We met Usher??!? 10.25.18

Hello Family and Friends,

This week has been a ride I'll tell ya! Haha! I'll start you off on day one!

Friday:

We had a pretty awesome day. We did some finding, but not any normal finding.. We went and bought some cheap ping-pong equipment, and went to one of the public ping-pong tables, and did some ping-pong Book of Mormon contacting.

We set up our bags so that as people walked by, they "just so happened" to see our books, and then we would invite people to come play ping-pong with us. It was a great idea, but unfortunately for us, it didn't go as planned, and we didn't have too many people talk to us, but we had an appointment with our investigator and she said that she would be baptized in December!

Saturday:

OK, I know I got y'alls hopes up, but our investigator texted us, and she said that she thinks December is too early, and she pushed the date back to March. 

Sunday:

The gift of tongues is real

Monday:

Interviews, and split with Elder Davis, we had a good time, and met some cool people. Had a cool mini testimony meeting with a new convert, and that was awesome! 

Tuesday: 

We were tired from the split on Monday(we stayed up later than we should have) but we went and did some finding. 

Wednesday: 

We went to Ludwigshafen and went finding, and met Usher !! It was so hype, and he actually talked to us for a little. That doesn't happen too often. We gave him our number, and he said that he would call us! 

Thursday:

Pday/shopping day. I bought a winter coat for the first time! That was hype, and Usher called us! He got a new Sim card, and he wanted us to have his number! Hopefully we can meet this next week, and I'll snap a quick picture, last week we didn't have time! 

But today is my 6 month mark, and I'm super excited about that. I hope y'all are having a great time, and that the Lord blesses you with everything that you need in life! Love y'all! Keep it real! 

Miracle Week ? 10.12.18

Wow, OK, so I'm sorry, I think I'm going to be a little lazy with this email, but this week has been awesome!

We've been trying to think of ways to become creative in our finding, because the area here is really tough, and people don't really care for people coming up to them and trying to immediately talk about the gospel, so we have been thinking, and we came up with a few ideas. 

We have been talking to people on the street about other things that get them involved in a conversation, and we play ping-pong with people. 

Now personally the second idea is my favorite out of the two, because we get to play ping-pong with random people but, we tried it out, and on that day, it wasn't so great. Not too many people were around the table(sometimes there are random tables in parks). We decided to go to another city and talk to people and on the way there, we net this really cool guy and he invited us over to his house, and we hung out and talked for a little. He is a potential friend of the church now.

We were leaving this guy's place and we got on a Bahn, and we met this girl that helped us with our German, and we got to talk to her, and we figured out that she lived with a member family in Washington on an exchange program. She agreed to meet with us, and hopefully we can set that up soon. 

Other than that, we've just been talking to the people about the gospel, and having fun. We are trying to do better, and I'm excited to see what the future holds.

Love y'all, 

-Elder Trussell 

I've gotta take over??! 10.11.18

Hello family and friends! This week has been awesome!

As you know, we had general conference this past Sunday, and that was amazing. So many amazing talks and inspired teachings were given unto us through our prophets and other authorities. I hope you all were able to watch the sessions, and obtain answers to your prayers! The answers were there, I can almost guarantee it, but if you didn't find them this time around, President Nelson once again invited us to review the talks, and continue to seek revelation, so go and watch them again! Haha! It's honestly such a blessing that the Lord calls prophets to receive revelation for us! Take advantage of these opportunities to learn and grow nearer to your savior, Jesus Christ.

Pertaining to the announcements made in general conference(such as the changes with how we are called, and the new temples being built), I instantly felt the spirit confirm to me that these announcements were, and are from the Lord. I know that as we strive to follow these teachings, and appreciate what God gives us, we will receive blessings beyond measure. It is the small things, such as referring to yourself as a member of the church rather than "a Mormon", or thanking God for a temple, even if it isn't where you want it to be, that make us more like Christ, and that help us develop a love for this work, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep doing the small things!

On Saturday, we received a call from the counselors of our president and they told my companion that he was getting transfered! That was wild! I'm now the senior companion in my area and I'm the oldest out on the mission, out of us two. I've been here for only one transfer, so I'm not super familiar with everything, but we are having a blast learning together! Haha! My companions name is Elder Penrod, he's from Utah, and has only been out of the mission 4 months(I've been out for about 6 months). It's a fun time and we are learning together!

We had one really cool appointment this week! We have one investigator that we haven't been able to meet with in the past little while, and she heard that my companion was leaving, and she spontaneously made an appointment for us to meet. We met and had ice cream, and were able to talk to her a little about conference, and about how she has completely stopped drinking coffee!! We were way pumped about that, and we asked her how she felt, and she said that she felt amazing! She's making so much progress, and I'm hoping that we have the chance to see her continue along her progression!

Today, we were just hanging out at the church with a few other missionaries in my zone. We played a few fun games, like chairs soccer, and ligeretta(I don't know how to spell it). It was just a good time! 

I hope all has been well with you, and that the Lord has answered your prayers! 

Love y'all, 

-Elder Trussell

Pics:

1. Our investigator and us getting ice-cream

2. The incredibles 2 

3. Pretty sunset

4. Speyer Cathedral

5. Kinda cool view 

Last District Meeting of the Transfer 10.11.18

Going to keep this one short!

So this week has been pretty fun, it is the last week of the transfer(we get transfer calls on Saturday), and I'm super pumped. I think I'm staying with my companion, but who knows? Maybe I could shut down another area! Haha!

But there is a pretty big event coming up this weekend! We have conference! Last conference was awesome. They announced so many things, and the Lord showed us, through his prophets, so much revelation to help guide us in our lives. The same will happen at this conference, and the same blessings that were promised in the last conference, will be there for us again. Take this conference seriously, and hearken unto the words of the servants of the Lord, their words are the words of the Lord.

The presidency and the quorum has invited us to go into this conference with a question in our hearts, and promised us that we would find answers when we seek them in this conference. I invite you to do the same, and to share your thoughts and feelings with your friends, families, and even me! 

I love y'all, and I hope you are as excited as me! 

Have a fantastic week! 

-Elder Trussell

Pics:

1. My jambalaya that I made

2. Normal(kinda) picture of my district

3. Sunset while I was riding a train

4. We figured out how to make a timer for a picture go with our hands, and we messed around with it!