An epistle: the travels of Elder Miner in the land of Mannheim

1 And now, I elder Miner, do make a record of the week with mine own hand, after the manner of the language of my father's, for such writing is after the manner of the English.

2 yea, in the commencement of the 17th week of the mission, we traveled unto the land of Frankfurt. For behold, all the elders and sisters in all the lands round about did gather together to administer and to be administered to by a special witness of the lord. And thus we did travel in the day of Thurs up unto the land and did gather with our brothers and sisters in the gospel

3 and verily there was much rejoicing as to the gathering of the mission, and we were received with open hearts by the people of Frankfurt. For we did gather with our mtc group and there was much celebration, yea even unto the shedding of tears so great was our joy.

4 and behold I say unto you that the apostle elder uchtdorf did minister unto us and did soothe our souls with the words of the lord. For behold we did converse with great diligence over the work of the lord and over the service in this land. 

5 and now behold after we had gathered together we did depart from the land of Frankfurt and did travel again into the land of Babylon. And we did rest from our labors as it was the appointed hour of rest. And thus we did rise the next morn and did prepare ourselves diligently for 8 hours of finding. Yet by the great wisdom and mercy of God we did recieve a call from the family broo. 

6 And thus they did remind us the ward hike and offered to drive us, and verily I say unto you that our hearts were given to much prayers of gratitude unto the lord. And thus we did hike with the ward and did build much unity with the members therein. And we rested from our labors with ice cream of the Italian nation.

7 we then commenced back home when we were immediately called upon by the handler family to enter into their home and preach unto them the words of eternal life, and yea our efforts were rewarded by pizza and ice cream. And there was much rejoicing among the land. 

8 and thus ended the Friday of our labors. As the day of satur thus began we did arise and labor diligently with all our might, proclaiming the words of living life unto this people, yea unto the convincing of men. Nevertheless the people did harden their hearts and sought not to turn unto the lord, and wo be unto the inhabitants thereof for unless one hearkens unto the words of his gospel they shall be utterly cast out at the last day. Notwithstanding the great mercy of the lord, for his grace is among all men unto the condition of repentance. For behold the people in all the lands round about did also reject our message of the gospel, and thus we did end our preaching unto the people on Saturday.

9 and on the morrow we did rise and did gather together with the ward unto the breaking of bread and singing praises unto the lord, for behold, his holy day was among us and we did worship with great fervor, yea so much so that the walls of the buildings did rent and tear (sadly twas not so due to the lack of enthusiasm among the saints in Germany) nevertheless we did depart from the meeting and did work continuously unto the preaching of the gospel unto his children. However due to the stiffneckedness of his people, none desired among themselves to be partakers of his goodness.

10 And thus ended Sunday.

11 And behold Monday we arose and did preach the gospel unto the people of Mannheim. And behold, the leaders of the zone did travel down unto the land of Mannheim From The land of Kaiserslautern. And there was much rejoicing, for behold we saw that their fervor in preaching the gospel did lead to a baptism in the land of Kaiserslautern. And thus after this manner did we seek to preach.

12 and now behold as the zone leaders continued in their preaching elder frost and I desired greatly after döner. And to our great delight we saw one of our favorite Africans also in the pursuit of döner. And there was much rejoicing in our unity for behold he had been reading in the book of Mormon. And behold as we sat together he recounted the tale of the death of his father and sister, and the most bitter message of his heart 

13 and thus being moved upon by the spirit we did preach unto him the plan of Salvation and the spirit of the lord did enter his heart and he knew that the words we spoke were true, for thus he spoke unto us "I doth know that that which thou speakest is true" and now his heart did long greatly for the sealing of the family of which we did preach, and he did ask unto us by what means these things could be done.

14 and thus we did speak unto him the message of the priesthood and of baptism, and verily he cried out unto us  "now I know that these things are from God, for they have been spoken by his servants, now verily I ask unto you, when may I partake of his baptism, and join myself unto the flock of the lamb?" 

15 and our hearts were filled with much 

rejoicing over his desire to be numbered among the saints and we did set a baptismal date with him. 

16 and lo I say unto you, never had there been so much rejoicing among the elders in Mannheim since the world began. And thus on the next day while elder frost and elder Whitney began in their preachings unto the people they did set another baptismal date with a man named jalloh. For behold the spirit was poured out among his children, and tho he was Muslim his heart was softened to the accepting of a baptismal date. 

17 and thus endeth Tuesday. And on Wednesday we did awake and behold because of the traditions of his fathers and because of the craftiness of man jalloh did Text unto us and did speak many hard things unto us. For behold he no longer desired the baptism of water and fire. Nevertheless we did speak unto him with great boldness and planned to meet with him notwithstanding the traditions of his fathers. And Wednesday there was much preaching of the gospel. For we did cry unto the people all the day long and behold only one person did hear our message and thus she would not trade phone numbers but did take a flyer for english course. Nevertheless our joy was exceedingly full.

18 and yea, we did discover that elder frost did lose his wallet. And there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And we did embark the whole night long to find it, nevertheless it was lost. 

19 and now behold the morning of Thursday we did commence in the playing of sport, and my fahr card did fall from. My phone, and it was lost. For behold both of us did lose our fahrcards and we began to panic. Nevertheless according to the goodness of God we did stand firm in the faith notwithstanding our great losses.

20 and thus ended the 17th week of the mission. 

21 and thus we see that the lord cannot protect the stupid, for behold we truly had lost that which was most precious.

22 yet nevertheless we knoweth that his grace is over all men regardless of their intelligence. And do not forget my brethren that the lord is mindful of you, and doth desire the goodness of his grace over all of you

23 and verily verily I say unto you that there is no other means other than the grace of God that can save us from lucifer, that old serpent, for behold his grace is sufficient unto the forgiveness of sins. And his mercy is over all. For behold I was the most vilest of sinners, yet his grace had transformed me and now I do proceed with the preaching of his freedom to the captive, and his grace to the sinner. Yea and his healing to the sick, and his hope to the hopeless. For behold his love can conquer all opposition in our life.

24 and I would exhort you my brethren to turn unto that same God, the God of Abraham and Issac and Jacob. Yea turn unto him and find peace in his kingdom. For behold his transforming power is over all who turn unto him, and his glory is that of the glory of God. 

25 and I maketh an end of my record of the week, for I must go and breaketh the ankles of my companion. And now my brethren, I bid thee adieu. 

On our way to Frankfurt

Getting to the conference

Fun talking to everyone

MTC Elders

The whole mission with Elder Uchtdorf

MTC friends

Robert

There was a family in the ward who I never met. They never came to church. Single mom and two young kids. Elder frost and I went by every week and they never let us in so we started leaving notes. We sent them notes inviting both the kids to mutual. But then one Wednesday they walked in with their mom. The mom said they are free Wednesdays and they'll be at mutual. We got close with Robert the young man and invited him to church on Sunday. He came and saw the only other young man in the ward (we now have two) passing the sacrament and he asked the young men's leader how he could do that too. Then they had a lesson about the priesthood. Robert asked if he kept going to church if he could get the priesthood. He wants to pass the sacrament just like Simon. Two 11 year olds😂 seriously it is such a blessing for that age change. We will see if they keep coming to church but I count that just as Important as a baptism. Small Stupid notes left under the door has given this kid, a black kid with a single mother, with no friends and no real family, a home. He loved church. Who knows what will happen but if nothing else we've helped this kids life be better for a few weeks. To me that's just as good as a baptism. 

Just a picture post

 District p-day was at Luisenpark

Here are some pictures from the day.

Night time

Kafertal

New Elder- Elder Keller

The Gardner- Elder  Hugh B Brown

A day of contacting in the rain

Chinese Garden

Feed my sheep

Feels like home

The District

Penguins

Vorwärts Christi Jünger (Onward Christian Soldiers)

Hey yall so I wrote a really long email to send but then it kinda deleted somehow and I know I haven't written an email in a fat minute but I really do not want to write another email so sorry this is not gonna be as good, just know that I wrote a good email so pretend this is that one.

I'm Sorry that I haven't been in recent correspondence with the majority of you all. This past few weeks have been kinda hard. Elder frost and I decided to start this new transfer we'd take all of our investigators who aren't really progressing and we'd sideline them, so basically we have 3 investigators lmao. So we have been focused on expanding our teaching pool, what this means is that we have been going finding and tracting for hours on end. Most days we spend two or three hours finding. The weather has been warming up and we were excited and so we decided we'd devote the second half of yesterday to finding. We woke up to rain clouds and the clatter of rain. What went from Sunny skies and scorching heat turned into rain and wind. Unphazed we went out into the rain to go finding. We spent a few hours in pouring rain walking the length of the city trying to find anyone to teach, no one would listen to us or even stop for us. The wind cut like daggers of ice and the chill seeped to your bones. After a few hours we were both soaked. To add to all this a man started yelling at us profanely. To be honest we felt cold, tired, defeated, and admittedly a little discouraged. As we started to head home we had the oddest prompting. God knew exactly where we were. It felt like God was looking at us right at that moment and told us to push on in his name. Immediately the hymn forward Christian soldier came into my head. With a little more inspiration we pushed on. The rain slowed and we kept finding until we had to go back for curfew. To be honest we didn't find anyone that day, or any of the previous days this week. I wish this story had a happier ending. I wish we had found someone last minute like all those other amazing mission stories people share. But we didn't. I won't forget that night where the wind cut like ice and where the rain pounded against us because I knew that God knew where I was and more importantly he knew what I was doing in his name. It doesn't matter that no one wanted to listen to us because at the end of the day im doing this for my savior Jesus christ. After we Got back inside I threw down my keys and my book of Mormon and I took a picture. It reminded me that at the end of the day that's all we have left. The keys and guidance of the priesthood, and the book of Mormon. Those are our two tools out here but I'll take those odds because these two things have the power to Change lives. 

This reminds me of another story. We have been teaching this man named Andreas. Andreas is a millionaire chemist who's life is based on the natural world and what he can see, but since his youth he's wanted to find more. He wants to know if the book of Mormon is the word of God. We taught him a lesson a few weeks ago and he said he'd read but praying was something else for him. He didn't want to pray because he couldn't see who he was talking to. But he read. This week when we came over he had a long list of all his questions and concerns about the book. Line by line we went through all his concerns and answered his questions but he still was unconvinced. He said "this is great and all but I still don't know if it is true, I haven't felt it the holy ghost ever in my life how could I ever feel it now" and then he turned to me and asked "how do you know elder Miner that the book of Mormon is true?" I took a pause and reflected internally, what is my "proof?" then dozens of things rushed to my mind. As many of You know I haven't always been the picture perfect Christian. At one point I felt like it was hopeless. It was the words of the book of Mormon that brought me hope. It was that book that brought me comfort. I shared with him a powerful testimony of my conversion through that book and the redemptive power of christ's atonement. I bore testimony of how He changed my life from The husk of hopelessness it was to the beautiful and amazing life he had built for me. Afterwards he looked at me and said "well that's quite nice isn't it" and we sat for a second in this room where the spirit was so strong. We then decided to show him a video called "hope of God's light" or the German title "Gottes Licht schenkt Hoffnung" it is probably my favorite church video of all time and I'll add the link below but I love it so much and it always brings the spirit. We share it with him and afterwards we stood there. The spirit was one of the strongest I've felt. His whole demeanor had changed. He offered to say the closing prayer. He wouldn't pray before. His prayer in his simple elegant German was one of the most sincere and humble prayers I've ever heard, from a man who doesn't know if there is a God or if he is listening. I testify that He is there and He is listening. Andreas has a long way to go before he finds all his answers but he is taking some crucial and beautiful first steps in faith. I promise that if we pray to God he is listening and he will answer our prayers. We are never alone and there is more than just what we can see. Especially when things seem bleak hold on to hope and find faith to push forward.

I want to promise you all that if you hold out through the storms of life he will be there. He will fight for you and he will carry you home. Jesus is the christ. You are a son or daughter of God. The storms may be huge and intense and might seem as though they shall swallow you up but I promise you that they too shall pass. General conference is coming up and this is an amazing opportunity to recieve personal inspiration. If you come with questions I promise you as a servant of the lord that you will receive answers if you have an open and humble heart and a desire to act.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=deu

Find faith in the storm, 

Elder Miner