Happy 27th anniversary to my parents!!!

Moin moin! Hope everyone can look back on this past week and say that
it was a good one. We had a pretty solid week here so if you didn't,
maybe reading about mine will make it better.  I got to go to the Hans
Museum with the tickets we got for Christmas--it's beautiful and full of electronic
and hologram displays: 

Tuesday morning we had zone training meeting in Kiel. Elder Peatross
and I gave a lesson on retaining new converts. We focused on using
family history work to do that. We got the other missionaries involved 
and were able to share different experiences we've had with that. Here's
a picture of me and Elder Hein:

After the meeting we rode a train to Eutin for an appointment with the other man
that had referred himself a few weeks back. It fell through....
Getting back in touch with him is going to really hard because he lives
way up on the north side of our area, 35 minutes away by train. We
went by again on Thursday but I'm pretty sure he's out of town. His
mailbox is full. His crazy neighbor came out and talked our ear off
forever. The man was dead serious when he told us that the reincarnation
of Jesus is a male model in New York.

Our appointment with our old English teacher friend went fantastically
that evening. We read Alma 32 together about faith being like a seed.
After we had read and discussed it he said that what the Book of
Mormon says is true. We then invited him to try the experiment out for
himself. We invited him to live like a Mormon for four weeks and if at
the end he sees that the fruits are good, we invited him to be baptized 
on the 6th of February. He accepted! But he didn't end up coming to church
on Sunday.

We had a super good lesson with Br Goltz on Thursday. We talked about
baptisms for the dead. We had a breakthrough: he's been under the
impression that he needs to have his family history done before his
baptism so that he can be baptized for himself and his ancestors all
at once. We explained that that's actually not how it happens and that
the baptisms in the temple are proxy baptisms and you can always go
back with more names of ancestors

Here are some pictures from around town including me in front of one of
the many gardens our neighbors have.  Germans love to grow their own
produce and are proud of their gardens.

Friday, I got to bear strong testimony of Moroni's promise at the end
of the Book of Mormon. Kind of hard explaining that to someone raised
in India in a Hindu home but is atheist. It's really just a classic
if-then statement; a hypothesis. If we ask God (having a sincere
heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ), then we can know the
truth of all things.

Saturday was a good day. We had the bishop join us to visit
a 22 year old member that hasn't been to church since he was a kid. We
read and discussed Moroni's promise. He was asking all of the right
questions and I think he wants to find out if the Church is true.  We also
got back in touch with our friend! The one that referred himself and
is supposed to be getting baptized on the 23rd! We thought we had lost
him this week but turns out he decided to basically abandon his old
life. He left his apartment, shaved his beard and got a job. He came
and sat in on our lesson with the Farsi speakers, a
baptism, and a tour that we gave Br Goltz of the family history center. The
lesson with the Farsi speakers was solid. We had to go over the
beginning of the plan of salvation again. I guess we really gotta go
slowly because of the translation and that this is a totally new world. All
five of them stayed for the baptism. Family History center tour went well.
Unfortunately no member could come and help but I would also like to know
what I'm doing in there.  We gave Br Goltz the institute Book of
Mormon manual afterwards which got him excited out of his mind.

So last night we finally got to sit down and have a lesson
with our friend that we thought we lost this past week. There is a
stark contrast between now and when we met him. He looks happier, he
talks more. He said he knows that the Book of Mormon and prayer have
helped him and he knows that God is there. He has had some cool
experiences where he's said a prayer and then just opened the Book of
Mormon to a random page and he's found the guidance he needs right
there on the page. It's brought him out of his depression. But now
that he's out, he said that its like a battle in his mind--he knows
what's right and what's wrong, it's just hard to choose the right. Good
thing we decided to talk about the blessings of the Holy Ghost. I
really feel like I spoke with the Spirit tonight because I said
something, totally didn't plan it/know what I was going to say
beforehand (something about why we set goals, why we set baptismal
dates, washing away our sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost)
and as soon as I said it he said, "We said the 23rd, right? Lets
solidify that. I'm going to make it." I was blown away. My first
thought was, that was totally the Spirit because I didn't do that.

Love you!

Elder Tanner Germann

First week of 2016

Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a great New Years.

Mine here was pretty loud. The Germans really turn out for the new
year. Basically fireworks start about sunset and go to
about noon the next day. The night of the 31st people were
just walking around throwing/shooting fireworks at each other.  It 
sounded like a war zone and the city was all lit up.  Here are some sights
and sounds from the city over the holidays--check out the food!!!

New Year's Day we had a Zone activity in Kiel where we went jogging
together and then had a game of ultimate frisbee.

We had a great turn out for a lesson on Saturday. We decided that it
would be more time efficient to have a class for all of our Persian
speaking friends rather than try to meet with them individually.  That way,
their friend and new member Mehrdad would also not. We had five people
be run ragged!  Come on Saturday and then on Sunday we had five
in sacrament meeting.  We had the translation headsets out and I translated 
into English for Mehrdad who then translated into Persian for them. Kinda
chaotic but totally worked out.

Here is a picture of my friend and church member Marc; notice also the insert of Marc 
with Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner on a trip to Europe.  Coincidentally, 
Congressman Sensenbrenner just provided me a nomination to return to the 
Air Force Academy--wow!

I really enjoyed reading chapter 15 in First Corinthians this past
week. I'm really thankful for the restoration and that we have the
understanding of the scriptures that we do today. I'm thankful that
our families can be together forever. I'm thankful for the temple!
What would we do without a living prophet on the earth today?

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Man, it was so nice to get the chance to Skype with the family on
Christmas! Can't believe that I will only be doing that one more time, on Mother's Day,
before I go home.  Here's what I saw on Christmas--love that nephew, Isaac!!!

We had solid dinner appointments all three days of Christmas including
a visit from the Weihnachtsman (Santa)! In order to get gifts from the
Weihnachtsman, you have to sing a song or recite a poem so naturally
we sang Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The Weihnachtsman gave us
tickets to the Hanse Museum here in town. I've been wanting to go
there so I'm excited to check it out.

We had an appointment on Sunday evening with our friend who is
preparing for baptism. We took the elders quorum president along and
he was a big help. We taught the code of health, or word of wisdom, since that's been
something he's wanted to learn about and something we need to work on
with him. Everything's still going well. We're really blessed to be
able to teach him.

Happy new year everybody! Can't believe I didn't set foot on American
soil all of 2015!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Merry Christmas, one and all!!!

A big Merry Christmas to one and all from me here in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany!

I'm writing on Wednesday because we did a mini-mission Sunday through Tuesday with some young men from the neighboring ward. They came and stayed with us and then we took them out proselyting--two different companionships working in the city. It was a lot of fun and it made me wish I had done something like that before the mission to get a real taste of what missionary life is like. I feel like I've had the baptism by fire in my life with the Air Force Academy and then the mission. The lifestyles are just not really normal life. So those young men I think have a super advantage. Both also had done a cultural exchange year in the states--one went to Orem, UT and the other was in The Woodlands, TX

We went caroling this evening with some members of the ward. Well it wasn't true caroling--we stood in the middle of the Christmas market and just sang Christmas hymns. I am going to miss the Christmas atmosphere in Germany. Its very traditional and the Christmas markets are super cool. Not to mention Germans have really three days in total for Christmas. I am excited to be able to talk to my fam on Friday!  I got my package from them--loved everything!!!

This past week has been full of miracles and great experiences. We invited the 23 year-old who referred himself last week on the church website to baptism and he accepted. The goal is the 23rd of January!!

Another man referred himself last Friday from the church website as well. We went by and he said he has been searching for the truth. He remembered having a Mormon friend during his time in the military and decided to look more into it. We are going to meet after the new year. Two media referrals within two weeks is unheard of, let alone having them both be legitimately interested.

Last Wednesday we had chosen a few old investigators from the area book to go see. One of them was a man who had met with the missionaries over ten years ago. He wasn't home when we went by so we left a little note in his mailbox. Sunday morning we woke up to another email saying he had referred himself on the church website as well. Whaaaaat. I met with him on Monday with my mini missionary. He was very humble and said he really wants to find out if the Book of Mormon is true. 

Church attendance still seems to be good. Hesam's two Afghan friends continue to come and Mehrdad brought a new friend that is super interested. We taught him the first lesson this week and he really liked it. Also, what's really exciting is that the church just this month came out with an update to the Book of Mormon in Persian. First update since 1985. This new translation now has the whole Book of Mormon and its supposed to be translated into more understandable Persian.

Super cool!!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Third advent

Hello everyone! Hope y'all are doing well. It was a pretty solid first week, work-wise.

I picked up my new companion, Elder Peatross, on Tuesday in Hamburg. He is from Provo, UT. We were busy busy running around from appointment to appointment this week but it was good fun. I'm not kidding, I think we were running several times to make buses and appointments. I'm sort of getting back in shape.

I want to update you on Br. Goltz. We had our regularly scheduled appointment with him on Thursday but the feeling was much different. You could tell he was a bit off. He said that his ex-fiance came by last week and spent several hours trying to cause doubt in his mind with reference to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. To which she did successfully.  So on Thursday we listened to him rattle off a list of objections and doubts that he has now ever since he talked to her. I sat there thinking, No No No this is such a great guy, this can't be happening! He said he really wants the Book of Mormon to be true and he tried his best to defend it but he has all of these doubts now. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and encouraged him to continue to read in it and pray about it. We are taking the bishop there next week and are really hoping to help him develop his testimony and recognize answers to his questions through the Spirit. 

We had a lesson with an less active 22 year-old who was recently contacted by the congregation/ward. We took the bishop along and bore testimony of how the Church has helped us in our lives. I felt like I could really connect to him since we're about the same age. I told him my conversion story and said that it helped me to decide to live the commandments from the beginning because that made making decisions later, easier. It was a good lesson.

We had the ward Christmas party Saturday night that went well and then we went to meet a media referral that night.

That's right, we had a Christmas mirace and got a media referral that was legit! Usually they're people playing pranks on their friends but this 23 year-old who wants to get away from drugs and find happiness googled "what is the meaning of life" and ended up on the church website. He referred himself and we met him on Saturday night. It really felt like a Missionary Training Center role play. He was saying things like, "How do I repent?" "I just want to be happy in life." etc. Crazy cool. He came to church and then last night we taught the first lesson and he ate it all up. Hopefully that goes somewhere!!!

Gotta run! Everything good and blessed this week.

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann

Second advent

Noooo! My long, detailed letter all about the last week was somehow
deleted by my iPad! Big sad face :( so I'm going to have to give you a
quick little summary since I'm running out of time.

Last week we went to family home evening with a family that just
joined the church this year. The parents are in their late thirties
and they have young kids. What a great example they are that you can
totally change your lifestyle around to live the commandments of God.
I prepared the spiritual thought on prophets specifically for the
kids. I drew each kid on one side of a wall and Heavenly Father on the
other with President Monson on top. I talked about how Heavenly Father
blesses us with someone who conveys revelations to us. Samuel the
Lamanite is a perfect, literal example of this in the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday we had our ward mission committee and a handful of
appointments. One of our friends is a really nice old German man. The
ward loves him and he loves the church, he's just been atheist his
whole life so it's hard for him to grasp the concept of faith. After
reading Romans it was clear to me that it is most important for
him to come to church to develop that faith. He really likes Elder
Holland so we found a good video Elder Holland did on
section 59 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The lesson went really well
and the man came to church on Sunday.

I was asked to share a couple of thoughts I had at Zone Conference at our district
meeting this week. I really liked a scripture that was shared, 1 Corinthians
3:7.

In the past I've experienced that upset feeling you get when
you're transferred before someone you found or taught gets baptized.
This scripture really explains it well that everyone plays their role
in the conversion process but at the end of the day, God is the cause
of the change of heart in someone. I exchanged companions after the
meeting with our District Leader, Elder Hein. He finishes his mission next month.
He is a stud and works hard. We had an appointment with our American
friend where we talked about how the temple is important to obtaining
eternal life. Last time we had talked about the Light of Christ and
the next day I had the feeling to text him and invite him to read
Moroni 7. He did that and said, "Man! That chapter answered the
questions I had. I really felt something there." Cool!

Thursday we had an appointment with Herr Goltz. After reading a talk
by Elder Holland called 'The Inconvenient Messiah,' we felt like we
should share that message with him. We read Matthew 4 about the
temptations Christ experienced and how he could have given in but he
didn't. It was inconvenient for him and this life is inconvenient for
us as well. But when we put our faith in Christ, we can overcome every
challenge. He already experienced it all.

We found a guy during our companion exchange who lives in Oldenburg in Holstein, 

an hour away. We had an appointment with him Friday and it was so
interesting. This man is convinced that he can be Christian,
Muslim, and Buddhist--all at the same time. Obviously we couldn't get
past the atonement of Christ because, well, that's everything. We
also found a new guy while we were up there and will meet with him
this coming week.

Hesam is doing well. He showed up to our appointment with two friends
from Afghanistan. These guys really understand the whole concept of
missionary work. They tell everyone about the Church! Sure we have to 
filter it a bit with all the red tape. We can't baptize everyone because they're
not all allowed to stay permanently in Germany. But it's crazy--these
two guys got off the boat here a month ago and that is when they first
heard of the idea of Christianity. There are so many people in the
world that live in a bubble! We need to start Hesam this week on
family history.

Tomorrow is transfer day. Elder Jensen is going to Bischofswerda with
my trainee, Elder Oldroyd. My new comp is from Provo and just
finished the probationary training transfers.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Tanner Germann

Hesam was baptized!!!

Dear All:

It was so great to see Hesam get baptized this weekend. Things really
came full circle. We invited him to a baptism my first week in Lubeck
now he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints!  (Hesam is here on the right.)

What made the experience even cooler it's that his
two friends, also new converts to the church were able to baptize and
confirm him. Amir said the baptismal prayer in perfect German and
Mehrdad confirmed him in German and then switched into Persian for the
blessing. You could understand it but you could understand and feel
the spirit. Mehrdad gave a great talk at the baptism--solid, basic
gospel principles were hit and I led the music.

We spent the week prepping for the service and going to Zone
Conference. I thought the lessons were really good and I think the new
AP, Elder Siddoway, killed it. He was my Zone Leader in Oldenburg. They rolled
out the new Christmas campaign, #asaviorisborn.

Last night were were out in the pouring rain going by some old
contacts. We had the chance to talk to a couple for several minutes.
They had met with missionaries in the past but it was clear to me that
they didn't understand the role of the Book of Mormon in our
conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was able to bear
testimony of the Book of Mormon. In the end they sent us away but I
felt good and was grateful for the opportunity to share my testimony.

I hope everyone had a great week!

Love,

Elder Tanner Germann