Golden Split

Hello Family!

This week was pretty amazing, we ended up teaching the most lessons Krefeld has seen ever haha. We taught a total of 13 lessons and we found 5 investigators which was awesome. We haven´t been able to get a hold of 4 of them, but there is this lady named Maja DerNulc who is awesome. Basically Elder Mayle had gone by her before with his last companion and she said she never wanted to see him again, but, while we were planning one of our days out, I felt like we should go by her, so we did. She let us in, and by the time we left she called us her Sons. We met with her again a couple of days later, and taught her the Plan of Salvation. She liked it a lot, and told us she wanted to teach it to her friend. So, as we left, she instantly called her friend, and now on Wednesday we will be teaching Maja, her friend, and her friend´s husband. So, i´m pretty excited to see how this all goes down.

I am currently on a "Golden Split". That means I have only been here one transfer (6 weeks) and the person I am on a split with has been here less than a week haha. My companion is at a training meeting for senior companions, so half the mission is doing splits right now. It´s pretty cool, I got to plan everything and I get to speak as much German as I want, I don´t have a fluent German to rely on, so I´m excited to see how these next 2 days work out.

I have not gotten my debit card yet, but, that´s because you sent it to the mission home, so I will be able to get it once we have zone conference next week. So, if anyone has sent me mail since I got here I haven´t received it yet haha.

It´s good to hear from all of you, and I´m glad you´re all doing well. I´m super happy to be on my mission, I´m learning and growing every day, and I never know how the Lord is going to bless me.

Elder Collings

Germany is prepared to receive the Gospel

Hello Family!

It was another wonderful week to be a missionary. We got transfer calls yesterday, and I am staying in Krefeld with my companion. We were able to double the lessons taught last transfer, and triple the lessons taught 2 transfers ago. Krefeld is definately growing, just a little bit at a time haha.

So to start off, I had a pretty cool experience that my companion is actually kinda mad about which is a shame, but, we were having a lesson with one of our investigators, this was the lady that I felt like we could totally get a baptism with. She hadn´t been praying and was reading everything except the Book of Mormon and we have taught her everything, so we really just needed her to start exercising faith to pray for an answer. So the entire lesson I felt like I needed to make her a promise, but I didn´t want to because it was a super amazing promise haha, but, it got to the point where I literally couldn´t help it, I had to. I promised her that if she would read and pray every day this week, this Sunday, so yesterday, she would recieve an answer that the Church was true. I could feel the spirit way strong, and I actually said it in perfect German which was even cooler.

It just so happens my companion did not agree however. He didn´t want to lose an investigator, so I told him after, how can he expect her to receive an answer when he doesn´t believe she can? Sunday came, and Frau Wever decided to not read or pray, at all. She of course did not get an answer to her prayer, because she didn´t pray. It was a shame, and it also turns out she lost her job and is way stressed out right now and doesn´t want to meet with us anymore. She said she will still come to Church though which is awesome. Oh, another thing, the Sunday the talks were PERFECT! They were all about getting answers to prayers and exercising faith and it was totally amazing. So, it would have been totally awesome if she had believed the promise, and gone through with it, but, I have no regrets because I know I did what the Lord wanted me to do, I can´t take away someones agency.

Other than that experience right there, things are basically the same. I am doing great and happy to be here, this place will have so much success once Elder Mayle and I are both on the same page and doing all the the Lord requires of us. My companion is kinda down right now because his best friend on the mission goes home on Wednesday, his 2 years are over. He went on a split with him on Friday, and they decided to mess around instead of going to the 2 lessons we had planned.... and now one of those people doesn´t want us to come back.... So there are things we can both improve on haha but Germany is prepared to receive the gospel.

Elder Collings

Peace Out!

Hello Family!

It was another great week in the mission field!

So this week was actually like all the other weeks, except, I took the initiative and instead of constantly badgering my companion to contact people, I went ahead and just started doing it. I shouldn´t have to remind him of his duty as a servant of the Lord, and we were missing out on opportunities to share the gospel when he decided last second he wasn´t going to speak to them because "He didn´t think they spoke German". So, I spoke to EVERYONE. We ended up finding 3 new investigators this week which is awesome, and this coming week we have almost 20 lessons planned which is 4 times our average, so we´ll see how the week goes =)

I´m so jealous you guys got to go see BYU play, my district leader is going home soon, and he is teaching someone that gives him updates on how BYU is doing, so he calls us whenever he gets some good stuff. I also can´t believe Conman got an I-Pod touch, and Kaylea wrecked the car! Well, I can believe Kaylea wrecked the car to be honest haha. It sounds like everything is going good though, and that´s awesome.

This week we get transfer calls, so my companion or I might be getting sent to a new area. If I do end up getting a new companion, I hope I have helped my companion find ways to become a better missionary like he has done for me. It´s cool to realize how 2 people can benefit one another, he obviously has helped me with my German since he is fluent in it, and he has also helped me with some teaching ideas because I´m not the best teacher haha. In fact, I´m a terrible teacher, Kaylea probably knows that best. I just know that the companion my companion had before I got here didn´t want to do anything, and my companion doesn´t like to contact, so the area was in really bad shape when I arrived. We had an entire zone conference on finding, and speaking to people, and I have done my best to be an example and explain what we need to be doing, so hopefully he chooses to make those changes, because as soon as he gets people in a lesson we got ém haha.

Anyway, I´m happy here in Germany and learning more every day... even if I don´t realize it haha. How about I share an awesome scripture I read earlier this week:

Romans 8:35-39

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that love us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in the Christ Jesus our Lord.

I just thought that scripture was super awesome when I read it and felt like sharing it with you, it really puts the love of Christ in perspective. With all those things it lists, it says "...in all these things we are more than conquerors..." and isn´t that super cool?

Anyway, the church is true and Germany is awesome haha

Friede Aus! (Germans don´t say that.... but I do)

Elder Collings

Hiding from the Crazy People

Hello Family!

So I am writing today because we were in Düsseldorf hiding from all of the crazy people. So remember that holiday I think I told you about, but maybe I didn´t haha. Well, it´s called Karnival and for about 4 days everyone dresses up, and like 80% of the people in our town were drunk and ladies carry around a pair of scissors to cut ties and give the guy a kiss. So I don´t really know why they celebrate it, and most of them probably don´t either, but, this week was definitely crazy because of it.

While my companion and I were constantly trying to avoid large crowds of people we also still had the Lord´s work to do. We actually taught the most lessons taught in Krefeld for over a year which is awesome, but we also lost 3 of our 5 investigators. Two are moving to Berlin, and the other one´s husband said if we ever came back he would sue us, which was a shame because she wants to be baptized.... Our other 2 investigators have been taugt everything basically, and both are still praying for an answer about if the Church is true. Both said once they got their answer they would be baptized. So Conman, I will try my hardest to help the investigators realize the Church is true and have a desire to be baptized =) By the way, Happy Birthday tomorrow haha, and how dare you not tell me what you are getting.

So other than all of that crazy stuff, I had a pretty cool experience with President Ninnow, our mission President. He was doing interviews for our district, and he always pauses for like 2 minutes at the end of an interview and says "Give me a minute, I just want to think about you for a second" He always does that and then says something super profound and awesome, we have a "President Ninnow quote book" haha. But this time he looked at me and said,"Elder Collings, you are a great missionary, you know what you need to be doing and you're doing it. Keep that up. The Lord has big plans for you, and you are going to be an amazing missionary." Needless to say, that made me feel quite happy inside haha. I would have loved to have heard a way to help my German get better faster, but the Lord is constantly blessing me with the gift of tongues, so I can´t complain.

Anyway, life is good, and I´m happy!

Tschüs!

Elder Collings

Keep Trying!

Hello Family!

So I had a pretty cool thing happen to me the other day; So I was on a split- I´ve been on so many splits, it´s insane- and we were in my area, Krefeld. I didn´t really know where anything was, or anyone lived, so when we planned what we were going to do for the day I had absolutely no idea. We didn´t have any appointments, so we would normally pick some inactive members and potential investigators to go by, but like I said, I have no idea where anything was, so we just contacted like all day.

I decided to set a goal on how many pamphlets and cards to hand out before the day ended. We talked to SO many people it was crazy, and we got to hand out a bunch of stuff, no one wanted to make appointments or anything, but they were accepting cards and pamphlets which is better than nothing. So the end of the day came and I had one more left in my pocket, I had just picked up my companion and returned from Duisberg to Krefeld and I was wondering who I was going to give my last pamphlet to. Then, this guy was awkwardly staring at me (which is actually normal haha) and so I went to talk to him, but, before I said anything he asked if I was a mormon missionary, he then talked about how much respect he had for the missionaries and all that they did, then he looked down and saw my pamphlet hanging out, he asked for it, I probably giggled like a little school girl and gave it to him haha, and then we talked a little more. He was going back to France where he lived, so we told him how to get in touch with the missionaries there, but it was way awesome how I was blessed to accomplish my goal!

So we had a zone conference , and it was all about Finding People. It was perfect because I´ve been trying really hard getting my companion to talk to people. We are still working on it, but things are getting better which is awesome! He has been kinda down because we are like never teaching and when we have a lesson planned something normally happens so we don´t get to meet with them, so I told him some things like confirming appointments and daily contact with investigators and stuff, but then he said experience has taught him that those things don´t work which was a lame answer in my opinion because Preach My Gospel and our White Handbook was revelation and went through the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles before we were allowed to use it, so it obviously works. I showed him the stuff in Preach My Gospel and The White Handbook and he still wasn´t really taking it to heart, but then our District Leader called. He asked how things were going and my companion said terrible, so our District Leader asked what we can do better, I have what I thought we could do and Elder Mayle said the same stuff he told me to the District Leader, then our District Leader brought out the same exact stuff from Preach My Gospel and The Handbook that I had. It was pretty awesome because right after that my companion was willing to make some new goals revolving around those principles.

I´m glad to hear everyone is doing good, Kaylea super awesome job in school! Con-Man, you know what is right, "O be wise, what can I say more" -Jacob 6:12

Have a great week!

-Elder Collings

Germany

Hello Family!

First of all, I can´t believe Dad got rid of his truck! That thing was amazing! But that´s so awesome that he got a car for you Mom =) and a phone haha.

Not much has really happened here, we haven´t found any new investigators, but i´m mainly trying to get Elder Mayle more comfortable with talking to everyone. We studied Chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel today which is all about Finding People. After we studied it I took away his agency and made him set goals to apply it haha. He seems to understand that we need to talk to people to teach... I don´t see how that wouldn't make sense haha, I just really want to start teaching people, my German is still... improving haha so I can´t really understand the people and when I speak my grammar is all messed up, but his is way good so with his help I know we can start having success out here, I just have to keep helping him to speak.

So I got that other debit card you sent me, but, if it won´t last 2 years go ahead and send the other one, I don´t know how long it will take to send that, but hopefully not too long. Elder Mayle just barely got his Christmas package, it was in the mail for 2 months! Some other Elders still haven´t gotten their Christmas stuff, but those were packages, the card shouldn't take that long.

That´s awesome that stake conference went well, if Kaylea and Conner want to serve missions, best choice ever in my opinion, read the Book of Mormon EVERY day, and study Preach My Gospel. If you are familiar with those 2 books, you´ll know all you need to know to go on a mission and do very well. One of the things it talks about in Preach My Gospel is goal setting. It says unles you write out a goal and measure how you are doing to accomplish that goal regularly you will not do so well with it. So, if you set a goal right now, right it down, and then put it somewhere you can see if every day so you won´t forget what you want to do, you´ll start accomplishing that goal! And of course it works, Preach My Gospel is revelation like the Book of Mormon is, so the promises are the same. =)

Anyway, I´m happy to be on a mission, I can´t wait until I can actually speak to people and start seeing some more success out here in Krefeld.

Tschüs!

-Elder Collings

Have you ever watched "The Best Two Years"?

Hello Family!

So it's my first official P-Day in Germany. So Germany is awesome, I love the food, they have these things called Döner Kebabs which are absolutely amazing, I could probably eat them all day. The only weird thing is the stuff they drink. They hate tap water, so they have this carbonated soda water stuff, it tastes way funky and not like water so it's going to take some time to get used to it, but everyone drinks it so I don't have much of a choice haha.

I had my first split, it was a three day split, and I was with an Elder who had only been out 6 weeks, I knew him in the MTC his name is Elder Schwendiman, but both of our German is bad, so it was kind of a super rare split. We taught 5 lessons in one day in his area, and all of them went way good, then the next day we took a 2 hour train ride for an appointment, but, the person forgot and wasn't there.... so then we took another 2 hours train ride back which took up most of the day, we had another lesson that night which went super well and I got to see what it was like to actually teach and have a schedule with investigators.

On Wednesday we went back to my area in Krefeld, and since we have no investigators me and Elder Schwendiman contacted for 6 hours straight, we handed out a lot of pamphlets and some cards, but nobody really was really interested which was a shame, so me and my companion Elder Mayle still have no investigators.

I've been trying my best to speak to people so we can actually start teaching people out here, which hasn't really been a problem, I've been like the Elder from Best Two Years and talked to literally everyone, but I never know what they say back, so I just smile and keep saying stuff haha. I've committed my companion to only speak German around me so I can learn faster, and I've been trying to be an example to him and actually talk to people, because he hates to do that. He's a good Elder and he's really smart, he just isn't comfortable with contacting.

So that's basically how it has been in Germany so far, just trying to get investigators all day, and they will come I just have to have faith that my Father in Heaven will lead me to those who are ready to receive the gospel.

So all of the Holidays out here are basically just excuses for people to get drunk, and I'm not even joking, everyone out here drinks and smokes. The people can legally smoke here at the age of 16, so I see kids who look like they're as old as Conner walking down the street smoking, but anyway, we just barely found out today that they have a Holiday called Karnival, I honestly have no idea what they are celebrating, but from what I heard if you wear a tie on that day the girls out here will walk up to you, cut your tie and then kiss you. So, our mission president said that on Karnival we will be staying inside all day which means I'll be cleaning my lovely apartment.

My apartment is super duper small, we never know if we are going to have a super hot shower or a super cold shower, it's always a surprise I look forward too haha. The place is really quite gross, so we set a goal to clean it a little at a time... it will take a long time.

That's basically everything that is going on right now, hope everyone is doing good and enjoyed their Valentines day, I forgot about Valentines day, and it's not really super big out here anyway, so I didn't do much haha. Anyway, they are changing P-Day back to Mondays starting on Monday, so you'll get another E-Mail super fast!

Bis Montag!

Elder Collings