Doo de doo de dooooo....
Hmmm... So, This week is kind of garbled up in my mind. I feel like I'm finally getting out of the slump the chicken pox left me in. It requires more motivation to get out of the apartment and work when you realize it's possible to lay around all day. But I did it anyway. You should be proud of me.
There's this Venezuelan investigator, M, who's moved into an old house and we've been helping her fix up the house a bit. So we were there a few times in the week. She has alright German, but it makes it difficult to teach and be sure that she's comprehending. Luckily though, the branch has a few Spanish speaking members, including one who served his mission in Venezuela who's super excited to help out. We've given her a few pamphlets in Spanish, and watched La Restoracion (That's just my guess, I don't remember if that's the real word). She seemed to like it, but is pretty quiet about it. She said as she read one of the pamphlets she got goosebumps all over. And that while she was watching the movie she had good feeling she couldn't describe. And she came to church yesterday - that's actually where we watched the movie. So working with her is really exciting, even if it makes me wish I spoke Spanish. I told her my mom could speak Spanish and she was like, "Well why can't you?" Every once in a while I want to just pull out the few spanish words I know - but they're all the easy ones and her German is a bazillion times better than my Spanish. Germans do that to us fairly often - they'll just keep talking until they happen to know a word in English and then they'll say both. It doesn't really help much, but sometimes it's amusing.
On Wednesday after District meeting, We had a Tausch with the Zone leaders - Elder Harris came to Bad Bentheim with me. I was kind of in a crummy mood to begin with, and I didn't really know what to do, since I felt like I still didn't know the area or the members really, or even the investigators, so I was kind of anxious. So then we did finding for most of the day - just talking to people on the street, and then a few hours of doors. I can confidently say that those are not my favorite activities. Elder Harris seems like a pretty cool guy, but I was being Mr. Grumpy Gills. It actually did get a bit better as we went on, but I could definitely have used an attitude adjustment. Maybe I'll become a decent missionary some day. I think I was at least keeping my grumpiness to myself - I was trying at least to look happy... I guess that's something. Not enough, but something.
Yesterday was a good day though. Elder Ririe and I both gave short talks in church, and I felt the spirit more strongly in that meeting than I have in a while - during the sacrament, and during a sister's talk. I felt marvelous as I took the sacrament, and I really felt like it was a point from which to go forward, that I can renew my efforts. It was a confirmation that I really was renewing my covenants, and it was rejuvenating. Right now I'm feeling tired and sluggish again, but looking back on how I felt yesterday is helping me look up a bit more. "It's better to look up."
So I had hoped that we'd be able to make it to Elmshorn as well, but there wasn't a train that could get us there without skipping church here entirely. So we just stayed here.
Right after the meeting we had Gemeindeessen (food as a ward), one of the boys in the branch was getting baptized, so we drove out to Osnabrück where they've got a font for that. In the times between I would seem to've quickly transformed into a playground. Those kids are crazy. It was fun, but I should be a better example of stoicism. I got the feeling the parents were not very happy with their kids, and I wasn't really preventing them from jumping all over me... Gotta think stoic thoughts.
I feel like I'm in a little bit of a weird mood today, I hope it doesn't show through in my writing and make me look like a lunatic.
Anyhoodles, I love you, I know this church is true, and I know that as we serve God and as we serve each other, we will find strength and joy.
- Elder Cloward
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Germany Week 13
Yup, I finally got out of quarantine on Wednesday, when we went to Hannover for Leadership training ( For Elder Ririe, who's District Leader) I went out with the Hannover Missionaries and a few others with companions in leadership (Including Elders Sullivan and Clayton from my Golden group) and we split up and worked there a bit. I especially enjoyed just going out doing street contacting with Elder Clayton - That guy is awesome. And it was good to feel like I was actually doing something for once.
It's actually been pretty hard to get out of quarantine mode - After laying around in an apartment all day for 12 days, it seems a lot more difficult to jump back into mission life. Elder Ririe and I have both been pretty sluggish the last few days. I really need to be better motivated. But it was still good to be out and working, even if we weren't up to the pace we should've been. We've done a lot of walking, a lot of driving, a lot of passing out cards, and visiting with a recently baptized member, who's super cool.
So Yesterday was the day for C's baptism up in Elmshorn, and I got permission from Pres. Pimentel to go up for it. So we had to get on a train at 6:30, in order to get to Elmshorn in time. So at 9:30, as our train was pulling out of Bremen toward Hamburg, Elder Baake called me and said that C was really sick and so the baptism was being postponed to next week. We couldn't really just go home at that point, so the Müllers just invited us for an eating appointment. We went, got there just as Elmshorn's Church was getting out, and I had a great time talking to people and eating at the Müllers. Then we took trains back and got home at about 9:20. So basically, we spent ten hours in transit for a nice eating appointment. There of course is another problem - that is, that I haven't even been to Church in Bad Bentheim yet! I missed the first two Sundays because of my Chicken Pox, and the third for what I thought would be C's baptism. I've met several of the members at other meetings and service projects, but it's really important to be in church. And today is starting the 4th week of the transfer, but it's as though I just got here. Next week they've planned the baptism later, so it's possible that after Sacrament meeting (In which I'm speaking anyway) we could take off and make it. But that still means I'd miss Sunday School and Priesthood. So I'm pretty divided in my mind - I know I'd personally rather go to the baptism, but I really don't want to be short cutting the area in which I'm actually serving. Of course it's not just my decision anyway, I'll need to ask President Pimentel about it too.
I know this church is true, and I know God lives! I know that the commandments he's given us are for our benefit even when to us they seem like nothing more than "character building exercises," which they in fact are, but so much more. In that character building process, we are protected from dangers and sorrows, and we are strengthened and gain perspective and joy. I have seen this in my life, I have seen this in the lives of those we're working with. Heavenly father loves us, and that is exactly why he has given us scripture, prophets, guidance and commandments. I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Well, I love you! I hope all is going splendidly for you. Have a nice life!
It's actually been pretty hard to get out of quarantine mode - After laying around in an apartment all day for 12 days, it seems a lot more difficult to jump back into mission life. Elder Ririe and I have both been pretty sluggish the last few days. I really need to be better motivated. But it was still good to be out and working, even if we weren't up to the pace we should've been. We've done a lot of walking, a lot of driving, a lot of passing out cards, and visiting with a recently baptized member, who's super cool.
So Yesterday was the day for C's baptism up in Elmshorn, and I got permission from Pres. Pimentel to go up for it. So we had to get on a train at 6:30, in order to get to Elmshorn in time. So at 9:30, as our train was pulling out of Bremen toward Hamburg, Elder Baake called me and said that C was really sick and so the baptism was being postponed to next week. We couldn't really just go home at that point, so the Müllers just invited us for an eating appointment. We went, got there just as Elmshorn's Church was getting out, and I had a great time talking to people and eating at the Müllers. Then we took trains back and got home at about 9:20. So basically, we spent ten hours in transit for a nice eating appointment. There of course is another problem - that is, that I haven't even been to Church in Bad Bentheim yet! I missed the first two Sundays because of my Chicken Pox, and the third for what I thought would be C's baptism. I've met several of the members at other meetings and service projects, but it's really important to be in church. And today is starting the 4th week of the transfer, but it's as though I just got here. Next week they've planned the baptism later, so it's possible that after Sacrament meeting (In which I'm speaking anyway) we could take off and make it. But that still means I'd miss Sunday School and Priesthood. So I'm pretty divided in my mind - I know I'd personally rather go to the baptism, but I really don't want to be short cutting the area in which I'm actually serving. Of course it's not just my decision anyway, I'll need to ask President Pimentel about it too.
I know this church is true, and I know God lives! I know that the commandments he's given us are for our benefit even when to us they seem like nothing more than "character building exercises," which they in fact are, but so much more. In that character building process, we are protected from dangers and sorrows, and we are strengthened and gain perspective and joy. I have seen this in my life, I have seen this in the lives of those we're working with. Heavenly father loves us, and that is exactly why he has given us scripture, prophets, guidance and commandments. I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Well, I love you! I hope all is going splendidly for you. Have a nice life!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Germany Week 12
Yup. I'm still under quarantine. Yeah, I'm positive I had them when I was little. And you would always talk about how I got a major case, but Joseph got a minor case, so then they came around again, and he got them again and I was fine. Unless that was Isaac. Either way, I remained unscathed as the plague returned due to my earlier suffering. Apparently that has expired. nah, but it's still really minor - it didn't get any worse, but the spots have been migrating around my body. So the only concern is that I'm contagious. Apparently when you get them a second time as an adult they can either manifest themselves as a minor case or as shingles. I have been extremely blessed to receive the former. All of that also means I've done a whole lot of nuthin' since last week.
A couple examples of nothing are:
On Tuesday we actually drove out to Hannover for the mission tire rotation. I tried to keep my distance from people....
Then on Wednesday a new member called us in the morning and said we had to pick him up from the Hospital.. he's been called as a ward missionary in order for us to be able to take him to church... but yeah, we didn't know what else to do, so we went and got him - I stayed in the car while Elder Ririe got him.
Since then, other than a visit to the Burger King drive through, we've kept ourselves under proper quarantine. It was a marvelous opportunity to grow out my facial hair. In a few more days I'll look just like George Albert Smith. Just Joshin' ya, I'd need glasses.
To take up the time, we've been doing a whole lot of reading, a good deal of letter writing (though I've nowhere near written all the people I intend to), and all sorts of Tom-foolery. One fun thing was a game of battleship. We had 40 ships, 812 spaces, and just over 7 hours of play time. It was actually a lot of fun. It was more fun because I won after being behind for nearly the whole game.
Elder Thom suggested/gave us permission to do the Sacrament in our apartment, so that was really nice. That was the third sunday without Church, due to General Conference and the Quarantine, so it was wonderful to be able to take the sacrament anyway. We also sang some hymns and had an opening and closing prayer so we had a little sacrament meeting. Then we read this Hugh Nibley paper on the Book of Enoch together - it was super long but super interesting. It's just incredible to me how much secular evidence there is for the Scriptures brought forth by Joseph Smith. I mean, none of it really matters if you don't have a testimony, but it's just so cool!
Well, it's been a magnificent P week, but I'm ready to go. After tomorrow I'm gonna declare myself well and go out even if I break out with the plague. Just Kidding, I would never knowingly spread the plague - I wouldn't want anyone stretching those words ;P But I'm ready to go back out and help people to find and accept the word of God. I love the opportunity that I have to help people improve their lives and turn to their Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that as we give those out, we are handing people a marvelous tool to bring happiness into their lives and families. I pray that I can be a tool in Heavenly Father's hands to help people to find that happiness. I hope you all have a marvelous week! - Elder Cloward
A couple examples of nothing are:
On Tuesday we actually drove out to Hannover for the mission tire rotation. I tried to keep my distance from people....
Then on Wednesday a new member called us in the morning and said we had to pick him up from the Hospital.. he's been called as a ward missionary in order for us to be able to take him to church... but yeah, we didn't know what else to do, so we went and got him - I stayed in the car while Elder Ririe got him.
Since then, other than a visit to the Burger King drive through, we've kept ourselves under proper quarantine. It was a marvelous opportunity to grow out my facial hair. In a few more days I'll look just like George Albert Smith. Just Joshin' ya, I'd need glasses.
To take up the time, we've been doing a whole lot of reading, a good deal of letter writing (though I've nowhere near written all the people I intend to), and all sorts of Tom-foolery. One fun thing was a game of battleship. We had 40 ships, 812 spaces, and just over 7 hours of play time. It was actually a lot of fun. It was more fun because I won after being behind for nearly the whole game.
Elder Thom suggested/gave us permission to do the Sacrament in our apartment, so that was really nice. That was the third sunday without Church, due to General Conference and the Quarantine, so it was wonderful to be able to take the sacrament anyway. We also sang some hymns and had an opening and closing prayer so we had a little sacrament meeting. Then we read this Hugh Nibley paper on the Book of Enoch together - it was super long but super interesting. It's just incredible to me how much secular evidence there is for the Scriptures brought forth by Joseph Smith. I mean, none of it really matters if you don't have a testimony, but it's just so cool!
Well, it's been a magnificent P week, but I'm ready to go. After tomorrow I'm gonna declare myself well and go out even if I break out with the plague. Just Kidding, I would never knowingly spread the plague - I wouldn't want anyone stretching those words ;P But I'm ready to go back out and help people to find and accept the word of God. I love the opportunity that I have to help people improve their lives and turn to their Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that as we give those out, we are handing people a marvelous tool to bring happiness into their lives and families. I pray that I can be a tool in Heavenly Father's hands to help people to find that happiness. I hope you all have a marvelous week! - Elder Cloward
Monday, October 10, 2011
Germany Week 11
On Tuesday I made my way to Bad Bentheim (Well, actually to Rheine, but it's the Bad Bentheim area, cuz that's where the Gemeindehaus is) by train, and luckily I was able to drag my luggage behind me with minimal problems (The wheels on the largest luggage were destroyed on the way to my apartment in Elmshorn as I first got there - the outer casing of the wheel wore down, got jammed in the joint so it wasn't able to turn, then the wheel itself wore away by scraping against the sidewalk before we even realized what was wrong. see FIGs 1&2)
So we would normally write emails from an Internet Cafe type place, but I happen to be under quarantine, and am therefore writing from Elder & Sister Thom(the couple missionaries)'s apartment. What would I be doing under quarantine, you ask? Let me tell you. You see, it began with a visit to M and her two young boys M and M in my last couple weeks in Elmshorn. You see, M had told us that M&M had Windpocken, which as we all know is the chicken pox. But, me, being a very clever man, knew that If you've already had the chicken pox, you can go to as many pox parties as you like, and be perfectly fine. Well, as you've probably noticed, I wouldn't be telling this story if I was right. Luckily, it does seem to be a very minor case - I don't have to many spots, nor are most of them much more than slightly itchy discolorations. So it's not much more than discomfort for me, but I'm homebound due to the long period of contagion found with chicken pox. Of course that also means I was contagious for a few days before I noticed any signs. Hopefully I didn't get any of the branch members I came into contact with.
The Branch seems to be really cool - we've had a couple eating appointments, we've had ward council, we taught some of the kids in the branch an English lesson, so I've met a lot of the members, despite my not being able to go to Church yesterday (It was saturday night when I first suspected I was sick). They all seem really cool. We end up speaking a lot of english, because a lot of their english is almost as good as their German. A lot of the members are Dutch, so pretty much everone speaks Dutch, English and German, and is constantly switching around between the three. It's quite the party. Elder Thom is the Branch President, he's really cool. His wife is hilarious.
Elder Ririe is cool. Actually, I can't get it out of my head how much he reminds me of Curtis Sudbury. Everything from his stature to his hair color to his quirky sense of humor and the way he jokes around with people. It also helps that he's always wearing a suit. I think it's especially funny because a while back Curtis had a companion that he said reminded him of me. But yeah, I think I'm gonna like working with Elder Ririe a lot. He's easy to get along with, and pretty funny. His German isn't quite so fluent as Elder Baake's, but it'll do ;P. It's more than you would expect from someone from Ogden. He's actually got much better German than a lot of other missionaries I've heard.
Speaking of segues, the area is really cool. There are a ton of gorgeous churches in the area and Bad Bentheim has a Castle! I could stare at them all day. We've also got a car area, so that's a bit different. It makes me feel a lot lazier. We also spend a lot more time in transit so I feel like I'm not doing much. We started listening to the Book of Mormon on Friday, and on the way over to the Thoms' today we finished Jacob 7. Also I've been suuuper sleepy most of the days since I've got here, which I can only blame on the car. I've definitely fallen asleep a couple times while Elder Ririe's driving.
We've been able to do a fair deal of walking though, one of my first nights we went for a walk along the Ems canal, which was nice, and decided to go for a bit of a walk in the morning for Morgensport, which has been nice. Then, a few days later, we decided to walk to a nearby contact, but then we passed it, then we thought the road looped around, but then it didn't, but then it looked like going a bit further, crossing a bridge, and coming back on the other side would be a bit shorter, but then it wasn't, then we took a wrong turn anyway, and had to turn back, and after walking approximately 17 km, we caught a train back to Rheine - my legs swore to never walk again.
But they did walk again. In the morning, I was surprised that my legs didn't hurt as much as my abs, which didn't make any sense. I'm trying to transition this into a closing testimony, but I feel like I'm getting farther from that, rather than closer.
Anyway, I know this church is true, and I know that God has called me to Germany and he has now called me to the Bad Bentheim area. I'm excited to discover what it his he wants me to do here and to do it. And I know he will help me, as we does every one of his children to will make the effort to follow him. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love ya!
- Elder Cloward
Fig 3 - Crazy Missionaries in Hamburg
( Figures 4 &5 taken from atop the Michaelis)
Fig 4 - My Ugly Mug in front of Hamburg
Fig 5 - More crazy missionaries in Hamburg
Fig 6 - 9 random stuff in Rheine + Elder Ririe..
Apparently I've not yet taken pictures of churches or the Castle. But I certainly will
Fig 10 - I'm not lying when I say our area's on the Dutch border
Fig 11 - The print that the crazy Pidgeon left after flying into our window
So we would normally write emails from an Internet Cafe type place, but I happen to be under quarantine, and am therefore writing from Elder & Sister Thom(the couple missionaries)'s apartment. What would I be doing under quarantine, you ask? Let me tell you. You see, it began with a visit to M and her two young boys M and M in my last couple weeks in Elmshorn. You see, M had told us that M&M had Windpocken, which as we all know is the chicken pox. But, me, being a very clever man, knew that If you've already had the chicken pox, you can go to as many pox parties as you like, and be perfectly fine. Well, as you've probably noticed, I wouldn't be telling this story if I was right. Luckily, it does seem to be a very minor case - I don't have to many spots, nor are most of them much more than slightly itchy discolorations. So it's not much more than discomfort for me, but I'm homebound due to the long period of contagion found with chicken pox. Of course that also means I was contagious for a few days before I noticed any signs. Hopefully I didn't get any of the branch members I came into contact with.
The Branch seems to be really cool - we've had a couple eating appointments, we've had ward council, we taught some of the kids in the branch an English lesson, so I've met a lot of the members, despite my not being able to go to Church yesterday (It was saturday night when I first suspected I was sick). They all seem really cool. We end up speaking a lot of english, because a lot of their english is almost as good as their German. A lot of the members are Dutch, so pretty much everone speaks Dutch, English and German, and is constantly switching around between the three. It's quite the party. Elder Thom is the Branch President, he's really cool. His wife is hilarious.
Elder Ririe is cool. Actually, I can't get it out of my head how much he reminds me of Curtis Sudbury. Everything from his stature to his hair color to his quirky sense of humor and the way he jokes around with people. It also helps that he's always wearing a suit. I think it's especially funny because a while back Curtis had a companion that he said reminded him of me. But yeah, I think I'm gonna like working with Elder Ririe a lot. He's easy to get along with, and pretty funny. His German isn't quite so fluent as Elder Baake's, but it'll do ;P. It's more than you would expect from someone from Ogden. He's actually got much better German than a lot of other missionaries I've heard.
Speaking of segues, the area is really cool. There are a ton of gorgeous churches in the area and Bad Bentheim has a Castle! I could stare at them all day. We've also got a car area, so that's a bit different. It makes me feel a lot lazier. We also spend a lot more time in transit so I feel like I'm not doing much. We started listening to the Book of Mormon on Friday, and on the way over to the Thoms' today we finished Jacob 7. Also I've been suuuper sleepy most of the days since I've got here, which I can only blame on the car. I've definitely fallen asleep a couple times while Elder Ririe's driving.
We've been able to do a fair deal of walking though, one of my first nights we went for a walk along the Ems canal, which was nice, and decided to go for a bit of a walk in the morning for Morgensport, which has been nice. Then, a few days later, we decided to walk to a nearby contact, but then we passed it, then we thought the road looped around, but then it didn't, but then it looked like going a bit further, crossing a bridge, and coming back on the other side would be a bit shorter, but then it wasn't, then we took a wrong turn anyway, and had to turn back, and after walking approximately 17 km, we caught a train back to Rheine - my legs swore to never walk again.
But they did walk again. In the morning, I was surprised that my legs didn't hurt as much as my abs, which didn't make any sense. I'm trying to transition this into a closing testimony, but I feel like I'm getting farther from that, rather than closer.
Anyway, I know this church is true, and I know that God has called me to Germany and he has now called me to the Bad Bentheim area. I'm excited to discover what it his he wants me to do here and to do it. And I know he will help me, as we does every one of his children to will make the effort to follow him. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love ya!
- Elder Cloward
Fig 3 - Crazy Missionaries in Hamburg
( Figures 4 &5 taken from atop the Michaelis)
Fig 4 - My Ugly Mug in front of Hamburg
Fig 5 - More crazy missionaries in Hamburg
Fig 6 - 9 random stuff in Rheine + Elder Ririe..
Apparently I've not yet taken pictures of churches or the Castle. But I certainly will
Fig 10 - I'm not lying when I say our area's on the Dutch border
Fig 11 - The print that the crazy Pidgeon left after flying into our window
Monday, October 3, 2011
Elder Cloward finds children cuter than stamps -- Week 10
So the subject line would've been my facebook status if I were still into that sort of thing.
I would now like to wish everyone a Happy October 3rd. That includes Happy Birthday to Rodrigo Dutra (even though I haven't seen him since like the 6th Grade), Chelsea Jones, her Grandpa, and I feel like I'm forgetting someone else - please don't hate me. I would also like to wish Gandalf a happy anniversary of fighting Wringwraiths atop Weathertop. Last but not least, happy Tag der Deutschen Einheit!
This was a super exciting week here.
On monday after emails we went to Hamburg, climbed the Michealis, a church there, from which you have a great view of the city. Then I wandered around with Elder Fullmer, which was a blast. I was totally going to send pictures, but I would seem to've left my camera zu Hause. Monday also marked the day of having been two months in Germany, matching my two months in the MTC, and meaning I'm already through 4 months of my mission. I am definitely not a good enough missionary yet to merit being 1/6 of the way done. I'm not any better than the day I got here! I hope that's not true, but it's often hard to tell.
Tuesday pretty much all of our appointments fell out, but we ended up having a blast with UN, a member who we went jogging with in the morning, then he came and replaced our sink, we had lunch and breakfast with him, then when another appointment fell out we ended up going to his house to help him get an old piece of wood out of an anchory type thingy for his fence (I feel like that was a terrible description, but that a more thorough one would be a terrible waste of time) Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and I think he's a really witty guy, though I can never be sure, because he talks way too fast for me to understand a word he says.
That evening we had an appointment with A, which I was pretty excited but nervous for, just because I really enjoy talking with him, and I really want to help him find the truth, but we seem to be making little progress. And he never showed up - which was very unlike him - there've been plenty of times when he hasn't been able to come, but'd always text or call us. And he didn't answer the phone either. So I was worried he'd just decided to tchuss us. But we ran into him at the train station on the way to the Saturday Morning Session of Conference (Broadcast LIVE Saturday evening - I thought that was cool) and made an appointment with him. Turns out he'd been in the hospital because he'd taken to much of a protein powder type thing. So be careful to take a healthy amount, kids....
Any hoodles,... where was I? On Wednesday, I along with a few others gave a Thema (A talk/lesson thingy) on Teaching which I definitely had to prepare on the train on the way there. I did it specifically on Asking questions, and did it by asking lots of really dumb questions, doing exactly what preach my gospel warns against, then read the section in preach my gospel and we discussed how terrible I had been and the importance of good questions. I thought it was pretty witty, but everyone else was really confused at first :P
C has been making wonderful progress, we met with him a couple times in the week, and he's excited for his baptism and to learn more. He came to one of the sessions of General Conferenz and really enjoyed it.
Umm... is there anything else exciting before I jump to the really exciting stuff?
So Saturday morning we had transfer call, which I was anticipating anxiously. I wanted things to stay the same again, but felt that they definitely wouldn't, and though I knew that whatever happened, it would be for the best, I was still really nervous about it for several days leading up to it. We went to Glückstadt to listen to the call as a district, and Elder Redd and I made breakfast, it was delightsome (Though his moonkeybreadlike "Conference Cake" was tragically only done right as I had to leave...). President announced Glückstadt before us, and Elder Turney is taking Elder Popps place - The wave of excitement at the prospect of sharing a district with him quickly broke over the following announcement that Elder Baake would be remaining in Elmshorn and receive a German Co senior companion, Elder Rimmel. I'm sure that's for the best though - I'll definitely miss Elder Baake and I'll definitely miss Elmshorn, with its amazing members and the eating appointment list flowing with milk and honey. And I'll most certainly miss some of our investigators. I think that Papi and his new companion will be quite the powerhouse, and he has a great relationship with the people there that I'm quite sure I couldn't maintain with my whole not talking very much thing.... A while later, we discovered that I will be going to Bad Bentheim, right near the border of the Netherlands.
View Larger Map My companion will be Elder Rirey, who I'm told is super cool. It is a car area, so I'll probably get fatter, even without all the eating appointments. President later told me he thought it was good/funny/something positive anyway... that the Lord had sent me to the opposite side of the mission from Berlin, where he discovered I have a brother that I kept forgetting to tell him about... Anyhoodles, I'm excited to go to Bad Bentheim, and have an exciting new start, even if I somehow have to get my broken wheeled luggage there somehow (Have I told you about that? I have the feeling we don't have any sort of warranty on them, but if we happen to, it would be exciting to get a replacement or something....). blah de blah de blah.
Then of course was General conference, which was, as always, marvelous. It seemed a little bit different to me this time, maybe just because I was watching it in a German church building in a suit rather than on the floor in my pajamas... also the fact that it was night, rather than morning (Though on Sunday the schedule was quite similar, only with Sessions switched around) It was also weird that Bruder M was able to tell us who was speaking in the Priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions before we watched them. Anyway, I'm indulging in digression. ;P Despite the slightly different atmosphere in which I watched conference, it was just as good as ever, just as true as ever. just as fantastic as ever. I love hearing from Modern Day Prophets and Apostles, and I love the desire it helps to give me to start fresh, to work anew, and recommit myself to the work of God in which I'm engaged. I know this is his church. I know the messages that his servants shared in the last couple days, even the inconvenient ones, are what we need to act upon and follow. I know the lord loves us and leads us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I would now like to wish everyone a Happy October 3rd. That includes Happy Birthday to Rodrigo Dutra (even though I haven't seen him since like the 6th Grade), Chelsea Jones, her Grandpa, and I feel like I'm forgetting someone else - please don't hate me. I would also like to wish Gandalf a happy anniversary of fighting Wringwraiths atop Weathertop. Last but not least, happy Tag der Deutschen Einheit!
This was a super exciting week here.
On monday after emails we went to Hamburg, climbed the Michealis, a church there, from which you have a great view of the city. Then I wandered around with Elder Fullmer, which was a blast. I was totally going to send pictures, but I would seem to've left my camera zu Hause. Monday also marked the day of having been two months in Germany, matching my two months in the MTC, and meaning I'm already through 4 months of my mission. I am definitely not a good enough missionary yet to merit being 1/6 of the way done. I'm not any better than the day I got here! I hope that's not true, but it's often hard to tell.
Tuesday pretty much all of our appointments fell out, but we ended up having a blast with UN, a member who we went jogging with in the morning, then he came and replaced our sink, we had lunch and breakfast with him, then when another appointment fell out we ended up going to his house to help him get an old piece of wood out of an anchory type thingy for his fence (I feel like that was a terrible description, but that a more thorough one would be a terrible waste of time) Anyway, that was a lot of fun, and I think he's a really witty guy, though I can never be sure, because he talks way too fast for me to understand a word he says.
That evening we had an appointment with A, which I was pretty excited but nervous for, just because I really enjoy talking with him, and I really want to help him find the truth, but we seem to be making little progress. And he never showed up - which was very unlike him - there've been plenty of times when he hasn't been able to come, but'd always text or call us. And he didn't answer the phone either. So I was worried he'd just decided to tchuss us. But we ran into him at the train station on the way to the Saturday Morning Session of Conference (Broadcast LIVE Saturday evening - I thought that was cool) and made an appointment with him. Turns out he'd been in the hospital because he'd taken to much of a protein powder type thing. So be careful to take a healthy amount, kids....
Any hoodles,... where was I? On Wednesday, I along with a few others gave a Thema (A talk/lesson thingy) on Teaching which I definitely had to prepare on the train on the way there. I did it specifically on Asking questions, and did it by asking lots of really dumb questions, doing exactly what preach my gospel warns against, then read the section in preach my gospel and we discussed how terrible I had been and the importance of good questions. I thought it was pretty witty, but everyone else was really confused at first :P
C has been making wonderful progress, we met with him a couple times in the week, and he's excited for his baptism and to learn more. He came to one of the sessions of General Conferenz and really enjoyed it.
Umm... is there anything else exciting before I jump to the really exciting stuff?
So Saturday morning we had transfer call, which I was anticipating anxiously. I wanted things to stay the same again, but felt that they definitely wouldn't, and though I knew that whatever happened, it would be for the best, I was still really nervous about it for several days leading up to it. We went to Glückstadt to listen to the call as a district, and Elder Redd and I made breakfast, it was delightsome (Though his moonkeybreadlike "Conference Cake" was tragically only done right as I had to leave...). President announced Glückstadt before us, and Elder Turney is taking Elder Popps place - The wave of excitement at the prospect of sharing a district with him quickly broke over the following announcement that Elder Baake would be remaining in Elmshorn and receive a German Co senior companion, Elder Rimmel. I'm sure that's for the best though - I'll definitely miss Elder Baake and I'll definitely miss Elmshorn, with its amazing members and the eating appointment list flowing with milk and honey. And I'll most certainly miss some of our investigators. I think that Papi and his new companion will be quite the powerhouse, and he has a great relationship with the people there that I'm quite sure I couldn't maintain with my whole not talking very much thing.... A while later, we discovered that I will be going to Bad Bentheim, right near the border of the Netherlands.
View Larger Map My companion will be Elder Rirey, who I'm told is super cool. It is a car area, so I'll probably get fatter, even without all the eating appointments. President later told me he thought it was good/funny/something positive anyway... that the Lord had sent me to the opposite side of the mission from Berlin, where he discovered I have a brother that I kept forgetting to tell him about... Anyhoodles, I'm excited to go to Bad Bentheim, and have an exciting new start, even if I somehow have to get my broken wheeled luggage there somehow (Have I told you about that? I have the feeling we don't have any sort of warranty on them, but if we happen to, it would be exciting to get a replacement or something....). blah de blah de blah.
Then of course was General conference, which was, as always, marvelous. It seemed a little bit different to me this time, maybe just because I was watching it in a German church building in a suit rather than on the floor in my pajamas... also the fact that it was night, rather than morning (Though on Sunday the schedule was quite similar, only with Sessions switched around) It was also weird that Bruder M was able to tell us who was speaking in the Priesthood and Saturday afternoon sessions before we watched them. Anyway, I'm indulging in digression. ;P Despite the slightly different atmosphere in which I watched conference, it was just as good as ever, just as true as ever. just as fantastic as ever. I love hearing from Modern Day Prophets and Apostles, and I love the desire it helps to give me to start fresh, to work anew, and recommit myself to the work of God in which I'm engaged. I know this is his church. I know the messages that his servants shared in the last couple days, even the inconvenient ones, are what we need to act upon and follow. I know the lord loves us and leads us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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