Going Hoooome! (to Germany).

From May 30...

Hey Mom!

This week has actually been fantastic! Yeah I was a little stressed last week. I figured out that as a missionary it's really hard for me to just be satisfied with the work I do, because I'm pretty hard on myself. I always have to remind myself that it's ok to have weaknesses and fall short sometimes because it's normal. Most of my stress just comes from expecting too much from myself. :) thanks for the counsel and prayers and encouragement.

Me emailing you guys!

In case you're wondering about the subject line, I'm being transferred to Freiburg, Germany on Thursday! Wooo! I'm excited, it's supposed to be a beautiful city, (like Leavenworth, but really authentic) and way big. It's supposed to have a big apartment, too. I'll be working with an Elder Walton, who I've heard is really cool. I'll be his second companion, so I'll be working with another really young missionary. :) I'll also be district leader again, so we'll see how it goes! I feel good about this transfer. The crazy thing is that Elder Bowman will be transferred as well! So the area is getting two new elders. That makes it harder for us, because we have to prepare lots of things before they get here. We've been having appointments and lots of paper work all week. It's been crazy!

Me and my best friend in the ward, Aaron.

We had a really cool appointment with Rolf this week. He told us last time that he read a lot of stuff on the internet (sometimes I hate technology) and had some different ideas about Joseph Smith. He just kind of believed that he made it all up. As we planned out next meeting with him, we had a really hard time, but felt really impressed to just watch the movie about Joseph Smith with him. We set it up, and he showed up, and we watched the movie. I've seen that movie so many times but I was never so hit with the spirit like I was during that showing. It hit me so hard, the whole hour. After the movie ended we sat in silence for a long time. Finally he turned to me and said: well... I think I understand him a lot more now. We had a great conversation about our testimonies, and it was so awesome. We think he'll start reading in the Book of Mormon. :)

Tired and lesson planning.

Tired, and done lesson planning.

Aside from that we've been doing lots of paper work... Saying bye to the members was hard. I love these people.

I've been feeling a lot more on top of myself this week. My studies have been better, and my prayers. I've been working out a lot to a good schedule (the workouts are crazy hard, though) and I've learned lots of new things. :) spiritual and just life Things. I've had to learn to be my own motivator, rather than rely on the strength of my companion or someone else. I'm reading a great book that was referred to me. It's called: "7 habits of highly effective people." And it's an awesome book. It's written by a member, too.

Practicing to sing a solo.

But yeah, it sounds like you guys had an awesome week! I'm glad everything is coming together for the summer with Teaching, building, garden work, and other things. I love you very much Mom, and hope this week goes awesome for you and the family! Sorry if this email is short, we just have so much to do.

Love you Mom :)

-Elder Flanders

He must like making this face.