Week 8 - August 31, 2017

One more week closer to being finished with being trained WOOO!!!!

This week was dopeeee we had a girl turn 8 in the ward and she was baptized on Saturday. We were asked to fill up the font but the hot water wasn't working so we tried to boil water and pour it in but that didn't help so she had a fridged dip. hahaha One of the witnesses was like, "Good. At least she didn't scream coming up out of the water." We felt bad but what can ya do! Germans love to party. They over celebrate birthdays and basically anything. They have so many days off of school and work for just random holidays. There was like a feast at the church with the whole ward after the baptism. 

On Sunday, a member asked us to come over for lunch and we did. He and his wife, Brother and Sister Luchin, are awesome. If any of you remember President Uchtdorf's talk "Lift where you stand" this is the man that said those words..... so that is his claim to fame! He is also a temple architect and has built many temples over here in Europe. Their son gets married on Sep.19th in Draper so they will be in Utah soon. 

On Monday, we had interviews in Friedrichsdorf with President Boyer and they were great. On Tuesday, we got a random referral in our Mormon.org email so we went by on a guy and we ended up teaching these 4 guys aged 20-30 and they are from Iran and speak Persian and a little German but they are really interested in our church so we were thinking that hopefully, we can get our less active Behzad to help us teach them because he speaks Persian. Hopefully, that would also get him back to church so we will see...... Elder Golden and I have been praying for a miracle this week and hopefully, these guys are able to understand the gospel....

Yesterday, we went up to Fulda with the young men. They begged us to come laser tagging so we said we can only come if you bring non-member friends or less-actives so they did and there were 2 non-member families and a less-actives there so that was dope. Also, I won the free for all laser tag against the ward and that was fun. I love the little homies in our ward. They're the bomb and we have a blast. I know how laser tag while being a missionary sounds...... I promise we are out here working hard but sometimes we need a little fun mixed in. 

Anyways... that was our week here in Hanau with the two, Rookie missionaries. We are just figuring out missionary life and the German language and culture all at the same time. Just blessed to make it back to our apartment in one piece some nights haha. Sorry for the long email 

Love you all. 

🇺🇸Elder Rothwell 🇩🇪

Week 7 - August 24, 2017

What's up everyone!

This week was pretty good I guess. We did a ton of finding this week and also a lot of less active work which has been awesome I really like working with the less actives. We have this lady named Diane who the past couple of weeks has been wanting to meet with us but they all have fallen out. So after church on Sunday she actually called us and said "elders I'm sorry I haven't met with you or come to church but I know I need to change my life and something tells me you guys can help me do that." So we are stoked. She loves to party and do all that stuff so she will have a long way to go but we are excited to meet with her this next week and try and help her out. 

We also have a sweet less active named behzad and he was baptized about 10 years ago with his family but has fallen away from the church so this week in our lesson we just read in the Book of Mormon and by the end he was just like wow I miss this and by next week I will read all of 1st Nephi again and I want to come to church in 2 weeks when I don't have work. He's awesome. And we also met with Bruder Klein on Wednesday and he has been really loving our short spiritual thoughts and we were able to help him understand Lehi's vision of the tree of life and he was like "I know for a while I've been lost in the great and spacious building but but it's not fun and I need the gospel again." So he's been coming to church and all the previous missionaries that have been in Hanau were shocked that he's been coming to church so it's been awesome. 

Also got two brand new fresh missionaries in our district this week so every companionship is in training. Super young district but it is fun. Elder Golden thinks I will train next transfer hahaha we will see. That's scary to think about. 

Also elder Golden loves kraft mac n cheese more than anything and it was his birthday on Sunday so we made some. Thanks again for the mac n cheese mom. 

That was us in Hanau this week. 

Hahahaha also rode a members bike this week...... whoops

Week 6 - August 18, 2017

Hey!! Sorry I know it is Friday. I lost my iPad on a train Monday morning..... Yesterday, we went into Frankfurt and got another iPad. I am mostly upset that I lost my case rather than the iPad but all is well. 

This week flew by. I can't believe the transfer is over! 

Last Friday, we had dinner with one of our investigators, Joaquim! He is awesome! He is really trying hard with the word of wisdom so we just keep teaching him and praying for him. It is so cool to watch people try and better themselves and the gospel just excels the process so much. He made us a big Portuguese meal and it was great but I barely made it back to our apartment before I crapped my pants. Hopefully the videos work. It was basically the scene in Dumb&Dumber if anyone knows what I'm talking about hahahaha had to air out the whole apartment.

We did a lot of finding this week. Such interesting people out here! I'm still getting use to the culture. We live in the hood of Hanau. We went a few streets down from our apartment and the whole building is Romanians and the kids love my comp and his magic trick but it is the slummsss! so poor. Kids my age there have way too much time on their hands and it's pretty sad, honestly. The older ones just make fun of us and speak really fast in Romanian and laugh. I got so mad, I just had to grab my comp and we had to leave because I'm still immature and hot headed. We ordered some Book of Mormons in Romanian and hopefully the ones that are interested will take it seriously.

This week tested my patience with everything. Most the time, God just reminds me that he is the boss and I'm just a 19 year old idiot so it's all good. For example: losing my iPad, missing busses, not knowing the language, and living with a comp who is basically polar opposite from me but it's so good I've learned a ton from Elder Golden because he points out my weaknesses and I point out his but it is all in a loving manner and for the same goal. Plus relying on the spirit helps a ton especially when you and the person you are working with or are in a relationship with have the same goal to just progress and get better. So many things on a daily basis that I have the privilege to learn... not that it is always easy but it's good for me.

I also learned that you never have to have a bad day. Even on the days that suck it doesn't mean that it was a bad day just another opportunity to learn.

This gospel is true. I love being able to share it with people out here. We meet all different kinds of people out here from all over the world and all different ages. It's crazy what the power of prayer and the Book of Mormon does to them and the light they get in their eyes when they open up to it. 

Haha sorry for the scrambled email. Hopefully it makes sense. 

Love you all HEAPS! Have a good week

Elder Rothwell 

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Freidrich Str. 2E

63450 Hanau, Germany

Week 5 - August 10,2017

Fam and friends, aloha!

This week has been good. Sorry for the pictures, they are just random.

I think the one with the green tie was my first week here.

Elder Golden and I don't really take pictures because we are always just

working so hard. haha jk This next week I will try to be better.

This week was dope. We helped a part member family move from Frankfurt

to Hanau on Saturday.

Sunday church was awesome and my homie, Brother Klein came to church

again! We also had a good lesson with him this week. He hasn't been to

church in like 4 years but in the last month he has come twice but he

thinks that the missionaries his wife and god are all he needs but we

tried to explain how important the sacrament and the ward is for him

but he is solid.

Monday, we had a split to I went to Wetterau with Elder Guymon; he is a

crack up. It ended up being a two day split so I didn't get back to

hanau until Wednesday afternoon but we did a ton of contacting in

Wetterau and had a really good lesson with an investigator. Heaps of

rejection this week but I contacted a girl that went to Lone Peak

in 2009-2010 I was like what the freak but she was way cool! We also

did a "weeding service" for a member family in Wetterau that was

actually us just hacking at huge tree stumps for 3 hours in their back

yard getting those out and I got wrecked by mosquitoes and dripping

sweat but they fed us so all is well. Also the Wetterau apartment has

a broken shower so it's like a little sprinkle of water occasionally in

the shower haha.

Missions are hilarious I wish I could put everything in my weekly

emails but its so much that I just forget it all. Germans are

hilarious. The language and culture go so well together just like hard

nose, hard working and bland but I am learning to love it. My comp is a

crack up we have a good time together.

Idk what else to say... Got my hair cut by a Turkish dude today and had

no idea how to say what I wanted so I look like a hard core Turkish man

now but it's chill.

I encourage listening to Elder Hollands talk

"An high priest of good things to come" I think is what it is.

Recently, I have just been focusing on hope and faith, especially with

the language and the personal goals I have. Sooo many times the

scriptures talk about faith and hope and following the

commandments and that is all we need to do and then God just comes in and lays

down the miracles in front of us. I know that Jesus Christ is our

Savior and he lives. He is involved in our daily lives. Read in the

BOM and pray every day and just be a good person with faith and hope

and we will see miracles. Even in the darkest times of our lives. I

love you all and I love missionary work.

Machts güt mine freundin!!!

Elder Rothwell

Week 4 - August 3, 2017

Already P-day again. Jeez. Hopefully this email goes through. I am getting another iPad. The mail app on here doesn't work. We are headed into Frankfurt today with the district to chill and shop and stuff. And then I am staying in Frankfurt for the night on a split with Elder Hughes, my homie, who is an AP so that will be super fun!

This week was way fun. In studies this week I read some of D&C, specifically sections 121-123 when the prophet Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail and he just basically asks God why he has to go through what he was going through there. We have a talk by Elder Holland on our little 2005 DVD player called "Lessons in Liberty" about how sometimes a 'Spiritual Jail' is needed for us to grow and that can be when we see the greatest miracles in our life happen even though the times are rough. It is easy to have faith in this gospel when everything is going smoothly but our true faith and trust in God is tested by the way we react when life sucks. I strongly encourage everyone to read those sections and listen to that talk he gave it was so cool.

This week was good we had a great lesson with our investigator, Jaokem, who is from Portugal and wants to be baptized but he is moving back there soon so hopefully the missionaries we pass him along to over there can get him baptized. He made us a meal that was the best meal I have had here. He is super nice.

Zone Conference was yesterday and I got to see a lot of buddies I haven't seen since the MTC and President and Sister Boyer are awesome. President Boyer is super efficient and down to business. He has brought a new energy to the mission and is just a super wise man. The spirit was so awesome all of yesterday being with all of the missionaries and learning and sharing experiences together.

Elder Golden and I are both super new so we just accept that we suck at German and don't really know how to get anywhere but we found a lot of people this week and had some great lessons with less actives and our investigators.

Thanks for all the emails and support during the week. I am able to see my emails throughout the week and I can feel the support and prayers it means a ton. Missions are so cool. I have already been back out here almost a month time is flying. Don't forget to read the good word and pray. God and Christ are eager to help us, all we got to do is have the faith and do our part and they will be there. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31

Oh ya also the tiny red stitching on my sock made my G's and white shirts slightly pink this week. I know my mom would be so proud of me.......

Hopefully this email sends and the pictures work haha let me know if they don't. 

Have a good week.

Also Frankfurt is doooppppeeee. I feel like I'm in NYC 

Elder Rothwell 

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Friedrich Str. 2e

63450 Hanau, Germany

Elder Rothwell with Elder Hughes

Elder Rothwell with Elder Blackner