PICTURES ARE ALWAYS FUN

  In front of the Freiberg Temple                 Elder Puriri and Elder Lersch

                                                                 (companion #2)

LETTER #20 - SCHWARZENBERG

Hi!

Things here are pretty good. Yes things here are warming up. Twice this week I didn't even wear a coat and on Thursday I wore a short sleeve shirt! You have to take advantage of the warm sunny days ha. It was around 23°C or so it was so nice. I could like feel my skin absorbing the sun taking as much in as possible it felt way good. Plus then the people on the street are happier and there are more people out! It's pretty weird though Schwarzenberg without snow looks totally different. It doesn't feel like the same place anymore its weird.

Well last letter I talked about how President was asking if Elder Lersch new his way around yet and all and how I figured I'd be getting transferred this upcoming transfer. That kind of happened Saturday night ha. Elder Lersch and I were doing doors in a part of Schwarzenberg and our phone rang and it was the Assistants. I talked to them and they said there had been some 'Blitz Transfers' and that I was affected. In our mission a Blitz is just when there is a random transfer of a few missionaries in the middle of the regular transfer. So yea, I'm am getting Blitzed to a city called Nordhausen in the Erfurt Zone...which also surprised me. So Elder Lersch has been my companion for 3 weeks, now I'm leaving to Nordhausen to work with Elder Mason from New Mexico. We were pretty surprised about the Blitz because there ísn't any like apparent reason for it. Elder Vandenberg from Nordhausen is coming here and I'm going there. Not sure why, but God has his reasons for things. Nordhausen is in the Erfurt Zone though, so if I stay there longer then one transfer I will be headed to the Frankfurt, Germany mission. Which is also a crazy thought. I would like to stay in the Berlin mission but, what I would like doesn't matter. I will finish the last 3 weeks of this transfer there then most likely stay the next transfer there. If I stay any longer then that though, I'm probably gone ha. So my Pday today will be packing day. Then tomorrow catch a train and head up and over to Nordhausen. Oh and about sending the stuff to office instead of me, you don't have to do that anymore. You can just send it to the Nordhausen address.

Yesterday after church and everything we went to Olaf Ebisch's and had lunch there. Elder Lersch, Elder Killpack, Elder Ulrich and me. Sister Ebisch took a lot of pictures and she said she was going to try to send you some, maybe she already did I don't know. Then they called Cedric in St. George and talked to him for a little and let me talk to him since I wont be here anymore when he gets back. He said he was going to try and visit you guys and from the pictures you sent it looks like he did. Its so crazy seeing him in the house ha. He asked if he should tell you guys I'm getting blitzed and I told him he could so maybe you guys already knew about it but yea. Also Adrian was on the computer and I told him you are doing a blog for me so he looked it up. He saw the picture with him on there we noticed you put Members in Annaberg above the picture. He says I need to tell you to switch it to say Schwarzenberg ha. The blog is pretty sweet though! With the Ebisch's daughter living in St. George, hopefully we can keep in contact with them throughout and after my mission!

Anyway! Yesterday in church was awesome. We had way more investigators show up then planned which is always cool. Elder Lersch had a talk, and since I'm getting blitzed I said my goodbyes to the ward and shared my testimony. Before sacrament meeting started though everyone was seated and way quiet. Prelude music was playing and everyone was just sitting there listening. I was thinking about my time here in Schwarzenberg, I looked around and saw all the visitors we had a church, then right in front of me was a family. I watched the kids sitting quietly talking to their parents, the big brother picked up the little brother and held him. The mom and dad were talking to the daughter, everyone was smiling and it still seemed like it was completely silent in the room to me. You could see the love and light radiating from everyone. I was completely filled with this warmth/light, its hard to describe. Just sitting there though and seeing everyone. I realized once again how amazing the gospel of Jesus Christ is and what a blessing the church is in our lives. I thought of the scripture Mosiah 2:41 'And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual, and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true, for the Lord God hath spoken it.' Sitting there yesterday I could see the 'blessed and happy state', I will never forget that.

To top that all off, yesterday after church we had Frau Richter's baptism. She wanted Elder Killpack to baptize her so Elder Killpack and Edler Ulrich, his companion, where there as well. It was a small baptismal service she didn't want to make it a huge thing. I was able to be a witness and to stand in the circle as Brother Ebisch confirmed her. Yesterday was kind of spiritually overwhelming. So many amazing things happened. It was a good way to end my time here in Schwarzenberg. 

So tomorrow I'm headed to Nordhausen. I'll put the address at the end of this email. One of the pictures is in front the of Freiberg Temple last week and the other at the Ebisch's house yesterday with Elder Lersch. I don't know if the picture in front of the temple will work for that thing mom. Suns kind of in my eyes but whatever, let me know if you need a different one.  

I'm grateful I was able to be here long enough to see someone I've been teaching be baptized. I know that that is a huge blessing. I loved serving in Schwarzenberg. Tomorrow its off to Nordhausen, I'll call you and let you know I got there safely. ha just kidding! I'll write again next week though no worries. I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! have a wonderful week!

Elder Puriri

 

 

Nordhausen address:

Kirche Jesu Christi

Elder Puriri

Stuhlberger Str. 78

99734 Nordhausen

Germany

LETTER #19 - SCHWARZENBERG

Hi Family!

Things here are good! This week it started to warm up! The snow is almost all gone its beautiful. The sun has been out and it feels so good. But since its warming up that mean lots of rain, which we are also getting. When the sun shines though its so nice. Rain isn't too bad, except then people don't really want to stop and talk on the street. We just get lots of confused/crazy looks because we are walking around in the rain trying to get people to stop and talk to us for a little. Its pretty funny!

That picture of Ammon walking off the field though is pretty sweet. I can't believe that is winter in St. George. Winter doesn't even exist there.

The best part about the weather warming up is that I don't have to wear so many layers of clothes anymore. No more thermals and I only need one coat, I feel so free ha. Oh another sweet thing is the days last longer. So now I have like extra hours of energy and don't feel like I'm getting tired so early. Working all day long now isn't so tiring and now its more fun because your not so miserable trying to get out of the cold. Working in the cold is pretty funny too though. Its like -20°C and your trying to talk to people about the Gospel. So you go up and try to look so positive and happy so they can see your really behind what your saying. You try not to show that your freezing cold and that you don't really want to be out there. Then as soon as you try to speak your jaw is frozen and so are your lips, plus your not a native German so its already hard enough for them to understand you. So pretty much there's no chance they are going to understand the mess that is coming out of your mouth ha. After some people would walk away I'd just start laughing, I could picture how we looked to them and even I didn't understand what I just tried to say ha. Man so many funny things happen all the time I love it. Its warmer now though so the frozen jaw problem is gone, along with the thermals, scarf, gloves, big coat. Its so nice! Makes you feel like you can work even longer its awesome.

Yea this week was good though. We did a split with the Annaberg Elders, so I worked here in Schwarzenberg with Elder Cameron(Australia), and Elder Lersch went to Annaberg with Elder Breuer(both Germans). Then the next day we drove to Dresden for a Zone meeting and interviews with President Pimentel. The sun was shining there as well it was beautiful, I love Dresden. When Dad was in Germany we went there too. Maybe he still remembers it, such an amazing city. President asked me though if Elder Lersch knows his way around Schwarzenberg yet and some other stuff. So I'm kinda thinking next transfer I'll be gone from here. We'll see though.

While Elder Killpack and I were together we started teaching this couple where the Husband is a member but the Wife is not. At first she didn't want to talk about the gospel when we were over there at all. We found out she used to be a member but left the church like 15 years ago. We kept going back and trying to leave a small spiritual thought each time. Then one time all the sudden she tells us she wants us to teach the Mission Lessons and that she wants to be baptized. We were both pretty surprised it was such a drastic change in her. She said we made her think about her past decision all the time and that we helped her come to her decision to be baptized again. It was weird though because we really didn't do anything. We went by a few times but never really did anything. We explained we didn't do anything and that it was God who was preparing here and her own efforts that helped her come to her decision. We started teaching the lessons though and Elder Lersch and I have been continuing. Its been a really cool experience and she is getting baptized this coming sunday. She wants Elder Killpack to baptize her so he is coming from Werdau(only an hour away) on sunday and we'll have the baptismal service then. So that will be cool, I will be able to see Elder Killpack again and she will be getting baptized. Its so cool how the Lord prepares people.

Its really is amazing how the Lord prepares people to accept the Gospel. He wants everyone to come unto him and doesn't turn anybody away 2 nephi 26:24-28. His Atonement was for everyone, and everyone has the chance to use it. President talked about the Atonement in Dresden with us all too. Through the atonement we can be freed from our own sins, the pains and griefs not caused by anyone, and the pains in our lives that are caused by other people.  Its a gift we can use to be freed from everything and to be comforted. And its a gift that will always be there, and that can be used over and over again. As often as we need it.

In the 2 Nephi Isaiah chapters you read over and over again at the end of lots of verses it says '...his hand is still stretched out'. It repeats it over and over. When things are repeated, they are usually pretty important. I think its definitely important to know his hand is still stretched out. We have to do our part and take his hand. I like how it says 'stretched' too. His hand isn't just there, its stretched out. When we stretch we are usually giving effort, trying to reach something. His hand is stretched out for us. He does all he can to help us and to reach for us. We just have to recognize it and take his hand.

I am so grateful for the Atonement and for Christ. This gift that he has given us is so important. That's another reason I'm here is to help others see that gift. To see his hand and to take it. We too have to stretch a little but we can reach it. Through him, through the atonement, through the Gospel we can have real happiness and find peace.

I hope everybody is doing good. Thanks for the letters and love. Be happy and have a good week!

Elder Puriri

MEMBERS IN SCHWARZENBERG

Elder Killpack, Isaac, Adrian and Cedric.

This picture was taken March 8.  Cedric just returned from a mission and is now in St. George.  Isaac says he wants to visit us.  We're waiting for him to call.

LETTER #18 - SCHWARZENBERG

Fam.ily!

Things here in Schwarzenberg are going good! Its still super cold, snow storms in March aren't exactly something I'm used to, but things are still good.

This last week was pretty weird. Monday was regular pday, Tuesday Elder Killpack and I drove to Werdau. He was transferred there and Elder Lersch, who was serving there, was transferred to Schwarzenberg with me. So we drove to Werdau and switched companions. It was weird leaving Elder Killpack there. I was with him form December 15 until this last Tuesday then all the sudden we're not together anymore. Pretty weird feeling. Now I'm with Elder Lersch though and things are going good. Annaberg got its own missionaries so now I'm just working in the Schwarzenberg area. Annabergs Elders are Elder Cameron from Australia, and he has a Golden, Elder Breuer. Elder Breuer is from Stuttgart, Germany so he has the benefit of already knowing the language as a Golden ha. Which I guess I did too but not as big as a benefit as he has. In Frieberg the Elders are gone and now they have Sisters there. Elder Meixner finished his mission and went home, and Elder Taylor was transferred to Eberswalde. So my whole district changed and I'm the only one still left here! Lots of changes with people but I'm still in the same area. The first week of the transfer is already over, only 5 more! It doesn't ever seem like enough time.

Fridays in Schwarzenberg is an English class in the ward building and we usually go help out if we don't have other appointments. This time was a big thing because a Member was doing a presentation on the Church sites throughout Utah because he just got back last week. They asked me to say the opening prayer in English to start the meeting. It was pretty sad ha, I can't really pray in English anymore. I think it was the first time I've prayed in English since I've been in Germany. My sentence structure was weird and I used weird words and I threw in a few German words because I couldn't figure it out in English. When I got done everyone thought it was pretty funny. I was supposed to be an example and kind of show them how to pray in English and I can't even do it right anymore ha. Elder Killpack and I spoke English a lot but never prayed in English. Now Elder Lersch and I only speak German which is sweet. Brings back feelings from my exchange when I would only speak English if I was calling home. I kind of like forgetting English words or not remembering exactly how to say something in English, I think its funny. Forgetting English makes me feel like I'm making progress in German I guess. Anyway yea, Friday in the English Class was pretty funny.

Annaberg Elders didn't get to Annaberg until late Thursday night because Elder Cameron was in Berlin picking up Elder Breuer. So Elder Lersch and I were still working in Annaberg until then because we had scheduled appointments there for last week. On Thursday Elder Lersch and I taught a man that Elder Killpack and I had found and been teaching for the last few weeks. He came to church last Sunday and loved it and then Elder Lersch and I taught him on Thursday. The appointment was so cool. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and he asked if Baptism was important in our Religion. We read in 3 Nephi 11 when Jesus gives Nephi the authority to baptize and the way in which it should be performed. After we talked about it a little we asked him if he would be Baptized on April 4th and he said 'April 4th...thats Easter...we can do that. No not ''can'', I mean we WILL do that.' It was so cool. The spirit was so strong. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling. We talked more about the Holy Ghost and made out another appointment. Now the Annaberg Elders will continue teaching him and helping him to get ready for his Baptism in a few weeks. We are instruments in God's hands and the Spirit teaches through us. When things like that happen I can really feel it. The spirit takes it away and you say things and do things that that person needs right then. There’s no way I would just have said the things I had said or even thought to have said them on my own. It's such a cool feeling. I'm learning so much and my testimony of the gospel is strengthened every day. Every day miracles happen and every day my love for the Gospel grows.

I'm doing good. I still have tons to learn and I see my weaknesses all the time. Lots to work on still. Looking back to the beginning of my mission though, I've grown a lot. And that in only like 4 months almost. I read Elder Holland’s talk in the January Ensign this week called The Best Is Yet to Be. I love the way Elder Holland talks. It was really interesting to read, my favorite section was Faith Points to the Future. It was exactly what I needed to read this week. The whole talk is good, that section stood out to me a lot though. 

I hope everyone’s doing good. Hope Rakai and Asa had good birthdays. Rakai is 26 now that’s kinda weird, and Asa is a Teacher. That’s pretty cool. I was in Germany when he became a Deacon, I was in Germany when he became a Teacher. Missed them both! It’s OK there’s still more to come. Well I hope you all have a good week. Be Happy!

Elder Puriri

LETTER #17 - SCHWARZENBERG/ANNABERG-BUCHHOLZ

Hi Everyone!
To answer your questions mom; I'm good, Germanys good, health is good, toes are good, stayin warm in the snow. That could almost just be my lettter home. Summarizes everything up pretty well I think. I'll write a little more though ha. 

Soccer sounds like it’s awesome. I'm pretty jealous of Ammon, that’s sick he scored! I wish I could have seen it. Reading about that doesn't make me homesick; actually I don't really get homesick anymore. Yea I miss you all, but I got over the homesickness thing at the beginning of my exchange. I love it here and I'm going to enjoy my time here while it lasts, without letting homesickness or whatever else bothers me. Its cool hearing Ammon and the boys are doing good though, soccer updates are awesome. Transfer 2 is already over! Time is going by way quick. This week was a lot of fun. We had a lot to do in Annaberg and we were also able to go to the Freiberg Temple again this week. We’re allowed to go once a transfer so we went this last Wednesday with the Freiberg Elders. Temple is always a big highlight, I'm grateful I'm serving in the Dresden Zone so I can have that opportunity.
 

It was getting warmer last week but all the sudden the snow is back and its back to negatives (Celsius). I want to be able to see this area when the snow is gone too so hopefully its gone in the next little while. Last night we were at a member’s house, the Ebisch Family. They are a big family in the ward in Schwarzenberg. I was talking to Cedric, one of their kids, and he's going to St. George on the 12th. His older sister lives in St. George with her Husband who is from St. George. He's going there to work for somebody they know and to visit for a month or so. I gave him our address and our home phone number and he said he will visit you guys. I know nobody likes to answer the home phone, but just do it; it might be Cedric wanting to come visit ha. Cedric just got back from his mission 5 or 6 months ago, his family was actually in St. George when I first got to the area. I told them I was from St. George and they didn't believe me at first. Pretty crazy! Just letting you know though, he may come visit in the next little while!
 

On Saturday was transfer calls. Elder Killpack is getting transferred to a city called Werdau, and my new companion will be Elder Lersch. He's been out a little bit longer then Elder Killpack and he's from Frankfurt. It will be pretty cool working with a German I think. Definitely be speaking only German which is cool, I'm excited for that. Transfers happen Tuesdays so tomorrow Elder Killpack will go and Elder Lersch will come here. These 2 transfers with Elder Killpack were a lot of fun, I learned a lot and we were able to get a lot done. Working with Elder Lersch will be pretty cool too. I'll send a picture next week or something. We also found out the Annaberg will be getting its own missionaries, so my area will be only Schwarzenberg from now on. I'm pretty sad about that I loved working in Annaberg. It’s alright though, now we can focus fully on Schwarzenberg.
 

Lately we've been working mostly in Annaberg so it will be a lot of work getting Schwarzenberg going but that will be fun. The new Annaberg Elders won't be there until Thursday or so. Which means Elder Lersch and I will work half the week in Annaberg and then pass it on to them. We've been teaching some really cool people in Annaberg so those Elders will have a good program going. We taught a guy on Saturday and then invited him to church and he came yesterday. It was awesome, all the members were cool to him and he said he loved it. As we were leaving he was saying bye to all the members and he just kept saying to everyone 'see you next week' it was sweet. He's is a really cool guy. We walked into his apartment on Saturday and the first thing he said was 'I believe' then he explained what he had read in the Book of Mormon and his experiences with prayer. It was such a cool appointment. We found him a few weeks ago walking around Annaberg and he invited us over right away. He was pretty sad when we told him we wouldn't be able to come back, but he was still ok with the new Elders coming by to visit him so that’s good. It doesn't matter what Elders are there, the same Spirit teaches through us all. I'm really excited for this next transfer and to work with Elder Lersch. I'm guessing this will be my last one in Schwarzenberg but we'll see. Definitely going to make the best of it.
 

Thanks for your letters everyone! Sorry if it takes me a little to write back, I'll always write back as soon as I can. Letters always make the day good, no matter how it’s going. Thanks for your love and prayers everyone. Prayers always help the missionaries. I'm not just saying that either, miracles happen all the time. We run into people that want to learn more, they come up and talk to us out of no where, random scriptures or thoughts will come to us that we can use to help people understand and love the gospel more. Prayers do help, and you are always in ours. I hope everyone’s doing good. Be happy and look for the good! Look for ways to show your love! In a talk from Pres. Ucthdor from last conference he says 'Love should be our walk and our
talk. Pretty simple! I love you all, have a good week.
Elder Puriri

SISTER PIMENTEL POSTS ON HER FACEBOOK

President Uchtdorf's visit to Berlin was wonderful. Jay and I want to share some of the highlights with you.

February 19, Friday morning, Jay and I picked up Sister Barbara Thompson, 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society (General Board) at the airport. She came for the Europe Area Conference. Elder and Sister Schültze, (Q. of 70), Sister Thompson and I (Colleen) spent the day with various activities and meetings with the Relief Society sisters of the Berlin Stake.

February 20, Saturday Meeting with President Uchtdorf, Europe Area Presidency and the Berlin Germany Missionaries. What a choice, sweet experience. We gathered in the chapel and took a photo of the whole mission. When President Uchtdorf, Elder and Sister Kopischke and Elder and Sister Teixeira arrived in the foyer, Jay went to greet them and all of the missionaries rose to their feet. Boy did they look good! They had nice haircuts, their hair was smoothed down and they were smiling. After greetings, President Uchtdorf motioned for all of the missionaries to file by him. He looked at each name tag, called each missionary by name and shook each missionary’s hand, as did Elder Kopischke and Elder Teixeira. It was quite a moving and very sweet experience to watch.

February 21, Sunday Jay and I were invited to attend an early morning meeting with President Uchtdorf and about 20 or so other Church leaders. It was for the dedication of the country of Germany to missionary work. The following is a summary that Jay wrote for the missionaries:
We continue to be excited about President Uchtdorf’s dedication of Germany on 21 Feb. 2010. He mentioned the dedicatory prayer later on the same day in his talk during the satellite broadcast. Sister Pimentel and I had the privilege of being present as President Uchtdorf gave the dedicatory prayer. It was in a small meeting at sunrise on the 21st of Feb. 2010. The meeting was held in the Tiergarten building in the meeting room of the Institute Center. In attendance were President Uchtdorf, his wife and two children, Elder Kopischke, his wife, Elder Teixeira, his wife, all Area Seventies in Europe, all mission presidents in Germany, the stake presidency of the Berlin Stake, their wives, and former stake presidents of the Berlin Stake and their wives. President Uchtdorf gave a talk in the meeting and said that the Church History Department had determined that there had been no recorded dedicatory prayer for Germany and President Uchtdorf explained how historic the occasion is and how he had prepared himself. President Uchtdorf said that President Monson had specifically commissioned him to give this dedicatory prayer. After his talk, he pronounced the dedicatory prayer in English. In short, the dedicatory prayer dedicated the entire land of Germany for the preaching of the gospel and for establishing of the Church. The dedicatory prayer was recorded and will be written out and translated into German. We expect to have it available to us when it is completed. I look forward to receiving a copy and I will, of course, share it with you. We look forward to the miracles that will certainly follow. I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I know that the true church is again on the earth and that this true church is led by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson. I also know that President Uchtdorf is an apostle, prophet, seer and revelator and that Germany was dedicated on the 21st of Feb. 2010 by revelation and the power of God. Now we go forth to do that – to preach the gospel in Germany and to establish the Church in Germany. It is our purpose and we now have both an apostolic blessing on us and a dedicatory prayer on Germany. With God, all things are possible. I know it. I so testify, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


The Sunday European Area Conference was held in the Tiergarten chapel in Berlin and broadcast to stake centers throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The general theme was on unity and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It couldn’t have been more perfect. What a truly historic, inspirational, wonderful weekend!

LETTER #16 - SCHWARZENBERG/ANNABERG-BUCHHOLZ

Family!
That’s pretty sweet mom and Ammon went to that concert. Seems like it was pretty cool! Mom that picture/collage thing is sweet, except you have to take the word 'legit' off of it. That word isn't allowed in our family. Ask Ammon he'll explain. Where did they play at though, like at the college or something? Anyway, I bet that was pretty fun. 

Things here in Schwarzenberg/Annaberg-Buchholz are going pretty good! There was sun here a couple times this week, its crazy how fast the snow is melting! I'm getting excited for spring where I don't have to wear my big coat all day every day. Yesterday we went finding in Aue and it was about 50 degrees with sun and it felt so good...kinda sad that 50 degrees is now warm to me. Anyway. slowly warming up. Except the members keep telling us that its supposed to get cold again and its supposed to snow more. Hopefully they're wrong, if not, oh well. The time is flying by. Been gone over 3 months, it’s already March!? And the end of this transfer is this next weekend. So next email I may be getting transferred somewhere else, or Elder Killpack will be going and I'll get a new companion here. I'm thinking I will stay here and Elder Killpack will be going. Last week of the transfer! After this I will no longer be considered a 'golden' or new missionary ha. I guess that’s pretty cool.

This last week was good! ...every week is good. It was fun though. A member in Schwarzenberg, Br. Seidl, takes care of all the cars in the whole mission. His Auto shop is pretty much connected to our Apartment, and he owns the apartment we live in. Whenever there are car troubles in the mission, he takes our car, drives to where the problem car is, leaves them our good one, and brings us the broken one. Pretty awesome huh. It happens like once a week it seems like. Probably not quite that often though. So some days we are left without a car, when he needs it to drive to trade, or when it’s in the shop and he's fixing it. Usually it’s not a problem but randomly sometimes he'll need the car and just come get it from us. Then we have to figure out how to get to all out appointments that day without a car. This happened unexpectedly on Wednesday. All our scheduled appointments that day were in Annaberg and the surrounding small villages around there. Which is about a 30-45 minute drive. We weren't sure how we were going to make all of our appointments, but we knew somehow it would work. We got a bus to Annaberg, got our appointments done there, then another bus to Mildenau(a tiny village outside of Annaberg). Mildenau had pretty much one street that is about 5 kilometers long. We were at one end at the bus stop; our appointment was almost totally at the opposite side. We had about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get there, teach, and get back to make the last bus from Mildenau to Annaberg for the day. Got there with about an hour to spare. Had an awesome lesson with this guy which happened to go a little longer then wanted. We left at about 4:38 and the bus came at 5:02(at the other side of the village. If we miss this bus it’s a long long walk to Annaberg, and we don't make it back to Schwarzenberg for our last appointment for the night). We said bye and started to walk off, as soon as the guy's door closed and we were around the corner we took off running! He didn't totally live at the other side of the village so we had 4 kilometers or so to run.

Picture 2 Elders, both wearing their winter coats, backpacks, big winter shoes, sprinting through a small quiet German village. We got lots of funny looks from people we passed. I couldn't help but just start laughing in the middle of the run picturing what we looked like to people. We ran the whole way! Came around the corner to the bus stop and saw a kid waiting for the bus! We didn't miss it. Right when we got there the bus came around the corner. It was crazy. I haven't ran since I left in November. I didn't think I had a chance when we started. The whole time though it never got harder to run like it normally does. I felt like I just started running the whole time, and like I didn't need to stop. Angels were definitely carrying us. It was a pretty cool experience. We made all of our appointments that day. When we do our best to accomplish what we are supposed to, the Lord will bless us and we'll succeed.

When we woke up the next morning though it was horrible. My legs were all cramped and felt like I tore all my muscles. We were both hobbling around like 2 old men it was pretty funny. Missionary work is fun! Miracles happen all the time its so cool. I'm having tons of fun, learning a lot, and my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel is strengthened every day.

I hope everybody is doing good! Thanks for all of your letters, prayers, love, everything! I grateful for everything you all are doing for me. Have a good week, be positive, be happy.

I love you all!
Elder Puriri

ps. These pictures are from the Weihungs Ort in Dresden. Elder Killpack, me, Elder Meixner, Elder Taylor. Then one with Elder Taylor and me