December 12, 2024: Wish I could turn you back into a stranger

 Grüß euch!


Another great week! We were able to put one more friend on baptismal date! Sanja will be baptized on the 11th of January. We also followed up with our man Okwuudili who is on date for next Saturday and he's on track to make it so we're super excited!! He will be interviewed this Saturday. It's so amazing to be a part of this process. We're trying our best to work hard and be effective in everything of course, but it really just feels like the Lord is doing the heavy lifting. It's his work and he just lets us be the messengers. 

On Friday we had a funny experience. We've been riding some bikes that are alright, but not great, and the sisters just 10 Minute train ride over had some reallyyyy nice bikes, but they don't use them too often. We asked them to trade and for some reason they agreed. They dropped off the bikes at the church and we were going to have a long bike ride on Friday so we figured it would be a good day to pick them up. We rode our old bikes from the train station to the church, but we didn't calculate any incline. It felt like it was about 45° steep for a good few miles, and we made it maybe half a mile on our low gears and then had no more desire to ride so we walked the rest of the way up what seemed like a Mountain. It took us over an hour to reach the church, going through a deep forest as part of our journey in the dark of night (it gets dark at 4pm right now). We picked up the new bikes after forever, and then realised a cold front had hit since they'd been there and the tires were flat. We had also forgotten a tire pump. There were no members nearby that we could ask for help so we went doorknocking- looking for someone to help us with the tires so we could make it home. It turns out that when you aren't preaching religion and Jesus, the Germans are actually extremely helpful and kind. A family spent 30 minutes trying to help us out, eventually led us to a gas station to find an air pump that didn't fit the bikes, and offered to drive us to the train station. We politely declined. There was then a series of 3 busses that denied us passage with our bikes for various reasons that we didn't find valid, and so we rode to the station and eventually with flat tires. It was a fun experience. Freezing rain was also coming down the whole time so we were frozen by the end. We missed an appointment or two unfortunately, but it all worked out in the end and we have some awesome bikes now 😂😁

Were teaching some cool new people- one German named Leon who is super chill, and another named Elef from the Netherlands who speaks significantly better English than Elder Stubbs and I's broken southern American English. He has been using words I've never heard of but he's very sincere about learning about God.

We had a mission Christmas party with the croppers yesterday! That was super fun to see lots of missionary buddies and past companions. Definitely hit me in the feels at the end realising it was my last Christmas on the mission and I wouldn't have a gathering like that again probably ever in my life. There will of course be amazing christmases- probably better ones- but being on a mission is just something different. 

I officially hit 6 months left yesterday so that was wild as well. Die Zeit vergeht wie im Flug  ✈ 

Ich hab euch lieb!
Elder Tage Rex

Pics:
The only nativity/Jesus reference we could find among all the Festivities in the Christmas Market

Us after our crazy bike journey

Us and the sisters with our boy Claristo











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