Monday, August 26, 2013

Email - August 26, 2013

Hey Familie McGinn! How are you all? I love that I ask these questions that you can't even answer for a week, so I'll just take it as an "amazing." :)

 K, quick problem, we are at an internet laden that only takes 1 Euro and 2 Euro pieces to pay for internet by the minute, and Anderson and I only have 20's and 10's, so time is a little rushed, but I'll see what I can do!

 First off, we do have regular activities with the youth! Every Friday is "Sport Tag", and we play basketball, ping pong, soccer, anything that I destroy at, and it's for member kids and all of the investigators that we meet on the street, and it is VERY successful. I am so glad to hear the elders back home are doing it too, because it's brilliant, and gets a lot of interest. So if you can, help the elders out! Cause I know we REALLY appreciate it over here when people show up, even though they always lose! Sadly, we still don't have permission to openly use Facebook, so we can't get as much attention as we'd like, but President Schwartz has a meeting next month to discuss when all of that will be open to us out here! (including ipads und so weiter!)

 It sounds like you all are busier than ever, in a good way! It's such a good feeling to be running from place to place! There's nothing I dislike more than "white days" out here where there isn't an appointment on your planner the whole day and you have to find something to do to use your time effectively!

 Dad, I know exactly what Gordon is talking about, cause we've already been there! Haha! It's called Herzogenaurach, or Herzo for short, and the Puma, Nike, AND Adidas outlets are all out there! They've got some killer deals, so if you're thinking about rocking a new fresh pair of kicks, let me know and I'll hook you up! And I actually had heard about the Pumas and Adidas brothers too! Cause one of our members works for Puma and told us the whole story! I think it's so funny how a tiny little argument has evolved into two huge European companies! I'd love to get a job in a company like one of those one day. Free swag for everyone!

 I'm not sure how many missionaries there are from our stake, I'll have to ask! I would assume it is around 10..? including senior couples. That is incredible, the work is taking off! Keep em flowing, we need all the help we can get all around the world! And also, I'm way excited for Kirt, Marcia and Necia and Lyle! It's comiing...so when are you two headed out, Mom and Dad? :) I really am so grateful for Ehepaars (as we call them), and the time they give to help us younger missionaries out. We couldn’t do it without them!

 To answer your question about investigators on the street, Dad, I don't know exactly! President just told us to really use our talents, and me and Anderson love sports and just talking and hanging out with people, so we find it easy to walk up to anyone and contact them somehow with sports. Whether off of what they're wearing, what they're saying, or just bluntly asking them if they're into sports! A lot of the time we carry around an American football too, and they're all amazed by the "brown egg" and want to be taught how to play! And through just starting the initial contact, we're able to just establish a solid friendship and invite them to sport day, where they meet the members inside the actual church building, and it easily leads to gospel discussion from their curiosity about the building and all of our members. We are being very blessed out here, and the Lord has blessed us with talents in working with the young kids, and Anderson and I are trying to take advantage of it the best we can!

 Syd, to answer your question about my favorite scripture, it honestly changes almost every other day because I use and study them so much out here! But right now, I'd have to say 3 Nephi 14:9-11. It talks about how parents have such a desire to give their kids everything they can, and since God is our Heavenly Father, we can barely even imagine how much he wants to give us and how much he CAN give us. We just need to ask.

 Well, time is running low, (stupid coins), but I just want to share this week’s miracle. This week things have been starting to take off with Katia. She has been so busy with work, and we have been praying that she would be able to have time to meet with us, and this week her uncle who is a member in our ward called us up and said he wanted us to come over in three hours if we had the time, because Katia would be there! So we left the other elders to take care of sport day and practically ran over there. It's kinda wierd with Katia, because she is from Kazakstan and only speaks Russian and English. No German. So we teach her in Russian so that she can understand. Hahahah just kidding, English. She is the first person I have taught in my mother tongue, and it was kinda hard at first! I was mixing up languages, but we watched the Restoration video and gave her the first lesson, and she was in tears. She said she has never heard anything like this in Kazakstan. The next day we were invited over AGAIN and got to teach her der Plan der Erlösung, and the progress is just flying. At the rate she is going, we could have taught her all lessons by the end of this week, and we're hoping to extend the baptismal commitment next lesson! We have seen miracles with her, and the Lord has placed our schedule and planners together so perfectly that she is always available right when we have an empty slot. We are so excited to keep working with her, and the promising progress that she is making!

 I'm sorry that was so jumbled, but I'm just watching this timer in the corner of the screen and trying to get out everything I want to say before it runs out!

 Well, I gotta finish up, but I'll hear from you all soon! Transfer calls are this Saturday, so next time I'll let you all know what's up! Make your guesses, and I'll buy the winner a dönner and eat it in their honor! Keep having fun with school, tennis, work, making lunches, and taking G and J out, and I can't wait to hear about it next week! I still have so much to tell you all, so expect a big one next week! I love you all! The church is true!!!!

 Tschicka-tschau!

 -- Elder McGinn

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