ELDER RHONDEAU

What a week! Absolutely flew. Time is so funny what the heck it's almost March? How??

The mission is awesome. We had "harvest day" where you fast all day, then the next day go out and find all.day.long. It was pouring rain and so so windy the whole 6 hours we were talking to people and walking around. But we found four new contacts and it was awesome. (I actually talked to people can you believe it? And they understood me?? Whattttt? The language is getting there, and more and more people are telling me it is getting better so it’s nice.) We had one kid who's my age who looked at us like we were nuts. By the end he took a Book of Mormon and invited us over and wants to come to the church activity! It was like a light switch just flipped on when we asked "Glauben Sie dass das Leben eine Sinn hat?" Which is "do you think life has a purpose?" And he was like well yeah I think there’s life after death but I don't know what life's purpose is. Elder Mika kinda smiled and I knew what he was thinking..."well have we got a book for you my friend.” It was funny. Then we had awesome bread at a local bakery, then we had English class for locals until 8:00! They are so funny. We also gave a Book of Mormon to the Mongolian kid and he wants to meet with us. We met with the Mongolian family again, and the nephew wants to take the lessons, and we have a Mongolian New Year party tonight that they invited us to so we are so stoked for that. We have six new investigators which is awesome. Everyone makes fun of Elder Mika and me for being in Frankfurt Oder because it's a hard area, but we are trying our hardest and are successful here so far! Elder Mika’s such a stud, and the people here are amazing. So awesome. They just love everyone and the branch members are so strong. We had two investigators at church on Sunday, and we should have more next week.

The weather is starting to warm up, which is super nice…but the weather is nuts. Literally on Friday it was pouring, then at 4 pm was 60 degrees and sunny, then we walked out of a great lesson at 9 and it was snowing? We were like wait, what? Elder Mika and I have a lot of fun. We study a lot, and I've started studying more German and read General Conference talks and it's made all the difference. Hard work pays off, and that's something that is so so quickly learned on a mission. So quickly. We have a Mission tour this week with a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, so I am going up to Berlin for that on Thursday! Then on Monday I get a tour of the US Embassy, so it will be way cool.

If you haven't, watch the Mormon Message "Refugees from the Storm.” I watch it almost every day and love it. I love the statement from that video: "How we respond will help define us.” We can relate this not only to refugee work, even though I do because we are with a lot of refugees. You can also say that for when you are going through hard times, when something goes the opposite way you planned, or really anything. How you respond to the challenge will define you. How you respond to the blessings, happiness, sadness, illness, setbacks will help define you. More than we realize. I love that so much. Is it super duper fun walking in 20 degree winds and rain for 6 hours only to get four new investigators after talking to a lot of people and knocking doors? Honestly, not really. But it helps you realize and be grateful for the little daily victories. Helps you work hard and grow up. It helps define oneself and who we are--how we respond is everything. Hard work so quickly pays off here in the Mission and this was very obvious the first week, and you respond to hard work by continuing to work hard and the blessings you see are amazing. Not blessings for yourself, but for others.

Love you all and thanks so much again for all the support. Means a lot. Have a great week, and look for the little victories and blessings daily. It helps you be more happy. I know that for a fact. Bis Nächste Woche!

Mit Liebe,
Elder Rhondeau