Week 105 - Life в Ноймунстере week 15: Dawn of the final day, 24 hours remain

Well fam, this is it. Technically, there are less than 24 hours now. It's pretty surreal. As crazy as a mission can be, even it can turn into a way of life. It's honestly a little bit terrifying to be leaving it.

The Hymn 'Lead, Kindly Light' has been on my mind a lot during the last two transfers.

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom;
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now,
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.
So long thy pow’r hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

As beautiful as my mission has been, it was also, in its own ways, terrifying. I could have in no way done it alone. God was definitely with me along every step of the way, and his angels -my Brüder and Schwestern in Germany, my leaders, and most definitely my Companions- as well.

I look forward to his hand continuing to lead me. One step is enough for me.

I'm very grateful to have had this experience, and can only close with my humble testimony:

God is our loving heavenly father, his son, in infinite love, died for our sins, and through the book of Mormon, we may come closer to them than through any other book.

The book is blue, the church is true.

I love each and every one of you. Thank you for the support and love.

For the last time,
Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 104 - Life в Ноймунстере week 14: The Beginning of the End

Hey everybody, how are you doing?

Neumünster has been an area of miracles lately, and I'm feeling super blessed to be ending my mission here. I'd like to share a small list of miracles that we have had here in the last few weeks:

- In this transfer we have received six referrals

- One of them is an entire family

- One referred themselves after overhearing a lesson taught in public

- We have several people who may be baptized in the following transfer

- Elder Wood and I literally love each other

- We have consistently had several people at church. Probably averaging 4 per week

- We have had at least one appointment every day this transfer

- Several people who had no interest have began investigating

In the words of Elder Ellsworth, "It's been pretty turnt."

We've been keeping up the hard work, and the miracles just keep coming. It's interesting to notice that miracles almost always happen in the opposite direction of our work. It's God's way of telling us that he appreciates our work, but that he is the one in charge. He truly does know what will make us happiest.

I thought that you would all want to know, we got a new plant for our apartment. his name is Doug.

Other than that, this has been a week with a lot of Goodbyes. The following week is conference, which also coincides with a vacation here, so we won't be seeing very members in this next week.

Anywho, I love you all, and wish you a good one!

--

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 103 - Life в Ноймунстере week 13: Super Stars

Hey fam.

My ability and desire to write are only slightly overruled by my love for you. Consider yoself loved.

This previous week and the coming week are looking to be two of the craziest weeks of my mission. Two baptismal interviews in different cities, tausches, referrals up the wazoo, miracles, and a literal run from appointment to appointment schedule will do that to you. life is good, though. =)

The highlight of the week was a talent show that the youth here put on. Elder Wood and I performed a version of Israel Israel God is calling, and we rocked it. Elder Wood had the guitar talent, and I rocked a kazoo solo. The bishop's wife asked us when our first album is coming out XD

I hope that you all have a good one, know that I love you!

--

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

My sons.
Elder Jordan (left) and Elder Wood (right)

Week 102 - Life в Ноймунстере week 13: Persians in the Parking Lot

Hey guys! We had a busy week, but I'll keep it quick.

Tuesday we met with an old investigator from Arizona. He speaks no German, and is a kindred spirit with Elder Wood. They are both really into music, and they had some fun talking about that. We will be meeting with him tomorrow (Well, Elder Wood will be because of Austausch). We finished up the day with Ward Council meeting.

Wednesday we met up with the Grühn Family for lunch, and they invited someone with them. (They mentioned that they hadn't told either party about the other, and that it was probably for the best.) We were able to share a Book of Mormon, and we will be trying to meet with her again in the near future. Later in the day we went and visited with Wolfgang, who is a newish convert here. We had a good appointment with him, and got to speak a little bit with his non member wife, and we will be eating dinner together with them all soon. She will also be joining in on watching conference. The Grühns invited them to watch (They all live in the same apartment building).

Thursday we mostly spent at the Food Bank, but we met with a less active family afterwards.

Friday was ZoKo, and we had an amazing time. I've said it once, I'll say it again, I Love President Leimer! He and his wife are incredible, and the time with them was great. It was also great to try to egg Elder Wood into letting me volunteer us to do a Roleplay in front of everyone and being told no, and then having him be asked to be the investigator anyway. It was a good time XD Also, having to renew my temple recommend reminded me how long I've been out O.o

Saturday was more running around, we had two appointments, ran off to a street display, and then had another appointment. This last one was with some Iranians, and we had to meet in a parking lot! We aren't allowed to go into a refugee home as missionaries, and they live in a little dorf with almost nothing there. It started to drizzle half way through, but thankfully it let up pretty quick. We were a silly sight, though, two Elders and three Persians huddled around a phone for translation in a parking lot. It went very well, though.

I wish you all a wonderful week ;)

--

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 101 - Life в Ноймунстере week 12: Wir hatten so vielen Durchfall

Hey fam. I'm sitting here trying to think about what to tell you about this week, and honestly not too much is coming. Unfortunately we had a ton of appointments fall out, hence the email title. I remember back in the day when my trainer told me about some of the mean Trainer pranks that some people would play on their trainees. (I would never!) (Well, maybe once or twice.) Durch means through, and Fall means fall, so it would make sense that that word would mean to fall through. Some trainers would ask their trainee to report on the week, and to say that something fell out. Unfortunately, the word Durchfall means Diarrhea, so this usually leads to schock, confusion, and laughter. XD

We stayed nice and busy anyway. We were able to give out several books of Mormon, got some new contacts, gave a blessing to a sick member, did some service at the food pantry, and spoke a lot of German! (I feel low key bad for my trainee. We had several back to back appointments yesterday, so almost the whole day was speaking tons of German with tons of Germans. At the end of it even I had a headache.)

I hope that you all have a good one. Know that you are loved, and know that you make a difference. Keep on keeping on, and some day you will be certain of the difference that you have made.

--

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Elder Spaulding and Elder Wood

Ahhh...

Week 100 - Life в Ноймунстере week 11: Knock on Wood

Hey Fam. Sory for the lame email last week, you know how it goes... You send a missionary home, you spend two days in Pinneberg as a missionary there, you pick up a trainee... These things happen. Anyway, here is your better fill in from current happenings.

Last Monday my emailing was pretty hardcore interrupted XD Sorry to those to whom I didn't write! I had to travel with Elder Simone (who was going home) to Pinneberg, which in all fairness was only about a 45 minute trip for me. But I was then in a drit for the day, and things went a little bit crazy. We had two appointments and ended up getting very little P-Day time. Thus the lack of emails.

On Tuesday we sent Elder Turley off to his new (and my old) district.

He went to the city of Brandenburg. We then spent the day checking up on some contacts and visiting some member families. In Pinneberg lives the daughter of the Family Schevchenko from Potsdam, and we went by them. When I saw the name on their mailbox, I was super excited. It then also just worked out that they were there to visit! So I got a picture with them.

On Wednesday it was off to Berlin for Elder Orton and I. There I got to meet my companion for this final transfer: Elder Wood! We then began the long trip home and took this wonderful photograph (probably the best of my mission honestly). To commemorate our homecoming (we got back relatively late) we took our first comp picture.

I'll fill you in on him really quick: Elder Wood is from Lafayette, Indiana. He was in a band, he ran cross country, and he studied German for about three years, so he already has the best German that I've ever heard from a trainee! (Don't let that get to him, though. It might go to his head!) He's a lot like me, just a lot cooler, honestly. We've been getting along really well so far.

On Thursday we went shopping really quick, grabbed the bare essentials so that we wouldn't starve. We then had an eating appointment with some members, and headed off to the Soup Pantry to do service for a few hours.

On Friday we had our district council and, naturally, got Elder Wood his first Döner at the first opportunity:

We also tried to have English class, but weren't able to make it back in time, so we did some finding.

On Saturday we had a few appointments, it was mostly uneventful though. After that we did our weekly planning.

On Sunday there was a member baptism here. It was fun to take part in that and to see how well Elder Wood is doing with his German. He reminds me a lot of myself in my first transfer. We could talk a little bit, but then when people would come and talk to us we would understand very little.

Today was mostly cleaning, but I made Elder Wood some deutsches Essen. Feast your eyes, as we did our stomachs.

I love you all, have a great week!

--

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 99 - Life в Ноймунстере week 10: Trains and Trainers

Hey, everybody! It's been a crazy week. But on a mission, crazy usually means crazy good. So it was this week.

Tuesday was where things started kicking. We started off with an appointment with an investigator named Thorsten. He lives far away from Neumünster and is in a wheelchair due to a recent surgery on his foot, so it is currently very difficult for him to make it to church. We love him to death, though, and are having fun working with him.

After that, we went to a member named Wolfgang and had a good appointment with him. We read part of Jacob 5 and invited him to study that further. We also discussed having him help us as a translator for a (hopefully) coming appointment, because he speaks Russian. We found a Russian contact and are excited to be able to help him with Wolfgang's help.

We also had an eating appointment that evening with Fabian, a member who may like us a little too much, and as such brought more cake than could be eaten.

On Wednesday we had district meeting. District meeting never happens withought shenanigans, though. Our ticket was delayed, so we were already in the train when we got our ticket. That was stressful!

On Thursday we ate with the Nwadilims, a super cute member family and worked in the Tafel.

Friday we did weekly planning, then we ate with a part member family. We had a good time with them and are looking forward to their progress. After that we went and visited a sick member in the hospital and had a wonderful appointment with her.

On Saturday we had a meeting with our bishop and we started working out a plan so that we can work closer with another.

On Sunday we had an amazing first appointment with a new investigator family and then Elder Simone's last eating appointment. We then packed furiously.

Hey Fam, today has been crazy, I'm actually a pinneberg Elder for a few days. Elder Simone left today, and I don't get my new companion until Wednesday.... Because I'm training!

I'm super excited to train my last transfer. I'll give you some details once I know next week.

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding