Elder Spangenberg Berlin Mission Oct 2014 to Oct 2016 : Best Week Yet!

This week was amazing! So much happened this week.

Monday:For Pday we went to Alexanderplatz. (Shopping Area) It was way cool. My companion thought that these guys that walk around wearing a grill selling hot dogs was the funniest thing ever. haha

Tuesday: So Monday night, we got a call from our Assistant Ward Mission Leader, and he asked us if we could come over on Tuesday to give his non member Father a Priesthood Blessing. So we went over there and he was very nice. He was having pain in his head,. He didn't want his son to participate in the blessing. His son tried to participate but he said, "No." So I did the anointing in my broken German. Then my companion was like, "Uh, my German isn't that good, it would be much better if your son would give the blessing." Then he was like, "Okay, whatever." Then his son gave one of the most spiritual blessing I've ever witnessed. After he tried to hug his Dad, but he wouldn't let him. It was very sad. Then we talked with them for about an hour which was good, but he was really stubborn in his belief that there is no God. It was so sad, you can see the love his family has for him, but he doesn't show it back.

Then it was late at night but we decided to walk to our apartment instead of take the bus. Because we set a goal to find 2 investigators and we had to get our goal. We ended up finding 1 investigator that day and it ended up being the last person we talked to!

Wednesday: We had a Training Zone Meeting. It was really good and a lot bigger than I remember our zone being. But that's because they combined both of the Berlin Zones into one. So now we are by far the biggest zone in the mission and the best. haha. There was some really good lessons given by other missionaries about using time wisely and stuff like that. Then, President Kosak talked. The first thing he talked about was the IPads. The beginning of April we are having a Mission Conference, which never happens. He specifically said it is for the IPads. He also said it's going to take some STRICT Obedience!

Then we went back and had a lesson with our new investigator, Rafael. We met him at a place where you can play table tennis. So we played a couple of games with him. I'm terrible at it, but my companion did pretty good and beat Rafael. His friend was also there. His friend is from Russia and he already has a Book of Mormon. Long story short, they are now both investigators in our teaching pool. We set up a return appointment and they are both pretty interested. Rafael said that he is looking for something that can help strengthen his family. They also invited us to play soccer with them on Tuesday nights after our English class, so that will be way fun.

Thursday: We had District Finding. It went really good; the total number of investigators found in our district that day was 8! We went and visited a less active who seemed really nice, and he told us to call him and then we could set up an appointment.

Friday: We met with the Bishop to discuss the work. It went really well, the Bishop was really excited about the work that was happening.

Saturday: We had service with a member which was really fun. Then we had an appointment with Ab and Al. They are 2 students in their 20s. They're both Muslim but not really. They say they are only Muslim on paper. One of them comes from Saudi Arabia and the other comes from Syria. They are way cool. We had the lesson with them in English. One of them was so interested, he was literally reading the book as we were teaching him the lesson. They both are very interested and said they don't know if it's true now, but will definitely read the book and ask God if it is true. We even extended the baptismal question to be baptized when they find out the church is true. We committed them to come to church and they said they would. But we got a text from them later saying they couldn't come. But, hey at least they let us know, most people just won't show up. So we are very excited about them.

Sunday: Priesthood got a little heated. One member had some weird views about something and others didn't agree with it, so then it pretty much turned into a bashing argument. The spirit was definitely not in that room at that hour, that's all I have to say!

Then we went to an appointment, which turned out to be a fake address, but hey that happens. Then we went finding with the only hour we had and we ended up finding 3 new investigators. 2 of them are guys from Syria, who are really cool and we are meeting with them next week, we even got their telephone number. And another guy we found right in front of the church. He is an older man and he talked about how his wife is dead but she still lives on. He kept saying,"Her spirit lives and I will see her again someday. We couldn't believe it. Most old people just act like they don't hear you and keep walking down the street. But not this guy, we had a great conversation with him and set up an appointment.

So there's my week. In all, we found 10 new investigators this week. Yeah, crazy! Double the Standard of Excellence! Our district found 19 new investigators, we doubled just about every number from last week. We are trying to be as obedient as we can, and we have definitely seen the blessings that come from it. We are speaking German to each other from 9 to 9, and I am also reading my scriptures for personal study in German. We are very excited for this week. We are so busy every day. It's nice to not just do finding all day, which is what I am used to. Me and Elder Morton get along great. He's so happy and enthusiastic, which are both good qualities to have!

Till next week,

Elder Spangenberg