Manchmal wünsch ich mir, du würdest deine Zeit in meinem Kopf verbringen und die Welt aus meinen Augen sehen.

Was geht ab?

Welcome one and all to another addition to the Elder Foster chronicles. Yeah, sounds exciting huh? How do I begin, how do I end?

This week was pretty nice. If only for the fact that the sun came out to play.

Anyways moving right along we started off our week quite nicely in that we went to the Farnsworth Family's house for family home evening.It is always nice to spend some time with them because they are a fairly young couple with three kids. So other than the whole being parents and having kids thing, we can relate on a pretty good level. This particular family is half American because they met on their missions in Switzerland and then got married afterward. It is always interesting to see these things happen because I have no idea how they even happen to begin with. But it was nice to spend some time with them and their children and to share the good word of God and apply to our everyday lives, especially to the children because they need that stuff.

I don't know how to write letters anymore, completely uninspired sometimes. So I will just do it day by day for the most part and add in whatever comes to my mind. But Tuesday went pretty good as well too. Okay, sudden inspiration, this was a first on my mission. Okay so we visited a certain investigator on Tuesday and as of recent we have been having discussion about the law of chastity.

And this time I was really speaking to him that if he wants to follow Christ then he is going to have to throw away all of his pornography. And this time he finally agreed to get rid of all of it but here is the catch. He had to do it right away. So we made him get a garbage bag and to throw it all away and we watched him throw it all away but of course didn't look too closely. And then afterwards we finished our lesson and gave him a blessing to help him to overcome any possible temptations. But WE had to get rid of it for him so that leads to two missionaries walking around the city with a big bag of pornography looking for a dumpster to throw it into. As you can imagine, I hoped and prayed that we didn't run into any members in the meantime as that would have been a very interesting situation. However I was proud of him in the end and although it might have been really awkward we were glad to help him out.

On that day as well we managed to have an appointment with one of our contacts and it looks like we will be meeting with him more in the future because the first lesson is always the deciding factor of whether or not things will continue in the future. And we also met with Eleonora our Russian friend that goes to the university here. It is good to meet with her again because she had been gone for 10 days in Italy. I really do enjoy meeting with people that are around the same age as me. I really feel like I can talk to them on a more real level. A sincere testimony from a friend can have a greater effect than just that of a somewhat foreign missionary, although that too can have an effect don't get me wrong!

On Wednesday, we had district meeting of course and that went pretty well. I still don't think I am the greatest teacher in the world but I can say with certainly that it has definitely become a lot more natural and easier for me to do. But we also met with Eleonora again because she wanted help for her paper from a native English speaker. And of course we jumped at the opportunity because number one why not and number two it gave us another opportunity to teach her something before she leaves back to Russia which is actually this week.....but anyways I found out that although she is Baptist, she is not baptized. Hopefully we can get her in contact with the missionaries in Russia or something.

But after that we met with another one of contacts and we will probably meet with him in the future too. Although for a second there I thought I was going to get really frustrated when he started saying that he already knew all truth. But in the end, he listened to reason if not the Spirit itself and should be giving the Book of Mormon a sincere try. “Sincere” being the emphasized word there.

On Friday, I experienced something that I have also never before experienced on my mission. Well on Friday we were invited to a member’s house to eat and when this particular member picked us up from the train-station, he also told me that they had other visitors at their house and naturally I thought. Oh your daughter from Jena and her friend or something and then he said no. It is one of our friends that we have recently made. So we had an eating appointment with members and an invited friend! Okay maybe that sounds totally normal to you to have friends and missionaries over for dinner or something. But that does not happen at all that often in Germany or at least not with the Germans in my experience. They never do that, nor have I personally met any missionaries where they have experienced that in such a way. Glad I got to experience it! As it was really awesome and it wasn't awkward at all. Coolest thing is that their friend will be coming to General Konferenz next week. Woo! I thought that was really special. I was just proud of the members and also happy that they trusted me enough to do something like that.

All in all it was a good week and naturally as per usual I was not able to explain everything that I wanted to or to really give you a good perspective of what I did like I didn't mention meeting Mahya, the Persian gal, who is also a student here. But it suffices me to say that I am so very grateful to be able to preach the gospel and give testimony of Christ especially when people look at us funny all day and judge us because we wear white shirts and ties. It is fun to show people that we are normal and friendly and that most of all that Christ lives and that is more than just a faith but it is a power in our lives that makes us stronger and happier.

I hope you all have a lovely week. I pray for you daily!

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

 

An dem sich unsere Welt nicht mehr dreht.

Hallo Hallo Hallo!

 

Welcome, welcome to Elder Foster tells tales of his mission adventures!

 

This week was certainly a good one. Definitely one to be recorded in a journal for future reference and enjoyment. The first two days of the week weren't super exciting. P-Day definitely goes by a lot faster than you want it to that is for sure. And then there you are standing on someone's doorstep just wondering if anybody will answer or at least give you enough time to say anything in particular. Then P-Day is over. Sometimes we are invited over the the Farnsworth family's house for family home evening, which we are tonight. Woo! But other than that P-Days aren't super exciting here in Cottbus, but they still go by unusually fast.

 

Tuesday we were supposed to meet with Koffi, our recent investigator that was put on baptismal date but that fell to because he had to go to a dentist appointment. To an actual appointment as well! It wasn't just a made up excuse. So suddenly our day got a little longer because that meant we had to do that much more finding. Which isn't a bad thing because I can enjoy finding, it can just be taxing on your patience sometimes, depending on who you talked to on that particular day. But at least during our finding time we got some numbers from some cool people that we can meet up with later this week so that was good. But after that we headed to the church to go to our appointment with a lady that we had met the week before. And we were totally excited for that except for the fact that she didn't show up.

:/ However we did get in contact with her later and she didn't show up because her house got flooded somehow and she was too busy figuring all that out that she totally forgot about our appointment. So we will have to see if we can set up another appointment sometime soon. That just reminds me of how many contacts we have that we/I need to call in the next day or so. I have never had to manage so many things at once in my life. But anyways the day came to a close with gemiko (a meeting with the ward mission leader) and choir. Choir was of course fun and the gemiko was of course interesting as per usual because the ward mission leader is so sassy and sarcastic with me sometimes that I sometimes wonder why he even meets with me in the first place. anyway, at the end of the day I was calling the district as per usual and the idea struck me as I was talking to Elder Schulte that we need to expect more miracles! And then it all began.

 

Wednesday we had district meeting, which of course went well. There is one thing that we decided to do as a district and yes I know it is rather simple. But we decided to have a short conference call every morning in order to pray together and ask for miracles. That was definitely a turning event of the week. The rest of the day went by smoothly enough. We had our lesson with Koffi and have begun to talk about the commandments. Ooo the lessons that either break or make the person you are teaching. Fortunately our discussion of the Word of Wisdom went over well and wasn't really a problem. I would love to go into more detail about the Word of Wisdom but I think I will keep the letter this week a little bit more informative and descriptive of the week’s events.

 

After our lesson we began the days finding routine. Not that it has become an actual routine, I just like calling it that.

We collected even more numbers and contacts which just added to the pile of people that I already need to call, have mercy! And of course had a great conversation with a young mother, her baby, and her two small children. Interestingly enough she no longer believed in God but her two young kids who were probably 9 and 6 still believed, the baby not being old enough to speak. It is certain moments like these that make me grateful to be a missionary but at the same time it frustrates me because I could tell she wanted to know more, I could tell she was touched by the Spirit. But she of course has her free-agency. The real frustrating part is this....she of course wouldn't invite us over or meet with us because we are just two young guys from America, every bit of what she has grown up and the society that she is in is telling her in her mind to say no. Random example, the Sisters this week were visiting a former investigator in the hospital this week and they talked with her and cheered her up. And then the next time that they went to go visit her, they find out that the person who was sharing the room with this lady that they were visiting asked to be moved to a different room because she didn't want to be around when those dang Jehovah's Witnesses when they come around again. Obviously, we aren't Jehovah's Witnesses but we get put in the same group nonetheless. It is rather sad how societies can build up false images in the minds of its inhabitants. Anyways back to the point I think if this lady was invited by one her friends to meet with the missionaries or had had this conversation with one then it would have led to more things.....so is the lot of a missionary in Germany. Always, keep hope though, that is why we keep going out.

 

Thursday is where things really start to kick off. And I have to start writing faster aaah! We went on exchange and I was with my good buddy Elder Schulte in Cottbus. Haha he needs a break from Forst shall we say and we needed to do an exchange anyway. It was good for my trainee to get thrown out in the wild anyways with another trainee. (we are terrible trainers...kidding!) Anyway, we start our day off with a prayer with the district, simple, inspiring and motivating. And then we head out into the thankfully sunny day to go find some Menschen! And of course the first 15 people or so that we encountered were not very happy to talk to us at all. But at one moment when we were waiting for the light to turn green at a crosswalk I had the thought it my head. Well so far....not so much success but I KNOW the Lord will lead us to the people that we need to talk to and quite literally the next person we talk to is interested and gives us his name and we set up an appointment for the next day. Haha remember that. And we are pumped of course after that but we need to head to our appointment with Koffi. If you are wondering why we are meeting with him so much it is because.....baptism is important! You need to be ready to make a covenant with God! That is no small thing. So we are helping him.

 

After that we did some more finding and found another guy and set out an appointment for Saturday. Then we met with one of the new converts and he told us an awesome story of how he has been going almost every night to where his friend lives to go and pray with her and that the other day they got the feeling that this pregnant friend was going to have the baby the very next day and what do you know....it happens. Prayer is real don't forget it! And even in the middle of our meeting he gets a call from her telling him that she is having contractions. Crazy stuff right?! Then we had English class and met with another new convert that has been doing good and that was basically our exchange. Woo!

 

Friday, there is only one real thing that I need to mention about this day and that is we met with the guy that found the day before the one that we talked to right after having that thought and his name is Bashar and he is from Jordan, he lives like 3-4 hours away from Jerusalem, how cool is that. And he is already a Christian and had only just barely moved into Cottbus to go the university here a few days ago and we met with him and taught him the first lesson....and it went great! Afterward we asked him if he would get baptized if he got an answer that the Book of Mormon is true and he said yes. We then made out a baptismal date for the 16th of April. Even at the end of the lesson, he looks at me and say "you know, you are strong, I am proud of you!" The only thing I could think of to say in return was to say, no I am proud of you! Once again praying for miracles works!

 

On Saturday we found even more cool people and met with Koffi again. I even got to talk to these two students from the university on the Bahn that are from Iran and that was a really good time. It reminded me of the days when I used to meet with Amin back in Weimar. I miss that guy and by the time they had to get out of the Bahn they asked me for our number so that we could meet up again at some time. It was a rather fine day to say the least. It was also sunny too! Which is of course always appreciated by a missionary.

 

Sunday we had church and we also met with about 5 Muslims and we are glad to report that we did not get beat up or anything. We read lots of scriptures out of the Book of Mormon. It was good!

 

Anyways I have to go! I love you! Bye!

 

 

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

Was auch immer kommen mag!

Super attractive first döner with the trainee.

Hallo geehrte Familie und Freunde und zufällige Gäste!

 

It is often my curse to have so many good thoughts during the day of what I could possibly write to you fine people from afar but then when it comes down to the moment where I actually have to write something that these things seem to disappear. Well I guess whatever will just have to suit. I also don't have my keyboard so we will see how much I can actually type before my time has run out. Let's just get right to it shall we?

 

The biggest news of the week definitely has to be that we found someone and put them on baptismal date from the very first lesson. How we actually ended up meeting this guy, didn't occur this transfer but the last transfer when I was still with Elder Williams. We were on our way to meet an investigator by this mini-mall called Spree-Galerie and while we were waiting for me I saw this guy and told him I liked his hair. After that we had a small conversation and then our investigator showed up and we had to say goodbye. Then some time passed by and this time I was with Elder Merrel and we were doing some finding in the streets of Cottbus. Something in the missionary handbook that I have always found funny was that it actually encourages missionaries to go out on the weekends and do finding because apparently that is when the most people are out and also when the most people are home. Hahaha I don't know about where everybody else lives but my experience in Germany has proved otherwise. In fact I am not sure where everybody disappears off to on the weekend. Because I feel like we are walking around a ghost-town sometimes, the people don't even answer their doors. Probably because they have gotten smart and know that if anyone is trying to ring their doorbell it is probably the J-Dubs or us or somebody else that they don't want to see. Haha but anyways we were walking the dead streets of Cottbus and then I see this guy again sitting on a bench. And so of course I talk to him and one simple conversation later we had made an appointment for this last Tuesday.

And then on Tuesday we met with him and taught him about the restoration and gave my trainee the wonderful opportunity to ask someone to baptism and then.....he said yes! Woo! And then we promptly made out a baptismal date. So it was definitely a wonderful moment to say the least. Most of our appointments during the week were spent with him and he even came to church. So I certainly have high hopes for him. And I am simply thankful for the opportunity to teach such a great guy.

 

This week I also had another opportunity to give a blessing and it is a blessing to be able to bless. This time it was more a blessing of comfort and council than a blessing for the sick. But nonetheless every time I give a blessing I experience the undeniable presence of the Spirit. Even afterwards when the blessing was over the investigator told me that he was so surprised by his feelings that his eyes shot open in the middle of it. Therefore we should always look for opportunities to bless others whether it is literally or not. But every time I have had the opportunity to give a blessing or to participate in one. It has only strengthened my testimony even more of the truth of this work and of this Church.

 

We also had Zone-training-meeting this week which means we went all the way to Freiberg where the temple is in order to have it. And all in all it was good. Honestly sometimes it is nice just to see some of the missionaries in the Zone, especially because I know quite a few of them. Even my last companion from Neubrandenburg is in the Zone now, so it was nice to get to talk to him again and other people and just see what is popping off on their little slice of the mission.

 

Well I am really starting to feel my age as a missionary and by that I don't mean my actual age but more like the amount of time that I have been on the mission. And now is truly the time that will either allow you to go home in peace or to eventually regret everything what you didn't do. I hope that I can truly show the Lord more than anybody else that I served him with my all heart and that I tried to serve His children in this part of the world. I hope I can do it in sincerity rather than simply out time reasoning because being a missionary in one way or another is truly the way to live the gospel.

 

I hope you all have a fantastic week and that as you pray you may feel the peace that can only come from the Lord. I will get you all some pictures and a little bit better thought out letter for next week.

Haha but I love you and I miss you!

 

Tschüss,

Elder Foster