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
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