HI Familie!
So much has happened this past week! I can´t even explain it to you, and so many miracles at least in my eyes. I told you a little bit about Tatjana a few times ago, well, we finally meet back up with her and had a great lesson on the plan of Salvation. We are still struggling to set up further appointments with her, but we finally had Sister Sterlepper, an older sister in the ward come along with us so Tatjana could have someone to meet. It was great. But, the biggest miracle of all this week happened with Herr Czop, that older polish guy I think I mentioned in a previous email. He is an extremely devote Catholic man in his late 60´s or early 70´s. We have meet with him about four times now, and he has been reading the Book of Mormon very diligently, not reading very fast, but reading by the time we meet with him again. The first few meetings with him were okay, but he couldn´t figure out why we didn´t pray to Mary and a few other things about prayer that he struggled with. By the end of our third time meeting with him, we decided that we would talk to him about prayer the next lesson. We walked into his house on Thursday this last week and he was beaming! I´ve never seen him so happy! Each lesson has progressively been better than the last and the spirit bearing witness more than the last. We started asking him about what he read, and was very excited when he found out that Nephi built a boat. We explained that part of the story a little more and then started to read about prayer in Enos. We asked Herr Czop what he thought of prayer and started going on about Maria and his little prayer book that he has. He showed us this book last time and told us how wonderful it is. Elder Norton started to ask him ''Does that book have a prayer from your heart?'' He said well, there is this one that I like to use a lot and on and on, of course he was happy and such, but all of the sudden I asked him, but Herr Czop, what are you grateful for? He looked at me as I said, I know that you are grateful for your family, your house, the Book of Mormon, the Bible, the food you have. When you start out to pray, address Heavenly Father then say what you are grateful for and what you need help with and close in Christs name. He looked at me for a moment, then Elder Norton said, Herr Czop, could you offer the closing prayer? We can help you if you want. That is when the miracle happened. He waited for a few seconds looked at his prayer book, then back at us, back at the book and then at us and said, okay. He set that book aside after using it for most of his life and gave a prayer from the heart. It was awesome! Unbelievable! We then asked if he would like to come to Church this Sunday and he agreed, another shock since he put down our offer the previous week to do so. The spirit was so strong by the time we left and he was so happy!. He actually didn´t come to church this last week because he forgot about a doctor´s appointment he had and wasn´t feeling well Sunday morning. We called him Sunday morning though and without our saying he told us, Elder´s I´m still praying from the heart and I´ll see you on Thursday and apologized for not coming this last Sunday saying he wants to come this next Sunday. I love this man a lot. I´ve seen him change a lot in his attitude towards the Book of Mormon in the short three weeks we´ve known him, and he is progressing quicker every time we meet with him and he is one of the smartest men I´ve meet with. He is always asking questions and we seem to almost always answer them.
Now the other interesting thing that happened this week was I´m now the ward organist, and your probably laughing right now! Elder Norton and I were waiting for the Bishop because we had to go do the Sacrament in Fulda, 80 miles away. So while I was waiting and after most everyone was gone, I just went to play for a few minutes because we couldn´t do anything else. The next thing I know, the Relief Society President runs in and says ''Elder Smiss, Dass ist sher schone! Can you play for us in relief society next week?'' I said sure. Not a big deal because that is just on the piano and they just want me to play I´ll Go Where You Want Me To Go, not to difficult either. Then, the first counselor in the Bisopric runs in and asks if I could play in Sacrament Meeting next week. I almost said no, because I don´t play that often and the German Hymn book has a lot of just German hymns, but fearing I´d hurt his feelings I said yes. They have the bishops daughter as organist and ward pianist and she is overwhelmed right now because she has the Sacrament meetings to practice for and the Primary program to play in and she is only 15 or 16! So I´ll be playing every other week in Sacrament Meeting to lighten her load until I leave, whenever that is, probably not for another 3 months or so.
Now I wish I could say that the Fulda story is made up, but it is not. Two years ago, the entire ward was dissolved without warning. The Stake President walked in unannounced after a report came in that the ward was praying to rocks! Most of the time, they would hide the rocks when they knew someone was coming, but the Stake President came in unannounced and walked up to the stand and told everyone that the ward was dissolved. That at least is how it was given to me. I´ve heard it from Members who are now in the the Fulda Branch. It is also rumored that the former Bishopric did wife swaps with each other. The ward pretty much apostatized in the fullest meaning of the word. The members who are strong now, which are about 20, are so grateful for their testimonies and the opportunity to take the sacrament each month. It is hard to get to Fulda, and it has been closed to the Missionaries since. Only members or the Bishop can take us because it is too expensive to ride the train. That is why it is so crazy to work with the ward list we have because half of the ward lives in Fulda. Our Ward boundary is very massive and probably the largest in the Mission and one of the largest in Germany according to the Bishop.
Sounds like life is going well and that you got snow. It has been pretty comfortable here all week long, we haven´t had rain for an entire week! Plus, it has been warm enough most days to go without a jacket. So, I guess I´m glad to be where I am, I´m not ready for the cold weather yet. Hope you all have fun on your trip, tell me how it goes!
Now the other interesting thing that happened this week was I´m now the ward organist, and your probably laughing right now! Elder Norton and I were waiting for the Bishop because we had to go do the Sacrament in Fulda, 80 miles away. So while I was waiting and after most everyone was gone, I just went to play for a few minutes because we couldn´t do anything else. The next thing I know, the Relief Society President runs in and says ''Elder Smiss, Dass ist sher schone! Can you play for us in relief society next week?'' I said sure. Not a big deal because that is just on the piano and they just want me to play I´ll Go Where You Want Me To Go, not to difficult either. Then, the first counselor in the Bisopric runs in and asks if I could play in Sacrament Meeting next week. I almost said no, because I don´t play that often and the German Hymn book has a lot of just German hymns, but fearing I´d hurt his feelings I said yes. They have the bishops daughter as organist and ward pianist and she is overwhelmed right now because she has the Sacrament meetings to practice for and the Primary program to play in and she is only 15 or 16! So I´ll be playing every other week in Sacrament Meeting to lighten her load until I leave, whenever that is, probably not for another 3 months or so.
Now I wish I could say that the Fulda story is made up, but it is not. Two years ago, the entire ward was dissolved without warning. The Stake President walked in unannounced after a report came in that the ward was praying to rocks! Most of the time, they would hide the rocks when they knew someone was coming, but the Stake President came in unannounced and walked up to the stand and told everyone that the ward was dissolved. That at least is how it was given to me. I´ve heard it from Members who are now in the the Fulda Branch. It is also rumored that the former Bishopric did wife swaps with each other. The ward pretty much apostatized in the fullest meaning of the word. The members who are strong now, which are about 20, are so grateful for their testimonies and the opportunity to take the sacrament each month. It is hard to get to Fulda, and it has been closed to the Missionaries since. Only members or the Bishop can take us because it is too expensive to ride the train. That is why it is so crazy to work with the ward list we have because half of the ward lives in Fulda. Our Ward boundary is very massive and probably the largest in the Mission and one of the largest in Germany according to the Bishop.
Sounds like life is going well and that you got snow. It has been pretty comfortable here all week long, we haven´t had rain for an entire week! Plus, it has been warm enough most days to go without a jacket. So, I guess I´m glad to be where I am, I´m not ready for the cold weather yet. Hope you all have fun on your trip, tell me how it goes!
Love,
Elder Smith
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