Yo what is up yall, its elder miner back at it again with the weekly that seems to be a monthly right now, sorry yall I'll try to be better. I have some super bodacious stories that I'll have to share sometime, sadly today is not that time, I'll have to write them all down and share em all at once somehow, cool times tho. I am now almost done with my 4th transfer and I am finally ready to get out of mannheim, my first area haha. I cant wait to get to a new area and have a fresh start and attitude on the work. It Is como se dice, HOT here in mannheim. It is 40 grad (103 for you americans) and I am toasting insanely bad. Germans don't use air conditioning so for those of you my Arizona homies who are like smh that's not even bad, trust me I would easily take 120 with ac than 103 without it. Imagine trying to sleep in this kind of weather, furchtbar. Also just realized how much I love the metric system. How much even is a quart? What's a mile? And dang don't even ask me to tell you how many feet something is. Sorry for all my american friends who's hearts I'm breaking but the metric system really just makes sense. Also Celsius took some getting used to not gonna lie, I like Fahrenheit better, but I do think Celsius is nice cause 0 is freezing and 100 is boiling, puts 40 in a little better perspective. Germans are so funny though, the other day we were doing yard work in 39 degree heat and almost every german stopped us and said wow you're doing this in this kind of heat you're gonna get sick go inside, and like elder Hawkins and I aren't some sissies we can handle a little sun, it is just so funny how serious germans take the heat. Every german here when you talk about the weather they just go off about global warming. I've been on some splits with some elders who don't believe in global warming so a few times I've just asked the germans how the weather is this summer and sit back and enjoy my handiwork. We have some fun times on the mission haha.
Fun fact I stress shop sometimes, and today was one of those sometimes. We went to Jack and Jones and there was a sick denim jacket on sale for 30 euro and a sweater on sale for 10 euro, and of course me being me I thought what better time to buy winter clothes I cant wear on my mission than in the middle of the summer on the hottest day at the beginning of my mission? Needless to say that one pday I can wear this Jean jacket I'm gonna look so sick.
To be honest one of the hardest parts of my mission right now is hearing the stories of a lot of these refugees. They all are here for a reason, and most of them sad reasons. A friend of ours had his whole family killed for political problems so he had to flee the country and now the government is trying to send him back because hes from a "safe country" but he told us if he goes back it's a death sentence. Another friend told us about his journey from his home country to Italy, he said there were 3 parts that could have killed him, the terrorists as he tried fleeing the country, the Sahara desert that he had to cross, and the boat ride across the Mediterranean. At all of those points he told us he probably should have died, many many people do. It makes me so sad to think about what they had to leave behind. One of our friends was a highly respected police officer in his home country, now he lives in a refugee camp and sells drugs to make enough money to send it back home to support his family. Refugees aren't allowed to work here, which means that a few do some shady things to earn money, but for the most part the refugees here are the nicest and most honest people I've met, its just so sad to see the piercing weight of their past in their eyes. You can see the fear of an uncertain future weigh heavy on a lot of them, they don't know if and where they'll get transferred to, if they'll get sent back, or if they'll be forced to go to a different country. My heart breaks for all these refugees, I've met a lot of kurds and syrians and turks and it's really sad because I heard about all these problems back home and it never really affected me or anyone I knew so of course I cared but it wasnt super real, now I've met someone who's whole village was killed and raided by terrorists, one who walks home to his village to find everyone dead. Someone else who voted for the wrong person at the wrong time and was forever made an enemy of the state, being hunted by his government. War is a terrible thing, I truly hate it. Never before was I ever faced with the reality of it all so plainly and bluntly as it is now faced before me. I reflect on these stories again and again and my heart breaks for all my friends. Every one of them has a story worthy to be told, and while we definitely share our message with all of them, a lot of times we simply just sit and listen, hear their story, and listen to them. Afterwards we go into our message, but I now cherish and savour their stories, they have changed me. Change is an odd thing because now I've seen so much of it. I feel changed, I hope I am changed. I see a lot of parts of me that weren't there before, traits or characteristics I'm trying to develop, and I'm working hard to purge others I don't like. I'm far far far far away from perfect, probably farther than most, but I am changing, I'm growing, and hopefully I'm becoming day by day a bit better than yesterday.
My time in mannheim is probably coming to an end. It is a bittersweet goodbye. I've spent 6 months in this city, a fourth of my mission, and I'm ready to leave and go on to my second area, but at the same time I will miss this city. It is sad that I didn't get a baptism here, but I feel confident in the fact that I have laboured with all my might, and I did everything I could in the work of the lord, we have a few people who hopefully will be baptized in the coming months, so that will be nice. The culture of the ward is beginning to slowly change, they now invite us a lot more often and they want to learn our friends, it's really awesome. It's sad that we've worked so hard to get tight with the ward and as soon as they're ready to help with the missionary work I have to leave haha, but that just means tons of dinner termins before I leave.
The work here is picking up, we are getting more and more busy with usually a couple of lessons each day, a big change from going out and finding the whole day. Elder hawkins and I are loving the pace of the work right now, and mannheim is ready to pop I'm telling you man. Wait another transfer and this place will be baptizing like a machine. I love my mission. I don't think I can put into words how much this mission has meant to me. I have written a personal creed (shoutout to george Albert smith) and I'm really committed to becoming a better person. When I first got out here I did a very blunt and open personal inventory of who I was, and I made some goals to be better. Now I've redone that, after 6 months, and oh man god is good. It is so amazing to know no matter where we are at or who we are god can change and transform us to be better. There is always room to grow (I have TONS of room haha).
I've been studying a lot about God, the nature of the atonement, and why the atonement was necessary. Why it was necessary that jesus christ had to suffer and die the way he did. I don't have the full answer and it will be an ewigkeit before I do, but someone explained something recently that really caught my ear. A member (saša pavelič, the best member of all time) was talking about how he loves talking to addicts because he truly understands how they feel, he used to be addicted to about everything you could get addicted to, and now hes clean. He can understand how they feel and he knows what they need better than most. For christ to be able to truly help us overcome our struggles he had to know them, he had to feel them. Christ was never an addict but he knows how it feels to be addicted, christ was never depressed but he knows how depression feels. Christ never lost a father but he knows how that feels. Through the magnificence and majesty of the atonement which I don't fully understand he felt everything, he felt all our pains and sorrows and tears, he felt our struggles and he felt our heartaches. But for the atonement to really have power it couldn't be just in all in one single moment where he took on ALL the pain at once it had to be personal. in the garden of gethsemane, he prayed to the father, and using his power as savior, he prayed for each and every one of us individually and felt our pain specifically and individually. There was a moment where his sole thoughts and feelings were over you. Perhaps he shed a drop of blood just for us. I don't know how it all works, but I know it was personal, eternal, and powerful. With his stripes we are healed.
Sorry yall this email is super long, also thanks for all of you who sent me a birthday email I love yall! Feels good to finally be 19 lol. I'm expecting a lot out of the future. Keep me in your prayers and pray I can find the strength to write another weekly next week. This is my last email from mannheim, city of miracles. Stay tuned to see where elder miner goes next!
Der dopeste Bursche,
Elder Miner
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