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