Liebe Freunde, Liebe Familie.
Hellooooo Everybody. I am currently emailing you from the sunny skies of Bergedorf....BECAUSE, we still don't have the passwords to the computers in Lauenburg yet. BUT, next week we should be having a little chit chat with our member friend and getting them. (oh yeah and the skies are more a light shade of gray)
This week went by insanely fast. Elder Anderson and I are trying to get this program up and running so that we can just zoom through the weeks here. Yestarday was such a great day. We taught a investigator family. I can't tell you too much information but what I can tell you is that they are from Syria. The son speaks pretty much perfect english and he has a lot of interest. The Grandfather doesn't speak english or german so the other family members translate for us. Oh yeah and he was a ping pong champion from Syria. P days in Eberswalde usually revolved around either Ping Pong or going to Berlin so with my hours of practicing ping pong I decided to put it to the test. He, was really really good. He somehow found a way to just power shoot it pretty much every time so i had to be super fast. It was such a fun match and I am the only one who will play with him because his family doesn't like to lose to him all of the time. So our ping pong friendship will hopefully continue in the upcoming months.
I am going to cut this email a little short because my comp and I have to pick up something in order to make it back in time for a meeting with our ward mission leader.
Highlights of the week.
We taught one of our other investigators about baptism and he said he would pray about it.
Hamburg for a meeting with the district leaders. I got to go out with a greenie and do a little finding. I really want to train now.
Sunday an eating appointment with the bishop. I had to really really focus because he speaks insanely fast.
TODAY IS P DAY!!!!!!!!!
Had the opportunity to share my testimony of the gospel to our syrian family.
This week will bring another adventure to our paths and hopefully a longer email to write. This church is true, this gospel is true, I love you all.
Elder Riggs.
The Lord is My Shepherd.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Lauenburg - July 11, 2016
Liebe Freunde, Liebe Familie.
Helloooooooooo Everbody!!!!!!!!! Well I arrived in the lovely city of Lauenburg last wednesday and so far I am loving this place so much. If you want to know what it looks like look it up on google. The Elbe borders us and this place has an Alt Stadt. Translates to old city. Classic German architecture with cobblestone (kills the feet but looks good) Falk Werk and narrow alley ways but a really great place nontheless. Once a week we go to a city called Luneburg which has the coolest downtown I have seen. Its been the best one so far in my area. I am in the west again so unfortunately döners arent exactly the best but I am super excited to spend my next few months here and cant wait to spread the love and gospel to the people of Lauenburg.
The Ward is HUUUUUUGE!!!!! (In perspective to Eberswalde) 60 members on a normal sunday. Everyone is so nice and I cant wait to make new friends here. I am currently emailing from Hamburg though because on of the members changed the passwords to the computers. But next week we should hopefully get them and I can email from Lauenburg.
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!! We found someone to teach this week. It has pretty much been a few months since I have found anyone and it was really getting down on me. Everyone in Eberswalde was pretty much atheist so it was kind of a struglle to find people to teach. Her name is Nasi. She comes from Afghanistan and speaks perfect German in fact she translates for a lot of refugees in the area. She was born muslim but didnt like the teachings or traditions of the muslim faith so currently she doesnt have a specific Faith but she believes that there is a God. We talked on the street and I had the opportunity to testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel and because God loves us he gave us the full truth and a way back to him. She took it very well and we will be meeting with her sometime this week.
RANDOM STORY!!!!!!!!!!! This morning as we were getting in our car a little spider decided to make his home in the car betweent he steering wheel and the drivers seat.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!! Yestarday was my first day of church here in Lauenburg and for the lesson the teacher talked about the temple. He asked: Why do we as members of the church focus so much on the temple? The mission theme in Berlin Germany Focused on the blessings of the temple, teach repentacne, and baptize converts. Growing up in utah there was always a temple within a ten minute drive and I realized I kind of took that for granted. The faith of members around the world are amazing. Beause some members dont have a temple in their area they have to save for years simply to get to a place where there is one. Without the tmeple the whole idea of eternal families dissappear. It is a place where we can commune with our Father and where we can receive revelation. Dont miss out on a chance to attend the temple. Time sometimes gets in the way of things and Satan sometimes likes to throw things in our way that make our lives too busy. Make time to go to the temple. It is there where i have felt more peace than I have felt in my life and where I can feel the love of my Father.
Elder Riggs
The Lord is My Shepherd.
Helloooooooooo Everbody!!!!!!!!! Well I arrived in the lovely city of Lauenburg last wednesday and so far I am loving this place so much. If you want to know what it looks like look it up on google. The Elbe borders us and this place has an Alt Stadt. Translates to old city. Classic German architecture with cobblestone (kills the feet but looks good) Falk Werk and narrow alley ways but a really great place nontheless. Once a week we go to a city called Luneburg which has the coolest downtown I have seen. Its been the best one so far in my area. I am in the west again so unfortunately döners arent exactly the best but I am super excited to spend my next few months here and cant wait to spread the love and gospel to the people of Lauenburg.
The Ward is HUUUUUUGE!!!!! (In perspective to Eberswalde) 60 members on a normal sunday. Everyone is so nice and I cant wait to make new friends here. I am currently emailing from Hamburg though because on of the members changed the passwords to the computers. But next week we should hopefully get them and I can email from Lauenburg.
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!!!! We found someone to teach this week. It has pretty much been a few months since I have found anyone and it was really getting down on me. Everyone in Eberswalde was pretty much atheist so it was kind of a struglle to find people to teach. Her name is Nasi. She comes from Afghanistan and speaks perfect German in fact she translates for a lot of refugees in the area. She was born muslim but didnt like the teachings or traditions of the muslim faith so currently she doesnt have a specific Faith but she believes that there is a God. We talked on the street and I had the opportunity to testify of the truthfulness of the Gospel and because God loves us he gave us the full truth and a way back to him. She took it very well and we will be meeting with her sometime this week.
RANDOM STORY!!!!!!!!!!! This morning as we were getting in our car a little spider decided to make his home in the car betweent he steering wheel and the drivers seat.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!! Yestarday was my first day of church here in Lauenburg and for the lesson the teacher talked about the temple. He asked: Why do we as members of the church focus so much on the temple? The mission theme in Berlin Germany Focused on the blessings of the temple, teach repentacne, and baptize converts. Growing up in utah there was always a temple within a ten minute drive and I realized I kind of took that for granted. The faith of members around the world are amazing. Beause some members dont have a temple in their area they have to save for years simply to get to a place where there is one. Without the tmeple the whole idea of eternal families dissappear. It is a place where we can commune with our Father and where we can receive revelation. Dont miss out on a chance to attend the temple. Time sometimes gets in the way of things and Satan sometimes likes to throw things in our way that make our lives too busy. Make time to go to the temple. It is there where i have felt more peace than I have felt in my life and where I can feel the love of my Father.
Elder Riggs
The Lord is My Shepherd.
Leaving my family for the second time. July 4, 2016
Liebe Freunde, Liebe Familie.
Helloo Everybody. Well we got our calls......I will unfortunately be leaving the lovely city of Eberswalde....however I will be going to another great city called Lauenburg. I looked it up today and it looks gorgeous. It overlooks a lake and there seems to be a lot of Falk Werk in the area. I cannot wait to get to know new people, my new companion and to be able to spread my love in however many ways as possible.
So this is my last P day here. And it will probably be the best. We are going to a members house to have a fourth of July party!!!!!! WITH SMORES!!!!! I am going to try super hard to not get trunky but the sight of grahm crackers (Which don't exist here in germany) and hershey bars (Also don't exist) and marshmallows (Do exist) may do just that. One last hoorah before I leave.
Yestarday was a really emotional day for me. I woke up that morning and I knew it was going to be a rough day. Something that still amazes me to this day is how much I appreciate the members here. It is the smallest branch I have ever seen and it is literally hanging by a thread but the relationships I developed, the memories I made, the laughs we shared all came crashing down at me all at once and I realized it will be a very long time before I see them again. I could barely give my last testimony because of how hard it was to just talk. Crying while talking is hard in english but it's even harder in German so I gave it my best and told everyone just how much I loved them and how thankful I was for their love and their friendship. Thankfully they will all be going to the Freiberg open house and hopefully I will be there at the same time. After Sacramant meeting I was playing the organ as poslude and decided to pay the song "God be with you till we meet again" I realized that wasn't the best idea because everyone was dead silent just looking at me and the waterfalls came again...So I stopped. But I really loved this branch. They literally became my second family and it was very hard to leave.
Also just leaving this great zone was kind of a challenge. I am so grateful to have been a part of this zone. It was challenging but I have learned and grown so much from it. So many blessings came from being a part of it and I am so grateful to my God for that. First of all I got to meet a man who really changed me and helped me get through some rough spots in the mission. Elder Thomas. He is pretty much the most christlike person I have ever met. And he helped me really draw nearer to my savior. It will be glorius to one day be home and to be able to talke with him and many other people I meet along the way about how close this mission was to our hearts. I also got to meet my long lost brother/best friend/bro for dayzzzzzzz Elder Bennet. I love this guy. I am going to miss going for a jog or those nightly conversations where we simply talked about what life really means for us. It always somehow centers around gospel conversations and really appreciate the kind of man he is. Love you bro. My comp Elder Partridge I will likeiwse miss very much but the journey must go on and there are more things to do in different lands. I'm sad to be leaving but happy that I get to continue moving forward preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to help change the hearts of people.
This week we were on exchanges and I stayed here with Elder Allen from Neu Brandenburg. We had an appointment with one of my favorite investiagators. Herr Bergmann. A little intro. He has two doctrites and was a professor so our good friend Bruder Schmidt says we have to calle him professor doctor doctor bergmann. He's 83 years old and loves to just sit and talk about the history of germany or whatever else comes in his library of smarts. Great man. One of the things I sometimes regret is when I was with Elder Thomas I wanted to Tschuss him (That means stop teaching him) He hasn't made any progress and has been taught for years by the missionaries so i thought well we need to look for someone else who will make progress. I am so glad I got to teach him and make the decision not to tschuss him. Anyway Elder Allen and I went over and we received the news that he has been having heart problems and will probably pass on in the next life in a couple of weeks. I admired what he said. He told us he was completely and entirely ready to meet the Creator. He had lived his life and it was his time to leave it. I know confidently he will accept this gospel in his upcoming life. One of the things thomas taught me was to not give up on anyone even though they don't seem to make any progress. They will be even more ready and willing to accept the gospel in the life to come and I am confident our Heavenly Father will welcome him with open arms. He gave one of the most powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon I have heard. He knows it is true without a doubt he knows it comes from God I couldn't help but just grin from ear to ear at the words that came from his mouth.
Well. This is my last email from the walde of ebers. It's time to start a new adventure. New memories, new people to love, and more people to bring to the fold. Elder Riggs out.
Signing off from Eberswalde.
Love you all.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
Helloo Everybody. Well we got our calls......I will unfortunately be leaving the lovely city of Eberswalde....however I will be going to another great city called Lauenburg. I looked it up today and it looks gorgeous. It overlooks a lake and there seems to be a lot of Falk Werk in the area. I cannot wait to get to know new people, my new companion and to be able to spread my love in however many ways as possible.
So this is my last P day here. And it will probably be the best. We are going to a members house to have a fourth of July party!!!!!! WITH SMORES!!!!! I am going to try super hard to not get trunky but the sight of grahm crackers (Which don't exist here in germany) and hershey bars (Also don't exist) and marshmallows (Do exist) may do just that. One last hoorah before I leave.
Yestarday was a really emotional day for me. I woke up that morning and I knew it was going to be a rough day. Something that still amazes me to this day is how much I appreciate the members here. It is the smallest branch I have ever seen and it is literally hanging by a thread but the relationships I developed, the memories I made, the laughs we shared all came crashing down at me all at once and I realized it will be a very long time before I see them again. I could barely give my last testimony because of how hard it was to just talk. Crying while talking is hard in english but it's even harder in German so I gave it my best and told everyone just how much I loved them and how thankful I was for their love and their friendship. Thankfully they will all be going to the Freiberg open house and hopefully I will be there at the same time. After Sacramant meeting I was playing the organ as poslude and decided to pay the song "God be with you till we meet again" I realized that wasn't the best idea because everyone was dead silent just looking at me and the waterfalls came again...So I stopped. But I really loved this branch. They literally became my second family and it was very hard to leave.
Also just leaving this great zone was kind of a challenge. I am so grateful to have been a part of this zone. It was challenging but I have learned and grown so much from it. So many blessings came from being a part of it and I am so grateful to my God for that. First of all I got to meet a man who really changed me and helped me get through some rough spots in the mission. Elder Thomas. He is pretty much the most christlike person I have ever met. And he helped me really draw nearer to my savior. It will be glorius to one day be home and to be able to talke with him and many other people I meet along the way about how close this mission was to our hearts. I also got to meet my long lost brother/best friend/bro for dayzzzzzzz Elder Bennet. I love this guy. I am going to miss going for a jog or those nightly conversations where we simply talked about what life really means for us. It always somehow centers around gospel conversations and really appreciate the kind of man he is. Love you bro. My comp Elder Partridge I will likeiwse miss very much but the journey must go on and there are more things to do in different lands. I'm sad to be leaving but happy that I get to continue moving forward preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to help change the hearts of people.
This week we were on exchanges and I stayed here with Elder Allen from Neu Brandenburg. We had an appointment with one of my favorite investiagators. Herr Bergmann. A little intro. He has two doctrites and was a professor so our good friend Bruder Schmidt says we have to calle him professor doctor doctor bergmann. He's 83 years old and loves to just sit and talk about the history of germany or whatever else comes in his library of smarts. Great man. One of the things I sometimes regret is when I was with Elder Thomas I wanted to Tschuss him (That means stop teaching him) He hasn't made any progress and has been taught for years by the missionaries so i thought well we need to look for someone else who will make progress. I am so glad I got to teach him and make the decision not to tschuss him. Anyway Elder Allen and I went over and we received the news that he has been having heart problems and will probably pass on in the next life in a couple of weeks. I admired what he said. He told us he was completely and entirely ready to meet the Creator. He had lived his life and it was his time to leave it. I know confidently he will accept this gospel in his upcoming life. One of the things thomas taught me was to not give up on anyone even though they don't seem to make any progress. They will be even more ready and willing to accept the gospel in the life to come and I am confident our Heavenly Father will welcome him with open arms. He gave one of the most powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon I have heard. He knows it is true without a doubt he knows it comes from God I couldn't help but just grin from ear to ear at the words that came from his mouth.
Well. This is my last email from the walde of ebers. It's time to start a new adventure. New memories, new people to love, and more people to bring to the fold. Elder Riggs out.
Signing off from Eberswalde.
Love you all.
The Lord is my Shepherd.
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