June 14, 2010

LETTER #30 - NORDHAUSEN

Hiiiiiii,
Things here in Nordhausen are going pretty good! This last week we had interviews with President Pimentel in Erfurt. Technically it would have been the last time we see him since the mission changes on July 1. But President didn't want to say goodbye yet so he's coming back to Erfurt on the 25th and we're going to have kind of a goodbye party thing. As much of a party as missionaries can have ha. Interviews were good, I'm very grateful that I was able to have Pres. Pimentel as my mission president. It will be very sad having to say goodbye. I'm going to have to say goodbye to 3 mission presidents, that doesn't happen very often. The other goodbyes won't come for a long time though so that’s good. The weather this week was warm! Pretty sunny most of the week, it only rained like 2 days this last week.

The World Cup started!!!! It’s pretty bitter/sweet. It’s awesome its happening and all but very annoying that I can't watch any of it or anything. On Friday we were in an appointment and I kept looking at my watch and it was about 4:00pm and all I could think about was that the World Cup was kicking off right then. It was a very hard lesson to focus in ha. England played USA on Saturday. I was antsy the whole night wishing I could have been watching it. Elder Muhlestein texted us when it was over and told us the score of it. Then I was able to go to sleep ha. This next month it's going to be hard to focus completely on missionary work. Germany’s first game was last night. There is a big public viewing screen in the middle of the city and there were tons of people there. We walked by around 8:30pm on our way home which was when the game was starting and the place was packed. We stood outside the 2 fences at least 100 yards from the screen and watched the kick off and then we felt dumb because we were leaning on the fence trying to see from that far away ha and people were walking by looking at us funny. The two missionaries leaning on the fence trying to see a screen that far away ha. Entrance was free and all so I think that’s half the reason people were wondering why we were trying to see from that far away. That’s about all the soccer I've seen in the last 7 months ha. 2 minutes on a screen I could barely see 100 yards away. Then we just headed home. As soon as we got around the corner though the crowd just exploded it was crazy, Germany scored in the 6th minute. And went on to score 3 more. It was pretty ridiculous sitting at home everytime Germany scored horns would blow and you could hear people outside. So we knew by the end it was 4-0. It’s the weirdest feeling not being able to watch any of it; it’s like this inner longing to watch inside of me ha. Somehow I'll have to focus more, it’s just real hard.

Yesterday was cool though. Church was very good. There were two members of the District Presidency there. It was my turn to lead sacrament meeting so I was hoping not to mess up or say anything weird with them there ha. It went really good though and they both gave really good talks. Ahsan also made it to church yesterday. He came late and Elder Loynes had to go outside and find him, he made it though! In Sunday school one of the District Counselors taught the lesson on the importance of Scriptures. It was an awesome lesson but he was speaking fast and I wasn't sure how much Ahsan was getting out of it. As we were leaving the church I was talking with Ahsan and he said 'I need to be reading the Book of Mormon more huh? I also feel really good reading it.' It was so sweet! We talked more with him about the Book of Mormon as we walked with him on his way home. We're going to teach him again on Tuesday, he's such a cool kid. Evelyn is also doing very good, were going to teach her tonight. Things are going good!

When Pres. Uchtdorf was here talking to us he told about an experience he had in church here in Germany. He had taken a non-member to church and then the program didn't go as he expected it and he didn't think the members were as nice as they could have been. As they left he wanted to apologize to his friend but then his friend told him that that was one of the most spiritual experiences they had ever had. Then Pres. Uchtdorf went on to say that he should have trusted the spirit and not been so arrogant. That the spirit is more powerful then we know. That was what I thought of yesterday with Ahsan. I wasn't sure how much he was getting and was kind of worried and thinking I would need to explain it all a little bit differently. But as we left the church Ahsan proved me wrong! He had felt the spirit and understood the importance of scriptures. I'm grateful for all the people I've been able to meet so far on my mission and that I've been able to be a part of teaching them about the Gospel. I feel like I've learned a whole lot more from them in comparison to what I've been able to teach them. Things back home sound like they are going good. I can't believe summer games has already happen. That was the last tournament I played in, the last real game I played in was a year ago!

Time flies way too fast. I bet the boys all did pretty good with their teams. I hope everything else is going good and that everyone’s enjoying the summer feeling. I love you all so much! Thank you for everything. Have a good week and be happy!
Elder Puriri

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