August 24

Hey mom!

I want to start with bearing my testimony on the atonement of Christ.
I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that he is my savior and
redeemer. A mission is an interesting place. During my time I've felt
him closer to me than ever, and I've also felt him farther away than
ever. It's wonderful, and awful, easy, and extremely difficult,
enjoyable, and misery. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have
found so much joy in this work, even when it's hard. I love it, it's
what I'm supposed to be doing, and I've learned so much about myself.
I've learned just how far I'll go when it's hard, and where I'll go
when it seems hopeless. I love the people, I love my companion, I love
everything here!

So, this week. We had a lot of stuff going on, and we were pretty
busy. When we first got to Dresden, we had nothing to work with. No
investigators, a teaching pool of 0, and it didn't seem like we had a
very good relationship with the ward. But, we worked, and worked, and
this week we're starting to see some results. We found 3 new
investigators, one man from China, and a nice family! A little
background, the church building in Dresden is right next to a giant
park called grosser garten, and once a month or so we have an open
house on Sunday after church where we go out into the park and tell
people to go to the church, and we have a few members there who talk
to the people that come. Well, we went out for about two hours, and we
had nothing! No one wanted to talk to us. We went back about 45
minutes before we were supposed to end to go to the bathroom, and the
members asked us if we just wanted to close up now and go home. We
thought about it, but we decided to keep going! We went out, and we
talked to this family. They said they would go and asked us to come
back with them! So on the walk back to the church we taught them the
restoration, then when we got back to the church the members helped us
explain more about the church, and at the end they took a Book of
Mormon and said they would come to church! The husbands name is
Markos. Please pray for him!!

We've also now started to work with some of the less actives here, and
now we have a solid teaching pool. The lord blesses us when we work!

We also had a zone conference in Berlin. It's crazy, in leer, I never
went to Berlin, and since I've come to Sachsen I've been 5 times! It's
starting to look familiar, and I know how to get around now. It's a
little strange. Elder Johnson of the seventy came and talked to us,
and we had a great time together, and learned a lot about working with
members and why it's so important to tell our investigators that in
order to receive a testimony, they have to work. He made a comparison
with a person who wants to become a pro basketball player, so he finds
a coach to come and teach him about basketball Once a week. Will he
become a good player? No, because he needs to practice himself and
work for it. It's the same for us, if we want a testimony we can't
just expect to meet with missionaries once a week and then get a
testimony, we have to work! We have to read the Book of Mormon, pray,
and come to church.

I had a good week, and hopefully this next week will be even better.
Today we're going to the sächsische Schweiz, so hopefully I'll get
some good pics!

Have a great week!

Elder Oliphant