First of all, just so I don't forget. My new Address in Heidelberg is:
Curiestrasse 6
69126 Heidelberg
Deutschland
Great! So now to the good stuff. It sounds like people are having good times at home. I am having a great time here. It's been definitely a challenge though. The Lord will always help us with those though. Coming in, we basically had no investigators, and we are just starting from the beginning. We were going through our area book this week, made a few new appointments, but we are just going to have to go get out and find those prepared people. We just need to do that. It's been similar in the Zone as well. Elder Sommerville and I are really trying to get organized and lift the Zone up.
Miracle story of the week. Last Friday, we were planning to go to the American Base to visit with a few members. We were on our way to go to the base. (The base is quite a little chunk of travel time out of our day). The appointments we found out fell out, except one right as we were about to get on the bus. We wanted to just stay in Heidelberg, but I think the Spirit was just prompting us to keep that one appointment and go anyways. We didn't have a way anymore to have someone sign us on at the Base, but we just went. When we got out of the Bus we walked a pretty long stretch, and we both wanted to just go back, we thought it would be more effective work to go back to Heidelberg. We stopped and just prayed right there after making a decision. We didn't get the same answer, so we prayed again, and we prayed like 3 or 4 times. Finally it was clear to us what we needed to do, to go to the base. We would just call around to see if a member could sign us on. We just pressed forward in Faith, trusting the prompting. We were about 40 meters away from the gate when we got someone who could be there in a few minutes, and we talked with a young man super prepared for the gospel at that same time. He knows a member in the ward, and we are going to get an appointment with him sometime. [...] How cool is that!? I learned that the Lord knows best, and that we need to be humble and just trust and follow Him.
We spent a lot of time calling people from the area book as well this week, and it was so awesome talking with certain people on the phone. I remember this one guy asking what the benefit of joining our church would be. I explained baptism, and taught it with power. I felt the Spirit so strong testifying through me to him on the phone. It makes me chuckle a little to think about the Spirit working over the phone, but it was powerful, and I know he felt the Spirit. He rejected the invitation, but I felt good I did my part to make the decision clear to him. The Lord wanted him to have that chance. The Savior is so merciful and patient with us all.
This past week we also had a cool meeting with Präsident Schwartz about how to use the Institute Centers better. I'm excited to really get the JAE's [YSAs] involved more in Institute. We had some sweet finding miracles right outside the church, as we talked with people just walking by, with a lady named [B___], and a guy named [P___]. We also found an awesome guy named [F___]. But for some reason these totally prepared people it just didn't work out. We don't know why, but we never got to meet with them. It's been a testing period, but we are just going forward feasting upon the words of Christ. I know He will bless us as we are diligent. Heidelberg is just so filled with people prepared for the Gospel.
I have been learning so much from my personal scripture study, and I've learned we need to be obedient and diligent. The Spirit, and revelation are real. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that we have a Prophet on the earth today. When we are obedient, humble, and diligent, then the Lord can bless us, and at the last day we can stand before Him and say, yes, "I did my very best, I served with my all, and I was exactly obedient." That is my desire. I want to strive for that so much. I will do all I can. I love Jesus Christ. I love my Heavenly Father, and I love you all. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Matthew J Liddle
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