Hello hello,
So yea sorry about not emailing yesterday, it didn't quite go as we had planned. We live in a building connected to a hotel and so we go there on pday to email but they only have one computer which is a laptop so we usually just take turns while the other one writes letters or reads or whatever. Yesterday though we went in first thing and the guy said they were using the laptop for book keeping or whatever and that we could come back in 3 hours and use it then. So we did the shopping and other errands we had, had a quick lunch then went back and the lady said they weren't done and that we could come back in one hour. So we did, and then they just said, yea its not going to be done today. Then our pday was basically over so we didn't get to do emails. The only other places to do emails in the city are like small casinos and missionaries going into casinos isn't the best image plus its not always the best environment. So we just avoid going there. Anyway thats why we are doing emails right now! I wasn't too worked up about it since I haven't emailed on monday quite a few times but Elder Rechter was a bit worried about his family and all which I'm sure you can relate to ha. Its ok though we are doing it now.
The last week was good though. Started quickly then ended a bit slower because I got sick for some reason. It honestly is like torture to be sick. As a missionary you think ''I'm sick...if I just push through it God will see I want to work and he will heal me so I can.'' then God is probably thinking ''no you fool, thanks for your desire but take care of your body''. Then you try anyway and for some strange reason it gets worse! ha well at least thats what happened the other couple times I was sick. This time I figured maybe I should just try sleeping and getting rid of it quick. So I did! but it still took a couple days and its still not quite gone. So the only difference between the 2 styles of taking care of it is you are either sick outside struggling to work, or you are sick inside feeling like a bum for being there. choose your poison i guess. A good week is ahead of us though now!
Yea last week we went to the Wartburg, it was a pretty place. Up in the green ''mountains'' (hills) with trees everywhere. I was expecting the main thing to be martin luthers story there but that was like one of the smallest parts of the tour, still the most cool though. The main thing is about a princess from hungary I think that lived there and was very humble and tried to share everything she had and serve the sick and poor. Which didn't go down well with the other royalty in the area who eventually forced her out to Marburg I believe where she established a hospital and died at age 24! Her story was pretty cool too I guess. I was simply more interested in Martin Luther. Martin Luther translated the bible in a small humble room. Pretty sweet. There is a myth around here, maybe in the whole world I guess, that the devil appeared to him and he threw a bottle of ink at him which exploded all over the wall. So people had earlier taken chips out of a wall in memory of him thinking thats where the ink hit. So one wall was just like chipped away, now its chained off though. THe story apparently comes from when Martin Luther got out and people who knew him were so excited he wasn't dead and everyone asked where he had been the last 10 months and he answered ''I was fighting the devil with ink''. pretty sweet. Such a major thing.
Then we had some cool appointments with Schwester Lind, the lady who is being baptized on Saturday. The Book of Mormon changed her life! She was at first so closed to hearing anything the elders had. They inivted her to simply read with an open heart. She acted on it and it has changed her. She shows us her notebook with notes comparing the book of mormon and the bible and all the parts she loves from both. She is a good example for us! We made invitations for her baptism and she is inviting her children and friends. It will be a special day.
Then this week I got to go back to NORDHAUSEN! I went up there on tausch and it was awesome. As we pulled into the train station I was so excited and could not stop smiling, I think it stayed like that until we left the next day. Seeing everything so cool and talking to the people. It was funny seeing the same people around I would see daily a year ago. I was on tausch with Elder Lewis who had a minor surgery on his foot though so he wasn't to mobile. The little time we had to work outside was awesome though. I was hoping to go do and see more people but it wasn't possible. God blessed me though! As we walked out of the apartment to go give a member a blessing who had called and asked, Evelyn Schöpp walked by pushing jonathan in a stroller. I couldn't believe it. As we walked out I saw the familiar green stroller and thought about the Schöpps then as I came to I realized it was her ha. So cool to say hi and talk really quick. I even get to go back up there this week because Elder Lewis needs to come here to do the baptismal interview.
Anyway. I'm doing well, Germany is doing well, the weather is slowly changing and Gotha is doing well. I'd like the weather to stay warm for the next couple months but come october it will probably start to be a bit cooler like last year. The best thing is though General Conference is coming in 2 weeks! Whats even more crazy is that this is the 3rd general conference I will watch in the Efurt chapel! I saw 2 there when I was in Nordhausen, then went to Frankfurt for the next, now I'm in gotha but we go watch them in Erfurt still. So thats pretty strange. It will be a quick end to the transfer with these next 2 weeks. We have zone conference this week in Nürnberg, so that will be sweet going back there. Then Schwester Lind's baptism, then next week with General Conference. This 'bigger' events make time slip away like nothing. I continue to learn how important it is to be in the now. To act and accomplish what you can now.
In preperation for General Conference I've been thinking about how to prepare. Kind of weird yea but it makes sense to me ha. Not only for GC though but for life and everything I guess. How do we best prepare, how or when are we most capable in encountering the future. John 15 has helped me a lot in thinking about all of this and the word ''abide'' gains in meaning. Your state of mind, whether your thoughts are focused continually or not makes the difference in 'abide'. Consciously uniting your heart's and mind's desires and thoughts creates an organized, peaceful, and powerful atmosphere in you. Allowing you to consider and comprehend the more meaningful things. The Spirit can then truly conduct the symphony of impressions, ideas, thoughts continually in you and focus them for your learning benefit. We gain power to choose what we think about more consistently. As we choose the things of Christ and allow them to work in and through us consistently we abide in him. In doing this miracles happen. We don't just sit and dwell on the same thought and go no where. We allow the Spirit to further our thoughts past what we ourselves could have discovered or realized. It opens a new vista to us and our natural comprehension is surpassed. We then feel vibrating peace and power in us to choose, act, and move forward humbly with confidence in Christ.
It is an amazing thing how we are blessed in striving to abide in Christ. I hope to continually be able to abide in him more seriously.
Hope everythings going well back home. I'm sure everyone is busy with there different things. Remember what matters most, and look for opportunities to do good despite how inconvenient it may be for you. I love you all and hope you create and experience a week that brings you closer to God.
Elder Puriri
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