Hello from Elder Stiles

       I've been wanting to write you an email ever since I finished training your son and left Mannheim. The time that I spent with Elder Rogers has been the best two transfers of my whole mission, and I loved every second of it. He is an incredible missionary! When I found out that I
would be training, I prayed so hard to have a diligent, fun new missionary to work with, and he was honestly an even better companion than I had hoped for. He not only works hard but also makes the work fun. And his testimony of the Book of Mormon is so powerful! He told me that during our time together, he was reading the Book of Mormon from cover to cover for the first time. His testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon grew, and then he shared that testimony with people we meet on the street and in appointments. Your son has such a powerful testimony, and the Spirit felt while he shares it is incredible! He told me a lot about your family during our time together, and he looks up to and loves both of you so much. He is also very grateful for the awesome siblings that he has. I know that you have a wonderful family by the way that Elder Rogers talked about you and by the type of missionary that he is.
       Your son has become one of my best friends. President Holland said that your mission companions will become your life long best friends, and that is definitely true for me and Elder Rogers. I just barely got asked to serve as an office elder and I had the chance to go down to the Heidelberg zone to deliver some things and I got to see your son again, and that honestly made my day! I am definitely looking forward to hanging out with him after the mission and hopefully also getting to meet you and your family. I just wanted to thank you for raising such an awesome son and for supporting him in his calling. He has had such a positive influence on me and I am so grateful for that. I know that he will continue to see miracles as he serves faithfully.
       I hope you and your family have a great week and that all goes well!
Love,
Elder Stiles

Transfers.....

       Well a wise man once told me to be careful when transfers come around because whatever you want the Lord will give you the opposite. Which is so true! I found out that I'll be going to Gelsenkirchen tomorrow and I'm kinda excited, but at the same time not really!! Hahaha! I've gotten so close to some members here, and the district, and the zone leaders. I'm definitely going to miss it all. I've only heard good things about the area and the new comp so I'm excited. I'll actually be sending my new comp home because this is his last transfer! I can't wait to learn from this old homie! Haha! I'm honestly going to miss Elder Morley as well! I'm bummed we only got one transfer together, but the Lord knows what's up.
       Actually that wise man I just mentioned I'd like to bring up again because he played a huge part in my last week!! He has been here since I've got here and has always had awesome advice for me and the rest of our district/zone, i just have a ton of respect for this guy! On Friday Elder Morley and I were able to go on a split with two of the coolest Elders I've met so far on my mission. Well come to find out I was going on this Elders last split and he came to Mannheim where we served earlier in the mission. We ended up going by on 3 members that night so we were really busy getting places and they all went a little later than usual, but they were amazing!
       The first lesson was with my favorite member and my split companions favorite as well. We had amazing lasagna and even better ice cream. The coolest thing about this lesson is that the member was inactive when my split comp was here and he eventually reactivated him, and I've just been helping him stay on the path!
       After that we were going over to another member family that we both didn't really know that well so we were a little nervous about how it was going to be. Well we got there and the family was all gone except for one of the sons who is actually our ward mission leader. We had a great lesson about charity and my split comp and I both asked some really inspired questions. The Spirit was booming in that house.
       After that we got back to the apartment for a little bit and headed back out to the third family. They are an older couple and the wife is from Africa but speaks perfect German and her husband is completely German (and can cook!!!!!). We got there and as we were waiting for the food to be done the sisters walked in and we were both way confused. But it was a great dinner and lesson and it wasn't too bad! Haha!
       Anyways it's a bummer that I have to leave but I know that I'm needed in Gelsenkirchen! I also know for a fact that the Lord puts us all in the right places at the right time, if we will constantly asking in prayer if He can put us in the right places at the right times. I love Mannheim but I know that I'm in the best mission in the world so I'll also love every other place I go! Haha!
Elder Rogers

Sasa

Fall outs on fall outs

       Well this week was pretty good! We had a lot of appointments set up to meet with potential investigators, but sadly they all fell out! We did a lot of finding and had awesome member appointments. This is the last week of the transfer already and I'm just starting to be comfortable
with the members, which means I'm probably outta here. Haha I hope not!! Oh and I finally got asked to speak next Sunday, and I'm actually pretty excited, even if it's in German haha!
       On Wednesday we got a call from a member that wanted to meet with us so we set a meeting for Friday. We had an awesome lesson with him and only had a little ice cream that was amazing! He is honestly my favorite person since I ever left my family at the curb! Haha he always makes me feel so much better and I always leave feeling happy to be out here.
        But on the same day we got another call from a former investigator that was taught all the lessons and set a baptism date, but for some reason wasn't baptized. Well he told us to come over to his house on Thursday morning at 9 for breakfast and that's all. We were so excited! Well Thursday morning we get there and started just talking and getting to know him because we both didn't know each other, then we started talking about church stuff. Well we found out that he is a part of some cult, but he believes in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and all that. His Book of Mormon is marked up a ton and he knows a lot about the church. We are meeting with him this week and hope to let the Spirit hit him hard!! Haha!
       Anyways besides that we are going to a zoo in Heidelburg today, to be honest, I've never heard of zoo's in Germany so it's going to be interesting! Something funny that happened this week was on Monday we got our comp item and I'll just send some pictures because words can't explain how swaggin' this item is! Haha have a good week!!
Elder Rogers

Loving the Lovely German people

       Well this week was honestly a whole lot of disappointments! Haha we had a bunch of meetings set to meet with some potential investigators and they all fell out, but it's all good because we had some awesome member lessons! I love member lessons because one they are the only Germans I seem to love right now and two they always take off so much stress and keep you going! Haha still trying to love the German people, but it's definitely a work in progress. Haha!
       The highlight of the week was probably a member appointment with my favorite member! We set up an appointment to go to his house around 7:30 or so so we figured we would just go finding until we wanted to head over. Well it just so happens that we ran into him on the street and he was going to the grocery store to get food for our dinner that night, so we went with him. We got there and he told us he was going to make some pizzas, I was really excited until he grabbed three pizza doughs... Elder Morley and I got nervous right then!
       The member also grabbed some juice and stuff, but when we got up to the checkout line he wasn't able to buy all of it so he just left the juice and got the pizza stuff. As we left I felt very strongly impressed to tell him that I could pay for him with my personal money, I did without any hesitation. This member has been without a job for a while now and has barely been getting by, but it's one of the coolest guys here, if not the coolest. He had just barely got a job the last weekend and so he told me "thanks brother but I have a job".
       I then did what I shouldn't have done and felt so dumb for acting on the spirit, I felt like I made the member feel so low for not being able to pay for the juice. Well we got to his house and had our lesson as the pizza was cooking, we talked about love for other people and the love that our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us. He then explained to us that love isn't just shown through simply saying "I love you brother", it's by showing it by doing and saying things that express that love. He then used the example of me telling him that I could've helped pay for him.
       I'm not trying to boast or make myself look all awesome. All I did was simply act on the Spirit, and the Spirit touched the member's heart, not my words. I know that we can all act on the spirit, you don't have to be a missionary, bishop, or any kind of leader in the church. I hope that everyone can always listen to the Spirit and act as soon as possible, you will be amazed and your eyes will be opened to the blessings that our Heavenly Father has for us, I promise!
       Anyways after that awesome lesson, we had one pizza. Then the member said he will make another one and we were getting a little worried, we barely got that one down and then the member said that the first pizza is ok, the second one was good, so the third will be super! Haha before we let him make another pizza we told him the second was super and it's all good. Haha we were stuffed as could be!
Elder Rogers

The German Shepard guard dog

Moin moin!!
       Well this week was a whole ton better than the last one! To begin with, the Lord totally pulled through (as always) and we were blessed a ton! We ended up calling the town that took our cards and the funny thing is is that they were waiting for us to call them! They were really nice and they told us that our money would be returned and we would get new cards! But the best news is that they fired the bus driver... Just kidding that's messed up! Haha they really didn't fire him, he was just a little confused. Anyways we were very grateful for that for sure!
       But even better after that we went to a members house and he wasn't home, but as we left his door he was walking up the street! So we went into his apartment and shared a spiritual thought with him. He then told us that he had a tough weekend and has been reading in the Book of Mormon and praying sincerely. He then said that today he was able to accomplish the things he had prayed for and that we were waiting for him at his apartment. He told us that he knows that none of it was some coincident and that it was all the Lords hand in his life. I too testify that there is no such thing as coincidences when it comes to the Lord and Him answering our prayers and giving us comfort. He is
capable of everything and anything, He is all-knowing and all thanks go to Him and the people that act as an instrument in His hand.
       Well just to end with a funny thing this week. Yesterday after church we went by on a couple less active members. One of them we went by had a really scary looking house and when we were about to walk through the gate to knock on his door, we noticed a huge German Shepard laying down on his side asleep looking away from us. At first we stopped and were scared at of our minds! Then we made a plan. We decided to leave the gate open and slowly walk up past the dog, if he woke up we would run out the gate shutting it so the dog couldn't chase us. We started walking towards the dog and we noticed his ear twitched and we were out of that gate soooo fast! We slammed it on the way but also noticed that he wasn't awake. Because we slammed the gate the less active heard the noise and came outside. They noticed who we were and asked if we were scared of the dog. We were ashamed to admit it, but we said yes while looking at the ground. Haha we didn't get to meet with the less active but it had to of been pretty funny for any neighbors watching! Haha
Hope only the best for everyone this week!
Elder Rogers