What a day in the life of this missionary. I must say we had a little funk there where there was some sort of opposition against us a week ago, especially with the story of Hany. Can I update you on Hany because we have some GREAT NEWS!
So this guy has seen so many miracles, or at least the hand of the Lord VERY OBVIOUSLY in his life. Last week he was like 'Okay, I cant keep staying in the middle between good and bad, he said Im going to chose for the bad,' felt like he didnt deserve the good, anyway so on Tuesday night he had an appointment with the devil haha, dont know what he was talking about, but on Tuesday nights we are in Eisenhüttenstadt teaching English and Hany had come and then we played pingpong afterwards. Well, this next week he said he wasnt going to come to Eisenhüttenstadt, he is 'notw going to be sinning and chosing not to be happy, blah blah blah, so he was in Berlin for work and later that evening was his appt with the devil. So he went to shower after work and got his bag with his clothes and at the bottem of the bag were . . . . his ping pong paddles. (lol yes he has his own hahaha) and he knew 100% he didnt put them in there. He took that as God saying 'Come on Hany, dont make that mistake, go see the Sisters in hütte' well he did, and we suggested playing 'around the world' and it really got to the point where we werent able to breath we were all laughing so hard. We then talked to him on the train ride home and he said he just has this problem forgiving himself, who knows what for and he knows he his making a bad decision but anyway... it got him thinking, okay maybe God is still looking out for me, telling me to go play pingpong. haha
Well the NEXT day was really the big miracle that 'hit him in the back of the head telling him God was there and telling him he knew deep inside he knew what was right.' He was at work, working on the 3rd story of a building, standing on scaffolding, where two of the walls were...gone, open wide space, looking out to 3 stories off the ground. Well...he was on the roller scaffolding and asked his coworker to unbrake him and roll him over to the corner where he could continue working...well
So Hany has heard it all, read half of the Book of Mormon and seen all the movies, he has heard the prophets voice and has been to church 6 times now. We decided all he needs to know is how the Lord will answer his prayers. He has been hearing all the information but hasnt necessarily felt it in his heart. He was trying to eat the whole elephant all at once, not taking the gospel bite by bite, all he needed was a spiritual confirmation. . . So we went over on Saturday night and made some food and then he told us he is back on track, he just has a couple concepts he isnt understanding but as we got talking he then said, well okay, I just need to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything else you tell me is true. EXACTLY: we then read together in D&C (which we jsut got in ARABIC! PERFECT) 2Yea, behold, I will atell you in your mind and in your bheart, by the cHoly Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.
3Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation
8But, behold, I say unto you, that you must astudy it out in your bmind; then you must caskme if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your dbosom shall eburn within you; therefore, you shall ffeel that it is right.
9But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a astupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which isbsacred save it be given you from me.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall aenlighten yourbmind, which shall fill your soul with cjoy;
14And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of arighteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive.
The spirit was so stong and he said he would pray about Joseph Smith etc, he then offered to say the closing prayer and I THAT is where 'this gladness that is in my soul today' all began. . . His prayer was in German (normally he prays in Arabic, or we just say it) but this was the first time he said it in German and he was really talking to his Heavenly Father. Í may have started tearing up in the prayer, afterwards we just sat there filled with the spirit and he said, now I know what you were talking about the first time you got here and told me about JOY, We then said we would meet him the next morning for church.
He came walking into bahnhof all dressed up white shirt and tie (without his mom and dad aka Ola and Ahmed hahaha) and he went to priesthood (we didnt hold a separate class, which is normally what you do with investigators) he went to another members house afterwards for lunch and we called him later that evening and asked if we could stop by for a little while. When we walked in he had just finished watching 'finding faith in Christ' for the second time that day, and said he was going to call us but didnt want to bother, he told us how he has changed. All the things that brought him happiness before now makes him sick, Coffee, smoking, alcohol (he actually hates alcohol) but he doesnt like being with the people he was before, he said I just wanted to call and talk more about the gospel and to feel this joy, He was lokoing at the pictures of our families and said 'I want that' I believe families are forever, i never wanted to get married again, but looking at how the Lord wants it, to have a wife that brings you to God and supports you and have the husband hold the priesthood and give blessings. We bore testimony that that is why we are here, that is the greatest joy we can have is being with our families in the gospel here on earth, sealed for eternity and then working together for that goal of living with God again. he said, I know I was filled with the Holy Ghost last night like you said. you know 'ich gebe zu, ihr habt recht' meaning something like you know I give in, you two are right, youre right, I believe you and he just sat there beaming ( I dont know if I remember telling you, but a couple weeks ago we asked him if he wanted to be baptized on the 16th or the 23rd) anyway so he then smiled and looked at his watch, and we said, oh yeah we need to leave and he said 'no I was looking at the date....you two said the 23rd right?' haha he pointed up and said 'he is going to have to hurry!' We said oh we can do it on the 30th too and he said 'no, he is going to have to hurry' HANY ASKED US IF HE CAN BE BAPTIZED ON THIS SATURDAY!! we didnt even invite him, he just told us. We left and walked to the bahn beaming and THAT is the joy that comes from a mission, it makes it all worth it. To see the change in this 35 yr old Egyptians man's life, to see someone change and sacrifice to become more like Christ to have the desire to have a knowledge of the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, Bah! We are so excited and are planning to have it on Saturday at 1 o clock in the same lake where Ahmed was baptized. Our only small worry is that Hany's wife will put up a stink, we need her permission b/c they arent completely finished with the divorce process, but we have an appointment with her on Thursday (thats a whole other adventureous story of how we ran into her) so please pray for us and for her that her heart will be softened so we can get her permission. Long story short with hany's noch frau, he were randomly doing doors, had the distinct impression to go down this street and as we klingled we got let in and realized it was 'the dragonlady' hany had been telling us about, we of course acted like we had no idea who she was but she has been reading all the anti mormon stuff she can find and sending it to him and it was such a feeling of light fighting darkness, yeah a little dramatic sounding but really, just imagine us in the stairwell, this crazy lady who has no belief in God with two other guys one with a beer the other with a cigarette, this lady shooting 1000 questions at us, cracking dirty jokes, trying to get us to talk about what happens in the temple, etc......bleahhh but then us bearing testimony boldly that our Heavenly Father is there and loves us and as we kept talking and bearing testimony they were quiet and listened and they asked one last question sincerely wondering if we change our underwear ever 4-5 days....we all laughed and I tried to show my love for her and told her, clearly you have read a lot of false things, we would love to come back and explain the truth and she set up an appointment, we know the lord is guiding us and that with enough faith we can get her permission. Thanks for your prayers, sorry again my emails are so long, its just such great news, its a wonderful work and the church is true! Have a great Easter time thinking more of our Savior, striving to be more like him. Talk to you next week!
Liebe, Frau Sister Rasmussen (as Hany says it)
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