Daily Doings
His Nana said it, so you know it's the truth! "Do you know what I see? I see light in your eyes. You have the Spirit. I can see it." Yay, Elder Heilmann!! And he's really back, friends.
The Elders had a wonderful and successful week. They met a guy from New Castle, a town close to Poole, England, where Elder Jones is from. The gentleman is a former British soldier. During wartime, he came to Germany, married a local German woman, and stayed. Totally reminds me of that great movie, "In Love and War" He is an English Professor. He teaches local Germans how to speak English. The New Castle accent is very slow and deliberate, and the Elders thought it was a real treat to hear him speak. Listening to Elder Heilmann's version of his accent was a treat, too, like a proper little accent chameleon.
Speaking of languages, Elder Jones introduced Elder Heilmann to the Pidgin language. It's a Nigerian dialect and just may be my favorite language EVER! In Elder Heilmann's words, it's a form of English just "totally messed up." Elder Heilmann's favorite phrase is how they say, "You spice my life." In Pidgin, you would say, "You day ginger my swagger." He shared a film with me that was originally made in English. It's the story of Christ as documented in Luke. It has been translated into 140 different Nigerian languages, including Pidgin. Elder Heilmann's favorite phrases in this film are "This is my pikin. I love him." and when Jesus is being tempted by Satan, "If you be pikin from God, turn dis stone to bread." So cool! Here is the link to watch and enjoy for yourselves!!
He said he had already experienced a lot of Christmas miracles. He didn't expound but did say that he is thankful for his music. He has so much music on his phone that he is now known as the 'music peddler.' Whenever he goes on splits, he is asked to share his music.
My personal Christmas miracle was that... he got his BOX! I saw his ring, and I was like..hmmm...but it didn't quite register, since I was having SUCH a lousy day. A Christmas present that I commissioned for Tim arrived ruined, and I was devastated. But, his box arriving made it ALL BETTER!! He tried to tell me that I worry a lot about him, and he thought that was special, but he couldn't figure out how to say it in English. He had to ask Elder Jones to translate it into English for him. LOL! The AP's stopped by Wiesbaden to pick it up for him. He loves the Thanksgiving decorations we added and he will save them for next year. He is so excited to have his recipe book and all the recipes we sent and, of course, is most excited about the shortbread recipe from the Wilson's!
Last week, he told us about the new hair clippers breaking. This week, the Elders decided to go to the barber so that Elder Jones could have his haircut finished. The barber showed Elder Heilmann how to fix the clippers and use them properly, but he said he doesn't feel like trying them again. He thinks he will just leave them in the apartment for the next set of Elders to use. After all, Elder Heilmann declared, "the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut is two weeks." So he will let them experiment.
Missionary Work
"Somedays, we talk to no one, and other times we get so many people responding to us!"
"I think we would have the best missionaries in the world if we didn't see any success. Personally, because then there'd be nothing to compare yourself on. And so the only thing you'd have to measure is how hard you're working. And that's easy to measure. But I got to see a lot of success this week. A lot of really good conversations with guys on the street." They are "working hard and then harder-than-hard" and they do see some results. Some of the missionaries in Zone are teaching around 20 different people!! It is 3 different big families and it's very exciting.
Their friendship with Sammy isn't working out. Sammy would just ask the Elders, "what concerns we had so he could destroy them so we would become Muslim." He would say, "Anything else I can take care of? How will you become Muslim?" "Don't even read the Quran; just become Muslim first before you die." The chats got really bizarre, and they weren't getting anywhere, so they, unfortunately, don't think they will be in contact with him much longer.
This week Elder Heilmann went on splits in Wasel with Elder Corey. Elder Corey sounds like a great guy. He likes Magic the Gathering, "How to Train Your Dragon" and "The Dragon Prince." So, as you can imagine, they had a great time together.
They were able to teach 3 of 5 lessons. They recapped the 1st lesson and taught 1st, 3rd, 2nd; the divine mission of Jesus Christ, faith in Jesus Christ, Baptism, so on. Then, the guy was like, "ok cool." He is looking for the truth and has joined like 7 or 8 churches before. They went to the church and showed him around. Elder Corey asked him to pray about baptism and see how he feels about it. It was a great experience.
Quirky Germany
Elder Heilmann said it's really funny hearing the German moms call for the wrong child. "Alisha! Ach ney...Zaria!" It's a universal problem for all moms. We DO know our kids' names; it doesn't always come out right.
Germans make weird sounds. Bwah! Bwah like an "oh man" sound.
There is a man named Johel (Jo-EL) from Uraguay in the local Ward. He reminds Elder Heilmann so much of his Uncle Carlos. Johel speaks German with a heavy Spanish accent. So cute. He has 7 kids, and Elder Heilmann enjoys talking with and getting to know him. While ministering with Johel, Elder Heilmann was asked about his siblings. Johel said, "Ahhh, so you're the babysitter! I bet you know how to change a diaper. Your wife is going to like you. I bet your momma's crying right now. She miss her baby boy."
Elder Mahoney is a full-fledged firefighter. He was fully trained and fought fires. And then, at 23, decided to go on a mission. Sister Cooley is 26 and got to Germany a month ago. She finished college already and lived in a German apt for total emersion at BYU-I. Elder Abish is from Black Mountain, Germany, or Schwarze Berge. It's a mining town and has a beautiful castle. They have their own greeting there. Glugouf! It's a miner greeting and doesn't have a direct translation. Elder Abish wanted to go to BYU-I, find a wife, and bring her back to Germany. So, as luck would have it, one of the Sister missionaries fell in love with him, and now they are engaged and living in Germany! She's from IDAHO! So, they will attend college in Germany and live there instead. It just worked out, I guess. I asked how they met, and Elder Heilmann said they met during conferences and stuff, and she couldn't stop thinking about him. He said, "Seems like sisters have a harder time locking their hearts. That's just how girls are. They are emotionally different." ;) Oh, and to clarify, Elder Heilmann is NOT having a hard time with the girls in Germany. He was just messing around when we spoke last week. I may have typed it out as if it was a real problem, but we were all just laughing and joking.
German Christmas carols are fantastic. A lot of their Christmas carols focus on Christ. He shared with us these three carols. Stille nacht, Oh Taunenbaum, and Kling, Glockchen. Here is a link to those and many others.
Elder Heilmann told us he has been watching "The Krist Kind," and he said, "Oh wait! That's German, The Christ Child." More and more, we are seeing him have to translate things back into English. It's amazing to witness the Gift of Tounges working in his life.
We were able to learn some cool things about the German Christmas traditions. The first 4 Sundays before Christmas are Advent Sundays. They have these little songs and wreaths that they make themselves. In Germany, most of the decorations Elder Heilmann has seen are homemade. Not many fake evergreen wreaths. Most people just make them fresh. Also, they usually just use candles in the trees and not electric lights.
So, each Advent Sunday, they light a candle. 4 candles total. The 6th of December is Nikoloustag, where you put your shoes by the door, and St Nicholas puts good things in the shoes of good little boys and girls. If you are naughty, a monk dressed in a big red and black robe pulls you out of bed and hits you with a stick. Not for real, though. But that's the superstition and story that is told to the children.
Family members usually hide as Nikoloustag and allow themselves to be 'seen.' In other parts of Germany, the bad monk is called Krampus! In Bayern, if you're naughty, Krampus comes into your bedroom and puts you in a sack! I totally thought Krampus was a made-up horror movie, but he's a real thing! Crazy!!!
Christmas Eve is Holy Evening, Heiligabend. The Elders are going to the Krausters for Heiligabend. The food traditions are usually cheese fondue and raclette. Christmas day they sing a bunch of carols and stay up until 1am. Santa, or Weihnachtsmann, doesn't come; the Baby Jesus comes on Christmas. Baby Jesus rings a bell, and either a baby or small child dressed as Baby Jesus puts the presents under the tree.
Silvester is New Year's Eve. They boil led, put it in water, and define the shape, and that's supposed to tell them what the New year will bring. Lots of cool stuff.
A few disappointing pieces of news. There is NOT a Christmas pickle. :( No one Elder Heilmann has asked knows what he is talking about. They DO, however, hide a Baby Jesus. That's way cooler. ;) Also, Elder Heilmann remembered he can't be the Christmas Slug, and he got really sad. He is pretty sure he will just do it for Elder Jones anyway to "weird him out." That's my son. :D
Overall, it was a great week, and Elder Heilmann declared, "Christmas is WAY better here!"
Cheers to that!
Tune in next time for more adventures from an American Missionary in Germany.
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