May 31, 2010

LETTER #28 - NORDHAUSEN

HI!
Don't worry mom I don't need $1,327 for a bike haha. (Editors Note: I had a dream that Isaac sent an email and said he needed $1,327 for a bike. The price was shocking in a nightmarish sort of way.) Pretty much all the apartments already have bikes but I've hardly even used a bike so far on my mission. I've either had a car or we use all the public transportation. Anyway! I'm doing good. It’s kind of warming up. The weather kind of tricks you, you never know what it’s gonna be like. So I just put on a short sleeve everyday and put my rain jacket in my bag. We get rained on lots but its still fun!

Last Pday after emails and lunch we went to this UEAFA Futsal court in town and there were a bunch of kids there. We watched for a while then asked if we could play with them. They were kind of hesitant but they said sure. So we hopped on and played for almost 2 hours! It was the first time I've really played in 6 months. It was so much fun, just like playing back home. I was a little rusty at first but it all came back quick it was awesome. The kids were talking to us after and asked if we played on a team somewhere. I explained we were from America and they asked if we were studying in Nordhausen or something. I said 'No were missionaries. Those 2 guys you see walking around town in white shirts and ties, that’s us.' Ha you should have seen the look on their faces. They were so confused and didn't believe us at first. It was pretty funny. Now we aren't just the weird guys who walk around, now were the weird guys that walk around and are surprisingly good at soccer ha.

So we got transfer calls on Saturday night. I am staying in Nordhausen and Elder Loynes is coming to me. He is from Manchester, England and has about 3 more months on his mission. He’s way cool and I'm excited to work with him. He was an Assistant when I first got into the mission so him and his companion were the first Elders I met out here. I remember when I heard he was from England I asked him what who his favorite soccer team was, he just took of his name tag and showed me the back, and there was a picture of Wayne Rooney on it haha. I don’t dislike Manchester United but they aren't my favorite so I just said 'ah man' then he asked who my favorite team was and I said 'Liverpool' and he said 'That's disgusting' ha. It will be fun working with him though I'm excited. If there aren't any blitzes or anything this transfer then come July 1 and I will be serving in the Frankfurt, Germany mission! I'm getting more excited for that but it would also be really cool to stay in the Berlin mission. However the Lord wants it! 

This last week was pretty good though. It is kind of weird working with a missionary who goes home in a week, and now in...2 days ha. Pretty weird but it was good. We did lots of finding and were able to teach as well. On Thursday we went to go by on a lady that lives kind of on the outer part of town. As we were walking out there and getting closer I said a silent prayer that we would be able to meet with her or that we would be able to do whatever it was that we were supposed to be doing out there. (Because it was kind of a weird decision to try to go out on this lady) But at the end of my prayer I got a really good feeling. We continued walking to her house and decided to walk up another road we hadn't taken before. As we came around a corner there was a family in their backyard up ahead that we could see. As we walked by we said Hi and started to talk to them. The Mom came over to the fence and we ended up talking for about 30 minutes or so. It was a way cool discussion. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and how the true church has been restored. She said at the beginning of the conversation that she believes in God and that she believes it is enough to just be a good person and believe. At the end of our conversation she said 'well up until now I believed it was ok just to be a good person and believe in God...’ Her 2 daughters even came and sat on the stairs by the fence and were listening. At the end we gave her our card and told her to pray about what we had talked about and to call us. Then she said the next time we walk that way to come by again. It was a pretty cool experience! The lady we had planned to go see in the first place wasn't home, but God had something else in mind. Even cooler was the next day in town that Lady we had planned to visit saw us and came up and invited us to come by this next week! It’s so cool seeing how the Lord works. His work will roll on and nobody can stop it.

Things have been going pretty good and we are beginning to see the fruits or our labors which is really nice. You work for so long and don't see anything and then all of the sudden things start coming from everywhere. It's all on the Lords timing.

Well I hope everyone back home is doing good! I can't believe it’s already summer and everyone’s out of school there. Stay focused on what’s important and be happy! I love you all!
Elder Puriri

ps - The Muhlsteins took us to dinner just before transfers.  Here's a picture.

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