Address

Elder Aaron Baxter
Germany Frankfurt Mission
Kirche Jesu Christi
Corneliusstrasse 18
60325 Frankfurt am Main
Germany

aaron.baxter@myldsmail.net

Monday, November 24, 2014

A Birthday on the Mission

This past week was a continuation of helping our investigator prepare for baptism and celebrating my birthday!

For my birthday, I went out of my way to make a nice breakfast and then opened a package from my family.  After that I traveled to a District Meeting, where they sang Happy Birthday and made a chocolate cake and cheesecake to celebrate.  I am now 20 years old, and it does not feel any different from being 19.  Ultron got in on the birthday also.

Missionary work wise, we have been continuing to work with our investigator, who will be baptised very soon.  One day we met with him and a friend, and introduced the friend to the Book of Mormon, it was a cool experience, and the first solid referral I have received on the mission.

We also worked with members and visited a few families.  We taught about the life of Jesus Christ to a part member family, and with another family they made pumpkin pie for us because Thanksgiving is coming up.

This new week we will be looking forward to the baptism that has been planned, and so far everything looks good.  I of course will let you know how that goes next week!

 Ulton getting in on Aaron's birthday

Aaron's birthday!!!  

Monday, November 17, 2014

Another Week, Another Zone Meeting

This week flew by like crazy!

Our investigator with a baptismal date, Joachim, is still doing well, and is excited for his baptism.  We have been going through the commandments with him, and he has been loving it.  He is such a happy guy!

We also had a Zone Training meeting in the city of Essen during the week.  I included some pictures from that experience.  The city was putting up Christmas decorations, and they had a pretty cool train station full of changing lights.  At the meeting they focused on how the Dortmund Stake will be working with missionaries next year, and how it will be a big focus, and then after the meeting as a zone we all went out finding people.  My companion and I were assigned to go door a University housing complex.

To end the week, we had three investigators at church.  One of these investigators had been waiting a long time to get to church because he lives so far away.  It was a good experience, and afterwards, we met with Joachim and the Branch President and Joachim got to know the Branch President a lot better, even if the meeting ended up being three hours long because Joachim went through his life story, starting from his birth.  That man can talk your ear off!

Anyhow, things continue to move forward.  I am grateful for the opportunities I have been having on my mission, and know that I have been receiving help in the work.

Aaron at the train station

Aaron in Essen

Monday, November 10, 2014

It Finally Happened!

The week started with a district Pday in Unna, where there was a carnival going on.  I got to go on some rides, and get authentic Bratwurst, which I was pretty happy about, still have yet to have a companion that likes Bratwurst.  After the Pday, I started a split with an Elder from Unna and together we worked in Paderborn.  Nothing was really working out for us, but at the end of the day, we were able to get into contact with Joachim, our homeless investigator, which was great, the man has been giving out copies of the Book of Mormon like crazy!

After the split my companion and I continued to work with Joachim by going through the third missionary lesson with him, and then inviting him to join us when we were going to visit a less active member (all of the members we tried to get help from fell out).  The less active member fell out, so we were left with just Joachim, and we went through this really meeting about how many baptisms could happen in Paderborn before the end of the year (Joachim enjoys statistics).  After the meeting, I reminded him that he could be baptised, and then we went back to our apartment.  A few minutes after our arrival, Joachim called us, and told us to get ready, because he is going to get baptised!

We established the baptism date the next day, which will be the 29 of November.  He wants me to baptise him.

Outside of that, we were able to have a new investigator come to church, and we were able to get back into contact with an investigator we had not heard from for a while.  I would call this week a success.

What made Joachim decide on baptism?  To be honest, I think the Spirit just worked on him really hard, until he was able to make a decision.  I thought it would take a lot longer for him because we tried last month, but he had his thing with Scientology.  I really think the reason for the success was because we stuck with him, and with his love for the Gospel, the spirit was able to work and do the rest of the work.  Miracles DO happen!

Aaron, Joachim, and Aaron's companion, Elder Black 

Aaron with the giant metal door at the University



Monday, November 3, 2014

Our Investigator Is Doing Missionary Work!

So apparently Paderborn has its own movie now, so I thought I ought to get a picture of that.

This week we were able to meet a few times with our homeless investigator.  He has agreed to start inviting his friends with him when he meets with us, so he is giving us referrals now!  He also has given out two copies of the Book of Mormon, what a champ!  Even if he is having trouble with baptism, he is finding joy with the gospel in his life, and one day it will totally click for him.

We also met with the part member family I mentioned last week.  We ended up just teaching the son, who we were told to focus on, and his father, who is not a member, it was a wonderful experience to be with both of them.

Halloween was non-existent in Paderborn, sorry about that.  We did get to meet with members, including the branch president and his family, and a member who was in the hospital.  We were able to give him a blessing there, which was pretty cool.

And that is everything this week!  Until next week!

Paderborn the Movie!