Well first off we got a referral last week, he’s a refugee from Afghanistan, he’s actually the son of an ambassador there but people wanted to kidnap him so he came here! He’s Islamic and has really good English, he mostly wants friends and people to talk to so I guess we work. But we talked about God with him for about an hour so it was really cool.

Berlin! Well because of the train system strikes in Germany I got to buy another ticket there… so we took a 5 hour bus ride instead of a 3 hour ICE (Inter-City-Express) train ride… but it was okay because we got to hang out with our zone leaders, then we went and got Burger King. Then the office Elders came and picked us up and took us to their apartment, really cool and really big. Then another 6 elders got in late and had to crash with us too.

The next morning a bunch of old couple missionaries came and took us to the church, and I got to see everyone, super sweet.

The meeting was titled “Disciples in the Digital Age” and we’re supposed to get iPad’s in a week or so and we’ll be on facebook. But it was also the last time the entire mission would be together with President Kosak. It was really cool to see and talk to him again. He told us with all the internet and such that we will be using he has our complete trust, and the area seventy that was there added “President Kosak also told me he knows 16 ways to kill a man”. Then President from his seat nodded his head shot us with a pretend gun and blew the smoke from the barrel, all with a smile. I died laughing, really though, I died.  I have so much love/fear of President Kosak, he makes us want to be obedient, which is really important to a mission.

We also had Stake Conference on Saturday and President was also at that, he told the members to trust us with an analogy “when a bird builds a nest, it doesn’t rely on the branch, it relies on its wings” so hopefully more members will start trusting us. The members where I’m from all love him because he grew up in their Stake. Stake Conference was really cool too, because the Stake is so big they held it in a theater in Leipzig.

At the end of our meeting President Kosak said to not forget that we are children of God, I am a son/daughter of God, we’ve heard it all our lives, but do we really realize how important and big that really is? He told us to “remember to know that you know.” I know that what he said is true, we can always remember and rejoice because no matter what happens in the end, in the beginning we are children of God.

Lead kindly Light

Elder Winkel

This week we were in Braunschweig until Wednesday, Elder Brimhall’s surgery went super, and he got to keep the metal rod! Then Sister Kosak had us spend another day in the apartment in Braunschweig, while Elder B was asleep I studied and played with a soccer ball because the apartment there is huge! The next day we had a few hours before his checkup so we went to Primark! It’s like Macys but everything’s super cheap. I bought two ties for 5 euro! And then went to his checkup, then on the 5 hour train ride home some drunk couple was yelling at each other (in German so it was pretty intense) for like an hour…  It was a long ride.

We got to teach one of our old guys this week, really though he’s super old, he lives alone and his wife died about 5 years ago. He’s pretty open but I think it’s because he has nothing else to do, but we taught him the plan of salvation and he agreed and liked most of it, but he’s still not sure about the Book of Mormon, so he said he would keep reading and praying.

Our other old guy (that waved us down from the window) actually looks about 90 but it turns out he’s only 55. He has diabetes and smokes and drinks a ton. The man has crates and crates of alcohol in the room. He said his doctor said if he quits drinking he will die… so he needs quite a bit of help. Two of the three times we were there he was drinking, so it will be hard but we have faith in him! On Friday we went street contacting but there was no one anywhere… after about 30 minutes we noticed someone behind us and it was one of our less actives with his girlfriend! He was on his way to go buy a ring because I guess he’s now engaged. Way cool.

Then we decided to walk by the huge church in the city and some old couple came and asked if the church was open, we told them we didn’t know because it wasn’t our church. Then they asked where we were from and it turns out they were in California and the Grand Canyon last year. Then the lady talked about those weird and crazy Mormons that crossed the plains, then she asked what church we were from. “Wir sind die mormone”. She was a little shocked and tried to recover by saying they were “the nicest people she’s ever met”… haha but they were nice and it gave us a chance to explain who we are.

Also we found out more info about Mission Conference on the 24th in Berlin! Because the whole mission will be there they’re assigning where missionaries outside of Berlin will be spending the night, so Elder B and I will be staying with the AP’s, our Zone Leaders, and the office Elder in the Mission home. It’ll be way cool.

For church yesterday we watched the Conference Sunday afternoon session, but I could not stay awake because it was in German… I can understand quite a bit but in the background you can kind of hear English, then mix that with what I can’t understand, then my head dies… But it was funny when Uchtdorf spoke in German… the ward died laughing!

This week we go to Braunschweig one more time for one last checkup. That also means 9 hours of being on a train that day, but it will be good.

This week I studied about humility. Ether 12:27 talks about if we humble ourselves the Lord will make our weakness our strengths. Our weaknesses are what keep us from reaching our full potential, but when we humble ourselves and ask the Lord to help us He WILL help us reach our potential. Our Savior Lives! Easter is over but the time to celebrate that He Lives isn’t, we can always become closer to our Savior.

mit liebe

Elder Winkel

 

We watched the stars all night.

Braunschweig Elders!

Huge apartment! Even had a first floor.

With festival poster.

My first shot at cinnamon rolls.