Week 73 - Life В Потсдаме Week 3

Hey, guys! It's been another doozy of a week! Russian is one heck of a language, but I'm loving my time here. There is a great ward, I have a great companion, and I love my district!

We've been finding a bunch without too much success (as far as the actually then having people to teach bit goes), but I really do have the feeling that our efforts are going to good use. God needs us here, and the conversations are serving his purposes one way or another.

In celebration of the much rejection this week, I though I'd share a quick story about the most creative way I've ever been rejected. A lot of the rejection here is quick and done with fairly little interaction, but every now and then someone wants to try to make it sting. This was one of those times, but It's just been hilarious to me ever since.

While I was with Elder Neale, we were dooring on a little island called Rügen. It's way off in the middle of nowhere, between the German and Polish borders way up north. Small to the point, that I don't believe that most of the island can even have internet connections!

A teenage boy answered the door, and after hearing our short introduction, he ran into the house and shouted:

"Will irgendjemand hier eine Kirche beitreten?" (Would anyone here like to join a church?"

We then heard several, "Nein!"s shouted back at us, at which point he came back and said that we weren't needed there and closed the door.

Anyway, aside from the sad bits, this week I have been studying in Alma. In the  31st chapter Alma says a prayer which I think we could all learn from:

"31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.

32 O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me—yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, and also my two sons—yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ.

33 Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people.

34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."

And, in response, this happened:

"38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."

From this we learn the actuality of God's abilities to answer prayers. I believe that this prayer was answered so clearly due to the amount of effort that Alma put into it. When we pray with real intent, God answers with real intent. Enough said.

I challenge you all to try and apply this in your lives this week. Ask for something that you need, and to the extent that you strive after it, it will be given unto you!

I love you all, and pray that your weeks are wonderful. Keep up the hard work on your ends!

Comp Goals. No further explanation needed.

The view from one of our apartment windows.

I had Austausch with Elder Souza Lima from Brazil this week.
We saw this ad in his city (Brandenburg) and though that It looked like my
last companion mixed with our mission president.

A Gandalf tree.

Vegan toothpaste? What is this world coming to?

I love you very much!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 72 - Life в Потсдаме Week Two

Hey, all, how's it going? I hope that you're healthy and strong. As for me, I'm pretty tired! But there's nothing new there. 😉

This week was one of those in which tons happened, but very little of it was at all what was initially planned. It was, however, full of opportunities to feel the spirit and to raise a voice in the service of the Lord.

There are two quick experiences I'd like to share with you:

Firstly, on Tuesday we attended a funeral for a woman who passed away during church, in church, the week before I arrived. (pretty crazy stuff.)  Since my dad passed away, those have been a pretty regular occurrence. I always notice this, but especially at this one there was a very strong difference in the demeanor of those who have an eternal perspective on death, and those who don't understand death the same as I do. I really like the German word for funeral, Trauerfeier (literally translated as a sad celebration), because it is a great description of my feelings. With those without a faith, a funeral is a terrifying and terrible last goodbye, but with the faithful it is a celebration of their life and a grand, "God be with you till' we meet again." More than ever before, I know that our world is not so far from the coming one.

Second, I had a really cool experience while finding this week. I really do believe that, as often said, the missionaries here are planting many seeds. But, I definitely think that our efforts bring very little with those who appreciative of our work but have no desire to hear it. Our efforts are much better spent on those who have no faith and don't want to hear us at all. To paraphrase the savior, the healthy need no doctor.

I had the opportunity to speak with such a man yesterday. I also want to add here, especially for my friends on missions, that I have a very strong testimony of asking about the roots of atheism for a person. When somebody really doesn't want to talk about religion or immediately advertises atheism, I love to ask why. They are often very open about their reasoning, and that often leads to unanswered questions or misunderstood doctrines. In every case, it leads to opportunities to give testimony.  Even when they afterwards leave as bitter as, if not more than, before, I truly believe that those seeds are they with the greatest chance to take root.

I love you all, have a good one! Enjoy the pic; apparently this is called a slav squat.

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 71 - Life In Potsdam Week 1: Я не могу говорить по русский

Hey, friends, how's it going? If you couldn't understand the title, you understand about as much Russian as me, which I'll leave to speak for itself. XD

This week has been a little crazy so far, but rather good as well. It started with some goodbyes and ended with some nice to meet yous, as missionary life is prone to do. 

We found a pretty cool girl this week and gave her a book of Mormon. She said she doesn't have interest in conversion, but would love to learn about our religion. I'm excited to follow up and speak with her some more.

I don't have much time to go into detail about my week, so I'll leave some pictures to speak for themselves. Y'all have a good one!

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding

P.S. Я не могу говорить по русский means I can't speak Russian.

Week 70 - Life in Greifswald Week 12: A Zone Leader Walked into a Bar...

... And walked out a Russian missionary.

Transfer calls came as a heavy surprise this time around. I'll be liebling my great friend Elder Sinclair, my beloved Greifswald, and my calling as a Zone Leader.

President called me on Saturday to release me as a ZL and to give me a new special assignment. He told me that he
had prayed and fasted, and felt that I was needed in the Potsdam, a city on the outskirts of Berlin. My companion will be Elder Morford, a native Russian speaker, and we are to focus on the Russian language and speakers here. It is going to be a humbling experience for sure, considering that I'll be starting from square two with the language, but I am excited! And I'll get to give Elder Morford as much crap for his German as he gives me for my Russian XD.

Anyway, time is short and there is packing to be done. We went as a Distrikt to the zoo today, so I'll leave you with some pictures. More to come next week. ;)

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding