This week was good being healthier! Fever is gone – just respiratory issues but I’ve been dealing with that since last May.

I will be baptizing M***** on Saturday. I’m super excited for him, it’s been cool to see all the changes he’s made in his life and all the blessings that have come. Taking your records out from the church is quite the hassle if you decide to come back.

We went by *K**** and taught him the second lesson and it went well! Also he got moved into a big room that he only has to share with one guy! Because he doesn’t smoke he talked with the head guy and now he doesn’t have to share a small room with six guys! He said in *Eritrea (see below) he smoked and his mother told him that she would not love him anymore if he kept smoking so he quit. He’s seen the blessings of the Word of Wisdom and we haven’t even taught it yet!

He also came to church and brought a friend! We had a member that was able to bring them so they got up early and ran a couple miles to where our member could pick them up and they said they both enjoyed church. We will go visit them again this week.

I gave a talk in church! My theme was the talk President Boyd K. Packer gave at the October 2014 Conference “The Reason for Our Hope.” The Savior and His Atonement are our reason! We need to never forget that the Savior has paid the price for all us.  And that the Atonement can do more than help us with repentance.

We had seven ward members have the flu (it’s all over Germany) so we only had 25 show up with 3 of them being investigators. L**** came too! We are going to try and get her to set a baptismal date.

 

Elder Winkel

 

Photo “Desribe my experience in Minden with one bus stop” (the vodka…haha)

 

*K**** (excerpt from letter January 5^th)

We took a bus about an hour out to a town called Lübbecke, at the bus station from Minden we met a guy named K****. He is from a country on the Red Sea. When he was a teenager he got arrested for fighting the government and spent a year in prison, then 3 months in solitary confinement where he was only fed 1 piece of bread a day… he said when you begged for more food they would come in with rifles and shoot at the ceiling. Then a couple years ago (he’s like 28 now) his mom paid to smuggle him out of the country by boat, the boat capsized and most of his friends died. He was then rescued by the Italian navy, and later made his way to Germany. He told us that God has saved his life for a reason. He’s been in Germany for a year now and is saving money for his family so they can come here eventually. He told us all this on the bus ride to Lübbecke where he lives in immigrant housing. We asked him about his living conditions and he said he doesn’t think about it much because complaining about it won’t help the situation. He said we could meet later in 2 weeks, and he loves to meet with people like us because we give him moral support! We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he said when we come that we can bring him a copy! He was a way cool guy!

*Eritrea

Eritrea is a country in the Horn of Africa. Its capital is Asmara, it is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the South, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea, across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands. Its name Eritrea is based on the Greek name for the Red Sea (Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα Erythra Thalassa), which was first adopted for Italian Eritrea in 1890.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea

This week we had the chance to go visit B**** and see how he was doing. He got moved to a city pretty far away, so we went and read some scriptures with him. He shared the story of when he was going to be smuggled into Italy, he was placed in a boat and he prayed that God would lead him to where he needed to go. Some men came and kicked him out and put him in a small seemingly unsafe boat. But when they left a giant wave came and capsized the boat he was originally on and everyone died. His little boat made it safely to its destination. We never know which path is the right for us but if we put our faith in God he will lead us to where we need to be. Even if the path seems harder.

I’m getting a little sick so hopefully it’s nothing Big! Tomorrow we have zone training meeting in Hannover! And interviews with President Kosak! I love our President He really does care about us as missionaries, and it means a lot to me.

L**** (from Ghana) has now came to church twice! Her daughter (10) enjoyed primary as well! This week we had the most people we’ve had a church since I have been here! Fifty-seven! With three investigators! L****, her daughter, and a ten year old whose parents won’t let him get baptized yet…. last week we only had sixteen members at church with four investigators.

Germany is great – a lot of work, but I love it and the people!

Elder Winkel

This week has been kind of long, but immer gut! Elder Paul is pretty cool and he’s been on his mission for 17 months so das ist toll auch. His first name is Hunter too. Unfortunately he came sick – pretty sick, so we’ve been inside for about 4 days now. We went to the doctor this morning and it turns out he has the flu so a few more days, just working on staying busy and not getting sick!

I forgot last week we contacted a guy on the street and he just kept staring at my name tag. His name is Dennis Winkel! He accepted a Book of Mormon, and we never heard from him again but still cool! (I shook his hand – that was funny)

Not much to say so I thought I would send you pics of our apartment…

Wish us good health!

I love being a missionary!

Elder Winkel

We have a grilled cheese maker, that’s pretty cool.

It’s been quite a week so anyone feel free to write… haha

For New Year’s, we went to a members house and made pizza! That was way fun, then we got dropped off at our apartment at 9 and tried to go to bed…. but fireworks here go ALL night, I can only imagine how it is in the big cities like Berlin! The next morning was rough! We went outside to find nobody anywhere, and just fireworks and alcohol bottles everywhere, EVERYWHERE. So we decided to just pick up trash for a few hours, a lady came up to us and looked really confused “are you just picking up trash?” yeah. Then she asked if we had an extra bag that she could use as she walked home so we gave her one!

We took a bus about an hour out to a town called Lübbecke, at the bus station from Minden we met a guy named K****. He is from a country on the Red Sea. When he was a teenager he got arrested for fighting the government and spent a year in prison, then 3 months in solitary confinement where he was only fed 1 piece of bread a day… he said when you begged for more food they would come in with rifles and shoot at the ceiling. Then a couple years ago (he’s like 28 now) his mom paid to smuggle him out of the country by boat, the boat capsized and most of his friends died. He was then rescued by the Italian navy, and later made his way to Germany. He told us that God has saved his life for a reason. He’s been in Germany for a year now and is saving money for his family so they can come here eventually. He told us all this on the bus ride to Lübbecke where he lives in immigrant housing. We asked him about his living conditions and he said he doesn’t think about it much because complaining about it won’t help the situation. He said we could meet later in 2 weeks, and he loves to meet with people like us because we give him moral support! We taught him about the BofM and he said when we come that we can bring him a copy! He was a way cool guy!

This week we’re going to Hamburg for mission tour! About 1/3 of the mission will be there so that is going to be awesome! And next week is transfer calls so we will see what happens. Elder O’Keefe has been in Minden for 6 months! So…

Congrats to Kevin for getting Engaged! I wish them the best!

Love Elder Winkel

 

I don’t have much time for a big email this week I actually got a lot of emails that I’m trying to reply to … 35 actually. I’m sending home my Christmas card today!

Zone conference was like a party! Way fun! I love our President and his wife so much. We had a lunch, watched Christmas videos, and had like a four hour devotional. President told us a little about his life story with pictures, then we got our packages! Way COOL.

Birthday was good! My comp made french toast! We had an investigator come to church named R****. He’s this middle age black dude from Trinidad that I honestly thought was homeless. We asked him if we could meet with him and he said “how about I just come to church on Sunday?”  Way cool! We met him at the bus station and his long dreads were all tied up and he was wearing a suit! We watched the Christmas devotional from the Conference Center for Sunday school and Priesthood! I think he really enjoyed it. He said he would come back for the whole time next week and that we could call him this week also!

M***** started to move into his new apartment! And he’s going to Histoinia(Estonia?) with that member this week! The member owns his own business and is taking M***** along for some work! We’ve taught him all the review lessons and he’s come to church both weeks so we just need to hear from the Stake President about when he can be rebaptized!

Love you all and thanks for all the birthday emails!

Elder Winkel

 

Visited Detmold again with Elder Barrios (from Timpview) on exchanges! So much fun!