Dream city Jena

 Received 3/20/2017

I'm seriously living the dream right now! Honestly this is the
greatest area! I got transferred to Jena, and I've been here since
Wednesday. It is an incredibly pretty city, with tons of students at
the University. It is known as the Chinese speaking area of the
mission, and it has great potential!

I'm serving in a branch (one of my dreams)
With a Taiwanese companion (he's so awesome)
In a beautiful city (also really close to Erfurt)
With senior couple missionaries here in the same city (Elder and
Sister Bjorkman are some of the funniest and greatest people I've ever
met)

Elder Hsu is lots of fun to be around, and we've had some awesome
experiences already. It seems like the street is so alive here in
Jena! There's always something to laugh about!

Funny stories:
We stopped this guy on the street even though he was in a rush; he
took out his headphones and said in a very desperate tone that he had
to go to the bathroom! Then he took off running into the library to go
take care of business, haha I hope he made it!

Then an hour later we were eating next to this 7 year old Chinese girl
and her mom, and we started talking to them. They were super nice, and
then when Elder Hsu explained that we were from the Mormon church the
mom politely said that they had an appointment in 10 minutes and that
they had to go. Then the little girl yelled "but mom! We still have an
hour and a half!" The mom was super embarrassed, we were laughing like
crazy haha.

I heard an analogy this week that I really loved. A member of the
stake presidency was talking about his time in the military, and how
we was on the construction crew. Every time that they would get out of
the armored vehicle, they had to take out a box of ammunition and
explosives and put it under the vehicle. He had no idea why they were
supposed to do it, but it was explained to him that it was normal
procedure. One time they worked really late into the night, and they
forgot to put the box of explosives back in the vehicle; as they went
to drive, the armored vehicle got stuck because the box of explosives
wedged up under them. After a long time, they finally got the vehicle
unstuck and the explosives safely back in the vehicle. As they went to
report to some commanding officer, he asked why they had been carrying
around all these explosive things for so long? It turned out that
nobody knew how or why the explosives were in his truck in the first
place.
He said that it is a lot like repentance. That if we don't repent, we
end up carrying around explosive things for no reason, and that one
day they will hurt us. He talked about how we should just leave it
behind, and don't go back for it. He said that it is such a burden to
carry around our sins, and one day we will look back and realize how
pointless it was to carry deadly things with us for so long.
I know that this is true, and I'm so impressed with the healing power
of repentance. I know as we leave explosive things behind, that we can
look forward to so many blessings in the future.

I love you all!
-Elder Openshaw

1. When I fell asleep during my first Chinese lesson....
2. Eating at a "reliable buffet"
3. Saying goodbye to Volkswagen city