Angesichts einer Veränderung

Disclaimer: Atrocious capitalization errors ahead. Wegen des Computers.

 Hallo hallo!

 And here I am again and another week has passed by and I am now sitting in a library in Weimar writing this email. So what will ol' Elder Foster say this time. Well first of all if you were expecting Pictures unfortunately I do not have any this week and don't currently have the method of which I can send them to you as of right now. And I didn't want to take any pictures of the Apartment because it is currently somewhat of a mess because the Elders before me like to Keep useless piles of junk all over the Apartment. However today is the day of reckoning, as I am now tired of it and I also do not want any of the Mission leaders seeing it that way, especially because I am not the cause of it.  

I would say that this week was certainly a better turn in the right direction however this is also the last week that we even have a church in Weimar...that being said it is now an uphill battle to get People to come to church. However we left with a bang this week because we had 6 People at church, which literally equates to half of the amount of active members in the branch. Kind of a funny sight to see. However with every Little Piece of good News must also come the pieces of bad News. Haha so this week we found a nice chinese Lady who is going to the University here in Weimar. And she was super nice and let us talk with her, I was actually really surprised that she was 29 because she looked 22, those asian genetics. So she Comes from Shanghai and she is actually already Christian. We gave her a book of mormon and she seemed quite interested. She said she would come to church and she did! And she even brought a friend. However when we first met with her she said she would do some of her own "Research" on the Internet. Which of course is always a red flag for me. So basically after church she gave the book of mormon back to us and said she would have to Research it more. Because of course while researching the church she read stuff about polygamy and of course for some reason People still think that is going on. This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Unfortunately it seems that People far too often than not think they can find their answers on the Internet when it comes to questions concerning Religion or God. If there is something that I want to proclaim as a missionary it is if you want answers about Religion and God, please do not go to the world for you answers. Use whatever seemingly small or large amount of faith you have and let it be tested by God, for what will only seem in hindsight like a small Moment, will lead to a glorious recognization of the truth. So unfortunately she told us goodbye and said that she will continue to Research and she has our number and knows where the church is, but actually not really because that was the last sunday there. Maybe someday there will be hope for future missionaries in her case.  

So some more random Information that I have recieved of what might be done in this area is that we will either stay in Weimar without a church and be able to do some finding in Erfurt without a car and the other Option we would we would have a car. Or another Option is that we will be sent to Erfurt because the missionaries there have a 4-man Apartment and we will do some finding or keep in contact with members and investigators in Weimar a couple times during the week and we will probably have a car with that Option as well. Honestly I am rooting for the being sent to Erfurt Option with a car. Because taking the church out of Weimar was never a Advantage to begin with, because I already know a couple of the already small amount of members are going inactive because of it. Either way though I don't really have a choice in the matter and I will do the best I can either way. It is just interesting because they took a slow area in the Mission and basically lowered its so called chances of success even more. Who knows what I have to learn from this but I am not going to pretend my ways are higher than the Lord's ways or that I can comprehend that which is limitless with my limited understanding.  

So a couple random things that happened this week, is that one I got a referral, but not from the members here but actually from a member back up in Bremerhaven. Because she actually served down in this area when she was on her Mission. So that was pretty surprising and I hope it leads to something good. Another Thing is that I was on Exchange in Jena this week, I would would suggest looking at Pictures of Jena because it is just beautiful there and actually one of the few places in both the Berlin and Frankfurt Missions where there are even mountains although not as big as what I am used to. But as was saying when we were in the Jena branch building having Institute. Two theologian students sat in during it. And the crazy Thing is that a year and a half ago they caused a member to fall away and even a divorce because of it. So it was Kind of intense having them there and Elder Ostler and I had to make sure to Keep them in check and even made sure to talk to them when we we eating Food together afterwards. And they basically just gave me the opinion that theologians are weird. And that their beliefs don't make any sense, not to mention they are friends and one is catholic and the other is evangelisch.  

Well I am now out of time and out of things to say that wouldn't take up some time to explain. But I hope you are all doing well and that you have a nice week. And next time I will definitely try to get some Pictures to you all. Anways love ya and...

 Tschüss,

Elder Foster