B. Baptismal Date - Listening and Acting on the Spirit

Hey!!! 

Craziness this week!! 

B. set a baptismal date finally!!! She is going to be baptized in August 8th so two weeks from now!! That was crazy!! It was cool because I was in the middle of the lesson and it got pretty off track and then I didn't feel good about talking about the other Things we had planned and so then I got the courage to go through the baptismal interview questions! It was a little scary but we did and she said "I knew you were going to do that" and then asked if she was ready and she said she had finally received the date!!! It was so cool! We were so happy for her!! Tomorrow we are going to be doing the baptismal interview questions for real!! 

Well that was awesome!! Another cool experience was that we had lost contact with R. for about a week and we were getting worried and then during our weekly planning session we prayed that we could get back in contact with her and then we tried calling and she picked up!! Then afterwards we went out for an appointment.  We went another direction and ran into Rosie!! It was cool but we can't meet with week because she has school testing for her ausbildungz!! But still cool!! 

That same day we were also doing some finding in a place that we had determined the day before. Then as we were finding I had the idea to go by a family and just say hello. So we went by and she opened the door and said ELDER!!! We thought they might be busy. But she let us in! And then she said "the lord truly blesses us!!" Today is my birthday and we are preparing for the party and we are super behind can you help out!?  She was just blow away that we had shown up at the right place and right time!! Cool way how we blessed the members and followed the promptings of the spirit. Cool stuff!! 

That were some of the highlights from the week!!! Well we crashed again on the bikes but the great part of the thing was that we didn't die!!! I ran into a car after hitting a trash can! And we had a horrible storm with 100km winds and we were riding between a house and Elder Butler got hit hard and ran into a parked car. Not to worry his bike was okay!! 😏 But yeah and the miracles was that it was going to cost 250 to fix my bike but we took it too our old store in Ahlen and they said it would only cost 60!!! That was cool!! 

Miracles happening everyday!! 

I read an article this morning that really hit me. It Talks about patience. And how that we don't just wake up one morning and say" I'm patient" but it is something that we work on our whole lives and never stop working. It's learning to work through difficulty with courage and trust in the lord. A quote I really liked from the article was "but I realized that when it comes to serving the Lord, He cares just as much about the instrument as He does the task at hand." 

The work moves on!! The gospel is true!! 

Love ya 

Elder White

Proud to be a Texan!!

A member of his ward gave he and his companion steaks for dinner

The Dinner he and Elder Butler made with the steaks

Trust in the Lord's Time frame for Conversion

Well it has been a great week of miracles and struggles that is for sure!!!

It has been some really weird weather lately, because it will rain and then be super sunny. But luckily it has not been too hot lately! 

Well this week I had the chance to have an interview with President Stoddard. He interviews the entire mission every 2 transfers. He attended our zone training, it is always such a thrill to get to sit down with him for a few minutes and talk about the work. He is amazing, he really does love each missionary individually and really expresses that love. He really is there for us and you just feel all good walking out his interviews.

So our baptismal date with E. is kind of is on hold...because we talked with him on Tuesday and wanted to see if we could move his baptismal date up. Just because I kept feeling like we needed too and when we brought it up, he told us that he doesn't know when he wants to get baptized. That same day he was also in the hospital with the random big bug bite. We gave him a blessing and he actually got healed the next day, blessings of the priesthood power. But yes he has gotten cold feet, just because he is stressed out. After the meeting I wondered if we had done something wrong.  Elder Butler and I got back to the apartment and talked about it, we decided to say a prayer and ask the Lord what he wanted us to do. We got a huge spiritual confirmation that all is well. And then I remembered what Jeffery R Holland said, "SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE". I realized that we needed to push Emil because he needs to struggle to ask God and have a rock hard testimony that the gospel is true. If we just baptized him and then he has to go home, where would his conversion be, because back home their isn't much of a support system. He needs to be converted not just baptized. Well we actually met with him the day after to help translate somethings, we talked about it again and still he was just saying how he doesn't know. I started getting those feelings again. That evening I decided I just need to turn to prayer and not give up. I have never pleaded with the Lord more about something in my entire life. The next day I woke up and realized that we as a companionship needed to fast for E. also B. (the woman who had her baby blessed). It was a super hot day on Saturday and we did a street display and had to ride our bikes a ton. By the end of the day we were toast, but we closed our fast and prepared for Sunday. We showed up to church and Emil showed up also. We had sacrament meeting and then went to meet with him but he said he was going to go out of town for 2 days and had to leave. My heart was broke, I thought for sure today we could clear everything up and make it better, this is what we were fasting for! Then I told him "Brother, we need to talk". We usually met by upstairs in the building where it was quiet. But for some reason we went into the genealogy room where all the microfilm readers. We said down and then I realized it was also the baptismal room. We started talk about baptism again and he just said how he is waiting for his answer on when he needed to be baptized.  I looked him in the eye and just told him about our worry and all we had been going through in his behalf and how we had fasted for him. I then said, E. "We knew each other before this life, we both knew that I would be called to Germany and that I would find you and baptize you." He knew exactly what I was talking about and then I bore testimony of the love his Heavenly Father has for him and he grabbed my hand and said "I know, Thank you." He then he went on to tell us that he knew when I told him we needed to talk that we were going to the baptismal room and not upstairs and then he said "I can smell baptism, its right around the corner". He said that he prays for it every night and says that he will be baptized and that the Lord is getting ready to tell him when. 

Crazy story but awesome! he is so prepared for the gospel it is unreal! He really wants to be prepared for this covenant that he is making!! I trust him fully that he is praying to know the day for baptism. I still plead with the Heavenly Father every night to show Emil what he needs. 

Well we also met with B. this week. Interesting lesson to say the least, we finished talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ and then I just got courage to talk with her about baptism again. We brought it up and she told me pretty much she is just waiting for the date and she is still praying every night for a baptismal date. She just needs the courage to take it to the next step. Kind of Frustrating this week, but its okay. everybody is moving in the right direction!!

R. is doing well also! Tonight we are teaching her at the W family house and hopefully will set a baptismal date with her! She finally on Sunday came to church!! She got up to come to church but he car wouldn't start so she rode her bike!!! She is so cool and lately we have been seeing her everywhere!! So coool!!

Well miracles are happening here in Hamm!! The Lords field is white and ready to harvest we just need to work and have courage. I truly have to say that this week had taught me a lot about patience and realizing that we can't do it on our own. I realized that with E. I thought that I could solve all the problems bear and invite the spirit and it would be easy. But through the trials I realized that we need to put our trust in God and that is where we find true hope. If we are struggling with something and the future looks bleak, remember that it because we need to hand over the steering wheel and just ride. Trust that our Heavenly Father has our best interest in mind! He always will and always has! 

Quote from the week  "We dont need to be perfect, we need to be perfect at trying"

Love,

Elder White 

Playing in at a Children's Playground!!

Brother and Sister Jones inspecting Elder White's apartment.  Scrubbing the floor so it is spic and span.

Hamm District carrying balloons to their street display

HOT HOT HOT - the work is progressing

Well if you thought that I was missing out on a hot Texas Summer well think again!! It was 104 for two days in a row and actually come to find out Germany doesn't believe in AC. So think back to that time when the AC went out at our house. Now just pretend that is through the entire house and all the time and you never can get away from it! That is Germany apartments. Everyone doesn't sleep well here and they actually only had an hour of church this last week because of the heat! Craziness they only way to get rid of the heat is a cold shower before bed that only helps a little. But hey that's life. at least I'm not in the jungle! 

Well it has been fun this week! Went on two splitzs one with Elder Fitzgerald from Dortmund and one with Elder Ball. We had a great time getting to hand out two Books of Mormon and talked to some awesome people. Then that evening at the Munster apartment (Where Elder Ball is serving was so hot) we slept on the balcony overlooking the city it was so much fun.It was like a little camp out! Good times!! 

Well this week other then the heat we are getting so excited for E. Baptism! He is so ready and and so excited! We had a lesson yesterday after church, he also came through the rain to church, we taught him about the last part of the plan of salvation. then we went through the baptism interview questions! He KILLED IT!!! We hadn't talked about Thomas S Monson but he loved the idea of a living prophet. We talked about the commandments and he readily accepted them and is really already living them! HE is doing amazing! I'm so excited for him and his decision to be baptized! I have to say I am humbled by his attitude, his willingness to so quickly accept the doctrines of the gospel. He asked us why other people don't want to get baptized and then was surprised that people have a hard time accepting the word of wisdom and tithing. He said "they are from God, he gives us everything!". That is exactly right they are from God, why don't we just accept them and move on and live them and learn to love them. He is awesome! He is so excited he has had us starting to get our pamphlets in Serbian because he wants to share it with his friends. Then yesterday he said "I need some Albanian and Greek Books of Mormon to share with my friends".It is so COOL!!! Also on Sunday a part member family that we inherited from the other elders had their baby blessed in sacrament meeting and then the wife that we are teaching got up and bore her testimony!! They are awesome!! They actually grilled for us last week and made pizza, they are so cool!

Yesterday I fasted to know how to help our investigators. Yesterday after doing some training with Elder Butler it hit me. We need to challenge another one of our investigators to be baptized on the same day as E. She is more then ready and is the same woman that had her child blessed by her husband. We know that she knows it is true. We just need to get the courage to ask her, but I feel that is what the Lord wants. As I got down on my knees to close my fast, I was thinking and then it came to me. "That idea was from the spirit, you had been praying about her but you has just forgotten about specifically praying for her!" It just all made since! We are excited but nervous, but hey that's the name of the game! 

The work is really picking up!! It is crazy how time flies. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet with R. this week! But we ran in to her on our bikes and invited her to church. She is making progress step by step and it's moving forward, We met with Frau A., we are kind of losing hope in her because she is so stubborn and when we met I was getting ready to say we can't meet anymore. As we were sitting there. She said "I still think my baptism was correct when I was baptized as a baby". Then in my head I thought "we have talked about this a thousand times" then it came to me "Bruder U. has told us a story about how he explained baptism". How that we are baptized to be washed from sin, why do we need to baptized as a baby, we have no sin! I told her the same thing and it was like a light bulb went off in her head!! It was so cool how the spirit brings things to our remeberance! 

The work is truly moving forward here in Hamm the Lord is blessing his vineyard. we just need to be ready to move and act and follow his plan. I gave a District Training Meeting this week and talked about the work and goals. I talked about how we say "this work we do as missionaries is tough" I talked about how that was right, but it is hard when we think that it is OUR work. When we think it's our work we are relying on our own talents and potential that we see. But when we realize that it is HIS work then we begin to see that he makes our burdens easy and our trials light. It isn't our work it is his work. He is the name we wear on our name badge and the name that we bless peoples lives through it is because of him we are here today and there is no other name that we may  be saved!! 

Love you tons 

Elder White

Talking on a Cell Phone inside a TelePhone Booth...