Monday, July 15, 2013

Email - July 15, 2013

Okay. Look everyone. Listen up. Let's bring up the elephant in the room: the hair. I KNOW. I am seriously trying, but life is a little crazy right now. Elder Anderson and I have been on the hunt for a hair salon that sells a haircut for less than 27 Euro ($35), because that's ridiculous, and we kinda need food to live. One of the other Erlangen elders had some clippers, but now it is conveniently broken, and doesn't run more than one minute without dying and having to charge it for another 8 hours. Not to mention we are busier with appointments and meetings than we have ever been, so life is a little hectic right now. Trust me… it is a top priority at the moment. 

 I learned just the other week at Zone Training that in two more transfers, our mission is expected to break 300 missionaries in the field, with quite a lot being sister missionaries. Districts are getting packed, and areas keep getting broken up smaller and smaller to make room for everyone, and it is just more crazy and exciting than ever!

 I'll let you know what has been going down this last week!  Elder Anderson and I are a little peeved, because our bus/train ticket expired today, and we were told to call the office when we needed the money for the new ticket, and they would put it on our accounts. But when we called, we were told to just buy it with personal funds, and they would slowly reimburse us. Oh well. So if there's a big withdrawal from my personal card, everything’s okay… we're either just buying train tickets for the month or expensive haircuts.

This week has been a crazy one! We had a service project on Tuesday that ended up being Tuesday afternoon AND Wednesday afternoon, because it was so crazy. Who knew pulling out old, dead, rose bush roots would be the death of us? Those things went deep, but we finally survived and got that beast out, after lots of digging and singing songs from "Holes" to each other. 

We also had a really cool experience this week that I relate all to the Spirit. Elder Anderson and I were just coming back from an appointment, and our next one fell out suddenly, and we had a blank spot in our planners. That usually means "finding time!", and we were about to start finding, when I had the feeling to go by on a former investigator from the area book who we hadn't been by since the very first week when he wasn't home. It was a long walk, and no busses went out there all the way, but we really felt like we should drop by on this man. We made the walk, and when we finally got there and rang his doorbell, he opened up and was just startled to see us. He invited us in right away and before we could really say anything, he told us how he was with friends just a half hour before that, and had the feeling he needed to go home. He didn't know why, but he followed that thought and told his friends he needed to go. He had been really struggling as of late with finding a job, and with school, (he's from Egypt, and his whole family is still back there) and just being lonely without any friends or family. He said just as he was really getting down in the dumps, his doorbell rang, and the elders who he hadn't seen in months, showed up randomly on his doorstep, without any warning. He isn't a very religious man, but he told us that he knows that if there is a God, he gave him the feeling to go home, and us coming by was no coincidence. We couldn't stay long before we had to head back to the apartment for the night, but he didn't stop thanking us for being true friends and angels for stopping by. He now is looking forward to meeting with us later this week and getting contact started back up with the missionaries.

 The Lord has a plan for us. He won't let you see it all, but he'll tell you what path to take if you just listen. Our testimonies were strengthened on following the Spirit and even better, so was Mina's. We really cannot wait to start meeting with Mina, and so if you could keep him in your prayers, I know he would really appreciate it.

That's about all the time I have to tell you about this last week, but just know that I love you all, and don't have too much fun without me this week! Have fun, and if you can, try to be a little more sensitive to the Spirit. As any missionary would, that's my challenge to you all for the week! I gotta go and hopefully get a stupid haircut, but I'll hear from you all soon!

 Tschüs!

-- Elder McGinn



No comments:

Post a Comment