Wk. #12 The Freedom of the Gospel

What a week! I am just going to start with the beginning of the week and go from there. 

On last P Day, we were in Stuttgart for exchanges with zone leaders. We went on Konigstrasse, the biggest shopping street in the world. We hanged out at the Institute and then I went with Elder Allred on exchanges. He is a solid missionary. He had lots of good tips on finding and missionary work in general. While being in Stuttgart was fun, it was good to come home to Ulm.

Later  in the week, we had a service project with a family in our branch. The Goppingem Elders came down to help and we are glad they did. The family is trying to reinovate their home and the crew is awful. They are so messy and terrible at getting work done. We helped weed and clean up trash from the crew. I love service projects because manual labor can be fun and it was a way to help our members. 

General conference was so good! It was a weird schedule because we were watching the first session at 6 pm. Watching conference as a missionary is kind of fun because I felt like every talk said the word missionary once. I loved the talks from Holland, Christofferson, Stevenson, Rasband, Eyring, and some of the seventies. Sister Oscarson was really good too. I mean they were all good but those were my favorites. I have not seen Sunday Afternoon yet but I am excited to read it. There is so much to learn from Conference. I have started the Book of Mormon again because they focused on it so much! I have also picked up many tips I could use in missionary work. 

After district meeting and lunch, we climbed the Munster! The Munster is the church in our area. It was so weird to be on top of the building I can see wherever I go. It was a tight, dark staircase all the way to the top. It was a beautiful view of my area at the top. It is fun being around other missionaries and get to enjoy some cool things here in Germany. 

(Pictures Below:  View from the top of the Muster)

 The Münster made of legos

It was Elder Kaufusi's birthday yesterday so Godwin's family had us over for dinner. We had Fufu! It was so good. It was like a puree with chicken and fish in the middle of a tomato soup. The best part was no utensils! We ate with our hands! It was so much fun. 

(Pictures above: Fufu and Elder Evans, Godwin and Elder Kaufusi)

First things first before I address the subject line. My new companion is Elder Walton. He will be coming here to Ulm! He sounds like a really cool guy. I will meet him tomorrow. One transfer already done! Onto more adventures in Deutschland and in the mission. 

Okay, my subject deals with a weird guy I ran into at the grocery store. I was waiting for Kaufusi to buy his stuff. A random guy rides on his bike up to the store and walks in. He comes straight to me, grabs me by the shoulder, and points at my badge. In German, he says something to the effect of "Free yourself from this stupid church." He lets me go, walks out of the store, and pedals away. At first, I was kind of amused but now I wish I had said something. Something to testify of the truth I know. A lot of people believe that the message we have to give only restricts  life. That could not be more wrong. The lasting freedom that comes from living the gospel is far better than the temporal fun that the world has to offer. The Gospel frees us and gives more meaning to life. We are more free as we give our all to God. It sounds crazy but it is true! I have seen it in my life and I see it every day. 

Love you guys. I hope you are doing well and loving life. Have a fantastic week!

Elder Evans

A cool church building in Weißenhorn (That is where Godwin lives)