Bloggers note - Definitely read the last paragraph of this letter. It's the best part!
Family family!
I got Aunt Moana's package on Tuesday in Nürnberg. Thank you! Elder Gassman and I are enjoying everything in it. Germany is good and Nordhausen is good. Fall kind of arrived. It’s definitely getting colder, which is definitely not cool. I am not looking forward to fall and winter and wearing layers of clothing again. But its ok I guess, it’s not like I can do much about that.
It has been a pretty good week though! So much happened it doesn't seem like it could have only been a week. We were in Nürnberg Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday we had a full day in Nordhausen, Thursday we tausched with the Elders in Weimar and I went there, Friday we had interview with President in Erfurt and tausched back to our normal companions, then Saturday we went to a town called Sangerhausen for an appointment and spent some of the day there, then Sunday was a normal day. So we kind of only had 2 normal days in Nordhausen. So much that happened so quickly it’s crazy it was only a week!
Nürnberg was cool. We had some time to go walk around on Monday and see a bit of the city. It’s huge compared to Nordhausen, and so many people everywhere! I don’t know how your supposed to talk to all of them! Then Tuesday was the zoco thing which was good.
Thursday I was in Weimar with Elder Schuetz (Californ.i.a.). It was a fun tausch. It kind of rained a lot but that’s alright. We did a...Straßenausstellung...street display I guess with the members there. It was pretty cool. I went on a little split with the Branch President there and we walked around the city for an hour talking to people. That was pretty cool I'd never done that before. Right before we headed back we talked to this way cool couple and made out an appointment for the Weimar elders. I was grateful the branch pres. was also able too see a bit of success with the missionaries and hopefully it continues coming. The members there were so ready to do missionary work it was awesome. We did splits with a couple of them and just went and talked to people around town it was cool. I hadn't seen members doing that before. We also taught a really cool lady for the first time with one of the members who will continue meeting with the Elders there. It was a good austausch.
The coolest thing though was Friday morning we were still in Weimar and Elder Gassman called me and said 'guess who the Muhlesteins just saw!' I had no idea so I just had him tell me ha. He said 'Ahsan!' and I didn't believe him for a little ha. Ahsan went back to Bangladesh for the summer break and it turned out he wasn't going to be able to come back to Germany. Then we lost contact with him for a month or more so I wasn't sure if I'd ever be able to see him again. He saw the Muhlesteins taking stuff to their car and ran over and helped them carry stuff and told them everything worked out and that it’s all good. I was so happy, such a blessing. Apparently he also had some friends with him and they all said they wanted to learn more about the church too. Ahsan couldn't make it to church this Sunday but were going to visit him this week; I'm way excited to see him again.
I was giving a talk though yesterday and from the pulpit you can see the front entry into the church and some kid walked in, came into the chapel and sat down in the back. After sacrament meeting Elder Muhlestein told me that was one of Ahsans friends who wanted to learn more and they had invited him to church. So we were able to meet with him during the second hour and will be again on Wednesday with Ahsan there. It was so cool!
We have been praying for Ahsan so much that he would be able to come back and that everything would be able to work out. Then we stopped hearing form him and got a little worried. But we never stopped praying and hoping. Then he just shows up! Prayer and faith are very powerful things. God was watching out for Ahsan that whole time. And He has answered our prayers and helped Ahsan come back.
We were also able to meet again with that German/Polish family. The Moms name is Agnus, well its something else but its polish so they pronounce it Agnus in German. She is way cool. She has lots of questions and is willing to listen and learn. She is a very humble lady and way nice. The appointments with her are always good. We are meeting with her again on Wednesday so that will be cool.
Things are going pretty good though. There’s always high times and low times and things in our way to slow us down, but we always have to remember to never give up. To push forward with faith and things will work out. Mission life or non mission life there are always things trying to slow us down and stop us. We just have to always keep an eternal perspective. Remember our goals and who is on our side helping us along the way, and we can overcome everything.
Remember Mom when you had Romans 8:31 on the fridge for a while. That became one of my favorite scriptures. 'What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?' As we keep the faith and press forward, with God on our side we will succeed. God is our heavenly father and loves us more then we can comprehend. He didn't send us here to earth so that we could have a tough life, become discouraged, and fail. He wants more than anything that we succeed. We must simply recognize this and push forward. God is there ready, waiting, and pleading that we allow him to help us. He will give us all that he can in order for us to succeed. We just have to allow him to. In allowing him to we are doing our part and living the gospel, even when it’s hard. Then we know that we really will be ok, that nothing can stop us, and that whatever comes can be overcome. Our Heavenly Father is God Almighty, and he will always prevail. As it says in Romans 8:31, with him on our side, nothing can stop us. I love you all with all my heart! Thank you for everything. Have a good week and most importantly be happy!
Elder Puriri
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