Bayreuth Bayreuth Bayreuth

Hey folks!

Christmas time is almost here!  That's exciting! 

Let me just say that Bayreuth is a pretty drastic change in almost all aspects.  Luckily, however, the language is much better than I expected.  Actually, I may have only met one person so far with the weird dialect, and he was also drunk, so I'm doing pretty alright in terms of understanding.  

I'm in a tiny branch right now.  We have less than 10 active adults come to church on Sundays...perhaps 20 people normally come in total.  We only meet for two hours instead of three, and it's a little bit of a bummer!  It definitely is a small community,  but the members we do have seem really great.  We only have two appointments for the days surrounding Christmas, though.

Corresponding with that, it seems that the missionary morale has been relatively low in comparison to the other areas I have visited and worked in. They haven't had a baptism in almost a year and that person has been very inactive since.

With all this, I can without a doubt say that this has been my busiest week of my mission so far.  I spent four hours on the train ride here setting goals and planning for the transfer, and the Lord has been generous in granting me the energy and means to carry this out.  I am determined to at least do all I possibly can to get one person into the waters at the end of this transfer.  To do this, I have had to do some introspection to see what I can stop doing, replace in my habits, or start doing to make myself a better and more consecrated missionary.  I've been doing my best to eliminate any hinderances, and this has truly been a wonderful process.  By cutting off things that may have not even been bad, but things that perhaps could have been drawing from my consecration in any way, I have immediately seen the blessings come.  We didn't have a whole lot of lessons this week.  We didn't set any dates.  But I have seen the hand of the Lord in a bounty of other ways and this week has been a great growing period.

This week has likewise been one of the most stressful ones of my mission so far.  I have a feeling that my time in Bayreuth could be the refiner's fire for me, but I am confident that the Lord sent us missionaries here for a reason.  I think, if anything, this will certainly help me to put my trust more fully in the Lord.  We did find nine potential investigators since Tuesday, and I really am hoping that these people are prepared.  If not, I sure hope we will be guided to those who are.

Anyways.  I'm currently reading through Alma, chapters 10-20, and I read about some really awesome things.  In Alma 17:1-5, we read of Alma's joyful reunion with the Sons of Mosiah after years of being apart to teach the Gospel (which in and of itself is one of my favorite scriptures).  In verses two and three, it says:

"They were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God."  We learn that "they had given themselves to much prayer and fasting."  Isn't it interesting that these men saw an angel, and yet worked diligently for so long still to gain their testimonies?  It says that they did this to "know the word of God" and I think that to "know" the word of a God not only means to have each doctrinal point memorized, but to have it actually "engraven upon your countenances" (Alma 5:19), and to believe it with all your heart.  With mere knowledge of the gospel must come a practice of it as well, if we want to truly understand it and teach it.  We learn in Alma 5 earlier that Alma went through a similarly long process to gain his testimony following his conversion.  And we know that Laman and Lemuel did see an angel, yet dwindled in unbelief because they remained unchanged in desire to change or gain a testimony.

Another thing I really like from Alma 17 lies in verses 9-11.  The Sons of Mosiah split paths once more to teach the Lamanites, and the Lord commands them to "be comforted".  It doesn't specify their moods until it is related back to us by Alma in Alma 26:27, where we are told that their "hearts were depressed, and [they] were about to turn back" before the Lord "comforted them".

As I wrote about earlier, this week has been extremely busy and honestly, exhausting at times, for me.  We have contacted more than we ever had on my mission so far.  It's been hard.  But I have felt personally the comfort of the Lord as I sometimes do, against the will of at least some [lazy] part of me, return to the streets to contact in spite of any perceived lack of success prior.  I have found that it is often beyond our initially-thought-of limits that we may often find miracles.  I felt His presence on Thursday of this week, when we had a day of finding several potentials.  I was a little stressed but we worked hard, and at the end of the evening it hit me how actually much he was involved throughout the day.  As we were walking home, I did get choked up and simply began to thank our Loving Heavenly Father for all he has done for us, and his Son.  The Lord loves us as we pursuit our endeavors of all sorts and I am so glad to experience the blessings of full consecration to him for the time being.  It doesn't matter how many times we get told "I HAVE NO TIME, BOY" (literal translation), I know that the Lord is with us every step of the way, and I know that he will lead us to a person who is ready to enter the waters of baptism and join His fold--or, at least, to prepare the hearts of the people to do so.  We need not fear if we do what's right.  

To close this email, I'll share with you the verse of a hymn that has been recurring multiple times in my mind throughout this week.  It is the third verse of How Firm a Foundation:

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

I love you all.  It brightens my weeks each time I can read your emails.  I hope you have a wonderfully merry Christmas time and that you can remember the greatest gift of all: Our Savior Jesus Christ.  Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Love,

Elder Wallentine

Oberhausen Christmas Market

Me with  a formerly inactive man named Brother Adabra.