I Can Ride My Bike With No Handlebars

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Bernburg is quite the town. It only has about 30,000 people, but it’s really pretty. It reminds me sometimes of my first area. Our apartment is great! We live in a cool attic apartment above the church! So Wi-Fi is really easy to get, but… it’s about 80 degrees in there most of the day, so at night we sleep with a bunch of fans or we go sleep in the church. We also have brand new bikes which is important because we ride them everywhere, really I’m not joking I’m feeling like “the Best Two Years” over here!

The ward here is really close, a branch of only about 30 active members but they’re all really cool. A couple in the ward gets back from their mission next month, I’m really excited too because he’s our ward mission leader. He was the president of the Freiberg Temple, and an Area Seventy! (He’s how we got new bikes). On Sunday, I gave the opening prayer, gave a talk, taught gospel principles’ class, played the organ in priesthood (one hand) then was supposed to teach priesthood, but someone else took over… it was quite the day! But I’m glad to be here, and that I can help.

In my talk I made a goal for my time here in this area. “To improve my personal study, as well as the personal study of the ward” We can always be better, always increase. And I believe that a better personal study will be a great way to do that. So I let the ward know that, and that I will also be asking them about their personal study when we come over. If I can help them increase by only 1 percent, it will make the difference!

We decided to do contacts out in the BOONIES on Saturday, so I hopped on Queen and we rode, out to what looked like Kansas, tractors, tractors everywhere. We took an abandoned autobahn, which took us to a dirt road, and at the end was of course a sketch house with tons of no trespassing signs… We didn’t feel like it was a good idea so we might try again another day.

My new companion Elder Illum and I get along pretty well!
On Saturday we will be going to the giant church in Magdeburg, to have a special arranged tour that a senior couple in our district arranged! Also the week after we’re going to try to get permission to travel to the Martin Luther church!

Read your scriptures with a prayer, question, and a desire. The treasures of the word of God will be given to you.
Well I only got a few things in the mail in the 6 months that i was in Zwickau… (Thanks Mom) but here’s my new address anyway:

Karlstrasse 31
Bernburg
06406 Germany

Elder Winkel

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Laborers

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This week we had a few interesting moments, Wednesday we went back to the city of Hartenstein to visit the investigator we found, but she wasn’t home… A bus didn’t come for a while, so we decided to do some doors, which we were reluctant to do because finding investigators that live far away can be hard to teach, and almost impossible to get to church. (No car, bus, member that can pick them up) anyways while dooring we saw this giant dog in the driveway… I’m pretty sure it was a cross between a Saint Bernard and a Bär (bear)!  And boy did he have a bark! He was tied up so we walked to the edge of his “ring of death” I let him sniff my hand, next thing you know he’s our best friend! Then we talked to his owner, nice guy, but no interest, so we talked about how cool his dog was.

On our way back to the bus stop we were about to talk to a guy, but then he asked us “Mormone ja?” So we told him yeah, he told us he gotten one of our books a while back and was wondering if we had any pamphlets with us he could have to read, which we actually didn’t. But then he asked if we had time today, so I told him “well how about right now?” So we walked to his house. His son passed away 6 years ago, it was a pretty hard thing for him he actually pulled out a beer to talk about it….  We asked if he believes that the family is eternal? He said “I don’t believe. But I know with my whole heart that it is.” It was wonderful to see his faith, I love to see that.  He has a strong belief in the bible so we talked about how the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, and that it goes hand in hand with the bible. He said he believed it’s true but asked about why we don’t baptize children, Moroni 8 cleared that right up, and said he never thought about it that way. We had to leave but the next step is that Joseph smith is a prophet, it interesting to see that people will accept the Book of Mormon, but not that Joseph’s a prophet. It can be hard often but you can see the real desire in their heart to find out the truth.

Today we were walking down the street in the city, and some 16 year old girl stopped us… Usually this is when a weird moment happens. But in perfect English she said “missionaries!” then she told us that she’s been to America twice as an exchange student, once in Utah with a Mormon family, then in Texas was another Mormon family. She’d learned all about our church and found it interesting, but didn’t really have interest. But it was cool to talk to her, she’s from West Germany but is going around East Germany with a bunch of teenagers collecting funds for a humanitarian trip for her summer break. Super cool.

This week I studied in Mathew, right now in chapter 20, about ‘the parable of the laborers’ this has become one of my favorite parables, it can apply in so many ways to our life, Jeffery R. Holland gave a great talk in the 2012 ensign about it as well…

This parable–like all parables–is not really about laborers or wages any more than the others are about sheep and goats. This is a story about God’s goodness, His patience and forgiveness, and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a story about generosity and compassion. It is a story about grace. It underscores the thought I heard many years ago that surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it. 

The Laborers in the Vineyard http://www.lds.org/ensign/2012/05/the-laborers-in-the-vineyard?lang=eng

No matter what part of the race we finish, the reward is always there as long as we finish. Never give up hope on yourself or anyone else. The reward of salvation is always there.

Elder Winkel

Promise he was bigger in person!

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The First Lesson

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Not much new this week besides that we TAUGHT THE FIRST LESSON, yeah we’ve taught it before, but this time it was different. We talked to someone on the street, made an appointment, then we went and the person was actually there… and he was pretty normal. It was I think the first time that I’ve taught the first lesson where it was like how I thought being a missionary would be. We met at his friend’s house who is an atheist, we got to know them, they’re both in about their mid 20’s, and then we taught the restoration, ACTUALLY how we practice every day. I don’t know how to explain it… I felt like I was in an episode of the district or something.

He and his friend found it really interesting because we gave it to them straight at the end, we told them that we are just inviting others to try out what we’re sharing, because we believe it brings joy, and that we can receive an answer that it is true… they were shocked… because we didn’t try to force our beliefs on them (not naming any names). But it went well and the atheist even found it interesting.

Last week on Wednesday I went on exchange with Elder Perez in the city of Plauen, we had a lesson fall out then we taught a couple guys from the Middle East. The one guy spoke only Arabic, so we had a Book of Mormon, one in Arabic and one in German side by side, to help him understand… then we worked on teaching him how the alphabet works, baby steps…

Then later the other guy we taught German to speaks pretty good English, and he really wants to learn German, so we taught him German for a while and he taught us Arabic for about 45 minutes! Crazy hard language, but I learned some things.

Things are going better right now, maybe because it is summer right now so people don’t hate us as much… haha, but it’s good, last week we taught 3 lessons! A ton better than the week before when we only had 1, but progress is coming!

On Sunday the ward mission leader let us know that the person who was supposed to give the lesson in church, wasn’t prepared so they threw it to the missionaries! So last minute we planned a lesson on the spot to teach the ward. So we taught the… 1st lesson! (Restoration) we went through every point and asked “Why it is important that investigators understand this concept?” go look up in preach my gospel and ask yourself the same questions! (Chapter 3)

When things get hard “Pray, and then go to work!” – Captain Cronin

Elder Winkel

“Going” to Church

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This week was good, stressful but good. We met with S our eternal investigator of 10 years, he’s been making progress, reading in the scriptures and coming to church, we talked about baptism, and he showed me a page in this old evangelist book, talking about how you’re damned if you get baptized twice. (He left the evangelist church) I asked why he was baptized the first time, and it was because his grandma told him he had to. Then he just kept bringing it up so I gave it to him straight with “is THAT the work of God? Or is that? (pointing to the Book of Mormon), that is the question!” I was trying to follow the spirit so hard… hopefully something got to him, he seemed a little unhappy with me after, and then he didn’t show up to church the next day like he said he would so we will see what happens, after thinking about it I gave him the simplest answer I could, so hopefully something happens.

We’ve been going through a GIANT less active list. So far we found 5 people that have moved and 2 people who have died… like their neighbors told us they died we didn’t actually “find” them. We’ve also been able to make some contacts out but when it comes to meeting again, people find it super weird… so we’re working on that, it’s always hard to tell if someone really has interest, then they give us their number, when we contact them later they realize who we are and block our number… but we’ll get it, with the help of the Lord ANYTHING is possible!

This week trying to contact less actives, I’ve thought about church quite a bit and why we want them to come!

I really like what Elder Bednar said in this talk about “going” to church.

“In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of “going” to church, “going” to the temple, and “going” on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on “going” misses the mark.

The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs.”       Elder David A. Bednar      “Becoming a Missionary” (October 2005)

I’ve been so grateful for church here on my mission, it is where we can help our investigators feel that spirit that is there, I heard a statistic that an investigator is 80% more likely to be baptized if they’ve attended church, and I fully believe that.

This week don’t just GO to church! Enjoy it, embrace it. It is a place of refuge, if it’s not, then take a moment and ponder, the spirit will embrace you and you will feel at peace.

Elder Winkel

News from Minden: the woman from Ghana, and her 10 year old daughter that Elder O’Keefe and I found are going to be baptized on the 28th! On Wednesday an 18 year old girl that had to wait until she was 18 will be baptized, and on Saturday a 2 year investigator that we helped teach will also be baptized! SUPER EXCITING!

Photo of the District

theDistrict

Berlin Again

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Monday night we stayed in Merzahn with Elder Glissmeyer and 10 other elders in a tiny apartment in the ghetto of Berlin. A night to not be forgotten! Elder Oliphant was also there!

This zone conference was also our last time with President and Sister Kosak. President’s last testimony was simply about the Restoration, the magnitude of it, and why we are here to share it with all our heart, might, mind, and strength (D&C:4). He also shared his deep and profound love for our Prophet Joseph Smith. I also have this love for Joseph Smith, he had a purpose, and he was well aware of the consequences, but he also had a perspective, an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. With an eternal perspective we have no reason to fear or doubt. Unfortunately that doesn’t make life always easy, but that’s okay because without the bad, we wouldn’t know good, and that wouldn’t be much fun right? (I like to have fun)

I hope that this week we can always remember the Eternal Perspective and remember the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Elder Winkel

Panorama

 

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Hope

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This week we went by Herr G and he had a friend over. His friend apparently comes over every Wednesday because Herr G is most of the time alone, and… he has pretty bad Alzheimer’s. We had no idea but that explains why he hasn’t been following any of our commitments… because he just doesn’t remember.

But his friend said he’s met with some of our missionaries before and asked me the question “why are we here on the earth?” Before I could give him the answer, he cut me off and said he’ll just give us his address and number and we’ll have lunch at his house and talk about it. So hopefully we can get that arranged this week.

We also have a new investigator, he’s been a contact on our list and we’ve been over a billion times but he’s never home, but we finally made contact and made an appointment. He IS the fastest speaking German I’ve talked to… The members have told us that he talks fast… my trainee didn’t know what hit him. And in my head I was always a few sentences behind. But we taught the 1st lesson again and he committed to read so we’ll see how it goes!

Later today we are going to Berlin for Zone Conference tomorrow and spending the night in Merzahn with the one and only Elder Glissmeyer (from my MTC group) it will be a hoot.

Studied a little about “Hope” this week, Romans 8 gives a nice insight:
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for
what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it?

Hope requires a trial of faith, really a time period patience with faith that you will receive.
Faith that you WILL receive. The Lord will make it happen!

Tschüß!!
Elder Winkel

Adventures with Elder Carpenter

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Well Tuesday I sent Elder Brimhall off, then I hopped on a train by myself to Chemnitz not knowing that that day and the next would be quite the adventure. For a few hours we helped missionaries get on and off trains at the train station. We got to help a lady from New York that didn’t speak German find her train. Then we went to check our train that would take us to Berlin the next morning. We found out that the trains were all going on strike so we had to find a new way to get there…

So we went and checked out buses and that wasn’t going to work, but then we had an appointment doing service so we went and changed and helped this lady with her yard, went back and changed again, so we could go to teach a guy from India in a park at the university. After, one of Elder Carpenter’s investigators was planning on coming to institute that night at the church. So we went to the church and looked for a way to get to Berlin on the computer there, then their investigator was late and didn’t remember how to get to the church. Some walked to the bus stop to go get him and brought him to the church.

Then I sat in institute with their investigator while Elder Carpenter continued his search finding a ride to Berlin. And there was none… So the APs told us to go take a train to Hohenstein where the sisters there have a car that we could use to drive to Berlin the next morning. But that meant we had to leave right then and run to the train station. So, we left the investigator with the members (after institute they bought him Subway and drove him home, he had a great time) and ran to catch a bus, then ran to the train station just in time to make the train. But as we were waiting they came over the loud speaker and said that our train had just fallen out… Then we got to help a guy find his train.

So we called the sisters and they said they could drive to Chemnitz and pick us up, then drive themselves home, then we could drive the car back to Chemnitz. So we took a bus back to the apartment. On the bus a guy needed help finding a street but he didn’t speak German or English and had no map, but luckily we had ours and pointed him in the right direction and then we got a call from one of their investigators. He told us he had no food and was out of money so we gathered some food from around the apartment and when the sisters picked us up we went and dropped it off at his house. Then the sisters drove us back to Hohenstein, and we took the car back to Chemnitz just in time before 10:30.

Elder Carpenter had the idea that we leave a little bit earlier in the morning so before our meeting we could go see a few of the sights in Berlin. So we woke up early and drove to Berlin. Luckily there’s a lot of cool sights in Berlin that are close to each other so we could just walk around and see them all quick. Then we went to the mission office and picked up our trainees! Elder Burns is my new companion! He’s from American Fork, and he’s really working hard on his German so he’s doing great!

After looking back on Tuesday, we had a lot of fun running around, and I also didn’t realize how many people the Lord put in our path that needed help. It wasn’t coincidence that we happened to be all over the place that day. I’m grateful for the time I can be here as a missionary, and that day was another testimony to me that God really does love ALL of his children.

Moroni 7:33

Have a sweet week!

Elder Winkel

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Transfers

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Well this week I’ve been reading Jesus the Christ and so far one thing I’ve learned is that we really have no need to worry because JESUS IS THE CHRIST, HE IS our Savior and Redeemer. Hard times will come, they always do, but when it comes down to it we have no need to fear because we have the Atonement, it covers more than just sin. When we’re not sure which path to take in life, we need to show our faith in Him. He will show us the way.

This week we had a street stand with the ward, we weren’t really looking to forward to it but it went great. We were set up in the main square with a chalk drawing of the Plan of Salvation that one of the sisters drew, and then we went on exchanges with a couple of the members that showed up. It went really good and we talked to a lot of people. Towards the end Elder Brimhall and I went together again to talk to more people. I honestly didn’t have much faith then that we would find someone because we both look like missionaries, but the Lord reminded me to have FAITH. The first lady we talked to (29) we talked to for 30 minutes about the Plan of Salvation! She was Atheist but then found her faith through an answered prayer. She was really cool and gave us HER number. I hope we can meet this week with her.

Thursday was Christi Himmelfahrt so we played a bit of hide and seek with groups of drunk men all over town that were dressed up – pretty fun! Then at 6 when we had to be back in the apartment we went and made cinnamon rolls. It was fun! (plus we could see crowds of drunk men wander the city from our window)

Oh and Transfers… Elder Brimhall is going to Cottbus and I’m … training! It’ll be hard but I’m excited. On Tuesday I will go stay in Chemnitz for the day with Elder Carpenter who is also training, and on Wednesday we will go pick up our trainees in Berlin, and then we’ll get back late that night to Zwickau. So my comp will be dead tired.

Sad Elder Brimhall is leaving – it’s been a party for sure.

Elder Winkel

Nah we don’t have bikes…. they’re broken.

Our member wearing his outfit from his mission in Ukraine and playing the Didgeridoo!

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Woche

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Skype! It was great to see everyone! It was a good day.

This week on Thursday is “Christi Himmelfahrt”(Ascension Day) a Catholic holiday but Germans use it to get really drunk, so we have to be in our apartment by 6 on Thursday…

We taught 5 lessons this week with our 3 old investigators! They went well and Herr S even listened to the Book of Mormon on CD! We asked if he had – but we didn’t really think he had – but then he told us “ya they were in the wilderness and stuff, then that one guy wouldn’t give them that one thing…” really cool, always have faith in people! In the End we almost got 6 lessons to break our record but it was still a good week!

Mother’s Day was great! I’m so very thankful for my mom! A member in our ward I think quoted Gordon B. Hinckley with “Be kind to the women. They constitute half the population and are mothers to the other half.” We have so many women in our lives to be grateful for. My mom does so much for me and always is thinking of ways that she could help me.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Elder Winkel

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Color!

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Well a little bit of color has crept into Zwickau, not a ton, but flowers are beautiful plants… now my favorite. But the church is amazing.

This week I went on exchange with my trainer Elder O’Keefe! It was a blast and we taught a couple lessons to my investigators here in Zwickau. I’ve been a bit worried about my German lately but with our investigators I realized that I carried a conversation by myself (by the Spirit) for about an hour, I’m grateful for the gift of tongues, it really is real!

Not much was new this week, we’re working on finding people to teach, but we taught 5 lessons this week! We have 1 progressing investigator, an old guy close to 90. He lives all alone, and I think he just likes our visits but he has read about half the Book of Mormon, he’s really cool but really quiet. Our other investigator has a somewhat big problem with the Word of Wisdom, he also believes he’s Jesus but he’s a nice guy, we are his “Kids”. But he’s also alone and gets really excited when we come over.

Our days mostly consist of finding and going by old contacts, but we see success when we have the chance to do a little service every now and then.

The Lord loves all his children!

Happy Mother’s Day next week to all the amazing mothers out there! (especially mine)

Tschüß!

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