This week has been pretty crazy, and eventful! We've had some good
progress with a few investigators but we still have plenty more
progress to make. I got an interesting call on Saturday morning
around transfers time and have been called to be a Zone Leader! I was
pretty surprised, since I only was District Leader for one transfer,
which was a little bit of a bummer. But I've also really enjoyed my
first week as a Zone Leader and have found planning for the next
little while to be motivating and exciting. We will see how things go
in the next little while and I hope that I can fulfill this new
responsibility well, and that the Kaiserslautern Zone will survive the
transfer, haha! They've made Kaiserslautern the Zone Leader area, so
I didn't have to move at all, but I have been joined by Elder
Crossley, the pre-existing leader.
It's funny. Elder Crossley was my District Leader in Bayreuth for two
transfers, then I was his District Leader for one when he was a Zone
Leader, and now we're both COMPS. It should be fun and it has been
already!
Lots of pictures coming in below. These include me saying goodbye to
my companion and trainer, Elder Miller and Elder Warner respectively,
final district pictures, and a fancy church.
To train myself for a future job as a weatherman that I will not be
pursuing, here is the weekly report: We are entering the most
difficult season of the year. People think of Europe as being
freezing and miserably cold, and while it does get freezing as low as
-20 degrees Celsius during the winter months, I LOVE the cold. If you
prepare well it is great. And the heating system is pretty good. But
unfortunately, they do not have air conditioners in most German
apartments we've seen. So, when it gets up to summer temperatures,
we've got one fan in our apartment to defend ourselves with. It's
been a struggle, but luckily it's only gotten super hot on a select
few days this week. I've been more tired than usual this past week
because I can't sleep too well when the apartment is so hot, but I'm
sure I'll adjust.
We've been working hard this week and it seems that it hasn't been
paying off exactly as easily lately. People have been particularly
closed off for the last few days, but we are still finding people
regardless of rejection by others. I've got a great feeling about
this transfer because we've been both pushing each other so far to
work hard and keep going when it's hard. I have found in my brief
time here that people are, by a considerable amount, the most
effective when there is a mutual resolve to set, work towards, and
accomplish goals carefully and precisely made. I'm grateful to have
been paired up with so many ambitious companions, this transfer no
less. I expect to be able to report some great things in my upcoming
updates.
I don't know what else I need to write about. I contacted an older
man this week who interrupted us when we introduced ourselves by
giving us a fist-bump, then proceeded to smile with a toothy grin and
do a little mini-jig. I also saw many examples of intoxication among
city-goers that disturbed lessons we had--one of which including a man
sneaking up behind me in a lesson and asking for some beer. The usual
jazz.
But golly, I'm enjoying my mission right now. The last little while,
while containing unique moments and times of stress, has also brought
me great peace and joy. I am grateful to have this chance to be on my
mission and to be serving the Lord with all my time and strength.
I've found that there is danger in focusing too much on our own
happiness and peace as opposed to the peace of others and pleasing the
Lord. This holds especially true when we begin to change directions
different to the Lord's for our own gratification, namely through
disobedience. When it comes to the Lord's work, we have to be all-in
if we want to have lasting joy. The more we try to "break out" of the
missionary lifestyle, the harder it becomes to get back into it, and
the more unhappy we become overall. I've seen this in many forms. We
may tell ourselves that breaking certain rules is justified, which
includes the mindset that the overall expectations are "too high",
that we are obedient enough in other categories, that we won't be able
to make it if we don't allow for some disobedience, etcetera etcetera.
We might have similar views about the gospel collectively. The fact
of the matter is that the purpose of the gospel is not based on the
philosophy that "I COULD be much worse," but rather "In spite of my
imperfections, I will yet do my best to become like Christ, and the
gap will one day be made up through His Atonement if I put in my
part." While some may doubt this, I know that it is possible to
truly, fully invest us into the Lords work, when we learn to rely on
Him who has called us. With our calling, there comes qualifying, but
we need to trust in the fact that He can only help us as far as we
allow Him to!
Thanks for the time you spend reading this things! I'm surprised if
you've read this far already!
Elder Wallentine
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