Woche 86- i hear wedding bells.....

Liebe Mitglieder und Freunde der Familie Bartholomew...

Sali!

This week has been a fast one. whoosh. But we survived! I will do my best to sum up the best points of the week...

Monday night we tried to take a book of mormon to a man in Romanian- couldnt find his house, but we ran into him on the street while we were looking for him! so we were able to give him the book! then he gave us his "corrected" address- which we still couldnt find... so we literally checked every single house on the street to find his name. we found it :)

Tuesday we did a Finding Day in Heilbronn- i was partnered up with Elder Geilman- we talked to like a million people next to the river. had a few really interesting conversations... the river was really pleasant though, with the autumn leaves falling everywhere. it made me grateful for the earth, and that im not serving in the middle of the desert somewhere!

That night was the first exchange of the week- i stayed with Elder Geilman in Heilbronn- and we taught Ny, our viatnamese investigator. AND OH THE DRAMA. im not even sure if i should write this in the letter. So i mentioned last week that she had prayed and had a special feeling about the book of mormon. Well, she told us this week...... she has been trying to have children for years now, and it has never worked. when she read the book of mormon and prayed, the special feeling she had, was that god was going to answer her prayer. and he did. She announced that she is pregnant! that kinda blew us off our feet- she said that was the answer to her prayer. wow- that has never happened before! but i guess well work with it! we are meeting with her again tonight, so hopefully we can explain the restoration well enough- my viatnamese isnt too good.....

Wednesday we taught Sch. Adam again- and she came to church on sunday! woot! we committed her to write down her testimony and keep it with her. she is progressing great! that night we went to the Zanders- i got to get up on the roof again and build another roof thingy... thats always fun! This week, we are going back to Zanders, and they invited our investigator Jan to come with for the "Tag der Deutscheneinheit!" (day of german unity) celebrating the day the wall fell. fun stuff!

Thursday was the WEDDING! Brigitte and Br. Trippel got married! and we were invited as special guests for the ceremony and the after party. they had SO MUCH FOOD ordered- too much. so we got to take some home. booya!

Friday and saturday was the second exchange- i got to go to Ludwigsburg to work with Elder Martinez. that was a fun day- we baked some cupcakes (they were possibly the worlds greatest i might add) and took them to a less active family. While we were walking i stoped some guy as he rode by on his bike and we gave him a book of mormon- he was a way cool dude. after he rode off again, Elder Martinez was way impressed that i stopped the guy on the bike haha but thats not the craziest thing ive done on my mission.... it only starts getting crazy when you start waving down cars and stuff. but ive only done that once. and they got really mad at me haha.

Sunday i gave a talk in church AND played a musical number with a member, and i blessed the sacrament. it felt a little like the "Elder Bartholomew" show- but im glad to help out. My talk was about preach my gospel- i committed all the members to get a copy and read it- like elder ballard said in the last general conference. we got a lot of member appointments scheduled for this week to start reading preach my gospel with the members! im hoping we can get some sparks going here!

Well that was the week! crazy stuff! and it just keeps getting better!

i love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew

Woche 85- stake conference and the answer to prayers

Liebe Familie!

The weeks just keep flying faster and faster and faster..... does anyone else think that the clocks are running quicker these days?

and youll have to excuse this email. i am typing on what might be the worlds stuppidest keyboard- so just excuse all typing failures. i cant speak proper english these days anyways- so im sure it will all just blend together.

As far as the progress of those mention in last weeks email... we met with pashk and robert on tuesday evening- both have kinda hit a stand still- Pashk especially. we have worked so long with him, and we dont know how to help him make progress. he was supposed to come with us to stake conference in stuttgart- but called just before the meeting to cancel because he didnt feel like leaving his house that day. i talked with him for atleast 45 min. on the phone trying to convince him to come with us- but he wouldnt do it. how frustrating! the meeting would have been perfect for him- but oh well. you cant force anyone in this world to partake of the gospel.

we werent able to meet with Jan, or Cicek or Nayde this week... but we have appointments set up for this week!

And with Nattha- still have had contact, but at stake conference i was able to talk to the member  who refered her in the first place- and he promised to call her and encourage her to meet with us again. so we are hoping to find a time this next week to meet with her!

and Brigitte- her and brother tripple spontaneously decided to get married THIS WEEK. so on thursday we are doing the wedding! and we made the special guest list! we are super excited for them, because that means they are planning on going to the temple in a year! yahoooo!

other interesting appointments this week.....

We met with a man named Herbert Krausse this week- we meet with him every 2-3 weeks. He is the nicest guy ever and cooks amazing food for us- he is also very strongly catholic and loves the bible. but we have interesting lessons. and Br. Kissling always come with us, and he is a bible scholar as well, so the discussions are always really intense. the decided topic of this meeting was the New and Everlasting covenant and discussed in the bible and D&C- i studied so many references to essentially prove that the covenant had been broken after the time of christ which neccesitated a restoration of the covenant in the latter days. but as we know- logical proofs never work in missionary work- so it was great when the member bore a way powerful testimony... who knows, maybe we got some cogs  turning!

we also met with a lady this week, her name is Ny! she is from Vietnam- she is a referall from an investigator in switzerland, and  we gave her a book of mormon two weeks ago and committed her to read and pray. to be precise, we committed her to read Moroni 10, then to start from the beginning. When we met with her this week, she had actually done EXACTLY what we asked her to do- she had read moroni 10 many times, and had prayed many many times. and she said she had a special feeling in her heart when she prayed! WOW! she still understands very very little- but we are going to teach her the restoration this tuesday and see what happens!

I also did an exchange this last week in Pforzheim- thats a beautiful city in the blakc forest- we worked so hard- talked to at least 10000000000 people- and we found a lady whose husband past away a year ago, and she told us she is dying of a  broken heart because she doesnt know if shell see him again. when we told her there was a way she got all excited and those elders should be going by this week. missionary work is awesome.

well my time has run out.

I love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew

Woche 84- busy busy busy... and rain.

Halllloooooooooooo!

Well, this past week has just FLOWN. we were really busy doing a lot of things. my head is kinda spinning a little bit ill be honest. But thats just the way we like it! no time to slow down just GO GO GO!

rather than give the play by play update, id rather just give the person for person update of the week-

Pashk- he was the main focus of our efforts this last week. he is the man from Kosovo. We worked really closely with him this last week with the branch president- the branch president has taken particular interest in Pashk and helping him change his life. We worked out with him a way to budget his money so that he can live and pay off his debts month for month- and its looking good! and we set the goal for the 18th of october as his baptism! we will have to see how that works- he wasnt able to make it to church this sunday- but we will keep working with him.

Robert- Robert is a new guy we found this week. He is from Sri Lanka- he has been in germany for 2 years. His situation is really tragic. There was a very large war in Sri Lanka between the government and a terrorist group- and during this time, Robert worked as a rescue driver- essentially every time they called for cease fire- he went in with a crew of people to pull out as many bodies as he could. during one of this times, he was kidnapped by the terrorist group for several weeks- when they released him, the goverment suspected him of actually BEING a part of the group. The group threatened to kill his family if he testified in court the real story against the terrorist group. this group also broke both his knees and his spine. So there is a court case going on against him, but he fled the country because both sides are threatening his life. But he had to leave behind a wife and three kids. In germany, he recieved surgery for his back and his knees, and although he is allowed to work, his medical condition wont allow it for another year or so. His biggest concern is the safety of his family in the meantime. The german government is still working out his papers- when he recieves allowance, the goverment will ship his family over to him and everything will be ok. The main problem now is just the waiting- while he waits here in safety, he is going crazy with worries. as he told us his story he broke down and just cried and cried. He is really traumatized not only because of his family, but because of his experiences in the war. He goes to a professional counselor once a week- but he was begging for our help in any way we could. So we taught him about faith and prayer- and the message of the gospel- that it brings peace. We felt strongly to promise him that if he would pray in faith, God would protect his family until they arrive in germany. So the whole thing is really hard, and everytime i think about what hes been through i just get a heavy heart- it reminds me how blessed ive been in my life.

Jan- Jan owns the used computer stuff store around the corner from our house. He is a way cool german guy- about 40. he learns slowly, but its so humble and open. we were able to teach him about baptism two weeks ago- and this week he told us that he has decided to be baptised again! and he promised he would do it before i leave back to america- we are really good friends- so we are excited about that! we just need to work on helping him understnad what that actually means! He still struggles with praying but he is really trying to learn! so, i dont know when it will work out exactly- but he is willing to work towards that- and he has made the decision for himself!

Cicek and Nayde- they are the turkish couple that has been coming to church every week for the last few months. really every week! they havent missed once since we started teaching them! the language barrier is still a big problem- but the branch president is working with them to that _Nayde can be baptised and become a christian!

Nattha- we have had very little contact to Nattha recently- since she moved she has been having a really hard time- she texted us this week and said she needs space. we reminded her about the story of the tree of life- that the mist of darkness always comes before we make it to the tree and that we need to press forward. she recommitted herself to trying- but she needs time. Its hard to understand exactly what shes going through, but we need to pray for her!

Br. Kästle and S. Adam and Br. Ruppel- these are three less actives that we are really working a lot with- all have made lots of progress at coming back to church in the last few weeks- they all couldnt make it on sunday, but have all committed to coming next week!

Brigitte- we have been doing the new convert lessons with her and she is just lovely. she is the nicest lady. and she told us this week that her and Br. Trippel are going to get married soon! and we made the guest list at the wedding! then they are already planning in a year to get sealed in the temple- she is starting the temple prep class soon!

We are really blest and busy here. but its been raining a lot lately. like every day. Just goes to show that we can just keep pressing forward despite the circumstances we are in!

I love you all!

adventure is out there!

Elder Bartholomew

Woche 83- new Distict Leader!

Liebe Familie!

it is a lovely autumn morning here in Germany- i hope that the weather is treating you nice back home as well :) This has to be my favorite time of year- well, christmas is pretty great too... but for now well just say they are both my favorites. both are good. one is just a little more... favorite :) 

This week we got the next transfer call! Im staying in Heilbronn for a forth transfer- but ive been called as the new District Leader! That means ill be leading the district meetings every week, and ill need to do exchanges with all the elders in the district- thats 8 elders. plus the zoneleaders- so ill be moving around alot this transfer! it should be an adventure!

I cant believe im moving into my 14th transfer.... it seems like such a big number- but i still feel young and alive inside- not ready to die haha. i have a feeling that my last three transfers are going to be a BLAST!

As far as the activities and progresses of the last week...

tuesday morning, we were riding a bus to the church- when suddenly i spied PASHK walking on the side of the road- hes an old investigator that we lost contact with a couple weeks ago- so we jumped out of the bus and chased him down. Turns out he just lost his cell phone- we were able to meet with him and bring him to church on sunday. we watched the restoration film with him finally and he said afterwards- "I feel like electricity is flowing through my arms. That image will stay in my heart forever." WOW! We talked a little about baptism- if he can quit smoking we could have a baptism soon!

Plus, another interesting event of the week- we did a POWER-exchagne with Pforzheim this week- that means instead of one companionship working in one area and the other going to the other- the four of us just staying in Pforzheim and TORE IT UP! I literally feel like we talked to 10000000 people that day- but we came home victorious at the end and ate a mash potatoe feast!

Well, my time is running out quickly, but those are the most important updates!

I love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew

Woche 82- and we press on!

Liebe Familie,

wie gehts?!

Well, my time is shortened this week unfortunately- so i will just give a short record of the most important updates of the week.

Nattha- SO i didnt mention her last week because she had actually mysteriously dissapeared and we werent sure what to do. BUT this is what happened: She was living with her boyfriend we discovered, so we taught her about chastity and committed her to live it- so she confronted her Boyfriend and he kicked her out! So she was kinda in an emotional wreck and moved back in with her parents. So thats why we didnt hear from her for a few days- but when we finally talked she said "I know what God needs me to do, and i need to do it!" wow she has so much faith  its amazing! But she went on a vacation to ease the emotional pain so when she gets back we can move on. so the baptism is postponed until further notice.

Br. Kästle- SO remember that less active we were visiting? the one who made all the lame excuses? So, we have still been meeting with him regularly, and this last week we showed up and something was completely different about him. He was just glowing. and he played us this song he had prepared on the keyboard- and then just announced he was coming to church. the spirit was so strong and he was crying and i was crying- and he just said it was time for him to come back and he was willing to leave the problems of the past behind him and move on. AND HE CAME! he was there and he participated and hes coming back! he gave me a little card at our lesson- it just said thank you on it. i will always keep that to remember. Such a huge miracle. Lost sheep return to the fold!

Not to mention- Sch. Adam, another less active we visit ALSO came to church this sunday!

So it was pretty cool! 

Thats all i have time for. But i love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew

Woche 80- emailing on a tuesday...

Liebe Familie! 

You may be wondering why i am emailing on a tuesday! its because we had interviews with President Kohler yesterday! so we had to move everything around and now im emailing today. i guess i works haha. the interveiw went well- President Kohler is a lot different that President Miles- President Miles was very official, he had a timer in every interview set to exactly 7 minutes- very official in everything. he also had a very special way with words- he had a way of getting to the point and drilling it into your head in a way that you walk out feeling kinda like you got the wind knocked out of you- but still feeling hopeful about things. President Kohler is very relaxed- its obvious hes still figuring things out- but he was very relatable- just accepting his role as a helper in the work, trying to fit our needs. I really like him a lot! I have had two STELLAR presidents on my mission! Im not sure how we got so lucky! 

while we were in stuttgart we took a walk down Königstraße (the main street of stuttgart) and i found the only Lederhosen shop in this whole area pretty much- because lederhosen is typically a austrian-bavarian thing. But im not sure if Ill be going back to bavaria or austria on my mission and my time is running out, so im looking into other options haha. They had great qualtiy and good prices- but they closed right after we got there. next time! 

This last week was really really good. Unfortunately things have kinda stagnated a little bit- and by that i mean we taught a lot- but our week pretty much looked identical to the previous week- we met with all of the same people and no one has made noticable progress it seems.... plus we are struggling to find new people. But Nattha is acutally progressing great! she didnt come to church again (noooo!) because her mother was celebratin her birthday according to Budhist tradtion- which had to happen on sunday and required a whole day ceremony... oh well. we taught about the plan of salvation to her and her friend Ken (the one that she brings along to the lessons) and they both LOVED it! they really soaked it in and opened up about their lives- kinda relating that they can recognize the purpose in all he trials they have had. it was really awesome! 

we also met with Herr Krausse this week (he is very catholic but believes on the book of mormon? im not sure how that works but it does) but we worked our way through Jacob 5 together discussing all the symbolisms- trying to explain how it points to the apostasy- but he couldnt see it. he felt like it only ment that judaism grew old. frustrating haha.

In other news, the weather has really gotten chilly this last week. people are really feeling like autumn is here- which is strange for mid august... im still wearing short sleeve shirts as long as i can haha. all the leaves are beginning to change a little bit... and the grapes are getting ripe for harvest. its expected to jump back up in september for a few weeks to pay back for this weird cold front. well see what happens! 

I wish everyone good luck who is returning to school this week- and those starting college soon. and i think i know some people getting married in the coming weeks too- haha life moves on! i guess thats just the way it is! 

I love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew

Woche 79- summer is slowly drifting away...

Liebe Familie,

i just thought i'd try starting with something poetic in the title... basically it just means that i have noticed a striking difference in the meteorlogical patterns and the suns position in the sky- signifying a move in to autumn. very interesting. but i dont mind- summer has been way too hot anyways haha i gladly welcome in the brisk autumn weather.

this week was AWESOME. Elder Robertson and I have TORN IT UP. Im really happy to be working here with him- this has got to be one of the hottest areas of the mission right now! We have been seeing tons of miracles. I just wanna write about the progress of some people we have been teaching:

Nattha: so shes the 22 girl from Thailand- she is SO COOl. one of the best investigators i have taught on my mission. she was in church last sunday, and we met with her this week- she brought a friend along to introduce him to us so he could here too! We asked her about how her reading in the book of mormon is going- she said its hard to understand- so she had downloaded and app in her phone that shows a little video about every chapter in the book of mormon, and she watches it as she reads! She is so cool! Plus, she told us that she had a dream this last week- in the dream, christ and the prophet came to her on a path. christ reached out his hand and called her by name and said "are you ready to follow me" so she took his hand and followed them! WOW. she is so spiritual. this is one of the coolest people ive taught so far. amazing. unfortunatley she had family over on sunday and couldnt come to church. but she is still doing great!

Desuja and Goby: these are two indien men that we are teaching- we speak english with them but they struggle to understnad sometimes. we are working on organizing a skype lesson of somekind so they can be taught in Hindi. But this week they called us and asked to meet- and we had an amazingly spiritual lesson and we both felt that they were truly begginning to understand the restoration. and they both committed to pray about it!

Jan: Jan is a 45 year old guy- he owns a used electronics shop. He is a genuinely interested guy who learns at a very slow rate. but he is so nice and really wants to learn. this week we taught him about the plan of salvation- we had to go through it a few times with pictures and we think hes grasping it. the lesson ended when he said "ok i get it. our goal is to end up in the sun." haha yes. our goal is to end up in the sun.

Brother Engler: we also visited a less active member named brother engler and he let us in. the room was small and filled with smoke and hairy dog. and he basically complained about the situation of the world for an hour and how it robbed him of his faith. poor guy is really depressed- but he does want us to bring him the book of mormon on CD- he feels like that is his hope to find hope!

Thats just a few of the people we are teaching that you can pray for. In the between times we are doing many many many things that i dont really have time to tell you about. basically we are just happily working and staying busy. its jsut great to be a missionary! 

I love you all!

Adventure is out there!
Elder Bartholomew