Staying in Ahlen - Getting New Companion - Act and Trust in Promptings

                                                 Week of  May 18th -  There are 2 entries this week. I thought I had published one from the week before Mother's day, but I hadn't.  Then one week their bikes broke down and they didn't have time to write very much.  So now I am caught up

Transfers are this week.  My companion Elder Basinger got transferred and I am now a trainer and a district leader. Talk about stress!!! Ha ha ha 

I will be staying on Ahlen and serving, but Wednesday I will be traveling down to Frankfurt and picking a brand new missionary. This is going to be crazy and I am super excited for the opportunity to train the new missionary.

Well this week has been hectic, but super awesome. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to meet with the F. family this week because they were super busy with family and they had some other stuff going on.(They are the family that has committed to baptism on July 9th) But I did see a cool miracle this week, I was on a split with Elder Hales, he is from Utah. We had an appointment fall out and the whole day was pretty crazy. We got back to the apartment and I had the thought "go and visit this less active family." So we hopped on the bikes and actually just had to ride down the street. We got to house, but got a little lost on our way but finally found it and rang the bell. We did it twice and no one answered. I got kind of frustrated and hesitated before leaving. Elder Hales said " Hey try it one more time." So we did and this time someone answered. It was the husband from this family, who was not a member, but he was super friendly and actually gave us his personal phone number. So that we could contact them again. It really strengthen my testimony on the power of the spirit and how we need to be like Joseph in the Old Testament. When the Lord speaks we need to jump up and immediately follow the promptings.

During the week, we did a lot with our investigator named Frau A., she actually came to the Ward Western Activity. It was funny though, because we should use the term "Western" loosely (It was based on what German's think western is). But anyway, we went and had a fun time at the activity and actually got Frau to come with us. The day before the activity, we had a great lesson with her we finally committed her to come to the activity but the problem was that she has no mode of transportation. So the next morning, the day of the activity, my companion and I took some stuff by Frau A.'s house, and we still hadn't found a ride. She was getting antsy, but we told her that we would find one, but that she needed to give us an hour. We went home and thought and called and no was picking up. then all of the sudden I remember this return missionary who is doing a internship here and is from American. We called him up and he said he was more then willing to help us out!! It worked out well and she seemed to have such a great time! Truly was a blessing from the Lord.

Also Frau A.,  has been wanting to grill with us for a while and especially before Elder Basinger left. Sunday we went over to her house and dragged the grill to the front yard and then realize we didn't  have any lighter fluid. So we went and asked the neighbors. The first the neighbor couldn't find one then we went to the next neighbor she accidentally gave us a empty one. Then the first neighbor came running out and gave us one she had found. Then we went to return the empty one and she gave us a pasta salad. We end up building a fire and it worked out really well!!! Such a week of blessings.

Well we are getting the Ipads officially on June 9th for sure!!! So that is exciting.

The only other thing I would like to add is we have seen so many blessings this week.  I have seen from gospel simply how the Lord provides us with what we need,  sometimes it is not in the very moment that we need it or the way that we want it, but he will give it to us! As missionaries, he watches over us and cares about us.Sometime he puts us in tough situations where we aren't sure what will happen next. But it is only so we can show our faith, truly this gospel blesses us and pushes us to be our best, the true measure of a man is not where he stands during times of comfort and convenience. It is during times of trials and tribulations.  (probably butchered that quote). I know that he loves us and when we find that out and understand that for ourselves, oh how wonderful this life can be!!

Love yall

Elder White

On Mother's Day when we got to Skype with him. So great to see him so happy!!!

Week of April 27th - 

First off we got an amazing referral from Frau A. to her friend. She is this sweet old lady that actually was in Poland when the Russian front was coming and experienced the War as a 15 year old, She was so cool and so curious about our religion. She would just bring up randomly like "So ya'll can give blood right or what's the difference between me and you?" it was so cool and she wants us to come back!!

Friday was Elder Bednars (A member of the 12 Apostles went to the Frankfurt Germany mission to train them on being good missionaries and good media usage) conference it was amazing!!! We thought it was going to be about Ipads, but it was really more then that. We literally did a Q&A session with Elder Bednar!! We just got to ask him questions that were on our minds, We talked about Agency to the Atonement to Repentance. I honestly now can't believe that I was so blessed to have be able to participate in that event!!  He literally redefined my idea of Agency and changed my entire out look on the basic core principles of the gospel. He handle every question with such ease and every time he opened his mouth he he only spoke truth! He talked about what he called "stupid church traditions" like taking notes word for word and how he said that is plain stupid (no joke) he said our notes should be ideas and thoughts of the spirit not a manuscript of the meeting and then talked about how agency is not the free will to choose whatever we want,  as long as we are willing to accept the consequences, but the purpose of agency is to accept Christ as our Savior and that is it! We purposeful bind our agency when we make sacred covenants in the temple, but we are fulfill the purpose of agency!! Mind BLOWING!!!!!

We don't have the Ipads, they were back ordered but we should get them in about 2 weeks at Zone Conference so that is good! The church's purpose of Ipads is genius!! The whole program is so well set up and the purposes behind them are literally not on a temporal level. The Ipads won't change the work, we will change the work while using the Ipads as a tool when teaching the gospel.

We got home super late friday and then the next morning had a crazy cleaning check but I will leave the details out because it was just crazy!!

That night we taught Frau A. it was an amazing lesson. We realized that her testimony of the Book of Mormon is lacking so the whole time we bore testimony and it was awesome she felt the spirit so strong!! I was trying to figure out how to get her to read more when the idea "have her read with a question in mind" we challenged her to read with a question and she said she would!! She told us she had already an experience like that previously from the Book of Mormon, so it was awesome!!

Sunday, we went and did finding with the other Elders. We were dooring in the rain and this lady opened the door and told us that she was interested. As she was about to close the door, I just was like "hit her with your testimony and see what happens." So I told her this book is near to my heart I have read it and I know it is true, it is the reason why I am here on a mission right now. She stopped and said "All yall want me to do is take this book and read it" we said yes!! She said hesitantly okay I will try it out and then said we could come by later and see how it went!! Testimony softens peoples hearts!!

Well I want to end this email again with my testimony that He Lives. It may seem like I say the same thing over and over again, but only because I know it! I challenge everyone to find out for yourself if it is true. Just test it out and the worst thing that could happen is that your answer won't come immediately. But trust me your witness will come, because either I am right or totally wrong.

Love ya tons

Elder White