December 9, 2013

  I really like being here on a mission. It is so good. This week felt like an adventure! Our investigator with a baptismal date on the 28th of December was on a business trip in Österreich (Austria) and right before leaving he told his wife "Sag den Elders dass ich ein Antwort bekommen habe. Tschüss!" That was very mean of him. He said "Tell the Elders I got an answer. Bye!" He did not tell her what that answer was. Tomorrow we are meeting with him so we should find out what that answer was... which we are praying really hard for a positive one! The Lord would not give him an answer that was false. Perhaps we will drop by tonight as a surprise visit and see what that answer was...

      Oh yeah, and I had a birthday. That was nice. We went and got ice cream! YUM. Even though it is cold, ice cream still tastes super duper good. Thanks for the messages of love and kind happy birthday wishes! 

      There was supposed to be a huge storm in Germany on Thursday/Friday. ...it snowed! That's about it. Nothing huge in the area I was in, but it did snow in Köln on the way to our Zone Training in Düsseldorf. That was fun! But nothing stuck on the ground, so I am not slipping and falling on my bum quite yet. 

      Zone training Friday was awesome. I do not remember as much what we talked about, but I do remember that my old companion (who is now Zone leader) told me that Opa Rudi, who I had talked about in Offenbach, is getting baptized!!!!!!! This was the best news in the world! And also, one other person we had talked to decided to accept the lessons. It sounds like we left the area doing well and in good hands. I am grateful that the third companion who stayed in the area stayed on his mission. If he hadn't done that I do not know if that would have all happened. That's just another testimony to me about sticking it out and making the decision to try your best no matter how difficult it is! Love it!

      Yesterday I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. This was my first talk in German! Ahhhh I was nervous, but it ended up working out just fine. I feel like I always prepare too much material for all of my talks and have to cut them down a lot. I guess that means I just speak about the really juicy stuff that people will understand. I hope they understood, at least! The topic was what we can do to get to know Jesus Christ better. I really enjoyed preparing for that talk. Talks are really fun!! 

      The other day was St. Nickolaus Tag, so for all the neighbors who set out their shoes for St. Nickolaus to put candy in... we put some candy in along with a Restoration DVD or Our Search for Happiness DVD to the side! They got their holiday taken care of and they do not even know who did it. I love spontaneous acts of kindness, don't you?

      I love it here! The Christmas season is a beautiful time of year. The Light of Christ is coming out in everyone! 

            Much love, Elder Jack