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.
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