Happy Thanksgiving from Lubeck!!

I wanted to start off this letter by wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving this week! I hope everyone has a great time eating together with family and friends. It is one of my favorite holidays and I am sad to be missing another one. I guess the comforting thought is that I'll be home for the next one!  Here are some pictures of Lubeck--it's been beautiful but cold here with our first snow this week:

We had another solid week this past week. We were able to give a priesthood blessing to a woman in the ward and she told us on Sunday that the next day she was feeling much much better. What a cool confirmation that the blessings that we give really do heal.  

We had a good lesson with a long-time investigator who in the opening prayer said that it finally hit him that he needs to stop looking for scientific evidence for everything in order to have faith in something and he asked for the ability to overcome that desire--pretty cool. That evening (Tuesday) we went to a member's house who fed us his self-proclaimed 'best Apfelkompott in the world'. That was the first time for me trying this glorified applesauce so I cannot confirm nor deny if it is the best in the world. So thick a spoon can stand up in it!!!

I exchanged companions with Elder Whitaker from Wednesday to Thursday. If you remember, he was in my Missionary Training Center district. It was really the first time we've worked with each other since the MTC. We had a good time and taught some good lessons. My favorite was the one we taught to an American about the difference between the Light of Christ, the power of the Holy Ghost, and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I really like the concept of light and every time I see the word "light" in the scriptures I highlight it. Elder Bednar has three good Mormon Messages on the subject as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOVbT2oxnI

Our fliers paid off and we had a random guy from Ghana show up to our German class. Another investigator/friend of ours came as well.

We got in contact with someone listed in our area book this week. He has read the whole Book of Mormon but he definitely needs help understanding God. He believes in the Nordic gods. We're going to meet with him on Friday and he wants to take us to an ancient Viking ritual site....  Speaking of religious sites, here are some pictures of St. Mary's cathedral, one of Germany's largest.  See me also sitting next to the devil outside the chapel!!

Hesam is getting ready for the baptism on Saturday. He has his baptismal interview on Wednesday. That will be the highlight of the week! Mehrdad's other friend from Iran that he brought to church is also a really good guy. He says hes been looking for the true church and was so excited to hear that there is a living prophet on earth today because he thinks that the direction a prophet can provide is completely necessary in today's world.

I read a super good talk from President Harold B. Lee this week--Stand Ye in Holy Places. As a matter of fact, that whole April 1973 General Conference was full of amazing talks. Y'all should check it out this week: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/1973/04?lang=eng

Sending lots of love and thanks for your continuing support from Germany!!!

Elder Tanner Germann

A visit from an Apostle...and a baptism!!

That's right! Elder Ballard was in Berlin and they called on short-notice a mission conference to have him speak to us! Quite the feat that they pulled all 250 missionaries spread out across northern Germany together in a matter of two days. And it was worth it!

Elder Ballard was accompanied by the area president, Elder Kearon, and Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy. They also spoke to us which was nice.

Elder Kearon said something really profound. He said that naturally we were going to write in our journals about how we shook Elder Ballard's hand tonight but that wasn't enough. We need to write, "Tonight I shook the hand of Elder M Russel Ballard, a modern-day prophet and from this night on I commit to ______ ." It really set the tone for the meeting and allowed me to focus on Elder Ballard's words.

Elder Ballard spoke on the importance of becoming a great teacher. He said, "No really, you have got to be good." And he said that when we study chapter three of Preach My Gospel and know it inside out, we will be able to adapt to any teaching situation that we find ourselves in. I talked a lot about finding as well and how we need to smile more and be bold. I have always loved finding and it was so good to get a pep talk from an apostle about it! He shared a few stories about when he was mission president in Toronto. One of which included the late Elder Franklin D. Richards. Elder Richards told the mission, "If you want to baptize more people into the church, you need to talk to more people."

A few of my favorite notes that I jotted down during the conference were: We have to believe! Its all about our attitude; When we're anxiously engaged, we end up with miracles; Rarely does the Lord interfere when he's not invited (prayer) *That's my favorite* :)

At the end he blessed us with fun, not foolishness and said that our attitude doesn't have to be, "Oh great, we get to get persecuted again...."

It was a great conference and a good pump up session! I'm ready to keep working.

The conference allowed me to go to Angelica's baptism in Marzahn! How cool it was to see everything come full circle.  Here she is, dressed in white!

We had good lessons this week and Hesam continues to progress towards his baptism.

I wish everyone a great week!

Elder Tanner Germann

The work in Lubeck is heating up!

Lübeck is not heating up but the work is for sure!  We had a really good week and we're looking forward to an even better one this week!  Here are some pictures of my area:

We had a really good lesson with Mr. Goltz, a man that just retired and is preparing to be baptized. He has a strong testimony of the gospel and really understands everything. We invited him again to a specific date but haven't nailed one down yet. More to come there.

Hesam, our Iranian friend who has a baptismal date is doing great! This week we taught a number of the commandments and he was taking notes as Mehrdad, the member, translated everything into Persian. He is super excited for the 28th of November!

We went knocking on doors in a dorm this week and were let in by a Nigerian man who proceeded to talk to us for an hour. Super nice man and he invited us back this next week.

Do you know what marzipan is?  Check this out:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan    

 These figures are made of marzipan:

Mehrdad brought two more friends to church yesterday and they want to learn more so we are looking forward to meeting with them this week.

Saturday morning was super interesting when we met with a Pentecostal preacher.  That was a lot of fun. Nice guy but it was really hard trying to get him to listen to us explain the Restoration.

Sorry that it was a super quick note today. Hope everyone's well. I'm doing well and we're staying busy here trying to bring people to Christ!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann 

First week in Lubeck

Hey y'all, super quick letter this week. I arrived safely in Lübeck on Tuesday afternoon to meet my new companion, Elder Jensen. He's really quiet but super nice. Did a semester at Snow College before his mission. We definitely have things to do here. We have some pretty solid investigators and a supportive ward.  I already miss Berlin and my district there--here are a few pics from train station and saying goodbye to the District:

We spent the week introducing me to everyone that we teach. We went invited two people to baptism, one accepted! Saturday night we had a lesson with a man from Iran named Hesam and invited him to baptism after we taught the plan of salvation. He accepted a baptismal date at the end of this month. He only speaks a little German so we have a man that was baptized last year translate everything into Persian. He does a great job translating and is actually the one that brought Hesam to church. 

Friday evening we had a missionary activity at the church. We did not have a good turnout but we made it worthwhile by teaching everyone there how we as missionaries teach the restoration. It got the bishop fired up and now he wants everyone in the ward to get the same type of training.

Saturday evening I had phone interviews with the senatorial offices in Wisconsin for congressional nominations so I can get back into the Air Force Academy. I think they went okay. I'll be excited to hear back from them next month.

We had a good turn out at church yesterday. The people in our ward here are mostly over 50 years old so it is an interesting dynamic. I got to stand up, introduce myself, and bear my testimony. I think I made a good impression on everyone. Naturally, they all love my name. We had a random guy from London walk in and stay for the services. Super nice guy studying music here. We're supposed to meet with him this week, hopefully that goes well.

Hopefully we can commit another person or two to baptism this week. I wish everyone well!

Elder Tanner Germann