July 14, 2014

Greetings from the World Champions!!

We woke up at 1230 and was up almost a half hour to nonstop screaming, sports horns, and car horns!  We even had ear plugs in! It was good to know everyone was so happy though.

Normally everyday we leave our doors to the balcony open while we are gone because nobody can climb nine stories right? Well we had a bird break in and poop all over our floor! We could not find the bird but we found its "Tracks" haha. Quite funny really!

Time is going by way fast, and it's all starting to blur together. This week we climbed to the top of the Dom Cathedral and it was unlike anything I have ever done before. I can tell you that I am now quite grateful for elevators, and that I got my leg workout in that day.

For those of you who don't know the life of a missionary, here's the breakdown: 630 we wake up and exercise and eat. At 8 we begin personal study within the scriptures for about an hour. At 9 we study with our companion and prepare lessons or spiritual thoughts for people we meet with during the day. At 10 we study the language and then at 11 we focus again on one of the three before. Most days we don't have time for that though. Then we get an hour break for lunch. After that we go to appointments, do service and talk with people on the streets and trains until 9. Then we come home, plan where we will go the next day and who we will teach and then go to bed by 1030! Rinse and repeat. Haha. That's it really. It can be hard sometimes, but it is worth it.

This week I split from my companion and spent the night in two different cities. I went to Wupertal and then I also went to Dusseldorf. Both were way fun, but I really can't write everything. Although I will say that my day in Dusseldorf was one of my favorite days. We taught two guys my age and then played a little soccer, then we visited a recent convert from Africa who wants to serve a mission, and then we taught Apostelos. Apostelos is trickey; He knows that we are teaching him truth but he will deny it whenever he wants to be "Right" about something. Anyway, even though it was my hardest lesson ever, I really got through to him and was able to speak with him in English. I really had this weird love for him even though I was totally frustrated with him. Weird I know.

This week Elder Arts and I met some really cool people. Everyone has his or her unique story, and that's part of what I love about being a missionary. We even set up an appointment with one lady! We will see if it falls through though. One man was a tattoo artist and was totally into what we had to say. We asked him if we could meet another time to talk about our message and he said gladly! Unfortunately he had a suitcase and he said he was going on vacation, so I have to wait for him to come back. With patience comes good things. There's so much I want to talk about but I really don't have anymore time. I will quickly say that our one investigator is our dream investigator and he reads book upon book that people from the church have written. He also reads the church manual alongside the Book of Mormon so he understands everything. He wants so badly to know if the church is true, and that makes me happy.  I want him to have the same happiness I have because of the gospel.

Ok well I am off to see a couple of castles and to celebrate Germany's victory!