Never Meet Your Heros- June 2, 2026
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Moin Elders and Sisters! Jetzt hoeren wir eine Thema von der Pinnaberg STLs!
Just an impression of our AP to start the email. Es war eine wunderbare Woche und ich habe viele Sachen gelernt. Zuerste habe ich gelernt, dass ich mehr Franzoesisch lernen muss. Ich habe auch gelernt, dass es schwerigkeit und traurigkeit gibt. Aber es wichtig ist, gluecklich zu sein. Wir mussen auch vorwaerts gehen.
This week was wonderful, and I learned a lot. First, that I need to learn more French, and, second, that even though there are hardships and tragedies, it is important to be happy, and we must go forward.
To start this email officially, I will break the news to all of you that currently has the lunch and p-day mission abuzz. Some of you may remember my MTC companion, Elder Biesinger. Well, his first area was a city called Hagen. He was put with an Elder who I think could not have been a more perfect companion for him, they had similar personalities, and we thought that it would work quite well. The hard part is that he was sent to open a new area, so that means just finding all day, no friends, no help, him and Elder Thurn against the world. Well, one day this week, we were sitting in the apartment and Elder Morley was on Whatsapp, and noticed that the Siegen Elders profile picture, now had Elder Thurn in it. That is how we found out, that Elder Biesinger had made the decision to return home. Honestly, I still haven't really wrapped my head around it. Very weird to think that I have already outlasted one of my companions, and that out of anyone I know, Elder Biesinger would be the one to go home. The way things worked out for Biesinger have left me with a feeling of uneasiness, somewhat foreboding for lack of a better term. The whole situation just seems very strange to me, but it is not my place to know, so I shall be content with the information I have received. Although I do wish him the best, and success wherever he may be lead next.
Kearon Conference:
This week, we went to Hannover on Friday for a mission wide conference with Patrick Kearon. At this point, the guy has got to be following me. The conference was such a cool experience, or it would have been, if I knew more than 8 people in this entire mission. The whole two days was essentially spent meeting Elders and Sisters that I had never met, or would never know again. Namely, Elder Morley and Fredin's old companions. But, I must admit, that it was quite fun to get to meet so many missionaries, and legends of the mission. Friday night, half of the Elders stayed in quite a small, but nice hotel, while the other have stayed in a hostel with communal showers. I will let you guess which one Elder Morley and I had the pleasure of inhabiting. Just kidding I will spoil the surprise, it was the nice hotel. So nice, in fact, that we had our own shower in our hotel room. Saturday morning, the luxury continued, as we had such an awesome breakfast at the hotel, we are talking bacon, pancakes, quark, yogurt, sliced meats. After breakfast, we headed down the street to the Hannover ward building, where we stood outside and waited for Kearon's arrival. We then sang a song when he arrived, took turns shaking his hand individually, and then had a meeting. His address was extremely similar to the one he gave in MTC. The central message was the same, we need to share the joy of the message on our faces when we talk to other people. But there were more subpoints, about how we glory in opposition, and it is hard, but sometimes we need to load the back of the truck to get traction in the snowstorm. He also told us we had to exercise every morning and promised us blessings if we did. It was also similar in the fact that he made similar jarring jokes, including one bit where he made fun of Sister Rex (one of our Hamburg besties) three times because her pen exploded while someone was answering his question. But, all in all the conference was good, I answered one of his questions, Fredin got his new nickname, the testifier. After the meeting, I got a couple pictures with my boys from MTC, and we hopped on the train back home. Boy was it good to be home.
French:
To tell the story that I hinted at in the introduction to this email, I got to speak French twice on the street this week. The first time was before we boarded our ICE to Hannover, we found a French speaking dude from Africa. I used the French I knew, before we used google translate to invite him to church, and he said yes so w use of French. The second time was Monday, when I used my French on some guy from Mali, but he was certainly not interested, which therefore means I need to learn more.
Tausch:
This week, I had another Tausch this time I was on exchange with the Zonelord, Elder Roberts. It was a super great experience, I learned so much about faith, and the power of an invitation. For example, Roberts and I were teaching a lesson to one of Roberts and Stowe's friends. He extended the invitation for her to pray, and ask God if He loved her, and he promised, that if she did this, she would receive an answer. He then said, after she asked what if she did not receive such an answer, he said that it could not happen. He then said that if she did not receive an answer after praying intently, he would go back to America, he would go home. After the lesson when I asked him about it, he said that every single time he offered an invitation, and the person followed through, that they had a spiritual experience, and that he wasn't going to doubt his faith now. Other than that, Roberts showed me how hard I really could work. Every day, Elder Morley and I talk to a good amount of people, in my 24 hours with Roberts, we talked to at least 80 people on the street, not a person passed us without hearing about the word of God. We invited everyone to come to church. I learned how a legend in the field works, and I gotta say I learned a lot from him.
Miracle:
We saw a bit of a miracle and I would be a fool not to recount it. This Thursday, we were on the way to visit an inactive member. Seven people straight would not even give us the time of day, but on the way to the S-Bahn, we met a Brazilian dude named Luciano. Luciano stopped for a conversation, took a Book of Mormon, and set a follow up appointment, so we were very grateful for that. Fast forward, we are on a packed bus, talking to a dude who is a little bit interested, we get his number and set up a follow up appointment after teaching him about the restoration, and a dude standing right next to Elder Morley was like, are you guys American, and after we said yeah, he asked if we were on a mission. We then said yes again, and he asked how we could meet, because he had interest. It was just a small miracle that we were able to find three people in one journey, and one of them found us. I hate to say, that unfortunately Luciano was a no-show, Justin (the second dude) blocked us, and Alban (The third dude) texted us after, coming to church, that he was a staunch Catholic, and had no interest. None the less, it was an example that the Lord can give us people to teach and help, even if just a bit.
Stats:
This week we went from two friends at church, to four, and all four friends were found off the street. In our mission that is a very high number, so we were stoked.
Friends:
Unfortunately it was a rough week for our friends. Our friend Jenny decided that she was going to go to her own church now instead. Our friend Michael texted us that he found people who know more about Jesus that he wanted to learn from, and our friend Hussein has been MIA for two weeks.
Conclusion:
I hope it has been a blessed week for everyone. School should be out if that's a thing you guys still do, so that's fun. I heard the Spurs and the Knicks are in the finals, so I guess that means Wemby is well on his way to being the goat. There should be something of a world cup starting soon. Bottom line, sounds like an elite month ahead, enjoy it.
-M.J.
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