Good-bye Offenbach and Hello Hamm, Germany

Sorry I didn't write last week.  My companion and I went to the Frankfurt temple and then I  had a really bad case of the stomach flu last week, and spend the whole night throwing up 5€ Chinese Food, cant say I have to much of a desire to eat there anytime soon!

But in other news....

I am being TRANSFERRED! I'm going to be taking my talents up North to Hamm in the Dortmund zone! It is going to be crazy but I'm super excited for the adventure. My new area borders the Berlin mission.

Well the Gemeinde (Church Branch)  was super awesome my last day here, a lot of the members came over and said that they really enjoyed having me in the Gemeinde! That was really cool for me to feel like I had been a part of helping bring the work forward here in Offenbach. 

I have to say I have learned so much here and my testimony has been so strengthened. I have never lived in an area where you can walk out the door the first person you see will harass you because you wear the name of Jesus Christ on your name badge. Or bash with you that Jesus Christ is nothing more then a prophet and that you are being closed minded for believing such a thing. What an amazing opportunity it has been to share my testimony that HE LIVES, he is my Savior and Redeemer, he atoned for my sins and he will come again to establish his kingdom here on the earth. There is no other name where by men can be saved! How great is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

I have learned here in Offenbach that even the smallest of acts can make the biggest difference! How that the most important promptings sometimes just seem like simple acts. This last week we were doing a street preach/display and these two mentally handicap men came up and asked us to redeem their bottles of cola for money. It was really excited to help them, but I felt like U should. I went with Elder Hansen, as we were waiting in line to get the money this kid looks at me and say! HEY do you remember me? I couldn't remember him exactly then he said,  "You gave me that book, I still have it!"  He said he had read from it and he thought it was interesting, we invited him to play basketball but he was busy. But what a tender mercy that sometimes when we do small and simple things like talking to 15 year old kids, great things will come to past!

I'm going to miss playing basketball with a bunch of street ballers on Fridays, that has been fun the past 5 months every Friday to play basketball. One of the kids that comes was one of the premier street ballers in Poland, some crazy moves their for sure!!

Overall I'm going to miss the people, RL is still him self but he knows why we are there and he is just stubborn sometimes, Herr GR our other investigator is so humble and feeds us and takes care of us and really loves to listen what we have to say!, President ML has been a blessing to the Branch and it has been fun visiting his family every other week, Troy Murphy our GML (Mission Leader from the Branch)  has been an amazing blessing to the work, his humble service has been a important part in the work, and Elder Overall, I'm going to miss him too! Man we have had some crazy times together and have seen some really miracles here in Offenbach like Herr SD and Herr GR. We had some great laughs too! Every time I think of Monty Python and Quest for the Holy Grail I'm going to always laugh and think of him saying "ahh ahh GRRRRRRRRRRRRaillll!". Love that guy!

I have preached in a Frei Evangalisch Church, I have taught people in their home at the park. I have seen drugs deals. I have had people laugh at me and taunt me. I have seen someone past away. I have see people feel the spirit and have seen people come to Christ, humble themselves and be made whole through the Atonement....

That's a lot of stuff for MY FIRST AREA!

Cant wait for HAMM!!!

Love 

Elder White

Translated an hour long church meeting in German, ate raw steak.....

WELL HOWDY!!

Well this week has been a pretty good week! We found a new investigator and his name is Herr GR, he is awesome! He is from the States but has a German wife and two kids. One of his daughters went to school and Arlington and she and I talked about Texas for a while! It was awesome! Me and Elder Bulkley had visited him our first week here in Offenbach. He really didn't have much interest but then Elder Overall came in and wanted to meet with him again! We set up the appointment and the funny thing was that he wanted to feed us and asked us what we wanted so Elder Overall joking said that we would like steak. He said "Of course!!!!" So we went to his home and ate steaks! My steak was like a category above raw and I was a little nervous eating it, but I was just praying silently "Heavenly Father you promised to keep me safe and protected." Nothing happened afterwards so that was a miracle. (Ryan has a history and an immense fear of throwing up that is why this is such a big deal to him.) But when we met with him, we invited him to take the lessons and he accepted and said that he would be interesting in hearing about what we believe. He is very impressed with our desire and willingness and how we present ourselves. Miracle!

Yesterday, (Sunday) I had a the opportunity to translate sacrament meetings for a couple from St George Utah here in Germany watching their John Deere Tractor at the factory in Mannheim being made. They were such a sweet couple. We couldn't get the translation headsets to work, so we had to sit behind then and translate. I was so nervous, because I have only been here in Germany for 4 1/2 months. We started and the first speaker was talking so fast and I turned to Elder Overall and said hey man I need you help I can't do this. He started taking over and the man, his name was Brother Howard, turned around and said to me "Keep trying, its good practice, he said you can just translate for me." Before this  all happened I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me and bless me with the ability to translate. I knew that now was the time to show my faith. So I started translating, slowly but surely I was saying the exact same things as Elder Overall and it was becoming easier and easier. Even when a sister in the ward got up and started talking super fast I was able to translate. When I started to doubt myself, that's was when it got harder to translate but when I had faith it was like the words were just coming to me. My translation was not near perfect at all, but I could fill the Lord quicken my mind and I felt the power of the gift of tongues, realizing I have only been here in Germany for 4 1/2 months and I translated sacrament meeting. What a amazing experience. 

Yesterday another cool experience happened. We were in the hills out in Bayern driving around and travelling to visit less actives. Then all of the sudden I had to prompting to go and visit a less active member of the ward. I told Elder Overall and we went directly there, she is a lady from Kenya and she has struggles with inactivity because she got offended by a member of the ward. We walked up to the door and as we went to ring the door, she just opened it!! She was so excited to see us and see that we had made the trek out to her town to visit her. She said she was happy and said we could meet and talk!!! We prayed together and left her with a smile on her face! It was so cool!!

Well this week has been full of ups and downs, but what I do know is that this work is driven by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He prompts us and guides us, he blesses me with the ability to speak German and learn this language super quickly. He blesses me everyday with the spirit that leads me to find those people looking for answers in life. How humbled I am to be here in Germany and how humbled I am to have this opportunity to serve a mission. There is no greater joy then serving the others and the Lord for 2 years of your life! 

I know this gospel is true and this work is true, Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer. I don't know how many drops of blood he split for me but what I do know is that I can repent and be clean because of him.

Love, 

Elder White

Successful Street Display

HOWDY YALL!!

Well this week has been another week of miracles and progress here in Germany!! 

This last Sunday we just received two new Senior Missionaries couples because we needed more priesthood support in the Branch. One is an old Dean of students from SVU!!!! (SVU is where Ryan attended school last year) so we have two knights he in Offenbach. The other couple, the husband actually served in Offenbach in 1966!!! Its crazy. Oh and they also have a son who lives and Richardson! The couples are the Kragels and Billouphs. We also got a new Branch President and so things are going to change a little here in Offenbach. Troy says that I'm going to get transfer this cycle so we will see if his prediction is correct!! 

Well lately things have been good, everyday is filled with stuff for us to do, like finding or lessons with members or less active member work. We have over 300 names on the list and so for the past 2 Sundays we have been spending 3 hours driving and visiting these people. So far we have found out that over half the ward list has moved, crazy stuff!!! But it will help us focus our efforts on those members that are still here and need the gospel back in their lives!

This week we finally got to meet with a less active member named JN. He is a pretty cool guy, he is 18 and has been living alone for a year or so. He is a less active and we are hoping that we can help. His apartment defiantly looks like a 18 year old living alone, to say the least!!!!!

Also this week we met with our investigator Herr SD, unfortunately he didn't come to church this week, but we have another lesson tomorrow, so we are hoping that everything goes well!!

We did a awesome street display this week in a city called Aschaffenburg. We really were kind of helter skelter, and we were all late and only had 2 hours left. But then we started handing out Books of Mormon and we got 25 out!!! with just us 4 missionaries!! It was so cool to see the people really open up. I stopped a man and he really didn't have interest. but as he was walking away I just started bearing testimony. He said "I'm catholic I don't need it." Then words just started to come out of mouth and soon he was coming back and listening. I ended up giving him a Book of Mormon to him. It was crazy how his entire mood changed suddenly and his heart was softened. The power of the spirit in the conversion process is real!!

Well I had a really cool experience this week. We were Alzenau and decided to go by a potential investigator Herr SL. He let us in and he was alone, we started talking about the gospel and then all of the sudden, he opened up to us about his childhood and how he was abandon and how he has lost everything. He said how he felt like God was there but that he didn't think he loved him. The whole time I was sitting there kind of quiet. Then I had this overwhelming feeling to promise him something. Finally I looked him in the eyes and told him "Herr SL as a Representive of Jesus Christ, I promise you if you will pray tonight, you will feel that you have a Heavenly Father and he is there." He felt something, because I felt something. I called him the next day and he said that he felt good that night after he prayed.

I leave my testimony this week that this work is real and that we really do have a loving Heavenly Father and he is there for us! He is always mindful of our challenges and struggles and he is striving to make us to best man or woman we can be, I would challenge all to pray daily and ask Heavenly Father to help you recognize his love. As we begin to see those tender mercies (blessing in our life) we will begin to realize that he LOVES US

Love yall

Elder White