Zone Training...Watched the movie "Meet the Mormons" and busy with 2 investigators

Well here it is again, the day that mothers wait for! Emailing TIME!!

Well it has been another exciting week I'm going to have to go through
it play by play!

Monday-Tuesday
We had Zone training and got to Watch Meet the Mormons!! So good!
anyone who is not a member of the church and wants to learn more about
WHO ARE THE MORMONS!! Go and watch it, you won't be sorry. I have to
say I teared up a little when they were talking about the Berlin
Airlift, because those are the same people I am serving right now, the
grandkids and great grandkids! Wow and also the part about the mom
dropping her son off at the MTC. It reminded me so much of what I went
through with my family! On top of watching that we also got to talk
a lot about planning and diligence! I was pretty great!

Wednesday
We went by our investigator NR and taught him as best we could,
because he doesn't know German and then later that evening went on
splitz with the Elders Quorum. Elder Basinger and I went with Bruder
W, he is so cool!!! I love that guy!! We met with a kid who is 24
and less active and Bruder W got us in door when his friends were
over, it was so cool! He is like a brother to the Missionaries!

Donnerstag
We made our invitations to the Munster Elders baptism on Saturday, we
were hoping to get some of our investigators to the baptism. Then we
went and met with the F family and played Easter Egg Hunt with
his smoking stuff. So for ever smoking thing (lighters and old boxs
and ash trays) we gave him american Easter candy! It was awesome and
he really enjoyed it. Later we rode to NR to drop off a invitation
at his house. Then had American Game Night at the church,but no one showed up.
We got to work on that this week!

Freitag
Went to do service at Warenkorb a ArmeKuche for people in Ahlen. We
always get free stuff mostly food. Then we tried to meet
with Frau A. but she was in a bad mood, because Friday we had a
solar eclipse. But we saw nothing because of thick fog! It was kind
of a weird day. Ended it off with the street display in Hamm where we
met RY.

Samstag
Tried to finish Weekly Planning but ended up heading to the baptism
early to help fill the font. Even though it wasn't our baptism, we had
RE and NR come and watch. Rosie came with her two sons (she is
the lady that knocked on the church door a couple weeks ago) we didn't
think she would come. Her sons were awesome though and I sat next to
them and kept them entertained. Sister Wulff was there and immediately
befriended RE. Sister W is awesome,  she is always watching out
for the missionaries because she has a son in New York on a mission
right now! She says that she takes care of us because she knows that
our moms pray that someone will watch out for us. She says she prays
that same thing will happen to her son and that some mother will watch
out for him! She is awesome!

Sonntag
Crazy day, miracle after miracle, RY that guy from the street
display came to church! When we met from the street display, he was nuts
then, talking about fighting Satan and what not! I gave him a card and
thought I would never see him again! I was wrong he called and met us
a Bahnhof  (train station)  and came to all 3 hours of church. He was dressed so
interestingly, he had tiger stripes cut out of his jeans and a sweater with
two guns that said BANG BANG, then on top of that had a NeoNazi shirt
on. But wow! He is amazing, he knows so much about the gospel and God
and he is truly a god fearing man. RE came to church and loved it! We
didn't talk to much to her because Sister W was helping her out,
which was awesome! Then N. came to church!! He got to Skype with
the Romanian missionaries and it went great he was so happy! After
church we took home RY and thought we probably wouldn't see him
again, then he called us 30 minutes later and said he wanted to meet
that night and that he found his Book of Mormon. He met us at Bahnhof (train station)
and started talking about his life and his struggle with Heroin and
every drug know to man. He said he was Muslim and that he was open to
hearing about our church and that he likes us. He  loves techno music and showed
us his dance moves yesterday! It was awesome, he even called us today
to schedule an appointment.

What a crazy week, I feel so humble to be able to find people like
RY and RE and teach them. They are truly those that were
prepared before this earth to come and receive the gospel. They may
come across different  BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! Aren't we all
different, it doesnt matter if you wear your clothes
backward, if your a skinhead or a catholic priest. Everyone is a child
of God. everybody is searching for something and they don't know what
it is! The gospel is for all! So I would challenge everybody, next
time you see a guy or girl with tatoos and piercing and what not,
 try thinking "wow they are a child
of god just like me" try and teach yourself to love them like your
Heavenly Father loves them. Because he loves us all perfectly!

Love you all
Elder White

Landscape skills came in handy...service is sometimes rewarded with full bellies.

Diese Woche war ein sehr interessent woche, da stimmit!

I was thinking about writing it all in German but then only the Hein's and a couple other people would be the only one able to understand it, so i won't..ha ha

Well anyways this week has been great! first off we got to do service at Waren Korb, where the sell day old food to homeless people here in Ahlen. Those old ladies always give us so much free food and they leave us super full. Also that day a lady from the ward gave us some money to go buy döners! It was sick!

Then we got to go on splitz with the Elders Quorum which was super fun, I got to go with Bruder Wulff who is such an amazing member of the church, he is almost 80 and walks around like he is 60. Germans really take good care of themselves, other then the smoking hahah But we visited a couple families and had a great time trying to find the Bishop's house in the middle of no where. Bruder Wulff doesn't know any English which actually wasn't a big deal!

Then on Thursday evening we did another splitz with Bruder Knoll and Bruder Upmeier. It was an interesting evening. We visited the Diekmanns, they are this hilarious old German couple that are so go with the flow and make you laugh constantly!

Friday we ended up doing garden work for 2 hours and I pulled our this huge stump and we pulled weeds and stuff! It was so much fun, we worked till the sun went down and then Frau Ameling feed us food and we taught her a lesson about faith and Gods plan for us! It was awesome. That day she was in a really bad mood when she showed up and granted we were late, but he was complaining, but we were persistent on doing work. 2 hours later she was so happy and smiling and having a great time talking. It is crazy how much service can change someones attitude!

Below is excerpt from the email Elder White wrote to Dean.  I had to add this because Elder White told us he was Never doing landscape work again.  He was so burnt out on it from having his landscape business since he was 14 years old.....time and perspective changes everything...

"Well this week I have been using my landscaping skills. We have little tools and supplies but we have a rake and an ax and some bags, that's all i need!! I ripped out this stump that another elder thought he could cut in half hahaha. The lady said "Elder Mitchell already tried to take that out" I laughed a little and said don't worry I will have it out in a second, I just did what you taught me about taking stumps out and 20 minutes and countless taproots later I pulled it out. Elder Basinger said "you went at that like a mad man, that was sweet!" it was fun getting out and remember all the good times we had together working side by side out on the yards. Wouldn't trade those experiences for anything! "

Saturday we went with CO (He is German his parents are the Diekmanns) he is a recent convert and is awesome. We were hoping they would help us set up a lesson for his parents because there are less active but he couldn't think of anything so we sponteously taught him about Alma 32, then we later went and met with the DN Seniors and didn't really know what to teach but we just followed the spirit and ended up reading something from Abinadi. It was pretty sweet! The spirit definitely lead us through that lesson.

Yesterday I taught Sunday school and our investigator NR from Romania came to church. He is amazing I hadn't met him yet because he has been in Romania picking up his wife for a week. We thought he had fallen off the map, then we show up to church and he is there! He doesn't understand German at all,  but the Romainan mission is going to teach him over skype. He rides his bike 15km every Sunday to church to listen to a meeting he doesn't understand. Then rides 15km home. What a testimony! We also taught the F Family, the two investigators with a baptismal date. He is struggling with smoking, but they are reading the scriptures everyday! Its awesome!

The work is moving forward here in Hamm and Ahlen. I inspiring message I would leave this week are from Alma where Moroni is fortifying the cities and villages against the Lamanities. They are digging up mounds and making fences and barricades to protect them against their enemies. I would ask say we need to do the same thing, look at making sure that we wear the full Armour of God when we walk out the door. Don't forget that shield and helmet and everything. And remember when people harass you and tease you because you have strong morals and beliefs remember what Christ said that they hated me before they hated you. This church and gospel is true.

Love yall

Elder White

Lots of Service...using his Height as a conversation piece

Well this week has been another crazy week here in Ahlen. I got to finally meet my new ward yesterday at church. The bishop asked me to bear my testimony right after him since we had fast Sunday yesterday. I got up in front of the congregation and started laughing because the pulpit wasn't big enough and I had to stoop a little to speak into the microphone. But I gave my testimony on the beauty of the sacrament and told the ward how excited I was to serve them. After about everyone and there sister asked me how tall I was, I just started to laugh again because it was a good chance to meet the members of the Gemeinde. So I don't mind it! ( This used to be his biggest pet peeve.  He always said that he felt like a freak show.  I guess he is realizing that he can use that to his advantage) I also met a lady from Kansas City in the Gemeinde and she was super excited to have someone else from the Midwest in Hamm.

The ward here is super awesome, they come and teach with us and we go on splitz with the elders quorum every other week. It has been awesome, they are really proactive about the missionary work here in Hamm.

I went on a split this week with a fellow southerner Elder Windhorst. He is such a cowboy, he only wears his cowboy boots and buckles and he has a mini lasso that he carries with him. He also brought his roping dummy with him to practice. If you aren't careful he will randomly rope you hahah. We had a great split together and he is a pretty awesome missionary. I'm excited to working with him in the ward.

We found a new investigator this week she randomly was just pounding on the church door. For some reason no one else in the meeting heard (we were have a ward mission meeting). We opened the door and she told us she wants to come to church and that she tried last week but no one was here because of stake conference. It was pretty funny, and awesome. We met with her the next day and talked about how she was an old investigator and that she was ready to met again with the missionaries because of dreams she has been having. Crazy stuff, she ended up not making it to church this Sunday, but hopefully we can meet again this week.

We do a ton of service here in Aheln. We work at a soup kitchen on Tuesdays and they give us tons of free food, so our cupboards are always full of random food! Then we bring groceries to a investigator who is a widow and work in her garden. She needs it relandscaped (what a coincidence, I know how to do that for sure!) It has been fun serving so many people and do so much service.

Well this week the coolest thing that happened was pretty small, but we were teaching the lady that is a widow and we teach her on her porch since we can't go inside. She always makes us dinner and we teach the lessons. We challenged her twice to read from the scriptures and she won't. I kept thinking about what to say and wasn't listening, when all of the sudden I thought. "Stop worrying about it and just listen, the Lord will give you what we need". I started listening and then the thought popped into my head "call her and for 10 minutes a day read the scriptures together". I told her that and she stopped making excuses and was excited for it. Then 2 minutes later and she made an excuse why it wouldn't work, but then said "You know, how about you come by tomorrow and we will just read together". We went back by yesterday and read and ate together and challenged her to read with us and she said "You know I can do it on my own, I'm going to read the scriptures and we will talk about it on Wednesday.

So cool how the Lord really does give us what we need when we need it. All we have to do is put our faith in him. Sometimes I want to contact someone and don't know what to say, I start to worry and then I say "It doesn't matter! the Lord will give me what I need!" then I just start talking to them and the words flow out! That is all the Lords asks is that we just trust and him and give everything to him and he will make sure it works out for the best!

Love yall a ton. I want to challenge anyone that reads this email, this evening to give a simple prayer of gratitude. Pray like tomorrow all the things that you are gratiful for and then thank the lord for wont be there. It crazy how being grateful changes everything!!

Love ya

Elder Ryan White

Ahlen, Germany - "Grandma apartment" - On Bikes - New Companion Elder Basinger

Howdy!!

Well I'm here in DORTMUND!!! BVB territory! (Fußball team, one of the biggest in Germany!) It's super cold up here, but the sun comes out a lot more here in then it did in Offenbach!

My new companion is named Elder Basinger he is from Redding, California and did a year of college at BYU IDAHO where he studied Chemistry, he wants to go into medicine to like me! He has 4 older siblings and he is about half my height! He is awesome! We have had some pretty good laughs so far!

Well my new apartment is the legendary Grandma apartment. It was owned by a older women who passed away and the family just left all of her china and stuff there so it is super fancy and really cozy! It is a pretty big change from my last apartment!

The area has two sets of elder like in Offenbach, but we live pretty far away from each other, we live in Ahlen which is a tiny city just outside of Hamm. We have bikes here which is sweet because we ride bikes everywhere we go! These towns up north have tons of bikes and are some of the bike cities in Germany. It is funny because up here we have a ton of farm land and not a ton of auslanders like in Offenbach where a lot of people weren' t from Germany. It is pretty cool!

The ward here sounds like they are super helpful, they do splitz with us every other week and actually drove us to Stake Conference this last Sunday which was awesome! I'm excited to be serving in the Dortmund Stake, because they have a reputation as being the fast growing stake in our mission and the stake president is super excited about the work!

We have two investigators right now that have baptismal dates and actually now have a new progressing investigator. So the work in Ahlen is moving forward!

Well I have already seen miracles here in Ahlen. Saturday we got on the bikes and decided to go and visit our investigator from Romania. We rode for about 25 minutes but when we got their he wasn't there. So we decided to go by and visit a less active that Elder Basinger has been trying to get contact with for awhile. As we went to go and ring the doorbell he just walked outside and said "you caught me about to go for a walk". Then as he was walking away the idea popped into my head "ask him if you can come along" So i asked he said "of course!" we walked and talked for about 30 minutes and by the end of it got his new phone number and invitation to meet! Awesome!

Later we met with Frau A. who earlier that day we had gone and got her groceries for her. We had a lesson with her later that evening on her porch and it went super well she wants to actively investigator the church! What a rock solid Saturday!

I have to say this week I have really strengthened my testimony from the Book of Mormon, the power that the books holds and how the testimony of Joseph Smith strengthens my testimony everyday as a I read from its pages! The scripture I leave with all of you this week is in Proverbs 3:5-6, that when we are diligent in the work and follow the teachings of the prophets that the Lord will provide us with what we need! So many promised blessings!!!!

Love this work and love the people of GERMANY!!

Elder White

Elder White and Elder Basinger

New "Grandpa style" Apartment

Met up with his MTC group on transfer day