I have been assigned to the Waiblingen Germany area!!!! It is close to Stuttgart and is very beautiful. The ward is very supportive of missionary work, and the ward mission leader is outstanding... hopefully we can help out many Germans!
I’m not sure what happened with the visas for the other missionaries, all i know is that everything went through smoothly and we were able to board without a problem. The plane ride from Atlanta was incredibly long, but I was able to get some needed rest with the aid of my sleep mask and ear plugs! Although the plane from Atlanta to Germany was larger than the plane we rode from salt lake, there was a considerable less amount of leg room. I therefore could not get comfortable for a couple hours, but I eventually was just fine. At the end of the flight, I decided to hand a pass along card to the steward who had served me some delicious, non-MTC, food. I was about to lay the card down on the seat when he asked me who we were and why we were in Germany. When I explained my purpose and handed him the card, one of the other stewardesses asked me if i had an extra card.... She asked me for a pass along card!!! that was awesome.... and they spoke English so i could understand them.
HAHAH im sorry about the heat in the stl. The weather here is perfect.. Well at least the temperature. This morning was 17 degrees Celsius I'm not really sure how warm that is in real temperature but its verry nice here and my companion and i decided to wear jackets today because it was a little chilly
... haha Germany just as it so happens, does not have air conditioning haha. Its like Michigan here, but the temperature is nice for the time being so its not a big deal. But Germany also doesn't have a plentiful supply of dryers so we only have a washer in our apartment. Also, Germans don’t believe in window screens, so there are always bugs in the kitchen but we are buying some fly traps today so that problem will be a thing of the past.
This week my companion and i did some great work! I love doing the work of the lord and being a missionary! In the first night, we only had one hour to contact people. In that time we set up one appointment with an 18 year old or so kid and a Muslim. It was very successful. We will meet with Jakob, the 18 yr old tomorrow, I hope it goes well.... My German is getting better and better everyday. But I get so tired trying to understand people I talk to, so i just nod my head and agree with them haha. 'Preach my Gospel' directs us to ask deep questions, which I try to do. However the problem with doing so, is that I can never understand their responses! haha I have been getting headaches from trying to understand and comprehend what anyone is trying to say... But hopefully that will come, I can understand so much more than a couple of days ago!
So, on Thursday... my companion and I met JOE Swartz! He is amazing! it was my first experience of going door to door and Joe was the second door we knocked. He is a very spiritual man and we have already met with him twice. The next time we meet we will commit him to baptism !!!!! He is very obsessed with native Americans and loves nature... so we gave him a book of Mormon and he said to give him two days to read the entire book !!! I'm excited to teach this man. Although he is a bit eccentric and wasn’t wearing a shirt and has a lot of tattoos and has bottles of alcohol laying out. I know he can change!
Another great investigator I have met is Frau Klein. Frau Klein lost her son a couple of years ago and doesn’t believe she can be happy again. She has met with missionaries for a very long time but hasn’t made much progress. But this week she prayed with us, for the first time with missionaries. Although I couldn’t exactly understand her prayer, the spirit was so strong when she opened her heart to the lord and came to church, for the second time ever. She seemed very happy and I know she can be happy with this gospel.
Also i bore my testimony in church... in German haha. well broken German. It was a little nerve racking but wasn’t bad because all of the church members are really old and nice.
I have been able to do some service already. It was in the back country of a little village and I felt like i was in “its a small world” ride from Disney world! haha its so awesome. I love this place. I also love the people here; they wear fedoras and are so German haha.
Dad,your explanation of faith makes perfect sense. Jesus is the one person we can have faith to do exactly what he says he will do... but there’s always the factor of time and when he knows the promised blessings will benefit the most! That always frustrates me!!
Sincerely Elder Sonne
p.s. everywhere I go people talk about Alma Sonne!
