A Busy Week in Hagen

Hey Mom!

This week in Hagen was probably one of the busiest weeks of my mission, if not the busiest. There are so many things to do here. It is interesting how my whole mission I was in areas where there was not much going on, and now that I am at the end, I am just constantly super busy, and I know this time is going to fly by.

We had a pretty sweet week here. On Monday, we did a lot of shopping for Pday. I got myself some BVB fan stuff as well as some new clothes that I have been needing. After we were done with our Pday activities, we went to our ward mission leader (Bruder Kleinert)'s house for FHE. There was a former investigator that came, and we all read and talked about 3 Nephi together. It went well, but the woman who was there doesn't really seem like the committal type. Bruder Kleinert said she has been the same way for years, so we probably won't get her as a progressing investigator any time soon.

Tuesday was really full of small miracles. We went first by a member whose birthday was that day, and it took a while to get out there. We weren't exactly sure where they lived, and we saw them on the street as we were going toward where we thought their house was. We had baked brownies for them, and they invited us in for a short time. They said it was the first time missionaries had ever dropped by on their birthday, so I think they enjoyed that. Later on, we wanted to have a lesson with an investigator, Abraham, but we didn't have enough time to reach him. We just ended up running into him on the street as we were trying to get a hold of him, and were able to make out a new appointment. When we were all finished there, we went to the church to talk with the bishop about missionary work and the ward. When we were done discussing those things, we had our English class with a member and a nonmember that another member had invited. We were going to then have a lesson with another investigator, Bernd, but he didn't show up. We gave him a call, and we were able to schedule a new appointment.

On Wednesday, we went by on an older couple who is semi-active right now. They were happy to let us in. They told us about their experiences living in the DDR and then we shared a message with them about holding to the Iron Rod. When we returned to the main city, we went to have our lesson with Abraham. He wants to stop drinking and change his life, but he doesn't have a lot of willpower and gives in easily to temptation. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and also offered him a Priesthood blessing, which he accepted. We ended the evening by planning out how we were going to work more effectively with the members and who we wanted to meet with in the coming week.

Thursday was also a busy day. The members of my district came to Hagen and we had a district planning session. There are various goals and initiatives for our mission from now until June when President Schwartz gets released, and we were asked to plan out some area goals in relation to them. After doing that, we all got some lunch together. There was another member with a birthday, so Elder Norman and I visited her briefly and gave her some birthday treats. We topped off the night with institute in Dortmund, which was good. I got to meet a couple more YSAs from our ward, and also our investigator, Frau Carvahlo was there.

On Friday, we went to Dortmund again for zone training meeting. It went really well and I learned a lot of things that I want to apply in my district meetings. When we got back to Hagen, we had that lesson with Bernd. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. We may have taken it a little too fast, so we will probably go over some of the points again when we meet with him tomorrow. We ended the night by helping a less-active member move some cabinets in his apartment.

We headed to Dortmund for the third day in a row on Saturday. We had a district leader council where we discussed things that need to be applied in our districts as well as some good ideas to boost effectiveness in missionary work. Upon returning and after eating lunch, we had a lesson in Iserlohn with Frau Carvahlo about putting our trust in God like the stripling warriors, and it went relatively well. There was a member that helped us teach who is from Mexico, and he has been in Germany for about a year studying. He goes back to Mexico this week, so we all drove over to a member's work place after the lesson and had a surprise party for him. It was fun, and there were some nonmembers there we got to talk to as well as strengthen the relationship with other members.

Sunday was another busy day. We had church, and Elder Norman gave a great talk about the new ward mission plan in Hagen and how we can work together to reach our goals. Right after church, we went to an older couples' apartment for lunch, the Langners (related to the Langners in Langen). When that was all said and done, we met with a family, the Gens family, who is returning to activity right now. It was an awesome appointment. They have a 9-year-old daughter who suddenly said she would like to be baptized that day at church, so we are going to work on getting her taught and ready for that as well as helping the family return to activity. It is difficult for them; the wife is from Brazil and apparently the church is much more relaxed and fun over there, and here in Germany it is still good, but it is a lot more strict and down to business, but they still have testimonies which is awesome. It is a large family as well, so it will be really good for the ward here. We had a short lesson about the Restoration, and afterwards, they talked about wanting us over there every 2 weeks, which is a lot of progress. We are really excited to work with this family more closely.

As you can see, there is a lot to do in Hagen. I am super glad to be in this area. It is just awesome. We are going to have an even more busy week this week, so next week's email might be even longer than this one if everything works out okay.

Anyway, I hope you have a great week! Love you!

LG, Daniel