PICTURES FROM NORDHAUSEN

LETTER #23 - NORDHAUSEN

Hi Family!

Yesterday we were talking to someone on the street and they asked how old we were. When I went to answer I realized I was 20! I can't believe that. I don't really want to be 20 but not really a lot that I can do about it. I didn't forget my birthday, but I guess I just didn't really register that I'm 20 now. It was more just like, wake up, and realize it’s the 23rd and my birthday, then go to work and don't think about it anymore ha. It was a good day though.

This whole week has been pretty good. Elder Kearl got here on Tuesday and we had Elder Chidsey who is currently in Gotha (another city) with us for a couple days too. So we were 3 for Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Elder Chidsey went up to Berlin to pick up his Golden (new missionary). It was kind of funny being in a companionship of 3, you could see all the people on the street were kind of confused. They are used to seeing 2 of us walk around but then there were 3.

Just so you know I can still speak English. I just can't really do Gospel talk in English. I'm sure if I had a German companion for long enough and only spoke German all day everyday I would lose more then just my Gospel English. For the most part though my English is still there ha. I'm not sure if I will be able to skype on mother’s day. I will see this week and let you know next Monday. Oh and its ok you didn't get that package off until Friday. Don't worry about it. I tried to attach some pictures but for some reason this computer won't let me. So I'll figure it out next week and send some. The weather is warmer, the sun was shining most of this week it was nice! I'm already getting tan lines for my watch, collar and sleeves ha but whatever. I like tan lines more then I like winter!

Our appointment with Evelyn last Monday was good. It was Elder Mason's last time so it was also kind of sad. We talked though more about baptism and Evelyn is planning of being baptized towards the end of May! She had a C section a little over a month ago and needs time to heal up. But as soon as she is cleared by her doctor she is planning on getting baptized! I'm pretty excited. Elder Kearl and I went back to Karsten's (that last contact we went by on last week and made out an appointment with). He is a way cool guy. We walked into his house and as I turned into his living room he had like 5 guitars hanging on the wall. I kind of just stood there and stared. He's been playing for 2 years or so and I told him I play a little as well. He offered to let me play but we wanted to teach him first, and then sadly didn't have time at the end. It was funny though at the end of the lesson he told me to take a guitar with me and I can play it at nights when we get back to the apartment. I wish! Hopefully I'll get to play a little when we go back this week, pretty sure I've forgotten everything though. The appointment we had with him was good though. He loves Christ and wants to strengthen his faith. The true Gospel of Christ is exactly what he needs. He was very open, very down to earth, we even got on his computer and watched Elder Holland’s talk from Apr. 2009 'None Were With Him'. It was a very spirit filled appointment. Its amazing all the people you meet out here. So many different stories, so many completely different people, but the Gospel is the one thing that can make everyone happy. The one thing that can bring everyone true peace.

I was able to give a talk yesterday in Sacrament and talked about preparing for the temple and the blessings we get form the temple. So I read a whole bunch about the Temple while preparing for the talk and now my view of the temple has changed quite a bit. I learned so much and am so thankful that we have temples. Especially for the fact that our family can be together forever, when we honor the covenants we have made with God and when we all do our best to live the Gospel. I can't control what everyone else does, but the things we do determine whether or not we receive those blessings. I know I've said this before but please, everyone do your part so we can all be together. Elder Holland came and spoke to us in the MTC and at the end of his talk he got very emotional and in his Elder Holland way he said 'I am not devoting my life to a fairy tale!'. The Gospel is not a fairy tale. Its not just something nice we like to have. It is a real thing. I don't know how I can better explain it right now, but the Gospel is real. I am trying to help people here realize that, and I hope you all know that. If you doubt, or aren't sure, or even if you are sure. Pray, and ask God to help you know. Pray with all your heart, because that's how important it is. He will confirm your faith and belief that is already there, and he'll let you know that the gospel is true. I pray every day for another confirmation, every time I receive one. I love you all so much. Thanks for your prayers, love, and letters. Look for the good in everything and have a good week!

Elder Puriri

TURNING TWENTY WITHOUT US

Isaac is officially twenty years old today.  We celebrated all day without him.  And DIXIE WON the soccer game!  Happy Birthday Elder Isaac.  We love you so much!  And good job Ammon.  You played a great game!

LETTER #22 - NORDHAUSEN

Family!

This past week went by fast! I'm already sitting here emailing you again ha. It was a good week though, last week of transfer 3. Pretty crazy. In this transfer I had 2 companions and 2 areas, that’s not really normal. But it was fun! We got transfer calls on Saturday night. Elder Mason is being transfered to Chemnitz and Elder Kearl is coming to Nordhausen to be my new companion. Elder Kearl is from a small town in northern Utah I don't really remember the name. This is his last transfer of his mission though. Six more weeks and he's gone! Thats pretty weird to me, I'll be his last companion. I'm excited to help make his last transfer his best yet, it will definitely be good. Since he will be finishing this transfer though it looks like I'll stay the next transfer as well. If that happens then I will be going to the Frankfurt mission. Seems very likely now but we'll see. This mission work goes according to God's will and whatever happens is how it’s supposed to go. I'm ok with whatever happens now. It helped when Elder Rasband said that in General Conference; ''I had a further witness that morning that every missionary called in this Church, and assigned or reassigned to a particular mission, is called by revelation from the Lord God Almighty...''. When he specifically said 'reassigned' I was like oh...well alright then. So yea, we'll see what happens!

The past 3 weeks in Nordhausen we have been teaching a family whose Father was recently baptized just before I came here. We have been teaching him and his wife still and his wife is totally ready for baptism! When we taught them this last week the spirit was so strong. We would read a little bit in the Book of Mormon and talk about it then keep reading. They always had to much to say though and I could see and feel how much they love the gospel. It was my first time meeting Evelyn (the wife) because she has been out of town until now, and it was only my second time teaching Daniel (recently baptized father). Everything was so comfortable though and it felt like I have known them for a long time. As we all bore testimony of the Gospel the spirit was so strong it was awesome. We are meeting with them again tonight and are going to talk to Evelyn about baptism. I'm way excited to meet with them again. They came to church yesterday with they're 2 little girls and new born baby boy. When it was over and time to go the 2 girls didn't want to leave the church. They kept asking if they could just stay there, then as they left they weren't too happy and wouldn't talk to anyone ha. It was cool to see even the little girls can feel the spirit there and want to stay there. 

Saturday we spent most of the day just going by on old contacts trying to see if anyone still had interest in the Gospel. After about 4 hours it was getting slightly...I don't want to say boring but yea. Then it was about time to head home and we had one more we wanted to go by on and were thinking maybe just wait and lets just head home. We decided though to just to go across town and go by on this last contact we had picked out before we went home. When we got there the look on his face was like he was expecting us. No surprise that we were there or anything, just like 'oh good your here'. We introduced ourselves and he said 'yea I know how you guys are, I used to meet with missionaries about a year ago but then they just stopped coming'. We talked for a little at his door and he invited us to come back this week! Pretty funny how that works out. All day long no success, decided to do one more, and its the guy who has been waiting for you all day! Miracles happen every single day its amazing. I've been keeping a miracle book since I got into the mission, along with my journal. The miracle book though I just write about something that stood out to me that day, a little miracle or something. It's pretty cool being able to look back and read about all the miracles. It's also helped me to notice God's hand more and more in everyday life.

Things here are all going good! It’s been sunny and warm for the last 3 days! It’s so nice. Hopefully it will just continue to warm up. The beginning of a new transfer is always pretty cool. Six weeks ahead of me to do missionary work!

I hope everyone back home is doing good. Be positive and be happy! Don't take the Gospel or the Book of Mormon for granted! It’s too important and the blessings and too priceless. I love you all so much! Thank you for everything, have a good week!

Elder Puriri

LETTER #21 - NORDHAUSEN

Hello hello,
This last week was pretty cool! I like being in a new city and seeing new things, not really knowing my way perfectly around the town. It’s pretty crazy to think this transfer ends this week. On Saturday we get transfer calls and its very likely that Elder Mason will be leaving the area so I may be getting a new companion. In one transfer I had 2 different companions ha and maybe both only 3 weeks. We'll see what happens on Saturday though.

This week was full of lots of finding and doing doors throughout the city. Its fun talking to people and seeing all the different reactions you get, and of course its always the best when they want to find out more! Which happened a few times this week and we were able to make out some appointments. I was on a tausch (split or something, I don’t know what to call it in English) in Weimar with Elder Webb who is in his first transfer. It was pretty fun. We met a lot of cool people on the street. We talked to this guy from Ireland for a while who knew a ton about the church it was cool. He was only here visiting his girlfriend but it was cool to talk to him, plus his accent was sweet. Then we were on our way home and had to walk across town to get home. It was about 8:00 or so then we ran into these 2 guys from Holland. We ended up talking to them for about 45 minutes. We were speaking German for a while then they
asked where we came from then they were like 'Why aren't you speaking English then! That’s so much easier for us!' So the rest of our conversation was in English. It was weird I can't do Gospel talk in English anymore I don't know how to form all the sentences correctly but it was still good. We talked for so long and covered so many gospel points. It was a way interesting conversation then they asked if there were people like us in Holland and we told them how
they can get a hold of them. So hopefully something will come of it!

General Conference was amazing! I learned so much, I wish we had that all the time. I can't really tell you what my favorite talk was right now because I loved them all and will have to study my notes and read them more when we get the Liahona.
 
I know I say time is flying by a lot, and for me it is. And for me that’s not good...but yea when I think about it I can see how it can seem like longer for you guys. But it’s ok! Remember President Uchtdorfs talk all about patience. It was so good. Patience is a virtue of the Gods. Pretty cool! I bore my testimony yesterday in church and talked a lot about missionary work trying to get the members excited to help us and realized I don't really want this to be over for a long time ha. I said I know I still have a long time left but even that seems short, then I said I didn't feel like going home. Then I heard one of the members say 'What would his mom say if she heard that' then I got this email from you this morning ha. Don't worry though, I'll come home when the two years are over.
 
Well I'm being rushed by to finish this so we can catch a train to Jena so, I love you all! Sorry this is kind of short. Be happy and have a good week!!
Elder Puriri

ps. here are pictures of my desk!

LETTER #20 - NORDHAUSEN

Surprise!
Hello Family!
So we are doing emails on Saturday this week because of Easter! Easter is a very big holiday in Europe. Yesterday everything was closed, Sunday everything will be closed, and Monday everything will be closed. So we have to do emails today.
 

I'm in Nordhausen now! The city is a little bigger then my last area, still a pretty small city but I love it. There are straßenbahns I can't remember the English word. Tram...I think but straßenbahn is cooler anyway. I like not having a car anymore. We walk everywhere and ride the bahns. I didn't like sitting in a car driving everywhere. The branch here in this area is pretty small. It’s got about 17 members or so. They don't have enough priesthood holders to have a branch presidency. So, not only am I a missionary here but I am second councilor in the branch presidency. I was pretty surprised to find that out. There is a missionary couple in Nordhausen, the Muhlesteins. Elder Muhlestein
is the branch president, Elder Mason in the first counselor and I'm the second. So this will be a new experience as well. 

 

On Monday we have a few lessons and visited the members and said bye to everyone. It was pretty hard. I love Schwarzenberg and everyone there but the Lord has a plan for me in Nordhausen. Tuesday morning caught a train and headed out up to Nordhausen. It was about 5 hours by train. I had to umsteig...switch trains (do we have one word that describes that?) in Zwikau and Erfurt. That was slightly difficult having 2 big suitcases trying to hurry through a train station, it was fun though. Riding trains and straßenbahns reminds me of my time in Hannover its weird. This area is actually pretty close to where I was before, but it’s in another mission so I can't exactly go and visit people there ha.
 

I got to Nordhausen late Tuesday afternoon. We went to the apartment which is also pretty cool, then grocery shopping. Then we went to work! As we left the apartment and were walking down the street this guy on a bullet bike pulled over on the other side of the street and waved for us to come over to him. We went over to him and he explained his dad is American and was a Vietnam veteran and is m.i.a. He had actually never met his dad and has been trying to find out if he is still alive or where he is and all that. We talked for a while and he explained he had done a lot of research trying to find him and then one of his friends suggested he talk to 'those two guys that walk around in white shirts and talk to people' because their church does stuff like that. He said he had been looking out for us the last few days and today was totally 'random' because he left work late and took a different way home then usual and saw us and thought 'its now or never' and called us over. We exchanged contact info and organized a time to meet at the church with the Muhlestiens since they do the family search stuff. It was pretty cool! We had been walking from the apartment for no more then 2 minutes. If we had stayed a little longer in the apartment we would have missed him, or even if he would have left work on time or something. When we act on the promptings and feelings we have miracles happen!
 

Yesterday we taught a young guy in his mid 20s or so from Benin, Africa named Ignacio. He is studying in Nordhausen right now but only speaks French and German. So we brought him a French Book of Mormon and taught the lesson in German. It was one of the coolest lessons! We read parts of 3 Nephi 11 and talked about baptism. We tried to set a baptismal date for the 25th of April but he was a little hesitant. He realizes how big of a decision it is and doesn't want to rush. He said 'I will be baptized don't worry, I just need to think about it.' We talked a little more about the 25 and what baptism means and the gift of the Holy Ghost and he seemed to like the idea more. At the end of the lesson we asked him to pray about the Book of Mormon and what we talked about. He said he would do it then he said he was going to pray about April 25 and ask God if that is the right time for him to be baptized. It was so way cool. I still can't believe how God prepares people to receive the Gospel. It’s so amazing.
 

I love Nordhausen already and am excited to be able to serve here. We have to go to Erfurt now to watch conference! The Erfurt church has a satellite connection so most the missionaries in the Zone will be going there to watch it. We will watch the Saturday morning session (Utah time) tonight then we will watch the rest tomorrow, except for the Sunday afternoon session. Which we will watch next Sunday because of the time difference. I'm way excited though for conference. I don't think I've ever really looked forward to conference this much. 2 years ago this day I was watching conference in Hannover with the Missionaries serving there! crazy crazy.

I hope everyone is doing good, I saw Eric got transferred as well! Sounds like he's doing good. Pretty funny we both got transferred at the same time. Well have a good week! I love you all! Enjoy General Conference!!
Elder Puriri
 

 

ps We got the wrong address for the Nordhausen apt. (Mom I still got your letter though, it came fast this week!)

It’s not 'Stuhlberger' its Stollberger Str., other then that, everything is the same! Pictures, Me with the Ebisch Grandparents and their Daughter and her Family in Schwarzenberg. Then Elder Lersch and I in the Car!