Hallo liebe Freunde und Familie!
Well how do you do? Here is the one and only Elder
Foster....in the Berlin Germany Mission. I assume there is at least one more
out in the world somewhere. But this week was good to say the least. I originally
thought that we weren't going to get as much done because we had to go to
Berlin this week, so I figured we would have less time than usual but actually
we accomplished more than we did last week which is pretty cool to say the
least.
There is a lot to say about the week but not too much
time and not too much brain power either haha. But anyways on Monday after
emailing all of you, we went over to the Mitev family's house, so that we could
give their baby a blessing. Recently I have had a lot of opportunities to give
people blessings. And I can only say that I am grateful to be able to have the
priesthood and to be able to help others with it. As of recent I have had lots
of thoughts concerning this subject. But it is safe to say that the power of
God is real and that I have seen it bless the lives of others and I am just
glad that I could play a small role in it.
Tuesday we had our last lesson with Eleonora. Because she
is now back in Russia. And it was actually a really great lesson. We will
definitely miss her. By the end she thanked me and told me that she needed to
talk to somebody about this kind of stuff and that is why she met me here in
Germany. It is okay though because we have her contact info. So we can keep in
touch and make sure she keeps reading in the Book of Mormon we gave her. After
that we hurried off to an appointment that we had and then found out that he
moved out a couple days before....ha real funny. But it was all okay because
the guy who answered the door became a new investigator. Woo!
On Wednesday we went to a Trainer/Trainee Conference in
Berlin. Which took up the whole day. It was a good conference though and I got
to see a lot of missionaries that I knew so it wasn't a bad day. We also had a
little bit of time to visit the Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag. But other
than that it wasn't too exciting of a day. We got caught up on the way back and
got home a lot later than expected otherwise we could have done a little bit of
work when we got back.
Thursday we had district meeting with the zone-leaders
and a mini exchange after that. I think the more district meetings I have the
more I like them or get them hang of them. And by that I mean creating an
environment where we don't just sit there and stare at someone while they teach.
But instead that we learn together and learn from the Spirit. I'm not sure why
but it seems the more I try to plan something the worse it gets but when I just
throw something together at the last minute and just try to follow the Spirit
then everything goes swimmingly. Koffi also had his baptismal interview on this
day and he passed it. Woo! Which means he has the go ahead to get baptized.
Hopefully, that will happen this week. Then we had a great lesson with
Patrick one of the new converts in the ward and then we had English class. No
idea why I am teaching it because I honestly have no business teaching English. But good thing I am teaching it backwards from German. Because I actually
know the grammar for German.
Friday we had a spontaneous lesson with one of our
investigators who technically has schizophrenia. But it actually went really
well and he was very responsive and very humble. I mean it was a little creepy
when he told me that he hears a voice in his head. And that sometimes it is the
voice of God.....but something really cool with that is after we talked to him
about the Restoration and even showed him a little film segment of the First
Vision. He turns to me and asks, "So those voices in my head...they don't
have anything to do with God do they?" I thought that was pretty cool that
he recognized that as we were with him. But don't worry, in case you are
worrying. Because he is a perfectly reasonable man and it is not as creepy as
it may sound.
And he is getting professional help. We are just helping
him to strengthen himself spiritually. The best kind of help that someone can
get!
Also on that day we went on a little nature excursion with one of our
investigators from Iran who told us that it was nature day in Iran and that she
and her friends were gonna go outside in the sun and just enjoy the nature and
that we were invited. So we went. It was nice and we, of course were able
to talk about some of our message with her friends. So it wasn't a waste of
time by any means.
On Saturday before we started our General Conference
adventure we had the opportunity to meet a couple more people. And one of them
being a new investigator. And let me tell you....he is the most humble Muslim I
have ever met in my life. I mean I have met a lot of Muslims on my mission and
I will have to say that 95% of them are very nice people and more often than
not they invite us in to talk to them, far more than the Germans do. And in
case you are wondering, we don't have any extra safety measures since the
recent attacks. I mean we already have pretty strict rules to begin with and so
we shouldn't be in a dangerous situation to begin with unless we are, and here
is the keyword, not being obedient. Yes, in case you still haven't figured it
out yet, obedience brings blessings. Obviously things can still happen to those
being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But the Lord will still bless us
even in those situations. Anyway, getting back on topic. We met with this
guy and it was a wonderful lesson and at the end after discussing lots of
different things and going into detail on various different ideas. By the end
he had quite a good understanding and I simply asked him if he would be
baptized if he received an answer from God that the Book of Mormon was true. And
he said yes which is pretty amazing when you consider the fact
that he is a Muslim. But that involves another story that I don't have any time
for.
Sunday obviously we had the wonderful opportunity to
watch Conference and listen to the words of living prophet and apostles! I will certainly
take time later to read and listen to these wonderful talks again. But before I
go I would like to say that I would rather have these living prophet and apostles than all
the written works that we have today because none of them convey the word of
God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy
Priesthood in our day and generation.
Hopefully we can all understand that the doctrines of the
gospel are revealed through the Spirit to Prophets, not through the intellect
to scholars or any other earthly office. I leave that testimony with you in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
I love you and I pray for you!
Tschüss,
Elder Foster
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