11-18-2013

Oh. Interesting thing. Because the Germans don't have the big holiday of Thanksgiving, and because they start celebrating Christmas with the 'Advents' (the 4 Sundays before Christmas), they start putting up decorations and stuff much earlier. This last week, the city has already started putting up some of the decorations on street lamps and stuff. Though none of it is lit. And a member told me that some Germans get very upset when you decorate and start turning on the lights before 'Toten Sonntag' (dead's Sunday/Sunday of the Dead). It is a sort of memorial day for them, where they visit graves and leave lots of flowers and stuff. It's a really big deal here. And there's some kind of superstition about how you shouldn't set up/turn all your Christmas lights before that day. It's supposedly disrespectful of the dead or they don't like all the lights or something... Odd. :P But the member house we're in right now is working on decorating as we speak, and has Christmas music playing. :)

1 - French Toast!

2 - A random little man-made pond/lake thing in Bagenz.

3 - Awesome view of a factory in a city called Peitz. It was dark, we were walking back to the train, and there was a little man-made lake right in front of it. I thought it looked super cool, so I took a picture. :)

4 - (Kinda out of order) Me cooking the french toast!

9-23-13

Study:

Lately we are reading the Book of Mormon together as a Mission, and focusing on the Atonement. As I was reading thorough I hit the vision of Nephi (Nephi 11-14?) and was very impressed by something. Almost every time that the Spirit of God in the vision referred to Christ, he said The Lamb of God. I checked and realized that there are only a small handful of other times in the Book of Mormon that Prophets refer to Christ by this title. But in those few chapters, the Spirit of God says is quite a lot. It made me wonder if that's just the title The Spirit normally uses or something... Was interesting. I was also impressed by the title itself. A title that really described the Atonement in a powerful way in just a couple words. 'The Lamb of God' The imagery we have when we think about his title is also supported quite nicely by the imagery and types and shadows that God showed to us in the Law of Moses. Christ is the offering of God. What God is giving up in order to save us. Giving His Son. Powerful concept. I liked it a lot. :)

Random other cool things:

We went to a baby amusement park last week called Teichland http://www.erlebnispark-teichland.de/. It was fun. Got to climb the tower, ride the little roller sled things a few times, and ride a little sky lift thing. Many of the other attractions were shut down because the weather is gettting colder, and quite a few of them we just didn't have the motivation or time to go on. Kinda wanted to play some mini-golf, but didn't have time.

Anna is getting baptised! We set a date for October 12th. We are super excited and so is she and so is Elder Thorkelson (who is now in Minden). We had a very powerful lesson where we got to ask her a lot. We talked about what she thinks of the Church and the Book of Mormon, what feelings she has been having, and how it has been changing her. She expressed how good it all felt, the good it was doing for her, how her faith was growing, and how she has been changing for good, becoming more aligned with God. We then were able to challenge her to Baptism, and she accepted. X)

I know that God is in this work. He is a God of Miracles, and He loves us. :) I testify of that in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

8-19-13

Hello everyone! I hope you're doing well. I'm doing pretty well. :)

Not a whole lot to say this week, but I can tack on a couple things at least. :)

Germany things:

They use a lot of graphed paper. Perhaps more than lined paper.

I'm used to only seeing alchohol as beer in gas stations, or tucked away in liquor stores (perhaps that is very different in other states in the US), but here they just have it sitting out all over the place in grocery stores, or any store really. Weird.

I can't seem to find any balogna.

They have oreos, but they aren't as good. :P

They have massive yogurt sections at the grocery store. Everything you can imagine mixed with yogurt. Also, they spell it jogurt because they pronounce the j as our y sound. (their y sounds like ü. don't worry about that one.)

Spiritual thing:

Mark 2:17 - When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The Gospel isn't for perfect people. It's for people still learning and progressing. It's also not for the unrepentant sinner either. We have to be working at striving at it. :)

Preach My Gospel pg. 6: "The purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people of their sins so they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment."

You don't need to worry about beating yourself up for falling short of perfection after you strive. You don't need to compare yourself to other people. You just need to keep taking steps. Keep working.

“Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' " - Thomas S. Monson

You can do it. :) Just keep improving. - 2 Ne. 28:30 - "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, ^aprecept upon precept, here a little and there a little ..."

Christ has your back. You can do it, with Him. :)

2 Ne. 25:23 - "... for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

Trust in the Savior who loves you with all His Godly Heart. :) I testify in His Name that He will support you and help you to progress. Isaiah 41:10 - "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

I say these things in the Sacred Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. :)

Have a wonderful week. :) Go do something fulfilling. :)

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

8-1-13

Ooh. Got to use a scythe a few days ago. Some Germans still have them from when their families used to use them for farm work. They look totally legit and homemade. Now they just use them for when their grass gets really tall. They trim it down with the scythe before hitting it with the lawn mower. We helped a lady with her lawn and got to use one to trim it before we mowed it. It was fun. :)

Things are going well. :)

Spiritual something:

Alma 8:9-13 - Life can get discouraging. Sometimes people around us are making bad choices despite our best efforts, sometimes we fall short, sometimes things just don't turn out the way we want it to, despite everything we do. And sometimes we feel like we have failed God. Missionaries run into this problem a lot. Often we feel like we are giving our best, and yet we are not seeing the results we expected. We become discouraged. Let's read further.

verses 14&15 - This is a powerful principle. One might think that Alma had just 'failed' in the city of Ammonihah, and yet this angel is telling him 'blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice'. And why? 'for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God'. That is success. Alma was successful because he was obedient. Because he was striving. I testify that God loves us and sends us exactly what we need. I testify that true success and happiness comes not from our circumstances or from things around us, but from us. When we are striving and being obedient and following God, then we are donig what is expected of us, and we can be assured. I testify that Jesus Christ lives and that He has shown us the way. He helps us at every step. He asks us to keep stepping forward. We can do it. :) I say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

7-29-13

Hello everyone! I haven't written forever and I am sorry about that. We have been having some crazy preperation days where we were always really pressed for time. Some days I didn't even have time to email my Mom. X/

Things are going wonderfully well here in Forst. Let me tell you about a miracle we experienced in the last 9 days:

Saturday the 10th. We were on a train coming back from an exchange we had just had, and talking about how it had been. There was a young woman sitting across from us. The sun was glaring in her eyes quite badly, so my great companion decided to offer her to switch seats. She quickly declined the offer, jumping without pause into asking us with overflowing curiosity about who we are, she had heard us speaking English (she hadn't heard any German from us until my companion said something to her) and looking at our nametags. We explained who we were and quickly found an opportunity to begin talking to her about God, and then the Book of Mormon. She didn't have much of a religious background at all, but found what we said interesting, and was also fascinated to be talking to two Americans. :P

Suddenly, her stop had come, and we were scrambling to get out a Book of Mormon, and our card. We realized that neither of us had a card with our information on it and began to panick, the train was stopping. We whipped out a blank card and scribbled our number on it as fast as we could. My companion handed it to her and told her to call us. She said ok, a little timidly, and got off the train.

That's when I realized that the Book of Mormon was still in my hands. X/ (facepalm)

We were kinda disappointed. People that you just give a card to hardly ever just call. She did wait for the train to drive off and waved as we left though. That was nice of her.

Two days later we are sitting in Görlitz, waiting for the rest of the District to get there for an activity we were going to do together, when suddenly, we get a call from an unknown number. We were a little confused, and I picked up the phone. "Hallo, hier ist der Elder Miles von der Kirche Jesu Christi." (Hello, here is Elder Miles from the Church of Jesus Christ) "Hallo, hier ist die Anna." (Hello, here is Anna.) I moved the phone quickly away from my mouth for a moment, "Elder! It's Anna!"

We talked for a bit about meeting again and what we could do. There was a youth camp going on that week in Forst, and we invited her to come have lunch with us there. It was a bit far for her, but she agreed. We hoped to get some opportunity to teach her after we ate.

The day came, we picked her up from the train station, and had a pleasant walk and talk until we got to the camp. The moment we got there she was swept right up by a leader, who got her some food and set her down with some of the young women. (Anna is 17) We went to sit down and eat some food as well, not really knowing what else to do with ourselves. Our new investigator had just been stolen away. After a while she walked back over to where we were. She remarked on how kind and open everyone was. :) She told us that the young women had invited her to stay and do some river rafting with them. (they were gonna do river rafting on the Neiße, the river between Germany and Poland) She wanted to go, and we encouraged her. We came back later that evening to see how she was doing. She was doing great and really enjoying herself. We then had an opportunity for We then had an opportunity for a wonderful lesson about the Restoration of the Church. It went great. We talked a little more after, and she let us know that she was enjoying it so much she wanted to ~stay overnight~! She hadn't even really brought anything with her. X)

Well she ends up reading some in the Book of Mormon that night and we talk to her a little the next day before she goes home. I think she would have stayed longer, but hadn't brought enough stuff with her.

We then invited her to come to Church, and also to a Baptism that was going to be happening for a newly-8-member's-daughter. We were very excited for her, because we knew that there is a very special spirit at Baptisms. She agreed to come. We got it all set up to where she would get picked up, come with us to our member appointment, and then stay for the Baptism.

Sunday then went swimmingly. We had good meetings, she was taken in really well by the young women in the ward, and she found it all very "interesting". Then we had some opportunity to begin talking about the Plan of Salvation while at the members house for lunch before the Baptism, and then came the Baptism. That was beautiful. They even decided to give this girl the Gift of the Holy Ghost immediately after, so we had a plethora of teaching opportunities, telling her all about what was going on. After the Baptism was over, while they prepared the refreshments, we then had some more time to sit down with her and a young woman from the ward in order to finish talking about the Plan of Salvation, and talk a little about how to get more from the scriptures. (she had already read 40-ish pages on her own, which is a lot) We were able to bear powerful testimony that God is our Heavenly Father, and that He loves us. We taught about the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We asked her, "Was würde es dir bedeuten wenn dieser Plan wahr wäre?" (What would it mean to you, if this plan were true?) She thought for a moment and responded with words from the heart, 'Well, I want to get to the sun one (Celestial Kingdom). I would really try to do everything I could. I know I have already lost some years...' This was powerful. She was recognizing how significant the message was. How important it is. She was feeling the urgency. We assured her that it is not too late. We continued talking. We talked a bit more about how she needs to read and pray to find out for herself if God is there, and if the plan is true. We asked her about how she has been feeling while she has been meeting with us, etc. She paused a bit, trying to collect her words, and then began describing a strange, almost pressing feeling that she had felt during the Baptism. We began grinning. :) We then bore powerful testimony to her that she had felt the Holy Ghost testifying of what was happening. This made her smile, and she even looked like she felt accomplished for having felt it. :) We then asked her "Wenn du weißt dass diese Dinge wahr sind, wirst du dich Taufen lassen von jemandem der die Priestertumsvollmacht hat..." (When you know that these things are true, will you get baptised from someone holding the Priesthood Authority...) Before I could even finish the question she was nodding with a big smile on her face.

I testify that God is in this work. I testify that he knows and loves His children. I testify that I have felt no greater joy than the kind of joy I felt as I was able to tell this young woman the truth, to tell her about her Loving Heavenly Father, to help her see the eternities. I testify that this Church is the true Church of God, the Church of Jesus Christ restored upon the earth through a Prophet, Joseph Smith, called of God. I reiterate, God - Loves - You.

I testify of these things in the name of our Lord, in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week everyone. :) God be with you.

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

7-7-13

Blog again!

Sorry I haven't written for so long. We have to take a train out to do emails in another city because our little city doesn't have any internet cafes. (Ok, we have one, but it's super sketchy looking and has smoking paraphernalia in the front window.)

Things are going well in Forst. The ward is cooler and cooler the more we get to know them. They are also the largest ward I have ever been in, even though the city is the smallest I've ever been in. :P Very nice members who are strong in the Gospel.

Also having a great time with Elder Thorkelson. I'll upload some pictures. :)

Cool success story! We were in line at the grocery store one day, and a guy in front of us was kinda trying to catch a good look at our nametages. All the sudden he asked us what we were selling. This caught me off-guard, so I didn't process what he said right away. (He also had a heavy accent.) He asked if we were selling anything nice, we told him that we are missionaries. He asked what that means. We told him that we talk to people about God/Jesus Christ/etc, and the Book of Mormon. We then shortly introduced the Book of Mormon, that we give it to people as a gift, and that we invite people to read it and pray about it to see if it is from God. (handing him a Book of Mormon) he seemed confused for a bit that we were just handing him a book, 'Did I just get gifted a book?' 'Yes.' He then happily took it and said he would read in it. It was a powerful moment to us as we realized that God puts people in our path. :)

God knows His plan. You can trust Him. He loves you. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Go do cool things!

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

7-1-13

 1. Somebody slashed my tire while the bike was at the train station. Not the outside rubber rim of the tire, just the inside tube. I think they hoped that they could steal the bike later in the night if I left it there to fix it in the morning. (We don't take our bikes to the train station anymore. We're close enough to walk anyway. :P)

 2. Delicious oreos!!

Biking!

'declared in -every- ear'

The forest on the edge of town. The street just kinda ended in forest. :P

Birthday Cake prep

Cake baked

Cake double-layered

Cake done

Birthday Cake delicious X)