September 9, 2013

Hello!

Things here are going really well! I arrived safely here in Minden. It's a really cool city, and it has history! I'm not exactly sure on all of it, but I know that the name Minden was originally 'MIN-DIN' which stood for 'mein-dein' (Mine-yours). Some kind of a treaty or something :) haha. It's cool. The city is decently sized, and has a decent amount of people. I like it :) It's enough people that we see the same people every now and then, but also enough that we don't see the same people every day. A good balance.

The ward here is pretty small, we had like 30-40 members at church on Sunday. The ward is small, but they are active. There's going to be a baptism from a part-member family on the 21st of September! woohoo! It's so cool. They just need help quitting smoking. They'll make it though. They're a great family with two kids, and they are going to do great. They already have the goal of being sealed in the temple.

There are a lot of investigators here. It's a very cool area. It seems like people here are very friendly and open. It's great. When I say 'Hallo' to random people on the street, they smile back and say hello! It's wonderful. We will have a lot of success here.

I'm back to being a district leader again, and it has been such a good thing for me to have the last 2 transfers as a normal missionary. I was in a routine and it wasn't a good thing. I had stopped really planning and praying for inspiration for district meetings, but now I have a new perspective on everything. I see how much of a difference I can make. We have a small district (just 4 missionaries), but it's going to be a lot of fun. and because I'm in leadership again, I'm going to have a few trips, a couple times over to Hannover, and one trip up to Hamburg. I love those places, it's going to be great. We have some really good zone leaders here. I'm glad to be working with them, and excited to go on exchanges with them.

I'm so far out of the loop, and so far out of real life that it's actually pretty difficult for me to put myself in a situation back in America. Strange. I love German so much! This last week I have been speaking almost exclusively German. It's an awesome language. Anywhooo... Yeah it's strange thinking about how I would deal with problems at home. I just know that reading the scriptures daily has helped me so much.... well and it's more than just reading, really studying the scriptures. It has been great. I have so much more Godly guidance in my life. I feel the spirit so much more. I don't know how I lived without it. It's just so... nice. so pleasant. I'm going to be one of those weird return missionaries that won't be able to watch Batman because it's too violent for me... haha! ahh man. It will be great.

I love you! I hope that everything is going well at home. You can make it!

Elder Braden Thorkelson