March 13, 2025: Mama, dein Sohn ist ein Gangster

 Here are the good things:

- Elder McCann got his wisdom teeth out and is now recovered! We got some awesome videos of him. The German dentist is pretty brutal though. His face looked like a chipmunk for 4 days 🐿
- we found some cool people! I talked to a guy who said no at first, but as I was walking away he asked me where I was from. I told him America, and then he asked which state. I told him Oklahoma. He then starts speaking really good English to me and apparently went on a school exchange in Stillwater Oklahoma like 30 years ago?? What are the chances? That's was a really fun conversation. Figured he's probably an OSU fan though so I didn't get his phone number. 
- we had an awesome day at church on Sunday, our newly baptized member Okwuudili showed up without getting a ride with someone (the person he usually goes with is gone) so he traveled upwards of two hours to church. He missed the sacrament portion, so we were able to do a mini sacrament with him afterwards. He also brought money, completely on his own, unprovoked, to pay his tithing with! It's so cool to see people continue strong in the gospel after baptism. 
- Tuesday was crazy hectic, we went up to Frankfurt for Elder McCann to do some bureaucracy but there was a huge strike going on for the subways. We found an alternative route to where we needed to go, and then another train was extremely delayed because of a "fire on the tracks" which I've never heard of before. We were going to miss our appointment (which would be very unfortunate for Elder McCann) but long story short we prayed and god provided a way for everything to work out and we got to eat some currywurst!

The hardest part of this week was about our friend Andrés. We had everything planned for his baptism and he passed his interview and everything, but something came up on Tuesday evening and unfortunately it is going to be a while before he makes the jump to baptism. He is still really wanting to be baptized, but he just wants to be more certain on a few commitments first. That was really heartbreaking. I've been working with him since the beginning of his journey, and he is probably my most favorite guy I've had the privilege to teach, and he really is just like a buddy to our whole companionship. We've been looking forward to his baptism for months. He's not gone though thank goodness, he will just be sticking around a while longer before he makes the jump to become a member. 

Next week is transfers! We get news on Saturday. We are pretty certain the trio will be split up and I'll be going somewhere else. Wherever I go will likely be the place that I end up completing my mission as well, so that is exciting!

Here is a scripture that came to my mind when thinking about the situation with Andrés and it really comforted me:
Alma 26:27
"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."
Even though there's setbacks, I know that as we bear our afflictions with patience and continue in diligence, the Lord will give us success.

Have a great week!
Elder Tage Rex







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