July 5, 2011

          Well as you are aware, I didn't email yesterday, and that’s because we changed our P-day. We had a service project yesterday and we really wanted to go to the Mercedes Museum, which will be a fun rest of the day. At least I was close with my guess of Pro. Porter. 1st counselor is pretty good.
Thanks for the info on the draft. Tay told me in her letter that Jimmer got drafted and traded, but I was glad to hear who the Jazz drafted. Well actually not really. Another foreign, white, center? The jazz have drafted one of those every year for the past forever! Well I guess it’s good to know some things never change. I actually already knew that Cael Sanderson was going to wrestle in the next Olympics. OR at least that he wanted to. Apparently he wrestled in some tournament right after his team (Penn State) won nationals, and he worked everyone. He told Elder Sanderson that he wanted to wrestle in the Olympics again. That is cool that it is official now.

            I saw the beginning of the Biggest Loser with Rulon Gardner, but not the end. hahaha now he is doing the Olympics too? hahahaha funny stuff. Thanks for the movie update, and I also heard the new X-men is really really good, so maybe you should go see it? With the Harry Potter DVD, it should work on your computer, or on the home computer. You will need to install a program that will play it, but you can probably find the program for free somewhere on the world wide web. But that is only if you want, it’s not really that big of a deal. Sounds good on the whole credit card thing. Don't worry, it will all work out.

            This week was a pretty good week. We had 2 service projects fall out, but we still did two projects. One was digging out this massive root, which is like my specialty after that time we digged out the swing set for Bro Judd. It was fun. And then yesterday we mowed a lawn and cut down some trees. Okay that makes it sound lame. I need to give some background info so that it sounds as cool as it really was. First, here in Germany and in Austria, most people don't have gardens by their houses, obviously not enough room, but a lot of people have garden houses, which is a little hut up in the mountains where they have a garden, or property or such. So we were at one of these garden houses yesterday. We mowed the lawn with some super old lawn mowers, but if there is anything I know how to do after years of working for Grandpa and working for grounds crew, it is mowing lawns. So that was no problem. But then the member we were doing service for wanted these trees cut down, so we got to do that too. It was an adventure. Also we had the best meal ever last night! Roclet, or something like that, I can’t spell it, but pretty much you have this giant grill and you put meat and vegetables and cheese on it and cook it and then put it on potatoes. It was amazingly tasty.
            So this week has been sorta frustrating, in that we haven't really found any new investigators in a while, and it is definitely frustrating me. Donna, our investigator with the baptismal date, said she needs a break from meeting with us, so she is definitely not getting baptized on Saturday, and we aren't really sure what the problem is. But I'm fairly confident that her husband doesn't want us meeting with her. But the Lord's plan cannot be frustrated, and I am confident that things will work out for the best. Markus, our investigator who had a stroke, is still making very slow progress. I told Elder Patchett that if Markus doesn't get baptized, at least he is helping us develop all of the Christ-like attributes. Seriously, he is like a 2 year old, except he smokes and has a huge pornography problem. Anyways in our last appointment he told us that 9 of the 10 commandments are good, but one is false. We asked which one, and he said the Sabbath. Apparently he learned from his multitude of Jesus movies that Jesus told the people that they don't have to keep the Sabbath. So we ended up having to read like 2 chapters of the bible, and then he just dropped it when he saw we were right. He is definitely an interesting man, but like everyone else he is a child of God, and he deserves the chance to hear and accept the restored gospel.

            Anyways, this week has been hard, but I'm sure that it is for our benefit, and that greater blessings lay just around the corner. It would be really really awesome if those greater blessings included some new investigators :) but if not, then it is according to the will of the Lord, and it will not be because of a lack of effort on our part. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve my mission, and I’m very glad for the chance to work here in Waiblingen with Elder Patchett. I know Jesus is the Christ, that he restored his church through the prophet Joseph Smith, and that Pres. Monson has the keys and the authority to receive revelation to lead the Church today. Christ leads this work. I am grateful for this chance to work side by side with Him for the salvation of our brothers and sisters. I love you mom and thanks for your great letter!
liebe
Elder Terry