LETTER #88 - NURNBERG

Hello Family!

A new transfer begins today! Although this one will be a bit different. Instead of doing one 4 weeks transfer to align things up they are doing two 5 week transfers. So this one and the next will only be 5 weeks so thats strange. Elder Durrant has been transferred to work up in Düsseldorf in the northern part of the mission. I will be staying here and getting 3 elders! ha I get my new companion, Elder Anderson (a different Elder Anderson than my other companion), then 2 more elders are coming to our apartment. So we will have 4 Elders in Nürnberg now. It will be good for the ward and hopefully get things here going a bit quicker. It will be cool. I'll get a picture with all 4 of us so you can see who I'm all with here in Nürnberg. Anyway yea thats what is going on with transfers!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last little while here since I haven't sent any in a long time. A couple are of making the brownies you sent. We made them for the couple that was going home but the icing didn't spread well so Elder Durrant used it the best he could. Then there are some from the Helping Hands thing we did. Then from the FHE we have each monday. We usually play UNO once or twice right after. Then with the Perkins who just went home last week. Then one with 5 of my companions at one of the meetings we had in Frankfurt a couple weeks ago. left to right is Elder Nelson, Elder Durrant, Elder Anderson, me, Elder White, and Elder Gassman.

Anyway the last week was a blur pretty much. I was in Ansbach one day for a tausch then in Würzburg another day for another tausch. It was fun though. Working with all the Elders is a huge blessing. You always learn so much from the others and learn to better appreciate them and it always motivates you to be better. In Würzburg I had the opportunity to do a baptismal interview for a kid thats about 25. It was really cool! He has now known the church for about 3 months. The interview was way cool though. We just went through the questions and talked about the different things and he would bear his testimony to me about all the different points. It was really cool. We knelt down and he offered the closing prayer and there was a very good spirit there. The Elders said his baptism and confirmation were really good.

I'm sorry this is so short and quick about everything. Elder Durrant needs to pack and get some other things organized so I have to finish this up. Well here is at least something I've been thinking about a lot lately. ''The life each of us lives is the life within the limits of our own thinking. To have life more abundant we must think in the limitless terms of abundance.''--Thomas Drier.  And you can relate that to John 10:10.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

I love you all so much! I hope everythings going well. Enjoy the summer and make the most of your time! Have a good week,

Elder Puriri

LETTER #87 - NURNBERG

Hello!

 

So we are kind of in a hurry today. The Elders in Erlangen want to meet up and go to a museum thing here about world war 2 so that should be interesting. I will have to kind of hurry through this though because I'm usually the one who slows things down when there's group activities because I take a little longer doing emails ha. Normally its no problem but when there is something going on I have to hurry a bit faster.

Anyway! This last week was pretty fun. We had quite a lot going on. Tuesday Pres. Schwartz came to Nürnberg to interview the Elders in the zone. Since our zone is pretty big everyone came from all over and just staggered their District meeting throughout the day. We had to be at the church early to open up for President then we had our district meeting and visited all the other district meetings as well. So we were in the church almost all day, it was a long day ha. 

That night I went on tausch with Elder Johnson up to Coburg. Elder Johnson is from Mesa Arizona if I remember right but he does not know the Urrys. I don't know how probable it would be for people to know each other there but I always ask everyone when they say they are from that area. Anyway Coburg is beautiful. It was also cool to be able to work with Elder Johnson. Elder Gassman trained him after I left Nordhausen so that was cool to. We were able to share different experiences we had in Nordhausen. I learned so much in my time in Nordhausen. It was definitely one of the greatest times of growth for me. After I left I went to Heidelberg with Elder White, then to Frankfurt. When Elder Gassman was transferred he also went to Heidelberg with Elder White, then to Frankfurt. Then the Elder Anderson, who replaced Elder Gassman in Nordhausen left nordhausen to Heidelberg with Elder White. So everyone thinks Elder Anderson will go to Frankfurt next ha. And yes that shows how long Elder White has been in Heidelberg, almost year! I'm a bit jealous since I only had 6 weeks there. Its alright though, we know we go where we go because thats where we need to be. This weekend is also transfer calls so we'll see what happens with Elder Durrant and me here.

We had the opportunity to do a service project this week with the YSAs in the stake. It was one of those ''Mormon helping hands'' ones where we got those yellow pennys. I thought that was cool ha since you always see the pictures then I got to do one. The bishops wife works at a kindergarden and we went and fixed it up. We waxed the upstairs and re-did the floor downstairs and cleaned up the outside a bit. It was fun and a good opportunity to work with and get to know the YSAs in the stake. We also had a ward grill party. Elder Durrant and I made chocolate chip cookies for it. When we put them out they were gone so fast! We were proud of ourselves for accomplishing that ha. We also made those brownies mom for the missionary couple has been serving in Nürnberg for the last 18 months and are going home this week. We have pictures so I'll send those to you next week so you can believe we baked ha.

As we were in Sunday School yesterday we were talking about the sabbath day. The same new convert who gave the priesthood lesson last week shared a cool thing. He was asked how his sabbath day changed after he became a member. He talked about how it has always been a family day in his family. How they all believe in God and all but it was basically just a family day to go to the park or hike or spend with close friends where they would sometimes discuss about God. He said though that after he got to know the church and became a member his sabbath days became more spiritual. He said something to the effect of ''You can approach the topic of Faith and God from a philosophy point of view or from a spiritual point of view. Although it is the same topic the feelings you get are much different.'' I really like that because we often meet people who approach it only from the philosophy side and we as members or even non-members get caught in doing this. The feelings and experiences are significantly different as we allow our spirits to connect with with our Heavenly Father instead of just approaching the whole thing from a logical or philosophical point of view. 

We can discuss and speculate our whole lives, but until we allow our spirits to connect or relate with God we will not benefit in any way. You cannot teach a testimony. As this Brother talked about, when we approach things of God from our spiritual side we will experience things of greater meaning to us. We will truly learn of our Heavenly Father and of Jesus Christ. We will develop a real relationship with them. A real love for them will develop. In this process we feel our responsibilities as we learn of them. And we will desire to fulfill them. I am grateful for the reality of this and know that God loves us. That he has a perfect plan for us and desires with all his love that we learn of it and follow it.

I hope everyone is doing well. Things sound pretty busy back there. Take time to truly nourish your spirit. I love you all!!

Elder Puriri

LETTER #86 - NURNBERG

Dear Family!

Another week gone by. Sounds like you also all had an eventful week. Thats awesome you got to go to that Real game like that and that picture with Asa and Beckerman is pretty sweet! The womens world cup is going on here right now. Its not nearly as crazy as the mens last year and that one wasn't even in Germany. They still love their soccer though but since germany is apparently out its not as exciting for them all. We heard US girls played yesterday but we have no idea how they did. Sometimes we see scores on big info screens at different tram stops. Its cool though, soccers always good. The ward has a sport night every week and we went once last transfer with an investigator of ours who plays soccer and played with them. Now this coming saturday is a ward grill party and some of the members talked about playing soccer. So maybe we will play a bit with the ward that day. Oh and yes I did get that package you sent a couple weeks ago. We were at home having lunch then when we left and started walking down the street the mail van pulled into our street and as he drove down the road towards us he stuck his are out straight and pointed at us. So we walked over to his window and he said I think I have something for you, then got up and walked to the back and came back with my package. He said ''Aren't you Elder?'' I said yes I am ha. We thought it was funny he knew us and stopped us on the street like that. So we had to walk back to the apartment and put the package inside. We still haven't made the cupcakes yet but we will do that this week hopefully.

I read Erics letter and I feel I can relate pretty well to how he is feeling right now. It is strange to be one of the older missionaries out here. Everytime I go on tausch or am with a group of missionaries for some reason I think I'm still one of the young ones. Then someone will say something or I'll just realize I'm one of the older ones in the group, or on tausch with a younger elder. Its a strange thing. I remember looking up to the older Elders and learning from them and all. I can't picture myself being one of them. So I guess I look up to the younger Elders now and learn from them.

It was a quick week though. We had 3 tausches so that made things blend and its hard to remember what happened on what day. One of them I worked with Elder Münzer so that was cool. He was serving in Erfurt with Elder Killpack back when we switched over from the Berlin mission. I had tausched with him twice before back when I was in Nordhausen. So it was cool having the opportunity one more time to work with him before he heads home in 2 weeks. He is training a new Elder and has kept it a secret that he is going home ha so his companion is going to be a bit confused in a couple weeks.

During one of the tausches I was with Elder Dieduksman (from holland) and Elder Durrant was working with Elder Gassman. All 4 of us spent the day in Nürnberg working. Elder Dieduksman and I went by a some people in the afternoon and one guy we went by on wasn't home but his wife answered. We talked to her quick and she said her husband would be back around 6 that night and that we could come back if we wanted. We weren't sure if we would have time but we wrote it down just in case. Then we went on with our day. --Around that same time Elder Gassman and Durrant were at the main train station in Nürnberg checking some train times when some guy yelled ''hey Elders!'' turned out to be some guy from Nigeria who had been researching our church. He came up and said something to them ''Hey Elders can you tell me where your church is here? I've researched a lot about you guys and I find nothing wrong with you. You guys are alright. I read in your book one time, I think it was Moroni or someone but they said When you are in the service of your fellowmen you are only in the service of God. I really like that guys, I find nothing wrong with your church'' They had some time and the church isnt far from there so they went with him to the church and gave him a quick tour and got his information. He said to call him and make out an appointment because he would have to talk to his wife to see when it would be ok.

So around 630 we all 4 met up and Elder Gassman and Dieduksman left and Elder Durrant and I decided to go by on the guy whose wife told us would be home again around this time. We got there and rang the bell then this guy opened up the door. As we opened Elder Durrant got this shocked look and kind of jumped back and the guy did the same thing. Then the guy was like ''Wow were you coming to see me or just being missionaries knocking on doors like you do?'' I, being unaware of what was really going on asked, ''Well are you this guy?'' and pointed to the name on the doorbell. He said yes then I said then yes we were coming to see you. Then Elder Durrant goes ''We didn't know this was you. We were just coming by.'' Then I was confused and thought, we purposely meant to come by on him so what are you talking about? Then the guy just said ''Well I just got home and my wife and kids aren't here. The apartment isn't the cleanest but I guess you can come up with me.'' Then he turned around and we began following him up the stairs to his apartment. Elder Durrant turned around to me and whispered ''THATS THE GUY WE RAN INTO AT THE TRAIN STATION AND SHOWED HIM THE CHURCH!!'' I then connected the story he and Elder Gassman told us when we met back up and the quick visit Elder Dieduksman and I had early that day with his wife and was blown away ha. I had a huge smile on my face as we sat down and started talking a bit more. Then his wife got home and came in. She saw me and was like oh Hi you were here earlier. Then her husband asked what she was talking about. Then Elder Durrant explained how that day there was 4 of us in Nürnberg and 2 of us earlier talked to his wife and the other 2 talked to him at the train station and that we didn't know it was connected and just came back because the wife said he could. The guy was amazed and said ''This is no coincidence, God wanted us to be here''. It was really cool. So we will continue meeting with them and teaching them about the restored gospel of which he already knows surprisingly lots. So that was cool that all four of us were able to work together unknowingly to help the same family that day.

Yesterday in church was also cool. The priesthood lesson was taught by a man who has been a member since about February. He joined the church alone, is married and has 2 kids. The lesson was on Eternal Families. I was amazed during the lesson as he taught about Eternal Families and shared his thoughts with us about it all. You could see how important that is to him and the optimism and hope he has to achieve it. I felt again the responsibility I have to do my part to help our family also achieve that. I felt and learned more things I can do and I also felt a real gratitude to mom and dad for what they do to help us have that. I felt this Brothers desire to have that and can imagine Mom and Dad also have a similar desire for their family to have it. I realized better that in order for Mom and Dad to have this I have to do my part. In order for this blessing to be received I play a deciding role. We all do. I felt that Mom and Dad have this desire as this Brother expressed in his lesson. I imagine it is constantly pulling at their hearts and driving them to do their part. I felt very accountable to them to do my part and realized if I alone do not and everyone else does, the fullness of this blessing and desire would be hindered. So I feel yesterday during that lesson I learned a little better about eternal families and the importance of our family. I learned more about my part in that and felt my responsibility to do my part. So I hope to move forward and fulfill my part in our efforts.

Time is running short, but I'm grateful for all of you! I love you all. Make it and good week and be happy! Thank you all for everything!!

Elder Puriri

also happy birthday this week karamea!! love you!

LETTER #85 - NURNBERG

Hello!

 

It has been a quick week! We got a ward mission leader a couple weeks ago so we're starting to integrate him more into the work and its way cool. We had a tausch and a Meet President and Sister Schwartz meeting. The weather was sunny at the start of the week but got surprisingly cold and rainy over the weekend. Today is a bit warmer but still not so much sun. It'll come though.

On Monday last week we got a call with a name and number of a lady that was in our area and wanted a blessing. We called her and organized going to where she was. She is an investigator from Elders in a city by Stuttgart, so not in our mission. She was coming here to a hospital place and had to leave on short notice so she asked the Elders in that city if the Nürnberg Elders could go give her a blessing. and thats us!! It was cool. We went out and talked with her, taught her a bit about the plan of salvation and were able to give her a blessing. 

It was just kind of cool like to see the unity in the church. Like we know and here about it all the time. We know all the other missionaries out there are also working to spread the gospel. But to kind of be able to work with the Elders from another mission and help them out was cool. Its the same important message everywhere. We know that of course. As we went though and talked about her she told us about what the Elders had been teaching her and everything and we just basically picked up and taught further from where they left off. Now she'll go back, tell them what she learned and what we taught, and they will continue from there. It is so easy to work in unity when we are working with truth. Its not just opinions or suggestions we are working with but true doctrine. So that was a cool opportunity.

Then I was able to do an austausch with Elder Damstedt which was sweet. I tausched with him when he was still pretty new back when I was in Heidelberg and he was in Darmstadt. Now almost 8 months later we had the opportunity to work together again. Its always a blessing when you have that opportunity.

On Saturday was our meeting here in Nürnberg to meet President and Sister Schwartz. It was pretty cool! They are German so the meet was pretty much all in German. I think its such a cool opportunity to have a German mission President. Many things are going to be in German now and it will give us all a better chance to practice and better our German. They are awesome people though. Full of love and the desire to serve. 

After the meeting Elder Durrant and I each had an interview with President Schwartz so he could get to know us a bit and the stuff going on in the zone. Before my interview though I sat down on a couch in the institute center with President Schwartz and we had a bit of time just to talk. So he said Elder I would like to take this time to get to know your family. So I pulled out the photo album I always have with me and showed him the family and told him a bit about us. It was really cool. He then asked me why I believe I am in Germany right now. I thought a bit and  told him about my exchange and mission so far and stuff. Then he shared some of his thoughts with me. I learned a lot and got some good thoughts to go a bit deeper on. Then we went up stairs and started the actual interview which ended up being pretty long. I learned a ton though it was cool. Then Elder Durrant had his interview which also lasted longer then planned. So I just kind of cleaned up the church since we were the last ones and all. Then we had 10 minutes to get to an appointment that was a least 30 minutes away so President Schwartz just goes, 'Alright Elders lets go I'll just drive you'. So we got in the car and he drove us over there. It was another chance to just talk a bit it was cool. He is actually from a ward in the Nürnberg stake. So he's mission president of his home mission. He was or is...the stake patriarch so he was in Nürnberg often since thats where the stake center is. Plus he's lived in this area for a really long time. So he knew right where to go when we told him where our appointment was. We talked about the members in the ward and he told us how we can work with them better. It was way cool, especially since he knows them all personally. I'm excited to have the opportunity to serve with him.

I've been amazed with my 3 mission presidents. Each one I learn very important specific things from. Each inspired and called of God for that specific mission at that time. It has been a blessing to serve with all of them. I'm excited for what is still to come in the time thats left.

I am really grateful for our family! As I pulled out the pictures and started to show President Schwartz and talk about all of you I felt a very strong connection and love for each of you. President Schwartz looked at me when I was finished and said how he could feel the love of our family as I showed him. It is a special connection we have. I treasure all the times and memories we have together. This connection we have would not been the same were we not sealed together through the ordinances of the Temple. The Temple binds us together for eternity and gives us the possibility of being together forever if each of us individually lives worthily. It is my hearts desire to achieve this and my motivation to do my best. I am grateful for each of you and for the many things I've learned from you all. 

I watched this short video on lds.org, https://lds.org/youth/video/laie-hawaii-temple-youth-cultural-celebration?lang=eng. Which made me think even more of this. Remember our heritage. From Mom's side and Dad's. What was important to our ancestors and what they went through. What they did so that we could have what we have today and be where we are now. Where or in what they took root and began to grow. I feel I owe a great deal to them for the lives they lived. Remember that temples bind us together. Live a life that would be pleasing to them and to our Heavenly Father. As we do, the love and desire to be together that connects us will drive deeper and deeper into our hearts. Like a tree we must have strong roots to hold us. The higher we stretch our branches up the deeper our roots must go to sustain us. Allowing us to stand tall in the world today. We can intertwine our roots with those of our family members, giving us extra strength and support. As we do our part to strengthen our roots and allow them to go deeper our love for each other will also grow. 

A strong feeling filled me as I watched that video and thought of our family and the temple. It was a full feeling, I don't know how to better describe it. The gospel and ordinances thereof can complete our family. It is a very real blessing given to us. Thank you all for everything. Make the most of all the time you have together. I hope you have a good week, be happy!

Love you all,

Elder Puriri