Cool experience.

Boy was I tempted last week to hop on and start emailing again. The coolest thing ever happened this week! We had just finished emails and we realized how fast we would have to run if we wanted to take the only train of the hour. We were so out of breath after multiple setbacks but I opened the door and held up the train for Elder Andrus. We got on and realized that it probably should have already left .We were on our way down to Nürnberg and then all of a sudden I was being asked if I spoke English! The guy introduced himself as Rayan and said he saw our nametags and recognized the church name from when he was in England. He invited us over to go and sit with him and his father and teach him more about our church! If we hadn’t made that train, we wouldn’t have met him at all. After a mini lesson and getting to know each other, we exchanged numbers and then ended up meeting at his house another day.

Excited as ever, we went in and began teaching him but unfortunately his parents only spoke Arabic. Oh yeah that reminds me, Rayans family is from Iran, and are refugees here because they are Christian. Where they lived was not tolerant and I think people tried to hurt them. What incredible sacrifices this family has made just to believe in Christ. As we were teaching, his mother brought us out black tea, and for those of you who aren’t members of the church, we believe that just as the Israelites had commandments not to eat certain things, God has given us certain commandments to keep our bodies healthy, and we are told not to drink black tea. I felt so bad telling them no, but I wasn’t about to break what I believe to be a commandment, only to teach him that very commandment later on. They were very understanding and I actually explained it exactly the same way to them. They thought it was interesting and cool. It was a very good lesson and we gave him a Book of Mormon in English and Arabic for his parents. He didn’t show up to church like he said he thought he might do, but we aren’t giving up on a guy whose family has searched and sacrificed for the truth. 

Last week we got a referral from online, but the weird thing was that it was from like 2013 so we decided to check it out and see if the guy was still interested. We took the most random bus out to this village, and eventually we found his house. I’m glad he was home because it took so long to get there!! He said he wasn’t interested anymore, so we headed home only to find that the last bus of the night wasn’t coming because you have to call 60 min in advanced for it to come. Well, it took about an hour bus ride to get out there and it was nearing the end of the night. Desperate, we called President Stoddard and he advised us to call our bishop. Amazingly he only lived 15 minutes away and there was a train leaving in the area where he lived. Cold and tired, we were so happy to see him pull up in his Ford. To try and express our gratitude, we baked him cookies haha. 

This whole week we had been preparing for a cleaning check, and the checkers are notorious for picking up on the slightest smidges. Luckily we passed, but apparently our organization of things isn’t good enough. Ha, who cares! I spend a few conscious hours in my apartment. We also just started another transfer (My 7th), and it was no shock that I will be staying here in Bayreuth. Jake is actually not to far from me. He is two areas away from me in the berlin mission. I looked and it’s less than a 2 hour drive! 

This week has been really good. It hasn’t been the most productive, but it has been a really good week. I’ve been trying to learn a few things and at the very end we met up with Chris and finished the first lesson with him. He agreed to pray to get an answer from God if He is actually there, and whether he hears his prayers or not. Hope we get a good follow up! Well that’s about all the news I have for now. I hope you all have good weeks!

Kevin