Missionary Work
Another glorious week in the work of the Lord, another chance to talk to my sweet boy! This week was better than last week, but he's still missing home. It's just hard being in a foreign country, trying to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who don't want to hear it. They aren't always kind about their refusals, and it can really wear on his tender heart. He said, "Whenever I get emotionally strong, I get yelled at. 'Hey, I want to talk to you about Jesus!' 'Hey, you're a Satanist! You should kill yourself!' People don't like the Mormons here much. If American's see us, they say, 'I thought we escaped you.' 'Nope, we're everywhere!" It's disheartening and sad, but he perseveres with the Lord's help and support.
I inquired after his friends (the term they use for investigators of the Church), and he told me the texting girl blocked the missionaries. She was afraid they were going to hurt her in some way. "It's ok," Elder Heilmann said. "She will have another opportunity to hear it."
Brother Elosi has officially banned the missionaries from his shop. Elder Heilmann was really heartbroken. He said they tried to help Brother Elosi come to God, but he just got angry and declared he didn't want to talk to them again. The missionaries were texting him to see if they could come over like they were accustomed to doing and share a spiritual thought, and Brother Elosi said, "I don't know why you are talking to me. You guys are annoying. I am already saved, so I don't need you." Elder Heilmann was so frustrated because Brother Elosi would always say that the Church was a hospital for sick people, yet now he won't come. Elder Heilmann said, "He made it pretty clear, so we erased him off the whiteboard." Brother Elosi is still a member, but he refuses to do anything with it. Elder Heilmann misses his friend.
Their "Visionary Man," Nofuu, is under the radar for the week. They don't think anything is wrong, but he didn't come to Church like he said he would. They sent him an audio file to check-in. It was so funny when Elder Heilmann was telling us this. He said, "We sent him a...translating....audio file! Sprachnachricht." Nofuu didn't reply.
He says his German is kommt; it's coming along. He has language study every day, and he also uses Duolingo. He also told us about 17 ways to say 'the'; gender, who's receiving, etc. It's very confusing!
Joshua is the man who only read the title page of the Book of Mormon and decided it was true through the Spirit. He wants to get baptized so he can go to the Temple to make covenants with God. So great! I hope, for Joshua, that the road to God is faith-filled.
Kevanch just got back. He said that he knows that getting baptized is the right thing, but his family will disown him if he does. He is understandably scared. Prayers for Kevanch!
Mike, his epileptic friend, born in Colorado, is also, apparently, 1/4 Native American. So, he looks European but has rich, black hair. Very cool dude. They took him to the commissary to eat at Popeyes, and he was in HEAVEN! He loved eating and seeing all the foods he remembers from Colorado.
Elder Heilmann continues to preach the Word of God daily! He says, "There are so many different faces. All the faces say no...But in order to find people, I need to be honest." He gave us his street approach in German, and he said, "If they say they don't want to hear about Jesus, I say, why? Some people have really dumb excuses. It's so funny. Bashing is a waste of time. If they're not interested, that means they're not interested. And if they are interested, they are ready to hear it." He is growing and getting more comfortable at this!
Among all the Missions, the Germany, Frankfurt Mission is one of the most difficult in the world! The people he has encountered are really non-committal. They don't trust their own feelings. Because of that, they don't trust the Spirit because they can't tell the difference between them. He said the people are private or prideful, so it's hard to get through to them.
The Missionaries are well known in the area, though, well, once they share the colloquial name of the Church. "Ahhhh, Mormonen! You have lots of wives, right?" OH, dear. LOL "Nope. Just one, and I'm single." Most of the people they do end up teaching aren't native Germans. Elder Heilmann said that Elder Uktdorf is a "strange German." Meaning that most German's he has encountered do not have the faith and conviction of Elder Uktdorf.
The German Ward has about 80 inactive families. They get baptized and then don't come to Church again. The Ward members that do come are often cold and unwelcoming, except for the Bishop. The Bishop really likes Elder Heilmann, thank goodness.
The good news, though, is that the German Ward Bishop likes him SO much that he asked Elder Heilmann to give another talk! Elder Heilmann says that the way Germans give talks is weird, and it's hard for them to not make it a lecture or political. He said, "They like the American twist I bring." He was asked to "talk about something! 12-15 min" Gulp! So, he is leaning on his Mission Presidents presentation about giving talks or just sharing the Gospel face to face.
- Fact-checking is not a good question.
- What am I thinking questions are also not good.
- Teach people how to teach themselves.
- To give a good talk, don't introduce yourself or state what you are about to talk about.
- Start with a story.
Lastly, he said, "You also need a good hook. Like Tristan's writing. You gotta have a good hook like Tristan."
Elder Heilmann's Nana moved into our home this week while she house hunts in the Richmond, VA, area. He was SO excited to see his Nana on the camera after so long not seeing her. We could both tell that Elder Heilmann was really having a hard time and was kinda down, so they got into a conversation about the Savior. Elder Heilmann shared some beautiful personal insights about how he is getting through his hardships. He said, "Sometimes I forget He's looking at me. It's easy to forget, but then being on a mission...if you lose yourself, you find yourself, so I found out I like calling him my beautiful blue-eyed Savior. Sometimes I feel alone, but I look around and see all His electric blues peeking out over a chair. OH, there He is! He's always watchin'! My sweet, long-haired, Jewish man!" Having that beautiful connection with his Savior is what is giving him the strength to keep going.
And go, he does! Here is his daily schedule:
0630 Wake up and Pray. Elder Heilmann said he immediately has to run around because he will just go back to bed. He tries to work out but has been too homesick to do it. Then, he gets ready for the day and eats breakfast...mostly corn flakes. ;) However, he is very close to a bakery, so this morning he got a giant chocolate croissant for like 50 cents. YUM!
0830 Plan the day
0900 Personal study
1000 Language study
1100 Companion study and talk about what they studied individually. They study the Missionary Handbook, the scriptures, topical searches in the Bible Dictionary, and other Gospel-related materials. They don't have the King James Version of the Bible in German. I can't remember what version he said they used, but this week they read the Apocrypha. He found the song of Shadrach, Meeshak, and Abednego particularly lovely.
1130 Check in with friends (investigators) and make appts for the day or coming days.
1200 Lunch
1300 Head outside, street contact, appts, etc.
2000 Dinner
2100-2230 Music and relax body Elder Heilmann said he has a folder on his phone called 'the nothing box,' and it has a bunch of Mission approved Zelda music. He said it helps him turn off my brain and reset. He is also allowed to make D&D characters. His Mission President said it was a good way for him to recenter. It's something from home that he loves, and it helps him have Julian time.
On Mondays, they have a Zoom Mtg for the entire Mission. And of course, Thursday is PDay, so the schedule is a little different. They have time to see museums, clean the apartment, do laundry and shopping, etc. Elder Heilmann said, there is "never a dull moment where I am not doing something. It may be dull, but I am always doing something."
Life in Germany
As always, Elder Heilmann shared with us some fun goings-on in his German life! He started out by saying, "You know how America is dumb? Like we do weird things? It's the same level in Germany, but just different. They are very organized and super strict to their systems, but their systems don't make any sense. They are very inefficient! Like bus systems! Instead of fixing a problem, they just keep going, so sometimes people can be an hour late to work because they won't go around the problem."
All blinds are made of aluminum and are on the outside of windows. The Church building has these kinds of blinds, and they are very thick and lock together like a shield. The blinds sense the sun and open automatically to let the light in. He said it's hilarious when a cloud moves over the sun; the blinds will go up and down, up and down. The windows themselves open like a door or tilt. Pretty cool and high-tech sounding!
Elder Heilmann never has his name mispronounced in Germany, which is a rarety in America! It's so fun because the German folks will try to talk to him and say,
"Why is your German so bad?"
"Because I'm from America!"
"...why??"
"What do you mean, why? LOL"
But he also gets those that say, "Oh, I love America. I want to move there!"
It really is quite funny how much they LOVE America and American culture. There is a German man who goes around town wearing leather pants, spurs, and a cowboy hat! However, they're also a lot of people who shop in lingerie! Elder Heilmann said, "Well, they wear pants but then just a lacy bra....sometimes a jacket...but always open." His Nana asked, "Does that make life hard?" I loved his reply. "No. Closing my eyes is pretty easy."
Elder Heilmann only rides busses and trains in this area, but some of the missionaries in the Frankfurt mission do have cars. He said the native German's drive, act, and park like they live in Philly. Yikes. They have lots of underground parking lots, but most people park on the road. It is complicated to get a car in Germany, too, and it's like 3,000 EUROS just to get a license!! You would think that would deter most Germans from getting a car. They are very green, health, and community conscious. And all trash is sorted, and they have SO MANY windmills. But, they love to drive their cars. Even though the gas cost is the same price as a gallon for one liter. Imagine spending almost $14/gallon!!! Hmm...no thanks. I'll take the train. It's FREE!
As a matter of fact, a LOT of things in Wiesbaden are expensive. They have Gucci, Ralph Loren, and Armani shops, among others, along the streets of the town. Elder Chamberlain saw a beautiful coat in the window today and wanted to go inside and try it on, and it lived up to its picturesque beauty in the window and also came with a hefty price tag of 900 Euros! Well...off the H&M then. Bye, bye beautiful coat!
Being next to the Base is a huge blessing, and Elder Heilmann remembered to get his Pirolines at the Commissary! He says he looks at them loving as he awaits Christmas! He decided to NOT get his Martinelli's, though, because Transfer Day is a lot of running and catching buses and trains, so he doesn't want to risk breaking his bottle in his bags.
Thanksgiving will be a fun event if they are in an American area at the time. He said, "The members are going to abduct us and force-feed us....several times. If I'm not [in an American area], I will get a bunch of food and make it myself!" Sounds awesome.
In the meantime, though, the area is prepping to celebrate Halloween...sort of. Since Wiesbaden is a military area, 10s of THOUSANDs of local American's flood the base to Trick or Treat. If you are an American and don't live on Base, you will have very grumpy German children if you don't have candy to pass out. This area has adopted some American customs for sure.
Elder Heilmann is trying to adopt and adapt to the German culture as well. He says, "I love the German's, I really do! Sometimes, they are just silly. Like how they think air conditioning will kill you."
In parting, I would like to share with you Elder Heilmann's parting for us on our weekly call. He said thus:
"Here is a fun word that's been in my head all day. Erdmannchen. It's the word for meerkats. It literally means Little Earth Men. They just stand up and look around like little dudes!"
So with a chuckle, we leave you for another week and another adventure of an American Missionary in Germany.
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