It's been a fantastic week! We have been busy continuing to start off the new transfer and preparing for everything that will be happening during it. We've been working hard and the area is expanding at an even higher rate than before. We've been getting blessed with plenty of new investigators, and we are even more mobile now that we have a car, which has sped up certain trips pretty significantly. It's been a blast and a remarkable new experience for me on my mission, and I can tell that we're both fully determined to work for success in the area. We've got lots of stories from this week, and so I will just hop right into it. Buckle your seat belts.
Last Thursday evening, I contacted a 16-ish year old girl on the street. She was with a friend when we initially spoke, and I asked them about what they thought of the purpose of life. She responded
somewhat aggressively, then got suddenly giggly and jokey and told me to wait for her while she went to Burger King to buy some Chicky. Expecting her not to return, I continued to contact for about five minutes when she suddenly came out again in a rush. She bade me to follow her somewhere to talk with her and her friends, and I grabbed my companion to come with me as we followed. Being lead into a small park area, we see a bunch of young folks in a small congregation, making a decently-sized ruckus. I looked at my companion, and from his nervous expression I seemed to hear "Dude, we should totally proceed to a soap-box-like preaching performance." After we began with the 'sermon', we were interrupted quite suddenly by multiple shouts from the congregation, including "ALL THAT I CAN THINK ABOUT IS 'STOP TALKING'" and "WE ARE HIGH RIGHT NOW". They were indeed high. We concluded about three minutes in and then left. I don't know what came over us to cause us to do that, but it was an adventure. Hey, one of those guys will be baptized someday. But no 2000-people-decide-to-be-baptized-at-once event...yet.
Meanwhile, teenagers on a train were talking about us rather loudly in German. Nothing too bad, but just sort of light fun-poking. I don't think they knew we spoke German, but we jumped into their conversation and asked if they knew anything about us, which caused only laughter and a little bit of embarrassment. They ignored the question and then started poking fun a little harder. As we got off the train, I gave them a card and asked them to contact us if they wanted to learn about the church. We later got a call and scheduled an appointment at a train station, but I think I heard laughing in the background and I'm not entirely sure how reliable this will be.
We will see.
We also saw two kids raiding a mall pond for money. See picture below.
On a more work-pertinent note, we met with two awesome people this week! They are both studying in Germany's high-school equivalent place: the Gymnasium. They are both good friends and seemed to find some questions answered through our speaking. It had originally been an appointment with a cool guy we met in the street, but we found out he had also invited a "female-friend" of his to sit in with us. We scheduled return appointments with them and will hopefully be helping them to progress in the next little while.
I am grateful to see the hand of the Lord in our work. I am so grateful that I have the chance to serve right now and I am truly enjoying it. We've really been working hard and I have been noticing the fruits of our labor. We are also getting along quite well, which is also not bad. I can promise you guys that the Lord follows through on our goals and righteous desires when we turn to Him in prayer and truly TRY to accomplish His purposes. There is also nothing more satisfying than getting to sleep at the end of a well-spent day. I could not do the mission if I was trying to sneak on by with minimal
effort and obedience. The more you try to break out of the missionary mindset by unnecessary distractions, the harder it becomes to do the work overall and get back into the swing of things. Even if you get rejected, even shouted and cursed at, and witness the Savior's message be denied, you will feel fulfilled at the end of each day if you are truly doing the things you should be. There is no greater confidence than that which comes from the Lord Himself when you know you are living according to His will to the best of your ability.
I hit my 11-month mark on Tuesday. It's crazy to think that I will be at a year in ONE MONTH. Let's see how this goes. Probably best that I don't count though.
Thanks for the love and support! Love you guys!
Elder Wallentine,
A.k.a.:
Wallentyne, Walentine, Valentine, Valentina, Wallentina,
It's all over the place. I don't blame people here, but I just find it really funny to see how creative my name can become.
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