Germany Week 98--There Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down

Everybody seems to think I'm dead. But I'm not dead yet. The other day, president called, and I answered, and he said, "Give me to Elder Beck. You're out of Order." Heheh. But most of the time he asserts that I am, in fact, still around. You know, the transfer call was today (though I had already peeked to see where people were going - bwahahahaa) The detail that I found the juiciest, is that Elder Pack is replacing me in the office. He is my true heir. He'll also have to finish my genealogy for me. But President has actually been saying stuff about him replacing me this whole transfer, so I wasn't too, or in fact, at all, surprised.

 Let's see if I, even in my delirious old age, have some recollection of this week. Well, Sunday. Sunday we had church.. And the Familie  came! It was really good. They seemed to enjoy it and certain members of the ward are really warming up to them. Elders Pack and Beck will just have to work with them some more, and I can definitely see them getting baptized. We also had a nice lesson with Herr M on tuesday, actually I didn't feel like it was the best lesson I've ever given, but we were at least able to answer a few of his questions and keep up good contact. We talked to him today too, and they're definitely coming to Church tomorrow. Hopefully EVERYONE is coming to church tomorrow. Though, quite honestly, I don't know how we're going to seat them. Berlin is a pretty populous area, and we've got a pretty small chapel. We are really hopeful for tomorrow though. It's our Tag der Offenen Tür - a church open house dealy. It's a stake wide thing, and we've put a pretty big emphasis on it. It's a big part of our Invitation month of June. It's also going to include a special evening sacrament meeting meant especially for those who go to their own churches regularly Sunday morning, but would be interested to see what our church is like. I'm excited for it. It will be a really good day to have as my last Sunday.

Crazy Kids and their walls...

 So every time you move into a German city, you have to go register (anmeld) with the city government. And When you leave, you have to abmeld (...disregister? unregister? deregister?) Anyhoodles, I had to go do that Tuesday morning to do one of those two things, along with Sister Gibson, who was taking care of that same thing for some other missionaries, and Elder Beck, who they wouldn't let anmeld the first time, and who was about to try again. So when we got there, there was a huge line that led to the place where you draw your number. That's always a good sign. Another good sign was the one at the front of this line that said, "Due to downsizing, our wait times have gone up." Oh boy. So we got to spend a couple hours there. After waiting for about an hour, Sister Gibson decided to walk back to the office and have us call back when they got a little closer to our number so she could save her husband who had been left alone to answer all of the phone calls. As you might guess, the moment she walked out the door, the numbers started coming up a lot faster. We actually called the office for her to come back right as she walked in the door. She got back in just the nick of time and we were able to get all of this registration nonsense sorted out.

 That night we also had an awesome eating appointment with V and J (our GML) and the Sisters. Vanessa is a really cool investigator of the sisters, who comes to church a lot and who has grown in faith a lot recently. We ate sushi, had an great time - my jaw has not been that sore from laughing in a long time. We also had a really great discussion about the process of receiving inspiration, reasons for obedience and a lot of other things. It turned out for a really good lesson. Her twin sister was also there and it was great to get to meet her and learn a little bit of her views.

 Wednesday we had district meeting here in the office, which was pretty handy for us, and which meant the Elder and Sister Gibson got to be included to. Then afterward we had a potluck, for which I baked a cake. Woo hoo. Right after that we took off to a members house to help do something with cabinets or something. "Something with cabinets or something" turned out to be tearing out a whole kitchen. It was actually a lot of fun, and it's always nice to be of service. The problem is, I was already not having the best allergy day. But then when you tear down cabinets and kick out counters and chip off paint, the air doesn't stay the cleanest. I was totally dying that whole time. But it was fun anyway. And afterward we ate some delicious Strawberry Rhubarb crumbly cobbler type stuff. nom nom nom. Then we ran home, showered real quick and headed off to Gemiko and Gemeinderat, both of which were nice.

 Thursday we got some office stuff done in the morning, - Ok, so we got a bunch of extra projects thrown at us that week and I feel like I have not had enough time to do them. We've gotten a lot done though. At least Elder Beck's gotten a ton done. I have no idea how he does it. I've still got a bunch of stuff that I need to finish, and a bunch of other stuff that I want to finish, and a bunch of stuff that it would be really cool if I finished, but I have no idea how I'll even find the time for the have to finish stuff. Anyhoodles, back to Thursday. So after that we went to our eating appointment with the J Family. We called to inform them once we realized we'd be a few minutes late, and they'd forgotten that we were coming. They still wanted us to come though and still managed to have loads of food for us. The whole place was super hectic the whole time and people were yelling at each other in Serbian, but it was still nice. The sisters had really been hoping to be able to start giving the lessons to the daughter in law of the member, but everything was just too crazy, and Sister Peine never even got to finish giving her five minute spiritual thought. It was fun, if disappointing. I do love that family.

 On the way back from that appointment is when my allergies really started to kill me. They'd been pretty bad, but my throat was destroyed from the dry itchiness and the phlegm. Oh the terror. So I actually took some of my Zyrtec - but then all that does is put me to sleep without actually relieving my allergies, which is why I can't remember the rest of Thursday or Friday. I'll try to do my best though. Friday morning we, on the command of President and Sister Kosak, picked up a couple missionaries from the Missionhome and took them to McDonalds for breakfast before sending them off on their way to their city. That was fun, even if they made fun of my driving and my nose was still running like an engine. Through the day I continued to be a drowsy mess and I got a good deal of work done on this short paper on Islam to help missionaries better understand it and help them to work with Muslims. It was really difficult for me though because I was all allergetic and drugged up. The function of every joint and of my brain just feel dampened. And my eyelids have gained like 20 pounds - not that there's any swelling - they're just really heavy. But somewhere in this haze that calls itself friday - which reminds me of another President Kosak Quote: "Elder Cloward, It's your last Friday. And yesterday was your last Thursday. And Tomorrow is your last Saturday." That guy can be such a punk sometimes. ;P But I love him for it. - (extra points if you still follow my train of thought) Elder Andersson called us and was in need of rescue. In the Tiergarten building they were having the Missionary Leadership Council, which Elder Stoddard, Elder Andersson's companion, was invited to (Which typically foreshadows that he's about to be made a Zone Leader in Dresden). There are only Sisters and AP's in their district, so he had no one else to go with, so he just went along with Elder Stoddard. But then he wasn't allowed in the White Council, so he spent the next hour calling all the missionaries in his phone to see if they could save him. We were the first who were able to respond to the call. So we went out to Tiergarten and rescued him. And I was walking around like a Zombie the whole time. It was pretty awesome.

 Then today, I was still groggy and allergy ridden, but Elder Beck and I went, bought a companionship tie just so I can pack my luggage a little more tightly, and then we gucked around Berlin a little bit, bought some Italian food and the

Nom nom nom

Ice Cream that President Kosak tells everybody about and then took off for our Straßenausstellung. It was down in Teltow, because that means oh so much to y'all. Our GML was there with his girlfriend, and the Bishop was there too. And besides that there was me and Elder Beck and a billion sister missionaries. And the majority of the time we greatly outnumbered the remainder of the populous there. We tried to keep a proper level of conspicuousness and mostly sang hymns and handed out flyers. It was nice. It's really weird to think that it was most likely my last finding activity. Man oh man, how the time doth slip. I've got some really mixed emotions about this whole thing, but mostly I just don't understand what's going on and life's just a big blur.

Ragtag team doin' their Ausstellung

 Well, I don't really know what else to say. It's been a good week, it's been a good transfer, it's been a good two years. Manno. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve. I know that it was the right thing to do and I hope I've done an acceptable job of it. I know that this is Christ's church. I know that he lives, that he loves and understands each of us.

 I love you. Have a great couple few days!

 Well, what can I tell you? I've got all kind of mixed emotions

Germany Week 97

The Zoo is where all the cool kids hang out

How in the blazes is it already time for me to be writing here again? I have no idea. I also really wish my headache would turn off. Monday was very eventful because we got invited to the office meeting. That was one minuscule little shuffle for mankind, but a great leap for Elders Beck and Cloward. heheh. It's not a big deal at all, but it was interesting for us.

 Tuesday was mostly just office stuff, the most exciting of which was our personal Office Elders meeting with President Kosak - we discussed the History and some of the different projects we're working on. Elder Beck typed up an agenda for it as a joke, and had some pretty witty comments on it. We also got to visit the Familie M, though he was sick - so we made it pretty quick, but it was a nice discussion, and I had the opportunity to give him a priesthood blessing.

 Wednesday morning we had district meeting, and I can't remember anything terribly exciting about that except that I tried to balance a bible and a book of Mormon on each other to demonstrate that the Bible and the Book of Mormon support each other, but I could only do it with the help of two Hymn books. Moral of the Story - Without Hymn books, nothing in the church would function. Or something like that. Maybe I just need more practice with book balancing.

 I spent Thursday in the office digging my own grave. There are these "Finisher Packets" with talks and contact information and stuff for missionaries going home, and I printed them all out and put them together for the group that goes home... pretty soon. yikes. But then, Thursday evening we mixed it up a bit with a little Austausch. We met up with Elder Myrabo and Elder Gibson. Elders Beck and Gibson went to meet a bearded motorcylce riding Greek Orthodox professor of religious law friend of a lady from Elder Beck's home ward, And Elder Myrabo and I went to P, the Thai Chef in our ward's house for an excellent eating appointment.

Elders Myrabo, Gibson and Taylor

 In the morning, Elder Myrabo and I got a text from our Zone leader, Elder Taylor, reporting that he was under his desk being attacked by Elder Turney. Well, it sounded pretty serious. ;P So we decided to go save him. (The zone Leaders serve in the same area - Neukölln) We got there, and they were doing weekly planning, but we ended up eating lunch together, which was really fun. We also had an appointment with this man, R. I liked him a lot. He certainly has an interesting situation though - he's retired, but somehow because of debt the banks repossessed his apartment, but he's still allowed to live in it until someone buys it, and they also have his retirement funds, so he lives entirely without money, and knows all of the schedules throughout Berlin of where he can get free food.

 After we Tausched back, the APs picked us up and took us to President's house, where Sister Wunderli, a senior sister was having her 75th Birthday party. The Office couples and our Zone Leaders were also there. We had a really fun time.

Dun Dun Duuuuuun

 Today was our Pday and we went to the Zoo with the APs. It was pretty intense. The animals there were certainly a little more active than the ones at Hogle usually are. Well, they did a lot of laying around too, but we at least caught them at some cool moments.

This Place is Awesome!

 After that we had a little "English Class" with the Familie M - The husband already speaks really good English, but the wife speaks very little. It was also a great opportunity to get them more comfortable with being in the Church and to introduce them to the family that moved into the ward - really close to them, actually. They seemed to really hit it off, and their kids had fun playing together. I don't know how much English they learned, but I think the most important successes were there.

 Well, that's about all I've got to say for the week. It was a good one. Love you!

Germany Week 96

 That's perty crazy that Joseypookins will be in Sachsen. I'ven't spent much time around there myself, though I did venture down there a couple times this week. Man. I thought I was travelling a lot last transfer. Our adventure begins with Me driving Opelmis Prime, the mission van, down to Schwarzenberg on Tuesday. We needed to pick up several bikes from a member down there who basically keeps the mission running - he checks apartments, does car and bike maintenance, replaces peoples washing machines, and who knows what else. So he also needed to do some work on the car that the APs usually drive, so Elder Beesely drove that one and I got to follow him in Opelmis Prime.

Opelmis Prime ain't never been driven with such a fury

Well, wouldja look at that?

It went pretty smoothly, the only time I really messed up is when I just about accidentally got back on the freeway while trying to get across the parking lot from the gas station to McDonalds. Whoops. After the three hour drive, I was pretty grateful to have Elder Beesley drive the van back. He took a bit of a side route on my behalf. He knew that I had not yet been able to see the Freiberg Germany Temple - Back in the olden days, the mission president always took any missionaries who hadn't had the opportunity to go to the temple on their mission shortly before they depart, so I always looked forward to that, but then they stopped doing that. Then I went to Halberstadt, which is pretty far away, but was within one of the Zones that was allowed to go, so I was really excited. But as I got there, they switched the rule so only people who were much closer could go. So I'd resigned myself to the fact that I'd never get to see it. As a surprise though, Elder Beesley just drove through that way. I figured it out about when I saw a street sign pointing toward Freiberg. We didn't have time to do a session, but at least I got to see it, and go in, even if it was only as far as the recommend desk. Then we tried to check out the apartment there, but we couldn't get a hold of the missionaries, and then we dove into a little German food place, where I got something I'd never heard of before. The only part of the description I really held onto was ham, so I decided to get it. It turns out the part of the description I missed was tough Jell-O. It was a pretty interesting culinary experience. It wasn't bad, but I don't see myself ordering it again. The green beans with it were nasty though. But that's mostly because all green beans that aren't slathered in bacon are nasty. The Bratkartoffeln that were with it were super delicious though. nom nom nom. Anyhoodles. We had a lot of fun Tuesday. What was a bummer about it is that we had an appointment that we weren't able to make it to because of our little outting, luckily the Dahlem Elders were able to fill in for us - they've been doing most of the teaching there anyway. In other news, It was also Sister Kosak's Birthday, and Dad's birthday! I hope it was good for you, dad!

Somehow with the mirror I always imagine my cowlick being on the other side

 Then, on Elder Turney's Birthday, Wednesday, we had district meeting, And after the first verse of the opening song, it was suggested that we "pick up the pace." And then I fell pray to an old habit which was prevalent in my primary days. Not only did I pick up the pace, but I jazzed it up quite a bit, then I narrated the next verse, and the third I went to the old classic, falsetto. I still haven't decided if I want to repent of that or not. I very much enjoyed it. We had cake after the meeting, and we were going to go to lunch together, but then we got a call from Br. L, who was moving in - they were scheduled to get there a few hours later and we were going to go help, but they were early, so we headed right over. There were a lot of people there, there was an elevator, and all of their furniture was pretty light, so we were able to get it all done pretty quickly. It was nice to be able to help. Then we had Gemiko and J, our GML, also checked our apartment. It was quite the party.

I'm so cool when I make Chili

 During the day Thursday, we pretty much just did officey stuff, but around six we got a call from a member who I guess cleans for the Kosaks, and she had accidentally left her keys inside of their house, so she asked us to use the spare Mission home key we have in the office to get it for her. But we also had an appointment at 6:30, so we ended up borrowing the B's car so that we could drive over to get the keys right after our appointment, but while we were in the appointment, the member decided she could just wait until the next day when the Kosak's got back. So we basically just ended up running around like chickens with our heads cut off for no reason. And we drove to our lesson with R. It was quite the party. Man, I love R. We were able to have a really good discussion with him. I really hope that he's able to learn and grow to trust God.

 Friday I set out to get a ton done with our key project, to call all the missionaries. But, while I was down there while most would be having companionship study, I decided to work on a side task I had been given, which was to find and print out old transfer records, because there's this binder that's supposed to have them all, but the last transfer in there was the one right before my arrival. (Ok, so there were 3 random ones from the middle of my time, but it was still pretty dramatic) So then... I got super distracted and started working on my "genealogy" based on the system where your trainer is your "father" and your second companion your mother. Well, mostly I have Hamburg missionary heritage, but my Maternal Grandmother is from the Berlin mission, so I investigated that line. I know none of you care about this, but I really enjoyed it. At my farthest point I've got 8 generations. I'mma have to find some time to keep going back. That day we also got to go let a member into the church so his family could clean. He told us some awesome stories about miracles he's seen in his life. It was really interesting.

(last week) Sightseeing in Dresden

 Saturday, the first words I heard came from Elder Bangerter's mouth and went, "Happy Birthday!" Though there have already been multiple birthdays mentioned in this week, mine is not, and ought not, to be among them. I did then realize that it was the 36th anniversary of the release of Star Wars. But what I acutally realized before that was that it was my Two Year Mark on the mission. Now officially, I'm supposed to burn a suit on that day, but I left my old suits in Halberstadt, and I never burned the tie or the shirt, and I'm using the term 'officially' pretty loosely anyway. You know, I congratulate you if you've gotten this far on the email today, cuz I feel like it's one of those were I just babble about stuff that no one else cares about. Well, Buckle up! Cuz it's not about to change! Babble Babble Babble! For Morgensport, Elders Bangerter, Wolfley and I ended up just exercising our jaws and imaginations, because at about 6:45, Elder Bangerter told me to tell a story. So I made up about a 5 minute story. Then Elder Wolfley made up a seven minute story. Then elder Bangerter made up about an hour and a half long story. It was... pretty intense. Then, after we had our shopping and cleaning adventures, we boarded a train to Leipzig. L, who Elder Beck taught down there was baptized. I didn't know her or any of the other members, but it's always nice to see a baptism, and I did know quite a few missionaries. Elder Beck gave a talk and my dear Elder Baker performed the baptism. I got to wish him a happy two year mark too. Man o man.

(last week) More different sightseeing in Dresden

 Then today, we went to church. It was quite the party. We had ward conference, and Elder Beck and I got to teach the Gospel.... Uplift... class. It's pretty funny in there, because almost everyone there speaks english, but there's always at least one German (a lot of times the teacher) - so I usually translate for the Gibsons (and whoever else). Anyway, today we did tagteam teaching and translation. So pretty much, one of us would teach for a few minutes, and then say, "and now, elder Beck will talk to us about the quorums of the priesthood." I thought it was a pretty fun and spontaneous way to do it. We were really hoping a couple of our investigators would come, and they said they would, but none of them made it. We were able to meet shortly with one of them in the afternoon, though, which was at least something. I really hope I'm able to help them more. I know there's more I could be doing, but at the same time I feel like I'm doing what I can. I just need to be happy with what I'm doing, but always be striving to improve. It's a pretty tricky balance. One that I've always struggled a lot with (Mostly I'm just really hard on myself, and then go curl up in a ball in the corner instead of actually improving.....) but I feel I've been able to improve on that a good deal on my mission. I sure hope so. After Church we had Gemeindeessen - they grilled even though it was pouring outside. It was really good too. I somehow ended up with a hoard of children around me, which is always the best place to be. It was really fun. You always have to be careful as a missionary. Luckily, none of them insisted on sitting on my lap or being held or anything.

And here on the right we have the
church of the Mormons here in Leipzig...

 Well, I think I've babbled enough for now. I hope that you all enjoy your weeks. Love you!

Leipzig is pretty happenin', na?

(last Week) Dresden Choir Party

Germany Week 95

Another krasy, krasy week, that I've almost entirely forgotten. It's a good thing I've got these emails, because they're the most complete Journal I've been keeping for a while... whoopsies...

 I'd also like do start with a shoutout to my daddy. Happy Birfday tomorrow!

 Well, I suppose I get to start with last Sunday, the 12th of May, seeing as this week got stretched out a bit. Well. That sunday was really good. P, our investigator from Nigeria came! He is so cool! And he really enjoyed church, even though he couldn't understand any of the German. Don't worry though, I was there to translate for him the whole time. Normally during sacrament meeting they have translation done through headsets, but some of them weren't working, so they only had enough for the Senior couples, so I got to translate for Paul anyway - everything except for my talk. I got to talk for five minutes about how it is for me as a missionary being away from my family and how awesome it is that you are all so supportive of me and that families are eternal. We (As part of the priesthood of the ward) also sang that one dead people song but we sang "mothers" instead of friends. I thought it was a cute idea, but there was a little bit of drama over the song choice - nothing bad, just not everyone was excited that we were singing the dead people song, which they didn't know anyway. Elder Beck sang a solo and did awesomely. After Church we went to the Z family, who are really cool and down to earth. We had a good time with them. Then we went to open up the Office for the Neukölln sisters so that they could Skype with their families, but the internet was down. Curse you, internet! It is at this point that elder Cloward realizes that he's still describing his first of eight days, and that time is running thin..... anyway, The B's let them skype at their place and sister Peine came and saved the day by unplugging the router and then plugging it back in, this time waiting longer than Elder Beck and I had.

 Monday - We got a lot done in the office. Woo hoo!

 Tuesday we did a bunch of office stuff, then we ordered Pizza as an office staff. It was pretty good, but very thin, and no where near worth the price we payed.... Then everybody else had their Office Meeting and we ran of with the Dahlem Elders, with whom we were going to teach. There's a family that they'd been teaching, the Ms, that live right on the boundary of our two areas, and have been meeting with them, but coming to our church. They haven't come since I've been here though, but they intend to keep coming. So the Dahlem elders were going to pass them onto us, so they can be taught in the ward they'll be attending. But we had some time before that appointment, and the Dahlem elders dropped into the office but were going to lunch first, so we tagged along. Greek food. So I bought a small Gyro plate and some water. The food was delicious. But I have no idea why I bought that water! There was like half a liter of mineral water imported from Greece, and it cost me 2 euro. On top of that, I'm pretty sure it was enchanted with dark greek magic! Effects of the Greek water:

 1. I have been sneezing up a storm! and my throat has been itching! Only explanation:Greek Water
 2. Starting Tuesday afternoon, I was suddenly extremely tired, and despite sleeping, didn't feel at all energized for the next several days.
 3. My lower left eyelid swelled to roughly the size of Nebraska. I don't know if it's a Stye or an allergic reaction or what, I only know that it's origin was in Greece.
 4. see 2 Chronicles 21:15
 5. Who knows how many symptoms I've yet to discover!?!?!?

Anyhoodles, after our culinary venture, we went to visit this family. The Wife wasn't there, I guess she was sick. But we met with the man and he was really nice. It was a little weird having all four elders with just him, and he didn't seem all that responsive at first, but once he started talking it became clearer that he believed it and he was accepting it. He just didn't talk much. We read 2 Nephi 31 together and talked about baptism and invited him to be baptized. He set a goal with us to be baptized, but we also stressed the importance of reading, praying, pondering, and discussing it with his wife - We're told she's already expressed the desire to get baptized, but she just wasn't there. It was a really good experience. It's not every day you get a referral that turns immediately into a baptismal date. I'm excited to get to know them and to help them progress toward their baptism. Later that night we Tausched with the Neukölln Elders - I went out to Neukölln with Elder Gibson and Elder Myrabo came to Elder Beck in the Office. That was a party.

Our day on Wednesday included a very interesting eating appointment with an older lady in the ward who took us to a bakery where we were served belegte Brötchen. After that we were able to go contact a referral from Missionaries in London, who I'd actually talked to a day or two before on the phone, and had given on to the Neukölln missionaries. They were really cool people from Ghana and were excited that the Latter Day Saints were coming to visit them. "You are doing a great work," the man said. It wasn't the best time, so we made out a return appointment - I'll have to ask how that went.

 Thursday we had an awesome Distrikt meeting. Well, I gave the Thema. Not sure how awesome that was, but I think I did an alright job. Afterward we all went together to a Chinese Buffet, but the buffet part didn't start for another half hour, so we split off and I got to go with Elder Turney. It was wonderful to catch up with him a little bit, and we were able to give away a Book of Mormon, which was cool. That evening we met with R and the Sisters again. Man, that guy is so cool. So thoughtful, so honest, so sincere. He's not sure what he believes or what he wants to do, but it's miraculous how openly he'll state that and how thoughtful he is when we teach him. We ended up teaching the plan of salvation. Sister Peine has a really nicely made "puzzle" thing, much like the ones we always see - one thing that she had that I thought was really cool were separate figures for Adam, Eve, Christ, and the investigator specifically, each of which she took through the plan as she described it. I know I felt the spirit as we testified of the purpose of life and of the reason that God allows suffering here. I really think that Robert felt it too. He said he really can accept it, that he sees that it's perfectly logical as a system, but that he needs time to test out how it can apply in every day life. He said he'd like to meet with us again in maybe six months or a year. We explained that we would love to be a part of that journey, to learn from him and for him to learn from us. So we've got another appointment set up for this week. I love that man so much. The thing is, he actually lives in Neukölln's area, so there will need to be a transition at some point. I just really hope that we are able to do what's best for him.

 Friday we met with P again, which was good. We read some of King Benjamin's talk with him and I think it was nice. As we were bringing the lesson to a close, he asked us a question. Another investigator had called him an "investigator," and he was really bothered by that. He said he didn't like the connotations and wanted to be a member. Then we began to talk about baptism. He didn't understand why he would need to be baptized again. We mentioned that it was because of priesthood authority, but he believes in the Catholic line of authority. I wasn't able to explain it all that well, but we both said that we would read and pray and discuss it next time. I really hope that we're able to do that well. I felt like anything I did then would've been a little bit Bible bashy and without the spirit. I really hope we'll be able to have a spiritually uplifting and enlightening discussion.

 Saturday we spent in Dresden! Woohooo! We took a train down and spent the afternoon with 60 other missionaries practicing the music that we sang in the evening for Stake Conference. Elders Bangerter, Wolfley, Beck and I had a quartet bit in "Called to Serve." It was a lot of fun. It was great to be able to see that stake conference, too. And there were so many good missionary friends that I thought I wasn't going to see again! Afterwards we went to McDonalds with the Kosaks - that's where all of the big decisions of the mission are made. ;P It was really fun. Though, once again, the extent of my sight seeing was the Karl G. Maeser statue. Though actually not quite - we saw some really beautiful stuff as we were driving to McDonald's.

 Dang, I'm taking forever. Yesterday at church was good, but none of our investigators came, which was very disappointing. I got to meet our high councilor, who knows Joseph really well. He was walking by, saw my name tag and said, "Cloward! I know you!" And as he saw my confused expression he said, "well, I know your brother - quite well." He was hilarious. and English. I then got to translate for the headsets in sacrament meeting. That was a doozy. There was this one guy who spoke about the meaning of the Pentecost in rapid high language. It was fun though. Afterward, both Senior couples, the sisters and we crammed into the apartment of this Thai family and ate delicious food and had a great time.

 Today was nice too, although our network was down in the morning, so there was little we could do in the office - but then we went to an eating appointment with a member and her husband. It was really nice to get to know them. Happy Pentecost Monday, by the way. Then we came back and worked on officy stuff.

Well, I'mma be done now.

Love you!

Germany Week 94

It was certainly nice to talk to you earlier! I don't think I'm quite up to the normal length email, but I'mma still try to inform you a bit about what we've been up to this week.

 Most of it's just been hanging out in the office working on our projects and little things here and there, I'm really enjoying it.

 Well, I guess nowadays my synopses start with Sundays... Sooo... Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!! Church wasn't really much like a monster Truck rally, but you can imagine it that way if you want. We had some nice classes, and R came to Sacrament Meeting, even though he only got two hours of sleep, and even though he can't understand all that much German. He was really attentive and seemed to enjoy all of the testimonies, though he said he understood very little. He's so cool. I wish we'd been able to find a Turkish member for him. Hmm.... I know of one in Hannover.... That barely just came to me. That's definitely too far to visit, but maybe we could arrange a phone conversation or something. Thanks for the idea, family. :D 

Wednesday Evening we got to teach a man, P, from Nigeria along with the Dahlem sisters, one of whom, Sister Schrade, was in my Freshman ward at BYU. Small world, na? Anyway he was really cool and fun to teach. He has a strong Christian background and thanked us so many times for the opportunity to help increase his faith. The Sisters set it up with us because they found him but he lives in our area. I felt almost a little guilty because they're struggling to find people to teach, and he's one of several referrals we've been given to teach, although we haven't even been doing any finding.

 Right after that (actually, we were a little bit late because of it), we had Gemeinderat/ward council. It was really cool actually, not what I'm used to. This ward is quite a bit bigger than what I've been involved in for the last while. They're definitely very missionary oriented though. It was very cool to hear their plans and the way they talk about missionary work.

 Thursday we had our Zone Training Meeting, which was really enjoyable. It was also president's interviews - We did it in our ward building, so they asked us to come to open it up, and since we were there so early, President just interviewed me first. I wasn't expecting it, because he had said he'd just interview us some other time. It took me a little off guard, but it was still good. I hadn't polished my shoes though. He said, "Elder Cloward, you know better than this! give me your shoes!" And then he polished them for me. That's the first time he's gotten me - At the first interviews he held, he shined most people's shoes, but I'd polished mine the night before. But this time he got me! As he explains it, Germans first look at your shoes, then they look at your eyes, then they listen to what you have to say. I forgot to get my temple recommend renewed though, so I'll have to corner him sometime and get another interview. wwwhhoooops...

 Then today, we went shopping, then I talked to you, then we went to teach Rt with the Sisters. He's a really cool guy. He reminded me of P A in Bad Bentheim a lot, both from the way he talks and a little bit from the way he discussed religion. He described himself as very skeptical, but interested, and he seemed to me very open, and honest. He was definitely willing to talk about how he felt and what he honestly believed and wanted to hear what we believed and seemed willing to try it out. We had a really enjoyable meeting with him. He talked to the Potsdam Elders on the bus, and they referred him to the Lankwitz Sisters (That's the same area as us), and we taught together with them. It turns out he lives in Neukölln, so we'll probably hand him over to the Neukölln missionaries, but we nabbed at least one return appointment with him. About a half hour after he left, R came to meet with us. He said his back was hurting and he'd been having some troubles at work, but he seemed happy to meet with us again. We talked a little bit about the Gospel of Christ - our conversation was very limited, we were really trying to answer his questions, but the language barrier makes it difficult. We gave him a pamphlet on it though in both Turkish and German, and that seemed to be helpful. He said he probably won't be able to make it to church with his work schedule tomorrow, but I'm really excited for his progress.

 After his appointment, we came back to the office, Elder Beck got to talk to his family, and that's pretty much been it. Well kids, I love you tons! Church is true! Have a great week!

Germany Week 93

It has been one whirlwind adventure since we adjourned our last email writing session. Monday itself was pretty crazy, we did emails in the Morning, then ran off to Magdeburg to exchange pictures and play some sports or something in the park. We swung by Burger King (The people there were very friendly and remembered us from our earlier excursion ;P) and by the time we finally got to the church we only had like a half hour/forty five minutes. So we exchanged pictures and hung out with the Magdeburg Elders in their church. We then took off to Schw. M's who cooked us some delicious food to say goodbye to me. We then bounced with our bloated bellies off to Institut. It was a great day.

Elder Cloward Pondering Ancient Greece

 Followed by several others. Tuesday Morning Elder Olson and I drove off to Magdeburg where Elders Sullivan, Williams and I hopped on a train to Berlin to go the the Office. Elder Sullivan, to make a one day stop then head home, I, to make a six week stop, and Elder Williams to pick up a cell phone for the 2nd Elders Program opening up in Magedburg. Quite the Cell Phone Shipment, nah? We arrived in Berlin and were picked up by the APs, and voila, we were in the Office. Elder Beck got there at about the same time and we went straight to work. The moment we walked in, he asked the Office couples, "What can we do?" They put us to work playing tetris with Copies of the Book of Mormon and other church materials so they could fit in boxes that we could bring to the missionaries opening new areas. We kept busy that day with lots of other office tasks too. It was kinda weird just because people who I was in the MTC with were just hanging out talking in the office about to go home, and I was running around doing office work. It was great to be able to see them. And we got to eat lunch with them. I've finally seen them all! I'm pretty sure I've spent my whole time in the field dodging Elder Stovall, but I finally got to talk to him again on his death bed.

 That day, president also mentioned shortly to us that we will be working on the mission history and that that will be a large portion of our assignment here. Otherwise, exactly what our assignment is has been kept a mystery to us. In daily planning, we've mostly been like, "Well, I guess we just go down to the Office and do what ever they tell us to." That of course doesn't prevent us from writing down meaningful activities such as "arts and crafts," which Elder Taylor saw in my planner, then laughed and shared it with the class at District Meeting. We've definitely been kept busy though, and with time our job has become a little bit more refined. Elder Beesley, the Logistics secretary also gave us charge over a big project involving Apartment keys throughout the mission. To a large extent though, we really are to just be around the office and help wherever help is needed. We've certainly got our work cut out for us.

 Tuesday night we -Man, usually I'm a little past Tuesday night after writing this much email - Followed the Sisters to Gemiko and an eating appointment with a really cool family who wanted to give us a welcoming party. They're Thai, but have been living in Germany for 30 (?) years, and made delicious, if very spicy food. We played games and had a lot of fun.

 Wedensday Morning we started off with District meeting. We met the Sisters at the Bus Stop and it took me a few minutes, but I eventually noticed peering over the top of a seat the head of none other than Elder Turney. So I ran back and gave him a big hug. He's my Zone Leader and in my district now! It's been too long. He's companions with Elder Taylor, who is hilarious and from Elder Pack's group. We had such a party at District meeting. I must say, It made me very happy that it was the Zone Leaders that were goofing off the whole district meeting, while everyone else was comparatively solemn (except for me, I guess...) We then went to help with the new missionaries who'd just arrived. Elder Beck and I were in charge of taking pictures of them that'll be used throughout their missions (hopefully I did an ok job). Then I got to do my first "First Finding." Had I actually had that when scheduled, It would've been called "Golden Finding," and it would've taken place almost two years ago, but our 747 was having technical issues and we had to cut things short. (My Prayers were answered that day... [are you following this?]) Anyway, I got to take out three excellent missionaries, Elder Meeks, Elder Youngblood, and Elder Becar. We hopped on the Sbahn, got a little lost in my new area, talked to some people, handed out some cards, knocked on some doors and had a good time. Hopefully the new missionaries enjoyed it. I was really impressed with all of them.

 Thursday we started off processing a bunch of stuff in the office. They said they wouldn't need us for the New Missionary conference, so we stayed in the Office. But I really wanted to go, mostly to see Elders Linderman & Beck(Köthen/Lauenburg Beck, who are training, so we went over to the church during our lunch break. We were able to be helpful which was good. Then when it was time for the missionaries to leave, President charged Elder Beck and I with helping some sisters get their luggage to Bahnhof, because they had quite a bit. So we went with them. At the Sbahnhof, Elder Wolfley gave me the charge of guiding everyone to a gathering place in Hauptbahnhof and announced to everyone to follow me. It wasn't all that big of a deal, but It felt like a fair deal of responsibility to keep a pretty big group of missionaries together on the trains. On top of that, I didn't really know where I was going, so I appointed Elder Tolbert as my personal guide. I was really grateful to have someone who knew the way. We ended up carrying a lot of luggage up a lot of stairs. The place where we had to switch trains was full of stairs. It was quite the adventure. Everybody was helping each other, it was pretty cool to see. Then everyone was able to head off to their areas. After that we finally got a chance to go grocery shopping, and then we had a late night spaghetti party with the APs and the Kiel Zone Leaders, Elder Lüning and Rückauer.

Elder Beck and the Ishtar Gate

Disembodied heads and the Babylonian Empire

 Yesterday, Friday, we worked in the Office pretty much the whole day, mostly on the Key assigment. Last night though, at about 10:15, Elder Bangerter woke me up of the couch (How did I get there?) and said the Tiergarten Elders were going to be sleeping there. Apparently they were downstairs in the office fixing Sister Kosak's computer. We then thought about how we still didn't know when we were supposed to take Pday, so we figured we could go down and ask president. But we decided to just text him, and I got ready for bed. He sent a text back that said to come down and ask him. So we went down, me in my pajamas and Elder Beck in his white shirt and tie, to ask him. After saying we should take our Pdays on Saturdays, president asked, "What are you doing tomorrow?" We were like, "we don't know, we didn't even know if we had Pday or a work day." He said, "Go to the Pergemon Museum and see the Ishtar Gate. And Go to Potsdamer Platz, they have the best Ice Cream." Well, an order is an order, so we did that today. It was really cool. All the museums and fancy stuff there in Berlin are so amazing. We're going to be having a few more P-days over in that Ecke. Though, we didn't have enough time to order the Stawberry Ice Cream Becher like we were supposed to, so we just grabbed ice cream cones. Next time though.

 The reason we didn't have time though was super exciting, und zwar, we had an apopintment! The contact was found during "first finding" and we'd called and made out the appointment yesterday. It was with a man named R, he's turkish, but has been living in Germany for a while. He want's to learn better German, a large part of why he wanted to meet with us. We had a great time with him, we gave him a tour of the church, explaining a lot of elements of the first lesson as we showed him the pictures hanging around. There's definitely a lot he didn't understand because of the language barrier, but he was very friendly, humble, and willing to learn. He's planning on coming to church tomorrow and we're excited for him. We didn't have a Turkish Book of Mormon with us, but the Sisters were in the Area and they grabbed one from the Office for us, and were there for the very end part of our lesson where we prayed together, and R offered a prayer. It took him a while to figure out how we wanted him to do it, but with the help of one of the pamphlets and explaining it a bunch of times, he offered a marvelous prayer. And then we came home to write emails.

 Man o man. This has been awesome here in the office so far. These next few weeks are going to be an adventure. I'm so excited to be a part of this great work and to be able to contribute to it. I know it's true, I know god loves us and he wants what's best for us. Have a great week, everybody!

Germany Week 92

Oh the ridiculosity!

You know what was super crazy? On Wednesday at district meeting we witnessed what I like to call the "death throes" of Elder Sullivan. He gave a Thema at his last district meeting. It's so weird that he's going home. Having someone that you went into the MTC with go home. It's even weirder for Elder Olson since he was his companion there. Our whole group got automatically extended, but Elder Sullivan removed the extension so he can start right up with school when he gets home. I'm totally geeking out about it. After district meeting, the district went to McDonald's but we didn't order anything and went to Burger King instead. It was totally worth it.

 The next day was also pretty close to the top of my crazy list. Last week Saturday we got a call from the APs that we would be spending our Thursday driving to Berlin to get our tires rotated. Yeah, baby. It was exciting to have another crazy road trip, but it was also super unfortunate because that's the only day we usually have appointments and we had to cancel them. The drive itself was actually really stressful for me - just being nervous on the freeway, and especially once we were driving around in the dead center of Berlin and our Navi couldn't find the address of the church. We somehow managed to get there safe and sound. Then we stood there for about 15 minutes talking to an Ehepaar (married couple) that was there while they did the car maintenance, and then we got to leave. Totally not worth the three hour drive. It was also pretty disheartening because I knew a few good friends were like twenty feet away from me in the Leadership training meeting that was going on, but I couldn't just barge in there to say hello. Then once we were a little ausserhalb (outside) Berlin we pulled in and ate Burger King for the second day in a row. Welcome to America! When we got home we blitzed some neighborhoods in Halberstadt with the rest of our brochures. That was nice to feel like we'd done something at the end of the day. Overall though, we were both pretty irritable - the day (aka the drive) had been tiring and unfulfilling. On top of that, I was starting to get nervous for the transfer call coming up on Saturday. But we were able to talk and cheer each other up in the evening. I am so grateful for Elder Olson. We're really able to help each other up, and that makes things so much easier.

not exactly what I had in mind for the finished product,
but I guess this can still decorate the Halberstadt
apartment until someone throws it out...

 Friday morning was really nice. We went and did some more painting. Most awesomest thing ever. ;P I really enjoy it. I finally got everything blocked in, but there's still a ton left to be done. But as we all know, it's not about the painting, it's about the peacocks. There were a bunch of kids running around there measuring stuff for one of those "the weather is nice and the teacher doesn't want to be cooped up with you all in the classroom" school projects. It was pretty funny to listen to them while painting. There were a lot of people out that saw me. Don't know what they thought of it though. There was one guy who came up and talked to me for a minute, that was cool. We didn't make it so far as the gospel, but he wanted to look at the painting and asked where we were from. Whether or not my public flocks to the font, it's definitely been a great experience.

 Saturday morning we waited on the transfer call. And then we waited some more. And a little bit more. They're supposed to call between 9 and 12, and at 12 our district members started calling us to talk about what happened to everybody. But we hadn't gotten the call yet. Well, we sort of had at like 11:50 - the APs called, but it only rang once. Either Elder Olson accidentally hung up instead of answering, or Elder Bangerter hung up. So we tried to call 'em back a couple times, but they were of course busy. So a few minutes later, Elder Bangerter called again. He was like, " I see you were trying to contact me." Then he was like, "Wait, has president called you yet? He said he was going to call you." At first I thought he was just joking with me, because as everyone knows, President only calls the people with unusual assignments, like Zone leaders. He continued, "Well, you and Elder Beck will be coming into the Office. You'll be doing normal missionary work from at least 6:00 to 9:00, but during the day you'll be helping coordinate everything with all the new missionaries coming into the mission." Now, I've recently heard it said that every mission in the world has an Elder Beck, but it just so happens that our mission has at least two. I had already heard that the Elder Beck in Köthen would be training, so I surmised, and Elder Bangerter confirmed it, that I would be with the one that just got to Leipzig and kind of reminded me of Brother Rasmussen  Then Elder Brandley will be coming to Elder Olson in Halberstadt. That's pretty funny too, because Elder Brandley is going home with us as well, so even though I'm getting transferred, Halberstadt will still get a double homicide white wash. In the word of Bruder S, "Hilfe!" I don't know Elder Brandley all to well, but he seems really cool and I think Elder Olson and him will get along really well. Plus they already know each other - They were bunk mates for three weeks in the MTC.

What a thought inspiring sign

 After the transfer call, the district came to Halberstadt, where, after a nice meal at Subway (silly Americans, you can eat that stuff in America), we doored a bunch of the places we'd given brochures to, and were able to make out three appointments. It's been a long time since I've had that. I suppose strength in numbers is helpful. It'll hopefully be a good starting point for Elders Olson and Brandley.

 Sunday was really nice too. The Stake Patriarch came and spoke to us. He gave a pretty in depth talk/sunday school class on the temple and patriarchal blessings. I got to give a quick tschüß (goodbye) testimony to the branch, which was also nice. After the meeting, R and H got their patriarchal blessings. It is so extraordinary how they're making such good progress in the gospel. And the fact that they sought it out themselves makes it even better. Afterward we all (Elder Olson and I, the Patriarch and his wife, R & H) went to the S's/S's for an awesome lunch.

Scenic Schierke

 In the Evening, Elder Olson and I headed off to a little town called Schierke tucked into the mountains of the Harz - It's a gorgeous place, everyone says it reminds them of a miniature park city. Just with German architecture and witch decorations all over everything. Tomorrow night's Walpurgisnacht, I don't know what that actually is, but it has some connection to Goethe's Faust and the Largest Mountain in the Harz, the Brocken, and lots and lots of Witches. Elder Olson calls the city Tauschdorf, because he always takes people to work there while on Tausch, but that was the first time I made it up there. I was like the last in the district to make it up there. It was gorgeous, and nice to load up on some nature before delving into Berlin.

 I don't know exactly what I'll be doing in the office, but I'm pretty excited for it. Actually,

Step into my heavily forested office

I'm really excited for it. Maybe once I know what I'm doing, I won't be. ;P I will certainly be more comfortable than I am on the streets. I'm definitely glad I still will be doing that stuff though. I wouldn't want it to be like a surprise 6 week early release. On Tuesday morning I'll be jumping on a train to Berlin with Elder Sullivan - we'll both be heading to the office, but I think I'll mosey around there a little longer than he does before going home.

 I love you! The Church is true!