A Baptism

Cleaning the font

Baptism with Pepper



A Barbecue with some elders in our District


Hello Family!
    This week was basically amazing.  The baptism went Great with Pepper, well, that's not her actual name. Everything went very smooth and it was awesome.  Pepper actually caught a train at 4 in the morning to make it to her baptism, she was way super excited, we kept the phone by our bed just in case she needed to call because of fear or something weird like that, but, instead we got like 5 text messages during the night with her saying she couldn´t sleep because she was too excited haha.  I actually got to do the confirmation for her, it was awesome.  I had been helping Elder H. practice the Baptismal prayer all week, I assumed our Branch President would confirm her, but, he came up to me in sacrament meeting and said he wanted me to do it, so, I memorized the correct words in 5 minutes and it went great!  It was such a spiritual experience, and I don´t really know what else I can say about it haha.
    We also had a miracle happen this week, are you ready for it?  We set another Baptismal date for October 15th =)  At the baptism, we noticed this one guy there that we had never met before, his name is Steffan.  He had met with missionaries 6 years ago, and wanted to get baptized, but, his parents wouldn´t let him.  The missionaries stopped meeting with him, and shortly after, he stopped going to Church and lost contact with basically everyone.  Then, 3 years later, some missionaries started to meet with him again.  He wanted to get baptized, and right when he made that decision, he started having problems with his wife, they ended up getting a divorce, and with his work and schooling.  He was really stressed out and couldn´t meet with the missionaries.  The missionaries ended up dropping him as an investigator, and then nobody really heard from him again until this baptism.  One of our members logged onto Facebook right before the baptism, she told me she rarely gets on Facebook, but, for whatever reason she logged on.  Steffan started to talk to her, and she invited him to the Baptism with her.  He came and felt the spirit WAY strong.  After talking to him for about 5 minutes, I felt like we should set a baptismal date with him, right as we asked him if he wanted to be baptized, our mission President, President Schwartz just happened to come and stand by us haha.  He told us that he felt the spirit, that he always felt good when he came into the Church, and he said that nothing would make him happier than to join this Church.  Then President Schwartz gave his testimony and walked away and spread the word to our entire Ward haha.  As we were cleaning everything up, he told me that he wanted to be the next person baptized in  this ward, and then he went over and stared at the font.  IS THAT COOL OR WHAT!?
   So, we now have another baptismal date and he is super legit, and just like the other ones, he was found through Member missionary work, not through something we have done.  Kevin learned about the Church from his best friend, Andre´ through his best friend, Pepper through a blood drive, and then Steffan from a good friend.  Our transfer calls come this next week, and, like normal I really hope I can stay haha.  My branch President went up to President Schwartz and demanded that we stay, he said he doesn´t care how,  just make it happen.  So, I guess we´ll see what happens.  So far whenever it seems like an area has just started taking off I get transferred =( but, it´s not my work it´s the Lords.  By the way, I found out 2 of the investigators that Elder M and I found in Krefeld now have a baptismal date, one that Elder J and I found in Coburg has a baptismal date, and Massimo still has his baptismal date in Würzburg, but, he is having trouble with smoking. 
    Anyway, I am super happy and doing great!  Sorry to hear Conman had a rough week, and won´t be playing anymore football for a while, buuuut..... it happens haha, hope you enjoyed those enspiring words.  Thanks for all of you prayers and for everything you do for me!

Elder Collings

Basketball!!

Hello Family!
    This week was way awesome, just like every week, I really don´t know how else to start my letters, but, I think that works.  This week was way cool we worked hard, and were blessed with success, imagine how that works out haha.  But, basically, I changed a little bit of what I do, and things have been working better.  I will not lie, I was nervous every time we went into a lesson because I had no idea what Elder H would say.   I just stopped worrying about what he was going to say and just focused on what I could say to help these people, and, we have had more success.  This week we found 2 really cool investigators.  The first one is 17 years old.  His name is Rafaelo, and he comes from Romania.  He said that he has wanted to be baptized Christian for a really long time, but, his parents wont let him for some reason.  We sat down on a bench and taught him the restoration.  At the end he asked me what he could do to really know this was true, he didn´t know how to pray, he had never done it before.  We prayed with him on the bench in the park, after that, he waited for like 10 seconds, looked up and said that it felt good.  He already felt the spirit, and he really wants to pray for himself now.  We should be meeting with him for the second time today, and i´m pretty excited.
    The second guy is also young, he is 19.  I have no idea how to pronounce his name, so, he said it doesn´t matter, I can call him whatever I want haha.  He has told me a couple of times that I am his hero, he also called me an angel sent from God and he said he wanted to be just like me.  He has had a rough life, when he was 14 he made a mistake and basically every one in his high school made fun of him.  He then got a disease in his stomach and he was in a coma... except it isn´t a coma, he said it´s like a coma, (I really don´t know what it is) for 3 years.  He is healthy now, but, he doesn´t really have any friends, all of his old friends don´t want anything to do with him.  So, we doored in on him Sunday Night, as we were leaving, I saw that he had a basketball by the door.  I asked if he played, and he said that he wants to be in the NBA when he grows up.  I told him I really like to play ball too,  and I told him I´d invite him to come play at the Church sometime.  The next day was P-Day (We didn´t have time yesterday, that´s why I´m e-mailing today) and right in the middle of the day he called us up to see when we could play some basketball.  We went to his house, he lives across the street from us, and gave him an Albanian Book of Mormon, his Mom had asked for one because she can´t speak German or English, then she asked for a German one for her husband... and an English one for her Son.... anyway, we invited him to play basketball 6.30 the next morning (Today) He was there waiting for us outside our apartment, we jogged to the Church (yes I jogged haha) and played some basketball.... and I won 44-18 haha.  This guy is really cool, we are hoping his Mom and Dad will have more interest because he is pretty slow, he doesn´t have any mental disabilities, he is just a really slow learner, he thought of the Book of Mormon like a Genie lamp when he read the promise from Moroni haha, he asked if he could pray after and get himself a wife.  So, yeah, we´re looking forward to helping him come closer to Christ.
    This week.... starting on Wednesday, we decided we were going to give out as many Books of Mormon as we could.  Every time we talked to someone it was about the Book of Mormon, or quickly bringing the Book of Mormon into it.  From Wednesday to Sunday, we gave out 25 Books of Mormon, and on Wednesday we gave out 11.  Sometimes I kinda forget about how much good the Book of Mormon will do when we let it get out there, so, it makes me feel good knowing that I´m handing a lot more out.  This week we also talked to President Schwartz, Elder H wanted permission to buy a guitar and play it in his free time, and I wanted to ask if I could plan a time once a week for us to play basketball in the Church with anyone who wants to come, he said it was okay, so, we´re going to invite everyone now.  We´ve already got about 7 people that said they want to come, none of them are investigators or members, just people that we have talked to by the other hoops around town.
    So yeah, things are going well.  We have the baptism for Pepper this week,  we got it all planned out, we´re meeting with her every day until her baptism on Saturday.  She´s really excited, her aunt was just baptized last week... or maybe the week before, I´m not sure, but, her aunt said it was an amazing experience, and then sent us some marshmallows haha.  I´m way excited and looking forward to it!
    Anyway, that´s basically everything, things are going awesome, and I am happy =)
Elder Collings

News from Offenbach

First, some pictures. 

One of them is a picture of every companion I have had until Elder H, he wasn´t there for the picture

    The other is a picture of our old MTC group, we´re just missing the 2 Elders that went to Berlin
     It took a while, but, I found a place in Offenbach that actually looked pretty, so that´s the only pretty side of Offenbach haha

Hey Family!
    This week was way awesome, and I don´t really know where to begin, so, I´ll just start.  So, I wasn´t exactly sure what to do with Offenbach for a while.  Elder H. knew what he wanted to do, our Ward Mission Leader knew what he wanted to do, and I was really wondering what the Lord wanted done haha.  So, I decided to fast about it.  While I was fasting, we had a mission conference, and Elder Bednar showed up.  One of the Elders asked him what he did on his mission to become a disciple of Christ.  He told us that he already knew what he had to do, just like we already know what we have to do, he just decided to ask our Father in Heaven for the Strength to do it, and then he did it, and by doing it, he became a disciple of Christ.  As he told his little story to go along with it, I realized I already knew what had to be done with Offenbach; everything that I had already done in the 3 places I had already served.  So, that´s what I did.  I know that Elder H. is a good guy and everything... but he has some really weird ideas about missionary work, I was willing to try them at first.... but, now I'm leading him in another direction.  Sometimes Elder H. gets kinda upset, he hates finding time, but, I like it, and we don´t really have a lot of time to work with, so we did a LOT of it.  The week before, he always found something else to do, but, this time I told him it can all wait until P-Day, and we did end up finding time.  We ended up teaching over twice as many lessons as we did the week before, we found some way cool investigators, and I have a way cool story to go along with that.
    So, our District Leader told me a story of this other Elder that used to be in the mission.  Apparently his entire mission was spent going to areas that were not having success, turning them around, and then getting sent to a new place with no success, haha.  This Elder didn´t know what to do at first, and then President Ninnow told him to make phone calls, because making phone calls is still finding time and just as important as everything else.  When he said that, I couldn´t stop thinking about it.  I had our cell phone, I had organized the numbers into different categories, Investigators, Former Investigators, Members, Inactive members, Potential investigators, and then there were about 60 Numbers that we had no idea who they were.  So, that night when we ended the split, we still had about an hour and a half before the day ended, I decided we were going to start making phone calls.  Elder H. started cooking something, and I started going through the list of names.  We ended up calling 7 people that said they would still like to meet with us, and one lady that wants to get baptized =)  Her story is that 3 years ago, she met with the missionaries.  She already had member friends living in Sacramento, so she kinda knew a little of the Church, but not a lot.  The Missionaries met with her 2 times before she got sick and went to the hospital, and then the missionaries didn´t keep in contact.  Another set of missionaries decided to call her 2 years later, they met with her once, and at this time she had learned enough about the Church from her friends and the 2 visits from the other missionaries that she had started to think about being baptized, but then she had to move.  She lost contact with the missionaries again, but 2 weeks ago, she moved back.  When I called her, she was so happy, she told me right on the phone that she had wanted to call us, but didn´t know what our phone number was anymore.  She also told me that she had made up her mind and she wants to be baptized.  We still haven´t met with her, but we have an appointment with her in one week.  Pretty cool right!?
    The work is still going good in Offenbach =)  I will not lie, I am having trouble with my companion, he is a cool guy and everything, but, he is just really distracted with other things, and I really have to push to get him to do the more effective work, and make the better decisions.  I also am kinda afraid to be in lessons with him sometimes, I have no idea what he is going to say, he is very unpredictable.  We were visiting with a less active member, her husband and her son are both non members, Elder H. said that he wanted to give the spiritual thought.  I thought that was cool, so I let him do it.  He ended up reading the last bit of the last chapter in Psalms (I think it´s Psalms, whichever comes second, Psalms or Proverbs) this scripture talks about a Virtuous Woman, and what she is.  As he read it, Sister K looked so confused, and she looked like she didn´t know what to think, her husband looked about the same way... and I was wondering how I was going to bring the spirit back to a spiritual thought haha.  After he read it, he looked at Sister Klitz and said, "Sister K., you are a Virtuous woman."  There was an awkward moment in the room for like 15 seconds haha.  So, yeah, I could tell A LOT more stories, but, he really is a good guy, I just haven´t worked with anyone like him before, so I have to make some changes.
    Anyway, things are going great, thanks for everything that you do.  I´m happy and enjoying the work!
Elder Collings

New area, New companion, New address

 me eating like the most tasty bacon wrapped on a stick that I have ever eaten before

 We´ve got my last picture of Würzburg

 Elder H infront of a funky car

a picture of me infront of my new City

a picture of me and Elder H

Hello Family!


I am now in Offenbach with Elder H. This area 500% different from all of my other areas, it is a massive huge city, and everbody is Muslim. We have 2 investigators, and like 45 less active families in this ward. Elder H is very new on his mission, he just started his 3rd transfer and he is a really good missionary. He is not afraid to speak German, he might even say too much every now and then haha, and he wants to improve which is awesome. I have only been here about 2 days and one thing is sure, things have to change haha. They have been doing TONS of work with less active, and meeting with members about 4 times a week, which is way cool, but, all of these people that they are meeting with live over an hour a way. We basically need to use the time more effectively. These last couple of days have been the first days when I have come back to our apartment feeling like we we haven´t done a lot of work in a long time, we are outside, but, the days are poorly planned so we don´t get a lot done. Hopefully I can learn this area fast so I can help with our planning and make it a little more productive!

We do have a baptismal date in three weeks. This lady, Peppe, was found at a blood drive that the Church held. She had interest and wanted to learn more. They set a baptismal date with her over a month ago and then she disappeared. Apparently right before I got here they finally got contact with her. We have met with her 2 times since I got here, and she still wants to be baptized. We got her to come to Church for the very first time, and she loved it. After Church she talked to members for about 30 minutes. She told me that she believes the book of Mormon is the Word of God that that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. She has no problems with the Word of Wisdom which is way rare in Germany, and she seems pretty golden. Basically all that we really have to do with her is make sure she has a testimony. I think everything makes sense to her (She went to Oxford for school) and she says she feels warm inside when she meets with us, so, we´ll just help her on her way haha.

Other than that there´s not much to say. The couple of days I have been here has been riding our bike somewhere... Our bikes breaking half way.... Walking back, Elder H saying we have to fix them.... 30 minutes of fixing, riding back to where we want to work, bike breaks again..... repeat..... then going and waiting forever for a train.... But, today I told him the first thing we are doing is getting our bikes professionaly repaired, we are buying a map so he doesn´t need to come back to our Apartment to find out where to go, and I told him we will only be coming back to the apartment for Lunch, and then we aren´t coming back until 9. He´s a way cool guy and wants to work hard, he´s just new out here and doesn´t really know how the plan an effective day yet.

So yeah, that´s a little bit about the new area, all the missionaries out here call it Turk town because everyone is Turkish, but, I don´t care who´s here, the Lord prepares everyone, and they´re all my Brothers and Sisters =) By the way, I gave you the wrong address for my new apartment, it is



Elder Steve Collings

Glocken Gasse 40

63065

Offenback

But the whole Cornelius Str. address still works. That´s the mission office, and the Mission office is in my district now, so I think I can still get my mail there.

Anyway, thanks for everything, you guys are awesome. I´m glad you´re all having a blast, but, I´m having more fun =) thanks for the address!

Elder Collings