Elder Grow: Christmas Week

This week was oddly warm. It felt like spring. I remember last December pretty well, and it was cold and rainy and sometimes snowy. So far it has been pretty inconsistent.

Monday was pretty fun! We went to Frankfurt to check out the Christmas Markets there. It’s my last Christmas here, so I have to get some cool things here that are Christmassy. Afterwards, we had an appointment with an investigator named Imad. We read Alma 32 together and talked about planting that which we teach/have taught into his heart and praying to find out the truth of what we are saying. It went really well! We invited him to be baptized on the 30th of January once he received his answer. We promised him that we will help him to get his answer by then. He accepted! He has a long way to go, but I think it will happen eventually. I am excited for him!

Christmas Market

Wednesday, we were able to meet with Imad again. We started from the beginning, starting with the first lesson about the Restoration. Since it has been a while since it was taught and neither of us were there for it, we wanted to get a feel for his understanding. It went really well. I’m pretty sure that he knows that he’s a Christian. Yeah, he is technically Muslim, but I’m sure that he really does believe that Christ is the Son of God. Afterwards, we hurried over to an appointment with our two new investigators. It was our first lesson with them; But, we already talked with them before at the Christmas Party last week. Their names are Mona and Christin. They are so ready to accept the Gospel! It is way cool! We taught the message of the Restoration to them also. They spirit was super strong there. We invited them to be Baptized on the 9th of January. Christin (19) said she would and Mona (57) said, "Why not?" We actually heard from the Young Women's leader that Christin asked her at the Christmas Party how one becomes a member of our Church. I know right? Super cool! Christin went to a YSA (Young Single Adult) activity with a girl in our ward on Thursday. It apparently went really well and she fit in just fine.

Thursday, we had a Zone Conference in Offenbach. It was nice to see three of my old companions there and many more people who I have not seen in a long time. As I was there, I was struck with the realization that I am starting to go into the mission category of 'Old'. There are only 16 transfers in a mission. Each lasts 6 weeks. I’m already in my 10th transfer and I am in the third week of it. Weird. It is odd to talk with missionaries who are younger than me because I am still in the mindset of thinking that everyone is older than me. After the meeting, I went on a split with a Zone Leader. We had a lot of trouble getting home. We were trying to get to Offenbach from Frankfurt and our subway stopped and told us that it could not go further until emergency doctors came. He highly encouraged us all to get off the train and use a different transport. Apparently, a guy jumped in front of a train. Whether it was ours or one ahead of us, we have no idea. All we know is that it took forever to get to Frankfurt. Once we were there, we get on the train to go home and it starts to go. We then realize that after we got on, the train changed its route and we had no idea until it was too late. We then get off at some random sketchy train stop in the middle of nowhere. We then go to the other side and start to wait for the train back. All the trains connected to Frankfurt are somehow delayed because of the “accident”; So, we are standing there forever. During the entire trip, I kept asking myself, "So what is something cool that will come out of this experience? What is the reason for this?" I have seen it many times on my mission where things will go totally different than what you expect sometimes and you will not be able to do anything about it except for just going with it. At the end, something cool usually comes out of it. As was the case for this day. As we were waiting, a couple walk by and I hear the man mumble something about Jehovah's Witnesses. I automatically knew he was talking about us because this happens all the time. I correct him and we had a good conversation with his girlfriend. He did not really have to much of an interest, but he was chill. The girl was 22 and from Lithuania. She was a lot more open. The topic of religion was over after a while and the four of us had a good time talking with one another about other things. They were way cool. We then gave up hope on our train and we took a street train. They helped us get back to Frankfurt and then to the train we needed. They were super friendly and cool and we were able to invite them to Church in Frankfurt. It was pretty cool. Sadly, we were not able to make it to our appointment that night with Alfred.

Saturday, we helped a member move. It was one of the more organized moves that I have taken part of on my mission. It was simple and was not too difficult and there were a lot of people. Afterwards we go home and get ready to go all the way up to a city called Wiesbaden with Mona and Christin to show them how a baptism in our church goes. It was a really great experience for them! They really felt the spirit and thought that it was really great! We were able to talk with them about the experience and testify about the Holy Ghost that they were feeling. They became more excited for their own baptism. We then traveled home. Trains were super late and it took a while to get there and back, so that was our day. It was neat to see them get excited about their baptism though! I think I will be seeing my first baptisms on the mission soon. We just got to keep them strong. They have great member involvement and they even came to church on Sunday. Again, they really enjoyed it and it was a wonderful experience for them. Super cool!

Elder Kitchen and I with our two new investigators going to visit the chapel.
Baptismal date set for next month.

Sunday night, we were privileged to go to an evangelical church to listen to their orchestra and choir sing and play for their Christmas special. A member of our ward was part of the choir and was able to get us in for free. It was really neat!! The music was amazing. At first, I thought it was going to be good but then they started playing. Then, I realized, they were good. Like, really good! It was absolutely amazing. They sung everything in English and it caught me off guard. They sung Silent Night in German, of course. I mean, you have to use the original text. But yeah, it was really good! They read pieces of the Christmas story in the Bible in between pieces and it really showed me that as long as truth is being spoken, the Spirit will still be there to testify that Jesus is the Christ. Pretty cool.