Woche Zehn

[March 28, 2011]

Hallo Guten Tag!

Sounds like we'll hear a college decision pretty soon from Rosie then, and hopefully she'll pick the Lord's school. (Rose, that was only a joke. Seriously, make the right decision that you feel good with. :) Mike, I'm glad things are going better. Good job on the TSA nationals. Are you going to go? I hope school gets good and just keep doing your best. That's all the Lord asks of us. I've had some really hard times out here, but the Lord is always here for us to listen, and He helps us when we go to him. Julie, you got glasses!? Thats good. Mom, this is okay. The Lord I've seen out here especially work in very interesting ways. Sometimes I've had a prompting that seemingly just wasted time, but later we run into someone that probably wouldn't have happened if we didn't follow all the promptings. It's excited that you'll all be coming to Austria. You'll have beautiful weather and it's just a great place! Great food too! Dad, I really like that story about your visa. It's amazing how the Lord pulls through for us, and we come a lot closer when we thank him like you did straightway after receiving a tender mercy. God is wonderful to us. Zuckerberg sounds German to me, but yes, probably was over the top. I could imagine. I love and miss you all. And I thank you for your prayers. I've really needed them.

I am rejoicing, and I'm in Germany. I have some good news. I've been assigned my first area. It's really great here, and I'm loving it! I got assigned to Nordhausen, a small city in the northeast part of our mission. Elder Gassman from our stake served here for 5 transfers I'm told. It's an interesting place, but still beautiful. Germany is awesome because it has these compact cities, and then you can drive for 10 minutes out and see just a beautiful countryside with all these little "dorfs" being interpretted probably means villages. It's sehr Schoen. I hear we have great Pizza here in Nordhausen, and we are going there tomorrow. My new companion is name Elder Anderson. He's really great, a hard worker, and just an awesome Elder. He's from Salt Lake City. Turns out, Elder Manning, is now my Grandpa. He trained Elder Anderson, and so that makes him my Grandpa. From what I've heard, he must've been a really awesome missionary.

(Dad, how one would say Pres. Ninow's name is said "ni-no", not "nee-no" or "nine-o")
Pres. Ninow is a wonderful man very in tune with the Spirit, and I know he has been called of God. We had an interview my first day there, and he said the words that I exactly needed to hear as I would go out far away to my area. He talked about loving the people. Sometimes its a little hard, but as soon as I remember why I'm here and who I'm serving for it's not too bad. We've been made fun of a little bit by people, but we just keep walking and smile. I've developed love for the people here and I know that I must give everyone a chance to hear our message. It has been quite the culture shock but I'm picking up the language more and more and I'm getting used to it. The food here is just amazing! The elderly people are so active, and the people are really blunt and plain here. It's pretty great!

Here in Nordhausen I've been able to do some real work. It's been great. We talk to as many people as we can, and we knock on quite a few doors. We don't have much member involvement yet. I love the branch here though. We had about 15 people there on Sunday. I felt when I walked in to the Sacrament Meeting room such peace, comfort, and safety. I felt the closest I've been here to home. I have felt quite a culture shock and quite a change. Here, many people don't believe in God because the communist rule and the cruel things they've seen in their lives. It's great though to know that "The field is white already to harvest, and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul. And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God qualify him for the work." We've definitely found people here who are ready to here the gospel and there's no hard mission, or hard area. God is among all of his children. And I'm pretty sure that we'll have some baptisms this transfer even though this area is deemed as one of "those hard areas." We don't have as much success as other places maybe, but we do have success. This week has been a miracle week.

My first day in Nordhausen we dropped by a man and his wife and taught them. I taught them the first vision and it went really well and the Spirit was very strong. I then also got to meet a man in our branch, Bruder Stoye. He is an older man who rides a moped around everywhere. He is funny, and he talks with an accent that doesn't even sound german. There are a few people like that here, but I'm understanding better everyday. Another cool experience I had was finding this one random guy who looked honestly really scary with tattoos and all, but he is prepared to hear the Gospel, and we're making progress with him. The Lord led us right to his home. Yesterday we met 2 or 3 elderly people who have felt like they've been in despair because they've lost their spouse. We taught a powerful plan of salvation lesson on a bench to one man, and this other man we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and we are going to take him brownies today. We are really helping and serving the people here and the work is moving forward. I'm loving the work here. It's the Lord's work.

Thank you all for your prayers. I appreciate it. I've had struggles out here just like any other missionary, but I've been pulling through just fine. I just keep saying, "This is where we separate the men from the boys." :) I'm having lots of fun though too. I'll send some pictures home too as soon as possible.

I love you all!

Mit Liebe,

Elder Liddle