February 28, 2011

LETTER #67 - FRANKFURT

Dear Fammmmiilllyyyyyyy
I hope everyone’s doing good and that Ammon is getting better! Being sick is really lame. I experienced that also last transfer. We were at Shahab's house (from Iran, baptized in November) last night and our spiritual thought after dinner turned into what a blessing it is to be healthy. Shahab is such a good guy. I'm really grateful I was able to meet him. The week though was cool! We had Zone conference and did a couple tausches. And found some cool people to teach!
 
On Tuesday I went to Wetzlar with Elder Hofbauer from Austria. It was a sweet tausch. He also loves soccer so we had a little soccer talk ha. I have no idea about anything now in the soccer world which I'm ok with. But it was weird talking about it again. We'll be playing soccer today again too so that’s sweet, also this might be short because of that. In Wetzlar though we taught the young men’s lesson on Missions and how you prepare and what it’s like, it was cool. Then there was a girl who is studying in Wetzlar from Hildesheim (small city close to Sarstedt where I lived!) and I recognized her. We saw her quick at the church. But I met her the one time I went to church in Hildesheim on my exchange, since the rest of the time I went in Hannover. That was pretty random though. The next day was ZOKO and that was good.
 
We then tausched with the Elders in Wetterau. I went there with Elder Staley who is from St. Louis, Missouri and has been out about 5 months now. He was really involved in missionary work back home and would go out all the time with the elders. He said one time he was with elders who were teaching Nelly! haha. I laughed so hard but he was serious. They went by and visited him but he wasn't there. Then the guy at the gate said ''Look Jesus boys. You know and we know that Nelly likes you comin by, but he 'aint here right now so you're gonna have to come back later''. I found that pretty funny ha. Nelly was meeting with missionaries. haha Anyway, the tausch was good. Towards the end of the night we were doing doors in a small town and we usually stop around 8 with doors. So we walked back to the car and got in then found a list on contacts on the street that we hadn't seen. We still had a bit of time so we went and tried by but they had no interest. So we walked back to the car, got it, then saw one more we missed. It was pretty late now so we weren't sure if we should try by. We decided to go so we got back out and walked down the street to the house. As we walked I prayed that this person would be home and be open for the Gospel so that we could have some success on that day. I wanted Elder Staley to have a good experience and for this person to be willing. As we rang the bell no one came. So we rang another bell then a lady opened the door and said hello. We introduced ourselves and talked to her about what we were doing. She explained she just moved in 3 weeks ago and doesn't know the people we were looking for. Our conversation continued and we talked about the love of God. She then said ''I would invite you in right now but it’s kind of late can we make out an appointment?'' Of course! So we did and exchanged contact information. Then we drove home! It was sweet. It was a little thing but way cool. Lots of miracles like that, they are always awesome to experience. Prayer is so cool, and that God blesses us with simple little things like that is amazing.
 
Being here has given me so many opportunities to learn to serve and love people. I am very grateful for that. The gospel is the best tool we have to serve people. There is a cool quote from Pres. Uchtdorf ''It seems only right and proper that we extend to others that which we so earnestly desire for ourselves.'' As we learn more about the gospel and our Savior. As we learn more about what he has done for us and what he has to offer us. Our desire for this grows, and so does our want to allow other people the same opportunity. As we learn in Helaman 5:10-11, Christ's power is conditional upon our actions. Because he knows this he sends people to declare these 'tidings and conditions' so that everyone can know them and act according to them. So that he can then use his saving power to redeem us! He loves us so much and knows we cannot be saved without knowing and acting in accordance with these things. He gives us all the opportunity to learn about them so we can then activate his power in our lives. I am very grateful for this and his mercy. I pray that we can all learn these things and choose to use them properly in our lives. Only in this way can our Savior and Redeemer use his power to save us.
 
I love you all very much. Thank you for everything you do to be good people and live the gospel. Have a good week,
Elder Puriri

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