This week our struggles to find investigators continued. Tuesday during companionship study we dug into our second area book looking for potential investigators that we could contact. We pulled out at least twenty records and then plotted out where each individual lives on a map. The sad thing is that most of these people have moved but no one updated the record to show that. I guess we are still being productive by tying off loose ends in our record books. One of the teaching records was a family. We went by and the mother told us she was too busy and did not have time to meet with us... ever. That was really disappointing--it would have been great to teach a big family. After that we made the decision to change how we contact these potential investigators. We are going to skip the question, "Are you interested in meeting with us?" and just go right to "When is a good time for you to hear our message?" We street contacted into a less-active member that evening. He said he wanted to go to the temple. We told him we could help with that! Hopefully he'll start coming to church again.
On Wednesday we took time following our district meeting to celebrate Elder Haas' and my birthday. We went into a sporting goods store and looked at all of the soccer jerseys. I bet every team in the world was in there! I need to get a German jersey at some point, especially since now they are selling the 2014 World Cup Champion jerseys. We then went to the Dom and spent three hours there on a tour. The Dom is the huge Catholic cathedral in downtown Magdeburg. It really is a magnificent sight. It was bombed a bit during WWII but has since been repaired. People on the tour were curious as to who we were and what we were doing, the tour guide especially. I was super nice and the guide tried to speak English with us. We offered to help him learn English and gave him our number. Then we went to C&A and H&M. C&A is the German version of H&M but its 10x better. Elder Haas and I were supposed to buy birthday ties but nothing really excited us. Afterward we did some district finding. I took Elder Haas to Sudenburg (West Magdeburg) to hit some contacts. No one was home so we did street contacting. We handed out a bunch of pamphlets and a Book of Mormon to this really big guy that said he was interested in our message. He said he has lots of religious friends and he loves talking to them about their beliefs. He gave us his address and told us to come by in three weeks when his Masters program ends. We also talked to an Albanian who appeared to be on crack. And we talked to an African guy that barely spoke any German or English. He didn't believe that we were American. I even showed him my NC drivers license and he claimed it was fake. I felt really stupid because I had forgotten our contact cards and I couldn't remember our phone number so we were out of luck when he couldn't tell us his phone number or address either. We went to my favorite place for dinner that night--the Chinese-Deutsch shack. A Chinese woman runs this little business and its super cheap, super yummy food. I didn't think Chinese and German food went together but I guess they do. Elder Haas had a training in Berlin the next day so he and his companion stayed at our wohnung. We played keep-away soccer all night.
They were up and gone early Thursday morning. Our appointment fell through again with a less-active member. She was sick. We asked if she wanted a priesthood blessing but she declined. We had our branch mission meeting with the Romneys that afternoon. They are still doing great. Sister Romney told a story about how her son's brain tumor somehow disappeared after doctors only gave him a short time to live. She said it was a miracle of prayer. She inspired me to pray more exactly for what I want/need. They then fed us dinner--little sandwiches, chips, and fruits. Then Maria, an investigator of the other two elders, came for a lesson. I talked to her for a little while. She was super nice. I asked her about work--she works for Lufthansa Customer Service. Elder Meeks and I took off towards the University. None of our contacts were home. We talked to a few people on the street but no one was really out because it was dark and rainy. It's been raining a lot lately. I talked to Elder Haas on the phone that night. He said that President Kosak emphasized that we need to be using the lesson pamphlets and be handing those out on the street. He also said I had three packages at the mission home which I got Friday night when Elder Pilling was visiting here with Elder Morton.
I have been reading the Book of Mormon in German every morning and it still requires a lot of attention and focus but I am getting better at it. Weekly planning followed study Friday morning. I'd say it was pretty productive. We have three lessons already scheduled for this week and we even scheduled time for me to practice the piano/organ a couple of times this week. We went to the church and made a baptismal calender for Han on the computer. Basically it has a scripture passage for her to study each day up until her baptismal date and we chose the scriptures according to what we felt her needs are. From what I have heard from other missionaries, investigators love these baptismal calenders. We had a lesson with Kolja that evening. We didn't meet with him last week; so between work and illness, he got a little distracted from seeking out the Spirit and from reading the Book of Mormon. We watched Elder Bednar's talk from a recent conference with him. Then we read Enos in the Book of Mormon with him again and emphasized the importance of prayer and how we can feel the Spirit. He says that he wants to know (he has a hope!) and he committed to reading everyday and praying earnestly. In addition, he said he'll be actively searching for the Spirit during the day. He's a really awesome guy--very intelligent, deep thinker. When we were leaving we got a call from Bernburg saying that someone forgot to give Elder Pilling and Morton a phone so Elder Haas and Stringham both had one in Bernburg. We tried to catch Elder Pilling and Morton at HauptBahnHof but somehow missed them. Then they got lost going home. We found them an hour and a half later just then finding their way to their wohnung. Because they didn't have a phone, the Zone Leaders said that they had to stay with us. It was another night of keep-away soccer. Elder Pilling had my packages though! I got birthday packages from the fam, Hana, and Grandma/Grandpa Val! I am loaded with American snacks for the next couple of months! :)
Saturday morning we all went to the church to take the language assessment we're all required to take. It didn't work though because the link the Missionary Training Center sent out was bad. We went to visit some more contacts--all of which had moved--until our lesson with Claudius. The lesson went well I thought. We got in there and Elder Meeks just looked at me so I took the lead. We watched President Uchtdorf's recent conference talk in English since Claudius' English is really good but the lesson was in German. I said what I liked/learned from the talk and then I asked him what he thought about it. He gave a 15 minute response which I think I followed--something about the role of religion in society. He took my response well and went on to answer my follow-up question so I took that to mean that I had made sense of what he said and asked a related follow-up question--YES! He gives very thoughful, deep responses. He is super intelligent and his German is very advanced. I tried my best to follow. When speaking to me though, he is very understanding--he speaks slowly and clearly. I really want to get him to come back to church and also I want to ask him about why he agrees to meet with us. That lesson taught me how important the book Preach My Gospel is. It truly contains a simple answer to every question. If we stick to the doctrines, we'll be good. I testified of the Book of Mormon and how it is the keystone of our religion--without it, we have nothing. I promised him that if he earnestly reads and prays, he will feel the Spirit. I felt like that was a pretty safe promise since I have seen it in my life and Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and every prophet has promised the same thing. We played soccer that night with two of the other elders' investigators. They even brought a friend--a really nice Pakistani kid. I talked to him a bit. He tried to speak English to me...not very good. Now I know what it is like for the Germans listening to me.
Yesterday was quite stressful. The other elders hadn't reunited with their companions yet because DeutscheBahn was striking again this weekend and every train was cancelled. Elder Pilling was about to stay the night again last night but the stake choir director was not about to have choir practice without his pianist so he drove all the way from Köthen to get Elder Pilling. That's an hour drive. Trying to figure out the logistics was crazy. We were going to try to get to choir but then we'd have no way home so we decided to stay home. Elder Morton was asked to speak in sacrament meeting for Elder Stringham who wasn't there. We set up a power visit with the Vlokas this week. That's where we go to a member's home for 15 minutes, share a quick message, and ask them how we can help with their missionary work and if they have any referrals. Should be an exciting visit!
Looking forward to a great week of missionary service! I am praying to find more people to teach! I hope that everyone at home is doing well and getting ready for Halloween! Halloween is not really a big thing here which is sad.
Elder Germann
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