August 29, 2023: Die Mikrowelle des Böses

Why do people think that German sounds angry? It really isn't at all- people just talk louder in German for some reason. 

I've also noticed that when whole cherries are put into a dessert, they don't usually remove the pits. It's like navigating a minefield. 

I met one of our friends named Marita, and she is super awesome. She has 2 kids, and was recently divorced so she has felt very alone and it's been really hard for her. She has found happiness and peace from praying and coming to church though, and we invited her to pray about baptism! Our lesson with her this week was the first one that felt like I actually was involved, and not just listening.

We were really worried about teaching our friends Eicke and Sophie about the Word of Wisdom, because sometimes they would take smoke breaks during our lessons. But they actually took it really well and they said everything made sense, so that was a Wunder. They even came to church for the first time and had a great experience and I'm excited for them!

We met with a new friend, Sundus, an 18 year old muslim girl. She's super cool, and was pretty open to everything we had to say! She has been reading the Book of Mormon since, but now it looks like she might be flirting with us and so we are praying that her desire to hear our message is sincere. She said my attempts to speak German were cute.

We got a referral from some sisters in Berlin, about this guy named Pavan, so we set up a zoom call yesterday with him. Didn't think too much of it, but when we opened the call I could tell he was going to be awesome. We simply taught the first lesson, about the restoration, and he truly listened to everything we said, which is rare. we all felt the spirit as we testified, and he said he could tell how much we truly believed on this message. He even said a prayer at the end for us and is super eager to learn more!

A lotta weird crazy and cool stuff happened this week so hopefully this doesn't end up too long (it did)

- We went to Innenstadt (inner city) to meet up with a guy who never showed up, but both of us needed to go really bad. like go go. So we ran around for at least 30 minutes (it felt like a lifetime) looking for bathrooms but all the ones we found costed 50 cents to use! Danke Deutschland. We had no coins on us and eventually we just exchanged some cash at a bakery and went. These random kids on bikes came up to me while my comp was using it, and since then I just see them around town randomly and say hi. We're chill like that.

- We completely forgot our bikes next to some tree, and right before our train came to get to a lesson we remembered them, so we ran as fast as we could to grab them, but the train had already left so we missed the lesson. By a miracle, somehow our bikes weren't stolen even though we left them for an out in the open for an hour. We came back to grab them and a friend we hadn't met with for a long time was watching them for us! We even had the chance to teach him the following day because of that. None of that would've happened if we didn't miss the train.

- I ate a pizza with wait for it... mushrooms on it (it gets worse)

- we locked ourselves outta the house and we felt so bad because we had to ring up the Oma that lives with us, but it actually turned out to be a little miracle because we had a really awesome conversation with her.

- All of the old people here ride these big electric scooters? Like the type you see at grocery stores, but they're just everywhere. It's kinda funny. One of them is named Cosimo and we got to teach him on Saturday, and he ordered pizza for us (yay). It was pizza with tomatoes, peppers, tuna, olives, and probably a bunch of other stuff I don't remember because my brain wouldn't handle it (not yay). It was disgusting but I was so hungry I ate like 4 or 5 slices. Didn't dare touch the salad though. We also got this "refreshing yogurt drink", but do not be fooled. It tastes like they poured some milk in the ocean and put it in a cup. Much worse than pilk (pepsi milk)

- I had my 2nd Sunday in Wesel! We had 6.5 friends come! It was seriously amazing. Plus the stake president was there, and although I only understood a portion of it I could tell it was a great talk, and everybody had a good experience. The scooter guy Cosimo even pulled up, but he just said hi to us and left. He drove all the way on a little scooter just to say hi and leave. What a guy. We also made some fire wraps for dinner. 

- We destroyed every single goal we set this week!

- My companion's barber isn't great so I got to shave the back of his neck with a razer

- we found the 99 year old Oma outside gardening this week. I think she is stronger than me.

- Little miracle, a guy texted US a reminder for a teaching appointment. We completely forgot about it, and met him on time. 

- We met a guy at a lake that had a few... undressed people at it, so that was a little uncomfortable, but luckily we were facing the other way. He asked us a ton of super specific questions about our beliefs, and while he wasn't really trying to argue with us, it kinda came off that way. He wasn't really looking for our answers to his questions, but looking for loopholes in our answers. He was a cool guy though, and it was a good experience. 

- Did you know Italians really say Mama Mia? We met with an Italian member and she said it at least 15 times in the span of an hour.

- We had another miracle. We had 5 minutes to get to a train 5 minutes away. We got stopped at railroad tracks, and were certain we would be late. I said a teeny prayer, we pedaled as fast as we could, and the train conductors were about to close the door and saw us coming and let us in! We would've had to wait another hour for the next train and call our mission president because of it.

- I got a lot better at approaching people in German this week! It was amazing how every time I followed a spiritual nudge we always had a good conversation with that person. 

- Ich versuche Salat zu essen.

- We made some incredible breakfast burritos for dinner yesterday.

God truly is a god of miracles, and I see them every day, big and small as I put faith in him. I've learned that life as a missionary never goes according to plan. Every day has a few sharp left turns, but I wouldn't change any of it, because it allows me to see the miracles in my life. In the same way, our lives hardly ever go according to plan. Our courses change all the time. It can be super frustrating, or even depressing for anyone. As you look for the little miracles, and the little things to be grateful for, life becomes that much more bearable, and strenth will be found to keep moving, no matter your circumstances.  

Mosiah 4: 27
"And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize"

Sorry again for the long email, I feel like more noteworthy things have happened in the last 2 weeks than in like a year of normal living. It's awesome though :)

Elder Tage Rex
















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