April 30, 2012 . . .There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

 

Actually it was a missionary named Elder Bodily who did it three times on Saturday while riding his bike around. He also killed a bee with his forward while riding. Bugs seem to like him.

 

Anyways, enough of that. What's more important is that my great friend Jake Harmer got his mission call to Ribeirao Preto, Brazil this week. Jake if the shout out during my farewell talk wasn't enough, here is another. I am super excited for you and know you are going to be an outstanding Missionary. I wonder if the Brazil MTC food will be anything like Tucanos. Elder Harmer, you are about to embark on an incredible experience and you are going to love it. There are people there who are ready to recieve you and they are going to love you.

 

Well, this week we had a lot of fallen out appointments, but that just means we have a lot of time to street contact and door and we're hoping that this next week will go well with the appointments we made out through searching. Familie Bobi and Stephan are our investigators who are right now making the most progress. It is always a great treat to meet with Familie Bobi. We went over the Plan of Salvation with them this week and they thought it was something really good. We found out that Evisha the wife never had gone to school so she had problems with reading. She approached us about whether there was a way we could get her a childrens version of the Book of Mormon so that she can read that along with her husband reading to her from the actual book. We are getting that for her and every Wednesday for an hour we're going to help her with learning to read. She seemed really happy about that. They have had a lot problems with their families in the past, but they have strong faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and recognize that it is only through them that they have made it through. They actually invited us to a Lamb BBQ with them on Sunday; that should be a lot of fun. Stephan has been diligent in coming to church. The ward has been good at befriending him when he comes. He is usually super busy during the week so it is hard to meet with him, but he likes our message and is very interested in continuing to learn more. Mohammed and Ali have kind of stopped coming to church during this whole Italy situation (we still don't know yet whether they need to go), but they have been very diligent in studying the Book of Mormon, believe and follow everything, and I think they will start coming again to church once they know if they can stay in Germany. The big problem we have is that because their residency status in Europe is unstable and they may have to go back to Syria one day, based off the Church policy we probably won't be able to baptize them because of the Middle-East culture in certain areas. If they ever returned there are many who would reject them because they converted from Islam and there are some extremists in unstable countries like Syria who would even threaten to kill them because they converted away. If that's the case they will most likely not be baptized unless something changes in the future. But what is the important part of all of this is that they understand our message and believe it and if they do not have the opportunity to be baptized in this life, they will in the life to come. What I know is that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of his children and if they will hearken unto him, he will take care of them.

 

So, I thought Mother's day was this upcoming Sunday, but as I found out 10 minutes ago it's not until the 13th. I will be really excited to call home.

 

We had a tragic death this week here in the Rosenheim area. Pegasus, my bike, has bitten the dust. This last week it was having a lot of problems and then finally this morning it just decided to fall apart. I'm not sure at this point whether I have to pay for a new bike, but we will figure it out later tonight.

 

I'm getting to that stage already in my mission where my mindset is turning into "As a missionary I don't have a lot of free time and I'd rather use my money for other things - so lets save both and do something that I can get away with since my mom is not here" and I gave myself a haircut in ten minutes. I kind of struggled at first but it turned out all right. I don't think it looks too bad, but I think Ally McGinn will keep me as a customer when I return home.

 

Soccer is an essential religion here in Bayern, German. Probably all over Germany as well, but Bayern is the Texas of Germany (in more ways than I have time to explain) and they treat Soccer as seriously if not more so than Texas does with Football. On that note the big European tournament between all the club soccer teams has been going on and FC Bayern of Germany and Chelsea of England are facing each other in the championship. The people here have been going crazy over it and it gets brought up in almost every discussion. Sometime in the summer they will be having the European tournament where all of the country teams will face each other. Germany is ranked either 2nd or 3rd going into it and a lot of the games will be held in Munich. President Miles has mentioned we have to be careful around that time with proselyting and dooring because there will be a lot of angry Germans if you try to disrupt them from watching the games.

 

I am hoping to get a few letters sent out this week, so thank you to everyone who has been patient in waiting for a response. Mom and Dad thanks for continuing to keep me updated on the ward and everyone. I am sending a package home that has a number of random things including something for Brittney and Brandon and the kids and Amber. Tell Cade, Cameron, and Weston good job for getting their Eagles and that Cade is free to borrow my scout stuff anytime he wants. I am really greatful for the ward for all of their support and this fasting for the missionaries thing they are doing. I know it's helping with the work here in Rosenheim and I'm really grateful for that. I hope all continues to go well for everyone.

 

I want to take the chance to bear my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. I finished reading through it again yesterday and I know that its message is true. I know that Heavenly Father can reveal personal revelation to everyone through it and by this book everyone can find peace because of its ability to draw us closer to the Savior. One of my absolute favorite parts of becoming a missionary has been the increased amount of time I have been able to read and to share scriptures in the Book of Mormon with others. When you need direction in life, I know that this Book combined with prayer will lead the way to what you need. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Elder Bodily

Gott sei mit euch bis aufs wiedersehen