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)