Tuesday, May 31, 2016
TRANSFERSSSSSSSS. - 5.30.2016
Liebe Freunde Liebe Familie
Hellooooo Everobody!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Flippin cow we had an insanely busy week this week and it went by way to fast. But it was an amazing week. To start off we got our transfer calls.......We are both staying again for another transfer. This one is only five weeks because last one was a long seven weeks. In other news the reign of District Frau is back. My comp is the District Leader and that means I get to be district frau again!!!!!!! A.K.A best job in the whole mission. I am honestly very happy to stay another transfer again and Eberswalde is really starting to grow on me. The little tiny family like branch is so great and I love them so much. While we have very few investigators each one of them have a special place in my heart. Yes Eberswalde is full of hippies that walk the streets bare foot, yes, one street finding is really taking its toll on me, but I'm really starting to love it here.
Today for P day we get to go to the lovely, awesome, sick, dope, sweet, fantastic, wonderful, amazing, incredible, gorgeous, beautiful, mind boggling, the bees knees of the world, attractive, big, city of Berlin. We decided to go check out checkpoint Charlie and get our passports stamped. And we will probably visit the gorgeous Berliner dome.
On Thursday we got to do some service for our very good hippy friend. Matthias. He is currently working on a fence to keep those pesky teenagers from stealing his stuff so seeing as how it is a three man job it works perfectly. Something I've been trying to do is really make friendships stronger with our investigators. That's something he really wants is a closer bond to the missionaries. It's very difficult as the language barrier prevents me from expressing myself the way I want to but it took me a while to realize it's not what I say that's important but rather what they say. As long as I pay attention to what they are feeling and what they are expressing and actually find a way to take interest that is when friendships are won. I just need to give him the lime light.
Wednesday was a rather emotional roller coaster for us. We went with the one and only Bruder Schmidt to the court house to see if we could print off and post fliers for German, English, and our game night. It was a long process and we finally got the ok. Then we went over to a museum place to see if we could get permission to do a street display. The lady we talked to was a very nice sweet lady who I could tell was very very stressed. We walked in and she told us that she didn't have much time but we could email her. She hecticly searched for her card found it and apologized for being so stressed. Well, Bruder schmidt wasn't really empathetic towards the situation and he told her we are also very stressed and we work non stop. She um, started to cry and Elder Partridge and I tried to calm her down and say it was no problem and we will email her. We then pulled bruder schmidt aside and told him to try and be a little more understanding of the situations of other people. He got rather schmidty with us and began his rants. My comp under much pressure may have yelled back a little which caused even more drama. After a rather rough few hours when we could all be situated we taught Michael. He is such a sincere hearted man and he told bruder schmidt and us how much he appreciated us and bruder schmidt began to cry. Such a tender moment for all of us. We taught him and the lesson went amazing as usual. The next morning he called us to tell us how thankful he was for that evening. He also asked for a priesthood blessing that we will be giving to him this week.
On tuesday we had ZOKO. It was just what I needed. A good spiritual boost for the upcoming next transfer. My favorite lesson was given to Sister Fingerle. During the end what she had decided to do is write questions down and we would go in a room and give us a personal interview where we wrote down the answers to the questions she had written. I began answering the questions and writing them down and then I got to the last one. When was the last time you have felt love from your father in heaven? And do you feel it now? If I could tell you my most favorite feeling to feel in the world it would be love from my heavenly father. In most of my conversations with my great friend Elder Bennett they mostly revolve around the feeling and expression of love. I have felt extremely happy, and I have felt extremely angry and the power of these two combined do not compare with that of feeling the love of God. A quote from again Elder Bennett: "The love you have for people will do more for them, than any preach my gospel lesson." This quote is so true. While teaching is so so important love is what brings change to peoples lives. That's why God uses the emotion love to evoke a change in us. There are many things I still wish to change and sometimes I feel like I will never be at the point I want to be. Well, I know that God loves me and as long as I try I can't fail.
I have you all love. Thank you for your emails of encouragement. BYE!!!!! Tciao.
Elder Riggs.
The Lord is My shepherd.
Hellooooo Everobody!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Flippin cow we had an insanely busy week this week and it went by way to fast. But it was an amazing week. To start off we got our transfer calls.......We are both staying again for another transfer. This one is only five weeks because last one was a long seven weeks. In other news the reign of District Frau is back. My comp is the District Leader and that means I get to be district frau again!!!!!!! A.K.A best job in the whole mission. I am honestly very happy to stay another transfer again and Eberswalde is really starting to grow on me. The little tiny family like branch is so great and I love them so much. While we have very few investigators each one of them have a special place in my heart. Yes Eberswalde is full of hippies that walk the streets bare foot, yes, one street finding is really taking its toll on me, but I'm really starting to love it here.
Today for P day we get to go to the lovely, awesome, sick, dope, sweet, fantastic, wonderful, amazing, incredible, gorgeous, beautiful, mind boggling, the bees knees of the world, attractive, big, city of Berlin. We decided to go check out checkpoint Charlie and get our passports stamped. And we will probably visit the gorgeous Berliner dome.
On Thursday we got to do some service for our very good hippy friend. Matthias. He is currently working on a fence to keep those pesky teenagers from stealing his stuff so seeing as how it is a three man job it works perfectly. Something I've been trying to do is really make friendships stronger with our investigators. That's something he really wants is a closer bond to the missionaries. It's very difficult as the language barrier prevents me from expressing myself the way I want to but it took me a while to realize it's not what I say that's important but rather what they say. As long as I pay attention to what they are feeling and what they are expressing and actually find a way to take interest that is when friendships are won. I just need to give him the lime light.
Wednesday was a rather emotional roller coaster for us. We went with the one and only Bruder Schmidt to the court house to see if we could print off and post fliers for German, English, and our game night. It was a long process and we finally got the ok. Then we went over to a museum place to see if we could get permission to do a street display. The lady we talked to was a very nice sweet lady who I could tell was very very stressed. We walked in and she told us that she didn't have much time but we could email her. She hecticly searched for her card found it and apologized for being so stressed. Well, Bruder schmidt wasn't really empathetic towards the situation and he told her we are also very stressed and we work non stop. She um, started to cry and Elder Partridge and I tried to calm her down and say it was no problem and we will email her. We then pulled bruder schmidt aside and told him to try and be a little more understanding of the situations of other people. He got rather schmidty with us and began his rants. My comp under much pressure may have yelled back a little which caused even more drama. After a rather rough few hours when we could all be situated we taught Michael. He is such a sincere hearted man and he told bruder schmidt and us how much he appreciated us and bruder schmidt began to cry. Such a tender moment for all of us. We taught him and the lesson went amazing as usual. The next morning he called us to tell us how thankful he was for that evening. He also asked for a priesthood blessing that we will be giving to him this week.
On tuesday we had ZOKO. It was just what I needed. A good spiritual boost for the upcoming next transfer. My favorite lesson was given to Sister Fingerle. During the end what she had decided to do is write questions down and we would go in a room and give us a personal interview where we wrote down the answers to the questions she had written. I began answering the questions and writing them down and then I got to the last one. When was the last time you have felt love from your father in heaven? And do you feel it now? If I could tell you my most favorite feeling to feel in the world it would be love from my heavenly father. In most of my conversations with my great friend Elder Bennett they mostly revolve around the feeling and expression of love. I have felt extremely happy, and I have felt extremely angry and the power of these two combined do not compare with that of feeling the love of God. A quote from again Elder Bennett: "The love you have for people will do more for them, than any preach my gospel lesson." This quote is so true. While teaching is so so important love is what brings change to peoples lives. That's why God uses the emotion love to evoke a change in us. There are many things I still wish to change and sometimes I feel like I will never be at the point I want to be. Well, I know that God loves me and as long as I try I can't fail.
I have you all love. Thank you for your emails of encouragement. BYE!!!!! Tciao.
Elder Riggs.
The Lord is My shepherd.
Slow week. But good week. - 5.23.2016
Liebe Freunde Liebe Familie
Hey everyone. So because we changed our P day it was rather a slow week last week. But this one is going to be insanely busy and insanely fast. Thank goodness because it's the last week of the transfer and I'm getting itchy for that transfer call. (Another word for itchy is anxious) But we had a good week nonetheless.
One of the things that abslolutely made our week was we had the opportunity to do some service. Man has it been a long time since I have worked with my hands. One of my absolutle favorite things about Germany is Germans most of the time have seperate gardens. They aren't a part of their house and they are beautiful. Each garden usually has a little garden house with tools and other assortment of things to work in their Garden. Every garden has some form of fruit trees and a little area to plant vegetables and they are just one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. I mean the gardens I had back at home were awesome and they had great harvests but these just top the list. That being said we helped one of our investigators build a fence in his garden because some punk teenagers keep coming in to steal stuff. It took about three hours and after he was kind enough to buy us some bratwurst at a local imbiss. We were also offered this work to come and work at a members garden so we will be taking this opportunity no questions asks.
Also we again taught Michael. The lesson went really well and the spirit was very prominent in this one. He's starting to actually participate in class now on sundays. A man who didn't know anything about the nature of God or religion is coming to terms about who God is and what is our purpose here. I can't wait for the day of his baptism.
Well in other news tomorrow is our ZOKO and we get to hear from a member of the seventy. Very much looking forward to that and the spirit that I hope to feel.
Well because not much happened this week this email will be a little short. Next week there should be a lot however. I love each and every one of you and hope the best for each and every one of you.
Elder RIggs.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
Hey everyone. So because we changed our P day it was rather a slow week last week. But this one is going to be insanely busy and insanely fast. Thank goodness because it's the last week of the transfer and I'm getting itchy for that transfer call. (Another word for itchy is anxious) But we had a good week nonetheless.
One of the things that abslolutely made our week was we had the opportunity to do some service. Man has it been a long time since I have worked with my hands. One of my absolutle favorite things about Germany is Germans most of the time have seperate gardens. They aren't a part of their house and they are beautiful. Each garden usually has a little garden house with tools and other assortment of things to work in their Garden. Every garden has some form of fruit trees and a little area to plant vegetables and they are just one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. I mean the gardens I had back at home were awesome and they had great harvests but these just top the list. That being said we helped one of our investigators build a fence in his garden because some punk teenagers keep coming in to steal stuff. It took about three hours and after he was kind enough to buy us some bratwurst at a local imbiss. We were also offered this work to come and work at a members garden so we will be taking this opportunity no questions asks.
Also we again taught Michael. The lesson went really well and the spirit was very prominent in this one. He's starting to actually participate in class now on sundays. A man who didn't know anything about the nature of God or religion is coming to terms about who God is and what is our purpose here. I can't wait for the day of his baptism.
Well in other news tomorrow is our ZOKO and we get to hear from a member of the seventy. Very much looking forward to that and the spirit that I hope to feel.
Well because not much happened this week this email will be a little short. Next week there should be a lot however. I love each and every one of you and hope the best for each and every one of you.
Elder RIggs.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
Sorry for the delay...... 5.17.2016
Liebe Freunde, Liebe Familie.
HELLOOOOOO!!!!! Everyone.
To start I apologize for not emailing yestarday. Because yestarday was a holidy and everything was practically closed we decided it would be best to change our P-Day so we could have more things to do instead of chill at the church and play ping pong. Unfortunetely because today is raining we will have to chill at the church and play ping pong anyway.
This week was sooooo good. We taught michael again!!!!! We could honestly have the worst week and every other day be super hard and discouraging but it's always when we teach him that it gives me the boost that I need to just keep going. We taught him the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. He understands everything perfectly and thinks everything just makes total sense. Before we started teaching he wanted to say a few words to us. First off he told us how grateful he is to be in contact with us and he feels so much happier ever since we have started teaching him. The week before that we invited him to baptism and he declined but he explained to us he wants to be ready for baptism. Once he knows it is true he will be baptized. He then said he understands that is such a holy ordinance that he wants to go into knowing he will never forsake this church or God. THIS IS AMAZING!!! When Elder Thomas and I first started teaching him he had said he doesn't understand why we need to baptized to follow christ and doesn't like the fact that it involves some "Ritual" or "Ceremonie" He now understands the sanctity and importanace of this saving ordinance. Oh man. The honestly and humility this man has is something that one day I hope I can replicate. Through our journey of teaching him I have learned so much from HIM.
On Thursday we had district meetin and I had the opportunity to give a lesson. I adore teaching so I was so happy when the district leader assigned me something. Basically he said anything from the book of mormon or bible or general confernce talks. Other than that I could teach any topic I wanted to as long as it applied to missionary work.
There was an article I read on LDS.org (Maybe you've already read it) But I loved this article. It was very well written and it really hit a place in my heart. It's called: Finding self worth in a selfie world. One of the strongest desires of the human spirit is a feeling of worth. A feeling of importance in something. During my high school years I recognized there were mistakes I made or things i did just so I could feel a part of something. Some people will do things such as change the style of clothing, or language, or interests to feel a part of something. Some even go as far to change their entire gender, or beliefs in a higher power. In reading this article I was asking myself this question. How is it that we can feel a sense of self worth to our Father in Heaven? How do we know we are important to him? As many of you know missions are far from easy and sometimes you can try your very best and work your hardest and through your labors no fruit comes so to say. Nothing Happens. I believe this applies not only to missionaries in the field but to those who are not in the field. Those that go through life and are enduring till the end. How do we have a sense of self worth to God? Some of us may say: I lack certain ablilities or talents. OR. I've made too many mistakes God doesn't love me anymore. First of all to those of us who may think that abilities or talents or impossible to achieve remember this. We are the children of a creater.....he expects us to create. Some words or wisdom from My last companion. (This is not word for word) But I was struggling and really wanted to have good german. Something he told me was what do you have to lose? You can have perfect german. You can have what you want as long as you are willing to work for achieve great things. It requires so much work and hard effort but if we truly want something we can reach it.
For those of us who feel abandoned or left alone maybe because of mistakes or other variables that play into life. God. Never. Abandons. In fact when we fall is when he tries his very best to help us the most. The saving power of the atonement is for everyone. God loves us so much that he sent someone to atone for our sins. Our savior Jesus Christ. Who knows what it's like when you try your best and it feels as if nothing comes out of it. The one who knows what it's like to feel alone in the dark with no hope in sight. Because of him. That right there is how I know I am important ot my father in heaven. His love is inmeasurable and he will always cheer us on in the race against sin. Keep going. I have been in dark places in my life where I felt like I wasn't important to anyone. Because of a simple prayer that I offered on my mission I have felt the most indescribable love I have ever felt. As long as I am trying my very best I am important. Like Jeoffry R. Holland said. God Gives credit for trying. That is what is so amazing about this gosepl.
Well I am eight months into my mission and I still have a long way to go and frankly I cannot wait for the changes in my life and the changes that I hope to bring in others. I love you all and hope the best for you.
Elder Riggs.
The Lord is My Shepherd.
HELLOOOOOO!!!!! Everyone.
To start I apologize for not emailing yestarday. Because yestarday was a holidy and everything was practically closed we decided it would be best to change our P-Day so we could have more things to do instead of chill at the church and play ping pong. Unfortunetely because today is raining we will have to chill at the church and play ping pong anyway.
This week was sooooo good. We taught michael again!!!!! We could honestly have the worst week and every other day be super hard and discouraging but it's always when we teach him that it gives me the boost that I need to just keep going. We taught him the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. He understands everything perfectly and thinks everything just makes total sense. Before we started teaching he wanted to say a few words to us. First off he told us how grateful he is to be in contact with us and he feels so much happier ever since we have started teaching him. The week before that we invited him to baptism and he declined but he explained to us he wants to be ready for baptism. Once he knows it is true he will be baptized. He then said he understands that is such a holy ordinance that he wants to go into knowing he will never forsake this church or God. THIS IS AMAZING!!! When Elder Thomas and I first started teaching him he had said he doesn't understand why we need to baptized to follow christ and doesn't like the fact that it involves some "Ritual" or "Ceremonie" He now understands the sanctity and importanace of this saving ordinance. Oh man. The honestly and humility this man has is something that one day I hope I can replicate. Through our journey of teaching him I have learned so much from HIM.
On Thursday we had district meetin and I had the opportunity to give a lesson. I adore teaching so I was so happy when the district leader assigned me something. Basically he said anything from the book of mormon or bible or general confernce talks. Other than that I could teach any topic I wanted to as long as it applied to missionary work.
There was an article I read on LDS.org (Maybe you've already read it) But I loved this article. It was very well written and it really hit a place in my heart. It's called: Finding self worth in a selfie world. One of the strongest desires of the human spirit is a feeling of worth. A feeling of importance in something. During my high school years I recognized there were mistakes I made or things i did just so I could feel a part of something. Some people will do things such as change the style of clothing, or language, or interests to feel a part of something. Some even go as far to change their entire gender, or beliefs in a higher power. In reading this article I was asking myself this question. How is it that we can feel a sense of self worth to our Father in Heaven? How do we know we are important to him? As many of you know missions are far from easy and sometimes you can try your very best and work your hardest and through your labors no fruit comes so to say. Nothing Happens. I believe this applies not only to missionaries in the field but to those who are not in the field. Those that go through life and are enduring till the end. How do we have a sense of self worth to God? Some of us may say: I lack certain ablilities or talents. OR. I've made too many mistakes God doesn't love me anymore. First of all to those of us who may think that abilities or talents or impossible to achieve remember this. We are the children of a creater.....he expects us to create. Some words or wisdom from My last companion. (This is not word for word) But I was struggling and really wanted to have good german. Something he told me was what do you have to lose? You can have perfect german. You can have what you want as long as you are willing to work for achieve great things. It requires so much work and hard effort but if we truly want something we can reach it.
For those of us who feel abandoned or left alone maybe because of mistakes or other variables that play into life. God. Never. Abandons. In fact when we fall is when he tries his very best to help us the most. The saving power of the atonement is for everyone. God loves us so much that he sent someone to atone for our sins. Our savior Jesus Christ. Who knows what it's like when you try your best and it feels as if nothing comes out of it. The one who knows what it's like to feel alone in the dark with no hope in sight. Because of him. That right there is how I know I am important ot my father in heaven. His love is inmeasurable and he will always cheer us on in the race against sin. Keep going. I have been in dark places in my life where I felt like I wasn't important to anyone. Because of a simple prayer that I offered on my mission I have felt the most indescribable love I have ever felt. As long as I am trying my very best I am important. Like Jeoffry R. Holland said. God Gives credit for trying. That is what is so amazing about this gosepl.
Well I am eight months into my mission and I still have a long way to go and frankly I cannot wait for the changes in my life and the changes that I hope to bring in others. I love you all and hope the best for you.
Elder Riggs.
The Lord is My Shepherd.
Happy Mother's Day - 5.9.2016
Liebe Freunde, Liebe Famlie
Helloooooo everyone. This week was another fantiastic week. Life of a missionary is the best job in the world. I will miss Germany. Luckily I still have about 16 months left but Germany is super awesome. I love it, I love the people (for the most part sometimes they can be a little difficult) but nontheless I am so glad to be here still.
I would just like to make a shotout to all of you wonderful Mothers out there who have raised us and made us the people we are today. Happy late mothers day to all mothers. You are amazing people who have a very heavy responsiblility. And no one other than you are capable of taking on this responsibility of raising us. Love you mom.
Today for P day we went to Berlin again. And of course I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I am so coming back here again and again. (If I have the money)
Wwe taught Michael this week again and invited him to baptism. Unfortunately he declined the offer but he's one of those people where I know he will make the decision eventually to get baptized. He just wants to make sure that what he is doing is right and he doens't want to do something that he will not live. I know once he accepts this gospel he will be an amazing man of god.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.
Helloooooo everyone. This week was another fantiastic week. Life of a missionary is the best job in the world. I will miss Germany. Luckily I still have about 16 months left but Germany is super awesome. I love it, I love the people (for the most part sometimes they can be a little difficult) but nontheless I am so glad to be here still.
I would just like to make a shotout to all of you wonderful Mothers out there who have raised us and made us the people we are today. Happy late mothers day to all mothers. You are amazing people who have a very heavy responsiblility. And no one other than you are capable of taking on this responsibility of raising us. Love you mom.
Today for P day we went to Berlin again. And of course I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I am so coming back here again and again. (If I have the money)
Wwe taught Michael this week again and invited him to baptism. Unfortunately he declined the offer but he's one of those people where I know he will make the decision eventually to get baptized. He just wants to make sure that what he is doing is right and he doens't want to do something that he will not live. I know once he accepts this gospel he will be an amazing man of god.
I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.
5.9.2016
1. Yes gross. But it's a tradition to lick the brandenburger gate.
2. Restaurant. Don't worry the beer was alcohol free and really disgusting.
2. Restaurant. Don't worry the beer was alcohol free and really disgusting.
5.2.2016
Liebe Freunde, Liebe Familie
Hello EVERBODY
So this week was rather exciting.
Elder Partridge and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to my favorite city in the entire world. BERLIN!!!!!!!!!!!! Man berlin is the bomb and I will come back after my mission definetley. Our District Leader had dropped his phone in some water as he knocked over from his bed from waking up. Well he didn't realize it had fell in the water and so he woke up about ten minutes later.....and by then the phone was pretty much broken. SOOOOO he asked us to go to berlin to pick up a new phone from the office and of course I was like HECK YES!!!!!!
Today was maintenance P day.....lots of cleaning....no more needs to be said. But next week we will be going to Berlin AGAIN!!!!!! I will take tons of pictures and send them all to you.
On Thursday we have the wonderful opportunity to read the book of mormon from cover to cover in one day. Germany has this Holiday called Christi Himmelfahrt. It's basically just one giant day in which a bunch of males get together play music really loud on these wagon things and drink and drink and drink. I am excited to realize things and learn things that I may have never learned before. My testimony of the book of mormon has increased substantially and I am so grateful for those amazing book of mormon heroes who sacrificed so much just so that we can have a book. But to me it's more than just a book. Just like the front cover it is another testament of Jesus Christ. The realtionship I have with my heavenly father and savior have mainly been through this book and the power of prayer. It. Is. True. No doubt about it. No flickering hesitation I know 100 Percent the sacredness and effect The Book of Mormon has on others and my personal self.
In other news This week. In fact in two days we will be inviting Michael again to baptism. I have been praying and praying and praying that his heart will be able to feel the truth and that he will know that it is the right path. He's not the same person anymore and I have immense faith that the power of the Holy Ghost will give him that peace that he so craves for. God has blessed me to be able to take this journey with him and see the struggles and the successes that he has. I am also grateful that I can be a tool in God's hands to help fill the hole in his heart and it is being filled slowly but nonetheless he is receiving peace bit by bit.
One of my best friends gave an amazing lesson in District meeting last week. As many of you know I am tring to receive more hope in my life and am working on recognizing Miralces and tender mercies. There are of course times in which I am discoraged and it seems as if there is no hope. You look at the news and see things such as natural disasters, problems with wars, ISIS, death, disease, opinions of the world and hope seems to just evaporate. How can we see miracles amidst desolation and chaos? Something that I have recently discovered for myself answered that question. I have had many experiences in which I was either hurt seriously or had near death experiences. From my bike accident, to the time in yellowstone when I was caught in an eddie and in every one of these moments once they happened the first thing I thaught was not how am I gonna get out of this? It was the very person that I knew could help me no matter what. I thought "God, Help me, Save me, I need you" I believe in every natural disaster or situation in which it is either critical or near death, God is always present, as well as his angels. People come close to God when bad things happen. Yes, there is still death, there are still terrible things that happen but a world without challenges and problems means a world without progress and growth. In this Lesson my good friend, Elder Bennett, said that the one thing he grabs hold of when things turn south is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can either look at these things that happend and think "God, where are you?" OR we can look at them and go "God, I know you are there, and I know you can help me and others draw unto thee" . There have been many people I have talked to who have lost all hope of a better life. "If there is a god, why was there a war?" Many of them ask as they walk away. In reading and studying about the history of germany specifically DDR times and the war I can't imagine how in those dire situations people scream out where is the light? The light and gospel of Jesus Christ will always be there no matter what situation, no matter what trial, God is always there and hope will always prevail.
I am still trying to continue to spread this amazing special message of hope with the people of Germany and I get ecstactic when someone such as Michael finds that hope and grasps on to that concept. I love you all, wish you a great week and auf wiedersehen.
Elder Riggs
The Lord is My Shepherd
Hello EVERBODY
So this week was rather exciting.
Elder Partridge and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to my favorite city in the entire world. BERLIN!!!!!!!!!!!! Man berlin is the bomb and I will come back after my mission definetley. Our District Leader had dropped his phone in some water as he knocked over from his bed from waking up. Well he didn't realize it had fell in the water and so he woke up about ten minutes later.....and by then the phone was pretty much broken. SOOOOO he asked us to go to berlin to pick up a new phone from the office and of course I was like HECK YES!!!!!!
Today was maintenance P day.....lots of cleaning....no more needs to be said. But next week we will be going to Berlin AGAIN!!!!!! I will take tons of pictures and send them all to you.
On Thursday we have the wonderful opportunity to read the book of mormon from cover to cover in one day. Germany has this Holiday called Christi Himmelfahrt. It's basically just one giant day in which a bunch of males get together play music really loud on these wagon things and drink and drink and drink. I am excited to realize things and learn things that I may have never learned before. My testimony of the book of mormon has increased substantially and I am so grateful for those amazing book of mormon heroes who sacrificed so much just so that we can have a book. But to me it's more than just a book. Just like the front cover it is another testament of Jesus Christ. The realtionship I have with my heavenly father and savior have mainly been through this book and the power of prayer. It. Is. True. No doubt about it. No flickering hesitation I know 100 Percent the sacredness and effect The Book of Mormon has on others and my personal self.
In other news This week. In fact in two days we will be inviting Michael again to baptism. I have been praying and praying and praying that his heart will be able to feel the truth and that he will know that it is the right path. He's not the same person anymore and I have immense faith that the power of the Holy Ghost will give him that peace that he so craves for. God has blessed me to be able to take this journey with him and see the struggles and the successes that he has. I am also grateful that I can be a tool in God's hands to help fill the hole in his heart and it is being filled slowly but nonetheless he is receiving peace bit by bit.
One of my best friends gave an amazing lesson in District meeting last week. As many of you know I am tring to receive more hope in my life and am working on recognizing Miralces and tender mercies. There are of course times in which I am discoraged and it seems as if there is no hope. You look at the news and see things such as natural disasters, problems with wars, ISIS, death, disease, opinions of the world and hope seems to just evaporate. How can we see miracles amidst desolation and chaos? Something that I have recently discovered for myself answered that question. I have had many experiences in which I was either hurt seriously or had near death experiences. From my bike accident, to the time in yellowstone when I was caught in an eddie and in every one of these moments once they happened the first thing I thaught was not how am I gonna get out of this? It was the very person that I knew could help me no matter what. I thought "God, Help me, Save me, I need you" I believe in every natural disaster or situation in which it is either critical or near death, God is always present, as well as his angels. People come close to God when bad things happen. Yes, there is still death, there are still terrible things that happen but a world without challenges and problems means a world without progress and growth. In this Lesson my good friend, Elder Bennett, said that the one thing he grabs hold of when things turn south is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We can either look at these things that happend and think "God, where are you?" OR we can look at them and go "God, I know you are there, and I know you can help me and others draw unto thee" . There have been many people I have talked to who have lost all hope of a better life. "If there is a god, why was there a war?" Many of them ask as they walk away. In reading and studying about the history of germany specifically DDR times and the war I can't imagine how in those dire situations people scream out where is the light? The light and gospel of Jesus Christ will always be there no matter what situation, no matter what trial, God is always there and hope will always prevail.
I am still trying to continue to spread this amazing special message of hope with the people of Germany and I get ecstactic when someone such as Michael finds that hope and grasps on to that concept. I love you all, wish you a great week and auf wiedersehen.
Elder Riggs
The Lord is My Shepherd
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