Last email from Elder Openshaw

This is it, everyone. The last email from Elder Openshaw.

Trust me, I really want to say something inspiring but I've currently
got very little time and even fewer ideas. So instead of writing a
nice elaborate email, I'm going to write a short list of the things
that I never want to forget about my mission. Here goes:

1. Hausschuhe (German House shoes)
2. Jena service day
3. Teaching Nadine about the church and receiving a text from her
every day where she shares something about her scripture study.
4. Meeting Yunpeng and hearing about his childhood.
5. Talking with René at the church in Jena
6. Rapping with Rob
7. Giving a blessing to a dog
8. Getting cursed by a witch in a famous witch town in the mountains.
9. Accidentally driving into Poland
10. Praying in the Bible circle in Rostock
11. Being in a Straßenbahn that caught in fire
12. Being attacked in a Straßenbahn
13. Running to catch a Straßenbahn
14. Old people falling down in the Straßenbahn
15. Riding the old Straßenbahn
16. The Straßenbahn
17. Singing the miner song with the Reichelt family
18. The Christmas play in Freiberg
19. Dresden Neustadt - evil burrito, Kunsthofpassage, street artists
20. St. Martin's day in Erfurt
21. Schlive und drive
22. Frau Gomez with Elder Römer
23. Moving a family with Lars Reichelt
24. Meeting people from all over the world, all the time.
25. The musical night in Jena
26. Teaching Sandra and her kids and having them visit me at the temple
27. Grilling with Volodymyr and his kids
28. My kid mafia in Freiberg (thanks to the gummy animals)
29. Retrieving a Christmas tree from it's lonely place in the woods.
30. Hearing Germans call various items him/her.
31. Elder Hsu's morning cooking
32. Having my iPad auto correct 'his' to 'hsu'
33. Görlitz
34. seeing miracles that only I could see or even know about.
35. Knowing that the Lord leads this work.
36. Learning to love other people more than myself.
37. Being the recipient of the most kind words, kind gestures, and
kind gifts. I wish I could tell you every story that has convinced me
that the world is a good place and that people have kind hearts.
You'll just have to ask me about... (Michelle, Lars, Nowsheen, René,
Christoph, Mirko, Nadine, Raad, Karzan, Tobias, Yunpeng, Elder
Horwath, and so many more).

I guess my list ended up being longer than I wanted it to be... lots
of things I don't want to forget I guess.

To end, I want to share a quote from a documentary. The documentary is
about children who ended up in prison and their experiences after. One
of the mothers of a child in prison came and visited her son to tell
him, "Sam, stop believing that because of this mistake your life is
over!"
It is easy to believe that after a mistake or a change in
circumstances that our lives are over, but that's just not true. It is
the power of Christ that gives us the power over our own lives. No
mistake is too big to keep us from being healed. Christ truly can make
our lives whole. No matter how it feels right now, none of us will die
as the same person we are right now. We can become what we want to be,
and perhaps more importantly, what God wants us to be.

I love this gospel. Read it, live it, and be healed.

I'll see you soon,
Elder Openshaw

Probably a terrible email

I know I'll be happy with myself if I write this email, so hello everyone!

These past two weeks have been a crazy mix of unconventional mission
work, cool new people, and the pretty sites of Rostock. I finally
accomplished something that I've wanted to my whole mission: I ate the
fufu! Fufu is an African food that you eat with your hands, probably
the messiest food ever... just imagine eating soup and mashed potatoes
with your hands.

Other cool things that we did:

-went to a cool historical town, Stralsund and saw all the sites there
-made mini facade houses for the world record attempt
-met with our yazidi friend, raad.
-visited a nice girl who was on a school exchange with a Mormon family
in Kentucky. (You guys should all consider having exchange students if
you have the means for it!)
-played soccer and were destroyed by some barefoot Arab friends.
-remodeled our apartment and got to build some IKEA furniture
-celebrated the german victory over Sweden
-hid in shame when Germany lost against Korea
-made music with a nice family in the branch
-rode many trains with drink people and festival goers
-explored Rostock and saw some bells ring in the top of a big church here.

There are so many good stories that I could tell from this week but
you'll just have to ask me about them when I get back!

I guess something funny and sorta spiritual from the week was from
last Sunday. I was sitting ready for the meeting to start and from the
stand a member of the branch presidency waved to me and made a motion
with his hand which I interpreted to mean that I should lead the
music... not really something I'm incredibly talented at. But I didn't
fear because Joe Armstrong taught all the young men how to do it
right, once upon a time.
So I stood proudly and started leading. It was only then that I
noticed that they had chosen the most challenging songs ever haha. The
entire branch was cracking up as I struggled to wave my hand right.
The worst thing is that they actually look at you here in Germany
haha.
And so after the meeting I was surrounded by all the members getting
made fun of and I was super embarrassed because I did a legitimately
terrible job. And then the member of the branch presidency walked up
and I turned my embarrassment to him and was kinda upset that he asked
me to lead the music. To which he said, "I was trying to ask you to
pass the sacrament." And I literally imploded right there on the spot.
Haha I don't think I've been that embarrassed in a long time.
Moral of the story: be brave, and pay better attention when Joe
Armstrong teaches you something.

Love you all,
Here are some cool pictures!
Elder Opendorf

(Pops I took a bunch of pictures of the city just for you)

800 Years of Rostcok

This has been a week of sad goodbyes and crazy new hellos.  I think that's what my whole mission has been like, actually.  Wednesday I said goodbye to the Franzes and then to Elder Nielson.  They were some of the best friends that I've made on my mission... so Rostock is feeling pretty lonely without them.  

As it always is, the seasons changed.  And this season is going to be crazy!! 

NEW THINGS IN THE LIFE OF ELDER OPENSHAW:

Elder Wehrend - known to be the blond-haired, blue-eyed, hyperactive Germanest Elder that this mission has to offer.

800 Years of Rostock - There is a huge clock in the town square counting down the days until the city turns 800 Years old.  The countdown is now at around 12 days.  Which means 12 days until this city turns into the biggest party in Germany.  We are signed up to help with set-up and clean-up for everything which will probably include picking up lots and lots of beer bottles that people leave around the city. 

World Records - I don't know why everyone in Rostock is attempting to win different world records right now... but they are.  2 days ago there was a man who rode his bike for 24 hours straight through the city.  In 2 weeks we will be contributing to the 'longest matchbox city' ever.  (I'll include a picture)

Raad the Yazidi - We met with this really awesome man, Raad.  He is a Yazidi (google it), and was probably one of the coolest people I've ever met.  His whole life has been filled with crazy persecution and opposition but he is one of the most positive-minded people ever.  He has been driven from his home numerous times, faced all sorts of dangerous situations, and wasn't allowed to study because of his religion/race.  Through all of that he ended up becoming a doctor and was working at the hospital for 2 months until he had to flee to Germany.  He is now working on learning German so that he can take the medical exam and start working here.

Just like Raad, I think that we've all faced trials and opposition in our lives.  We all face hard goodbyes and difficult circumstances.  I have faced those things too.  And just like Raad, we can make it through those things.  I sometimes hate reading to the end of a chapter in a good book.  I often wish that a chapter would continue or another chapter would quickly end.  But a good book is more than a chapter.  So it is with our lives, we often wish that a chapter of our lives would continue forever or that another chapter would quickly end.  But the beauty of the book of our lives is in the combination of all the chapters.  

If you find yourself in a new chapter of your life or in a chapter that you wish would end, remember that the author of your book allows you to write many things for yourself.  God gives us the ability to become the writers of marvellous stories.  Now, I'm going to end this email and keep writing. 

Love,

Elder O

P.S please appreciate the shorts that an african member made in one of these pictures.

Making waves

Hey! Sorry I didn't email last week, I ended up going the whole day on
an awesome adventure with this old member of our branch. He took us to
this really old fishing village and gave us a tour of literally
everything. We talked for about an hour about this style of thatched
roofing that was all over the village. I'm so glad that I'm always
interested in that sort of stuff, it was honestly the best day!

I also ate some smoked fish that we watched someone catch, I'll
include a picture.

This week was full of great food and great people. We met with
Alejandro and Paola, our Honduran friends and they fed us the best
food ever! Picture of Alejandro included.

Here's a quote from a poem that I wrote/ maybe plagiarized...

"Big footprints aren't always made by big things."

Hope the pictures make up for the lack of email! Love you all!

Elder o

Sister Franz takes over

Zane wasn't able to email this week, so he asked Sister Franz (one of the couple missionaries) to send me these instead. Her and her husband are in a few of the photos.  They've been such a blessing. She sends me photos and gives me updates often.  I love it all!  Enjoy!

-Aunt Jen

The elders got stuck with a day Long trip with the Göbels on Monday so no email

I’ll send you some pix at his request

 He felt very sad about not writing. Last night we went to Tobias for supper we had grilled on our 1.99 grill 🙄
and watched Coco which they have been given permission to watch because of its family history ties

At the baby shower I threw. The elders always liven up a party

 Coco party Friday night with Nowsheen and two Turks

 Enjoying time on our balcony Sunday night

 Church Sunday

 On our street Sunday morning

 Giving a spiritual thought to Bodo who is in a stroke rehab clinic. Your boy is always soooo great at that and we are amazed at the words of wisdom that come out of his mouth

 At the baby party

 Baby shower prep!

 Getting right to work after zoco in Hamburg last Tuesday

 Heading for Hamburg zoco last week. Elder O drives to give my husband a break

Spieleabend! Even though I was the 8th grade champ I can’t beat them

-Sister Franz

Short Stories

Wow, this week flew by! It was a week full of random little moments
that I consider worth writing about, so here goes it. (The paragraphs
are only loosely connected, so just read what sounds interesting)


The mysterious fire:
On Thursday night we were overnighting in Greifswald with some other
Elders. At around 2am another Elder and I awoke in fright to a super
strong smell of smoke. He ran in the kitchen to check if it was coming
from there while I looked around the room we were in. He came back and
we realized that it was coming from outside. A bit unsettled, we went
back to bed.
The next morning we woke up early to go and play basketball at a court
in the neighborhood. At the basketball court we noticed the remains of
a car in the parking lot that had been completely burned! The fire was
so hot that it had melted the parking lot and burned a lot of leaves
on a tree standing about 30 feet away from the car. We were happy to
have found the source of the mysterious fire and we hope that the poor
Swiss family can figure out a way to enjoy their vacation without the
trusty family car.


The mysterious bleeding hand (1/2):
Shortly after discovering the car, we were into an intense game of 2
on 2. I was defending elder Griffin and had a hand on his back after
he received a pass. I took my hand away as he received the pass and
was surprised the see a bloody handprint on the back of his white
shirt.
I was even more surprised to look down and see that my hand was
covered in blood... my blood!
Although the court looked like a murder scene, I had only a tiny cut
on my palm. Imagine the scene... burnt out car in the parking lot,
blood all over an outdoor basketball court, and four Mormon
missionaries. We departed speedily.


Train etiquette:
After Greifswald, we headed to Freiberg to meet some members of the
branch at the temple. On our way down to Freiberg, we had a ticket for
only slow-speed regional trains, which meant that our journey would
take 6 hours and we would be accompanied by many other cheap
travelers. We experienced quite a few great moments in our 12 hours of
train travel this weekend.
Train etiquette is something that I'm still getting used to. It's a
complicated thing, riding with 200 other people (German or otherwise)
in a moving metal tube. Sometimes you can ride your whole journey in
peace and without incident. But more often than not, you will say or
do something that will cause the entire train to turn around and stare
at you. At that point, you have no other choice but to lean back and
fake sleep in order to avoid being disintegrated in embarrassment.


The smelly couple and other fellow travelers:
Although most Germans seem aware of their own "Train etiquette," there
is a portion of the population that (intentionally or not) is
completely ignorant of it. We witnessed many such a person on our long
journey this week. The most impressively ignorant was "the smelly
couple." Now before you react poorly, let me inform you that they gave
this nickname to themselves long before I had the opportunity to smell
them.
(Random tangent: we count things 'per head,' Germans count things 'per nose')
This was a nice granola couple with impressive dreadlocks and shaggy
organic clothes. They entered our crowded train and quickly realized
that they wouldn't be able to sit together. They found two seats that
were across the aisle from each other and claimed them, the young man
sitting directly behind me. The young man sat down next to a
clean-cut, middle-aged German business man. Separated from his young
love, he panicked. He sat down sideways on his seat, sandaled feet
hanging out in the aisle (train etiquette violation #1). Because of
his sideways position, his dreadlocked hair found its way onto the lap
of the orderly german business man next to him.
The rest of the train was already staring at this point, trying their
best to disintegrate the young couple. But the travesty of train
etiquette continued. The staring crowd watched the unease of the clean
cut business man grow by the minute. He started to realize that he was
in for the long haul, caught in his window-seat dreadlock prison.
Accepting his fate, he closed his eyes to try to sleep. A german
business man will not be so easily driven from his coveted window
seat. A short time later he awoke suddenly as his dreadlocked seat
partner had fallen into his lap due to the twisty track. The business
man quickly stood and retreated to the bathroom. In his absence, the
young woman started giving the young man a foot rub across the aisle.
Enjoying his foot rub, the young man lay himself down on he seat of
the absent business man, right on top of the business man's coat.
This was the final straw, the business man came back, grabbed his coat
and literally sprinted away to find a new seat haha.
The young woman moved over to that seat and they celebrated their
victory by making out for the rest of their ride. My companion and I
were only slightly jealous and uncomfortable.



My names:
I always wondered how Germans would pronounce my name and this week I
enjoyed several different variations. My personal favorite was as I
was doing confirmations in the temple with a member of the branch. He
wasn't wearing his glasses and could hardly read anything but he would
proclaim so confidently "Bruder Opendorf!" We were all trying so hard
not to laugh but then his wife started laughing and we just couldn't
hold back. The temple recorder was appalled but we just couldn't help
it 😂
So in case you're wondering what Openshaw sounds like in german, take
your pick from this nice list from the week: Obenschaw, Opendorf,
Offenheimer, Opershow, Openshow, Obenshow, etc., etc.


Tobacco at church:
At stake conference this Sunday we got to hear a talk from Elder
Sabin, one of my favorite speakers ever. His talk was being live
translated into German and sadly some of his best points didn't come
across right through the translation.
One of my favorite parts of his talk was when he asked us, "what would
it be like if all of your sins had a smell?" He asked if we would
still come to church, if we would try our best to wash away the smell.
He then said, "I like to smell the a subtle smell of tobacco at church
because it means someone is trying. They shouldn't be ashamed to come
to church and be healed through the sacrament."
The translator translated that part of the talk to say, "we should
shame when they come to church..." 😂 luckily they corrected it on the
spot, but sometimes I wonder if that is the attitude we may have at
church.
Do we feel ashamed of ourselves or shamed by others to come to church
without being perfect? Do we judge what others are wearing or what
sins they smell like? I hope that we can follow the teaching of Jesus
and find the beams in our own eyes and not worry about motes in the
eyes of others. If sins had a smell, we would all smell bad. I'm just
grateful to know that it doesn't have to stay that way forever.


Well, that turned into quite the long email. Hopefully it's good
enough for the loyal fans, don't be afraid to write back 😂

Love you!

Elder Opendorf