October 11, 2023: I wouldn't say "freed"

 More like "under new management" 

My movie quotes are probably going to get less and less accurate as the weeks go by, so if you don't recognize it that's okay.

This week is hard to remember, and I'm a few days behind on my journaling but hopefully I'll remember what's important.

We had a lot of lessons fall out on us again, our goal this week was 8 and we had like 9 or 10 planned but we only had 4 in the end.

We had a great lesson with our friends Eicke and Sophie though! We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon, and talked about baptism. They said they need more time, and we expected that, but they are seriously thinking about it now. It might take months or even more than a year, but they're truly walking the right path and it's so cool to see. I think they're more dedicated now because they're finally reading on their own too! They've never done that before now, and Eicke texts us every day to update us on it, even though we never asked him to.

We also had a great lesson with our friend Neda. "She's a homie" said my comp, which I agree with. She reads in the Book of Mormon, and asks us questions about what she read which always makes me happy. I think she will probably get baptized one day too, but it's hard to say when. Many of our friends are really solid, they just need a lot of time, but that's normal I think. I'm just glad some of them are taking it seriously.

Our man Sunday is in the hospital unfortunately, so we weren't able to teach him this week. 

Regarding the day Sunday though, it was pretty good! We had an excellent testimony meeting, and a lot of people bore testimony of the temple. For lunch we got to go outside of the mission boundaries with an Oma and Opa, and go to the Netherlands! It was about a 45 minute drive, and with every member meal appointment it just gets better and better. They gave us homemade schnitzel which was incredible, Rotkohl (a red cabbage thing that was actually really good), some veggies, and of course potatoes. (No salad!) Actually though salad as become more bearable. If I must, I will. They also gave us a bunch of homemade chocolate and taught us how to make our own, and gave us the ingredients. We drove back, stopped at a really old windmill, and went home.

On Monday Elder Koch dropped me off at the train station with Elder Stooki, and we traveled to Frankfurt for our "titel appointment". Still not sure what that is but something to do with out visas and not getting deported, and all of the missionaries I was in the MTC with were there. Anyways our train was canceled, so we had to take one an hour later but it actually was a little miracle, because all of the other missionaries going there were on the later train! We got to talk with them on the way and that was really cool to recount our experiences the past 2 months. We ate some currywurst, and had a big old sleepover in the office elders apartment in Frankfurt. You'd think a group of 10 18-19 year old would stay up talking but we were out like a light. We woke up, my old MTC companion randomly whipped up French toast, and went to do our Titel appointment thingy. 

We came back late Thursday, and had just enough time to go and visit our friend Sunday in the hospital, but sadly we got there 5 minutes too late, so we weren't able to go cheer him up :(

Our P-Day came early this week! We've got Zone Conference on Friday, and interviews tomorrow, so this week we've got a Wednesday P-Day. Today we went to Krefeld, and got haircuts as a district, and I didn't know how to tell the guy the measurements I wanted, but he said the word Russian, so I said "no, English", but maybe he meant a Russian hair cut because I think he made me look like a mafia boss. They do your hair for you afterwards to perfection, but the problem is when I wake up tomorrow I will never be able to do it the same again. Shame.

We tried to go to a Chinese buffet for Elder Mackenzie's Birthday, but couldn't find any so we went to Duisburg to find the one we went to a few weeks ago. 

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is joy. People have promised me that being on a mission is going to be the most joyful you will ever feel. I believe them, but it's sometimes hard to recognize that when I look back and see all the things that used to make me happy left behind. I've learned though, it's not about having joy because of everything you have, it's about finding joy despite of everything that is happening. That's what a mission teaches you. Something our prophet said is  "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives". When we focus on Jesus Christ, it won't matter your circumstances. You could leave your family, your friends, all of your favorite past times, and more, fly to a place you've never been, and do something you've never been comfortable doing every single day, for two years and still find joy. And the fact that there are so many people who have done and are doing this right now proves to me of the validity of this principle. Yes, there is joy in missionary work, but there's also so much effort and trials that go into it, and nobody would willingly do that unless they were able to find joy through Jesus Christ despite all of it. And I know it's the same for every person in the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ promises peace and joy.

Much love, miss you all dearly, and bis später 

Elder Tage

 Rex

Some pics

One is a statue of 3 ripped Greek dudes holding up the world, and another is a signed that reminded me of Spider-Man 2. The rest are from my Titel appointment trip thingy :)