Another Week in Paradise 6.28.18

This week was so good! There is  so much potential work to be done in my area! This week alone, we have found 2 random persons(there was a change to the PMG that called for us to call investigators people from now on) 1 part member family investigator, and 2 very likely progressing potentials. We got a ton of other potentials as well, and we can't wait to try to work something out with them.

So in Germany, Fußball is a pretty big deal.. Unfortunately, we were eliminated from the world cup this week, but on Saturday, they had a game against Swedwn (which they won) that I got to watch about 50 minutes of! The ward had a big party and invited us to bring people to it. We ended up having two of the people we are teaching there, and a good portion of the ward. It was so much fun, and everyone was getting into it! We had to leave about 40 minutes before the games end, but while we were sitting in our apartment, we heard the whole city yell at one point. We texted one of the sisters in our ward, and found out that Germany had just scored the winning goal of that game! It was super cool and super fun! 

Yesterday, we had zone conference and that was super spiritual and super fun, I met up with a lot of my MTC buddies and we all had a good chat about our time in Deutschland! 

Today, a sister in our ward took us to a zoo, and I don't know why or how this is even legal, I guess laws are different here, but we just walked around in a cage full of monkeys and fed them bananas and apple slices, it was so much fun! 

I'll put some pictures in here and maybe send another email out with a few more! I hope y'all have a fantastic week!

The One With the Cabinet 6.21.18

This week was pretty eventful. We went finding 2 days in a row, and I was pretty tired afterwards.

On the first day, we got in a conversation with a bunch drunk people from Africa and I talked to them about religion and we got on the topic of the Islamic faith. It eventually got to the point where we talked about our "books" (Book of Mormon and Koran) and I asked them where I could get one, and they said that I could walk into any mosque and get one for free. Naturally, I whipped out my phone and found the nearest mosque and we went to it. We got to it and we didn't really know what to do, so we asked a guy on the street, and he was Muslim, so he just strolled in there and got us in. We asked about getting a Koran and they showed us where they were, and we found out they cost €20. We couldn't afford that, so we started putting them back and the guy we met on the street pulled a 50 from his wallet and bought us both of the books. When I asked him why afterwards, he simply said, "because God." I gained so much more respect towards the people in the Islamic faith that day. It's amazing how, although they don't have the fullness of the Gospel, and they believe many different things than we do, that they still implement the characteristics of Christ in their lives.

The picture of me with a cabinet is hard to explain, but I'll just let you know that it took me and the guy with the wild hair 3 painfully stressful hours to build that. Good times... Love Y'all have a good week! 

One Week Down 6.14.18

Germany is so cool.

The amount of different cultures, languages, and foods here is insane.. And I'm only in one part of Germany and I've only been here for 9 days.. I'm loving this.

 

The German is coming along pretty nicely actually. I can speak more and use proper grammer much better now. I'm really hoping to have a good chunk of it down by the end of my training. 

So this week, was a pretty interesting one. To start it off, I was chilling on the Bahn, talking to this old lady, practicing my German, and an older man dressed in women's clothing (a cross dresser) came over to me and started hitting on me. I guess I forgot to mention that Köln is known for that, but it was definitely a different experience.. That was a pretty weird way to start of the week, but as the week went on it got so much better.

We found to potential investigators yesterday as we were finding, and they seemed pretty interested. The other day ago, me and my companion went to the hospital and gave one of the sisters investigators a blessing, he had broken his femur(if not that, it was something to do with his leg) . He was super excited about it, and we talked a lot afterwards, and he wants to teach me how to speak/read Persian. That would be super cool, but I think for now I should stick to German! Haha! 

So along with that story, something really cool happened. We left the hospital and went about doing our business, and the next day, we got a text from the sisters, saying that he legit just up and walked the next morning. I can attest that that was a miracle from God, and an answer to a prayer. I woke up that morning and I immediately started thinking that something exciting was going to happen today. I prayed that I would see a miracle, and not an hour went by before we got that text.

The Lord does answer our prayers, and miracles do still happen today. I know that to be true, and all we have to do to see those miracles in our lives is believe on them, ask God with sincerity, and do our part.

Ich habe Leibe für euch! 

Pictures:

1. Me and my district leader on companionship exchange

2. Little golden things in the side walls, they are in front of houses that the News were pulled out of in WW2.

3. Copy.. Of Anne Frank's journal in the Gustapo museum

Pictures From Members/ Mission Page

5.23.18 Marc Shultz

5.23.18 Andrea Nowak "Watching the World Cup"

Andrea Nowak 7.23.2018

 

 
Andrea Nowak 7.28.2018 "Service Project."

I'm Home! 6.7.18

Ok, Deutscheland is the weirdest/coolest place I've ever been. I got here off of my 8 and a half hour plane ride over the Atlantic and met my mission president! He's a super cool guy, and gets to the point (I like that). After I met him, we went to the church in Frankfurt and had a few meetings that I had to go through and then.. we went street contacting. There was a "festival" going on and the missionaries set up a little Book of Mormon stand and we went there and talked with random people about the Book of Mormon. It went well. A lot more people than what I thought were willing to talk about religion and what they believed. I even had a Islamic man try to convert me. It was a pretty cool experience. 

After doing that for a few hours, we went back to the church, had abend essen, and were assigned to our trainers. I got assigned to Elder Lowe in Köln! He's really cool and a great missionary, I'm excited to work with him.

Köln is super cool. It is the biggest city in my mission, it has something like a million people here, and the second(I believe) largest cathedral in Europe! We went there today and it was super beautiful, we even attended a midday prayer. 

I didn't really want to come to the city at all on my mission, but from the two days that I have been here, I have really enjoyed it. Its a lot different than what I thought it would be.

So yesterday was my first "real day" in the the field, and already, I have so many exciting stories. When we were getting on the bahn in Frankfurt to head over to Köln (cologne on the map, Germans call it Köln) and a man walked by us and cast a curse on us! He started waving his hands and doing some kind of weird ritual. We all kinda laughed as he walked away, but.. yesterday on the bahn to the kirche, my companion told me to go and talk to someone, so I went and talked to this old lady. It is illegal to approach someone on the bahn about religion, so I just asked her if I could practice my German with her and it went really well and she eventually asked me why I was here and I talked a lot about Jesus Christ and stuff, and she wasn't too interested and had to get off the train. What happened next was awesome. Apparently the girl behind me (she was like early 20's from Spain) heard me talking about Jesus and was super interested! She came up to me and was super excited and wanted to hear more, and I was like awesome! I talked a little bit about how we believe in Jesus, and then the conversation kinda changed to getting to know her and then I testified of Christ ,but I was cut off by the bahn! It was her stop! It was so depressing, I wanted to talk to her more, but I quickly whipped out a card with our number on it and gave it to her. She got off the train and I saw her looking at the card and smiling a lot. Im praying that something comes from it! That would be super awesome!

Anyways, I'm loving it here and I love the work! I'm excited to see what else comes of it. Love y'all!

Here are some pictures:

1. Me and my trainer, Elder Lowe

2. Lots of pictures of the Dom in Köln

3. Taxis are Mercedes...

4.  Pic of me and my MTC zone (miss y'all)

I'm Going Home 5.30.18

I know how the title looks, and I'll go ahead and apologize for anyone that may feel negatively towards this email, but I'm going home.. There's been something about the mission that's pushing me away. These past 6 weeks in the MTC have been such a spiritual experience, but I feel like my time here has run up. I want to serve the Lord, I have a testimony of him, but I don't think that this is the right place for me to do it. I wish I could tell you that I wanted to stay here, but I really don't. The language is so difficult, and to be honest I think I could learn so much more at home. The food isn't the best here either, it's not horrible, but it's not exactly my cup of tea either. I love my companion, but sometimes we don't always get along. I love it so much here, but for some reason, some unknown reason that I cant exactly pinpoint, some reason that is forcing me to go, forcing me to leave this all behind, some reason to start the next part of my life, some reason, some wanting to serve. So I'm leaving... and I'm so glad that I can call Germany home for the next two years of my life!

I love the MTC so much! I can't tell you how amazing my time here has been. I've learned more here than in the 18 years prior. My German isn't the best, I still have so much to learn, but I know that once I get to Germany that I will be able to pick up on it so much quicker. It has been so spiritual here. It's weird, all of our leaders talk about how strong the spirit is here, and how we are always exposed to it, and the truth behind that is unreal. I have felt enough spirit here for like a lifetime, but I know that that isn't going to slow down much in the next 2 years. I actually do love my companion, we teach some fire lessons, and it's only the beginning of our mission. I'm so excited for Germany, and I will be there in 4 days!!!

There's so much I wish I could tell you about the MTC, so many things that have substantially grown my testimony over the last six weeks, but I just don't have enough time! haha

There is one thing that I want to share though, and that is the importance of the savior in our lives. Throughout the whole MTC experience, we have been focused on Christ, focused on His teachings, focused on His doctrine, and in that time, the spirit has testified to me of the truth and divinity of his teachings, and that He lives. 

At the Tuesday Night Devotional last night, we had a Seventy, Elder Costa, come and speak to us, and he focused on who the Savior is to us. I challenge you to think of who the Savior is to you, and how His teachings have impacted your life. I'd love to hear back from you, and what you think the role of the Savior is in your life. This is who He is in my life:

Christ is my big brother that would do anything to help me get  back home. My brother that has and will stay by my side through everything. He is my brother that makes sure that I feel loved when I need it most. He is my brother that died for me, but still couldn’t let me go on in life alone. He is my brother that rose from the grave to take me back home. He is my brother that knows who I truly am. He is my Savior, my Creator, my Redeemer, my friend, my brother, He is the one that suffered all for me. I love Him. He lives. He is.

It is so very important that we know this for ourselves who He is.

Also, there is a talk that I want y'all to watch and I already know what you are thinking, you are thinking that you can just read this email and then move on with your day and not think about what I'm asking you to do. That you are going to look over the title of the talk and be all like oh ill do it later, but you know you actually wont. I know how y'all think, I'm not dumb. So I'm leaving it to you. I'm challenging you to listen to Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk, "The First Great Commandment". Think about your purpose here in life, and know that me and the Lord are holding you accountable to this commitment. ;)

Also there is this Priesthood Celebration Broadcast on Friday, and I highly recommend you to watch it, there MAY or may not be a surprise in there that has to do with some crazy Germans.

Here are some pictures:

1. Me and my zone

2. Me, my comp, and some sisters, the one in the Middle was leaving the MTC for the Alpine German mission

3. Just some picture that MAY or may not have to do with the broadcast this Friday!

11 Days Left in The MTC 5.23.18

This next week will be my last week in the MTC until I go to Germany!! I'm getting super excited, but I wish that I could stay a few weeks longer. I'll give you a quick rundown of my week. 

On Wednesday, I got to see Reagan outside the temple! It was super good to see someone from back home! 

On Thursday, I uh well, I don't think I can talk too much about it, but come June 1st you'll see what I'm talking about if you watch the Priesthood celebration broadcast! 

On Friday, my whole district was in a really good mood and we were laughing and calling everyone Eichhrönchen's. It means squirrel. It sounds super dumb, but it's a lot of fun to say! haha You just have to go up to someone and say "Sie sind Eichhörnchen!" (you are a squirrel) you say it kinda like this "I-ch-horn-yen". (you're out of luck, I cant sound things out well). 

Saturday was super boring. 

Sunday, our MTC President spoke on "Missionary Work". Can you imagine that? But it was super good, and the takeaway from what he said, was that even if we help convert one person on our mission, we will affect generations, upon generations to follow. This is very applicable to you guys back home even! Always remember that you are examples to those around you, and it impacts them! 

Monday was really cool, but really frustrating. I prayed for a humbling experience the night before and oh man did my Heavenly Father bestow my wishes upon me.. I got into class and was going to teach my first investigator (Siegfried, my teacher that pretends to be an investigator for practice) and Ich kann nicht Deutsch sprechen.. It was so bad, but apparently it was one of our best lessons according to my teacher and my companion. We basically committed him to be baptized and my companion said that that was one of the strongest times that he has ever felt the spirit. I learned a lot that day, and it was a definite testimony builder.

Tuesday we had an Apostle come and speak to the MTC! Elder Rasband came and spoke to us about President Nelson's talk on receiving personal revelation. He challenged all of us to read over President Nelson's talk "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives" and I will extend the challenge to yall. I know that if we will head to the prophets words, we will be blessed.

Today, im going to be hosting the new missionarys! Im super excited for it, and I cant wait to see the scared looks on their faces! I hope I dont get any criers! hahaha

I love yall! I hope you all have fantastic weeks!

Oh and here are some pictures:

1. Me and my friggen amazing cousin

2. Me and some other Germans

We Got Pranked! 5.16.18

How's it going with everyone back home? The MTC is super fun! That probably differs a lot from what I said the previous weeks, but this was a good week! After I was done emailing last Wednesday, my zone went to the temple! That was super spiritual, and I really think it set the pace for the rest of my week. We had awesome speakers at the devotionals, and something that they really stressed was reading the Book of Mormon daily. They said that this grows your faith tremendously, and that it protects you from the plagues of the world. I can testify of this, the Book of Mormon is amazing, and my faith has grown so much from reading it! OK so you know the little bible videos where it depicts the stories that happened... WELL OH MY GOSH THEY ARE MAKING THE BOOK OF MORMON VERSIONS OF THOSE!!! We got to see the trailer for the videos, and they are making 60, 15 minute long segments from beginning to end. The whole room started roaring when we watched the trailer!  I hate to compare it to normal action movies back home, but I don't know how else to describe how awesome it is. It's like watching The Avengers movies, but with guys with beards and instead of guns and lasers, they have swords and bows! I think they come out on the 21st of September, and I hate to admit it, but proselyting will probably not be the best for the days following. They are awesome, and if you can somehow find the trailer, I guarantee that you will be as excited as I am. So let me tell you about the title.. On Friday, for some reason, my whole district was feeling really down in the dumps, we were all in this super sad/depressed mood. I forget why, I think we were learning a really hard grammar lesson, and our lessons hadn't gone so well. Our teachers noticed this, and they had been trying to cheer us up all class but nothing was really working, so they let us go outside and take a break from class to get everything off of our mind. This is where things get spicy.. We came back into class, and our two teachers (they are both young sisters in their 20's) have this video on the board about the importance of families and children. We watch the video and its all about having children, and how they are a blessing to the us, and how we can choose (once we are married) when we want to have kids. I bet you can see where this is going.. The video finished, and we were like one of you has to be pregnant, why else would you show us this video, and sure enough, they move the TV, and on the board it says "wir sind schwanger". We start freaking out and we were asking them over and over again if they were really pregnant, and THEY KEPT SAYING THEY WERE BOTH PREGNANT! We were jumping out of our seats we were so excited, and they told us that we were some of the first people to know and that they really thought that telling us would brighten our day, but that they wanted to keep it on the down low. We kept talking about it, and we were really confused, because we didn't know that one of our teachers was married, but she told us she had been married for a year and we thought that made sense, but a few things still weren't adding up. We took the benefit of the doubt and went along with it. When we were praying at the end of the class one of the guys in my district prayed about the babies and for our teachers. We left that class freaking out, trying not to tell anybody, and we waited the whole weekend to talk to our teachers about it, and when we did, she (only one of them was there on Monday) told us it was just a joke. We had all wrote in our journals and thanked them for how they told us, and how we appreciated their thoughtfulness, trying to make us happy. We flamed her the rest of the day, but we had a lot of good laughs about it. I honestly think we grew a lot closer as a district, and I cant wait to pull some pranks on our teachers. Also, I Sister Thompson came in last Wednesday, and I've seen her around a few times, it's awesome to see family! I hope yall have a great weekend, and i'd love to hear how life is treating you! Love you guys!

​​​​Here are some pictures I took! The first is a picture I took on Wednesday of the temple, the second is of me and one of the Elders in my district on spa night Saturday, and the 3rd is the picture of me and Blaine that I was talking about last week.

Lots of Change 5.9.18

Hey, so this week has been a pretty crazy one. First things first, I got a new companion. His name is Elder Ruplinger! Elder Ruplinger is from Orem but he lived in Germany for 3 years! This man is basically fluent in German! He carries me in the lessons so much! Speaking of lessons, they have been getting a lot better as you can imagine! I don't understand everything but i can for the most part form ideas in my head and convey them to our "investigator". Its funny how that works actually, my teacher pretends to be an investigator and this week, she's a muslim! How in the world do you teach a muslim?? Talk about a stressful planning/teaching session! haha! Our teachers are helping us out with this so we will see how it goes! For our Tuesday night devotional, WE HAD ELDER ANDERSON COME AND SPEAK TO US!!! IS that not awesome?!! He gave an awesome talk on prayer and we had an amazing district review meeting afterwards! Look.... I don't mean to brag, but uh he got up and started shaking peoples hands and uh well.... yeah. I think you know where this is going.. I shook his hand.. well kinda... you see he brought his grand children and i shook one of their hands, but that counts right? But that was an awesome experience! The devotional was broadcasted to all of the MTCs and I'm pretty sure that I was on it a few times! So earlier in the week my name was on the board (its basically just to tell me that they have something for me at the information desk) and i was walking there and i turn a corner and down the hall i see Blaine Grover! I question my whole life right then. I didn't know if that was actually him, so I kinda just yelled his name and he turned and it was him! It was so good to see someone from back home! we took a picture and he tried to email it to me but I didn't get it, so just imagine me freaking out in a picture and him smiling wondering what the heck I'm doing! And thank you to all of the people that sent me stuff in the mail! I really appreciate it!

Here are some pictures i took throughout the week!

The other missionary in the pic with me is my new companion!

Love you guys!