Hallo, Leute!

 

I don't really know what to say about this one...

 

Rainy days

 

 

 

Hallo, Leute!

 

Wow, can I tell you how lame the weather has been this week? Cold (enough to wear a couple layers, mindestens) and rainy--the WHOLE week! And windy! I didn´t think my shoes would ever dry out. But I put them on the radiator through the night last night, and they are dry, as far as I can tell. :) Ohmeinegüte, I love this life. Oh, I will send a picture of my shoes and feet after a long day in the rain, eh? You don´t have to look at it if you don´t wish to. It is so much fun! But it is almost JUNE!!! And this weather makes no sense! Oh the picture of flowers is for Mom. Also, I have a picture there with Br_____ and her kids :) I will tell more about that appointment soon.

 

Anyway, I hope my email last week didn´t portray the bad mood I was in. If it did or if it didn´t, the reason will be explained. So our last pday was way lame, since everything was closed, and we had to use the church computer, which is only one computer. So I saw that Mom hadn´t been able to email me, so I emailed President, downloaded a few talks from Elder Holland, then gave the computer to Elder Allan. I put 4 chairs together and layed/laid down (<-- which is right? I don´t know anymore haha) and then fell asleep. So, I woke up, it is almost 3 o´clock, and the day is almost done, and we have done NOTHING! And yeah, back in the day I would spend some entire days sleeping and doing nothing useful. But I HATE it! It felt like such a waste of a day to me, especially when we had to spend 40 minutes walking home from the church. It got a bit better when we went back out to proselyte, but man, I was just sour. So sorry. Learning stuff like this is kinda just a bonus for parents sending their children on missions, eh? Aside from a deeper understanding of the gospel and strengthened testimonies and ministering with Christ, of course. Happy now? Haha.

 

So, let´s talk about investigators. Sadly none of our appointments with S_____ and Be_____ worked out this week :( but they were so willing to keep trying and they came to church too! And at church, one of the members brought us a whole bunch of stuff in French, like True to the Faith and the temple magazine. We didn't even ask! Then everyone was very friendly to them, even with the language barrier. So we are meeting on Wednesday. They are so cool! Whenever we call someone, like S_____ for example, he picks up and says,"Hello Gibson!" Another man, with whom we met this week (actually the guy we found at Bahnhof last transfer with the zone leaders, M_____) picks up and says, "Hello Herr Gibbons!" haha. I like it :) But whenever Elder Allan calls (which actually seems to be more often than I do) they still say that! Haha so he has to say that it is him. We laugh all the time. I want to give him the phone more so that they see that it is always different, who calls. Our appointment with M_____ was way cool, he is very open and we just had a great discussion about the gospel´s application to our lives, especially in the world we live in today. We are going to help him move into his new Wohnung tomorrow morning as well!

 

But the greatest one this week was our apointment with Br_____ (hence the picture)! We finally found a member to come with us, since everyone else was at the temple the whole week, and we got there and he was so involved and interested with the kids, and wanted to know what they liked and wanted to know all about the family, he was just a great example of love for them. I want to be like that! It was awesome. We really saw, during our appointment, just how stressed Br_____ is, having to take care of her 3 kids almost on her own. But at the end, the member, Julian Klemm, who is a photographer, wanted pictures of us all, and the kids loved that! Then he offered that he and his wife would come with us on Tuesday (so, tomorrow) and we would all eat together and then teach the children how to pray! And Br_____ loved that, and I love it, and THAT is how members and missionaries need to work together. I am so excited for tomorrow! Br_____ said that she was so happy! What a difference that was to the stress we saw before. She said she was happy that she could become more involved in a group of people like this member. It was perfect. Afterwards, we talked with Julian, and he told us the reasons for his enthusiasm and such. He said that the Baptist church, for example, has great success with African people beacuse they see people up there shouting Hallelujah and loving it! And then he said the hard thing with our church is just when they come and see someone standing at the pulpit, maybe crying, and talking to the people. Of course, shouting and such wouldn't be appropriate at Sacrament Meeting, but we are normal, excited, happy people! And he really showed that to them at the apopintment. It was fantastic. And he said he wants them to see a baptism, even if they have to get them to Munich, so they can just see the gospel in action. It was brilliant! We shall see how it goes :)

 

Anyway, gestern Elder Allan and I tied like 60 ties for a man, C_____, from Nigeria, with whom I met once with Elder Stokes an eternity ago. He knows that Bible! He said that we could ask him any story, and he would tell it to us. First he did Joseph of Egypt. Then we related it to Nephi, the Book of Mormon! I also compared Alma the younger and Saul. And then he took the Book of Mormon, which he didn't last time. That was cool. We helped Neuötting with an Ausstellung, so a booth thing, on Saturday, followed by helping a lady move in Simbach. I had an Austausch with Elder Abbott, who thinks that Justin (Gibbons) might know his uncle, because his uncle, Tim Kuehne, is a squadron commander of refuelers in England right now. Does Justin know him?

 

Um, I am doing great! Don´t worry about me! We have FHE at Pres. Auras´ tonight, so we are excited! And maybe I will buy lederhosen next week! What more could I ask for? I am alive, a little wet, yes, but surviving. It´s great! Hopefully summer decides to come somewhat soon.

 

To end, I just had a great experience in church yesterday. They talked about the temple a lot, for obvious reasons. And I just really missed the temple! I want to go there so badly. I sang the Primary song a lot in my head yesterday. Wish I had a guitar to learn it on... but I was just enjoying the Spirit as I pondered the importance of the temples, and I looked out the frosted glass door and saw how chaotic the weather was outside. I could see the trees going crazy in the wind. But all was peaceful and quiet in the chapel. The Spirit was there, He touched my heart, I was warm, and I was sitting next to S_____ and B_____, who are just trying to follow the Lord in a different land. It was great to think about the peace that the gospel brings. I know that peace can be found in this world, that light will always chase away darkness, and that all things are possible to us through the Atoning sacrifice of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

I hope you have a great week, enjoy school being over (crazy that I have been graduated for two years already!) and tell Nathan to drive safely, Kate to remember what she learns at EFY, etc. Just choose to be happy, ja? That is my goal, to make good choices like that. I choose to be happy, and I choose to work for my Savior. That should bring enough fulfillment in life, oder?

 

I love you all! Keep smiling!

 

Elder Jalen Gibbons

 

PS. Some wisdom from Sister Pingree (a quote she sent me this week): "If you aren´t using your time to make someone else´s life better... you´re wasting it!"