In church we had three (3) Americans. Two were guys who work for a prosthetics company and they were cool. But then the other one was a professional opera singer from New York! And no one really noticed her until combined Sunday School when she started singing. One man thought it was me. Hah! I was like "Thanks for the compliment but it was coming from over there. . . ." I think he was kind of embarrassed. And then the whole branch treated her like a famous celebrity and flocked to her and invited her over to their houses and stuff. Then Elder Motto had to translate that to her, and she basically responded the same way I imagine turning down a date sounds like. "Oh, that's so sweet . . . thank you . . . I'm sorry but I don't think my boyfriend would like that. . . ." Poor Elder Motto. He was just translating!
Then we went to Br. Schumann's for lunch. He made Klöße (potato balls with toast inside), fried potato drops, green beans, peas and carrots, and goulash. It was delicious! And ice cream for dessert of course :) He is so funny. He is probably my favorite person here. He grew up in the Chemnitz ward, and after Anglo-American troops destroyed 60% of the buildings in the city, the 3 wards had to meet together. So they had 300 people in sacrament meeting! In Germany! Woah!
He plays the violin, so after lunch I played the piano while he played the violin and Sis. Young and the Elders sang. I messed up a lot but he was playing so loud I couldn't even hear. It was really fun.
The most awkward part of member eating appointments (other than the fact that we're not really supposed to be having them . . .) is that Germans have tiny cars. So you have one Elder up front and 2 Sisters and an Elder shoved together in the back. And sometimes you get really skittish Elders who freak out if you touch them. It's one of those "It's only awkward if you make it awkward" moments.
In the evening we had planned to go to an inter-religion Prayer Hour in the small synagogue as part of Erfurt's Intercultural Week. We thought it would be a good chance to talk to religious leaders about what it means to be searching for truth, which was the assigned topic. And when we got there, our stake president and bishop were both there! And then President Schumann (Br. Schumann's son) talked! It was great.
The setup was that each invited religion (Hare Krishna, Jewish, Christian, Mormon, Muslim, Bahai, Buddhist) had a chance to go up and share thoughts on what they believe truth is, and there were music pieces inbetween. Everyone got up and shared some scriptures from their religion, and I felt that God was in the room as we discussed Him and the truths of the world. But then Pr. Schumann got up, and instead of just sharing some scriptures, he talked about how God is the source of all truth, and he referenced the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. And as he began to speak, the Spirit of God was significantly stronger in the room.
I am so grateful that the blessings of the proper priesthood authority of God are available to me because I live in this age of the world. And I'm so grateful that I know I can go to God and His prophets for pure truth, without having to dig through the partial and half truths of well-intentioned men.
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Mutti!
LG, Sister Teusch
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