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 

Good-bye Offenbach and Hello Hamm, Germany

Sorry I didn't write last week.  My companion and I went to the Frankfurt temple and then I  had a really bad case of the stomach flu last week, and spend the whole night throwing up 5€ Chinese Food, cant say I have to much of a desire to eat there anytime soon!

But in other news....

I am being TRANSFERRED! I'm going to be taking my talents up North to Hamm in the Dortmund zone! It is going to be crazy but I'm super excited for the adventure. My new area borders the Berlin mission.

Well the Gemeinde (Church Branch)  was super awesome my last day here, a lot of the members came over and said that they really enjoyed having me in the Gemeinde! That was really cool for me to feel like I had been a part of helping bring the work forward here in Offenbach. 

I have to say I have learned so much here and my testimony has been so strengthened. I have never lived in an area where you can walk out the door the first person you see will harass you because you wear the name of Jesus Christ on your name badge. Or bash with you that Jesus Christ is nothing more then a prophet and that you are being closed minded for believing such a thing. What an amazing opportunity it has been to share my testimony that HE LIVES, he is my Savior and Redeemer, he atoned for my sins and he will come again to establish his kingdom here on the earth. There is no other name where by men can be saved! How great is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

I have learned here in Offenbach that even the smallest of acts can make the biggest difference! How that the most important promptings sometimes just seem like simple acts. This last week we were doing a street preach/display and these two mentally handicap men came up and asked us to redeem their bottles of cola for money. It was really excited to help them, but I felt like U should. I went with Elder Hansen, as we were waiting in line to get the money this kid looks at me and say! HEY do you remember me? I couldn't remember him exactly then he said,  "You gave me that book, I still have it!"  He said he had read from it and he thought it was interesting, we invited him to play basketball but he was busy. But what a tender mercy that sometimes when we do small and simple things like talking to 15 year old kids, great things will come to past!

I'm going to miss playing basketball with a bunch of street ballers on Fridays, that has been fun the past 5 months every Friday to play basketball. One of the kids that comes was one of the premier street ballers in Poland, some crazy moves their for sure!!

Overall I'm going to miss the people, RL is still him self but he knows why we are there and he is just stubborn sometimes, Herr GR our other investigator is so humble and feeds us and takes care of us and really loves to listen what we have to say!, President ML has been a blessing to the Branch and it has been fun visiting his family every other week, Troy Murphy our GML (Mission Leader from the Branch)  has been an amazing blessing to the work, his humble service has been a important part in the work, and Elder Overall, I'm going to miss him too! Man we have had some crazy times together and have seen some really miracles here in Offenbach like Herr SD and Herr GR. We had some great laughs too! Every time I think of Monty Python and Quest for the Holy Grail I'm going to always laugh and think of him saying "ahh ahh GRRRRRRRRRRRRaillll!". Love that guy!

I have preached in a Frei Evangalisch Church, I have taught people in their home at the park. I have seen drugs deals. I have had people laugh at me and taunt me. I have seen someone past away. I have see people feel the spirit and have seen people come to Christ, humble themselves and be made whole through the Atonement....

That's a lot of stuff for MY FIRST AREA!

Cant wait for HAMM!!!

Love 

Elder White

Translated an hour long church meeting in German, ate raw steak.....

WELL HOWDY!!

Well this week has been a pretty good week! We found a new investigator and his name is Herr GR, he is awesome! He is from the States but has a German wife and two kids. One of his daughters went to school and Arlington and she and I talked about Texas for a while! It was awesome! Me and Elder Bulkley had visited him our first week here in Offenbach. He really didn't have much interest but then Elder Overall came in and wanted to meet with him again! We set up the appointment and the funny thing was that he wanted to feed us and asked us what we wanted so Elder Overall joking said that we would like steak. He said "Of course!!!!" So we went to his home and ate steaks! My steak was like a category above raw and I was a little nervous eating it, but I was just praying silently "Heavenly Father you promised to keep me safe and protected." Nothing happened afterwards so that was a miracle. (Ryan has a history and an immense fear of throwing up that is why this is such a big deal to him.) But when we met with him, we invited him to take the lessons and he accepted and said that he would be interesting in hearing about what we believe. He is very impressed with our desire and willingness and how we present ourselves. Miracle!

Yesterday, (Sunday) I had a the opportunity to translate sacrament meetings for a couple from St George Utah here in Germany watching their John Deere Tractor at the factory in Mannheim being made. They were such a sweet couple. We couldn't get the translation headsets to work, so we had to sit behind then and translate. I was so nervous, because I have only been here in Germany for 4 1/2 months. We started and the first speaker was talking so fast and I turned to Elder Overall and said hey man I need you help I can't do this. He started taking over and the man, his name was Brother Howard, turned around and said to me "Keep trying, its good practice, he said you can just translate for me." Before this  all happened I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me and bless me with the ability to translate. I knew that now was the time to show my faith. So I started translating, slowly but surely I was saying the exact same things as Elder Overall and it was becoming easier and easier. Even when a sister in the ward got up and started talking super fast I was able to translate. When I started to doubt myself, that's was when it got harder to translate but when I had faith it was like the words were just coming to me. My translation was not near perfect at all, but I could fill the Lord quicken my mind and I felt the power of the gift of tongues, realizing I have only been here in Germany for 4 1/2 months and I translated sacrament meeting. What a amazing experience. 

Yesterday another cool experience happened. We were in the hills out in Bayern driving around and travelling to visit less actives. Then all of the sudden I had to prompting to go and visit a less active member of the ward. I told Elder Overall and we went directly there, she is a lady from Kenya and she has struggles with inactivity because she got offended by a member of the ward. We walked up to the door and as we went to ring the door, she just opened it!! She was so excited to see us and see that we had made the trek out to her town to visit her. She said she was happy and said we could meet and talk!!! We prayed together and left her with a smile on her face! It was so cool!!

Well this week has been full of ups and downs, but what I do know is that this work is driven by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He prompts us and guides us, he blesses me with the ability to speak German and learn this language super quickly. He blesses me everyday with the spirit that leads me to find those people looking for answers in life. How humbled I am to be here in Germany and how humbled I am to have this opportunity to serve a mission. There is no greater joy then serving the others and the Lord for 2 years of your life! 

I know this gospel is true and this work is true, Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer. I don't know how many drops of blood he split for me but what I do know is that I can repent and be clean because of him.

Love, 

Elder White

Successful Street Display

HOWDY YALL!!

Well this week has been another week of miracles and progress here in Germany!! 

This last Sunday we just received two new Senior Missionaries couples because we needed more priesthood support in the Branch. One is an old Dean of students from SVU!!!! (SVU is where Ryan attended school last year) so we have two knights he in Offenbach. The other couple, the husband actually served in Offenbach in 1966!!! Its crazy. Oh and they also have a son who lives and Richardson! The couples are the Kragels and Billouphs. We also got a new Branch President and so things are going to change a little here in Offenbach. Troy says that I'm going to get transfer this cycle so we will see if his prediction is correct!! 

Well lately things have been good, everyday is filled with stuff for us to do, like finding or lessons with members or less active member work. We have over 300 names on the list and so for the past 2 Sundays we have been spending 3 hours driving and visiting these people. So far we have found out that over half the ward list has moved, crazy stuff!!! But it will help us focus our efforts on those members that are still here and need the gospel back in their lives!

This week we finally got to meet with a less active member named JN. He is a pretty cool guy, he is 18 and has been living alone for a year or so. He is a less active and we are hoping that we can help. His apartment defiantly looks like a 18 year old living alone, to say the least!!!!!

Also this week we met with our investigator Herr SD, unfortunately he didn't come to church this week, but we have another lesson tomorrow, so we are hoping that everything goes well!!

We did a awesome street display this week in a city called Aschaffenburg. We really were kind of helter skelter, and we were all late and only had 2 hours left. But then we started handing out Books of Mormon and we got 25 out!!! with just us 4 missionaries!! It was so cool to see the people really open up. I stopped a man and he really didn't have interest. but as he was walking away I just started bearing testimony. He said "I'm catholic I don't need it." Then words just started to come out of mouth and soon he was coming back and listening. I ended up giving him a Book of Mormon to him. It was crazy how his entire mood changed suddenly and his heart was softened. The power of the spirit in the conversion process is real!!

Well I had a really cool experience this week. We were Alzenau and decided to go by a potential investigator Herr SL. He let us in and he was alone, we started talking about the gospel and then all of the sudden, he opened up to us about his childhood and how he was abandon and how he has lost everything. He said how he felt like God was there but that he didn't think he loved him. The whole time I was sitting there kind of quiet. Then I had this overwhelming feeling to promise him something. Finally I looked him in the eyes and told him "Herr SL as a Representive of Jesus Christ, I promise you if you will pray tonight, you will feel that you have a Heavenly Father and he is there." He felt something, because I felt something. I called him the next day and he said that he felt good that night after he prayed.

I leave my testimony this week that this work is real and that we really do have a loving Heavenly Father and he is there for us! He is always mindful of our challenges and struggles and he is striving to make us to best man or woman we can be, I would challenge all to pray daily and ask Heavenly Father to help you recognize his love. As we begin to see those tender mercies (blessing in our life) we will begin to realize that he LOVES US

Love yall

Elder White