Monday, May 25, 2015

Zone Neumunster Training Meeting with the NEW IPADS!!!

Elder Spangenberg is on the left side behind the front Elder.

New Transfer, New Companion!

This week was the beginning of another transfer.  I have been out for over 7 months and it has flown by.  My last companion, Elder Benfell went to Nienburg.  We didn't get along that well, but I learned to love him.  My new companion is Elder Smith.  He went to Timpview High School, like a lot of other missionaries here.  We get along really well.  We both work hard and like to have fun.

On Monday (Last day of the last transfer) we had a lesson with the Memetovich family from Serbia.  My companion gave them both a Priesthood Blessing before he left.  They were really sad that he was leaving and there were lots of tears shed, but I assured Elder Benfell that they will be in good hands.  We also had a lesson with Claudia, a new convert who was baptized 2 transfers ago.  She is so cool.  Her story is just amazing.  She is a single mom who works over 60 hours a week to provide for her family.  She has such a strong testimony of the gospel.


Tuesday, we spent all day at the Hamburg Hauptbanoff(train exchange place).  I got to try the famous Hamburg Pomm Donner and it was amazing.  Then I met my new companion and we went finding.  Every day this week when we go finding we have found a new investigator.

We now have 2 progressing investigators in Delingsdorf.   One of them doesn't speak that good of German, but he read the Book of Mormon in his native tongue, and he said that he believes the book is true.  He has prayed about it as well.  We also had a lesson with an eternal investigator.  She kept saying that when she gets an answer, then she will join the church.  Except she only reads in the Book of Mormon, she doesn't pray about it or go to church.  She thinks God will just tell her it's true without any effort on her part.  It made me think about that in my life, when we expect something but don't really work or do anything to make it happen.

We finally received our IPads this week!!! We can only use them for scriptures and email for a couple of weeks, then President Kosak is supposed to let us use facebook.  They are really cool.  I also got to see my companion from the MTC (Elder Gibbs) at Zone Training Meeting.  It was great to talk to him and see how he is doing.

One a side note, my companion has been sick lately.  We think it might have something to do with the apartment.  So this week, we spent a lot of meal time in cleaning the apartment.  I gave him a blessing on Sunday and he felt well enough to go to church. So hopefully he will be able to get better soon.
 It has been raining a lot here.  I feel like my German has been progressing this week.  President Kosak has asked our mission to have 250 baptisms by the end of June, when he leaves.  Last week our mission had 13!
 I hope you all have a fantastic week!
Elder Spangenberg

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

Transfers!

I am staying in Delingsdorf!  My new companion is Elder Smith.  He trained Elder Oliphant.  He seems pretty cool, I have heard he is really funny.  He spoke with my on the phone with a British accent--however, I know he's from Utah.  In fact he went to Timpview High School with Elder Morton.  He seems excited and I am sure we will have a great time together.

We changed our Pday this week because Elder Benfell wanted to go to the Hamburg Art Museum.  So we spent about 3 hours there.  I didn't care too much for it, but my companion loved it.

Then we had a lesson with a less active investigator.  It was interesting, she told us about something serious in the past that I wish I didn't hear about, but we had a good lesson with her.

This week there was a Holiday in Germany: Christi Himmel Fahrt.  It is a Catholic Holiday  that celebrates Jesus going up to Heaven after he talked with his disciples.  Well, in Germany it's just a holiday for drinking.  They call it Father's Day, but pretty much  all you see are drunk 20 year olds on the street walking with wagons full of beer and blasting loud music.  It was quite a sight!  We had to be in our apartment earlier that day because of all the drunk people, so that was fun.

We helped one of our investigators move this week to a new area, so that was cool, she even said we could give her name and number to the missionaries in the new area she moved to.  We also went by the hospital for the Lubeck Elders and gave a man a blessing.  He is really cool and he was on baptismal date, so hopefully when he recovers, he will be able to make some progress.  We also had a couple of lessons with the Memetovich family.  It is now week to week, whether they will be able to stay.  We will keep praying for them and hopefully things will be okay for them.

Well transfer calls happened this week.  They came Friday night, which is weird because it's usually Saturday morning.  My companion, Elder Benfell is being transfered to Nienburg to be companions with my own Zone Leader last transfer, Elder Bankhead.

I left my camera at the Bishop's house and I just barely got it, so no pictures this week.

Elder Spangenberg

Monday, May 11, 2015

Mother's Day Card Elder Spangenberg sent in the mail


Mother's Day Skype!


I got to skype my family for 40 minutes!  It was good to see them again.  I also got updated on sports, etc...
Pday wasn't that special because we had our apartment check, but we passed so everything is good.  We tightened  my bed so it's better and doesn't squeak so much.

We went on exchanges this week and I went with Elder Headley, he is from Canada and is in his 2nd transfer.  We had a very productive exchange.  We ended up finding 2 new investigators together and we spoke German the whole time.  I have never spoke German the whole time on an exchange.  We also had a lesson with a new convert which was awesome.  She bore her testimony about the church and how it has blessed her life.

The Memetovich family is doing okay.  This week they find out whether they have to go back to Serbia or if they can stay.  Macedonia is starting to go to war against another and that is right next to Serbia, so Memet is very scared about going back to Serbia.  We just try to assure him that everything will be okay.
We had an eating appointment during the week with a member and that was good.  They have a son who is less active and has ruined his life because of video games; he can't see that well because of them.  It is really sad, but we hope to start teaching him and get him to come to church.

Saturday we helped build a playground for this school, it was fun, even though there were so many people there and they didn't really need our help, it was cool to go there and socialize with the people.  This week there was also the biggest storm I have ever been in.  It was like a hurricane.  Trees fell on the train tracks so the trains couldn't move, so we had to take buses home which took forever.

Sunday our eating appointment was amazing.  We talked about sharing our testimony and we committed them to pray for an opportunity for them to share their testimony with other people.
.
Well that's my week.  Next week is the last week of the transfer, so transfer calls are coming....I am pretty sure I am staying here, but who knows what could happen.  My mom asked me to tell some good things about my companion.  He is very charitable and he is nice to everyone.

My Mission President suggested we read this book: Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl, after our mission.  It's about a concentration camp story.

Elder Spangenberg

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Taco Week!

On Pday this week we went shopping and did emails and then I took a much needed nap while my companion wrote letters.  I have not been sleeping, the bed is pretty squeaky.  They only way I can sleep is if I put ear plugs in, but then my ears hurt when I wake up the next morning. I did try taking the mattress off and putting it on the floor, but I slept worse.  The senior mission couple came by to do apartment checks and said they would report it to the mission office.

We had a couple of appointments with the Memetovich family which were good.  We are just trying to keep them spiritually strong so that when they go back to Serbia they can be baptized.

We did go on an exchange with the Zone Leaders.  I went to Kiel and was with Elder Blake.  We had a very productive exchange.  We helped a member move, went to institute, and found an investigator.  It was great!  I also got to see Sister Titensor because she serves in Kiel and that was cool.  Coming back we ended up buying the wrong ticket .  So the train person made us get off and buy a ticket; right as we were getting off to buy a ticket, the train left!  So then we had to wait an hour for another one to come, so we were late for District Meeting, but that's okay.  Then the next day we had a eating appointment with a member family.  It was a really good appointment and we had tacos!! That was the first time  I have had them since I've been in Germany.

On Friday we had to go back to Kiel for a meeting, so we traveled for most of the day, because it takes about 2 hours to get to Kiel.
Saturday, we played soccer in the morning with the members.  There was a lot of members there, some people from the other ward showed up so that was fun!  I'm getting pretty good at playing goalie here!! haha  We also had another member eating appointment.  He told us his life story, which was really sad, but he has a pretty strong testimony.  He complained that the church doesn't have the Book of Mormon in Persish(??).  Well they do, but only half of it.

Sunday was a pretty good day.  Church was good.  Memet and a couple of his kids came.  Then we had an eating appointment and guess what we had...Tacos!!  Then we had the best dessert I have ever had...the food is just so good here!  Then we had an appointment with a new investigator.  We went to the house and there were actually 2 guys there.  They both came from Iran on foot.  They walked 8 months to get here.  They love Iran, but not the Muslims and what is going on there.  So we just got 2 new investigators! Yay

I am playing in Priesthood and a member gave me a key board to practice on during the week. The weather is really unpredictable here because we are next to the coast.  It rains a lot here.  See you soon on the Mother's Day skype!

Elder Spangenberg