Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

Hi Everyone! It is safe to say that missionary work is literally what it's title says: work. I'm totally ok with that though because that's what I signed up for. I have a handful of experiences that I'm really excited to share.

So first of all, studying. It is so important, not because we have to have every scripture in Das Buch Mormon memorized, but because if we have not studied something out in our mind first, than the Holz Ghost can not bring what we need to mind when we need it. For example, when I was on the plane flying over here, I was actually scared to death, but all of a sudden a scripture mastery popped into my head that I really hadn't thought about since I was in seminary. It was the "be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest" one. It literally popped into my head out of nowhere and comforted me more than anything could have at that moment. I could not have had that happpen though if I didn't study it out earlier in my life. Well, I don't know if any of that makes sense, but I've been learning that lesson a lot this week.

Another lesson I've been learning, is that I really have to let the Lord control things that I have no power over AT ALL. Zum beispiel: The other day, Sister Powell and I were in a village going to drop off some flowers for a member's birthday, but low and behold, the buses changed routes without our knowledge and we got lost. We walked around the village for about 45 minutes looking for a bus stop that had a route that would take us to where we wanted to go. At first I was super frustrated and annoyed because this would mess up our schedule for the rest of the day, but there comes a point where you have to throw your hands up in the air and say: I tried my best and this is obviously how things are supposed to be right now. The positives from this experience: it was a super pretty day, the village we walked around was so pretty, we had to wait a while for the bus to come that we wanted to come, so we had lunch at a really good bakery, AND we found a potential investigator!

By the time we did get back to Ludwigsburg, Sister Powell HAD to use the bathroom, so we went to the train station. I was waiting just outside and started talking to a worker there. His name was Jurgen and he really wanted to know what I was wearing a name tag for. It was awesome! We talked about Das Buch Mormon, what Mormons generally believe, and next thing I know, he's giving me his card and asking to make an appointment so we can talk about it more. We gave him a Buch Mormon and our card and made an appointment with him that night. IT WAS SO COOL! It was the first potential that I found and I'm quite excited to meet with him and talk about it more. We'll see what happens.

 

Another cool story: on Saturday, our district got together in an area called Pforzheim, and had a finding day. We set up a stand on one of the walking streets and set out to go find people. Most often, people say, they are happy how they are, or they don't have time, or they're not interested, which is fine because everyone has agency, but it's like candy when someone stops to hear what you have to say. We got to talk to a few people, and get some contact information, but the coolest part for me was being able to use my Italian. I stopped a guy probably in his thirties and started talking to him. I realized that he didn't really get what I was saying, so I asked where he came from: ITALY! His name is Angelo, and I got to use my broken Italian to talk a bit about Das Buch Mormon and Jesus Christ. He said he liked it and the book, so I gave it to him, and information for contacting the Pforzheim elders. Fingers crossed he does, but I was just so excited that my eight weeks of Italian at BYU payed off.

One thing our mission is big on is serving the members of our wards. I think that is awesome because we need their help teaching investigators, but it kind of seems rude in my mind to ask that of them and not do much in return. So Sister Powell and I often find ourselves baking cookies or making cards to give to members. Something we have started doing is bringing flowers to members homes when we have eating appointments with them. IT IS SO FUN! Ask anyone in my family, I love flowers! And here they turn the bouquets into art. Sister Powell and I have a usual flower shop where we go to and the ladies there know us. We're always so mezmerized when they put the flowers and greens together to make a beautiful bouquet. It's just so classy. And the members really like it too. It's so fun

Something else that's kind of cool here is that members all bring baskets to church here. They carry scriptures and whatever else they need in a basket. It makes going to church so much more old school. I like it a lot. The ward is great too. We have loads of eating appointments because people want to get to know me and the other new elder in the ward, so I'm just going to keep running every morning and hope I don't end up rolling home from my mission. 

Today is P-day, and Sister Powell and I have set aside some time today to go see the castle gardens. It is such a pretty day, so I hope we can get everything done we need to in order to do it, but I love my mission and I love being here in Lundwigsburg. I hope you all have a great week. Make good choices!

Sister Anna Banana Smiley

The pictures: we have a cow toilet in our bathroom, we found facemasks in our bathroom, and eating a "donner" on the finding day