Hallo!
Hannover doesn't feel like Germany. Like I haven't even taught a lesson to someone that is German. Everyone that we have talked to and has had interest or that we have taught a lesson to has been from some of the following countries. Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Ghana, Libanon, Vietnam, Hungary, Czech, Russia, Denmark, and all kinds of other countries. Which isn't that bad all the time because sometimes the people speak better english than they do German. But what is kind of frustrating about being in Hannover and it being so multicultural is that everyone has a different German accent. There are people you can completely understand there are people who you can understand about half of what they say and then there are people that you have no idea what they are saying whatsoever. So I imagine myself shaking a magic eight ball every time I approach someone. Will I understand them or will I not? However what surprises me also is the responses that people will give sometimes. So just the other day me and Elder Lyon were contacting in this park. And we saw this lady that look to be in her mid-thirties and talked to her. She was even nice enough to turn her ipad off as she talked with us. So we get to a certain part of the conversation and I ask her if she desired to have eternal life with her family. And she said no. NO! She said she was totally fine with leaving her family when the time came. To me that was a little shocking because I would hate that. There is no way I would want to leave my family forever. So after she said that I didn't even know what to say and just kinda stood there feeling a little sad inside really. It didn't end badly though, we felt the spirit as we talked to her and we know she did too, so it was an odd experience but also a good one not sure how to explain it. Another thing I have experienced while being here is that the Lord truly does put us where we need to be when we are trying our best to follow the spirit and find people. Everytime we travel all the way across town, or an appoinment falls out, or we are completely bombarded with people who have no interest or just straight up walk away from you in the middle of what you are saying and other miscellaneous ways. And we feel like we have wasted our time and should have done something else. We find someone who is interested or set up an appointment right afterwards without fail. Just yesterday we went across town to try to contact someone that we have not been ablto get a hold of. And Hannover is pretty big, more people live in this city than I think live in Utah all together or it is close at least. So it takes some time getting to places and transfering onto a few different bahns in the process. And we get there and of course there is no one home. But there is a man in a wheel-chair sitting right outside of the apartment buidling. We then decide to talk to him. And this guy liked to talk, he just kept going and going, and didn't give us hardly any room to talk. We barely even talked about anything religous. So we ended up talking to the guy for half an hour. And all I am thinking is this is a waste of time but for some reason it felt okay to stay and keep talking to him. And lo and behold the person we wanted to talk to came walking around the corner. So we were invited to come up in ten minutes when we were done talking to the man outside. But then get this as we are finishing up talking to this man. Three other guys come out and start talking to us and they weren't confrontational or anything they were really cool guys and listened to us and discussed with us. And then another guy come out and listened and then another guy came out and listened. There was even a guy leaning out his window smoking a cigarette who started listening. So out of nowhere we ended up having like seven people listening to us. So all because we talked to this man in a wheel-chair out in front of the apartment buidling we were able to share our message about the restoration and the book of mormon with several different people. We even made out an appointment in the process. By the time we were done talking even one of the guys said the spriit was strong. Which is really cool that he recognized it but unfortunately all too often they don't realize that is the spirit confirming the truth that we have taught them. A lot of really cool experiences like that since I have been here. I am very glad to be here that is for sure. Right now I am thinking about one of our investigators his name is Mustafa. And he is from Afghanistan. He has already been converted to christianity but he has been meeting with us. And he doesn't speak the best of German either, and what I mean by that is he doesn't know the meaning of critical words. Like for instance umkehren which means to repent. So you can imagine how interesting these lessons with him can become. But what I wanted to share about him was this. So he was telling us that he has been having a hard time while being here in Hannover and while looking for a new apartment here and his friends that he has known for 2 years while living here and goes to church with at another church naturally. But he was telling us about all his stresses and then he said. That one day when he was feeling really stressed he read from the book of mormon and that all his stress disappeared. Essentially in his limited German he testified to us of the truth of the book of mormon and that he just needs time. I know that he will be baptized in the near future. And I testify of the Book of Mormon too that when you read from it. It truly will give you peace. While I have been here in Hannover I have been reading the Book of Mormon more than I have in my entire life. And oh what a blessing it has been for me, it has given me peace and freedom from all negativity. Just earlier this morning I was reading from 3 Nephi 22. It is a very short chapter only 17 verses. But it talks about the Lord hiding his face from us for a moment in wrath but then turn back in everlasting kindness and mercy. Although mountains and hills may be removed and tempest tossed his peace shall not depart from us, and he will lay the foundation of our paths with sapphires. As a servant of the Lord in whatever capacity, all oppression and fear will gather against us. But he hath created all things and when we accept our heritage as servants of the Lord in righteousness we shall triumph. So I leave that with everyone in saying that even though I have had some troubles here with one thing or another I am ultimately very very happy to be here and serve and that as I continue to trust in the Lord I will triumph. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I hope that everyone has been doing well and has done something fun during the summer. It is weird knowing you are all eight hours behind me.
Hannover doesn't feel like Germany. Like I haven't even taught a lesson to someone that is German. Everyone that we have talked to and has had interest or that we have taught a lesson to has been from some of the following countries. Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria, Ghana, Libanon, Vietnam, Hungary, Czech, Russia, Denmark, and all kinds of other countries. Which isn't that bad all the time because sometimes the people speak better english than they do German. But what is kind of frustrating about being in Hannover and it being so multicultural is that everyone has a different German accent. There are people you can completely understand there are people who you can understand about half of what they say and then there are people that you have no idea what they are saying whatsoever. So I imagine myself shaking a magic eight ball every time I approach someone. Will I understand them or will I not? However what surprises me also is the responses that people will give sometimes. So just the other day me and Elder Lyon were contacting in this park. And we saw this lady that look to be in her mid-thirties and talked to her. She was even nice enough to turn her ipad off as she talked with us. So we get to a certain part of the conversation and I ask her if she desired to have eternal life with her family. And she said no. NO! She said she was totally fine with leaving her family when the time came. To me that was a little shocking because I would hate that. There is no way I would want to leave my family forever. So after she said that I didn't even know what to say and just kinda stood there feeling a little sad inside really. It didn't end badly though, we felt the spirit as we talked to her and we know she did too, so it was an odd experience but also a good one not sure how to explain it. Another thing I have experienced while being here is that the Lord truly does put us where we need to be when we are trying our best to follow the spirit and find people. Everytime we travel all the way across town, or an appoinment falls out, or we are completely bombarded with people who have no interest or just straight up walk away from you in the middle of what you are saying and other miscellaneous ways. And we feel like we have wasted our time and should have done something else. We find someone who is interested or set up an appointment right afterwards without fail. Just yesterday we went across town to try to contact someone that we have not been ablto get a hold of. And Hannover is pretty big, more people live in this city than I think live in Utah all together or it is close at least. So it takes some time getting to places and transfering onto a few different bahns in the process. And we get there and of course there is no one home. But there is a man in a wheel-chair sitting right outside of the apartment buidling. We then decide to talk to him. And this guy liked to talk, he just kept going and going, and didn't give us hardly any room to talk. We barely even talked about anything religous. So we ended up talking to the guy for half an hour. And all I am thinking is this is a waste of time but for some reason it felt okay to stay and keep talking to him. And lo and behold the person we wanted to talk to came walking around the corner. So we were invited to come up in ten minutes when we were done talking to the man outside. But then get this as we are finishing up talking to this man. Three other guys come out and start talking to us and they weren't confrontational or anything they were really cool guys and listened to us and discussed with us. And then another guy come out and listened and then another guy came out and listened. There was even a guy leaning out his window smoking a cigarette who started listening. So out of nowhere we ended up having like seven people listening to us. So all because we talked to this man in a wheel-chair out in front of the apartment buidling we were able to share our message about the restoration and the book of mormon with several different people. We even made out an appointment in the process. By the time we were done talking even one of the guys said the spriit was strong. Which is really cool that he recognized it but unfortunately all too often they don't realize that is the spirit confirming the truth that we have taught them. A lot of really cool experiences like that since I have been here. I am very glad to be here that is for sure. Right now I am thinking about one of our investigators his name is Mustafa. And he is from Afghanistan. He has already been converted to christianity but he has been meeting with us. And he doesn't speak the best of German either, and what I mean by that is he doesn't know the meaning of critical words. Like for instance umkehren which means to repent. So you can imagine how interesting these lessons with him can become. But what I wanted to share about him was this. So he was telling us that he has been having a hard time while being here in Hannover and while looking for a new apartment here and his friends that he has known for 2 years while living here and goes to church with at another church naturally. But he was telling us about all his stresses and then he said. That one day when he was feeling really stressed he read from the book of mormon and that all his stress disappeared. Essentially in his limited German he testified to us of the truth of the book of mormon and that he just needs time. I know that he will be baptized in the near future. And I testify of the Book of Mormon too that when you read from it. It truly will give you peace. While I have been here in Hannover I have been reading the Book of Mormon more than I have in my entire life. And oh what a blessing it has been for me, it has given me peace and freedom from all negativity. Just earlier this morning I was reading from 3 Nephi 22. It is a very short chapter only 17 verses. But it talks about the Lord hiding his face from us for a moment in wrath but then turn back in everlasting kindness and mercy. Although mountains and hills may be removed and tempest tossed his peace shall not depart from us, and he will lay the foundation of our paths with sapphires. As a servant of the Lord in whatever capacity, all oppression and fear will gather against us. But he hath created all things and when we accept our heritage as servants of the Lord in righteousness we shall triumph. So I leave that with everyone in saying that even though I have had some troubles here with one thing or another I am ultimately very very happy to be here and serve and that as I continue to trust in the Lord I will triumph. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I hope that everyone has been doing well and has done something fun during the summer. It is weird knowing you are all eight hours behind me.
Sincerely,
Elder Foster
No comments:
Post a Comment