Week 54- "Skkkrrraaaattttttatata"

Jaylee, the OG Sister turning 16 on the 27th. So nuts she will be behind a steering wheel cruising down the streets. Love ya Jay!

This week has been so hot. Germans for some reason just don’t have air conditioning, so frustrating. I’ve never sweat more in my life. My face is water falling when I hop in trains crammed with people here. We also have nothing but hot water in the apartment. So RIP to ever taking a cold shower again.

Few quick highlights this week.

I got to talk on the phone with some members from Solingen. So sick! Also, shout out to Elder Doman in Spain because he met a member in one of my old wards. 

We had an amazing less active lesson this with a great guy here in Köln. One of the more spiritual experiences of my mission.

Went on a split with Elder Felix De Jesu from Brazil and we actually set up a member appointment with some less actives from Brazil and he was in heaven. He is the most Christ-like missionary I’ve ever met. Super humble Brazilian background and I just learned a ton from him. His quote I loved “the mission field is just our training field for life man.”

Gave my testimony and introduced myself in sacrament meeting, made some people laugh and then got asked to give a talk next week. Moral of the story don’t make a German laugh I guess. This ward is sooo german like holy, but they are way good with missionary work so that’s gangster.

Yesterday we set a baptismal date with Bernhard. He is a referral and he just wants to be a Mormon so bad. Saturday he will stop smoking and drinking. We are going over to his place and starting him on the program and cleaning the crap out of his apartment. So that’ll be cool.

This week I learned a ton about God’s timing. We never really know the effect we will have on someone’s life. A tsunami in the ocean starts as a 1-inch high wave and then has the power to destroy a city by the time it gets to the short. I guess the moral of the story is we never know what kind of impact we have on people. Be that bad, or good. Just be good people. Follow Christ and keep the commandments and your covenants. You’ll live a happier, easier life.

Lg,

-Köln Krib

Elder Rothwell🦅⚔️

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Biegerstrasse 11

51063 Köln 

Germany 

Scriptures:

1 Nephi 11:21-23

Mosiah 14:5

Mark 2:17

Pics oder?

 Sweat box

The truth

Work so hard forgot how to vacation 

Im Aufzug 

Brazilian fam 

Week 53- "You’re not in Bayern anymore...."

Wow. Crazy week, absolutely crazy.

Zamba fest in Coburg was last weekend so there was tons of drunk people, tourist, and woman without clothes on. We were pretty protected though and didn’t see too much of anything. Friday Elder Whitney got us into a door with some Arabic homies and they were cool. We basically drew out the first lesson and showed tonnns of pictures. When we said “ya there are still prophets today on the earth” they were like woooaaahhhh how? And they kept asking who this “Russell Nelson” was. So funny

Saturday we had phone calls for transfers and I was called to come up to Köln, meaning that I would be leaving one of my best friends in Elder Whitney and the kingdom of Coburg. I am so glad I had the opportunity to serve there for 3 months with two of the coolest most loving guys I’ve met on my mission in Augat and Whitney. I was bummed. But Whitney is going to kill it with his new comp. I saw the lord hand in my life every day serving as a missionary with that man. He’s going to be the best missionary in the history of the big Frankfurt Germany mission. We saw some crazy miracles together. 

Sunday was amazing! We had a member pick up our investigator Sinit and her two boys. I was up blessing the sacrament when they walked in and they were pumped just like trying to get my attention the whole time and waving at me. So cool. We had ward lunch together after church and it was good for them to mingle with the primary kids and a member's non-member husband is pumped because Sinit can do like braids and good hairstyles. So she is going to give this 40-year-old dad non-member cornrows and he is so excited hahaha! The rest of the week was saying goodbyes in Coburg and getting my stuff taken care of and ready for the new guy to come in.

Köln is crazy. I went from small really nice and neat Coburg with 40,000 people to the biggest city in the mission in Köln. We live in the absolute ghetto. I look out my windows and it is a dump yard with train tracks out ahead and bums on the corner of the street. I’ve already seen like 4 crack heads in cuffs since being here and prostitutes working the corners. Pretty crazy. Just completely different. My district I am in is now huge! My new comp is Elder Stacy and he is from a Texas. He has 3 transfers left. There are 10 missionaries with 2 sets of sisters so that’ll be a weird new change but I’m excited. I want to just spiritually fine tune this transfer and be an instrument in the lords hand.

This morning my MTC group flys home. A piece of me is going. To fly home with those boys. They called me last night and I got to talk to some of my favorite guys on the planet who helped me so much when I was home and helping me get back here to Germany. Elder Bringhurst, Elder Hughes, Elder Wright, Elder Harmon Elder Dutson. Just great guys, feels like yesterday we entered the mtc together. I’m going to miss them but I know this is the time that I need to be here in the lords vineyard in Germany. Also crazy with a lot of close buddies from home getting back. So crazy. 

Sorry for the long email. Mostly wrote it so I can remember and read it when I get back. If you made it this far, you’re the best.

Love you all and thanks for the emails and support! Have a good week.

Here’s the new address⬇️

Elder Rothwell🦅⚔️

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Biegerstrasse 11

51063 Köln 

Germany 

Scriptures:

1 Nephi 2:3

1 Nephi 3:7

D&C 82:10

Philippians 4:4

Some Coburgers eating coburgers 

Sinit, Teddy, and Adam. Can’t wait to see these guys as members of the true church

Ciao ciao my friend Peter Hansel

Sebastian got the MP and asked us to be in the circle. I love the priesthood

Week 52- "Slow churned, double cream, free-range, butter. 🐟"

Another week on the mission gone, leider.

I have officially been on German soil for a year now. Crazy how fast the time has gone and how much has changed in just a year.

Happy birthday to the pops on the 9th!

Friday we were ripping in on the streets and found some pretty cool nerds. We have a few appointments that we hope to work out. We had a street display in the blazing heat on Saturday for 4 hours and found 0 people. That was a pretty humbling day.

Sunday was sick. Since the Bamberg ward no longer exists we had a lot of new faces in the sacrament meeting. Elder Whitney and I were asked to speak. He spoke on Faith in Jesus Christ and absolutely killed it for only being in his second transfer. I spoke in Geduld (humility) and that was fun I guess. Afterward, we had the frat opportunity of giving a blessing to a member who was sick. It’s always a special experience to use the priesthood and give blessings.

The rest of the week included us meeting with our girl Mitra and then meeting with our man Gustaf who loves his opinions on the doctrine in the Bible, district meeting, I ate a Döner for the first time in a while and the rest was routine missionary work.

I am more than grateful for this past year of my life. I don’t know how to describe it so I won’t even try, but I will say my relationship with God and Jesus Christ have never been so strong. This gospel is perfect 

 

I and Elder Whitney will be wrapping up his “training” this week. I have learned much more from him than he has from me I am sure of it. It has been some of the funnest times on my mission. The kid is amazing. I hope I get to stay another transfer with him here in Coburg. We get transfer calls Saturday so who knows what’ll happen.

Oh ya, Friday-Sunday is the second biggest Brazilian celebration in the world and it is right here in Coburg Germany for some reason. Coburg goes from 40,000 to 400,000 people for 3 days. Pray for us this weekend!

Love ya guys have a good week.

Elder Rothwell🦅⚔️

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Elsässer Strasse 6

Coburg, Germany

96450

Letters and words:

2 Nephi 4:25-29

Mosiah 24:15

Mormon 9:12-14

Bilder:

Schnitzel, Kartoffel Salat, Alkoholfrei Weißbier 

Grazing 

 Ciao ciao to the Swedish boy

Some more developed film. The boys playing ball

Week 51- "Life of an American living in Germany"

His week was sick! It was way hot but for the most part, it wasn’t too humid for whatever reason, pretty rare here.

Saturday morning we had a lesson with a woman from Eritrea and her two sons. They met us at the bus station and we walked to the park. We sat and taught the first lesson and the boys were playing with these yo-yo’s it was amazing. She has great faith in Christ. Elder Whitney snagged a picture of us middle of the lesson that I’ll attach. We were speaking all in English so the boys couldn’t really understand but at the end, I said the prayer in German and afterward the boy just looks and me and is like oohhhhhhh, you can speak German too? Hahaha so funny he was stoked. Pray for this Eritrean family.

Saturday we had a Sommerfest with the ward, I’ll have some pics attached too. I and Elder Whitney grilled some mushrooms, brought some American candy and they were pumped. Good stuff. Church on Sunday as good and we were contacting in this small town a little outside of Coburg and this little family was hyped on our messages about family, and they were German. They said they just got back from vacation but to come back and we will sit down and talk. So we are going back this week. They were so funny at the doorstep and they were loving that two Americans knocked on the door.

The rest of the week consisted of interviews with President Boyer and then Zone Conference yesterday which was amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly and my prayers were answered for what I need to work on this transfer and the rest of my mission. The two huge bullet points I took away was 1. Learning more about the savior allows me to know more about him, come closer to him, and then strive to be like him as a missionary as well as a disciple of Christ the rest of my life. 2. Was 5e Christlike Attribute of humility and how to develop it. So amazing. 3. Was FAITH. I feel like to this point on my mission I have done the work but I realized that as I have Christ more apart of the work and have perfect faith in him that this is really just his work and I am apart of it. I need to let the spirit guide me more out here and not rely south on myself.

As I have studied more about Christ and his teachings and how he handled people it has opened my eyes so much. I love the Savior and am so grateful for what he went through just for us. His love for us is perfect, his knowledge of what we are going through and what we need is perfect. When Christ appeared to the Americas he let people touch his wounds and feel his scars. I challenge you to touch his wounds and feel his scars this week. Make Christ the center of your life, study his teachings and strive to come closer to him day by day with small simple steps that become lifelong habits.

Love you all and I miss America! Hope the 4th was a blast.

-the boy in Germany 

Elder Rothwell🦅⚔️

Germany Frankfurt Mission

Elsässer Strasse 6

Coburg, Germany

96450

Scriptures:

James 4:10

Proverbs 15:10

Romans 14:9

1 Peter 4:12

1 Nephi 16:1-3

3 Nephi 26:17-21

Barley before it turns into some cold brewskies

‘Murica

Dolla dolla bill ya

Gangsters

Went by a referral 2 hours away, walked for 45 minutes and then found a nice bar with some killer lemonade. Taught the locals about the doctrine of Christ