Germany Week 89

I feel like quite the World Traveller. On Wednesday we were in Magdeburg, Friday we were in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Saturday we were in Köthen, and yesterday we were in Hannover. That's quite a bit for one week as a missionary.

 Magdeburg was just for District meeting. It was nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Missionaries making their pilgrimage
toward a checkpoint on the way to restoration

 Lutherstadt Wittenberg was a bit more out of the ordinary. We went there for a District Finding activity. It was super cool to be there. It was there that Martin Luther preached and on the 31st of October, 1517, nailed his 95 Theses of complaint against the Catholic Church to the door. It was really cool to be able to see the place where such a pivotal moment in History took place. Martin Luther's acts not only reshaped the political environment of the Western World, but were invaluable in that they opened the way for religious freedom and made the Restoration 300 years later possible. I really wish I'd been able to brush up more on my history before or while being there, maybe I would've had a better Idea of what to look for.

This is as much as we got to see - The Door's where all the action was anyway.

I see what you mean with "Feste Burg"

After we got to see the church, we went a little more into the city, split off into pairs. Everyone had brought 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and we were going to try to give them out. I went off with Elder Williams. We klingeld a few people, and no one seemed to want a free copy of our book, So we decided to just walk for a little bit, to find another area or give it to someone on the street. We walked around a corner where a woman was standing at the gate of her garden. I was just going to walk past her, but Elder Williams turned back. As soon as he did, she started speaking to us. She said, " I was just sitting in my garden when I thought I heard the English language." (whoops... but at least in this case it made her want to talk to us...) She said she's been to the US and Canada many times and loves it there. She's even been in Utah and to Salt Lake City a few times. She said she's seen the Temple, but she knew nothing about our religion and was very happy to learn that we are Christian. She's a Seventh Day Adventist. We had a great talk and were able to find a lot of common ground. She was really interested in our beliefs and in what the Book of Mormon was, but declined to take our copy... (Even though we reoffered it I don't know how many times....) After we left her, Elder Williams said, "I kinda just want to write a note in it and drop it in her Briefkasten." I was very much for the idea. As we were headed back in that direction we stealthily (with a pretty loud 'Plunk') slipped the Book of Mormon into her mailbox. Even though she said she didn't need it, I have the feeling she at least appreciated the gesture, and hope she'll read in it.

Isn't Elder Williams so inspirational?

 We went to Köthen on Saturday night to watch the live broadcast of the Saturday Morning session. We were there with our district and a bunch of members that I didn't know, but a few of whom I got to meet. I met Elder Schütze, one of whose final acts as area seventy was to tell me I should practice standing with my back against walls to improve my posture.

 Sunday, for the rest of the sessions of conference that we got to see, we went to Hannover. I was really hoping that the Hs or the Ls from Nienburg would be there, but they must've been watching from home, or Stadthagen, or for all I know Salt Lake. It was really cool to be there. I got to see Elder Zondler and Elder Slinker (Trained by Elder Pack), as well as the Wilhelms, the Senior couple there. It was really nice to see them and cool to be in Hannover - It's been one of those "home along the way" places for me. And not just because there were comfy couches to watch conference on. ;) We actually sat on hard chairs for most of the sessions, we left the good seats for other people when there were other people, don't worry.

 But, General Conference of course is not about seating arrangements or seeing old friends, it's about hearing the word of God through his called servants. General Conference has always been my favorite. Though I have not yet seen the Sunday afternoon session, which I infer has the powerful line up of Elders Oaks, Holland, and Christofferson, I'm still going to go so far as to say it was an excellent conference. I really liked the story about one Craig Sudbury... I thought to myself, "huh. That's funny. That's Curtis' dad's name." So I'd just like to piggyback on Pres. Monson and give a shoutout to my good friend FC Sudbury III. I really enjoyed the conference. They appeared to me to talk a lot about Obedience, Missionary Work and Having/Providing refuge in dark times. As I reviewed my notes, I thought about how it is through Obedience and preservation of virtue that we create and sustain that state of refuge, personal peace and light. It is through missionary work that we are able to provide that same refuge to others. As the world around us grows increasingly distant from the light of the Gospel, it becomes more urgent that we cling to the standards that preserve that light and shine a beacon for others to do the same. Well, as dad seems to always say after conference, looks like I'm not off the hook.

 I love you and wish you the best! I know this church is true, that it is lead by true prophets of God and that as we follow their council we will find an increased personal peace and will be able to provide that peace to others as well. Have a great week. and... GODSPEED! ;)