Monday, October 13, 2014

Email - October 13, 2014


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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