Yeah, the rest of Christmas has been pretty good. Christmas part 1 (25th) was nearing it's close as I talked to you, and part 2 (today) has been quite uneventful so far. The internetladen was closed down today, but then we remembered that the Church had internet as of Saturday, and the member we're going to lives nearby. And President indicated that we should do emails today, but if we can't to do them Tuesday or Wednesday.
I still don't have much of anything to say though. But yeah, so that it can stand in the annals (does that word mean what I think it means?) of history, tomorrow I'll be getting Elder Weitzel as my new companion, who was in fact Elder Popp's companion in Glückstadt when I first got to Elmshorn. So that'll be exciting.
And I can't think of anything else to say. So, have a beautiful week, and a nice new year/life.
Love,
Elder Cloward
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Germany Week 21
So with skyping, we still haven't figured out the times exactly, so I guess we'll just have to forgo the whole thing this year. I can talk to you on Mothers day. ;P I'm just yankin' your leg... The Thoms actually said they would call you when we've got it figured out. Is your church at 1:00 now, or is that starting in January? Is the Swahili Branch still there? Anyhoodles, I'm still not positive of what time will work, or how Skype works - if you need the members username, or they need yours or whatever - I've only used skype that once. But, as I said, we can get that all figured out through the Thoms.
And I'm kind of a little bit jealous that you went to Ryan's Homecoming, but it's ok, cuz I expect to see him at mine. I was definitely going to ask you for news of him. I'm glad you had a good time. Man, I miss that guy.
The Ward Party sounds like it was prettty crazy... It sounds like it was cool though.
The Christmas package you sent was marvelous. I love my scarf and am glad to be reunited with a couple of my old ties. And I know what all the wrapped presents are due to that pesky customs form, but am waiting to open them - most of those things matter more what the pattern/picture is than what the item itself is anyway. I'm excited to see them.
And as for a picture of myself in the old man hat, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting to take one. Or ask someone to take one. Getting pictures of oneself is such an obnoxious business. I do actually have one though, though my face is pretty blurry. The Billboard behind us says, "Mission Christmas Present fulfilled," which we thought was funny, because we'd just gotten our mission Christmas presents.
This week has been at parts great, and at parts pretty blah.
Zone Conference was great. That's when we got the packages, and we had a cute little gift exchange, and President gave a great Thema about reaching out to everyone with love, doing away with predjudice and the significance of Christ's love and atonement. It was really good and it softened my heart a good deal. It was a marvelous Zone Conference.
And I'm kind of a little bit jealous that you went to Ryan's Homecoming, but it's ok, cuz I expect to see him at mine. I was definitely going to ask you for news of him. I'm glad you had a good time. Man, I miss that guy.
The Ward Party sounds like it was prettty crazy... It sounds like it was cool though.
The Christmas package you sent was marvelous. I love my scarf and am glad to be reunited with a couple of my old ties. And I know what all the wrapped presents are due to that pesky customs form, but am waiting to open them - most of those things matter more what the pattern/picture is than what the item itself is anyway. I'm excited to see them.
And as for a picture of myself in the old man hat, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting to take one. Or ask someone to take one. Getting pictures of oneself is such an obnoxious business. I do actually have one though, though my face is pretty blurry. The Billboard behind us says, "Mission Christmas Present fulfilled," which we thought was funny, because we'd just gotten our mission Christmas presents.
This week has been at parts great, and at parts pretty blah.
Zone Conference was great. That's when we got the packages, and we had a cute little gift exchange, and President gave a great Thema about reaching out to everyone with love, doing away with predjudice and the significance of Christ's love and atonement. It was really good and it softened my heart a good deal. It was a marvelous Zone Conference.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Germany Week 20
Dearest Mommy,
I can't really remember my week right now, but I'm pretty sure it was good. Let's see if I can jog my memory a bit.
So.. I'm gonna look at pictures even though most of them aren't from this week.
1. Thanksgiving - Elder McCallister, Elder Ririe, and my Pumpkin Pie
2. More Thanksgiving - Elder Ririe and Elder Thom
3-5. I finally took some pictures of Burg Bentheim
6. Elder Crowther - which reminds me I did yet another Tausch this week - I'll tell you about it in a minute.
7.More Burg
8. The Back of the Weihnachtsmarkt in Rheine
Actually, all of those but the Thanksgiving ones are from this week.
So on Wednesday after Distrikt Meeting, Elder Ririe ran off to Osnabrück with his dear friend Elder Ririe, While Elder Crowther stayed in Bad Bentheim with me. First we went by some people, put some cards in people's mailboxes, and then we retaught the 2nd lesson to F, who was recently baptized. It was a lot of fun, and he spent the whole time making fun of Elder Crowther's writing/drawing skills.
While no one made fun of my writing/drawing skills, they would soon thereafter have ample opportunity to make fun of my driving skills. (To those of my readership who cringe at the site of words matching up in adjacent lines, I excuse myself for 2 reasons. 1. They probably won't line up as well in the format you read it in, and 2. It was meant to be a parallel statement, so it's actually nice in this instance) You see, Elder Crowther has not yet received his German Drivers license, but has surpassed the 6 months in which ones American license is valid. I then, was left to navigate the perilous journey to Rheine. Now when I say perilous journey, I mean the nice, quick, 20 to 30 minute joyride that is usually found between those two cities. Only I drive like an old lady. We actually made it to the city of Rheine quite well - however, once there I needed to fill up the gas tank. So we put the gas station in as a point of interest in the Tomtom, which I was able to follow fairly well, to our destination, which was in fact, a mortuary/gravestone engraving shop, and not a gas station, as our Navi claimed. Lest you take this as a foreshadowing of the ultimate restingplace of our journey, let me remind you that I am in fact writing this email, and therefore survived my ordeal. It is perfectly acceptable, however, to take this as an omen of the metaphorical ill turn which was taken. So I pulled off into a sidestreet where I telephoned my trusty companion to inquire as to the actual location of our gas station, which he was able to amply supply, inclusive of satisfactory instructions of how to reach said destination. These I followed very carefully and was able to get to the gas station without event. In the return journey I met my demise. From the gas station, it was a simple issue of returning to the Ring, which encircles the city center, until I was able to pull off onto the sidestreet where we are accustomed to parking. On an ordinary night, this wouldn't have presented much of a problem - BUT THIS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY NIGHT! (Did I tell you that the Blankens were watching that one time? Those crazy Lektektiliums or whatever they're called) Actually, the night was pretty ordinary, though the dark raininess didn't help me much. So, the Ring in Rheine is tricksy, false and wicked (Wow! that literary allusion was way depthier than I initially intended for it to be! I wasn't even thinking about what I was calling tricksy false and wicked...) for you see, there are lots of times when the lanes and turns, and roads sticking off of the ring are a little bit difficult to follow. And anything like that that's a little bit difficult is a lot o' bit difficult for me. So, I of course got confused when I was supposed to turn left to stay on the ring, but instead went straight onto a terribly constricting road, ended up driving in lots of circles, running into several dead ends and nearly into quite a few pedestrian areas before I finally met my final resting place in our usual parking spot. I cried out "Land!" as I tore myself from the wreckage that was our entirely undamaged vehicle. Our Journey whose naive beginning took place at about 4:00, at last found its close at 5:45. If I get a new companion in a few weeks, I really hope he can drive.
I think it's funny how the times I think I don't have anything to say are the times I get into story mode and end up taking forever....
Some other good things that happened during the week was a meeting with G, to which the Thoms accompanied us, which was quite nice, where we discussed the Plan of Salvation and more about Priesthood authority, The ward Christmas party on Saturday, which was quite a bit of fun, and to which M and her kids came. They also came to church, which was really good. Her daughter loves primary - I think she's the cheif force in getting them to church. I also had to give a talk (which I'd been assigned at the Christmas party, since the one in charge for the week had totally forgotten he was in charge) So I talked about Joy, since yesterday was the Advent of Joy, and thought the brief parts where I tried to say something out of my head were short, garbled, and terrible, I read some excellent selections from addresses of Elders Eyring and Wirthlin.
So yeah, it's been a good week. I know this church is true, and I know that through Jesus Christ we can have joy. Because of his sacrifice we can repent, be forgiven, and become more like him, and find joy therein. We can also fill our everyday lives with joy, despite our struggles, by looking to him, looking up, and learning to laugh.
Oh, and I suppose you asked me a couple questions that I ought to check on - just the singing thing. I sing along with the congregation in Sacrament meeting, and I sing a little bit in the apartment, but I think that sometimes drives Elder Ririe crazy. We were going to do some Christmas Carolling as a ward, but that fell through (see, my english is getting better every day). Otherwise, I don't sing to much.... I figure if someone liked my voice enough to ask me to I would, but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable waltzing around inviting people to hear how amazing my voice is. I feel like that's an awkward place to end my email, but I'm gonna anyway, cuz that's how I roll. Have a nice life, a beautiful week, and a marvelous Christmas season.
I can't really remember my week right now, but I'm pretty sure it was good. Let's see if I can jog my memory a bit.
So.. I'm gonna look at pictures even though most of them aren't from this week.
1. Thanksgiving - Elder McCallister, Elder Ririe, and my Pumpkin Pie
2. More Thanksgiving - Elder Ririe and Elder Thom
3-5. I finally took some pictures of Burg Bentheim
6. Elder Crowther - which reminds me I did yet another Tausch this week - I'll tell you about it in a minute.
7.More Burg
8. The Back of the Weihnachtsmarkt in Rheine
Actually, all of those but the Thanksgiving ones are from this week.
So on Wednesday after Distrikt Meeting, Elder Ririe ran off to Osnabrück with his dear friend Elder Ririe, While Elder Crowther stayed in Bad Bentheim with me. First we went by some people, put some cards in people's mailboxes, and then we retaught the 2nd lesson to F, who was recently baptized. It was a lot of fun, and he spent the whole time making fun of Elder Crowther's writing/drawing skills.
While no one made fun of my writing/drawing skills, they would soon thereafter have ample opportunity to make fun of my driving skills. (To those of my readership who cringe at the site of words matching up in adjacent lines, I excuse myself for 2 reasons. 1. They probably won't line up as well in the format you read it in, and 2. It was meant to be a parallel statement, so it's actually nice in this instance) You see, Elder Crowther has not yet received his German Drivers license, but has surpassed the 6 months in which ones American license is valid. I then, was left to navigate the perilous journey to Rheine. Now when I say perilous journey, I mean the nice, quick, 20 to 30 minute joyride that is usually found between those two cities. Only I drive like an old lady. We actually made it to the city of Rheine quite well - however, once there I needed to fill up the gas tank. So we put the gas station in as a point of interest in the Tomtom, which I was able to follow fairly well, to our destination, which was in fact, a mortuary/gravestone engraving shop, and not a gas station, as our Navi claimed. Lest you take this as a foreshadowing of the ultimate restingplace of our journey, let me remind you that I am in fact writing this email, and therefore survived my ordeal. It is perfectly acceptable, however, to take this as an omen of the metaphorical ill turn which was taken. So I pulled off into a sidestreet where I telephoned my trusty companion to inquire as to the actual location of our gas station, which he was able to amply supply, inclusive of satisfactory instructions of how to reach said destination. These I followed very carefully and was able to get to the gas station without event. In the return journey I met my demise. From the gas station, it was a simple issue of returning to the Ring, which encircles the city center, until I was able to pull off onto the sidestreet where we are accustomed to parking. On an ordinary night, this wouldn't have presented much of a problem - BUT THIS WAS NOT AN ORDINARY NIGHT! (Did I tell you that the Blankens were watching that one time? Those crazy Lektektiliums or whatever they're called) Actually, the night was pretty ordinary, though the dark raininess didn't help me much. So, the Ring in Rheine is tricksy, false and wicked (Wow! that literary allusion was way depthier than I initially intended for it to be! I wasn't even thinking about what I was calling tricksy false and wicked...) for you see, there are lots of times when the lanes and turns, and roads sticking off of the ring are a little bit difficult to follow. And anything like that that's a little bit difficult is a lot o' bit difficult for me. So, I of course got confused when I was supposed to turn left to stay on the ring, but instead went straight onto a terribly constricting road, ended up driving in lots of circles, running into several dead ends and nearly into quite a few pedestrian areas before I finally met my final resting place in our usual parking spot. I cried out "Land!" as I tore myself from the wreckage that was our entirely undamaged vehicle. Our Journey whose naive beginning took place at about 4:00, at last found its close at 5:45. If I get a new companion in a few weeks, I really hope he can drive.
I think it's funny how the times I think I don't have anything to say are the times I get into story mode and end up taking forever....
Some other good things that happened during the week was a meeting with G, to which the Thoms accompanied us, which was quite nice, where we discussed the Plan of Salvation and more about Priesthood authority, The ward Christmas party on Saturday, which was quite a bit of fun, and to which M and her kids came. They also came to church, which was really good. Her daughter loves primary - I think she's the cheif force in getting them to church. I also had to give a talk (which I'd been assigned at the Christmas party, since the one in charge for the week had totally forgotten he was in charge) So I talked about Joy, since yesterday was the Advent of Joy, and thought the brief parts where I tried to say something out of my head were short, garbled, and terrible, I read some excellent selections from addresses of Elders Eyring and Wirthlin.
So yeah, it's been a good week. I know this church is true, and I know that through Jesus Christ we can have joy. Because of his sacrifice we can repent, be forgiven, and become more like him, and find joy therein. We can also fill our everyday lives with joy, despite our struggles, by looking to him, looking up, and learning to laugh.
Oh, and I suppose you asked me a couple questions that I ought to check on - just the singing thing. I sing along with the congregation in Sacrament meeting, and I sing a little bit in the apartment, but I think that sometimes drives Elder Ririe crazy. We were going to do some Christmas Carolling as a ward, but that fell through (see, my english is getting better every day). Otherwise, I don't sing to much.... I figure if someone liked my voice enough to ask me to I would, but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable waltzing around inviting people to hear how amazing my voice is. I feel like that's an awkward place to end my email, but I'm gonna anyway, cuz that's how I roll. Have a nice life, a beautiful week, and a marvelous Christmas season.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Germany Week 19
This week's been pretty good. Ultimately, however, it ended in failure. You see, the big Advent der Wunder thing we're doing required that for this first week, we have a perfect finding week - that means that we needed to get seven new appointments during the week, which we did not manage to do. So, that was kind of a bummer. We definitely could've worked harder for it, probably could've worked smarter for it - one always can - but we did work pretty hard. So I don't feel that bad about it. At least I'm trying not to. It's just that there are all of these things that we're supposed to be doing throughout the month, and we're already out of the running, so to say. One thing that's going to be hard is to work diligently on the rest without getting casual because we didn't make the early requirements... But I definitely intend to go forward with it.
Though we didn't get the miracle we were supposed to, we did see some other miracles. For instance, yesterday a few different inactives came into church - it was only for the last few minutes, and they didn't go to any meetings, but we were able to get a chance to visit a little with them, and invite them further. It doesn't seem like that much, but especially when you consider that we've been specifically praying and fasting for increased church attendance, it's certainly something.
On Wednesday night, the last day of November, we had just enough Kilometers left to drive to Osnabrück to do a Tausch (Which means exchanges, or whatever you nonGerman people call it - we always call it that, and we usually only use splits when we're doing them with members - but to tell the truth, I still haven't figured out what half of the other missionary terms mean anyway... people are always using them, but no one's ever defining them...). So I stayed in Osnabrück with Elder McCallister. We had a lot of fun - at least I did - hopefully he did too. While we were just chatting, he mentioned that he knew a family who lived up on the hill in Salt Lake (He's from Oregon). I was like, "ah yeah, the Aves. There are lots of rich people who live up there." He's all like, "this family isn't rich," So I was like, "well, not all of them are rich - I guess the Sandstroms aren't rich." and he was all like, "wha!?" And then it's all like, "Oh mylanta! They're the people he was talking about!" Though the Sandroms are by no means the only nonrich people in the aves, this story does prove that they know everyone. Apparently his older Brother and Cambria were in the same hospital when they were little, and their families kept in touch.... I thought that was exciting.
We ended our Tausch with going up to President's interviews in Hamburg - it took pretty much the whole day to get there and back, but it was nice. On the train ride there, Elder McCallister taught me how to do a rubix cube. Except I'm beginning to suspect he taught me a false last step, just to be a jerk... I think it's funny that I finally learned it from him when I've had so many 'cuber' friends and people who've offered to teach me - I guess I just didn't have anything better to do on the train. I got to see Elder Jenkins and Sister Kitterman at Interviews too, which was nice. Sister Kitterman leaves, I believe, a week from today, so it was good to talk to her before she goes back home. She gave her "finisher Testimony" which was really good, and she said some good stuff about handing your heart over to Heavenly Father that I neded to hear. She also enjoyed the story that Elder McCallister knew the Sandstroms....
Yeah, I feel like I'm getting to know the area fairly well. As for geographic size, I can't be any more specific than "very large." Maybe if you look up the Bad Bentheim Branch on lds.org, you'll be able to get a better idea of that.
Mmmkey Dokey - That's pretty much all that'S coming to mind to say at the moment - so Have a beautiful week, a nice life, and In case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!
The Church is true!
- Elder Cloward
Though we didn't get the miracle we were supposed to, we did see some other miracles. For instance, yesterday a few different inactives came into church - it was only for the last few minutes, and they didn't go to any meetings, but we were able to get a chance to visit a little with them, and invite them further. It doesn't seem like that much, but especially when you consider that we've been specifically praying and fasting for increased church attendance, it's certainly something.
On Wednesday night, the last day of November, we had just enough Kilometers left to drive to Osnabrück to do a Tausch (Which means exchanges, or whatever you nonGerman people call it - we always call it that, and we usually only use splits when we're doing them with members - but to tell the truth, I still haven't figured out what half of the other missionary terms mean anyway... people are always using them, but no one's ever defining them...). So I stayed in Osnabrück with Elder McCallister. We had a lot of fun - at least I did - hopefully he did too. While we were just chatting, he mentioned that he knew a family who lived up on the hill in Salt Lake (He's from Oregon). I was like, "ah yeah, the Aves. There are lots of rich people who live up there." He's all like, "this family isn't rich," So I was like, "well, not all of them are rich - I guess the Sandstroms aren't rich." and he was all like, "wha!?" And then it's all like, "Oh mylanta! They're the people he was talking about!" Though the Sandroms are by no means the only nonrich people in the aves, this story does prove that they know everyone. Apparently his older Brother and Cambria were in the same hospital when they were little, and their families kept in touch.... I thought that was exciting.
We ended our Tausch with going up to President's interviews in Hamburg - it took pretty much the whole day to get there and back, but it was nice. On the train ride there, Elder McCallister taught me how to do a rubix cube. Except I'm beginning to suspect he taught me a false last step, just to be a jerk... I think it's funny that I finally learned it from him when I've had so many 'cuber' friends and people who've offered to teach me - I guess I just didn't have anything better to do on the train. I got to see Elder Jenkins and Sister Kitterman at Interviews too, which was nice. Sister Kitterman leaves, I believe, a week from today, so it was good to talk to her before she goes back home. She gave her "finisher Testimony" which was really good, and she said some good stuff about handing your heart over to Heavenly Father that I neded to hear. She also enjoyed the story that Elder McCallister knew the Sandstroms....
Yeah, I feel like I'm getting to know the area fairly well. As for geographic size, I can't be any more specific than "very large." Maybe if you look up the Bad Bentheim Branch on lds.org, you'll be able to get a better idea of that.
Mmmkey Dokey - That's pretty much all that'S coming to mind to say at the moment - so Have a beautiful week, a nice life, and In case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight!
The Church is true!
- Elder Cloward
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