You're sure right about having a proper perspective mom, and that's something I definitely need to work on. Being a trainee is somewhat frustrating and sometimes it feels like it'll take forever, but if I can just keep the proper perspective and be grateful for this time I have to stretch, learn and be corrected, everything will work out for the best. I think for the moment I'm good on recipes, another Elder sent me an entire cookbook, haha. Thanks for sending that story Joey, pretty awesome stuff. We actually read the prayer that President Monson said for Germany, but it's cool to see all the context of it. Im glad you got your blue poop thing removed. Unfortunately Lisa, these Germans don't believe in giving thanks! But I've heard they've got Christmas figured out pretty well here, and that's all that's really important. Well Andy, there I was, a while before zone conference is about to start and I hear a few elders talking about smash. But then the first thing I hear is some comment about fox being super cheap in the n64 version...I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, there are only very few in the world as champion sauce as us. There are also a few League nerds in my ward and also other missionaries. I'm yet to find any fellow ultimate frisbee players though, quite the shame.
Where has the time gone by? It still felt like summer in the mtc, and now I can't go anywhere without seeing Christmas decorations! At zone conference this week President Fingerle announced the beginning of the "Christmas Initiative." There's a new Christmas video (A Savior is Born, watch it!) that we're to incorporate into basically every part of our work. We've been given 750 Christmas pass along cards to share with members, investigators, and basically everyone we meet. It's nice to have something to concentrate all our efforts on, and the members here are more than willing to do their part. President Fingerle also gave an interesting breakdown of the word assume, which I'm not sure that I should share the details of.
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| Berlin Zone (Matt is second from the left on the front row) |
This week we also had a "musical evening" stake activity thingamajig. It was actually pretty awesome. A solid 500 or so people came, many of whom were nonmembers. It was basically a video that taught the restoration, with little musical performance intervals throughout. The spirit was strong and just about everyone enjoyed it. At the end the audience clapped for an awkwardly long time, but it was very touching! We're already starting to see some positive results from it.
In terms of teaching, once again our less actives are making awesome progress, but our investigators are struggling. One less active Felix is just about to the point of being fully active, which is especially exciting since he's the first person I taught a lesson to here in Germany. He's pretty awesome. With our investigators, our most solid ones, Housan, Cristian and Antony seem to be falling off the face of the earth. The first 2 haven't answered any calls and Antony is no longer in Berlin. It's rough going, but things should pick up with some of our new contacts from the musical evening! We just have to keep working hard and trust in the Lord's timing.
Aside from that, German is coming along and things like the area book, bus schedules and subways are no longer totally unfamiliar and weird. A few weeks ago I was on an exchange with another trainee elder, and it was a miracle that we didn't end up in France by the end of the day. Now I've got a better grip on it all, haha.
Life is good, the Gospel is great! Have a good week!
Elder Larsen
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