All is gut in Minden!

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All is gut in Minden! It’s just really cold and no one is outside anymore! A problem I’ve found is that we teach a lot of old ladies, and to meet with them we have to have a joint teacher because they’re alone in their house. Unfortunately we only have 5 ward members that will go with us, but they all have work during the day. We found this lady but we’ve had to cancel our last 2 appointments because she lives at home alone and we can’t find joint teachers! Oh well, the Lord will find a way!

Last week we took a train to Bad Oeynhausen, then took a bus to the middle of nowhere to go look for this old contact. We couldn’t find the address because we were pretty much in rolling hills. We found this little house and asked a lady if she could help us find it. All she said was “you must be looking for Benni” and then pointed to this forest with a little dirt road (pretty sketch). We went up the road and found this old barn this guy has made the corner of into a shack, so we knocked on it. This crazy looking dude answered, said he wasn’t interested, but said to come in … Turns out that 3 weeks before we showed up God told him in his head to get rid of his meth and weed … so he did! He threw his meth in the fireplace and pulled out all his weed plants. Then then next day God told him to quit smoking … so he did! Then he read in the Bible that we need to follow ALL of Gods commandments, and he believes that God is gathering his children in one church for the second coming. He’s been looking for a church that follows all of those things. So yeah then the missionaries just randomly show up a month later. BUT our church worships on Sunday, which is the first day on the German calendar. So he found a church that worships on Saturday the 7th day of the week in Germany. He also said he has found lots of problems with his church so he’s not sure. But he wouldn’t listen to anything that we had to say, and he wouldn’t read in the BofM or pray about it. So we bore testimony and left. It was way weird but I think we’ll go back in the future. It just takes forever to get to his house.

Christmas here is huge! Because there is no thanksgiving, the decorations go up after Halloween! It’s awesome!

For thanksgiving we had another exchange. I got to go to Bielefeld again, and go with Elder Barrios to Detmold! It’s pretty much the Christmas town! It was such a clean place and the people were pretty nice! And I got to have McDonalds at the top of the train station, so very American. I’m buying a Christmas tree today! And a coat.

Detmold     McDonald's

The work here is hard, but every mission is that way (just some a little more than others…haha).

HE IS THE GIFT!

Elder Winkel

The day I challenged Minden

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This week we promoted our ward game night to the city of Minden! We got some chalk and wrote in different places in the city challenging me to ping pong! And the winners would get tons of chocolate. We weren’t planning on it being too popular but thought maybe someone would come. Well, we were not too surprised when no one came, but we were a little more surprised when almost no one in the ward even came … except 5 old people. It turns out our ward is all related in one way or another, and there’s really only 8 people in the ward that actually go to the activities! But oh well – next time! As it stands I’m the best player in the city I guess … although one of the old ladies gave me a run for my money!

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This week was rough number wise! But that’s not what matters, we’re working really hard to find people right now, which can sometimes mean area book work… and we’ve made 2 appointments from it so we will see how it goes!

I’m excited for this Christmas season! My comp is being a bit of a scrooge and making me wait till Thanksgiving to listen to the Christmas CD I found … and put up decorations … haha it’s for the best, and I’m looking for a (cheap) Christmas tree! It turns out there’s a Christmas tree farm right outside of town! I’ll probably end up getting a nice little Charlie Brown tree!

I’m grateful for the Savior and His sacrifice for us, and I love to be able to learn about Him every day. I’m excited for this Christmas season, where we can share about the true meaning of the season. HE IS THE GIFT

Elder Winkel

We met up with some other elders last p-day and went up to the monument!

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Zerbster Straße 42

12209 Berlin

mission home, best for anything sent, and especially at the beginning of the year (cause I could be transferred by then)

Minden to Bielefeld

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11/17/14

This week was great! We had so many miracles! First off I wanted to tell you all about B****, a recent convert as from a year ago.

B**** is from Liberia, his entire family was murdered and he was put on a boat to Italy all when he was 14, he spent a couple years there, learned Italian. He was then deported to Germany. When he got here he had extreme depression and went to a hospital and tried to pay them to end his life. He was then put in an asylum for a couple weeks. When he got out the missionaries found him. One of which was Elder Schofield (who I’ll tell more about later) they taught him the gospel and it literally saved his life. He’s now 18 years old. So what B**** does now is he shares the Gospel with EVERYONE he meets. Yesterday he brought a man named James, James has only known B**** for 2 weeks, and he learned about the Book of Mormon 2 weeks ago, from B****! He is always willing to share the happiness that the gospel has brought him! He’s a great example to me.

Things still aren’t easy for him though, because he’s an immigrant he has to live in an immigrant house, where the immigrants stay up late smoking and drinking. He’s never bothered them about it, and even bought ear plugs so he could sleep. A couple days ago he was making a phone call at 11 o’clock in the morning and the guys there got mad at him. He apologized and tried to be quieter, then they came and smashed his phone against the wall and started choking him. He ran out of the house and called the police, which made them even madder, so in the end he had to move. Hopefully this new place is better for him. He’s trying to get work right now but immigrants aren’t allowed to work so that can be hard to find. Hopefully things can get better for him! He’s a great guy, and apparently he’s really good at ping pong! At ward game night he’s challenged me! So hopefully it goes well! haha. Ping pong is really big in the ward (ward of old people)! Ping pong is the closest thing I’ll find to a sport here in my area … but that’s OK!

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On Friday we had a surprise exchange!  I took a train and went to Bielefeld. There I got to be with Elder Schofield for a day! He was the one who baptized B**** the year before! He goes home in 3 weeks, which he was quite upset about. He really doesn’t want to go home and leave his mission, which is great! We went and visited 2 guys, one plays video games all day, and doesn’t have much person hygiene. But I was quick to judge and I felt bad about that. He’s a Diabetic and is losing the feeling in his feet so it’s hard for him to get around. And he has an incredible testimony of tithing, and also loves to share the gospel! He told his blind friend about the gospel and his friend listened to the Book of Mormon twice in 2 weeks! And came to church yesterday! The testimony of others is amazing!

The other man we went and visited we had to take a train, 2 buses, and walk 2 miles to a care center in the middle of nowhere. He’s pretty old and quite a big guy and can’t walk around really, and he has some other health problems. He left the church years ago because he was offended by someone. But he realized that the church is what brings true happiness in this life and in the next. So in the visit we read a chapter from the Book of Mormon, and just talked to him. I love just visiting people. I don’t understand much but I know it means a lot to them that we come and meet with them.

I’m proud to be a missionary. I get to help and administer to our Heavenly Father’s children, and our brothers and sisters. I hope that this week you all can look for someone to share your testimony with. I love you all and am excited for next week!

Elder Winkel

Land of My Forefathers!

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11/10/14

This week was great!

I was looking up street names and found Winkelstraße! Winkel Street! So cool! I’ll go get a pic with the street sign some time. Also there are tons of old windmills everywhere!

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Yesterday we took a small trail to our apartment and walked right through a drug deal, thought about teaching the word of wisdom … maybe next time. haha. I’ve learned that success is found not just in baptisms (especially in Germany). If I can just bring someone closer to Christ then my purpose is being fulfilled. Sadly the investigator from last week called us and said that he looked us up online and that we are too strict of a church for him … a lot of people here have that mindset, that what church you belong to is more of a club. We’re told all the time “I already have the bible and have too much to read already.” which reminds me of 2 Nephi 29. What’s also funny is that we will tell someone about the Book of Mormon and they’ll get all excited and interested, but then we try to give them a copy they say no, and that our book is true, but they just don’t have time… I never thought I would get that reply!

But the people are great! We got a referral from this man to go and visit his mother! She’s like 80 and she’s always wondered about what her son believes, so we went over and taught her the first lesson and she loved it! She got so exited! And she said she would read and pray about it! While we were talking to her, we were talking about the bible and the word “Jew” came up. She immediately got sad and started talking about Hitler and the Nazis. She told us this story of about when she was a little girl. Her birthday was the same day as Hitler’s and every house had a flag outside their window, but hers, for Hitler. Her father refused to put a flag up which made her sad because she wanted a flag up for her birthday, but then later she realized the severity of what her father did, and how brave he was. Because she said he could have been “taken” for that. I learned that Germany is still affected by the war, especially the older people.

I get to talk to so many amazing people, I just wish I could understand them! After every time we talk to someone, Elder O’Keefe has to fill me in … but it’s OK because it will come! We got to go to Hanover for Stake Conference, and Zone Meeting this week so that was way cool! Especially since Grandpa spent some time there! We also got our bikes fixed, and got to go to McDonalds! It’s so much better here … it’s sad! The work here is really hard, but remembering my purpose and always looking to improve is what helps! I love you all!

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Till next week

Elder Winkel

Mom I’ve been working on learning hymns! Because I can read notes it’s not too hard! So thank you for all those piano lessons! I wish I had taken advantage of them!

In Minden

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11/3/14

Well a lot has happened in the last week. After tons of hours on planes and trains I finally got to the city of Minden. The ward has about 30 people that come regularly, and the closest missionaries are 30 minutes away by train, so we have a lot of area to cover!

The last baptism that happened in my area was about a year ago, so that’s going to change! In the last 4 days we have found 3 investigators, so that’s way big! We have 23 in our teaching pool, but only 2 we are considering progressing investigators. We technically have 1 committed to baptism, but we have not been able to get a hold of them for a couple weeks so we will see (this was all before I came). But I’m way excited to teach our 3 new investigators! One of them we met on the street and was surprised that we are here for 2 years without being paid, and was really interested in where the BofM came from, so he asked us if we would walk down the street with him to his house so he could check his work schedule, and find a time when we could come over! So cool!

Also this week I had the wunderbar opportunity to eat at Sister N’s house…… She joined the church 20 years ago, but also hasn’t been to church for about 20 years…. But how she claims to make up for it is by feeding the missionaries 2-3 times a month, and she’s been doing that for about 20 years…….. The food CAN be good sometimes, but you can always count on it to be super unhealthy…. This week we had rice, vegetables, and chocolate pudding. Seems harmless right? Wrong. She basically boils the vegetables, and rice in melted butter….. And the homemade pudding she replaced all the milk that’s supposed to go into it, and just puts butter…. and she won’t let you leave till the ALL the food is gone….. I felt very fat that day.

The food here is amazing for breakfast we eat this cereal that’s just chocolate squares filled with Nutella! It’s so good! And we’re always eating amazing bread, meats, and cheese! My comp has gained 40 pounds, but we just started to run every morning so we will see what happens! My companion is Elder O’Keefe from Pleasant Grove! He’s way cool! So way weird how my first 2 companions were in the same stake! My apartment is cool but it’s gone through a lot of Elders! It feels and kind of looks like the apartment in the best two years!

The ward is a bit hard to work with they are basically 2 families that make up most of the ward, and they are all really old. They are all pretty stubborn about missionary work. It’s also hard because it gets dark here at about 5:30 so we can’t proselyte very long, I heard by December it should be getting dark at about 4… So the winter solstice will be nice.

Ward council was also weird one of the main people in charge is this old man that was excommunicated a long time ago, but won’t come back for some reason, but he loves going to church and missionary work so I guess that’s good.

German is rough but it will get better!

Love you all!

-Elder Winkel

 

The one sunset pic you can see the 1000 year old monument to one of the first emperor of Germany pretty chill.

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