Letter #71 - Love all around! Where is Love? The LOVE? The LOOOVE? Where is the Love? *Black Eyed Peas Copyright*

This week was just a blast. A blast of emotion, hard work, fun, drama, all coming together. It would definitely knock you off your feet, that is for sure. But this week, I learned a lot. On Dienstag, we met with the Stake President's wife. We had a wondeful feast with her, shared the Christmas spirit, and showed the new video that the church has come out with (WATCH THAT. It's so great. I've already seen it in 5 languages and I don't even KNOW how many times). Then, we got to have a quick lesson with Silvi. It's great to see her progressing toward her baptism on the 20th. You just look in her eyes and you can tell she wants it. :) Love it.

We then had a wonderful late night of making stuffing and planning for Zone Training the next day. :) Oh the stress and anticipation. Love it. :)

Mittwoch [Wednesday], Zone Training happened. It wasn't as good as the last one, as we didn't have too much time to prepare. But, it was a great time with the Zone. Oh, I just LOVE Christmas time as a missionary. We got the whole Zone excited for it, and are super excited to see the miracles that are going to happen. I then went on a split with Elder Schmidt, in Mannheim. He is German, has been here for awhile, and I love him. What a fantastic Elder who works hard. We had a great time talking in German. It feels GREAT when you're where you are suppose to be, and the spirit testifies to you that you are doing what you're suppose to be doing. Love it. :)

Actually, I want to pause from the weekly bericht [report] and just give some station identification for the Spirit. The Spirit testified so strongly, that I am here where I am suppose to be. This week was hard. A lot of negativity, appointments falling through, being yelled at in your face, and the rejections. But, I was walking along a path, in this beautiful Heidelberg altstadt [old town]. It was cloudy and looking like it was going to rain. I was thinking about what I was doing, running to the church, grabbing a box of Book of Mormons, running it out to someone in our Zone (because they needed it badly), and just being absolutely pooped. I was dead tired. No energy. I felt like I needed a rest. But then, the Spirit came into my heart. It testified so strongly that what I am doing, is needed. That the Savior of the World gave it ALL, and so must I. I love it.

Anyway, back to the story. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Ha. It went crazy. We had an appointment with a member, which fell through because they got sick. They are actually from Utah. The dad taught American Heritage. He is the tightest guy in the world. So last minute, we had a makeshift Thanksgiving party with our Ward Mission Leader and his wife. It was AWESOME. Then, we had Ward Council with the Spanish Branch (No idea what went down other than we are now teaching Spanish people German :)). We then had another feast at Institut. :) LOVE IT!

Well, the highlight of the week, was I got to go on a split with Elder Emery. We had a blast. We were at a street display in Mannheim, then went to Heidelberg and played basketball with some members (Bruder Taylor, American Heritage). It was FUN!!! All the stress just went swoosh as I played. Ha. We had a good time playing. :) I remember playing against Elder Emery now. Let's just say, I am really excited for college ball. :) We had a great split. Then, we all met up at a members house that night, with a TON of people, for a massive thanksgiving feast. HUGE. SO MUCH FOOD. And the best part is, we taught 3 people the 1st lesson, gave 3 copies of the Book of Mormon out, and got a new investigator. It was sooo COOL. Loved it. :)

The Sisters had a baptism on Sunday!!! It was a crazy day. Fay slept through a bunch of alarms, and had to get a ride to church. That's just the really watered down version of all that happened. But, it was such a legit great time. :) She gave her testimony at the end. You could just see the way the Gospel has blessed her life already. Fay is literally like a sister to us. It's great. Love it. :)

I decided to add "Love it!" to the end of all my paragraphs today because this week, I had the thought: the more we love, the more effort we put in to whatever we want to accomplish, the greater the joy or the disappointment will be. I know, all missionary work has to come from the heart. You can't go out finding, teaching, and baptizing to just get stats. You won't stay disciplined, and you won't stay diligent. But when you put your whole heart into this work, you see the many wonderful blessings. The capacity for you to love overwhelms you and lifts you up, and helps you to soar. :) Love you all, and I am excited for this wonderful time of year. :)

Mit großem liebe [with great love],

ELDER MAYNE

Welcome to Heidelberg :)