Remember the Reason for the Season !!!

Well his week the sun finally came out!!

 Weihnachten ist unterwegs, hier in Deutschland. (Christmas is on its way here in Germany) We got the Er is Das Geschenk cards here in Germany this week!!! It has been awesome getting to share it with people on the street and as we contact!! This video is amazing!! In German it is on mormon.org/deu/weihnachten or english it is on christmas.mormon.org. You all have to go and check it out!!!

The one thing I would say this week is let us all remember the reason for the season. The gifts and presents are awesome, but the True Gift is Him. He is the gift to us. When we have nowhere to turn, we can turn to him. We have no more strength to climb or run we can turn to him. It is through him we are made strong. God did love the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son. He gave him to us so that we could be saved, he gave him to us because he loved us also. If we think about the Love our Heavenly Father has for his son Jesus Christ, referring to him as the only begotten and beloved. If we believe God is our loving Heavenly Father and perfect. Then he loves no son or daughter anymore then the other. That means the love his has for his son Jesus Christ is the same love he has for us. When I thought of that it blew my mind to think about the Love he has for me!Well Issac is a interesting guy, he is a pastor for a Frei Evanglischer Kirche hier in Germany. He is Romanian and he brought his friend to church yesterday and they met with our Zwieg Prasident (Branch President - leader of the congregation)  President Bellerson. When we asked them what they wanted to get out of coming to church and meeting with us they said love and a connection. Really confusing but we are going to keep working with him. He has a strong faith!

We got a new investigator this week named TR, from Canada. He is awesome!! He lives in Germany for a month and then in Canada for a month. He is one of those people prepared to here the gospel. He was founding doing a street display and wanted a Bible and Book of Mormon. It took forever to get the Bible but then when we went to drop it off he let us in and we talked about the gospel. He said he had been looking for a faith to join and then happened to run into us!! 

Well this week was awesome and especially yesterday, PR KR a mitglieder ( Member missionary who served a mini mission with Ryan and his companion)  in our branch gave his testimony about missionary work and about the missionaries in the ward. It was awesome! seeing him glowing and bearing his testimony afterwards he came up and gave us a hug and said that he just spoke from the heart. 

Some of the simple miracles in the day make the biggest impact. A couple days ago I was having a hard day, we had missed a train and now we had to wait for another 15 minutes for another one. I said a prayer saying "Heavenly Father I need you right now please help me out I don't know what to do anymore." As I opened my eyes a train pulled up out of nowhere. It wasn't on the list to show up, Elder Bulkley called it a ghost train, I called it a miracle. 

Love you all and cant wait to Skype in 18 days!!!

Love 

Elder White 

New Investigator - IC, All ready for Christmas, Never Give UP!!

Well this week we found a new investigator his name is IC, he is a pastor of a church in Aschaffenburg and he really wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true, he said that when he finds out he is willing to leave everything behind and join the church!! He is from Romania and wow what a testimony!!!!!!We have a lesson on tuesday with him so pray that he will receive an answer of the truthfulness of the Book Of Mormon.

Well "He is the Gift" was introduced to us and we were so excited to get the pass along cards and share it, but the church isn't print them in German. Alot of missionaries were bummed because that would have been such a cool thing to use especially because Germany needs it! Oh well we are going to handwrite the URL and work that way! Maybe someone could write to Headquaters and ask them why they forgot Germany!!!! hahahahahhaha

It is freezing here in Germany right now and I'm probably going to go and buy a new jacket and a hat and gloves because our apartment heaters are broken and ITS COLD!

Today was the first day of the Advent so everyone is pretty stoked and Christmas is alive and well here in Germany!

Things here are changing slowly, sometimes we wonder what the Lord has in store, but I know a lot of times we are doing work that the Lord sees but we can't see. We just need to trust him and his plan. It crazy how people get so stressed around Weihnachts Zeit (Yuletide) and actually get a little meaner. But the Lord has a plan for all of his children and we just have to be patient sometimes and just show love.

The members here have already invited us over to dinner for Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and the second day of Christmas ( a German thing). So we have already had to plan where we need to Skype, definitely really excited to talk to you all and see how you are doing!!

This week the one thing I have learned is to never give up! It seems like a constant theme through out my mission so far. I always thought blessings and miracles were things that just fell into my arms! But that's not how it works, the Lord needs us to work and work hard! I never realized how much faith comes into to play!! When we show the most faith and it feels like "Lord I don't have anymore to give" that's when he steps in! SO NEVER GIVE UP.

This week I have seen so many miracles and now it's hard to write them all down, because this work is progressing and is shaping the German people and me. Just realize THE LORD HAS A PLAN!!!

Ich weiß dass mein Erlöser leibt, das Evangelium wahr ist! Deutschland ist die beste Mission!!!!!!! Alles möglich durch Glauben!

(I know that my Redeemer live , the gospel is true ! Germany is the best mission !!!!!!! Everything possible by faith !

Love

Elder White

Splits with a Fellow Texan - Good Birthday

Howdy!!

Well sorry I didn't email until today, we went to the temple today which was awesome as usual! Great temple session though the spirit was so strong and I had an amazing time!! 

Well this last week we lost pretty much all of our untersuchers, (investigator), Uhli tchussed ( ??) us last Monday and some of our less actives decided they didn't want to meet anymore. That was pretty depressing not going to lie, but we had to put our faith in the Lord and know that he has a plan for us. Definitely was a rough week because me and Elder Bulkley looked at each other and just laughed. We were like, "We have no one to teach." But we really have focused the past weeks on finding, we spend aLOT of time finding. We go dooring for a couple hours then meet with members in the evening. But our faith has payed off, in the last two days after a week straight of finding and service, we found 4 potential untersuchers in the past two days. One woman is from Lima Peru and she speaks perfect GERMAN!!! It's a miracle here because auslanders have horrible german or don't speak at all!! Definitly was a week of faith.

This week I got to go on a split with my Zone Leader, Elder Lovelace. He is from Houston Texas and when we went out contacting he would say, "Hey, we are missionaries and we both are from Texas!" It was so much fun, he taught me so much about contacting and just throwing everything out there and showing the people your love. I have really tried to make each person we talk to meaningful and it has changed everything about my contacting!! 

My Birthday was great!! Thanks for all the love that you sent and all the food!! It was awesome, since the other elders live across the street from us they came over and we had cake together!!We had geminde Essen (German food - Authenic) this week and the ward sang to me on my birthday so the singing was definitely covered!

Well tomorrow is Danger Day (call for trainers and district leaders), and transfer calls are on Saturday. Really dont know where I am going because I will be no longer a Golden and my training will be over. So we will see what happens!!

Well this week I want to invite and challenge everyone to share one scripture with someone or on social media! The beauty of member work is real, when members and missionaries work together we will see MIRACLES!!!!

Well I will be back on Monday so in three days!. Hope you have a great 'Thanksgiving. Don't worry we had Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday with the Zone.

Love yall!!

Elder White

Christmas in Offenbach, Mini Mission and Carpeting a room with a Swiss Army knife

Howdy!!

Well this week was a great week but a little tough. Our lesson with Uhli fell thru and now we can't get a hold of him, but we have faith the Lord has a plan for him and the Lord knows best. He is the gardener.

This week we got to do service for a American store ran by a member of the church. He sells all of this American Food!!! It was fun and we got to meet a less active member and got to know him better!! Also he had us carpet his room with a Swiss army knife and a roll of carpet. He just threw it at us and said he will back in 2 hours. That was interesting!!

For everyone that is wondering about the Autobahn here, missionaries are only allowed to go 120 km but the members drive faster. We did about 150 km in a moving van a couple weeks back. hahahah

Offenbach is still the same, the people are awesome and we get have made a lot of friends with people around town and have really tried to make a impact on how the people here think of the Mormon missionaries. We run into people all the time that we have talked to before, it's been pretty awesome!

Christmas has already arrived here in Offenbach, the Christmas Market is open and the trees and lights are out!! It's going to be so much fun and people are getting a lot more nice around here now that Christmas has come around.

This week we are having a 54 year old member in the branch serve a mini mission. His name is Peter and he is hilarious, he is a  Deutsch Lehrer (German Teacher) and he can talk your ear off. He has been talking about this mini mission since September so you know that he is super excited! It's going to a good experience for him and for sure help him better understand missionary work!

Not this week, but next week is transfer calls, and now that my training will be over, everything is going to be up in the air. I can stay or leave really comes down to the President and the Lord. So I will keep you posted!

Miracles are happening here everyday in Germany The one thing I would say to everyone is that, this church is true the Lord is our Savior and Redeemer and through him all man are saved when we use the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. Sometimes when its 5:30 at night and pitch black dark because of the Sun going down. Or when an appointment falls out, I think man this is tough. Why cant it be easier, then I remember my Savior bleeding from every pore for me and asking the Father if he will let the cup past. I know the Savior lifts me up and says 'I know what you going through, the people didn't want to listen to me either.' I remember the words of Jeffery Holland everyday when he said "Salvation is not a cheap experience, to become truly converted we all have to go through the trial of our faith.!!"

Love Ya'll,

Elder White

Challenge to find an Investigator from the Branch President's Family

Dear Good Ole Family and Friends!

Well this week has been full of miracles!!! I would have to say the one moment that stood out to me was this week working with the Familie Bellersons. President Bellerson is the Zweig (Branch - similiar to a Bishop just over a smaller congregation) President here in Offenbach, we had set up a appointment this week to met with him and his wife. During this appointment on Thursday, we talked to family about Faith and then gave them a challenge. If they would thoughtfully and humbly pray over a street anywhere in the Zweig area, we would find a investigator. I was super nervous giving this Challenge because I thought "what if my faith isn't enough." We gave them 1 day and then called then back, Sister Bellerson gave us a street in Aschaffenburg called Luitpold Strasse. The next day after receiving the referral, we went to this street to contact. It took us two hours to travel there, but after miracle after miracle we made it finally. We got to the street and it was in the middle of the city and was mostly businesses. When we saw the street we were a little discourage, I was just wondering how we were ever going to find a person to teach at 7 pm. We started talking and knocking on some doors. We ran into some people that wanted to talk a little but had no interest. After a while I voiced my concern to Elder Bulkley. I thought we couldn't find someone to night. He looked me in the eye and said we are servants of the Lord and we promised this family we would find someone. I really then knew I needed to show all my faith. We did some more contacting and both felt pretty good. We came back together and we were tempted to head home. But the thought in my head said keep going. So we walked across the street and that was when we meet Natalia. We talked to her and talked about the Book of Mormon. Her bus came and we realized we missed our chance to ask her if she wanted to learn more, but then a miracle happened. She missed her bus, so we got to talk with her more. We took the same bus as her and before we got off we asked her if she wanted a Book of Mormon and she said yes. We told her we would bring one by her house and she was excited.

That experience was unreal!! We were about to turn back and give up but I just remember all the words I had said and the words we had heard from Elder Jeffery R Holland ( an apostle in our church) on how those times when we are so tired and we think we have given just about all we can,  if we have faith, the Saviors Atonement keeps us going. 

We heard a video in Zone training this week that brought me to tears. Elder Holland was training a some  Mission Presidents and he said something that hit me. He spoke in a very booming voice,  "Mission work isn't suppose to be a cheap experience, and it will never be easy and always hard. Missionaries don't ask why won't the people listen to me, why won't he follow my commitments?" he continued, "WE ALL HAVE TO FEEL A MOMENT LIKE WHAT IT WAS LIKE IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE." We as missionaries have to struggle and fight and feel not just a second, but moments of what the savior felt. He said the reason why it isn't easy is because salvation is not a cheap experience."

WOW those words hit everybody in the room really hard. Because it's true, this work will never be easy and we will want to give up, but the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.

Also another awesome miracle, Uhli our untersucher (investigator) is getting close to baptism, the one who wouldn't call us back last week. I was on a split ( means that Missionary companions switch companions for a 24 hour period) with a missionary and we were in his town. We walked by his house and someone was home, we decided to go somewhere else because I didn't want to make him angry by coming to his house. But the people in the town we were going to met weren't home. I knew then we were here to met Uhli, but I was scared and nervous. Me and Elder Hansen said a prayer and then I knew this message is to precious to "hide under a bushel basket." I knocked on the door and he came out! He was so excited to see us, he said his week had been crazy and that he had to leave soon. Then I asked if we could set up a appointment, and he said "Yes, we need to meet." It was so cool!!! He is an amazing man and has such a sweet heart so many miracles have surrounded his conversion.

Well this transfer is half way over already! Me and Elder Bulkley don't know if we will be together next transfer since my training time will be over and we have been together for 2 transfer. It is a crazy time with Christmas around the corner and this week we found 5 new pontential untersuchers (investigators)!

All in all, alle ist gut here in Deutschland, wir haben jeden Tag so viele wunder gesehen. Unser Beiziehung mit die Mitglieder in die Gemeinde ist besser und wir haben jeden tag so viele mehr Lektion. Wir konnen jeden tag des Handes Herrn sehen. Diese Missionar Arbeit ist moglich durch das Sühnopfer Jesu Christi

Ich liebe Dich

Translation - All in all , all is well here in Germany, we see wonderful things every day. Our relationship with the members of the Branch is better and we have more lessons every day. We can see every day the Lord hands. This missionary work is possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder White

                                                          Selfie # European Haircut!!!

Pumpkin Carving, Cancelled appointments, and A New Contact

Well howdy!!

Well this has been a pretty interesting week to be honest! We are kind of having to start at square one because all of our investigators are having a hard time meeting this us. We had about 4 appointments last week drop out because people not wanting to meet or just not showing up! It was crazy and hard to deal with. On Sunday as we sat down to break our Fast, I was looked at  what we had planned and what had happened and saw a huge difference. and then I started feeling like I had failed as a missionary. Me and Elder Bulkley talked about it and he told me that it doesn't matter what we are doing with numbers. It easy to get caught up with numbers and baptisms, but in the end Offenbach is a tough place and you do a lot of seed planting, but that's when we have will see the miracles. Thats when I realized that even if I follow the spirit and want to see someone baptized, that sometimes that is not the Lord's plan for us, he has something different in mind. This work isn't going to be easy and we are not perfect,  but through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can overcome our weakness and they are made strong, just like it says in Ether 12:27.

Well this week Uhli, wouldn't call us back and I got pretty frustrated, so I started my fast early on Saturday and later that day got on a train so we could travel an hour away to a town called Schollkrippen. We knew we would go through and right past Uhli's house on the train so I prayed hard that we would see him outside. As we traveled by, we we saw him outside working on his car. I had a feeling we should get off but was scared thinking we were going to bother him. But I put my shoulder to the wheel and just did it. We walked up to him and he was suprised! But invited us in, and we got to teach him a lesson!! It was cool. We knew that day the Lord needed us to go to Schollkrippen so we could run into him. Later we were contacting in Alzenau when I had the impression to walk up to a kid and talk with him. As I did I talked about the Das Buch Mormon and he took the book. then he said, "One of my friends is Mormon." (That doesn't happen here) Then I said who? He said a girl in our GEMINDE or Ward!!! It was such a cool experience for us to find him!!

Germans don't really celebrate Halloween especially in Offenbach, so it was kind of just another night. But I had an idea to get more ward support and we did a pumpkin craving Family Home Evening.The Germans had never done it before, so its kind of a fun American thing.

The sun goes down by 5:30 pm here and it feels like 9 when its really 6 in the evening. Germans go to bed when the sun it down so people yell at us for contacting them at 5 o clock in the evening. It's pretty funny sometimes. 

We only have 4 weeks left of this transfer which is flying by and we had to say goodbye to our district leader which he was a great missionary and a good friend. But we got a Golden from Utah named Elder Hansen, He is a studd!! and Elder Bulkley is the district leader

Well All i know is that the church is true, Jesus is our Lord and Savior and through the Atonement we are made clean and stronger. We are all not prefect and find faults but when we are humble and patient we will see miracles in our lives. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!!

LOVE,

ELDER WHITE

New Investigator, Investigator ready for baptism and Ankle issues

So my ankle I had surgery on in January has been having some problems this week, but like Grandpa Van Wagenen says, "Nothing I can't handle!!" Luckily the injuries are minor and I caught them early enough before worse things could have happened. It's a blessing in and of its self. My mission president, President Stoddard was so kind on the phone helping me out with my questions and letting me know he was there to support me. It was a rough experience, but hey,  the waiting room at the doctors office had some good schokolade. (chocolate)

Well that kind of ate at our time for proselyting and work because I had to go to so many appointments, but I should be okay. No more basketball, I guess when I was playing a few weeks ago and dunked the ball and I think I added to Kyle Emery's crack on the backboard. ( He is a  BYU Basketball player and is our AP and he cracked the backboard when he was here in Offenbach). I will have to tell him when I see him. Hahaha!!

This week we got a new investigator named Herr Zagorski. He has had such a hard life, we met him one night and he let us in the door, he was watching a movie and then turned it off and played us the song of his late wife. He cried so hard in front of us and told us about how much he missed her. Then talked about her death and it brought tears to my eyes. Then he told his son was stabbed to death a year ago and he lost his job. His only daughter doesn't talk to him anymore. Broke my heart hearing his story and see the pain of losing family. It was so awesome, getting to tell him about the Plan of Salvation and how he can see his wife again. He ask us, "You really think I can find joy again". He is a awesome guy and already loves his polish Book of Mormon.

Rafael is struggling right now.  Having a hard time figuring out what to do with him but I keep praying for him. 

Uhil our investigator who wants to be baptized came to CHURCH YESTERDAY and loved it!!! He was just in Utah meeting his friend who is a bishop and it seems like he ready for baptism. It is exciting, he is so cool and just a genuine guy full of the light of Christ. He is moving to the US in 4 months to Flagstaff,  Arizona for work.

The work is progressing here in Germany for sure, we are talking to people and see the hand of the Lord in our lives. Countless miracles everyday help me get through tough times here because people can be amazing and then sometimes plan rude. 

Just a little about my companion, Elder Bulkley. I'm older than him by about 4 months.

He is 6'4" and lifted weights before his mission. He is quiet so me and him are like water and oil sometimes (He read this and don't worry and laughed) He went to American Fork High School and lives in Pleasant Grove. He has 4 other siblings and wants to be a JAG in the military

My German is coming long pretty well everyday I'm getting more comfortable and able to understand more and more. Offenbach people have gotten a lot nicer and they are already setting up for Christmas!! Germans love their Christmas!!!

Well its great here, sad this week we have to say goodbye to Elder Wiedmann and actually me and Elder Bulkley will take him to the train station and send him off. Its going to weird but he is a great Swiss missionary (from Switzerland).

Love you all, hope all is well at home.

Love Elder White