Guten Morgen, meine schöne Familie! Mutter, du bist besser
beim Deutsch als du denkst! Aber wirklich. Es ist beindruckend. Und Vater, tut
mir Leid, aber ich glaube es gibt keine Hoffnung für dich. Du bist viel zu
rein. :)
Nice! It's officially Halloween season at the McGinn home. I
honestly have no idea why I love Halloween so much, I just do. Something in the
air. And the leaves. Germany looks like it is on fire right now with all the
changing colors. Halloween is slowly getting more popular in this country, but
not to the point yet where we would really notice anything out of the ordinary
on the 31st. The next big holiday is honestly probably Saint Nicholaus' Day on
the 6th of December. So we're on a holiday drought for a while, but as soon as
December hits, it's party time.
How awesome was conference this time around? Yesterday we had sacrament meeting
and then watched the Sunday Afternoon session, where David A. Bednar gave that
KILLER talk directed to non-members who wanna know why we are all so eager to
share the gospel all the time. I think that may be my favorite talk given,
aside from Elder Holland because of the way he pronounces his w-h's as in what
and why and where. But I'm looking forward to using Elder Bednar's talk
often in the near future in explaining that exact topic to investigators.
Well, we had a really great, really busy week this week.
This week consisted of four splits and a bunch of appointments in between!
First, we had a split with different American areas. The American areas are
going through a rough time right now because they can only teach American
military people, but they have a hard time getting investigators because they
aren't allowed to proselyte on the bases, but those are the only places the
members live! So, because there are three of us here now, I got dropped off in
Wiesbaden to work with the elders there, and the other two went to
Kaiserslautern to work with different companionships there for the day. It was
overall a great experience, we pumped the elders up, and we're starting to make
progress and find the kinks in the system when it comes to these American
areas!
After that, the Kaiserslautern Zone Leaders came to us in
Frankfurt, and spent the night and the next day with us. We had a ton of fun
and had a couple of solid appointments before they left that following night,
and then we immediately split with the Zone Leaders here in Frankfurt right
after that! Elder Emery and I were with Elder Lovelace, my earlier companion
and also Elder Emery's earlier companion, so it was a blast. Most of that day
was consumed by a group of 60 kids from the Düsseldorf Stake who came down for
activities and things as a part of their temple trip! So for 3 or 4 hours we
were in charge of a mess of kids between 12 and 18 years old, and managed to
keep them entertained and also have an awesome, spiritual time!
After we split with
Frankfurt, the next morning we got in the car and headed 3 hours down to
Nürnberg, for the next split! I love that city. We met with a few less actives
and a young 22 year old kid who will be baptized in two weeks, and had an
awesome time. President Schwartz also lives right around the corner down there,
so after we were done with Nürnberg, we stopped by President Schwartz's house
on the way back and had lunch, which was awesome. He's back into life, coming
up with new big ideas, and Sister Schwartz is still just cooking her heart out.
It was fun to be with them for an hour or so one more time.Then we flew back
home to be at a baptism of an 8 year old boy, who had a few non-members at his
baptism that his family had invited who were awesome! We had some great
conversations, and we're hoping they are serious about coming back to church
this next week!
And then yesterday was just stacked full of appointments, one
of which included us coming in right after a lady and her boyfriend had just
had an argument and weren't on speaking terms, so we had a little marriage
counseling session after giving them both blessings, and now they're doing much
better. Who would have guessed. Two 20 year olds and a 23 year old, unlicensed,
giving marriage counseling that worked. Haha probably because it was all built
around the gospel and the power of the Atonement, which are two topics that we
ARE certified in. :) They're doing better and are committed to making some big
steps in investigating the church more seriously and improving their
relationship. We're meeting again with them this week, so we're excited!
Anyway, I just spit out a ton of information at you guys, I
hope it all makes sense! Basically we're happy because we're busy and we're
busy because we're happy, and the work is flying by. This next week is pretty
much all booked out with "Transfer Planning" at President's house!
Transfers are in a week and a half, and we need to decide what's going to
happen. It should be fun! We're looking forward to having a ton of time with
President and Sister Stoddard. They are so great.
We really gotta run, but I love you all and hope you have
the best week ever! Smile, take lots of pictures, say your prayers, read your
scriptures, and act on all your promptings! Do that and I promise you'll be
happy, no matter what life throws at ya. This Church and gospel are true! I'm a
living witness of it every single day. It's changing lives. You are all in my
prayers!
I love you, Mom!
-- Elder McGinn
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