September 16: Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

Family Life

Elder Heilmann loves to start out our Thursday calls by saying hi to his little sister, Aveline.  Sometimes his not-so-little brother, Tristan, is there too.  It's so fun to see them interact.  We all look forward to seeing him.  Elder Heilmann watched as Aveline 'play shopped' with her toys and shopping cart.  He said, "Aveline, say ich - gehe - einkaufen. [she repeated] It means you're going shopping!" She loves her big brother. They are 16 years apart, but they are the best of buddies.

Life in Germany

   

Around 9pm on September 15th, Elders Heilmann and Tillett were doing their evening studies when they heard a strange gurgling sound in the wall of their apartment.  They thought it odd but didn't put too much stock into it as it was raining, and they just attributed it to that.  However, 30 min later, they got up to find that 3 mm of water had seeped onto the apartment floor!  It just suddenly started coming out of the walls from seemingly nowhere! Both the wall surrounding and the window weren't wet, just the floor. They started trying to dry it up and move furniture quickly to get it out of the forming puddle.  Unfortunately, they didn't take the time to remove everything from the top of the desk that was sitting in the puddle and ended up breaking the lamp in the process.  They had forgotten to unplug it. OOPS!  

Once they got the towels down, and the furniture moved, they called the hausmeister [landlord] to come immediately to help.  He walked in and just exclaimed, "Ughhhhhhh...  Woher kommt es? [Where is it coming from?] It totally ruined the floor and the bottom of the desk. The hausmeister brought in a huge dehumidifier, and now the apartment is super hot because of it, and it seems to be collecting endless amounts of water. It was a long night as they had to make lots of phone calls and continue monitoring the situation to see if any more water would come into the apartment. They still don't know where the water came in from.  

All German homes are constructed of concrete lego bricks. Because of this construction, all the pipes are in a central location.  The plumbing is in one big column, so they don't think there were any pipes at all where the water was coming in.  Very strange, indeed. 

He also mentioned how the construction of these homes is very old, and most doctor offices are just converted from the existing structures.  So, the doctor and dentist offices just look like residences. He also loves the names they are called.  The doctors are called der Doktor, but you don't say I am going to the doctor. You say you are going to the Arzt or der Arzt.  The dentist is called Zahnarzt, Zahn meaning tooth.  Pretty cool.

Elder Heilmann truly is enjoying Germany.  He does enjoy his Pday's as well.  Today they played Munchkins and Boss Monster.  He also enjoys coming home after a long day of work. He says that the work can be very frustrating at times so being able to go back to the apartment to recenter and read scriptures and Jesus the Christ is a refreshing change.  Speaking of Jesus the Christ, he says that reading it isn't hard to understand at all.  He said, "I am very acquainted with big words having read so many classics and a lot of Shakespeare."  I am proud of him.  I think I still need a dictionary to get through it, myself. 

Missionary Work

The missionary work is progressing.  The Elder's made a new friend.  Elder Heilmann says, "We made a new basher friend."  They seem to come across that quite a bit.  His name is Arman and he is about 17 years old and is from Iran.  One of the first things that Arman told the missionaries was that in the Book of Revelation it says that there can't be any other book so Elder Heilmann helped him understand that it also says that in Deuteronimy and that Revelation was written before the other Gospels as John wrote it in his exile to Patmos.  They are all learning together as they teach and gain clarity. 

Arman attends what is called a "Move Church".  Elder Heilmannn explained it as a giant mosh pit of people who randomly go up on stage to preach.  He also said, "Don't confuse adrenaline with the Spirit of God."  He then quoted 1 Kings 19:11-13.  The Lord speaks to us in a still small voice.  He does hope to be able to spend more time with Arman.  

The Elder's met Arman while at Johnson's Coffee Break who, as previously mentioned in past posts, is run by and inactive member named Colin.  The coffee shop is under construction and rearanging and the Elder's have been doing service there every Saturday helping out for the last few weeks.  The second part of Colin's shop is being turned into a dance studio for kids who want to express themselves through dance.  Elder Heilmann thinks Colin is "super cool." 

Arman's family had a market next to the coffee shop and the market was recently shut down because of loss of foot traffic and Arman's family blames their misfortune on Johnson's.  It's an unfortunate situation.  Arman is not aloud in Johnson's because of it.  Elder Heilmann said that before the market closed, it was in pretty bad shape; dark, smelly, nothing refrigerated.  A big supermarket went in near the market which is the most likely culprit for the families market closure, but the blame remains on Johnson's.  

More about Colin.  Colin is a black man that was born and raised in New York.   He lived in the Ukraine as a teenager and then moved to Germany.  He speaks multiple languages and is a blast to be around.  Elder Heilmann loves his company very much. 

Guess who else Elder Heilmann enjoys being around?  The German Ward's Bishop!  Elder Heilmann has declared that the relationship is officially fixed.  Elder Tillett made a presentation for the findechristus.org site and the Bishop immediately started giving out assignments to the Ward members.  It was very exciting!  

Also, the Bishop plays soccer (or fusball) like a BOSS! His town is CRAZY for soccer.  They are all really good at it!  Elder Heilmann said that there are a lot of Brazilian and Italian influences in Wiesbaden and everyone has some kind of soccer jersey they wear while playing.  He said it's a lot like seeing the cyclists in Herndon, Virginia.  Everyone seems sponsored.  Haha!

Oh and clarification on the "Funny Walks" youth activity in the German Ward.  They ended up doing a trivia night instead.  He said it was boys vs. girls and basically the boys got crushed by the girls so Elder Heilmann ended up comforting the soul crushed boys. ;)

Last funny story of the week.  On the 15th, a guy came up the the Elders and started whispering in a strange German accent to them.  He whispered, "Why are you dressed up so nice?" The man was wearing  saggy jeanns and a sideways hat. The Elder's asked him if he went to church and he said yes, he goes to church 3 times a year.  He is an Evangelical Christian. The Elder's encouraged him to go more.  Elder Heilmann said, "It's more important that we strengthen people's faith in Christ and encourage them to go to their own church first before we ask them to come to ours.  The goal is strengthening their faith and commitment to God.  Then we get to the final goal of being baptises by the authority of the Priesthood."  

The work of God is progressing on the Earth and Elder Heilman is honored to be a part of it all.