Austausche für Tage!

Hallo meine geehrte Damen und Herren! 

 Aaw yes where to start with this week, well first and foremost it was terrible! So terrible! No, I'm just kidding but I am sure I got you there for a second. Anyway, it was a pretty adventurous week. It basically consisted of a whole lot of of exchanges. We were basically on exchanges for three days straight so it was pretty crazy to say the least but oh how fun it was. Good things always happen during an exchange and I am not entirely sure why. There is also something about changing it up once and a while. Which is nice because when you have been in one area for a long time combined also with being at the end of your mission. It can become all too easy to just get into a routine of things. But when you get new faces or when you serve with someone new even if it is just for a little bit then for some reason it just adds a little bit more to the experience. I guess it just has to do with the need for variety. Anyway, the very first day of exchange went pretty well. I was with my good buddy Elder Chadwick from Arizona and we just get along great and honestly we have pretty similar personalities. We didn't have a whole lot going on at first but because we were in good spirits and we were working hard we ran into just the right people and made appointments with these people the very next day. And actually because of those new appointments and because of the appointments in Forst the next day as well. We decided to exchange for another day because nobody wanted to miss any of the appointments that we had made. And so I got to spend another day with Elder Chadwick. And crazily enough all of the appointments went through and there were great. We even talked to this 23 year old German guy on the street for about an hour. He was really cool but he just couldn't bring himself to believe in God. He agreed with everything we said and every explanation that we gave him made sense to him but he just couldn't believe in God. It is very interesting how people will continue to deny your beliefs and criticize them without actually taking the time to look at their own beliefs or feeling justified in not having any. He was a great guy all in all but as always it is hard to tell some to give something a try that would change their life and beliefs when they don't really see any real need for change in their lives. Or when the society around them tells them that it is weird to be religious and also looked down on for being so.  

And once again for anybody who is reading this, Muslims are not bad people! My whole mission I have been teaching them and they are not only hospitable but also a lot more receptive to the gospel.

Honestly the biggest thing getting in their way of being baptized is the fact that they usually cannot speak very much German and also because a lot of them still do not have their papers to stay in Germany so they could possibly be sent back to a dangerous country. But I can not stress enough of how wrong people are and their opinions about Muslim people. Haha so stop it if you have any anti-Muslim feelings. We shall preach the gospel to all people and all nations.  

But going forward with the actual letter. The next couple days after we were with the zone leaders in Cottbus and we found more people and we got to enjoy being with each other in the apartment at night. That was really fun and it reminded me of the four man apartment days in Hannover and Erfurt. But to make things a little short it was a great week and a lot of new friendships were made with missionaries and with people from Cottbus. 

We also had Stake Conference this week in Dresden and that was nice, we also got to spend the night in Dresden with some other elders and that was a lot of fun. There were some elders there that I have known my entire mission and also Elder Benitz who is now my great bayrisch Schweizer friend haha love his accent it is so unique. Other good news is that I also got to see my old friend and investigator Amin in Dresden, who is now planning on coming to Utah to study in the future. 

It was quite the week and I hope the next week is as eventful and that we can help out these other people who have now become our friends.

Sorry that this letter is a little bit all over the place. I hope you have had a great week and I love you all and pray for you daily.

 

Tschüss,

Elder Foster

Wo sollen wir nur hin?

Hallo Geehrte Damen und Herren. Hier spricht der Kapitän! 

      You can be in one place for too long. You can sometimes just be too familiar with your surroundings and every day just turns into one big long day. The streets are all commonplace as well as the people and most of the experiences that go along with them. Unfortunately there is not much time left on the mission and also with that the chance that I will probably be sent somewhere else for a fresh new sight and experience. Not that I do not like Cottbus or that we are having no success or anything like that. It has just been a long time and routine always starts to creep in. So it sometimes takes a little bit more effort to get out there and be more sincere. Once again just the thought of an old man missionary that has been in one city for quite a while. Either way this week wasn't too bad there were some new and good things it there were also some of the old things that came to plague us, namely that of fallen out appointments.

             I had my first encounter with someone from the Druze religion which if you don't know what that is then don't worry because just about no one does and it only really exists in a few countries in the Middle East. And they apparently have a book that they can not read....pretty interesting doctrine to say the least. But the guy that we met that is actually apart of this religion is actually really cool. He is built like a tank too. Haha but he is really open and he even came to church and brought a friend. So it will be pretty cool to continue to work with him in the future.

       Another random experience we had this week was when one of our investigators invited us over to have some Persian food that she had made. And we brought the sister missionaries along as well. And it was grrrrreat! It was a three course meal as well too so she went all out! That was pretty awesome to say the least because not a ton of exciting things happened this week so it was good to be able to enjoy a little bit of our time and also be able to talk a bit about the most important thing, which is the gospel! Woo! 

      The best news of the week was probably our lesson with Herr Konetsky who is progressing quite nicely. We are currently teaching more about the commandments and of course when it comes to this part in the teaching process it usually goes down in excitement. But oddly enough he agrees with everything we have to say and places where even members actually have problems he is completely fine. Like the law of tithing for instance. We had a discussion about it in Priesthood and if I haven't told you already things can get intense sometimes in Presthood meeting. We have a great bunch here in Cottbus. But I went up to talk to him after the meeting and he only had one question and then he was completely fine with it. Haha so yeah I am pretty excited for that. I just hope the members reach out a little bit more with him so that his progress will just continue to grow and that he can be baptized in the near future. So that is pretty exciting to say the least. Although we still have to be careful when we teach him because he will go off on hilarious tirades. For example haha and I hope I don't get any hate mail for this but I thought it was hilarious but he said he would prefer Trump as president over Hilary. Because Trump is already at the bottom and if he even does the smallest good everyone will freak out haha. He can only go up haha. And then he said that he could see him being buddies with Putin. Haha anyways we have some pretty funny conversations with him sometimes. Although I am the only one who really understands every that he is saying.

       All in all it was a good week with a side of same old same old rejection and disappointment from those who said they would meet with us but never did. I hope your appointments went through! And I wish you all a wonderful week ahead of you! I love you all and pray for you as always.

 Tschüss,

Elder Foster

Na?

Elder Foster and Elder Roemer  with the Fingerle's

Willkommen meine Lieblinge!

      I coming right at you from the city of Cottbus and things are going just fine. I honestly can't tell if the weeks are going by fast or slow anymore. Nonetheless it is a pleasant time to say the least. But I never know where to start.

      We still have the same old problems with our investigators from the university. Great potential but then they can hardly ever find time to have us come teach them again. It seems every week we meet with someone new from the university area. This last week we meet with a gal from Iran. And of course I was more than happy to talk to her about Iran and the language of Farsi, because I have had many a investigator from there and they are all wonderful people. We had a great lesson but of course the time factor always plays a role and she said she would call us when she had read a little and had a little bit of time. Which basically means we will call her later. Haha but that reminds of something else. So this week my good friend Amin, who is an investigator all the way back from when I was in Weimar and who is also from Iran, told me that he is coming to Utah to study at either Utah or BYU for his doctorates degree. Haha crazy stuff! He told me that he even mentioned me in his letter to whoever that I was one of the great examples of "Mormon" people and that was one of the reasons he wanted to come study in Utah. So that is exciting to say the least.Anyways to end of this whole paragraph on meeting with people from the university we are meeting with a couple people this evening. Wish us luck!

       Now a couple experiences from off the streets of Cottbus. I will say it again and again. But it truly is a blessing to not just have the knowledge of but also to give testimony of the plan of salvation and that families can be together forever. Every week I have at least one experience with a young family on the street, where I get to give them my testimony of Christ and God's plan. This week it was with a lady and her baby and I believe to be her mother. Usually one of my favorite ways to talk to people on the street is to simply ask them what family means to them. But this time I was told that that is a big topic in their lives right now because the husband had just left the lady and her baby. I was honestly surprised that they were so forthright with that kind of information but in the end it felt good and natural to tell them a little bit of our message. And although we didn't make an appointment out, I could tell that it helped them even if it was just a little bit. Haha the mother or the grandmother even said that we were two nice sympathetic young men. It was a nice sign showing that it brightened their day just a little. Now that experience was a lot better than the experience we had a few days earlier were we talked to a middle aged lady, who also for some reason, was very open about talking about all or her problems in her life right now and that without this workout program that she is doing she wouldn't know where she would be right now. But at the same time would not allow us to even share a little bit of our message and how it could help her and then going on to deny any existence of a God, even though she has never tried to find out if he is there and is also not willing to even do the smallest thing to even try and find out for herself. Sometimes it is hard trying to share something so personal and meaningful with people who are so insincere and who cannot see their own hypocrisy in what they say and do sometimes. However it is great nonetheless and I will surely miss being able to preach the gospel in such a way. I guess I never would've thought that I would find so much joy in simple teaching others about the gospel.

 

      Okay I have to hurry up so I will finish with the best news of all: So just yesterday we met with one of our good friends. Whose name is Martin and I am pretty sure I had to be the missionary he met in his life because my crazy personality is perfect for his crazy personality. Haha but we have met with him for the past four to five weeks now. And he is just great. I honestly can't say I have heard many people pray as sincerely as he does. Last night as we were meeting with him, we were discussing baptism. And we were able to put him on a baptismal date coming up in the next four weeks or so. He has finally agreed to quite smoking and already quite drinking weeks ago when we told him to and then we gave him a blessing to help him to quit smoking. It was truly a precious spiritual experience, everyone of us could feel the spirit. And I can't wait to see how the gospel will completely change his life.

      Those are a few thoughts and experiences from the week. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you and miss you!

Tschüss,

Elder Foster