I'm not telling. You will just have to read the letter to find out!
What a week it has been. It has had its up and downs, but mainly ups. We have found a new investigator! She is amazing, and I´ll get to her story in a minute. First off though, William and Charity are pretty much finished. Because of Charity, William doesn´t want to go any further and told us that he pretty much wants to be left in peace. So, we wished him well, left a letter in his post box and left it at that. So, yeah it was a little difficult, but the work moves forward and there are many other people that are ready now for the gospel. Maybe sometime later he will have a better opportunity and his sister isn´t so much of an influence on him.
Schwester Schmitt is doing well and we actually made a huge breakthrough with her, thanks to Elder Brown's help. We had planned to teach her a hard core lesson on "Jesus really is Jehovah," and had a huge list of scriptures all planned out and laid them out for her. We have to be very strong with Jehovah´s Witness`s or they won´t budge. So we basically had to get down and dirty with this one, but also mindful of her needs, and to make sure that the spirit was there. It worked, though. At the end of this meeting, she looked at us and said, “after nearly 45 years I have believed this and now I can see why it is difficult to understand, but it makes sense the way that you have explained it.” That was huge! At the beginning she was just shaking her head as if she was saying “you are so wrong!” but after hearing us out, she completely changed her thinking to “wow, this is making sense, and it sounds like truth.” But, we did it without much of an argument, she just listened to what we had to say, and because of that, she benefited from it. Now, it is just keeping it going in this direction!
Now, I have a story about a new investigator that we found. First off she is old, she is 84. For some reason I am good at that, because Schwester Schmitt is also 84 years old! We were just doing go bys on some inactive members that the ward had given us to look up and once we got there, found out that they no longer lived in this area. We were 30 minutes away from Saarbrücken by train, and it was evening, so we decided to just finish our time in the area with doors. So, from our last name on the list, we just went a little further and just picked a street. As we just started to go down the street, Elder Brown asked, “Well, right or left side?” and I said, “Lets do the right.” So we did. We started on the first house, top klingle and no one was home. Then the second, and we were let in. We walk up the stairs to the house door, and this lady is standing there and asks us what we were doing or what we wanted. I told her we were from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that we had a message on the family that we wanted to share. I don´t think she heard us very well because she just said “No thanks, I am not really interested.” Then, as we were just about to walk down the stairs, she asked “Was für eine Gemindschaft sind Sie?” meaning, “What religious denomination are you?” Then Elder Brown pulled off his name tag and gave it to her. She told us that she never heard anything about us. We then started to talk about the Restoration and everything, and then she turns to us and asks, right in the middle of the conversation, “Do you have some time? Would you like anything to drink? Because what you have to say is very interesting to me.” We just looked at each other like “WOW!” that ´s cool! Of course we have time! That is why we are here! We taught her a first lesson, she invited us back to teach her again. In short, her history is very saddening. Her husband was in the military during WWII. Near the end of the war, the military men were to take things from the Jews to help their own families. Her husband couldn´t do it (his orders were to kill if necessary) so he left a letter with his family saying goodbye, and shot himself. If he just disobeyed the orders, then he put his entire family in jeopardy. He did it to protect his family from being found. So, the whole thing is why do these things happen? And, is God really there, even in times of war and other turmoil? Perfect to lead into the second lesson for next time on the plan of Salvation!
Now, about transfers, to my amazement, I am still here in Saarbrücken! Elder Brown is leaving, and I am getting Elder (Stravling?). Hope that is how you spell his name. He has been out for only two cycles, so this will be his third here in Germany. He is from New Mexico from what I´ve heard. So I guess I´ll be here for another 6 weeks, making that 9 months here in Saarbrücken! But, I love it here. Elder Folley is still here as well, and he has been joking saying that when we are transferred that we will need some counseling once we leave because going to a new area will feel so weird! But this makes up more than a third of my mission here. I will really miss this place! (when Steve served in a mostly LDS area in his mission for 7 or 8 months, they had started calling him by his first name. Jaren hasn't mentioned that anyone has done this yet, so I guess that's good!)
Sounds like everything is still going well back at home though, and that the summer life is being enjoyed by all! It sounds like the rain is gone there now, we haven´t had nearly as much as you have had, at least by the way you have described it! We have had our down pours, but it hasn´t been every day. Today is so blasted hot, and extremely humid, you can see the water in the air. I just have to walk out side and I start to sweat, without doing anything! Summer in Germany I guess.
And to answer your one question, I will let you know when I need new shoes, but for the time being everything is still holding up well.
Hope you all have a great week, and God bless you all!
Your Son/Brother
Elder Smith
Were you all as surprised as I was to hear that he is staying in Saarbrucken?!? I guess his work isn't finished there yet. Maybe he is sticking around for good 'ole Schwester Schmidt. . . who knew! Maybe she'll surprise us all. Maybe she and the new 84 year old will get baptized together! As long as he still loves it there, I am happy for him. This is his fourth companion there. And finally a companion with some 'something' to his name. Elder Stravling. . . much more exciting than Norton, Taylor, White, Brown, and Smith, don'tchya think?
BTW, I watched "The Errand of Angels" on Sunday night with Erik and Tanner and I cried. Well, not an out-of-control cry, but tears were coming out of my eyes and down my face--silently. More than reminding me of my own mission, it reminded me of Jaren's, even though I am not there. It takes places in Austria and they speak German and it shows it being a tough mission. I could relate to the companion part of the story, though. I don't understand why Sister. . . Taylor, I think, went to be with a sister for a week. I totally understand that she needed the break from Sister Keller and Sister Young was able to help Sister Taylor see Sister Keller in a whole new light, but why just for a week and who did Sister Keller have for the week? And where was Sister Young's regular companion? I think I'm thinking too hard! It was a good movie and I hope you all get the chance to see it.
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