New Companionships

Hello Family!
    Well.... this was definitely the most interesting week so far.  So
basically Elder S. is home now =\ 

He left, and then I got a new companion, 

Elder Z.  Elder Z is German, but he is called to
serve in Ukraine.  He has some Visa Problems, so he is staying with me
until Wednesday.  And then on Wednesday I need another new companion,
but nobody knows who.  I am most likely going to have to be split
between 4 different companionships until transfers, working in my area
and their area.  It will definitely be fun haha.

Getting baptized on Dec 31st!

 I put another picture up of our baptismal date, Hanich.  He is the
one that didn´t believe in God, but now he does.  He is way awesome,
we had a Christmas party on Saturday, and he came and played his 

guitar for the entire Ward.  The Ward really loves him, and he hasn't yet
missed a Sunday since we  met him, so we are super excited for him.
So, for Chritmas calls, I have no idea what my schedule is going to be
like, so, I think the best thing would be if you called up on
Christmas Eve.  So, I would just be waking up Christmas morning, it
would be before we have to do anything so, since I don´t know the
schedule I think that would be best.  If you called at like 9.00 your
time in the Evening it would be 5.00 here in Germany.  I´ll be able to
Check my e-mail another time before Christmas, but for now that is the
plan haha. 

    So, this week I got to go to the temple, it was super awesome, and
we also had a huge concert.  All of the missionaries had a mission
choir and we sang in front of a huge group of people, it was awesome.
Afterwards a bunch of other people sang some stuff, and then all the
missionaries gave people Book of Mormons and other free stuff.  In
like 5 minutes I had given out 10 Book of Mormons and like 20 DVDs, it
was incredible!
   Well, there was a couple of other things that happened, but, I can
tell you about it on Christmas haha, talk to you later!
 
Elder Collings

God guides us through life

Hello Family!
    This week was another week of miracles and awesomeness and stuff
=)  So, I can´t remember if I told you about Rudolf H, but,
basically he is an 82 year old Croatian who didn´t beleive in God.  He
has been through a lot of wars and literally seen his entire family
get shot and his entire home town get lined up and gunned down.  He
said that if we went through what he went through we would know that
there was no God.  Well..... He beleives in God now and is getting
baptized in 2 weeks =)  We got him to Pray and read in the Book of
Mormon.   He told us that whenever he prayed he started to feel
important.  Then, one night, he said after he prayed everything was
very clear; he said he could look back on his life and see how God had
saved him and guided him through all of the terrible experiences that
he went through.  He said he now knows that there is a God.  After he
had that amazing experience, he went to bed, while he was sleeping, he
had a dream, guess what he dreamt about?  Baptism =)  He said that in
his dream I baptized him, so, now he wants to get baptized.  He is
getting baptized on the 31st of December, we´re way super pumped.
    This week we also had an AMAZING lesson with Wolfgang.  We had the
entire branch Presidency with us.  We ended up committing him to get
baptized this Saturday and gave him a blessing so that he could
accomplish it.  In the blessing, he was promised that if he didn´t
lose track of his goal for baptism, read and pray, he would have no
desire to smoke and he would be able to be baptized.  He told us he
was going to make it this time.... Then the next morning he had
received a bill in the mail he wasn´t expecting and it was too
stressfull for him so he smoked almost the entire day......  I just
want him to get baptized already haha.  One of these days he will do
it... but, it won´t be this Saturday =(
    Other than that, most of the other people we are meeting with are
the same.  My companion decided that he wants to go home.   We´ve been
seeing so many miracles, I can´t beleive he wants to go.  Anyway, he
is leaving on either Wednesday or Thursday.     This is the
Lord´s work, and we are still seeing miracles.  Thanks for everything
you do for me!
 
Elder Collings
 

Basically Awesome Week

Hello Family!
    This week was basically awesome!  We are really rocking the
Offenbach area with all sorts of righteousness and stuff =)  We got
more than one investigator to come to Church for the first time in my
entire mission haha, we had 4 =)  We´ve got about 3 people that are
progressing really well right now and we are super excited to keep
working with them and help them come unto Christ.  We still have
contact with Wolfgang, he still calls me his Holy Godsent Messenger
haha, and he know he needs to be baptized, but..... he´s going through
a way hard time.  He has cancer, and just started a new treatment for
it, he has been sick and in bed the last week and a half, he still is
smoking and he is going downhill pretty fast.  He keeps telling us
that he knows he needs to be baptized, and then he always says "But, I
need to wait until I get everything in order before I do it."  And
yeah... he has slowly been going downhill since then, but, he´ll come
back =)
   We had like 3 super awesome lessons this week, one with Dr.
H, one with Jad, and one with Hanich, and, all of them made it
to Church =)  Dr. H started asking a lot about baptism, and we
ended up showing him the baptismal font, he then said he wanted to
prepare for baptism, again haha.  So, we're helping him to quit
smoking, Jad is born and raised Muslim, but knows that it is not the
right truth, so, he´s looking for it.  He said that no matter what
question he asks, we always seem to have an answer for him that makes
sense, even if it´s not the answer that he wants.  He made it to
Church and all he could say was that it feels good.  Hanich still
doesn´t believe that there is a God, but, he said that if there was a
God and if there was a true Church, it would definitely be this
church.  He then said, I hope there is a God, and I hope you two can
help me find him because I need something in my life.  Those are
always good words to hear haha.  He came to Church, he can´t hear a
word in Sacrament meeting because he´s almost deaf, but, he likes the
feeling in the Church, so he comes and just reads in the Book of
Mormon the whole time.
    Things are going great in Offenbach, I´m super happy and doing
well, thanks for everything you do for me, my camera is 100% broken now
just so you know.  It has slowly gotten worse and worse and now it
just doesn´t even work, so.... I´d like to buy another one haha, mind
giving me a budget?  Anyways, have an awesome week!
 
Elder Collings

A huge teaching pool

Hello Family!
    This week was basically super awesome just like every other week
=)  We had a zone conference, and the area President, President
Kopishke really stressed finding and asking inspired questions.  He
invited us at the beginning of the meeting to write down personal
questions on a piece of paper and then he said if we really tried to
focus on these questions that the Holy Ghost would reveal the answers
through the meeting.  Basically the meeting was awesome and he was
right haha.  So, we decided to put that to practice and really focus
on individuals and invite them to do awesome stuff like that.  We
ended up finding 4 new investigators this week.  We have such a huge
teaching pool now, it´s amazing to see how much this area has changed.
    Its been fun working with Elder S, his German is really
good and getting better every day, I can tell he is feeling more and
more confident as he speaks to me in German.  Thanks for sending that
package, I actually got it on Wednesday and I already opened
it... but you can send another if you want me to open it for Christmas
haha.
    Well, things are going great, thanks for all of your love and support!
Elder Collings

New companion

Hello Family!
    This week was the best week I´ve had in a long time haha.  On
Tuesday, I got to go and stay in a super nice hotel with all of the
new missionaries, and then the next morning, I got my new companion,
Elder S.  He´s really awesome, and his German is very good.
He´s working really hard, and we´re going to have a ton of success
this transfer.  Basically when we got to Offenbach Wednesday evening,
we hadn´t taught many lessons, and didn´t really have any lessons
planned out, I was kinda bummed that he wasn´t going to have the
opportunity to teach much his first week, but, in 2 days we ended up
having 9 lessons and finding 2 new investigators so things turned out
really well =)
    It´s been pretty cool training, I remember my trainer and how I
learned so much from his example and how he worked, a lot of what I
did was influenced by what he did.  I have been trying to be a good
example for Elder S so that he knows how to work hard =)  He is
a little shy and doesn´t like talking to people on the street, but....
he´s going to do it haha.  I already had him take the lead in 2 of our
lessons.  I can tell he doesn´t really like how I am giving him so
much to do, but, he is fully capable of it and it is stretching his
abilities making him basically the best missionary in the world haha.
    I´m doing great and really enjoying the work, we´ve got a TON of
lessons set up this week, and I´m really excited to meet with some of
these people. We´re lookin´ to have a white Christmas in Offenbach =)
    Thanks for everything you do for me, I´ll
probably be spending a little money this week on winter clothes, it
hasn´t even snowed yet and I am really cold when I go outside haha.
Elder Collings

Trainer

Hello Family!
    This week was pretty dang awesome, this was the first week this
transfer when most of our lessons went through, every other week we
had atleast 7 fallen out appointments, this week, only 3 =)  We got
our transfer calls this week, Elder H will be going to Duisburg,
it is right by Krefeld, my first area, and I will be staying in
Offenbach, and I am training.  Isn´t that crazy?  It seemed like
yesterday I was trained by Elder M haha.  We are expecting a lot
of miracles this next transfer, I´m really excited to get out and do
some awesome work.  Elder H has been here for 4 transfers, this
was his first area, and he is pretty nervous to be transferred for the
first time.   But, I am
way excited to train, I´m terrible at teaching stuff, so, I don´t know
how I am going to teach German grammar... I just know it, I don´t know
how to explain why it is the way it is.... it just is that way.  I
guess I better learn how to teach it.
    Wolfgang is still doing good and wants to be baptized, he still
has a probem with smoking...  I am really excited for him for once he
finally makes it and quits smoking.  He is down to like 2 a day, on
Sunday, he only smoked 3/4 of a Cigarette, then we knocked on his door
and threw it out the window haha.  Anyway, I don´t really have a lot
of time, I´m taking Elder H by a bunch of the families today to
say goodbye, so we gotta go fast.
    Thanks for everything you do for me, I´m doing great!
Elder Collings

A Visit from President Uchtdorf

Hello Family!
    This week was really awesome, guess who decided to come to
Offenbach?  President Uchtdorf =)  It was way cool to hear him speak
in German, afterwards he took the time to give everyone a handshake,
all 500+ people.  It was so cool, and he knew a bunch of the people
right by me personally, so, he gave them a hug, and I just happened to
be in the way, so, he basically got on top of me to hug his friends. I
felt more loved than them all haha. 

This week I also got to interview
someone for baptism, his name is Erik A.  He talks SO much!
Basically every question in the interview had a 30 minute answer to
it.  He was way awesome, and had a solid testimony, he just got
baptized on Saturday.  When he came up out of the water, he looked
around and then smiled SO big, it was awesome.  I talked to him
afterwards, and he couldn´t explain what he had felt, he just said
that it was right. 

Wolfgang also made it to the baptism, he said he
just wanted to jump into the water right then and there to get
baptized haha, he´s trying so hard to quit smoking, we actually had to
move his baptismal date back because he´s having troubles with it.
Hopefully I can stay and see him get baptized, we get our transfer
calls this Saturday, I´ve never stayed anywhere for more than 2
transfers, so.... this could be a first =)

    This week also had more fallen out appointments than I have ever
seen before.  Basically we planned out the most epic week ever, we
were expecting around 23 lessons.  I would like you to know, that 23
lessons is a lot haha, the mission average is 6.  Almost all of our
appointments fell out, we had 6 lessons this week haha, and 2 of them
weren´t even planned.  We called everyone the day before our
appointment to make sure they were okay, and like everyone said that
the appointment would work, until we got to there doorstep, then
something had come up and they had to cancel.  All I can say is that
it happens haha.

    Things are going good, I´m excited to see what happens for this
next transfer, I never know what to expect.  Thanks for all that you
do!
 
Elder Collings