...ask God, see what he says...

This week... My golly, ach du meine Güte, we have this week much learned. Just some German grammar for you ;) okay, so Monday our favorite member Die Frau Nowak (pronounced No-Vak) took us to the Dreilandepunkt! A point in our mission where Belgium the Netherlands and Germany touch! And so guess what... I've been to Belgium and spent a day in the Netherlands!!! Haha it's part of our zone and Aachens area, their Ward stretches into those other countries. There's a big tower we had fun on. 

Dreilandepunkt I'm standing in 3 countries at once ;)

Haha it was a great day <3 

For miracle story or rather just mission life here is a story of finding in Wuppertal

This week we went finding in Wuppertal, it was really cool. I was paired with Elder Adams, Elder Hörtigs golden, and we went out expecting miracles. I stopped this man who was passing out newspapers and gave him the spiel. He asked me "what am I doing here?"

I answered "passing out news papers..."

"But why?"

"For your job...?"

"That's right!" He said... "I'm an alcoholic and it has taken everything from me, my wife, a girlfriend, my job..." 

So I introduced the Atonement to him explaining "I promise that you can put that all behind you, you can start new without all that guilt and give alcohol up forever."

Then Elder Adams chirped in "I know that you can, my mother drank and when she joined the church she was able to give it up and now she doesn't drink anymore."

At this point the man started to Cry... We promised him the blessings and he was happy to share info and wanted to come to church... Nobert is his name, it was a very tender experience followed by Jessica.

Jessica is a 18-19 year old girl, she was walking down the street when I stopped her, I introduced the Book of Mormon and asked if we could exchange numbers and meet with her to tell her more. To which she replied "I don't have a phone" so I asked for her apartment no. And she replied again, a little softer "I haven't got one of those either..." A tone of silence came over us... I asked "How could we meet with you again?" And she said "I don't know" but then I got an idea, it was a Saturday so I said "Jessica" (having already asked for her name) "will you come to church tomorrow so we can meet with you and teach you more?" She said yes! And we gave her that Book of Mormon. I have to speak with Wuppertal to see what became of these experiences, but I know that we were able to help these people, but now it stands in their court to test the gospel and see for themselves. That is a view entirely special to the true church. We don't have to bribe or scare, we simply say "This is the way, now you go home and ask God, see what he says." It's amazing... 

This Sunday was action packed! Haha first I got to meet one of the coolest guys ever!!! Wilfred Müller!!! If you don't know who that is, look up his Mormon Message ;) 'Ich bin Mormone, Lehrer und Pilger' I watched his Mormon message probably every day for my first two transfers to practice my German and understand the north accent. Turns out he lives in my ward... He is super kind and was a hoot to talk with <3 he was flattered when I told him I learned my German from his video haha "Achso!" He said just like in the video!!! Haha I love that man.

Then after church, Sister Manzke asked us if we could give a healing blessing to her son Mattias. We agreed and when we arrived, I was chosen to give the blessing... My first blessing in German... I was scared that my German wasn't good enough, delicate enough or refined enough for a blessing... But the Lord proved to me that he didn't need my German, just my willingness. I was able to give an amazing blessing and promised Mattias some special things... It was amazing and I will cherish this experience for the rest of my life.

The mission is hard, that's true, and after that blessing I fell asleep from exhaustion haha but it is amazing. The joy I feel from sharing the gospel, even though I'm not always recovered well, greatly outweighs the struggles. I'm so happy, I'm saying hi to random people on the street, singing, dancing haha it's a little weird actually ;) I'm nervous haha but I am so happy to be here doing this work. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS!!! I love you all and hope that all is well on the Homefront.

I really don't know what I want for Christmas haha, um... Kraft Mac and cheese would be sweet haha some more of those general blue and black American pens haha I think they're bic...

And some money to get some clothes here <3 I want to send home some classic German Spicy Mustard haha it's SUPER GOOD HERE and really cheap so I can send home like 4-5 tubes if you'd like. Also let me know if there are other good no perishables y'all want. "Ich Freue mich auf die Gelegenheit euch etwas gut zu schenken." 

A special Happy birthday to Grandpa Fisher. I don't have his email so please forward this <3 grandpa, you raised a wonderful man. One of unparalleled importance and guidance in my life. He served a mission, being the valiant young man you helped to raise him as, and that example pushed me, your grandson, to also serve. I'm thankful for the many days I spent playing in your home, learning respect, forethought and love. I'm indebted to you for the blessings you helped to build in my life and the lessons you taught me. I hope that your birthday, although missed by me, was a good one, and that this year will bring you much joy. As they say in German

Zum Geburtstag, viel Glück <3 ich liebe dich

Am Ende, will ich auf deutsch to schrieben. Hier ist meine Leben, deutsch jeden Tag, der ganzen Tag haha es ist jetzt einfacher auf deutsch to reden als Englisch. Oftmals ich finde dass ich auf deutsch denken und so muss ich von deutsch zu englisch übersetzten haha. Von meine zweite zu meine Muttersprache... Total Komisch. Wenn es Erin gibt, die meine Email übersetzt "Hallo!" Haha hoffentlich ist meine deutsch besser, als es in Klasse war. Ich war total blöd in Deutsch klasse. Ich habe gar nichts gelernt. Ich schließe mich haha Mensch. Ach so, ich komme zu Ende, ich liebe euch und wünsch euch viele Segnungen und Freude!

Liebe Grüße Elder Fisher

Ya Klar...Of Course!

Yes I did get my iPad back and I was able to get a new screen on it. A while back I had dropped it and broke it but at €130 I was able to get a new one. Sadly Germany isn't super big into Halloween, although I heard of one town that does enjoy it, there aren't any 'Fishers' here in Germany, if you know what I mean (**obsessed with Halloween**). No decorations, I'm sure on Halloween day we will see skimpy costumes but other than that I'm sad to not have a haunted house this year :p 

So the Freiburg temple is in the Berlin Mission, by Dresden so we didn't go to the temple, we watched the dedication in the Pfahl building in Düsseldorf. Bednar and Uchtdorf were both there, it was amazing to hear them both speak German haha Bednar actually served here in the Frankfurt mission (then Germany west I believe) so that's super cool <3

I received an email from a friend at home about Sam's testimony. She was touched by his sincerity and said that he was "obviously a deep thinker". I'm honored my little Brother was able to touch someone with his testimony, that's the beginning to Missionary work :D it's super good to hear about the family, I miss you all tons <3

Also the week :)

Monday was Soccer and Smoothies, a perfect Relax day

You can tell who the two weirdos are from this photo ;) haha sadly me and sister Catherall.  Tuesday we visited some less actives. There are a lot in The Köln Ward. The first was a cool African (I'm jealous of Cole's mission) he said he would return to church.

Wednesday we had District meeting and when we walked in late the Zone Leaders asked if I would be part of their lesson. I said yes. It came around to them and they brought out cookies, super good German cookies. They said the price for the cookie was 10 push ups. Yeah, easy! I did them and got my cookie, but then they offered one to my comp, he jumped up and said "ya klar!" He wanted a cookie. But... They said since I was the missionary, and the cookie represented the Gospel, I needed to do 10 push ups for Elder Leimer (my comp) to get the cookie. So I did them. And they went around the room, and the situations changed, Elder Hörtig wanted a cookie, but he was a sinner so I had to work harder to help him to repent, 20 push ups.
Sister Riser had a family, 30 Push-ups. By this point I was falling on my face, I had done 60 or so... I couldn't lift myself. So then they said, every Missionary has a comp to share the load. So Elder Leimer took over. We went back and forth until we were both exhausted and we still had two sisters to go... I was drenched in sweat, my arms giving out. But they needed the Gospel. One sister, Sister Balls was crying at this point. I was suffering to get the Gospel to everyone, and the spirit of the object lesson was touching everyone. But Elder Leimer and I couldn't... Hers was 50 push-ups... Her alone... But, every companion has 3 parts, you, your comp and Christ. So the Zone leader, laid with us and we did the 50 together. I struggled not to fall on my face while "Christ" pumped out the remaining push-ups. She got her cookie, and we listened as the Zone leaders explained that when we have nothing left, when we are lying on our faces crying from the load we bear, Christ will step in to carry us. And it may not always be at the very last or end of the trial. Often he carries us through the middle too, even the whole thing. But we can always turn to him for support and strength when we need to be strengthened. When we have nothing left. He is there.

Thursday we were about to go out to find people to teach and I got the Pump up music going haha, Kung Fu Panda overture. I turned to my companion and said "are you ready to find our next baptism?!? Haha he laughed at me, but I did a couple air punches and a kick and said "ARE YOU READY?!?" He didn't buy into it too much BUT! We did get out and do some great contacting! That's when we met a Russian man called Vladimir! Spelled Wladimir because the 'W' in German makes a 'V' noise. He thought that Mormons were Amish but we cleared that up really quick with our IPads haha anyway We'll meet him in the coming week to share the 1st Lesson.

And Friday we got a referral from the sisters for a Nigerian Guy who seems to be a miracle. Approached them "never happens" and asked to come to church. We'll meet him this Sunday.

Saturday, cultural Celebration with Abosh! This was sick!!! Well first the day started off with a finding activity in Remscheid, I got to split with my mission best friend Elder Kevin Hörtig haha this kid is great :) anyways we found 3 people and 2 couples!!! In an hour!!! BLESSINGS!!! Haha one time I walked up to this Black couple and said

"Wir sind Missionare, wir teilen das Jesus Christus leitet seiner Kirche durch ein heutigen Prophet! Es ist wiederhergestellt! Wann können wir vorbei kommen und mehr von diese Botschaft erklären?"
"We're missionaries, we share that Jesus Christ leads his church through a modern prophet and that his church is restored! When can we come by and explain this message?"

Haha super like, in your face, excited, powerful approach! The woman said
"Was, bei uns?!?"
"What to us?!?"

Haha I said "Ya Klar!" And we switched numbers!! It was amazing!

Then we met up with Abosh in Solingen, he's our Syrian Refugee investigator. We can't teach him until he gets out of government housing (for safety reasons) but he wants to get baptized already, he reads the BoM in English and German haha he prays and has a relationship with "the God" (in Arabic they say Allah, which is a conjunction of two words that mean "the God") he's so cool! So yeah, we went to Düsseldorf for the Cultural Celebration of the Berlin Temple, it was amazing!!! Abosh cried, I almost cried, Sister Catherall Cried. Haha he said that it was beautiful and happy. He's gonna get baptized before I leave. I Will Baptize Him.

Sunday, The Temple Dedication! It was so cool to be able to take part in the Freiburg Rededication! To hear both of my favorite General Authorities speak in German (Bednar and Uchtdorf). President Uchtdorf gave the dedicating prayer and it was beautiful. We were able to see and hear so much about the history of the area and about the 5 different nationalities that lie within the temple district. And then at the end we were able to take part in the Hosanna shout in German. It was so cool and an experience I will never forget.

I'm so happy to be on a mission :) the experiences I am having are shaping me so much. I'm just amazed to look back on the little I've done and see how much I've changed already, I'm a loving the difference I'm seeing. My personality isn't changing, but my understanding is. How I understand the Atonement, the gospel, the organization of the church, the reasons for different things and most importantly how to receive revelation. My relationship with Christ and Heavenly Father have grown so much and I can speak German haha it's a miracle!!! I understand so much and can say almost an equal amount haha it's amazing. I have so much to be thankful for and I'm only just getting 1/4 of the way through!!! Can you believe that?!? 1/4 already! Haha I honestly feel like I've only been here 2 weeks :p

Anyway, I wish you Alles gute!!! Bis nächste Woche! <3

Überträgt aus der NRW

P-Day Fun

Freiberg Temple Dedication

Soccer