Week 82 - Life в Потсдаме Week 12: And the rain came a tumbling down

Hey, everybody.

You know the drill.

Quick email... 

Go!

Last Tuesday we were a little bummed out because we set out to go to a mensa (basically a student cafeteria) and found out that it was having some Megamind level renovations, namely, they removed the walls and ceilings. We found our food elsewhere. We then went to Berlin for a doctors appointment for Elder Morford, and then ended our day.

Wednesday was a day of finding, and we did it good. Got some cards out and spoke to some cool people.

On Thursday we had our district meeting and a Street display in Brandenburg. It's kind of Schade that those aren't very flexible, because the weather wasn't having it. We set up our display three different times because we kept needing to duck under cover to protect our Books of Mormon from the rain and, eventually, hail. Our 2 hour activity ended up being more of an hour and a half, but we still got out two books of Mormon and got some digits.

On Friday we did our weekly planning and made some goals to try some new things to try to switch things up a little bit. More to come, if anything comes of that.

Saturday was a day of service. We got up early and helped the ward with their annual spring cleaning of the ward building, and then were invited to eat enchiladas with and help in the garden of some other members who aren't really capable of doing much heavy lifting. We ended up pressure washing their patio, which took about two hours. It was a good time.

Sunday was good, and I gave a talk that was based on a conference talk from Elder Joni L. Koch called, "Apart, but Still One" I would love to share my notes, but I don't have the time to translate them, so I'll invite you to read his talk from October 2017 LDS General Conference

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/10/apart-but-still-one?lang=eng 

My favorite quote from it, however, is:

Brothers and sisters, we have no right to portray anybody, including from our Church circle, as a badly finished product! Rather, our words about our fellow beings should reflect our belief in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and that, in Him and through Him, we can always change for the better!

Never forget that every single child of God has the same right to his and his Son's love as we do. And that you have as much a right to it as those who you may see as more righteous and successful, as well. God loves us all equally, and we are privileged to all be part of the royal brotherhood which is mankind, and even more especially, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He loves us, and that will not change.

I love you all, and wish a wonderful week upon you.

Liebe Grüße,
Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 81 - Life в Потсдаме week 11: READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Hey everybody, sorry for the short email this week, but there isn't much to tell! I'll leave you with a small handful of pictures, though.

Have you all love!

Liebe Grüße,

Старейшина Спалдинг

Week 80 - Life в Потсдаме Week 10: The Week of EVERYONE

Hello friends, fiends, family, the like. How are you all doing? The universe is still rotating around Potsdam, at least as far as I can discern. (That's a big English word for me right now, I hope that you're proud of me, mom.)

This week was kind of exhausting. To the degree that any week can be called in the life of a missionary, this week was very, very, not average.

Monday evening is where it began. Elder Saunders and Elder Olson from Görlitz showed up for Russian Tausch the following day. We proceeded to have that Tausch, ZoKo with half the mission the next day, another Russian Tausch the following day (in addition to that, Thursday was the first night this week where we slept alone :o), Friday we had weekly planning, and then two more elders - Elder Clayson and Elder Kuttler from Erfurt - stayed the night for a special meeting with Elder Rasband, to which the entire mission came. On Sunday Elder Rasband took part in a special Stake conference for the Berlin Stake, which was also very cool.

That's the week in a nutshell, but I'd like to quickly share a story that touched my heart. Sister Rasband shared an experience from a missionary who served in her mission while she and her husband served as mission president in New York.

There was a missionary who had always wanted to have his shoes shined on his mission. In the nicer parts of New York you could find men who would sit you down for a few minutes in a lavish chair while they made your shoes gleam.

However, this missionary was consistently called to serve in rougher neighborhoods, where there were no shoe shiners in sight.

In the very last transfer of his mission, he was still very much in the ghetto, but he heard, one day, an unmistakable cry of, "Shoe Shine! Shoe Shine! Anybody want their shoes shined?" coming from around the corner. It being his one and only chance, he decided to take up the offer and walked in that direction, despite being in the ghetto. He knew it wouldn't be lavish, but wanted to fulfill his wish. Being a missionary, his main concern was how much it would cost.

As he rounded the corner he asked, "I would, how much does it cost?" He then looked around, not noticing the small dirty man who had already begun his work. There was no chair to sit down on, not even a small stool. He had to stand. As the man opened a small baby food jar filled with a strange black ooze, he said, "As much as you are willing to pay."

The malnourished stranger then dipped his two fingers into the jar and began to slather the goop on his shoes with his hands. He then took the only clean part of his shirt (which barely existed as all) and began to polish. When his shirt no longer did the job he went to work with his arms, blackening the entirety of the by the time he had finished.

The Elder watched on with a small vision playing through his mind. The Savior was calling out, desperately, "Soul Shine! Soul Shine! Anybody want their soul shined?" Many walked by, unable to fathom the value of the gift the Savior was offering, and asked, "How much does it cost?" The Savior would respond, unwavering, "As much as you are willing to pay."

With tears streaming down his face, the Elder gave the man the entire contents of his wallet, and his companion's wallet as well. He learned a valuable lesson that he wouldn't soon forget.

The Savior desperately wants to help us, despite the eternally infinite price that it costs him. His obedience allows him to cure disobedience. All he asks in return is what we are willing, or in better words, capable of, paying. He expects nothing more than we can give, because he wants everyone to partake.

I would love to invite each of you to consider the value of the gift that you have received. I promise you, from my personal experience, that we are changed and blessed relative to the amount that we are willing to give to the Savior. Only a complete sacrifice results in sanctification, but, as we begin with what we can do now, we will be blessed with added ability to do those things which we need to, and more gratitude and happiness as we do so.

I love you all, and wish you wonderful weeks.

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 79 - Life в Потсдаме Week 9: извините, у меня не ту интереснего имя для моего е-мейла

Hey everybody, I hope that you had wonderful weeks, and that you had opportunities to do something that you love.

Things have been more of the same for us, for the most part, so Ill spare you the repetitive particulars. We did have a few cool things, though.

On tuesday we had a street display in Brandenburg, where Elder Beutler and I split off and did some bomb finding. Two hours and a few phone numbers later, we called it quits.

We also just (yesterday) got to meet a new member who moved here from Portugal. She is super cool, and we are excited to be able to bring helping her to learn German!

There has been a reoccurring topic in my studies lately: grace. Namley, what it is, and how we get it. 

Our Bible dictionary defines grace as follows:

Grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts.

As I have sought after grace this week, especially through daily repentance, I have felt this power. I have been able to do things that would have been impossible to me otherwise. And, I have been happier doing it! The atonement of Christ is real!

Have a great week, everyone!

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding

Week 78 - Life в Потсдаме Week 8: "Shut up, Spaulding!"

You know who you are.

Anyway, is was district P-Day Today, and we had a blast, but I'm feeling pretty shrecked, because we played ultimate Frisbee.

Out of lack of time and lack of desire, I'm going to leave the brunt of this weekly email to the pictures.

I do want to say, however, that I have a testimony that all of the new changes announced at conference are going to be amazing changes! Inspiration and Revelation need to be, by definition, progressive, and this was nothing but that!

I love you all, and send lovely positive ESP waves in your directions.

Macht's gut!

Liebe Grüße,

Elder Austin Spaulding