I'm Loving It here on my Mission -

Well it has been another eventful week here in HAMM!!!! Loving every
minute of it!!

This week I went on two splitz with the Elders in Hamm. One was
with Elder Cole from Flowermound, Texas and the other was with Elder
Nilson. They were great, it always fun to go on splitz and see how
other missionaries do their work and get new ideas on how to better my
work.

We got a chance to have interviews with the Mission President this
week. He has been interviewing the entire mission this week, about two hundred missionaries.
Afterwards Elder Nilson  and I went on a split in Dortmund. We ended up back at the church with an
investigator, Fatti, and ran into President Stoddard again right as he was
leaving! He saw us and immediately introduced himself to
the investigator and he had his dinner in his hand. Then he looked at
us and said "Are you about to teach him?" we told him yes and he got
this smile on his face and Elder Nilson knew he wanted to take part we
asked him and he said "yes!" By this time my heart starts racing a
little because we are about to joint teach with our mission president.
This is when the rubber hits the road. We sat down in a circle and
began to teach. President Stoddard gave us the reins and we started
teaching the first lesson. Everything was going great the spirit was strong
and President Stoddard was just supporting us with testimony. Then it
had been 30 minutes and it was 8 oclock and he still had a 3 hours
drive back to Frankfurt and his dinner was cold. He had to
leave but before he left, he looked the man in the eye and bore one of
the most humble and powerful testimonies I have ever heard. It was
like this over powering spirit, then got up and gave us a hug and left.
We were all speechless as we sat their quietly let the spirit speak. We
asked Fatti what he felt and he said "I cant describe it" it was so
cool!!!

This is picture of Elder White with Sister Jones a Sister Missionary from Centennial, Colorado and a friend of Grandma Van Wagenen.  This is at the Mission President Interviews.

Later that week we ended up teaching Frau A. again. The lady I
called my German Grandma. We decided that this time we were going to
invite her to be baptized. We started off finishing teaching the
first lesson. Then I felt like it was time. We invited her to be
baptized and she said " I don't want to be a Mormon, I have my faith
already!" I was heartbroken and Elder Basinger started to talk trying to
get to the bottom of the problem. Both of us were taken back, then the
thought popped in my head "She is not becoming a Mormon, she is
accepting the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ." I told that to
her and then she said well "My faith is already strong I have already
accepted him." Then I had another idea, I took the Bible out and laid
it on my hand then said we have no doubt that you have a faith in the
Bible and Jesus Christ. We have seen your faith. We just want to make
it strong. You already have a strong foundation, we just want to
strenghten it. Then I put the Book of Mormon on top of the Bible and
then the pamphlet of restoration. I told  her about how that with
these three things her foundation is secure and rooted deep and that
when Satan tries to attack she will be ready. She then finally said
that when she figures it out that she will get baptized!!! It was
awesome!!!

Sunday was a mad house we had to get to an appointment in Stromberg on
the other side of our area. We rode the train there to Oelda and then
rode our bikes 6km (3.5miles) to Stromberg, then we taught had a super spiritual
lesson with the F. family and then rode back 6km to Oelda. We got
to the Bahnhof and all the trains had fallen out because one had been
derailed. We had an appointment in about 1 and 30 minutes so we
thought to take the bus but knew that would work. So we looked at each other and said we
are going to have to ride, so we rode from Oelda home which was about
28 km (17.5 miles) all together and took about an hour and 20 minutes. We ended up
on being 15 minutes late to our member appointment with the K. family and
they were shocked that we had ridden that far! IT was funny. But
overall we rode about 50km ( 31 miles ) yesterday and we were dead!!

It has been a great week and I'm super excited this next
week we are going to get to hear from an apostle of the Lord, Elder
Bednar. This is a once in a life time opportunity that I'm really
looking forward too!!! The Frankfurt mission is moving into the
digital age!! We will be phasing in IPADS after training from Elder Bednar.

I'm loving it here on a mission, I'm learning so much everyday and
growing and progressing and really learning what it means to feel the
Holy Ghost. I have to say that the experience that we get here out a
mission can not be faked or altered, there is no replacement for it in
the world!! You will never learn to trust in the Lord more then on a
mission. Your faith grows beyond your imagination. Things you thought
were important before the mission fade into the background. All of
your time, talents, energy are focused on the work and it will change
you, only if you let it!! You will never feel so close to your Savior
then when wearing his name on your name tag 24/7. You will never be
able to go back and do it again, I only have once chance to take it and
then make the best of it! I have never regretted a day of choosing to
serve a mission for my Savior and Redeemer. Yeah, people may laugh,
people may joke, people may stare, people may hate. But it was only
because they hated and laughed and pointed at the Savior, first. Everyday
someone makes fun of me or laughs or cusses at me, I take pride in
that chance to experience just a glimpse of what he felt, bleeding from every
pour in the garden of Gethseme or carrying his cross to Calvary. Or
walking the streets in Jerusalem. People call us a
"Jesus freak" or a really lost and confused kid or that I'm brainwashed
or that I'm nuts. But I tell everyone that I know that my Redeemer
Jesus Christ lives, it is because of his gospel that I serve today as
a missionary.

Love yall tons!!

Elder White

Christlike attribute of Patience...Cutting hair...Scraping Popcorn off ceilings

Well this has been another interesting and amazing week here in Hamm!

This week we had to house two elders for about 2 days and then we had to go and clean up their apartment for 3 hours. Fun stuff!! But this week we welcomed Elder Cole from Flower Mound Texas!! 2 Texans Represented in Germany! and Elder Hales to Hamm. Then Elder Ball and Sister
Rowe to Munster!

This week one funny thing happened we helped this family scrap all the popcorn off their ceiling. We went over and they thought it was going to take 5 hours. I told Elder Basinger about how we used a weedkiller spray can then he told the family about it. They were like "yeah! we have one" We used it and finished about an hour later. They were like, man that went so quick, it took us an entire day just to do one wall!!!!! hahaha Wow Dad and Mom thanks for teaching me that little trick, it definitely earned some brownie points with the D. family. 

Also we are doing alot of work with Frau A., We did some garden work and then we got to teach her. SHE IS READING REGULARLY FROM THE BOOK OF MORMON!! It is awesome and she is changing so much, she is so happy now and really full of life. We challenged her to just read a page a day and she was excited about that!! We also went with her to the grave of her deceased husband. We pulled some weeds and then she sat down and talked to us about life and we just talked about everything! It was awesome!! She is such a sweet old woman.

So I have now become the official haircutter for the Hamm district. I cut my hair myself and then since then I have cut two other missionaries hair. It actually is not to bad hahah I have it down to a science now!!

Elder Basinger got really sick Saturday so that kind of put a halt to the work, He was Super Sick but now he is doing better. I got to say I was super bored, I studied then starting making things for my desk out of cardboard. It was interesting to say the least. But Elder Basinger was living the struggle. 

Sunday I got asked to teach Sunday all of the sudden it was crazy but it was fun because I was just teaching the youth about the example that Joseph Smith set for us!!

Other random news, our investigator named R.  called us and said he wants to meet again and talk about God. So that sounds good, the only problem is that we are on his mass text list for all his Skinhead friends and he is the leaders of the group here in Hamm so we get all of his texts about meeting and stuff. He is a funny guy to say the least.

Yeah it has been a crazy week but a really good one, I have learned a lot personally. Lately I have been studying whatever comes to mind during my personal study time. But I gave my first lesson in District meeting about patience. It is one of the christ like attributes in the book Preach My Gospel. It has been something that I have been focusing on for a long time. Because I'm not a patient person. I focused on three aspects of patience (relationships, work, and self). It was awesome how much I learned. It is such a privilege to be here in Germany serving and become like my savior. As I compare myself to what I was like on the beginning of my mission and now it is crazy how I have changed and grown closer to my Savior. And I don't ever want to go back!! I would challenge everyone to get to know the Savior, pick a Christlike attribute from patience, obedience, charity love, knowledge, faith, or hope and study all about it in the scriptures. See what you can learn from his example, it is because of him that we live and can live after this life. 

Love you all,

Elder White

Elder White is now Barber...cut his own hair and other missionary's hair in Hamm, Germany

Elder Basinger and Elder White Selfie while riding Bikes!!

IPADS are coming this month...Finished Reading the Book of Mormon again and just a great week

Hey!!!

Well I don't have a ton of time today because I have to take a train later this afternoon and all of the internet places are closed in Germany because of Easter Montag, (Germany is still Celebrating Easter and it is a big deal) and we are sharing one computer at the church. But I have some huge news!!!!!

THE IPADS HAVE ARRIVED!!! Yes on April 24th the Frankfurt Germany mission is going viral!! David A Bednar is coming to hand them out and orient us on how to use them. Later we will become Facebook Missionaries!! It will be great, and we are super excited.

Next, we had transfers this week and  Elder Basinger and I will be staying here in Ahlen/Hamm and I will be serving as the District Leader.

I has been a crazy week, I wish could write it all down but because of time I can't but what I want to say is that General Conference was awesome and I learned so much! ( General Conference is held 2 times a year in the LDS church. The prophet and apostles of our church give talks and speak and teach members of our church all over the world.)

You would be pretty proud of me Mom and all the notes I took, unfortunately I won't be able to redeem them for candy at this weeks Family Home Evening, but I will go buy myself one and pretend you gave it to me!! HAHA!!

But really though it was great, we spent the night at the Zone Leaders apartment on Saturday night and then spend from 11am to 8pm at the Stake Center watching the sessions we missed, we still haven't seen the Sunday evening session because that was at 2am here. But next week will get to see!

I really loved all the talks honestly, I really enjoyed learning about the Atonement of Jesus Christ because it has become such a big part of my life, not only have I felt the cleansing power of the Atonement but also the enabling power of the Atonement (Das Sühnopfer) Oh how much are life changes when we truly learn what the Atonement is all about!

Well cool story for the week, Elder Basinger and I were in a city called Dolberg and decided to do some dooring. ( Tracking  knocking on doors and talking to people) He was asking me how we can have faith in dooring because he has never seen any success before. I told him we just have to have faith the Lord and he will bless us in our dooring or in our other work. Then the next complex we did we stopped this lady who we had actually rung her door bell, she was coming home from work, she was super tired but I kept trying to talk to her then she was like do you speak English too? We said yes and we talked for 10 minutes and gave her a Book of Mormon! So cool, the Lord does blesses us when we show are faith! 

This week has been memorable, because of honestly I made a goal at the end of January to read the entire Book of Mormon from beginning to end (531 pages) before conference and I finished this week. I finished on Thursday during Zone Training, which was all about The Book of Mormon. I had finished the last couple pages earlier that morning, but the zone leaders gave us 30 minutes to read and pray in the chapel about The Book of Mormon. I finished it during that time, and knelt and prayed. I felt such a peace as I prayed to know that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God. I promise anyone that has questions or is struggling with things in their life, that they will find answers in the Book of Mormon. And if we are truly searching and wanting to know if the Book of Mormon is true they will receive an answer if they take Moroni's challenge in Moroni 10:3-5 with a pure heart and contrite spirit, I can promise you that! 

Well have a great week!! Love ya all and see you soon the Web!

Elder White 

Disappointment Turned Around..Applying Jesus Christ's Atonement

Hey!!

Well here I am again, it has been an interesting week for sure!

Monday we had dinner with the K. Family at their home and taught
Family Home Evening it was weird being there because I haven't been to
a family home evening in someones home since I left home in July. But
it was fun and I learned alot! ( Family Home Evening is a time that Families in the LDS religion spend usually Monday nights together as a family, learning about the gospel, playing games and doing fun activiites together.)

Tuesday it was kind of an interesting day. We went and did our service
at W. K. and got so much food!!! Then we had a lesson with R.
and the W. family were going to joint teach with us. We had to change the
schedule around a lot and we were suppose to meet R. at the Train
Station. We waited and she didn't show up and also didn't answer her
phone. It was a little interesting, we ended up just going to the
W. family and getting a member lesson with them. Luckily they were very
understanding. R. never called us back and we were worried she
didn't want to meet anymore. Later we went to go meet with RB., we
showed up and his cousin was there. They were pretty drunk and we
asked RB. to say the prayer. He asked that the Lord be understanding
because he wanted to party with us, interesting prayer. That was our sign to leave,

we were pretty disappointed and discouraged about what had happened. But we have
days like that for sure.

Wednesday
We brought flowers by Frau A. because she loves them and it make
her smile. Then we went and talked with the F. family, the couple
with the baptismal date, about Christ visiting the earth, T. took
the lesson well he was just really mad that he had collected 500 tires
to sell and no one was buying and the city came and threw all the
tires away and made him pay 5000€ and he doesnt have the money. It was
pretty interesting. Anyways we made it home and headed to Splitz, this
week I went with Bruder Kl to Dortmund to visit a member of the
ward that had had a stroke and was half blind now. The lesson went
well and luckily we made it home on time.

Thursday
We had DDM (Distirct Meeting) We then worked in the Garden of Frau
A. for about an hour it ended up going pretty well. Then we raced
home got changed and taught a lesson to a member and then had American
Game night at the church.

Friday
We headed to Münster and did a street display early in the morning.
The weather was so weird, it would rain for 2 minutes then be sunny
and then rain again. Also their were tons of 17 year old who were drunk

celebrating the end of school for them and their graduation. It livened up the display
non the less hahah. Then we headed back home. Oh and Elder Basinger
left his bag on the train but with some luck the other Elders went and
got it and no one had stolen it!! Miracle. We pretty much spent the
evening talking a little with Frau A. and weekly planning

Saturday
Got an invitation from Frau A. to help her do some grocery
shopping. We met her in town and went around looking at meat and other
stuff. We had a pretty good time and got to learn alot about her! She
wanted us to work in the garden again later so we shuffled our plans
around and went to work for her. She told us how grateful she was for
our help and how she was going to make dinner for Sunday because she
had alot of questions from the Book of Mormon. Later the night we got
in contact with R.!! She invited us over to met, but we couldn't
find a man to meet with us. So just had the impression to just go by
and drop some brownies off and invite her to church. We went by just
expecting to say hello at the door, but it ended up she had family
over and her brother was there so we got to go in and talk and invite
her to church!! Miracle for sure!

Sunday
Went well, N. didn't show up but R. made it and she did really
well in class and asked a ton of questions. She had to leave early but
she said she is going to keep coming!!!! After church the L. family had
us over for lunch they are awesome. They have two little kids that
love the missionaries and we talked basketball with Bruder L.!
Then went home had dinner with Frau A. on her porch in the rain!
She made soup and sauerkraut and it went well I shared some random
scriptures while she was talking and she said "Hey i have read that!!"
It was awesome, her love for the scriptures is growing!! We ended up
getting soaked but had a great time! Great Week!

The one thing I have learned from this week is the power of taking
disappointment and moving forward, sometimes things don't work out the
way that we want them too, but what we have to remember is that it is
his Plan. When we trust his plan then everything will work out okay!
Sometimes we go through the toughest storms in order reap the greatest
rewards! Also at this time I want to tell everyone that makes it this
far through my email, that I know he lives, Jesus Christ's atonement is for
me and for you. I ask everyone to get down on your knees each and
everyday and use the gift that he gave you. Remember that blood that
he split for you remember that pain he felt on your behalf, he did it
because he loved you. We make mistakes everyday, but when we choose
not to use the gift we forfeit that joy that we could feel with we had
just humbled ourselves and asked for forgiveness. I promise it will
change your life, because it has and continues to change mine.

Love yall
Elder White