LETTER #80 - NURNBERG

Family family,

Sounds like you had a pretty packed week. Life is moving forward quickly. Its cool seeing all those picture mom thanks for doing that. Asa is going on the trek, I think it will be cool. Advice I would have for him...in the words of Elder Wirthlin; come what may, and love it. Have fun, look for people who need help and help them, learn as much as you can from it.

  

I'm doing well and things in Nürnberg are going well too. The weather has been switching back and forth. Today is clear and sunny though. 

We also had a pretty full week. We had a training meeting for 2 days here in Nürnberg which was actually really cool. I learned a lot and recognized some more things I can do to be a better missionary. Then we were busy the rest of the week going around from appointment to appointment. We had a really cool appointment. We wanted to help the guy learn more through the spirit and help him understand he needed to stop trying to use logic of reasoning to understand these things. It was kind of a spontaneous appointment so we hadn't really prepared anything other than that we knew what we wanted to do. He talked a lot at the beginning about a ton of different topics and told some stories. I had my bible open and was just flipping to scriptures that had something to do with what he was talking about as he talked and switched topics. He didn`t stay on a topic long enough though for me to find a good scripture and figure out how to use the scripture to get us back to where we wanted to be. Then all the sudden he stops and says ''Elder Puriri, you had something to say go ahead''. I was a bit caught off guard because I did want to say something but I didnt know what yet. As he said that I thought quickly about what he had just said and a scripture in the bible came to my mind. I opened it and shared it with him. About hope in Romans 8. Then I read the next couple verses about prayer and the spirit. We were able to talk about how we have to rely on the spirit when we do things related to God. We talked for a bit about it and asked him some questions. It totally clicked for him. He sat there and just looked up slightly with this look of trying to figure something out or like an ''ah ha'' moment. He started telling us how important the spirit was and that it made sense to him. It was way cool that it helped him and that he now understands what he needs to do when we meet and continue to teach him.  So that was pretty cool.

Then we had a tausch with the Elders in Erlangen. Its a city that is pretty close to nürnberg. It was a good tausch though. I got to work with Elder Hardwick there. They ride bikes in that area. I had used bike like once before that on my mission. That day though all day we were on bikes. I felt like a real missionary ha. And I gained a lot of respect for those two elders because after a while it hurt to sit down on that seat and my legs were getting way tired. It'd be a good work out though if you were doing that everyday.

While I was there in Erlangen we taught a guy that has been taught by the elders for the last little while. He came in to the church and we sat down. He seemed pretty casual about it all but like a cool guy. We wanted to teach a first lesson but mostly focus on Christ's earthly ministry and go on from there.  As we explained how Christ established his church here on earth and why it seemed to make sense to him, we asked if he still believed we needed Christ`s church today. He thought about it then answered back no. That kind of caught us both off guard. Before saying anything after that I thought about how I could help him understand this so that it would make sense for him. We re-explained it but in a different way and asked some questions along the way and then he said yea I think we do need Christ's church today. We continued through the lesson but focused a lot of the spirit and on how it would best make sense to him and what he needed to hear or read out of the scripture to learn it. The spirit was heavy in the room. Throughout the lesson you could like see or feel a change happening in the man. At the end of that lesson the scripture D&C 50:22 made way more sense to me. 

D&C 50:22Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.

I felt like as I was thinking about the doctrine we were teaching it was becoming more clear and simple to me. As I was thinking about it I was learning, and as I learned I was speaking and saying what literally felt like was being put into my mind, and he was understanding. It was kind of like pouring water into a bucket with a little spout at the bottom and as its being filled the water is coming out of the spout. I felt like I was having 'understanding' poured into my mind and I was opening my mouth and letting it flow out to the other guy. It was a very real, cool experience. I hadn't ever really had that type of teaching experience. I didn't want it to end. I feel like now if I ever teach differently its the wrong way. I feel like each lesson has to be like that. I want to learn more about this and do all I can on my part to make the lessons we teach like this. The affect it had on me and that man seemed much greater than any other experience. As the man walked out of the church he seemed to understand the reality of what we were teaching. As he left the church you could see he left differently than he came. It was an experience I won't forget.

The reality of the spirit and learning or teaching through the spirit is very real. 1 Corinthians 2 talks a lot about it. It is important that as we approach topics or things of a Godly nature that we lay aside our limited human understanding, logic, and whatever else. That we appraoch it with reverence and open for the spirit to teach us. We learn about God through a godly way not through our own power. And as we learn through this eternal being and power what we learn will be of an eternal nature. Supporting our testimonies eternally. If we learn through our own logic and reason, that is mortal. That is limited and does have an end. And sooner or letter it will no longer stand or support us. I am grateful for the Spirit and the reality of it.

I hope everyones doing well back home. Hope you all have good plans for the summer. Enjoy it and be productive. Love you all, thank you for everything. Your all in my prayers,

Elder Puriri