Missionary Work
We had a quick call this week. Just so grateful to get any connection weekly, so it was still amazing. Elder Heilmann reports that his health is "completely fine" now. Just still dealing with that horrible homesickness. He really misses being in America.
However, he continues to work really hard. He finds that the harder he works, the less homesick he feels, so now he is just tired from working so hard. He's just having a weird time. He says he's been in a funk where he thinks the Gospel is the only thing that matters, and that just isn't true. "Fun matters, relaxing matters, family matters." He's trying to not separate the definitions. He said, "The Gospel is ALL those things together." Finding the balance is what he is struggling with.
Elder Heilmann also told us that he has 49 days until he is a quarter of the way through though his entire Mission. He's been out for 134 days! He said, "I have counters on my phone. I'm probably going to take them off. Sometimes it motivates me, and other times it makes me feel sad that I have so much more to go." I encouraged him to just take them off and be present. We'll see how next week goes.
Elder Heilmann is getting more secure in his role as a German-speaking Missionary. He said he has started to have trouble speaking English. When he does speak English, he uses German grammar rules, so his sentences sound really hilarious. However, if you mispronounce things in German, they don't understand what you're saying at all. The German language itself is evolving.
They have what is called New Deutsch or Modern German. It has a lot of English in it. Elder Heilmann said that the funny-looking B called the eszett is used in place of a double 'S.' 'S' is a 'Z' sound, and 'SS' is an 'S' sound, so they typically use the eszett in its place, but now they are thinking of getting rid of it.
While he walks around town, he hears teens talking, and it's a mix of German and English. They've turned 'chill' into a German word, so they made a German verb out of it. Chille. Ich habe chillet. "I'm chill."
He thought at the beginning of his Mission he wanted to blend in and be the best, and now he realizes that he doesn't need to blend in, he just needs to be himself, an American Missionary in Germany. It's strange because everyone assumes he is from Germany based on his name, but he gets, "Your accent is funny" when he starts talking. "Where are you from?" It's a funny dichotomy.
The Church here in Germany is just weird. Apparently, they try to intellectualize God. In one area, the German Ward High Priests would 'ordain' rocks and give them to women so they could use the Melchizedek Priesthood. The woman would hold the rock in one hand put the other hand on the head of the person they were 'blessing.' Elder Heilmann said, "It was so bad. Lots of heresy. They got in trouble for sure." A lot of correction and a deeper understanding of the power of the Priesthood was needed. Hopefully, they have been correctly educated and have repented of these grievous sins and misunderstandings. In the meantime, the Missionaries aren't allowed to attend that particular Ward. A lot needs to change. It's sad.
In Wiesbaden, there is a German Stake and an American Military Stake. It's the only American Stake outside of the US. Other countries will have American Wards or Expatriate Wards, but this is the only American Stake. The US Military has a HUGE influence in Germany. Elder Heilmann said that there are like 10 dentists in every Ward.
Elder's Heilmann and Chamberlain met a man that we mentioned before, named Nofuu. He is the African gentleman from Nigeria that some of the Elders made contact with on a bus. Nofuu is a former Nigerian Pop Star that has a ton of stage presence. Apparently, he receives revelations in dreams. He seems to understand agency, the judgment, the millennium, Celestial worlds. He is trying to understand faith and seems to just have a gift for receiving knowledge. Elder Heilmann said he is a very visionary man. Two weeks before Elder's Heilmann and Chamberlain met with him, Nofuu decided to stop smoking, drinking, and fornicating. He said he received a revelation that he needed to stop those things, so he did.
Apparently, his journal is crazy! He's totally willing to listen to the Spirit, and when the Elders teach him something, he says, "Yes. That's true." He has a quad and studies it often. (The Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants.) He YELLS his truths at the Elders, and being a "massive black man from Nigeria," You can imagine how intimidating that is. He is a very bold man. Elder Heilmann said, "I sometimes feel like I'm going to get murdered because he is so loud and zealous!"
Some of the things that Nofuu has said are:
"You guys have never said anything false to me."
"I'm going to come to your Church because I think this may actually be the Church of Jesus Christ. The one that He made."
"God is not mysterious; he's practical."
"God sends us on errands. As our Father, of course, He's going to give us the money to buy it."
Elder Heilmann said, "He doesn't have all the truth, but nothing he shared was a lie. We can tell he doesn't have a complete understanding of God's ways. So we will see how this plays out."
Life in Germany
While on the call, we had the fantastic opportunity to share some good news with Elder Heilmann! Jacob Fredrickson got his Mission call! Elder Heilmann said, "Is he coming to Frankfurt?" "Nope! St. Petersburg, Russia!" He replied, "That's an odd one! I didn't even know they had missionaries there! He is so excited for Jake.
We asked Elder Heilmann what he planned to do for Halloween. He said, "I could probably be Moroni for Halloween." Daddy suggested Helaman since that's how people often pronounce our name in America. He said, "I could do Men in Black, but I don't have any black stuff." Maybe he will decide to not dress up at all. We'll see. We Heilmann's LOVE Halloween!! Well...Elder Heilmann is the only exception. It's not his favorite. Haha.
His sister, Aveline, told him she would be a witch, and his little brother, Emery, would go as Jack Skellington. Although, he did say he wanted to "be a mommy for Halloween, so [he needs] lots of toilet paper." LOL, Elder Heilmann got a good laugh out of that one.
Aveline started acting up while we were talking, and Elder Heilmann said she is full of "sugar and spice and ….more spice. Except in our family, it's Sugar and THE Spice." We do love a good epic, like Dune. We have such funny conversations!!
It went downhill from there. Elder Heilmann then told us about his bathtub. It's nice and big with a slope on one end. The showerhead is on the side of the bathtub, so basically, it could spray straight out into the room! What?!? The showerhead can slide up and down for height which is excellent for Elder Chamberlain because he is tall. It goes all the way back down to the shortest height for Elder Heilmann.
Instead of a shower curtain, they have 3-panel folding glass doors that cover opposite the shower sprayer, but on the exit end of the tub is the sink and trash, so you'd have to step over those to get out. Showering is just a messy experience. As is flushing the toilet! Apparently, the water pressure is so intense that sometimes things escape the flush. I am telling you, we have some strange conversations!
Another oddity is his washing machine which is also the dryer, but it doesn't have a lint trap, so all the fuzz clumps get caught up in the laundry when you wash and dry. It's very annoying.
We couldn't leave the call without something terribly German and interesting. Evidently, Germans don't kill spiders, so there are tons! I guess it's good luck to have spiders in your house. NOPE. So, of course, we had to share the Olsen family's story of the brown recluse bite that necrosed, and then many spider stories ensued.
It was a fun call and a great week! Stay tuned for the next episode of an American Missionary in Germany. Ta ta for now!
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