled a bit to the US and has met some Mormons and has been really impressed by them. He said he wanted to come to church. We were like, OKAY! He actually didn't show up yesterday so we'll have to get back with him.

On Wednesday we had the usual district meeting with the other missionaries in Magdeburg. Afterwards we all went to Curry 54. I was a little worried at first but it turned out to be really good. They served a brot and fries and they have all sorts of different sauces like BWW. I tried the second hottest they had and it wasn't even bad. They do hot sauce a little differently here I guess. Wednesday afternoon we rode a train an hour south to Barenburg were Elder Haas and Elder Pilling are serving. I tauched (traded companions) with Pilling. Elder Meeks and Pilling had another man say he wanted to come to church and that he already had a Book of Mormon at home. Here is a German gyro or Döner:

I spent Thurday in Barenburg. It is a tiny little town a dorfs (villages). I really like Elder Haas though--I learned a lot from him in just those 24 hours that we were companions. He is our District Leader and is a master at German grammar, but he is still working on his accent. He finishes his mission in December. He has been President Kosak's fix-it elder--fills any role President Kosak throws at him. We did some contacting there and I knocked on my first doors! Not really any takers. Several people for some reason think we are affiliated with the Amish. Not sure why. Thursday night I returned to Magdeburg.

Friday was a good long day of contacting. We felt inspired to go over to the west side of our area, Ottersleben, about a 45 minute walk from our Wohnung (apartment). There, not too many people were on the streets so we went to these huge Wohnung complexes and just started klingling (doorbells). The first builing we went to was a DDR-era establishment that only had about half of the Wohnungs inhabited. Only two people really talked to us. One old man said thanks but that he is too old and does not want to change is life. Another lady was a Christian-converted Muslim that did not believe in the New Testament and was trying to Bible bash us. We just said thanks for your time and left. Then we went to a much nicer, newer building that had the phone klingles. So we just sat outside and went down the doorbell list. Peoples' reactions to you saying that you're missionaries and you want to talk about the Book of Mormon are priceless. Some people say, "No thanks", others say, "I don't believe in God" and then the rest just hang up on you halfway through our little greeting. No takers there. The guy that we had talk to in the first building and said that he didn't want to change his life was out walking his dog when we were leaving the second building and jokingly said, "Still no takers? I guess we're all going to hell." Hahaha. I just know that the more people we talk to, the better chance we give ourselves of finding people that Heavenly Father has prepared to hear our message. Friday night we had weekly planning. We already have three appointments lined up for this week and one for the week following with a less-active member who has never met with the missionaries before. Here are some Stolperstein, stones throughout Germany that commemorate victims of the Holocaust:

Saturday was an interesting day. I think last time I mentioned that we have a member family who just bought an old bahnhof (train station) and is trying to refurbish it into a home. Well we four Magdeburg elders went there on Saturday and spent the day doing service there. The next time I am there, I am going to take pictures cause I want you guys to see this thing. Let me tell you, that thing is a project. It is 115 years old and this poor man is trying to restore it all by himself. It is huge! I got lost in it! He just got a shipment of new windows so we spent the morning taking them apart and moving them up to their separate rooms. After they served us lunch, we moved more things upstairs, like a whole kitchen set up. He plans on making half of the second floor into a kitchen. Then we spent a little time digging a trench for their water line. He is supposed to get a backhoe there next week. It is a pretty cool place though. It still has a lot of things left in it from its train station days like a huge scale and furnaces and an antique breaker unit. It was pretty cool to see. Bad location though because they are literally right on the tracks. Saturday night we played soccer per usual with one of the other elders' investigators.
Yesterday at church was Elder Romney's first Sunday as branch president. He had some obvious nerves but he did alright. He asked Elder Meeks and I to speak in Sacrament Meeting. He told me to take five minutes and share my testimony. I think it went really well. I shared my testimony on the Restoration and said that I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon and that we have a prophet today. It was exactly five minutes and for the most part I think my grammar was okay. Elder Meeks spoke on faith for a few minutes and then Elder Morton sang a song for the rest hymn. He plugged his ipod into the speaker system and sang Savior, Redeemer to a piano arrangement he had. It was in English but it definitely had the Spirit. The branch president who just got released, Bruder Steiger, then closed the meeting by talking about the Restoration. After church we went way out into the country with the Romneys to a members house to lunch. They fed us chili con carne. The Germans love chili. We had that fruity, yogurty thing for dessert like we had at the members house a couple weeks ago but I cannot remember the name of it. Afterwards, they took us back into town and we did our studies for the rest of the night.

I am really studying grammar hard right now. I want to get a good foundation. I can pick up like every fifth word when we're talking to someone on the street. I also studied 3 Nephi and 4 Nephi this week. I challenge everyone to read 3 Nephi 17 this week and see if you can get some new nuggets from it.

Love you all! Thanks for the prayers. I feel like success is coming soon. I promised the mission president 10 baptisms by the end of the year so it better! :)

Elder Germann

Christus ist mein Herr

Hallo everyone! I have an update on my first full week in Deutschland!

Monday night Elder Meeks and I went to the Wlokas for dinner. They are a couple that just moved into the congregation/branch. They have two kids grown up and out of the house now. He just got a job managing the Magdeburg bahns (trolly cars) and sometimes he drives them too. They were super nice. We had green beans and sausage served in a red sauce. I forget the name of the dessert but it was vanilla yogurt with green grapes in it--pretty good. We shared our favorite scriptures with them and even had them share their favorites with us; then we played a game of dominoes. Here's a picture of Stadt Park in Magdeburg:

Tuesday was my first attempt at street contacting. I actually would not call it a fail. I was able to walk up to people and introduce myself and ask them a question without blanking. After a question or two I didn't understand anything they were saying to me so Elder Meeks had to jump in but that's okay! No one was very interested and the longest conversation we had was with a Jehovah's Witness. There are a lot of JW here in Germany. Many Germans confuse us with them. JW are not allowed to proselyte like we are. Tuesday afternoon we had a lesson with a less-active member named Claudius. He was born into the church but hasn't been in years. He doesn't have any faith--he says he can't believe in something he can't see. He also made a list of all the problems he has with the church... We talked about the Word of Wisdom. I remembered Elder Bednar saying that we must teach with doctrines. Claudius wanted to go point by point through the Word of Wisdom with us. I told him: Look, we're not going to do that. If we just give you the answers, you'll never know how to find them for yourself. We committed him to reading and praying about each thing in Doctrine and Covenants Section 89 and reporting back to us what answers he gets. We also gave him an Elder Bednar talk to read about faith. We really need to build Claudius' faith. Elder Bednar counsels that the evidence only comes after you put in the faith and do the action. Next time we meet with him we will also tell him that it is important to be doing all that he can to feel the companionship of the Spirit--that includes coming to church. That evening the other Magdeburg elders invited us to play soccer with one of their investigators. The investigator just signed with some team here in town.

Wednesday morning I had Nougat Kissens for the first time for breakfast and from now on CocoPuffs will not be the best chocolate cereal. We need to get the Kissens to the States! They're little chocolate bits with nougat inside aka heaven. I digress... In companionship study, we have been working on both the first 12 weeks training program and the 3-5 minute versions of the lessons, especially lesson 1 since that is the one you teach people on the street when you first meet them. I've been practicing that a lot this week in addition to everything else I need to do. There are a lot of scriptures I still need to memorize auf Deutsch and I am working on being able to understand everything in the Book of Mormon auf Deutsch. Wednesdays are when we meet with the other missionaries in a district meeting. We covered our goals and counseled with each other on certain questions we had with investigators. At the end, Elder Pilling, Morton and I had to do the new guy initiation...which consisted of trust-falling off of a ledge and being caught by the rest of the district. I'll try to attach the vid. We went to Subway after--never going again. American food is so pricey. No way I'm spending 9 euro for a Subway. Elder Meeks and I keep having these huge hornets come into the wohnung in the evening. Elder Meeks killed both of them with a make shift blow torch (axe and a lighter) which I suggest not trying at home.

Thursday entailed a lot of street contacting. We decided to explore the area a bit and went way out. No one we talked to was interested. We had a lesson with our investigator Kolja. Kolja is progressing well. He has come to church the past two weeks and is reading in the Book of Mormon. He had several very thoughtful questions during the second lesson on Thursday. I don't think he has recognized the Spirit quite yet so we are praying for that all of the time. I was really frustrated after our lesson because I understood the questions he was posing and I thought I could offer a different viewpoint than that of Elder Meeks, but I don't know how to say it in German yet! It is such a helpless feeling.  Here's the cathedral in Magdeburg:

Friday was anticlimactic. We woke up to rain. We were supposed to go do a service project for a member family. They just bought an old bahnhof (train station) and they are fixing it up to live in it. They called and cancelled because of the rain though so we stayed home and did our usual study and weekly planning. I was absorbed in reading the Book of Mormon on Friday. I really like reading about Captain Moroni. He was such a great man and an inspired leader. There is a verse, Alma 48:17, that basically says that if everyone was like Moroni, Satan would be a non-factor in everyone's life. How cool is that! The Lamanites would bring their numberless hosts of armies against Captain Moroni, but the Nephites were so faithful and prepared, that they could not be beat. Friday evening we street contacted to our dinner appointment at the Leroys. They are a younger couple--she has MS and he dropped out of med school to take care of her. They were super nice to have us over. They recently just started coming back to church.

Saturday morning I woke up pumped for the day, determined to find new investigators. I led our discussion during comp study about how we can help those we teach receive revelation through reading the Book of Mormon. I told Elder Meeks when we went out to go street contact that we were literally going to talk to everyone we saw. We talked to so many people and had great conversations! Did we find any new investigators? No. But were our efforts and results soo much better? Yes! We even taught the first lesson to a man! (Later I realized that when he asked us why so many people in the world are wicked and I shared with him the natural man is an enemy to God scripture, I actually didn't share that scripture...I got it confused with 2 Nephi 2:27 which says men are free according to the flesh. My scripture mastery knowledge is lacking but it wasn't too big of a fail cause I think it still kinda made sense.) It really strengthened my testimony that we need to make that kind of effort every time we go street contacting. Eventually we will find people who are prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't want to be an average missionary just going through the motions. I truly want to find and teach people. Saturday night we played soccer again with the other elders and another investigator. A bunch of neighborhood kids joined.

Yesterday at church the stake presidency was in our branch to change the branch presidency. Elder Romney (he and his wife are the senior missionaries here in Magdeburg) is the new branch president. That is good news because we will now be able to coordinate very well with him on the needs of the members. The stake president was very nice. He loved my last name, of course. Street contacting yesterday afternoon wasn't too successful. We went to where the mall was because everything is closed on Sundays and it wasn't shoulder to shoulder mayhem like during the week. The most eventful thing that happened was a Muslim man coming up and telling us we were "fooling" people...right.

We are really trying to meet with our other investigators and less-actives. Several are students here and are very busy. Some missionaries aren't as comfortable doing street contacting. We're offering salvation here! Let's get to work!

I miss American food. I just want some Ritz--is that too much to ask?! They don't even sell ramen. Otherwise I am doing well and working hard! German is tough. I don't understand a lot of what people say. I need to get used to people not speaking clearly and I am working to extend my vocab from church things. Members have been very nice with that. They were all very happy to help me with the language and common courtesies at the dinner table.

I hope everyone is well! Bis nächte Montag!

Ich bin in Magdeburg!!

Hallo everyone! I hope all is well.

I think that the last time I posted everyone was before I left the Missionary Training Center (MTC) so I will tie that off and then update you on the happenings across the pond.

My last Sunday at the MTC we had a mission conference. Members of the MTC presidency and their wives spoke on various subjects including women in the priesthood, temples, prophets, etc. That afternoon we had a testimony meeting. Not many people who got up to bear their testimony even tried to speak auf Duetsch...I was kind of disappointed. That night the MTC Administrative Director spoke again and had more converts come up to the podium and share their conversion stories. I thought it was a great idea. Peoples' conversion stories are amazing. Before going to bed we watched "Mountain of the Lord" which I have seen a couple of times but it is such a good film on the construction of the Salt Lake temple. It explains why we have temples so well.

Last Monday was my last full day in the MTC. We got time in the morning to do laundry and pack. in class that day, both Sister Judd and Bro. Garlick shared experiences from their missions and wished us luck. That night our zone sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again". Our district got together before bed and gave priesthood blessings to each other. That was a special experience.  Here's a picture of my teacher, Bro. Garlick:

The missionaries going to Frankfurt were up and gone by 0400 Tuesday morning. We left at 0600 and jumped on the train from Provo to south Salt Lake, then Trax to the airport. It was choas trying to switch trains with 25 peoples' luggage. Fortunately we got everyone to the airport in one piece. Elder Pilling and I were the first to check in and be at our gate. I checked my second bag at the gate and avoided the $100 fee that everyone else had to pay. Dad has taught me well ;) I had two hours to call the fam! I had a great time talking to Dad and Mom and Brit and was able to leave Hana and Patton and Emma voicemails. The flight to Seattle was a quick one. I was smushed in between Elders Pilling and Perkins though. I did not sleep because I wanted to give myself every opportunity to fall asleep on the long flight. When we got to Seattle, there was just enough time to grab a burger and get to the gate before they were boarding. I did not enjoy the nine hour flight from Seattle to Amsterdam. Despite my preparation, I was unable to sleep a wink. We only had about enough time between flights to go through customs in Amsterdam. For some reason I set off the scanner so they had to pat me down. The flight to Berlin was super short. I finally was able to fall asleep but that was only for 30 minutes. We got to Berlin, got our baggage, and the mission president and his wife, the Kosaks and the Assistants to the President (APs) were waiting outside for us!

The Kosaks are so awesome!!! The first thing President Kosak said to me was, "Elder Germann, hello! How is the Air Force? I have showed the video of you opening your mission call to everyone!" LOL how did he get that? Anyways, they're great and the APs are nice. One is Swiss and one is from PA. They took us straight to a chapel in Berlin. By this time its Wednesday and I did not really sleep. We had a little welcome devotional, then they split us into groups. First, I went and took care of my finances and paperwork. Then I went out and did my first finding with an Elder serving in Berlin, Elder Hogan. He has been out about a year and a half and is from downtown Boston. At that point I was a zombie, so tired, so I did little to no talking at all. Only one guy stopped to talk to us. He had questions prepared to try to stump us and they didn't even make sense. He was saying something like, well if God created everything then he created the devil and therefore he is the devil. Elder Hogan was like uhhhhhh no. The man took a contact card though so maybe he will call. Afterwards, I went back to the chapel and interviewed with President Kosak. It sounds like he is very impressed with me and expects good things. I gave him an AF golf shirt which he was reluctant to take but was very grateful. (He said he wore it on Thursday morning during his exercise!) At about 1900 they took us to a hotel and said be ready at 1100 in the morning.

I slept for 13 hours and was still tired Thursday morning. We got up and had breakfast at the next-door cafe. A bus came at 1100 and took us back to the chapel where we met our trainers. My trainer is Elder Meeks from Mission Viejo, CA. He has been out for 19 months and this is his first time training. He is very knowledgable and I can tell that I can learn a lot from him. We are still warming up to each other. His last companion went to the Coast Guard Academy so he's just been getting lucky with all of the military companions. We are assigned to Magdeburg, about 2 hours SW of Berlin. There are two other elders in the city with us in a different apartment, Elder Stringham and ELDER MORTON, my MTC companion! I just can't get rid of him ;) just kidding. Also, Elder Pilling is companions with our district leader! So we will see each other all of the time. We rode the train down and got to our Wohnung (apartment) on Martinstraße. It is very nice, not very old. It looks like an apartment out of IKEA. We have our own little kitchen, bathroom, a good sized living room where there is a couch and our desks, and then we have a bedroom. We also have a washer AND a dryer which dryers are not common in missionary Wohnungs. Thursday afternoon, I unpacked at the Wohnung and then we met Elders Morton and Stringham for dinner. I had my first Döner which is a momentous occation for missionaries. It's the German version on a falafel. Personally, I like falafels better but the Döner is good.  Here are some pics of the apartment:

                          

Friday morning Elder Meeks and I woke up and went for a run. We did our study for the rest of the morning. I have created an outline for my language study and have made goals for each week. This week I am working on my Getting to Know You skills. We also studied for the visit of Elder Bednar, one of the Church's twelve apostles on Saturday. Friday afternoon we completed weekly planning. We set up several appointments with investigators and talked about each one's needs individually. Friday afternoon Elder Meeks and I did some exploring of Magdeburg and then we went to the train station to pick up a couple of Elders who were going to stay the night with us to go to Berlin Saturday morning. We went to bed as soon as we got home.  Here is the downtown area of Magdeburg:

We were up at 0300 Saturday morning to catch the right trains to Berlin. We had to be at the Tiergarten chapel by 0800. I studied the whole way there. Elder Bednar arrived at 0900 with the area Seventy, Elder Sykes. Elder Sykes, Sister Sykes, and Sister Bednar spoke. Elder Bednar held his two-hour portion of the meeting in his question and answer style. Very cool and the Spirit was strong. His thoughts focused on patterns--patterns of teaching, patterns of learning, etc. It was a wonderful time and awesome to hear the words of an apostle and prophet. We spent the afternoon wandering around Berlin waiting for our train. Tiergarten is the nice part of Berlin--very clean, Porsches everywhere. We took pictures at the Brandenburg Tor:

On the train back to Magdeburg, we heard a couple say, "Shoot, we got a train full of Jehovahs Witnesses!" when we got on. There are lots of Jehovahs Witnesses in Germany. Elder Stringham turned around and said, "No worries, we're Mormons!" We talked with them the whole train ride. The husband is American, the wife English. They are scientists living in Magdeburg. We got their info and said they would love to get together sometime. I told him that I had lived in Colorado Springs the last year and immidiately he was like, "I have to give you something!" He gave me a pin he got when he biked up Pikes Peak. We talked about Pikes Peak for a while and how I have biked down it before. Kinda crazy.

Yesterday was my first Sunday in Deutschland. Magdeburg has a small branch, only about ten men in priesthood meeting. I understood about half of what was said. Fortunately I understood when they asked Elder Morton and I to come up and bear our testimonies since we're new. The members are so nice though. The branch president is actually a transplant from another ward. His son taught Sunday School. There is also a senior couple in Magdeburg, Elder and Sister Romney. I think he said he and Mitt are second cousins or something. They're very nice though. We ate dinner at the branch president's home, about a thirty minute train ride away. We had roladen--sausage wrapped in cabbage. I am not a cabbage guy but it was good. I didn't say much cause I really can't. President Steiger was the only one in the family to speak English well.
Today is Preparation day (P-day) and then tonight we have a dinner appointment with a new member family in the area. Should be fun.

Initial impressions of Germany: I love it. It is sweater weather everyday right now--overcast, sprinkles here and there. I am getting used to riding trains everywhere. We have bikes but Elder Meeks says we will rarely have need for them. The area I am in was part of East Germany so many of the buildings are very very stark. There are abandoned factories everywhere. Graffitti is everywhere. It's legal because its considered art. Everyone smokes. I have the worst headache right now in this internet cafe. I'm having lots of fun though. I've hit that wall where I don't understand a lot and I can hardly form a sentence. People have some strong accents. I'm studying hard though.

I'm looking forward to teaching my first lessons this week!

Tanner is in Germany!!

He left Tuesday from Salt Lake via Seattle and Amsterdam and arrived in Berlin midday, Wednesday, September 10. He called us before leaving and shared a lot of his experience from the missionary training center which he loved.

We received the following letter and picture today from the mission president in Berlin. Tanner has been assigned to Magdeburg (about 80 mi. southwest of Berlin) and his first companion will be Elder Meeks from Mission Viejo, California. Coincidentally, we have friends in California who know the Meeks and say great things about this missionary. What a small world!  Tanner will likely stay in Magdeburg for a few months and will either transfer to another area or trade companions--this will be the norm during his mission.

Enjoy!
Tim and Joy Germann


Dear Brother and Sister Germann,

We are pleased to announce that your son, Elder Timothy Tanner Germann, is safely with us in the Berlin Mission. We have had the opportunity to get to know him, and he is ready and excited to be here. Sister Kosak and I look forward to working with him and will do all that we can to help him serve a happy and successful mission. Elder Germann’s first companion will be Elder Meeks, and they will work together in Magdeburg for the next several weeks.

We have all discussed the mission goals and agreed that we will start right, work hard, and finish strong in order to fulfill our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. We, along with your son, appreciate the support which you give through your weekly letters and daily prayers in his behalf. Thank you for raising your son so that he can be part of this amazing work.

For a glimpse inside the mission, including occasional pictures of your missionary, you can check the blog we maintain at http://germanyberlinmission2012-15.blogspot.com. I’ve included a picture of Elder Germann, his companion, Elder Meeks, Sister Kosak, and me. May the Lord bless you in all that you do.

Sincerely,
Henry W. Kosak
President Germany Berlin Mission

Werden Sie die Beispiel Jesu Christi folgen?

Dear All:

Another week completed in the work of the Lord!  Can you believe I've been gone for five weeks?! Lots of good learning experiences this week.

On Thursday morning we began the day with another Teaching Resource Center session.  This time we actually Skyped a member in Deutschland!  Kind of intimidating but Elder Morton and I did well.  We shared the story in Alma 17 where Alma meets up with the Sons of Mosiah after their fourteen year-long missions and he is so happy to find that they are "still his brethren in the Lord" because "they had searched the scriptures diligently."  We talked about how you can find answers to your questions in the scriptures.  We understood everything he said until we asked him to say the closing prayer...he went 100 mph and I missed everything... But its okay!  Apparently, another missionary and his companion had taught a lesson to that same member before us and the member had told them their German was terrible and hung up on them! Kind of ridiculous but I guess that means we're doing alright, right?  We also taught a lesson on the Word of Wisdom to Benjamin on Thursday--he committed to living it.  

At breakfast Friday morning I talked to Holden and he said he got an email saying he didn't get selected to be an Instructor Pilot which means I probably didn't either. But it's all good 'cause we can just apply when we get back and we'll be applying to '17ers so we will have an in with them.  In our morning class we talked about the first and second commandments, to love God and to love your neighbor. We went around the room and said what we loved about each member of our district.  It was a really nice experience.  The Spirit was there.  The general theme for me was that I was caring, understanding, and funny.  We also taught a lesson to Alex on the Atonement and repentance.  We got our travel plans!  SLC to Seattle to Amsterdam to Berlin!  Tuesday can't come soon enough!

 

Here's a picture of my district--so close to leaving for Germany!

 

I decided Saturday that Mosiah is one of my favorite books in the Book of Mormon--interesting stories but also great teaching from Abinidi and Alma.  Elder Morton and I taught a great lesson to Benjamin on the second half of the Plan of Salvation.  Bro. Garlick told us afterwards that we did a really nice job teaching by the Spirit.  Saturday night we learned simple past tense in German and practiced using articles of speech.

Sunday was a good day.  I prepared a really good talk in German on enduring to the end.  Didn't have to give it though.  Elder Pilling forgot to assign someone to teach during the district meeting so he asked Elder Morton and I to do it ten minutes before.  Fortunately we put something together on enduring to the end.  I shared a scripture, Alma 1:20-25, that fit really well:  the people of the church were blessed when they endured through persecution.  Elder Pilling played a crazy good arrangement of All Creatures of Our God and King in sacrament meeting.  The devotional was given my Brother Holzapfel who just returned from being mission president in Birmingham.  He was a loud and animated man--like they had to turn the mic down.  But he gave a great talk on the importance of keeping a study journal.  He shared lots of great experiences.  Afterwards we went and watched an Elder Bednar talk that I loved.  He talked about the difference between doctrines, principles, and applications.  He said that our tendency is to teach with applications, but that we need to teach with doctrines.  This applies to missionary work and parenting.  For example, when explaining the Word of Wisdom, don't go through all the do's and don'ts.  Direct the individual to Section 89 and and have them pray about it.  

On Monday our daily schedule changed since BYU classes started up and most of our instructors are students.  Now we have both class periods in the afternoon, just like our usual Saturday schedule.  Class from 1830 to 2130 is long!  We taught our "less active member," Anita, about the power of the Atonement.  We focused on the other half of the Atonement, meaning Christ took upon himself our pains, sicknesses, and afflictions in addition to our sins.  Alma 7:11-12 hits this point perfectly.  This was especially fitting for her since her illness continues to hinder her church attendance.  We got a new "investigator," Lukas, Monday night whom we committed committed to baptism!  In our first lesson, we covered a lot of doctrine but he really responded well and committed.  The Spirit was definitely there.

Yesterday I got some one-on-one language practice with Bro. Garlick.  He helped me better understand sentence structure as well as giving me a suggestion that I think I'm going to try out--take a German Book of Mormon and go word-by-word, highlighting and looking up everything you don't know.  He said by the time he got to Mosiah he stopped because he could read everything.  Kind of a project but an interesting thought.  In the devotional choir last night we sang Where Can I Turn for Peace?  Elder Clarke of the Seventy spoke.  Kind of a quiet guy but gave a great talk on salvation and retaining converts.  He gave lots of counsel on retention like extending callings, providing friends, etc.

Here are the missionaries in my zone--we're all going to Berlin or Frankfurt:

I think I am becoming a better student of the scriptures, slowly but surely.  I will continue to have the chance to become a teacher of the scriptures.  Elder Morton and I continue to work well together as well as our district as a whole.  I am looking forward to getting out into the field on Tuesday!  Complete immersion is the best way to learn, right??  The next time you hear from me I'll be across the pond!

 

I love and miss you all!

Elder Germann