Tuesday was a really good day. We went to the Aleksandroves that morning and took the Romneys. The Aleksandrove family is the Bulgarian family we found about a week ago. It was quite the lesson. We had about four languages going on--we were teaching the Restoration in German to the older son, who was then translating the lesson into Bulgarian for the mother, then we were translating what was going on into English for Sis. Romney, all while President Romney was trying to speak Spanish to them though every other word was in German or English...lol. (They spent eight of the last ten years in Spain). Despite the craziness, it went really well. The mother said she believes that there are prophets today and she believed that everything that we taught was true. She said she has been praying for people like us to show up for the past year. They literally have nothing. Their appartment is empty. She and her husband split in Bremen three months ago and she had to run with nothing but her kids. She is still looking for a job here but she cannot speak German so that really limits things. They hadn't had food in two weeks so the Romneys offered to buy a little food out of their pocket. I was super uncomfortable with this because their testmonies must develop organically. The Romneys made it clear it was a one-time deal. The important thing is, she said she believed what we were teaching first, and then she saw the blessing of the Romneys' graciousness. After the lesson, the Romneys went to the grocery store across the street. President Romney was about to buy out the store but I stopped him and said they should get what missionaries live off of--noodles and Maggi Packs. It was super cheap but that food will last them awhile. We brought the food back to them and the mother was so grateful. We found two new investigators that afternoon--a Greek man and a German, who when we told him about the Book of Mormon said, "Yeah! Yeah, of course I'd love to read that. Come over on Saturday!" That evening we had an appointment with the Vietnamese woman, Dinh, that we met on the bahn the other night. The Romneys came to that, too. They were a little late but we caught her perfectly. She was so excited to show us her appartment and all her pictures. She was painting the walls with poster paint. She was so nice and she invited us back with the Romneys to dinner tomorrow--looking forward to that. That evening, the Romneys took four of us, the elders, out to dinner. I am in love with schnitzel!
Wednesday morning we had district meeting. Following that, we did district finding. I went out with Elder Stringham since we were going to be working together later that day. President asked us to trade with Elder Stringham and Morton to show them what has helped us in our finding. Elder Stringham is a year and a half out on his mission so I wasn't sure what I could teach him but I think I was able to give good pointers. The first thing I highlighted was persistence. When people respond neutrally or hesitantly, we can't immediately give them a pass-along card and wish them a good day. Street contacting must also be quick. I think it is important to realize that people are generally going somewhere and you don't want to keep them too long. Elder Sagmeister and I have generally been talking to people for about five minutes. We usually say something like, "Schön guten Tag! Wir würden gern mit Ihnen sprechen über etwas zu uns ganz besonderes ist. Es heißt das Buch Mormon. Haben Sie je davon gehört? *insert short explanation and testimony here* Wir schenken dies Buch an die Menschen. Wir würden gern mit Ihnen eine von ihnen teilen. Gibt es eine andere besser Zeit wann wir wieder treffen können und mehr darüber sprechen können?" There's a couple of cool things about this approach. First, we say that we would love to speak to THEM. Then we give a little testimony about the Book of Mormon. Then we say it is free (some religions collect money for their handouts). Then we ask them if there's a more convienient time to meet with them, ASSUMING THAT THEY WANT TO LEARN MORE. That is key. Then we get their info and set up an appointment. So basically that is what I tried to show on our exchange--a very logical approach. But I am only ten weeks in-country so I tried to be very humble and I would say, "This is what I've seen work for us..." We try to avoid questions like, "Is this something that would interest you?" because that is an easy "NO" for people on the street. We also make appointments to GIVE copies of the Book of Mormon, rather than giving them out on the street. That avoids the response, "Then what is the point of us meeting again if I have all that I need to know right here?" We went to an appointment that night at the university to visit with a Chinese girl. We asked a new convert, also a Chinese guy, to come with us. It would have been really cool for him to participate in a lesson from the other side but unfortunately it fell through. It was about quittin' time so we headed back to the church to grab his bag. Right around the corner from the church we stopped a Peruvian woman and her son. She said she sees us all the time in Peru and she has lots of Mormon friends. She invited us to come over on this Wednesday night! I hope she has a big family and that they are all home! Back at the appartment that night Elder Stringham gave me a haircut.
Thursday for lunch I made some bomb speghetti. No lie, that stuff was wicked good. That afternoon we went finding until Branch Mission Leader Meeting that evening where we were going to trade back our companions. We found two potential investigators. These two guys told us to meet them outside of the resaurant where they worked tomorrow but I have learned when people tell you to meet somewhere, they usually don't show up. Some protest march went down the main street that day. I didn't really understand the chants or signs but it was something about capitalism and schools.
Friday morning the Romneys picked us up to go to the Egarters', the family that is trying to fix up the old bahnhof (train station). It was another adventure in the Romney car. The nav system originally said we would get there by 1025. We didn't arrive at the Egarters' until 1105. They showed us around the bahnhof again even though not much has changed since the last time I was there. They fed us a nice lunch and then we did some service work for them, filling in the ditch that was dug for their water line. We had an appointment with Vinod that evening. Our plan for the lesson was to set a baptismal date. We had to really work to set one. I promised him that Heavenly Father will provide a way for him to graduate, find a job, and marry the right girl. We talked about how faith should not be a burden; it should free you! He agreed to prepare for baptism on the 20th of December! We are really hoping and praying that he makes time for the Lord because that will relieve his stress. He is praying for that too! He said a great prayer to end the lesson asking Heavenly Father to let him know if it is the right this to be baptized sooner rather than later. He is an awesome guy and has a testimony of the gospel.
Saturday was interesting. We had four appointments scheduled but two fell through. While at the University that morning, a Hungarian student came up to us and in broken English said, "It must be nice having all those wives." His knowledge of the church essentially comes from South Park. He said he was Christian and loved to learn more about all the Christian faiths. We ended up teaching the first lesson as we walked with him to a bus stop. He said he believes that the Holy Ghost is a compass for our lives yet he laughed when we said that we prayed to God and the Holy Ghost witnessed to us that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I thought that was a bit hypocritical of him. We are going to meet with him again. He invited us to come to a church service with him. That afternoon we went to the Norwegian doctor's house. He was super nice. He offered us drinks and chocolates. He had his four year old and two year old there as well as his fourteen year old son. The fourteen year old son wasn't wearing pants when we walked in. We taught the Restoration but it was really hard. The kids were crazy, the dad kept changing the subject, and he kept speaking to me in English even though we were trying to have the lesson in German. I just left that place feeling bad because he wasn't keen on meeting with us again. He was satisfied with what he heard and he simply wanted to educate himself. The son asked really good questions though and was interested. We are going to go back and try to get them to chuch. They live across the street from the church! That evening we rode the train to Schönebeck to visit a part member family, the Jaffkes. The husband is not a member and has no desire to become one. He picked us up and drove us to their house fifteen minutes away from the train station in Barby. The house is really old but they just remodeled it and it looks great. We taught the Restoration. The mom is the only member. There is an older son that is baptized but he does not come to church. We had a teaching record of the younger son who is 12 years old. He is ready to be baptized tomorrow but he has wanted his brother to baptize him. We extended the invitation to be baptized on the 20th of December as well but they have holiday plans already. The mom wasn't much of a help. She thinks that her son must know the gospel perfectly before he's baptized or else he will end up like her older son. Daniel agreed to be baptized at the beginning of the new year. That is really exciting!
The Aleksandroves came to church yesterday and liked it! The mom became friends with Sis. Egarter. We taught a gospel doctrine class during Sunday School which went okay. We had the Alexandroves and a few members in there. The Steigers had us all over for dinner. They served klopfels and a type of roast. Elder Morton and I went to choir in Köthen last night since we are assuming we will be here for Christmas.
It was a good week and we are hoping to set a baptismal date with the Aleksandroves this week! I hope everyone is well and excited for Thanksgiving this week. Eat lots of turkey and watch a lot of football for me, please!
Mit Liebe,
Elder Germann
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