I have no idea how to describe this week, but, it was kinda heart
breaking, and amazing, and depressing and awesome all at the same time.
So, there was a baptism in Düsseldorf this Saturday for a kid in the primary. We invited tons of people to come, among them was the Family from Macedonia (they found out they don´t have to leave until the 4th of
July) The Baptism started and the parents of the Macedonian Family
showed up, the kids had to stay and take care of things, they have like
50 family members visiting them since they are leaving. Right after the
baptism, the wife and the husband came up to me in tears and asked if
they could be baptized right then also. I had to tell them no. Then
they asked if they could get baptized before they left to Macedonia, I
had to say no again. They both cried for a long time, and then went into the chapel for the confirmation of this kid. After the whole thing
was done, they were both feeling really sad. They had everything prepared
for them here; we offered to go with them to help them get married,
offered a program to help him quit smoking, and even came by every Sunday
to bring them to Church. The husband still has a problem with smoking,
they didn´t do anything to see what possibilities they had of getting
married, and they didn´t regularly make it to the Church meetings. So...
that was like way sad. And then, we went by to meet with them and help
them pack up their things. They had just gotten back from meeting with
a lawyer, and they found out they are getting no financial support
once they leave Germany. So, that means, as of the 4th of July, they
will be homeless, without any money, job, family, or friends. So, now
they are even more super stressed out, a family of 8 can´t just go live
on the street, so they have no idea what to do. The father has been
thinking about running away and staying illegal. We called up President
Schwartz to tell him what´s going on, and see if the Church can offer
any help, so... now I get to write a letter to the Area Presidency
explaining everything. Pretty crazy right? Anyway.... I really hope we
can find something out for this family, I feel like they´re a part of
my family now haha.
So, other than that, all of our investigators also told us they
don´t want to meet anymore haha. We had an amazing lesson with the
Family from Turkey, and the husband said he would be willing to be
baptized. All of them said they had had a great feeling in the church,
and one of the brothers said he feels a power when he reads in the Book
of Mormon. After we explained everything for baptism, the Husband was
good to go, but, then the wife said she would never let herself be
baptized and she has a problem with her husband or any of her children
being baptized. So, we told them they could come and see a baptism on
Saturday and then they could all pray together to ask if it was the
right thing to do. They all said they wanted to come. Then Friday
night they called up and spoke way super fast and said that they weren´t
going to be able to make it and hung up. We thought maybe they were
just busy, but, that´s not what it was. On Sunday we went by because
they didn´t make it to Church, the kids were playing outside and were
still way awesome, so, we thought it was probably no big deal, then,
when we walked upstairs the dad was not too polite and said that they
have no time anymore and shut the door on our faces. So... they´re
gone, then another family called us up and said that the Church is too
far away for them to ever convert or meet with us again (20 minutes
away) then someone else called us up and said we are too extreme and
then hung up. Then another Family moved. And then another one just
hangs up when we call. So..... it´s time to build up Düsseldorf again
haha.
We also had some great things happen. A while ago we found a girl
on the street that said she was atheist and that she could never join a
church because they are so corrupt, but decided to meet with us, we then
gave her over to the sisters and she decided she wants to be baptized,
and she asked me to baptize her =) So, on the 14th of July I´ll get to
baptized B, she came to Church on Sunday and told everyone she is
basically already a member and just went around talking to everyone
getting to know them. There is also another girl we found, I don´t know
if I told you about her, but we had been talking to her for a little
while about America and stuff, and then we told her about the Book of
Mormon and she started to cry and said she had prayed to find the
truth. Well, the sisters just started meeting with her, and apparently
she cried a ton and felt the spirit way strong when they told her about
the restoration. Today we also had some cool things happen, it´s p-day
so we aren´t even like talking to people on the street, but, we got 2
people's numbers in 20 minutes. We were waiting for a bus, and a guy
from England came up to us and said he had been to our Church before
and wants to learn more, so, he gave us his number and said to call
him. Then, right after that, a guy looked at my name tag way weird so I
asked if he had seen us before, and he told us that he got a blessing 10
years ago from 2 Elders in Munster. He said ever since then things have
been going way good for him. So, he gave us his number and address.
Pretty good way to start the week right?
So, things are still going good in Düsseldorf, sadly we lost a lot
of people, but... it happens, we´ll just go find some better ones haha.
Things are going great, thanks for all of your prayers!
Elder Collings
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