LETTER #58 - FRANKFURT

Hi! It was way cool being able to see and talk to everyone. You all seem to be doing pretty good. This email will probably short since we just talked! And ok mom, I'll look around at shoes and all, but I think I'll be alright for a little longer. I also realized I messed up reciting that thing to you but oh well! And before I forget, Happy New Year! A good time to think about this last year, what’s been accomplished and what you want to accomplish next year. Set good goals!

The weather here has been light snow for the past little bit. I talked to a guy the other day who has been in Frankfurt for 60 years and he said Frankfurt has never had this much snow before. It's not really even very much, but I guess for a place that normally doesn't get a lot it is. It was supposed to go away and rain throughout Christmas weekend but it stayed and even snowed more. Snowy winter is better than a rainy winter though I think.

We got transfer calls! Once again they came Monday morning. It’s funny to see the missionaries get antsy when transfer calls get postponed a day, and then another day ha. Anyway, Elder Moffat is headed home Thursday. So my new companion is Elder Anderson. I basically know nothing about him, except he is from the Munich mission and has been in that zone since the change happened so I haven't met him yet. I’m sure it’s going to be really good working with him though.

Beginning of a transfer is always pretty exciting. 6 fresh weeks, new goals, more time, lots that can be accomplished. Then it’s cool to look back at the end and see how it all worked out. I've been able to learn a lot about goals and continue to and hopefully always will. You set a lot of goals as a missionary, a lot that you cannot completely control and some that you can. You can learn lots from both. At the end you look back at each and see how you did to reach them or in trying to reach them. See what worked, what didn't, what can be changed, what will work better. Then you can set new goals and have a built-upon plan on how you will work towards those. Each time you look back, revise how you did, and change what you notice can change for the better. This is always a lot.

I've had a goal to have no regrets through my mission. Now when I think back on past times I realize I could have done some things differently, but at the time I was acting according to my best knowledge. So I don't regret what I was doing then, but I now know how I can do certain things better. It will always be like that. We are always improving but only if you have the wish to. Otherwise you don't act and recognize what could be better, and if you do, you don't apply what you learn. And that would be dumb! We need to be willing to change for the better. That’s why we are here! It works best when we humble ourselves and allow God to change us.

Everyone wants to be happy and have peace. Everyone has different theories and ideas and plans on how to do this. Everyone’s trying different things claiming they have the best way to find peace and happiness. We however are blessed to know that we have a Heavenly Father who truly does know the best way. He has the best plan. So the best thing we can do is surrender our ideas and our plan and accept his, and he will get us there a lot faster than we ever would have gotten there alone.

What God has in mind for us is a whole lot better then what we could ever achieve alone. One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 64:8. I like to personalize it. "But now, O Lord, thou art my father; I am the clay, and thou my potter; and I am the work of thy hand." That’s the best thing we can do. Allow God to change us. Trust him and be willing to become what he has planned.

In conference Elder Eyring said "You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you."

We can always learn, but we need to be willing to learn. There is a cool quote I've heard a lot throughout my mission. "We are not here to be, we are here to become." That’s not just mission advice, its advice that applies to our whole lives. God has a lot in store and a lot in mind for us. He is trying to help us prepare for it. If we humble ourselves and use what he has given us, he will shape us to be what we need to be.

I am very grateful for the gospel. I am grateful for my mission and what I've been able to learn. And I'm really grateful for each one of you and the roles you have played, and still are playing in my life, helping me to learn, grow, and become. I love you all very much.
Elder Puriri

LETTER #57 - FRANKFURT

Hello Hello!

Happy birthday Hamilton! That’s pretty awesome you were ordained to be a deacon. And you only had to wait a day after you turned 12. Pretty cool. And that’s really cool you are all going to go to the temple together. Definitely a good Christmas time activity.

 
What’s the weather been like there, any snow?? We got a ton of snow this last weekend. Frankfurt didn't know what to do since they never get this much. It was pretty fun though. We got to church early for our missionary meeting and decided to start shoveling the snow until the other Elders got to the church. Then when they got there they just grabbed a shovel as well so we spent the hour and a half before church shoveling the sidewalks and little parking lot for the church building. It was pretty fun and all the members were way excited to see us doing that which is always good building the relationship with the ward. Lots of snow though. We got over a foot of snow it was cool. We heard it’s supposed to mostly melt this week though and then just start raining which wouldn't be so cool but we take it as it comes!

 
Oh also I got the package! It was really cool, thanks a ton. I already opened all the stuff...hope that was ok. I put the tree up and all ha. That’s about as Christmassy as our apartment gets oh plus the Christmas music we always play. So it’s not too bad! Also more news, we are allowed to skype now. So we can do that since the Ences have a computer they've already offered us. We can do it Saturday at 630pm my time...so 1030am your time I think. Hopefully that works for you! Email me though who I should add on skype from their account so I can call and I will check my email and get it right before. So yea, that will be cool!

 

Anyway this past week was pretty cool!! We had two baptisms in our ward. We were teaching one of the guys and the other Elders were teaching the other guy. They were both so cool and sincere in their desire to follow Christ and be baptized. We were blessed to be able to help them along their way. And on Sunday they were both confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The picture is of Elder Moffat and me with Michael and then all of us together with Michael and Klaus.

 
Last night we got the missionaries in our district minus the Senior couples and a companionship of Elders and went caroling to people who live down the road from the church. A girl from California who is working here came with us as well. It didn't start out as well as we had hoped but we decided to keep trying and then it got way good. Surprisingly lots of people didn't want us to sing for them, it was sad but I also found it kind of funny. That’s how the first 30 minutes went then we went and sang for a guy elder Moffat and I are teaching and did people in his area and it got really good. One old lady tried to offer us 50 Euro after we had finished. We actually got offered money a lot and when we explained we just wanted to wish them a merry Christmas and invite them to a Christmas devotional at the church they were pretty shocked. Just caroling for people isn't very big here so it was new for them.

 
We did this lady then asked if she knew anyone else we could sing for and she pointed us over to the next apartment building. One lady opened her window and looked out at us and said she would love to hear us sing so we started singing out in front and then this family opened their window and looked out at us and we just kept singing. Then when we finished the families little kids all started clapping and they all were yelling merry Christmas to us it was way cool. It felt way good seeing the people’s faces as we sang the Christmas songs from the hymn book. You could see they all felt something and they all really enjoyed it. Hopefully we will see some at the Christmas devotional. During all this it was dumping snow; it was a fun caroling experience. The picture is of us all after we got back to the church.

 
Things are going pretty good. I don't really know what all to say since we'll be talking later this week anyway! Merry Christmas though!! Remember the reason for the season in all you do. Of course we should all of the time but Christmas is a special time and opportunity to remember and serve.

 
Sorry this is short. Hope everyone is doing well!! I love you all and will talk to you on Saturday!
Elder Puriri

LETTER #56 - FRANKFURT

Family!

 
I am doing good mom! And yes standing out in the cold teaching isn’t ideal but I couldn't see anywhere nearby where we could walk to and go inside so it had to be! Sometimes it just happens! I haven't seen the weinachtsmarkt yet, maybe today. If not today then for sure next Monday. Today p-day will be weird because president is doing our interviews today and since its Elder Moffat's last one his will be long. So I will sit in the church and read or something. Maybe the Ences (senior couple in charge of the outreach here) will be here then I could play ping-pong with them. They're super good though and I'm not. It’s nice having a couple in your area, sister Ence cut my hair the other week too! Free haircuts are very good. Oh and with the phone call thing! We are not allowed to skype. You could use skype still to call me and I think that would be pretty cheap. I just have to give you the number of the phone I will be using and you can just call it. That’s the best idea I have. Saves me from buying a calling card and having to figure that out. So let’s do it that way unless you have a better idea. I can give you the exact when and number and all next Monday. I will write it in my planner so I don't forget; you should also remind me in your email ha.

 
This week was pretty cool though! We had a real interesting eating appointment last night. That’s what these pictures are of. It was all really good though. There is a Chinese family in our ward and we are teaching 2 of their friends and they had us all over for dinner after church. As you know I'm not the biggest sea food fan so when I saw the table I was a little nervous. But I decided it was a stupid mental thing and that I would eat it all and it would be good. And it was! These pictures don't even show all the food we had! She would grab a bowl or plate of something else from the kitchen and put it on the table every like 10 minutes. So much stuff. And there was this thing of boiling water in the middle and you would just pick something, drop it in the water, wait a bit and get it out and eat it! They were all super good with chop sticks and elder Moffat and I were not. We struggled a little. Chinese was being spoken the whole time so we were just smiling and eating acting like we kind of knew what we were doing. It made me think about what it would be like to serve in China. It would be way crazy!! Crazy food, crazy language, lots and lots of people that have no idea about God. It would be awesome! I would tell you some of the stuff we ate but I don't even know the names. I decided just to eat and not ask what it was that I was eating ha. I also told them I am Chinese and they were all super excited. Then they had lots of questions and I didn't have lots of answers sadly. I know the story of how our family line goes back to china but as far as I know it stops there. So if anyone knows more about that I would really like to hear it!! Also if we know who the first ones were to join the church on both sides of the family that would be really cool. Like when they joined and what the story is and all. I would really like to know that.

 
This week was cool though! On Friday we had a tausch with the elders serving in Wetzlar. I worked here in Frankfurt with Elder Scheiber, who has been out 4 weeks now! It was tons of fun. The night before though when we were planning we had a big gap of finding time. Since I don't know the city very well I told Elder Moffat I wanted to find a German Family and asked where we should go. He looked at the map and said Bad Vilbel. I felt way good about it when he said that and so that’s what the plan was. So when it got to that point in our day Elder Schneiber and I headed out there. Our 3 hour gap of finding time turned into only 30 minutes because we got lost on our way out there ha. So on the bus we were on there were 4 stops in this stadtteil...part of the town? We didn't know which one to get out at. So I picked a stop in my head then asked Elder Schneiber what he though and he said he felt like we should get out at Kasseler Str. and that’s the one I felt good about too. So we got out there and had 30 minutes until we had to catch the bus back. So we picked a street right by the bus stop and just started doing doors! We did one side without any luck then talked to a couple people walking the road, then went to the other side of the street. We knocked one door and waited and nobody came, then as we turned around there were two girls at the bottom of the stairs and one said 'are you coming to visit us??' I said do you live here? And she said yes. Then I said then yep we wanted to share a Christmas message with you and your family. Then we walked down the stairs to talk to them and the girl leaned in and read our badges then said 'I know your church' so we asked her how she knew our church then she said she did a foreign exchange in Colorado for 10 months and lived with a Mormon family! So we talked to her about that and what she thought about the church and all then asked if we could come back next week to share our Christmas message with her and her parents and she said yes and we made out an appointment! Then we had to run and catch our bus. It was so cool though! The night before we planned to find a German family, then everything worked out for us to be able to do that! I was kind of nervous since we had 3 hours then that dropped down to 30 minutes. But it worked out. It was a huge blessing.

 
Then when we got back to Frankfurt and were going to our appointment we were kind of blocking the side walk walking side by side and this guy said 'excuse me' and walked by us and I registered it was English and said hey wait! Then he stopped and I said do you know us? He got confused and said no. So we explained who we were and he said he was born again Christian and big bible believer. Then he kind of went into why we were crazy for 'believing mormon' and all that. So we asked if we could meet again and talk about it and he said 'well if it’s God's will we will pass each other again and then we can make out an appointment'' and he started to walk away then all the sudden I started speaking and I said 'that’s just an excuse. This is God's will right now that we met and are talking, this is the chance he's given you, and if you don't take it now he won't trust you with another one later' then I thought wo that was weird. But as I said that the spirit was way strong and the guy closed his eyes and was silent for a bit then he said 'what you said is true.' Then he kept thinking and said 'can we meet tomorrow?' so we made out an appointment and he said he'd call us and let us know for sure. He felt it though and knew it was right. The appointment sadly didn't work out. Yea it’s sad but that was his free agency and he decided against what he felt sadly. It was really cool though how it happened. It’s weird how things like that happen though, how people feel so strongly then decide against it anyway. When we are hard at work so is Satan. We must be persistent and never let down. I've had a ton of experiences like this and I guess those people just needed that first brush with the church. Hopefully something will happen later and move them to want to find out more.

 
It was interesting reading Eric's letter today then thinking about his experiences and mine. Our work and purpose is the same but our experiences are so different. God uses us in different ways to help and touch different people. I am very grateful for my experiences though and from what I have been able to learn here so far. God’s love for me and that he knows me becomes more and more real each day. He knows us and gives us chances to learn and grow to move closer to that which He has prepared for us. We need to be ready to act and to do. I can relate a little to how Jacob felt when he wrote Jacob 1:19. Even if the people don't make the progress or correct choices, you still must do all you can. We can never slow down, let down, or give up. For our own sakes and for the people's sake who we are serving. It’s like that quote you sent me at the very beginning of my mission mom from Elder Holland. We aren't only here to serve and help build others, but we are building ourselves. We build ourselves and learn the most when we are in the service of others. I love my mission and I love life ha. There’s a lot about life that you realize on your mission. Lots that you first relate to your mission and all but then you realize how it applies to your whole life and not only your mission. How it’s not only for full time missionaries but for everyone else as well. This last week was cool though, I learned lots. This is getting long and I notice sometimes I just start to type and I don't know how much sense it makes to you all. So I will end.

 
But first here is an awesome quote I got this week!! Think about it:

 
''No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is the only man who knows to the full what temptations means--the only complete realist. (C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity")

I love you all!! Be happy and have a good week!
Elder Puriri

LETTER #55 - FRANKFURT

Hello my family! 

We had a pretty good week last week. We were pretty busy and it’s getting colder and snowing and wind is blowing and it’s cold. But it’s ok. Because with that lots of cool things are happening too.

 

The Frankfurt weihnachtsmarkt christmas market? is now up here. We haven't seen it yet, maybe we'll go today. We've heard it’s pretty cool, but every time we go by we are underground in a subway I guess is the word. So we can't really see it ha. But lots of people always get off and on at that stop. The weihnachtsmarkt in Annaberg last year was awesome, we'll see how big city ones compare.

 
On Wednesday and Thursday last week we had a 2 day zone conference/training meeting thing. It was kind of strange but cool. It was from like 10 to 5 both days but luckily we live right in Frankfurt so right when it finished we were able to go work, other missionaries had to travel home and basically couldn't do anything in their area both days. We had to do a couple workshop things at the meeting but they went pretty good. It’s basically just more training stuff like that 3 day training meeting we had at the temple a few months ago. We are supposed to practice and train and practice and train and practice and train. Until they say stop I guess. They said we should be having those training meetings like that at least for the next year though! Pretty interesting but its helping a lot and I really like the stuff. It helps us remember to focus on the people, to be sincere and teach the people according to their needs. I think it’s good they are putting such a big emphasis on it right now.

 
Last week I was able to tausch with Elder Good. It was tons of fun ha. He was golden in Gotha when I was in Nordhausen. He was in the Berlin mission for one full transfer then the next one the mission change happened. So I never got to actually work with him on tausch but at district stuff I did. Now he's here close to Frankfurt and we got to do a tausch. It’s pretty cool to see how much people develop and change. I met him when he was brand new in the field, now he's almost been on a mission for a year. It’s also weird to think back when he was brand new I was fairly new as well. Now I still feel new but realize I'm not.

 
There have been so many new missionaries come in lately. Right now in the mission there are about 60 missionaries who have been out less than 6 months. The transfer coming up there will be 15 new missionaries coming in. that’s so many missionaries young on missions. It’s weird to think I'm one of the 'older' missionaries to them. I still feel super new. But it’s pretty awesome to see how much people develop.

 
Anyway though with Elder Good I called up some guy who had formerly had interested in the church and we made out an appointment with him at the church for later that day. So as we got to the church Elder Good realized his comp. had taken the church keys to Frankfurt. So we couldn't get in. Then the guy showed up and we apologized saying we didn't have keys. By the way it was super cold at this time. Then the guy just said ''well there is a reason you called me today. And it’s ok you don't have keys. Thinking and talking together here about God is more important than being warm'' Then he just said ''we can talk right here''. I was pretty shocked and was thinking 'yea but it’s really cold man' Then I realized that was super selfish ha and that he was totally right. So we stuck the freezingness out and taught him in front of the doors. About 30 minutes in I looked at Elder Good and his hands were in his coat pocket and his coat was like vibrating then I realized he was shaking and was rocking back and forth on his feet then I realized I was doing the same thing. Then I looked at the guy and he was totally calm and just talking to us. I felt bad we were freezing and probably not as focused as we should have been but it was still a really cool experience and I learned a lot. We apologized again at the end and asked if we could meet the next day INSIDE the church and he said yes. So that was good. The Elders in Offenbach will continue teaching him. He was a really cool guy.

Then I got back to Frankfurt and we tausched immediately again! Lots of tausches. Then I was with Elder Collins in Frankfurt. I was kind of worrying since I haven't been in this city very long and it’s probably the biggest city I've been in where I've had to be the leader of getting us places. But we were able to get everyone we needed. We had a lesson with and guy named Michael and Joseph Lersch (former comp.) came with us. It was cool it felt like we were back together in Schwarzenberg. Michael is also way cool though.

 
The day before Shahab's baptism last week there was a blood drive at the church for Red Cross and we were there setting stuff up then we saw Michael and invited him to Shahab's baptism the next day. He came and then after he came up to us and was like 'I would like to be baptized on Dec. 18.' It was sweet! He left the church a while ago and didn't have anything to do with it for a long time, then he came to the blood drive and we just invited him and he said it made him want to come back. So we've organized stuff for his baptism and are teaching him helping him prepare.

 
It’s a blessing to be able to see how much the gospel can change people. That’s like why we have it. To help us leave the natural man behind and become more like Christ. Actually seeing it happen in people and allowing it to happen in you is really amazing. You realize more and more how real it is, that it isn't just something that’s good to help people become better people or improve the quality of your life. It’s really so that we can become more like Christ, so that we can prepare to return back to our heavenly father.

 
I was reading in 2 Corinthians 3 this morning and was kind of confused at the beginning. Because I read the first few verses and felt like they were really cool. But I didn't know why because I didn't understand them. So I decided to study those 3 verses. It was cool! Morning study is one of my most favorite things ever. The verses actually made more sense to me in German and I would share them with you but you wouldn't understand ha. The german words are usually more descriptive I guess. Basically to summarize one of the points I got out of it is that the influence and affect we have on others reflects what is written in our hearts. Like Paul is talking and says that those people are an 'epistle' or reference (german translation) of what is written in his heart. It’s cool he says that those people are like the manifestation of what is written in his heart and that all men can 'know and read'. So people can 'know and read' or understand those other people and understand you better because of the affect you've had on them.

 
Sometimes people try to hide what is really in their heart or deceive themselves or others, but the true effect we have on people is a manifestation of what is really written in our hearts. I've experienced that a lot on my mission. Meeting other people, teaching them, the effect they've had on me and that I've had on them, with other missionaries as well. Sometimes people will exercise their free agency contrary to what you teach, say, or do, but they will have felt and noticed your influence. Lots try to deny it simply because they are scared. But they know and you can know that you have had an effect on them. Hopefully it has been a good one. So I'm going to work on pin pointing more exactly what is written in my heart. If something needs to change I will work on re-writing it, so that I can better influence others for good. You could all think about it too, what is written in your heart? What are the manifestations of that? Or are the things 'referencing' what is written in your heart not what you would like them to be? But as we do this we have to be guided by the spirit. It’s such a blessing to have the restored gospel today. Recognize and utilize this opportunity God has given you to reach your divine potential. And do your part to help others reach theirs.

 
I love you all! Thanks everyone for all of your love, letters, and prayers. You're all always in mine. Have a wonderful week and be happy!!
Elder Puriri

LETTER #54 - FRANKFURT

Servus!
It snowed while I was on tausch up in Koblenz! That’s a picture from it ha, the first snow of the year. Frankfurt didn't actually get snow that day but up in Koblenz we did. Then on the train a few days later I asked a couple ladies sitting next to me when they thought it was going to snow and they were like definitely not this week! Then it snowed the next day. They were wrong, but that’s ok. It’s been snowing since like last Friday or so now. Today stopped a little. Those ladies were funny though I told them where I'm from we don't ever get snow so they were telling me where I could go to so that I could see snow and stuff. They were excited thinking I had never seen snow, I had to explain I had seen and touched snow but that I was just wondering when it would snow here in Frankfurt. Train, bahn, bus conversations are usually pretty funny like that since you are the one asking some random or weird question to start a conversation ha. It’s fun though. Yea and that other picture is just a picture driving down a road here in frankfurt. There’s better places to get the skyline but that’s the only one I have right now.

 
Anyway the last week was good. We took pday today so that we could go to the temple because temple is closed on Mondays. The temple is so awesome! In the session we went to the area presidency was also in there so that was pretty cool. It was kind of a surprise turning around in the hall and running into Elder Teixeira. Yea that was cool though. So that’s why pday is today not yesterday. The last week was super good though. A man named Shahab Khodaverdi, from Iran, got baptized on Saturday! He had a baptismal date when I got here and I had the opportunity to help him the last little bit of the way. It was such a good baptism. I will get pictures and send them next week. But during the baptismal service the church chamber choir (I don’t know what that means), Vocalis, was practicing for a concert and we asked if they would come in and do a musical number and they did! It was awesome. Shahab was beaming the whole time.

 
We are also teaching a couple ladies from China. There is a member family from China and it’s their friends. They basically translate the whole time otherwise it would be super hard to teach them. But they both want to get baptized so we are going to work with them and help them prepare themselves for that. There is also a couple other people who we are teaching who want to get baptized. It’s such a blessing to be able to work with such prepared people. We are working our best to help them all prepare to make the step of baptism. Frankfurt is a cool place. So many people just waiting. Germany is a cool place. It feels like lots of cool things are about to happen here.

 
The Frankfurt mission (which I am now a part of) set a goal at the beginning of the year to have 200 baptisms this year. Right now we are a little over 140 which is double what they had this time last year. So in that aspect it’s a huge step forward, but not quite our goal. So the mission is working hard and everyone is exercising their faith so that we can reach our goal and help these people. There isn’t a lot of time left so miracles are definitely needed, as always. But especially now. It’s a really cool feeling though. Everyone is excited and it’s definitely so possible. I guess there are like 68 companionship's in the mission so if everyone had one baptism the goal would be exceeded. So that'd be pretty cool.

 
As we talked about this goal and what we can do to still reach it last week in the meeting on Monday there was a way cool feeling. President Ninow pointed it out and asked us if we noticed it. He then asked if we were noticing things changing. Things like, people attitudes, our attitudes, our faith, members’ attitudes, lots of things. But that’s what the feeling is kind of like, like some huge change is happening.

 
It reminds me of the pool sand hollow or however it was. There was that water bucket up high that would rock back and forth filling up slowly then it'd rock slower and slower as it got more full. You'd just stand under and wait and start holding your breath waiting for it to tip the whole time. It was like suspense building thing! Half the time you didn't even notice you were holding your breath until after when you took a huge gasp for air and this sense of like relief hit you as the bucket tipped and the water poured out. That’s what it feels like. The bucket is rocking back and forth really slow filling up the last little bit. And our suspense is built up and we're holding our breath waiting for it to tip. The thing is though we have to dump that last little bit of water into it before it tips. We get to be the ones to fill it up the rest of the way and then watch it tip. We get to experience this where it tips and the blessings just come pouring. I'm way excited.

 
We talked a lot about what we have to do and we have to change our complete mindset towards missionary work. Get out of our old habits of how we do it and change to a new a better way where things will get accomplished lots better. We're going to be trying to work lots more with the members.

 
When President Uchtdorf consecrated the land back in February almost all, if not all, of the blessings that were promised were to members, not the missionaries. If we want access to those we have to go through members. We have to figure out what we can do to help them reap this blessings that are promised, that are being held there in that bucket just waiting to tip. Sometimes the water splashes us and a little comes falling down but we want it all to fall. This is probably a really weird comparison or example to you all but it’s what I've been comparing it to in my mind. Also this whole rant about all this is probably really weird to you. But I'm excited about it. We don't just want to hurry up and get our goal, if we do it right we can change missionary work in Germany forever!

 
Something president said was funny. He was talking about our old habits and mindsets of missionary work. Then he was like ''Look, you can either go knock 2000 doors or you can go baptize.'' Because it’s so true ha. Sometimes you get blessed huge and find someone on your own. But the best finding goes through members. So meeting with them and working with them throughout the winter and then after sounds better than spending time in the freezing cold knocking door after door. We must work smarter, not harder. Because working harder and harder in the wrong way isn't going to profit you like you think. It’s like the whole saying 'practice makes perfect'. If you practice continually with bad form or something like that, your performance won't profit you like you want and perfect definitely won’t come from it. Perfect practice makes perfect. Anyway yea that’s basically what’s going on. Currently in the process of changing my mindset towards missionary work. I'm way excited, it’s not way easy, but definitely good.

 
Well anyway! It was thanksgiving. We got invited by a family to dinner. It was awesome. They lived in America and did thanksgiving way good. There are so many things to be thankful for. I am so thankful for my mission, for my family, for the gospel, for Christ and God's love for me. So many more things. I am thankful. Be thankful, notice things. We need to go shop! I love you all. I hope everything’s going good. Be happy!!
Elder Puriri