Highs and lows

This week was strange.

Yesterday after church elder Nielson and I got an urgent call to come
to a member's house and give a blessing. It is this old couple that
aren't too healthy but they had both been at church that day. We
walked in and they presented us the subject of our blessing, old
Arthur, their 17 year old dog. We weren't sure of what to do, but
remembering the story of Sister Smith blessing her oxen we decided to
proceed. It was actually really touching to see how much this old lady
cares for her dog (even though she swears like a sailor at it, and
everything/everyone else).

Elder Rasband came and visited our mission which was really cool. He
talked about how much he wanted to be called to Germany as a young
missionary, I don't blame him. He also talked about how we should
never give up, praying for blessings that we want to happen. The
meeting was great, I was happy to be able to hear from him. It's
funny, the difference between hearing from and apostle in the MTC and
in the mission field. Everything just seems a lot more real here haha.

Right after that meeting we had to catch a bus to the train station,
we only had a couple minutes to make the connection. I think God must
really love me this week because we had the craziest luck and we're
able to catch our train. A bus came early, ran two red lights and was
driving like a mad man and then pulled up to the train station right
as our train did 😂 I think we were the only missionaries that made it
out of Berlin on time.

I realized how much Germany has changed me when one of our friends,
Nowsheen told me that she would skip school on Friday to meet with us.
I was shocked! Hahaha for some reason skipping school seems like such
a huge deal to me now... not that it didn't before (cough cough). But
really, Germans do their school system right.

In America, patience is a virtue. In Germany, punctuality is a virtue.

By the way, I've loved reading through the conference talks again over
the past couple weeks. You guys should do the same! You don't have to
settle with assuming that the church is true, you can know!

Love you,
Elder Openshaw



AHHHH I almost forgot! I ate some incredible borscht this week!! I'll
send a picture!

Smooth sailing ⛵️

I love Rostock!! This whole week was an adventure, here are some
featured moments!

All of the stores were closed and most everything was shut down due to
the amount of snow we got the day before. The weather has definitely
played a huge factor in the way things went this week, probably the
craziest weather changes in my life haha. Sunday and Monday were cold
as could be with tons of snow and a week later we have been enjoying
weather in the 70's.

I'm just going to tell you guys about Nowsheen, because we spent a lot
of time hanging out with her this week. Nowsheen is this awesome girl
from Pakistan that came here about a year ago. She met elder and
sister Franz on the street because they were speaking English and she
got really excited about it. She calls Elder and Sister Franz "mom and
dad" and we all have an awesome, hilarious relationship with her. The
funniest thing is that she is Muslim and a very strong believer in
Islam. (Although she constantly jokes about baptizing herself). She
calls us her little brothers and she is honestly like an older sister
to us, she always wants to go shopping with us haha.

Our relationship with Nowsheen is how the world ought to work. We
don't judge each other based off the precepts of what we hear on the
news. And regardless of her (or our) faith, we treat each other with
respect and love. I'm so happy that I've had the chance to meet so
many people from the Middle East here on my mission. They have really
broadened my perspective and changed my view of the world.

God is great, and he loves us.

Elder Openshaw


(Here are some pictures with Nowsheen and at the castle in Schwerin)

Baltic Sea boys 🌊

If you haven't been on a mission yet, go! There's really nothing
better that you can experience in your whole life. This week was
packed with powerful moments, tender mercies, disappointment, and new
friendships.

New friendship: Katharina lives across the street from the senior
missionary couple, the Franzes, here in Rostock. Because most everyone
in Germany lives in block apartments, one of the common hobbies is
watching neighbors out of your windows, they call it "east german
television."  Sister Franz is quite skilled with this hobby haha.
Somehow, she was able to develop an awesome relationship with
Katharina, the 20 year old medical student across the street.
Katharina is very german so we have been helping (the very American)
Sister Franz to use some german friendship strategies. The latest move
was to invite Katharina over for "Abendbrot (light supper)." It worked
wonders and we have had some awesome lessons with Katharina this week.

Tender mercy: We went to a meeting for a volunteer group who are
looking to help refugees integrate into the German community. They
talked about a lot of protests and other movements that they were
planning on doing. I started to get nervous that they wouldn't be
happy with our suggestions and activities that we have been planning.
But as they talked about Easter we had the perfect opportunity to
introduce the Easter concert that we've planned. Goodness always
dominates fear, I'm so grateful that that is continually proved to me
on my mission.

Disappointment: Shayan, one of the coolest people I've ever taught on
my mission, texted us that she doesn't want to have anything to do
with Mormonism this week. She told us that she wants to be Christian,
not Mormon. It honestly stung to get a text like that. I'm grateful,
however, to know personally that my church is not a church of
Mormonism. My church is a church of Christianity. I am a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because it is the church
that has the restored priesthood. It is the church that can prepare
someone to truly and humbly follow Christ. Our leaders are great
examples of disciples of Christ, they are truly inspired. I am
grateful to be a part of a church that is willing to ditch tradition
and culture in order to more effectively follow Christ.

Auf auf!

Hey everyone!  Well it's official, I'm in Rostock!  This town is AMAZING, it is everything that I would want for an area... (possibly my last).  It has been a while since I have really sat down and had time to write you and let you know how things are doing but now is a good time to start!

This week was awesome; not just one of the weeks that I say was awesome because I don't want to have to explain why it wasn't.  I came in to the new area like a tornado and I'm stoked to see all the cool things that we can get done in this city.  Rostock is an old port-city with lots of awesome history.  There is currently a big clock in the center of the town that is counting down the days until Rostock becomes 800 years old, just 90 days until the big celebration!  I think that I will probably still be here when it happens, I'll let you know how it is.

My new companion is named Elder Keenan Nielson, he is super great.  We get along really well and are going to have a ton of fun together.  I would be really excited if nothing changed until the end of my mission.  We have some pretty amazing investigators and friends.  

Our investigator that is making the most progress right now is named Shayan.  She is Kurdish and speaks a bunch of different languages. She has one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard.  She is my age but has already experienced so many different trials.  As she was forced to leave her home, she was on a boat with 200 other refugees going across the mediterranean sea.  The boat started to sink and nobody knew what to do.  In all the chaos, she fell asleep and dreamed of Jesus Christ.  She woke up calm and somehow they made it to shore in Greece.  When she made it to Germany, she knew that she wanted to become Christian and has been searching for the church with the proper authority to baptize ever since.  

It's pretty amazing that I have the chance to work with so many awesome people.  The mission has helped me to find some new heroes to look up to.  I have also been taught time and time again that we never know what other people have been through.  I am glad that I have the chance to help people find peace in their lives through forgiveness. The gospel is truly a blessing better that anything we could ever buy.  

2 Nephi 26:25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.

If you don't know what that means, try forgiving someone who has angered you, try humbling yourself when you're accused of something, try being like Jesus.  I promise it will change the way you look at your life.

I love you all!

-Elder Openshaw

1. me and my new comp

2. me trying to get a nice sticker

3. first day together

4. morning jog along the docks

5. team of spray painters

6. sean-lucas rocking his first tie

Hey! Still here!

Didn't have any time to write today, once again... Sorry I like to adventure on P-days. Here's the quick version:

I'm alive and happy

I'm getting transferred this week to Rostock

I'm really grateful for all your support, love you guys! 

Long time, no see

Hey everyone!  Sorry that I haven't emailed in the past couple weeks, I've honestly just had no time to sit down and be able to write emails.  Today I also have to write really fast haha.

What's going on with me?

Well, I visited the following cities this week:  Chemnitz, Bischofswerda, Mittweida, Schwarzenberg, Dresden, Augustusburg, and all the cities in between.  Honestly it was an adventure and super fun. I slept in my bed in Freiberg only once this week.  

Some great memories from the past weeks: visiting a friend that lives in a tiny village outside of Dresden and realizing that because buses only come once an hour that we wouldn't be able to make it home on time.  We went to Schwarzenberg, a little mining town among the hills where people speak a weird dialect and accidentally talked to a huge group of Jehovah's Witnesses, who didn't let us walk away until they had given us each a copy of their magazine.

Funny moment:  I have become a legend among all the primary kids here, because I buy there love with my little rubber animals... (by the way, I may need some more haha).  And there are several little kids that now call all other missionaries "Elder Openshaw _________"  as if ElderOpenshaw is the title of all missionaries.  For example, they call my companion ElderOpenshaw Lorenzen.  It's hilarious I'm glad that they remember my name so well haha.  It has even got many of the parents to learn my name! The adults normally just always say "Elders," even if they're talking to just one of us.

I love you all and I hope you're doing well!  

Glimpses of Glory

Hey everyone!  This week I have some pictures that might help you to understand what my mission has been like for the past 3 months.

1. Ali, this guy is amazing.  I have a very strange relationship with this man.  The best way that I would describe it is that despite a language barrier, it is still possible to have a sarcastic relationship with someone.  

2. This rock museum was very impressive.  If all of my plans fail, I think I will end up trading precious stones for the rest of my life. 

3. Also at the rock museum.

4. Abdahllah is also a really funny guy.  He has slightly better piano skills than Ali, but that doesn't say much.

5. We rode a double decker bus in Berlin, one of my favorite experiences. Double decker buses are really cool, we need some in Provo.

6. We had the chance to teach all the Ward mission leaders a couple things this week.  It was probably the best moment of the week, watching Bruder Albrecht, a 90 year old man, learn how to use Zoom.  It was actually very impressive to me that he figured it out.

That will be my spiritual thought for the week, I think we all need to be a little bit more like Bruder Albrecht.  He is a great example to me that no matter how old someone gets, they need to always be willing to change, grow, and learn something new.  All the apostles are also fantastic examples of being life long learners.  I hope that I can continue to change and grow for the rest of my life and that I won't ever be too stubborn and grouchy to learn something new.  That's also one of the principles of the gospel, repentance. 

To me, repentance literally means being humble enough to change oneself.  I hope to get a lot better at doing that.  I love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Elder O