Happy Easter – it vas ferry grate.

/0 Comments/in /by

Elder Anderson was sick for most of the week, so that cramped our style but the weekend came and we had some nice things happen.

Once Anderson got better we decided for a fresh start so we rearranged the apartment. I may have broken a bunch of interior decorating rules but the place looks dang cool and we got “tons of extra room for activities”.

Friday we finally got back to some good finding but the Easter break took people elsewhere and they were replaced by tourists… But on Saturday we talked to a guy from Bayern and told him we were talking about Easter and giving out a book, he said he didn’t really believe in God, so we told him he could try it out. Well he accepted the challenge… too bad he lives in Bayern, and didn’t give us his info. But who knows 😉

Sunday there was a baptism! The other Elders in our cozy little 4 man district baptized a girl from Kazakhstan who’s lived in Germany for the last 9 years or so. It was a really cool baptism, it was really a special day for her.

For someone who’s been searching for the truth she said she didn’t think she would find it right across the street. (She lives straight across from the church)

Perspective is always everything, right now is important, but the eternal prospective is the one that matters. Problems of life become smaller and smaller as we determine what we really want in life.

Elder Winkel

Today for P-day we met as a zone with a bunch of YSAs and played football, like real football, pigskin and all.

YSAfootballBaptismEastersurpriseRearrangedapartment

Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung

/0 Comments/in /by

Right now we are doing a “40 day fast” where a different member fasts for the missionary work each day. And the goal is to give out 40 Book of Mormons in these 40 days. It’s been quite the blessing to have some of the members get excited about missionary work.

Tuesday we got the first Book of Mormon out, for that was itself a miracle. We had to both be in Hamburg by 1 for our exchanges with the Zone Leaders, so we only had an hour or so to do some street contacting but with the help from upstairs, we were able to give one out. Throughout the week we have been able to give out 5 Book of Mormons. And I cannot say it was because of what I did that is for sure. Each book we gave out came along with its own small miracle. Whether it was the husband saying yes to his wife that said no, or us only having 15 minutes to find, with no one on the street, but 1 of the 2 people we talked to accepted a copy. The miracles are not as transparent as I often think.

Unfortunately we haven’t been able to make an appointment with anyone yet, but only good can come from the work that we are privileged to do.

Saturday we went to help our member to finish off his “wood gathering” for the year, and he happened to have his son-in-law, and some of his grandkids visiting him for the weekend to also help, they are also all less active, which is a little hard to understand because his son-in-law talks about how wonderful his mission was. But it was good that we got to spend most of the day with them, the grandkids are in their twenties and haven’t been around missionaries for a while, so they were able to have some fun with the missionaries and see that we TOO are normal people. (Just a little strange and peculiar…)

To be honest, I’m loving having a car. Finding parking is a game I’d rather not play… but it’s been quite the blessing. Wednesday we drove to Hamburg to practice a musical number we are performing at a baptism, and I’ll have to say driving in a big city really keeps you on your toes!

Right now we’ve be able to make some good friendships with our less actives, it’s really easy to share the gospel with someone when you have a friendship with them.

Because the gospel is a personal thing, we have to teach it on a personal level, without that personal bond, true repentance cannot be taught and will not be accepted. Our investigators need to feel a touch of our love for them before they will choose to accept the gospel in their lives. I have come to love the people of Germany, not that I always react or think the right way when someone speaks rudely to us, but I do love them and if they will give me the chance I will show them that love. As a missionary I get to practice a peek of what the Savior offers to us, his loving hand if we are willing to accept it. There are many around us that need that help, Often these people don’t even seem like they need it, but as we are all called by God to help our fellow man, we need to make sure that we are ready to accept that call.

Were I elect like you,

I would encircle me with love, and raise

A rampart of my fellows; it should seem

Impossible for me to fail, so watched

By gentle friends who made my cause their own.

-Robert Browning

Elder Winkel

-Exchange in Hamburg

-The Elbe

 TheExchangeTheElbe

Gold

/0 Comments/in /by

Not a bad week, Tuesday we were in Hamburg for zone training meeting, where we got to teach old and brand new missionaries in two classes 30 minutes a piece about memorizing the good word (scriptures and such) it was good, and I learned a lot as well.

In other news I received my German license, and have the joy of driving a beautiful 2013 Opel corsa… 0-60km in under 15 seconds. One could call it a dream, or other things… Haha

My wish this week is that we all love people a little more. Forgive the sinners! Help the stragglers! If we apply faith in Jesus Christ more to our lives, we can see why it’s more important that we start working on the dandelions in our own yard. The dandelions we see across the street won’t have as much of an effect on us, and we may come to point where we see that every house in the neighborhood has dandelions!

We all have our struggles, and know our short points. Not as often is it needed that others point them out to us or those around us. But the Lord wants to help us along the way.

The refiner’s fire is real, I’ve seen it on my mission as I’ve searched to come closer to Christ.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

For P-day today we went into the Forest, and the wandering stick I have came out of retirement. We also tracked a family of wild boars that we saw, which then led to us getting lost for an hour…

villageviewforestview

Wonder World with Wunderbehrndt

/0 Comments/in /by

For transfers this week I was up in Hamburg sending off my companion and waiting with the one and only Elder Bailey. Funny story I still don’t have my German license, so it should be here this week, but we had to repark the car. So Elder Bailey got to drive for the first time in Germany by trying to find a parking spot in Hamburg. Eventually we made it… Haha

Elder Behrndt (German) in my district had to pick up his trainee on Wednesday so we picked up my new companion Elder Anderson, and then went back to their area to teach English class and a lesson. We then ended up spending the night there as well.

Right now we are working to get the program up and running, we went back to the forest to do service again, met with the bishop, and a bunch of other members. Now we just need some solid people to teach!

On Sunday I bore my testimony of pondering, before my mission it was a bit of a foreign concept to me, music, sports, friends etc. but on my mission I’ve found so much wonderful revelation through the simple quiet moments of meditation. Not trying to sound like a guru or something haha, but it really is a great time that we can receive personal revelation.

Elder Winkel

Visited Lauenburg for P-day

Elder Anderson worked at Taco Bell… Crunch wrap to the supremeeeee

Elder Bailey

LauenburgpdayElderAndersonTacoBellElderBaileydriving

House Hunters International

/0 Comments/in /by

Transfers came, transfers went. Elder Headley is off to Görlitz, and I will be receiving an Elder Anderson from Texas, I think it will be super.

This week we will be going apartment hunting with a senior missionary couple, pretty much if our current apartment was in America they would have condemned the whole thing by now, along with every building on the block… “How firm a foundation?” Not very…

Tuesday I went on back to back exchanges with the Spanish Elders. With only one lovely meeting that was completely in Spanish so I wasn’t lost. We had a few fallen out appointments – then we met with their solid 23 year old investigator from Kazakhstan, who’s lived in Germany the last 10 or so years. She was actually found by my companion who saw her reading the bible on a train. She’s quite sincere, but boy she had a big problem with the telestial kingdom!

We had some little cards to represent the plan of salvation and she just stared at the whole thing, covered up the telestial kingdom with her hand and such. (Haha) But we were able to clear it up a little with the bible and because she’s so cool, she let us know how she would go home and pray about it. In the lesson there came a point where we brought it back to Joseph Smith and asked her if she believed he was a prophet, she kept insisting “I’ve got no problem with Joseph Smith! That’s obvious and logical that he was.” Then we explained how important that it is that we not only know it in our mind, but also in our heart.

And OH how important that is.

“When the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

May we all think and ponder in our minds that the spirit may testify to our hearts.

 

Elder Winkel

“Get Thee Hence”

/0 Comments/in /by

Hey friends and family!

Last Friday was pretty good, we had a couple cool moments. We were meeting with a member, helping him make an “I’m a Mormon” profile, and we got a phone call from one of our less active members letting us know he wants help coming back to church. And because his mother language is English (he’s from England) he wants to work through us. It really makes me happy to see someone want to make the change themselves but I really hope he’s serious about it.

Also we received a media referral from the church… in November… and no one has been able to make contact with the guy. But since we don’t get those very often we’ve tried to go by every chance we get. We thought the man was dead, but by some miracle he answered and let us know he had received the bible he requested that we stuck in front of his door. Then HE asked US for a copy of the Book of Mormon that I then gladly gave him a copy of. He said he had read about it online and wanted to learn more and made another appointment with us. COOL.

Also service in the woods this week was super sweet, we chopped trees and gathered wood for a few hours, and every once in a while you would see some old German man, dressed all up in his traditional hunting outfit, just walking around with his dog. I felt like I was in Germany or something. (Haha)

I read a talk this week about the adversary, from James E. Faust. He quotes C.S. Lewis’s “The Screwtape Letters” which gives a very good insight to how the adversary tries to work on us.

“In a fictional letter, the master devil, Screwtape, instructs the apprentice devil Wormwood, who is in training to become a more experienced devil:”

“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. … It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. … Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts” (The Screwtape Letters)”

All the adversary wants to do is to take us a little off the straight and narrow, just a look. He knows it might not fully consume us, but it hinders our progression with that slight time we took away from the straight and narrow path, what would we have learned? If I don’t make the scriptures a priority and I skip a day, I will probably not go to hell, but what special insight to my day would have been revealed to me by the spirit? On my mission I’ve been blessed to see the difference it can make, because as a missionary that insight it a vital one.

Elder Winkel

Taking one of the future missionaries from our ward out on the town!

Woods

Boat museum

FutureMissionaryWoods Museum

Allstar Weekend

/0 Comments/in /by

A couple highlights from this week – we found a guy in the area book, went by and he talked to us about how he read the Book of Mormon and how he thought it was good, and how humans are just slaves to aliens and that’s where the pyramids come from. Yeah, it took a quick 180°… but we made another appointment out with him not knowing what to expect. Turns out he’s a pretty interesting guy, he bounces a lot from topic to topic. I think he’s read everything that has come in his path. He believes very strongly that the Catholic Church isn’t true. He made it clear quite a few times… “Ja und der Krezzug…”(the crusades… luckily I learned the vocabulary thanks to Indiana Jones) well we figured out that we could throw the topic around and he wouldn’t notice either, “yeah the Holy Grail, if the Book of Mormon is true that means Christ visited the Americas…” We have another appointment, not really sure how much interest he has but we will see.

We visited a really cool member family this week, the wife cooked us some dang good lamb, and the husband invited us next week to go with him into the woods to chop trees, so it should be a good week. This week I thought a lot about personal progression, and what I found is that it really is amazing that we can progress and improve, seeing our progression is only half of our struggle, I believe those around can often see it better than we can. When we look to compliment others and move forward in faith, we can all come closer to reaching our goal of eternal life. Together.

Elder Winkel

Our area gets split by what use to be East and West.
Also a member tried to kiss me this week, luckily she was only 7…
We drove to Kiel on Tuesday for a zone conference.

57bc4456-bda4-497e-9825-ca74bab5f3407yearoldEldersincar

Hamburg

/0 Comments/in /by

It was a fun week, the downside was I was sick for most of it, but it
still was a lot of fun.

On Tuesday we traveled to Hamburg for my nice little 6 hour meeting, and
it was actually pretty good, we read from the scriptures, did role
plays, talked about the Savior – so pretty much all that a good meeting
should have. After the meeting I had an exchange with Elder Winter
from American Fork, and after the busy day, we picked up some Burger
King.

The next day Elder Winter and I went and visited a less active member
that we heard was pretty cool. Turns out he’s now an atheist that’s in a
heavy metal band. At first we didn’t know what to expect because he’s
this pretty big guy all covered in tattoos. But he was just a lovable
nice guy! He had a really nice apartment and we talked for a long
time. He said he wasn’t going to come back to church, but he said if
he did, it would be back “to the Mormons.” Haha
I was again reminded to never judge somebody right off the bat, because
you never know what you are going to get, it’s like a box of
chocolates or something…

At the end of our day we hit the streets going by contacts. We decided
to talk to this guy, turns out he’s from the Netherlands, has a
Book of Mormon, and had looked into our religion before. Elder Winter
and I didn’t do anything special, just bore simple testimony like we
always do. It was a cool moment to give someone Pure testimony about
the restoration, because when brought to the hearts of the elect it is
the key to conversion.

I’m grateful for all my friends and family. It’s really nice to know
that I always have some love being sent from home. 😉

Elder Winkel??

Hamburg
HamburgmeetingMetalHamburgSelfie

Wooh

/0 Comments/in /by

Right now I’m on a train back from Hamburg, we met up with some missionaries and visited a church, and wandered all around.

This week we met with as many members as we could, and it paid off well. Monday night we went over to a member’s house for FHE. We taught a small lesson out of preach my gospel, and it went quite well. But what was cool was afterward I got to talk with their son, he’s 20 and getting ready to go on a mission and he’s such a cool kid. I told him how fun a mission is, and all the cool people you meet. He’s already excited so it was awesome to tell him more about it!

Saturday we met with a lady we found last week doing doors. She’s from the Philippines and she met with the missionaries there when she was 17 but didn’t remember anything that they talked about. Now she just wants to follow God, and to raise her kids with the same belief.

As she reads in the bible she tries to follow everything it says. She told us she doesn’t know why her church (not naming any names…) has statues of Jesus inside if the bible talks about not worshiping idols. She said “I don’t think you need a carved piece of wood to pray.” So we looked at her and said “yeah! You’re completely right”.

She believes so strongly in personal revelation, I think she’s ready to put the Book of Mormon to the test! 😉

Right now we’re trying to get as many of the members as pumped about the Book of Mormon as we are! So we’re trying to get them all reading every day! My number one goal right now for when I am home is that I will read in that wonderful book every day! It opens your mind, it warms the soul. If you don’t think it does… then try it out! I know it’s brightened my life.

Elder Winkel

EldersinHamburgChurchinterior

Lauenburg

/0 Comments/in /by

The first week in Lauenburg has come and gone… And thank goodness!
I’m not a big fan of adjusting, so it’s been good to get a little
settled in. Having a car is weird, our city is too small for us to
work in so “dorf hopping” we go! We drive around to all the little
villages and knock knock knock.

Also the goodbyes on transfer day to my boys Burns, Perkins, and
Pilling, were not very fun… We’ve been pretty close for the last 3
transfers (our area has only been 15 minutes from each other). On the
good side I heard our Russian investigator was at church yesterday! Oh
I was so happy.

This ward has a lot going for it at the moment, the members are really
willing to help us out. We were actually surprisingly busy this week,
going from appointment to appointment. That has probably been the
biggest adjustment along with the fact I’m in West Germany again.

We made some good contact with some less actives, one of which
wants us over for lunch next week, and has an idea of a friend she
wants to invite over. That appointment started out interesting! She’s
about 90 and can’t hear very well, so at the door when we tried to
tell her who we were but she couldn’t understand us from the second story
window, then she says something like “well I can’t hear a single word
you’re saying…” and then threw the keys to her house down to us. As
we finally got upstairs we got the “OHHH the Elders.” A very sweet old
women. She took care of her husband for years who had dementia, for
quite a while he had no idea who she was, which was definitely a trial
for her. Turns out she’s not completely less active, she just has to get
her nonmember son to drive her the 30 minutes, which isn’t easy. But
she has a wonderful testimony, and is excited to have us over next
week!

We were doing some doors, and a guy told us “you could try my
neighbor, he’s a Jehovah’s Witness” well super, so we took some
guesses of which house was his, and found him pretty quickly… I’ll
be completely honest, I have no idea what this old man’s motives
were… to scare us, agree with us, thank us, or kill us. Who knows? But
for 20 minutes he ranted about everything from WWII to Health care. In the
end he shook our hands and wished us the best of luck. Yep.

On Wednesday we went to Hamburg to watch the broadcast of the
Missionary conference which was great! The last time I was in Hamburg
was about a year ago, so it’s interesting to see it again.
Anyway, I loved what Elder Bednar said, he talked about “conversion is
always a miracle” and it really is, not just because it’s not a common
thing, but because someone is directing their lives in the direction
of Christ, and making those “changes in the natural man” that are
necessary for salvation and exaltation. Which is where pure happiness
is found.

With love,
Elder Winkel

Took the new district out bowling!
BowlingwithnewdistrictBernburgBuddies