Working Through Things

This week was a busy one. Tuesday we went out to München for zone training. We had a sick discussion about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. It was way good and we set some good goals as a zone. Then we came back to Rosenheim just in time for a lesson with David. But when we got to his place he wasn't there. We saw his roommate Tony and had a lesson with him instead. As we were leaving David rode up on his bike so then we went back in and taught another lesson. When we finally left and got home I realized that I left my iPad at Davids.. Yikes. So we rode as fast as we could and picked it up.

Wednesday we met with Tony again. We're also teaching him German. He wants to meet with us almost every day but it's really hard to get him to actually progress so we might have to drop him soon. After that we went out to Kiefersfelden for a joint teach with Bruder Hunger. We taught Walter the word of wisdom. Thank goodness we had Bruder Hunger there because I don't know what we would have done without him. Walter has a hard time with smoking and he does not want to stop. So luckily Bruder Hunger saved that lesson and we talked for almost two hours about why the word of wisdom is important and what he should stop smoking. Walter was saying that smoking in not deadly even though it says so on the package. Towards the end of the lesson he was more quiet and the spirit was really working on him. He said that he would pray about it. I think this is going to be really hard for him but I know we can get through it together.

Thursday we also met with Tony. Then we went out to Brannenburg to talk to an old investigator. After that we doored in the area for a bit and luckily found a lady who had a book of Mormon. She said that members of our church visit her a lot and that she would love for us to come back. We found out that she's Russian so we're going to bring a book out to her this week. Then that evening we went home teaching with Bruder Hunger in Bad Aibling to Sister Bartnik and Schrank. That was nice and we shared a good message about not living below our privileges. On the way back I was able to get a lot of information about the less actives here in the ward. It was very helpful because we didn't know a lot about most of them. 

Friday was going to be an intense day with helping Bruder Schlesinger, as less active out in Bad Endorf. But he called us the night before and cancelled because it was supposed to rain. So we went out to Bad Aibling to go by on a less active and do some contacting for a little bit before we had a lesson with Dominik. When we were dooring we ran into a former investigator's wife. She said that the husband loved meeting with the missionaries but that they randomly just stopped coming. So hopefully we can keep meeting with him. Then we had our lesson with Dominik. We talked a lot about prayer and had him commit to pray every day. We had a joint teach there too but she was about one hour and a half late. So we spent two hours with Dominik and had to cancel our other appointment with Tony. The joint teach was good though. I guess she is Dominik's third Grandama. They have a really good relationship and she is a good example in his life. She lives in the München 2 ward. 

Saturday we had lunch with Brajkovic but we weren't able to teach him afterwards because he had to leave. We then went over to Tony and gave him a really good lesson on why he needs to read the Book of Mormon along with the Bible. Then we had weekly planning. 

Sunday was pretty good. Although there was a bit of drama at church. In our investigator class we were teaching about the word of wisdom and Svonimir was talking about how in one of the Apocrypha books it says it's ok to drink wine. Then one of the members in the class explained why that wasn't right and Zvonimir interrupted him and told him he was wrong. The member just kept talking like all Germans do and said, just let me finish and then you can tell me if I'm right or not. With that Zvonimir just got up and left... So that was just lovely. After church we got to go with Bishop Kainz to his house in Maitenbeth for dinner. He has a way nice family and we had a great time there.  

We've been pretty busy here but I have seen the blessings of the lord push us along here. I know that this church is true and that it brings lasting eternal happiness. I hope this next week is good for all of you and you can feel the Savior's love. I love you all so much and I wish you the best.

Bis nächste Woche! Tschüß!

Farewell to Sister Timm

Well this week has been one for ups and downs. We've definitely been blessed by the Lord for what we've done.

On Tuesday it was the normal district meeting and then studies with a little bit of dooring. So that wasn't too special. The beginning of the week is always the slowest. 

Wednesday we went and got Elder Smith registered in Rosenheim so he can legally be a missionary. Then we went contacting in the city center. We both gave out books of Mormon and met some of the nicest people. It was good to actually be able to talk to people. Most of the time they just say they don't have time. But it's so special when someone stops and talks to you. It's even cooler when they accept a Book of Mormon and act interested. Later in the day we went out to Kiefersfelden and met with Walter. We had a really good lesson about repentance and the atonement and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for Oktober 10th!! He said that he knows he needs to get baptized and he just needs to prepare himself. Walter is the sickest. 

Thursday we had to go out to Traunstein for Sister Timm's funeral. There weren't a lot of people there so it was a good thing that we showed up. I was glad that I was able to say my last goodbyes to her. I really loved sister Timm. After that we had lunch at a restaurant by the cemetery. I was able to tell her daughter Micheala that she can always call us whenever she needs something. It's nice to be able to offer our service to people in need. We came back to Rosenheim and taught a lesson with David. We planned to teach about the plan of salvation but Elder Smith and I both felt like we needed to just read in the Book of Mormon with him. So that was a pretty good lesson. 

Friday we had weekly planning. I think all missionaries know how that goes. It's nice to have a good idea of what the week looks like and it's good to get excited about what you're doing. We went and taught Dominik later that evening and just reviewed about prophets and the book of Mormon and committed him to read from it. Then we stopped by Sister Popiel's house to see how she is doing. I love her. She's the spunkiest most excited less active that I've ever met. She's so excited to see the missionaries and talk with us. She said that she wants to come to church but her husband is worried about her going with being pregnant and all. So hopefully we'll be able to work something out.

Saturday.... We had nothing planned. So we just went dooring the entire day. That was exhausting. It was super hot during the day and then at night we just got poured on. So we were either wet from our sweat or from the rain. We talked to so many people and some of them were really mean and hostile to us. It would have been really easy to get discouraged but we kept going because we know that that's what we're supposed to do as missionaries. We felt good at the end of the day even though after eight hours of knocking on doors we only found one potential who wasn't really interested. 

Sunday we had Connie and David both show up to church. It was good to have them both there. It was a good experience for both of them. David really like sacrament meeting and Connie had a good time is Sunday School. Then after church President Dzierzon invited us over to his house for dinner. So we were able to go and spend time with his family and their cousin. He's a branch president in Northern Germany. He ended up driving us home and giving us a lot of advice. It was really good and now we have some great ideas to help get the work moving even more here in Rosenheim. 

We don't have any big plans for today. So we'll just be hanging out and cleaning the apartment. and making other miracles happen here in Rosenheim. I hope that you are all having a super week and remembering the Savior. I know that this is His true Church and that I am called as a missionary to help preach His gospel. I know that he is helping me to do this. The Church is True!!

Sunday we picked up David and walked with him to the church. It was a long walk and we were a little late but that's okay because we brought an investigator. He doesn't speak German so I was planning on Elder Smith to translate for him but then he got pulled away to translate for some other visitors. That meant that my three months of being in Germany was going to have to be able to translate all of Sacrament meeting. I was so nervous. I did alright with the first two speakers because they both weren't native German speakers so it was easy to understand them, but then Bishop started talking and he's from Austria. I couldn't understand anything he said so we was terrible. I got a phone call during church from Sister Timm's daughter informing me that Sister Timm had passed away the night before. I was so sad to hear that because she was the nicest old lady I've ever met. After church we came home and finally did weekly planning.

Things are going great here with my new companion. We're working hard and it's paying off. We're finding people to teach and it feels so good. I love being a missionary and I'm so grateful for that opportunity that I have. I know that this is the true church of god and that He has given us a plan and a way to return back to him. I love you all and hope you're doing great. Ich wünsche euch eine schöne Woche. Tschüß!!

Meet Elder Smith

So here we come to the end of one transfer and I'm not longer a greenie. This new transfer will be a good one and so much has happened this week. It was kind of hectic.. We had to get Elder Rodgers all packed up and ready to go home and get the apartment ready for Elder Smith. My new companion is from American Fork, Utah. He is a big tall red head and is a pretty quiet guy. But he really knows his stuff and he has pretty good German. But we'll talk a little more about that later.

So Tuesday we had a sick district meeting. I talked about how you know if you are a successful missionary or not and I used the sickest German. I was pretty proud that I was able to say it, even though Elder Rodgers told me to say it. For those of you who speak German I said. "Nichtsdestoweniger muss man doch weiter gehen, obwohl es einem schwer fällt. Diesbezüglich gibt es ein Zitat von Winston Churchill und zwar "Wenn du durch die Hölle gehst, geh doch weiter."" Then all the dying missionaries talked about the five most important things they learned on their missions. It was just such a good meeting.

Wednesday we had lunch with Sisters Schrank and Damm. They made us some way good food and it was good for Elder Rodgers to get to say goodbye to them. The members here is this ward absolutely adored him. He was such a sweetheart and they loved inviting us over. After that we had to go home and start packing up his stuff. He got all of his stuff ready while I spent forever trying to write in his Tschüß book. It was so hard to see him packing up all of his stuff and getting ready to go home. We also got a visit from Frau Tina which is the Mission stalker but she is so nice and loves the missionaries. She gave me a tie and some picture books and she said her goodbyes to Elder Rodgers. She really loved him and he was her favorite. We talked with her for a little while and then went in to finish packing. We got everything done and finished and even went to bed on time. 

Thursday was a full day. I didn't want Elder Rodgers and I was joking around about making him miss his train so that he could stay with me for another transfer. But it didn't work. We rode out to München and got a couple pictures and then I had to head home with my new companion Elder Smith. We got back to Rosenheim and unpacked him. Then we went out to do a little contacting. Here's a cool little miracle we experienced. I got the feeling that we should walk through this park even though there wasn't really anybody else walking through but we went anyways. Then out of the blue one of our investigators rode up to us on his bike and started talking to us. His name is David and we got him as a referral about a month ago. We've been trying to get contact with him and set up an appointment forever and it's never worked. But we were able to set a time to meet on Saturday. He also came to church this week!! That was a miracle because we wouldn't of seen us if we hadn't gone into that almost empty park. 

Friday we doored a bit before our meeting with Brajkovic. We found a really nice lady and we're going back this week. We taught a lesson about forgiveness to Zvonimir and that went pretty good. He and Connie said some really good things in that lesson so we were hoping that things were getting better but they didn't come to church because they were having problems. Then I've been riding Elder Rodgers' bike this week because it's not as good as the other bike and the pedal had a crack in it. Well today it feel off. Our area is a pretty big area and you really need a bike for a lot of it so I've been riding my bike around with only one pedal. Hopefully we can get that fixed today. We ended up taking a train out to Bad Aibling that day so that we could meet with Dominik. We had an awesome lesson about the restoration.. He's doing alright but we found out that he's moving to another clinic at the end of the month. It's closer to München so it'll be easier for his mom to come visit so I guess that's good but he'll be out of our area.

Saturday we meet with David and that went really well. We just got to know him and find out what he's been taught by the other elders already. We invited him to come to church and he came. That was the best brother lesson I've ever had. Then we caught a train to meet with Walter in Kiefersfelden but he didn't answer. So we doored for a little bit while we waited for the next train back to Rosenheim. We were planning on doing weekly planning that night but we got a call from Bruder Madei saying that Sister Timm was sick in the hospital and wanted a blessing. So he came and picked us up and drove us all the way out to Traunstein. When we got there Sister Timm looked terrible. She couldn't talk and she looked like she was in pain. We gave her a blessing and it was a good experience for her daughter to see that. Afterwards Bruder Madei took us to get the best ice cream ever. I have to admit that it really was the best ice cream that I've ever tasted. 

Elder Rodgers...Over and Out

So this next week is going to bring lots of changes. First off transfers are here and I'm staying in Rosenheim, but President Kohler told Elder Rodgers to take a hike so now he's flying back to the land of the Canadian Rockies to resume his normal life after two years of servitude. Then Elder Smith from American Fork is sliding on into Rosenheim with me. My trainer is leaving me and I'm going to be in charge of this area now. Yikes.. Now I can't get lost and I have to make all the calls and appointments now. It's going to be a little different. 

So on Tuesday we had the normal ride up to München for our district meeting which normally takes up the whole day. So there's not really a whole lot of time to get back and do a whole lot.

Wednesday we had our last appointment with Sister Morgner before Elder Rodgers goes home. That was a lovely appointment. We helped her with some gardening and she made us some really German food. We have sausages and bread with mustard, cheese, grapes, and a salad. The best part of the food is that we got some real French sheep cheese. She also gave us some clothes. I got two pairs of boots and Elder Rodgers got a sweater and a hiking shirt.

Thursday our appointment with Sister Timm fell out so we went through the area book and sorted that and tried calling all the former investigators to see if they might have more interest. We also went through and made detailed notes for all of the less actives in our Ward.

Friday, we had two appointments. The first was with Zvonimir and that was interesting. We found out some stuff about him and we need to be working pretty hard with him. It was kind of a frustrating lesson. But that's ok because a little exercise always helps and we got to bike out to Bad Aibling to visit Dominik. He was doing really well this week and so we decided to give him a book of Mormon. I think he's to a point where he can comprehend what we are teaching him and that he'll be able to accept our message. 

Saturday, We got to meet with our lovely investigator Walter. He is doing so well and he looked so happy to see us today. You can really tell that he is improving and we had a way killer lesson about the plan of salvation. Walter is progressing so well and I can't wait until I can see him get baptized.

Sunday, Connie showed up to church which was way nice because we've lost contact with her for a while so we go to talk to her and she told us that she still wants to get baptized even though her family is against the church but that she just needs to figure out her marriage problems first. I'm so glad that we got to talk to her.

So this next week will be mostly preparing to get the new Elder here and send off Elder Rodgers. I love you all and hope that you have a great week. I know that this is God's gospel and that he is truly blessing me as I try to share it. It is such a reward to see people change their lives and come closer to Christ. Always remember that Christ loves you..

Taking A Hike

So last Monday we were supposed to go hiking near Fischbachau but the guy that was going to take us fell out so we ended up just planning our own little hike and we randomly chose a mountain to hike. It just so happened to be Wendelstein which is the tallest mountain in our area. Yikes. It was a blast and we were so tired by the end. Through the whole week my legs were like jelly and I was having such a hard time walking. We are going to the the Fischbachau hike today and I hope it's not as intense as Wendelstein.

Tuesday we went to München for district meeting and that just about takes our entire day. In the evening we went to dinner with Sister Buchholz at this Chinese restaurant across the street from our church. We talked a lot about family history with her and she is helping Elder Rodgers with some of his work.

Wednesday was a lot of train travel. We went all the way out to visit with Sister Timm who is turning 97 next Sunday. She is so silly and nice. Sometimes she just says the funniest things and we just laugh up a storm when we're there. She has such a good understanding of the gospel and a strong testimony which is amazing because she can't come to church any more and she has a hard time getting up and doing stuff. As soon as we finished with her we had to go back to Rosenheim get on another train and go to Kiefersfelden to meet with Walter. By the time we got there it had started to pour rain and we didn't have umbrellas or jackets so we got soaked as we walked to his house. We had a good lesson with him and he is slowly improving. It's so cool to see him become happier and let the gospel bless his life.

Thursday we biked all the way out to Bad Endorf. It took us a little over an hour (because Elder Rodgers kept getting lost.) We went out there to help a less active named Bruder Schlesinger. He was a very nice man that was living in some not so good conditions. He was basically living in a container that you see on freight trains. So after some humbling of myself and helping him with some yard work we biked back home to study a little before we went to visit Dominik. He is doing better every time that we see him. He was able to go home for the clinic last weekend to be with him mom and have a birthday party. 

Friday we had weekly planning and then went out to München for a district finding day. That was sick. We contacted in Marien Platz for two hours and as a district found 20 potential investigators. (too bad they were all for München.) I was paired up with Elder Pingel for that and he slayed it with some Muslims. He gave them a book of Mormon and answered all they're questions and remarks. They were a lot nicer than I thought they would be. Afterwards we went to Pizza hut for all you can eat pizza night. It was alright but the pizza hut here is so expensive and I don't think I'd ever do that again.

Saturday we had a ward hike in Austria. We went to Kaiser Mountain but it was a little different than the normal hikes I've been on. We took a ski lift up half the mountain and hiked for about an hour and a half and ate lunch at a shack up at the top. It was way good Austrian food and it was fun to hear Austrian accents. I guess almost all the mountains here have lifts that you can ride all the way up to the top of the mountain. As soon as we got down with the hike we had another lesson with Walter. He's still slowly progressing and keeping commitments so that's good. After that we had a lesson with Svonimir. Connie had given him some marriage books from the church to read so that they could hopefully work this out. I really hope that they can get back together. We also found out that Connie's family does not support the church at all and they don't want her to get baptized so she has no support there. It's going to be hard but I hope we can still meet with her.

Sunday our Ward Mission Leader was made the second counselor in the bishopric and both Connie and Svonimir came to church so that was good. 

All in all this week has been pretty good. We've been making progress with our investigators and we've got some good plans for this upcoming week. I know that I have been called by a prophet to declare the gospel to the German people. I know that at times it may be tough but God wants me here and he knows exactly how to help me. I know that I can bless his children through my actions and help bring them happiness. Have a great week and keep the spirit with you. I hope you all can see many miracles in you life. See you next week.

Alles Gute,

Elder Johnson

Sometimes You are Down

So this week wasn't as good as the other ones. I'll just let you know about how it went.

Tuesday was an alright day, we went and picked up my Visa so know I'm legal here in Germany. In the evening we were dooring some apartments and this one guy came out and starting yelling and swearing at us for no reason. He was so angry and he started shoving us around. It got pretty heated and I thought he was going to start beating us. That was a fun experience and I'll definitely remember that one forever.

Wednesday we had zone training and then I went on exchange with the office. It was my first experience in a four person companionship. That was way good. We got to go teach a lesson to one of their investigators and then Elder Pingel and I taught a new convert a lesson. When we got back to the apartment the other elders made me lasagna for my birthday. 

Thursday we had ticket orders for the whole mission and it was cool to see what goes on in the office. They really run the mission there. Every  thing goes through them and they do so much work. Later that night I went back to Rosenheim and then we got a call from Brajkovic saying that they were getting divorced and that Connie didn't want to get baptized anymore. That was devastating. Because the night before she had her baptismal interview.. Rats..

Friday we had an appointment with Svonimir to see how he was doing and tried to get things sorted out. Then we rode out to Bad Aibling again to meet with Dominik. Time flew with him and we were there for two hours.

Saturday we went and helped sis. Morgner with some garden work and then we came home and did weekly planning. 

Sunday wasn't too special. None of our investigators came to church and we spent our evening dooring but that didn't have much success. It was a crazy week and hopefully next week it'll be better. 

Today Elder Rodgers and I are going hiking somewhere near Brannenburg. So that'll be fun. I hope you're all doing well and may the blessings of the lord be poured out abundantly upon you. I love you all so much and I know the Lord does as well. I know that this is His restored gospel and that I'm bringing people closer to Him. I'll talk to you all next week. Tschüss.

Elder Johnson

Fishy Soup!

This week was super tough with only being able to speak German. But I think I did a pretty good job at not speaking English. Although I don't really feel like I got any better with the language. Oh well. It was a good experience.. But meine gute it has been so hot lately...

On Tuesday we had the normal schedule of District meeting in München and then doing some contacting in the evening and dropping by on former investigators. So a ton of the day was just traveling and walking around talking with people.

Wednesday we went to Kiefersfelden to visit sister Morgner and do some gardening. This time we cut down a town of trees and vines in her back yard. It was so hot and the entire time I had drops of sweat falling off my face every time I moved. I was sweating like that for 3 hours. After we finished she made us an oyster soup.. I didn't know what I was going to do.. I tried to eat it but I couldn't get anything down. So when she went inside to get some more drink I had Elder Rodgers just down my bowl and eat everything for me. He's my hero. He saved my life that day. After that we went home teaching with Bruder Jenztsch to sister Schrank.

Thursday we had a lunch appoint with sister Schrank again and Bruder Schönwald came with us. She is such a fun lady. I love the way that she talks but most of the time I can't really understand because she speaks Bayerisch. Then we walked to meet with Domink but he wasn't there. So we decided to come back the next day.. It is so hot in Bad Aibling and we have to walk such a long way in the sun to get to people.

Friday we had our weekly lesson with the Brajkovic family. That was always fun. They always give us the best food and show us how they've been emailing our families. So that was good. We had a way good lesson about getting answers to prayers and obeying the will of God. We showed them the Mormon Message The will of God. It's a way good one and gets the message across so perfectly. Then we had our actual appointment with Dominik. He was doing really well today. We sat out on a little balcony and talked for a while. It's good to see that he's improving every week.

Saturday we drove out to München with our bishop to help him talk about a closet wardrobe thing. Then we took it to his house in Bad Aibling and unloaded it. That took most of the day so when we got back to the apartment we did weekly planning and that was our day. 

Sunday we had a baptism in our ward. There was this cute little girl that got baptized by her dad. It was a really good service and the food afterwards was really good. Then there was a convert baptism in our district so we got to ride a train to München to go see that. That was really cool to see a real convert baptism.. The first one I've seen. It was really good.

Today we just went shopping and emails. That's just about it. This heat is killing me. My goodness. I don't know why I picked the hottest summer Germany has had in nine years to serve my misson. I think I'm going to die out here. I hope you are all surviving too. Have a great week and remember to say your prayers every day. I want to share my testimony that I know that the lord loves us and blesses us in so many ways. Sometimes you don't always realize all the things He does for us. I want to challenge you all this week to think about how he blesses your lives. Keep a paper and pen next to your bed and before you go to bed write down 20 things that you've seen the Lord do for you that day. I promise that as you look around you will notice so many blessings. When you recognize these blessings then the Lord will pour out many more blessings on you.. I love you all. Have a great week!!

Not a lot of time this week so I'll give you the condensed version. We got some sick German jerseys last pday.. I'm in love with my mission. 

On Tuesday, we just had district meeting in Munich which was always nice, we were also able to contact two referrals which never come our way. So that was exciting.

Wednesday, was a way neat day because we actually had a meeting with one of the referrals that we had. His name was Walter and he lives in Kiefersfelden. He has had a way hard life and he referred himself through LDS.org. So we just got to know him and gave him a book of Mormon and committed him to read in it. The gospel can bless his life so much if he will just let it happen. We were also supposed to have a lesson with the other referral that we received but that lesson fell through.

Thursday, we went to visit a less active member that lives in Kolbermoor and we biked all the way out there. She wasn't home and we had a lesson in Bad Aibling in a couple hours so we decided to bike out there and visit an older member that lives there.. That was a nice visit and we got to talk to her about some questions that she had in the bible. After that we went to have our lesson with Dominik. We got there and were talking for a few minutes and then his mom showed up. We had a deal kind of a thing with his mom that on days that we came to visit him she wouldn't come because it's hard to drive from Munich all the time. So we decided to leave and come back tomorrow. Man, was that a lot of biking.

Friday, if I thought Thursday was a lot of biking just wait til the end of today. We started the day by going to Brajkovic and having lunch there. It was a good lesson because Connie basically chose her own baptismal day.. Yahoo!! Then Monika, a new convert came to the end of lunch and helped us share a spiritual thought. After that we rode out to Dominik again and had a real lesson with him. I asked him about some idioms and he helped me with the language.  Then we rode our bikes out to Bishop Lederer's house which is by Bruckmühl.. That was a way fun evening that we had with them. We got to play some fun games and get to know each other better. So in those two days we had biked about 50 kilometers.. In missionary clothes.. 

Saturday we went and helped a less active part member family in Bad Aibling, it was a really good service opportunity and I hope we can bring them back to church. then we went out to have another lesson with Walter. This time Bruder Hunger was there and that was a blessing. Because he's an actual German and can really talk and understand he was able to help us teach so much.

Sunday we had lunch with the Jenzsch's after church. We had some wonderful schnitzel and got to know them really well too. They were so much fun and a great family. We playing cards and Jumanji and saw some pictures of when Bruder Jenzsch was on his mission. Then we had a long drive home and took up our day.

This has been a pretty good week and we have been working hard. I know the lord is blessing me and helping me out so much. Thanks for all your support and I'll email you all next week. Caio.

Alles Gute,

Elder Johnson