Unicorns and Other Experiences

Hey Mom!

Well, this week was pretty good in a lot of ways and not so good in a couple of ways. We have two investigators now, one American and one German. They are completely different from each other in every way, not just their nationality. Our German investigator doubts everything that we teach him and compares everything to unicorns and how the scriptures are no different than a book about finding unicorns. When we tell him that it is different because it is the word of God and was written by prophets through inspiration, he just says that is no different than someone who was told to write a book from what a unicorn told him to say and it is really hard to teach him. Every time we bear testimony, read scriptures, or do anything to help him understand, the first word that comes out of his mouth without fail is "but" and then there is surely something about unicorns that follows. He doesn't make a ton of progress, but he really wants to know if it is true. He just thinks about things way too much from a worldly, scientific "I need evidence" perspective, and it is really hard to know where to go or what to say to help him.

 

Our other investigator is an American who was recently divorced from an Italian-German lady and has a four year old son. The only reason he is still in Germany is to let his son grow up with a father and not be without a father figure in his life, which is really cool. We have gotten to know him a little better and what his religious background is, and have taught him the Restoration. He accepts pretty much everything we teach. We asked him if he would be baptized on November 17th, and he said he didn't know, but we asked him if he knew it was true if he would be baptized at all, and he said definitely. His big concern is that he is not sure if he can commit that soon since he will have to change his behavior and it will be really hard for him to do. We have faith in him though, and will teach him the doctrine of Christ next time to clear up his concerns as much as we can.

We have had a couple cool finding experiences this week. We planned to go out on the Füß for an hour to do contacting a few days ago. Instead of the normal rejection from everyone, a bunch of people were stopping to listen to us and we actually made out four appointments (which unfortunately all fell through because of fake numbers and no one showing up, but oh well). Then some guy called out to us at a table where he and two guys and two other girls were smoking and drinking, and in a manner of heckling shouted out, "hey is that a bible?" Then we went over and talked to them and gave them a Book of Mormon and five pass along cards. They all seemed to kind of take it as a joke but one of the girls, who was listening intently and looked really interested but didn't want to speak up and embarrass herself in front of her friends. Hopefully she will have enough interest to call us. At the end of the hour, which had turned into an hour and fifteen minutes, when we were near the end of the Fuß, Elder Fausnaught held out a card to give to a lady who rejected us and then out of nowhere this other lady said, "I'll take it." We asked her why she had taken it and she said she saw us getting constantly rejected and felt like taking it. Our church building is right next to the Fuß, so we invited her and her husband to take a tour of it, which they did. It was really cool, and they both seemed really interested, especially the wife. They wouldn't give us their contact info, but said they would no doubt visit the church on the first Sunday of November and give us their info if they liked it since we had President Monson yesterday and have stake conference this coming Sunday. It was a really cool experience, and there was a lot of promise there.

Speaking of President. Monson, we got to hear him speak yesterday in Frankfurt. It was really cool seeing him, but it was in a huge auditorium and he left before anyone could leave the building so no one got to meet him. He spoke about love and faith in Christ. One of my favorite things he said was something to the effect of "love is the catalyst that causes change." It was a good talk, and we got to see a lot of missionaries from a few zones who were there.

Well, that about sums up the week. It was pretty good, and things are looking up a lot in Idar-Oberstein. I hope you have a great week and that everyone stay happy! LoveYou!

Liebe, Daniel