Woche 76- time for an ADVENTURE!

Liebe Familie,

Wow how the times are going- i was reading in my Journal and a year ago this week was when i got Elder Parkinson as my companion, back in St. Pölten! can you believe its been so long! I lot of stuff has happened, but whats important, is that the work has moved forward, and i feel like im a better man and missionary now than i was then. in the grand scheme of things, its all about progression- and that progression can be measured in many ways!

This week was WILD. I wish i could describe everything that happened, but time doenst allow such luxuries. I would rather talk about some of the people we are teaching. It suffices me to say, that basically every day this week, our "main plan" for the day would fall through suddenly and spectacularly- and we would need to quickly improvise a plan to use our time effectivley despite the set back. I cant even count how many times this week i said to elder rozan "well elder, lets go have an adventure!"- but the testimony of it all, is that the Lord is guiding and steering this work. He has taught me that He is truly in command of the ship. Every time our plan would collapse, miraculously people would come into our path that we could teach, and new opportunities would be available. Its incredible! It really built our testimony of being open to follow the spirit to see what the Lords plan for his work is! 

Now, a few of the people we are teaching-

Br. Kästle, a less active member. So, we visited him again, because he got scared and called and didnt want us to meet anymore, but we convinved him to let us come again. So we went and taught him about prayer- because we felt prompted that THAT is what he needs. and we got to the point that he never really prayed in his life to know if the church was true- he had just accepted it before because it felt good. But he left the lesson really determined to find an answer for himself! 

Desuja- he is a man from India- we finally got contact with him this last week, and taught him again. It turns out he has been meeting with Jehovas Witnesses and thats why he hasnt been to church yet... we committed him to come to church though (next week, he was on vacation this week)

Cicek and Nida- ok this is the couple i talked about last week. Cicek is from Turkey, Nida is from Bulgaria. Cicek is christian and Nida is muslim- but she decided to be become a christian, and we met her on the street the next day. she asked us if she could be baptised ASAP. So- we obviously wanted to help her! The adventure has been that she doesnt speak german- but Cicek does. But he doesnt really like to translate for her. hes the kinda guy who only speaks "boss to boss" and hes the boss. We kinda have the problem that when we go to teach them, he sends Nida into the other room, and wants us to explain it to him, even though he currently has no intentions of being baptised. Its a struggle haha. But this week he have organized a Skype lesson with an Elder That speaks bulgarian that can explain it to her alittle better. its a work in progress.

We also recieved two member referals this last week that we should meet with this week- one is a 22 year old girl who seems GOLDEN. she went to church in Stuttgart last week, and Loved it and lives in our area! So we'll see how that progresses!

Well, thats all folks! I love you all and am grateful for your prayers! This week is transfers, so pray that Elder Rozan stays with me because we are working really well together!

I lvoe you all!

adventure is out there!

Elder Bartholomew