similar to the beginning of my mission in Magdeburg. Let me
tell you, the contrast between what was West Germany and East
Germany is a stark one. Many things here still embody the grayness
of times behind the curtain.
I arrived Tuesday and met my companion Elder Garner. He was in my
group at the Missionary Training Center. The outlook of the area
right now is finding, finding, finding. Two weeks ago the elders set a
baptismal goal with someone for about five weeks from now but otherwise
there's nothing going on. Here is a pic of me and Elder Garner:
Wednesday we had district meeting which went smoothly. It's definitely
a different kind of dynamic than what I'm used to. It's just us, the Zone Leaders
and senior couple in Rostock. The senior couple are Germans
and come to district meeting every week which is cool. The youngest
missionary is Elder Allen who's now been out just under a year so
everyone here can speak solid German and knows what they're doing
which is nice.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent finding/contacting. We had
some success getting in contact with old investigators in both
Schwerin and Wismar up on the Baltic coast. I found Wismar especially
pretty. Here are the pigs at the end of the Schweinsbrücke--literally "the
pig bridge."
It was cool--Wednesday we went by a less active member that just
moved to help him work on the final details in his new apartment and
as we were leaving we said a prayer together and prayed that we would
be able to find a new investigator. He said that that always used to
happen when the missionaries came to visit--they would always find
someone new afterwards. We went out and that evening knocked doors
throughout an apartment building, about 130 apartments. No luck. Here's
what DDR-era apartments look like. A non-stop maze of drab buildings.
We finished and headed back to the street car stop to head home for the
night. On the way there we stopped a man who we then engaged in a good
discussion about God and his plan for us. We told him about the Book
of Mormon and gave it to him then made an appointment for Saturday.
We met with him Saturday and it was a nice visit. We spent most of the
time getting to know each other but he seems really open for the Book
of Mormon. He's not religious but had Sunday school when he was young
and is really open to our message. We walked in and he had put the Book
of Mormon on display on the shelf right over his TV. We're meeting
this next week so that should be good. We also had another lesson with
a family that has been investigating the church for ten years now.
Actually it's an interesting situation--the mother is a Ukrainian Jew
who was baptized into the church several years ago but long inactive.
The father is Indian. The children have real interest but there's no
real encouragement coming from either parent. It turned out
that the dad doesn't believe in the divinity of Christ. Not sure
what's been going on the past ten years but that definitely helps to know
that when teaching.
Sunday went well. The second thing said to me was, "Can you play the
piano?" This piano karma is following me everywhere.... The members
were welcoming and I was able to immediately contribute by playing the
piano. We had a dinner appointment afterwards with a member family
who just moved into the branch last year. They bought a rundown 150
year-old manor and are getting paid by the government to restore it.
Man, that is a work in progress.... Here's another church in Schwerin:
One thing I noticed this week that I didn't really ever notice in
Magdeburg, perhaps because I didn't know any different, is the feeling
you get in when you're in those areas of DDR-era buildings, really at
this point, ghettos. You really feel a heaviness.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Elder Tanner Germann
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