Letter #32 - 2nd week here in the Big Erlangen!

Ha! What an interesting week. Germans are definitely interesting, but i love them. At the moment, there is a carnival going on, and people are going crazy. It's basically like Halloween. You dress up and what not, but you just party. So, obviously missionaries are kind of excluded from this. :) We are banned basically in other areas just in case something happens. So not too much has happened this week, because we can't do too much. But trost dem, stuff happened this week and I loved it. :) So...

Tuesday:
Met with our investigator, Tom, the 15 year old who loves basketball. We had a fantastic meeting with him. We talked about Prayer, and he said he would start praying at home! We have a great relationship with him, and we love him.

Mittwoch:
Not too much happened. :)

Donnerstag:
Interesting day, we had a split with the other Erlangen Elders. I went with Elder Stout, who is a great guy. We had a great day planned out, and then found out from a text from the APs about the carnival, that we couldn't do any of it really, ha. So, we had a great meeting with this sweet old lady in our ward, Schwester Winter and had a classic missionary moment. We stuffed our faces with food, it was so rough. But, so good at the same time (the missionary life). :)

Fritag:
Helped a member in our ward move a couch up to the 4th floor in an apartment building. :) Then had sport abend which is always great. Tom came and we had a good lesson about the commandments and what not. We finished the day with weekly planning. :)

Saturday:
Did some service in Nürnberg for our Youth in the stake. :) It was so fun. They planned the activity where you go on a plane ride, and then you crash and then you go to the 3 kingdoms of glory and what not (course it was planned by an american). It was funny, because they would speak in English and then in German so everyone could understand. It's definitely interesting. :) I got to be the photographer and it was super fun. :)

Sunday:
Finally, got to meet the members in the ward!! It was so great, and i am excited to work with them. There's a lot of old ones, but a lot of younger ones too. So, it's a good balance. We went to a family, the Molnars, and had a HUGE lunch with them. He served a mission too, and knows missionaries can't deny food. So, he takes advantage of that. :) This family is awesome. He has a son serving in Italy right now, which is super cool. :)

This week, sorry, was not super exciting. :) But, what I learned is that really, the Lord CAN make us so happy. He has given us commandments to bless us, not to make us sad or restricted. He really wants the best for us. If we strive to just simply WANT to follow his commandments, he will bless us in remarkable ways. I love the Mormon message, "The Will of God." It really is so true and helps us be humble and recognize His significance in our life. :) I love everything about my mission. The thing that I love the most, is the opportunity to just help people. I want everyone to know that I really do care about you - no matter what our past is or even if we have a past. I know that the Lord, He has a plan for you. If we simply just trust in Him, using Christ´s Atonement to help us live up to the full potential he has for us, we will reach the goals we set for ourselves. We will be happier than we have ever been. This is what I testify to and believe, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Mayne


LOVE YOU ALL!!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! Sorry this week is boring, ha. It'll be better next week. Promise. :)