Kapitalistische Kommunisten‏ -- Week 35

So, I decided to play around with the subject line today. See, I've mostly just been to lazy for that/have worried that it would no longer keep them in conversations for me if I did that, but I guess we'll see. That also makes me wonder what you've been putting in the title line in the Blog. Not that it matters. I remember always enjoying Joseypookins' though.... ok, anyhoodles...

This week has pretty much been a flaming bundle of insanity. It all started out with rushing off to Hamburg for Elder Hardman's P DAY OMEGA. It actually was a really good Pday. We played football and Kickball in the middle of this big Stadtpark with a whole bunch of other missionaries. It would seem that I haven't gotten any less clumsy in the last 10 months, but I still had a lot of fun. It was also pretty funny how some of the Germans walking by reacted to it. Quite a few people stopped to watch for a while... a bunch of crazy Americans playing a couple of crazy american sports.... And a couple of girls came by and gave us a bunch of free red bull. Don't worry - I didn't drink any - who knows how my body would've reacted... And then Elder Hardman and I wandered around Hamburg for a bit - it was very nice. We then spent the night in a 4 missionary apartment there (So there were 6 of us) that was weird but cool - two of them were pretty busy with packing though, so our party didn't get too crazy.

Then Tuesday I spent most of the day at the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. I saw Elder Hardman off and waited for Elder Liechty. On transfer days, that trainstation has pack of missionaries wandering through it the whole day, so I just latched myself onto a couple of those. I don't even know how many different groups of missionaries I went with over to the Pommdöner buying place... nom nom nom.... I was a little tempted to get more every time... And once elder Huber, Elder Sowards new companion got there, I walked them over to their train and just before they got on, they got a phonecall - a very fateful phone call. "Backstory Time!"
So, once upon a time, before I arrived in Flensburg, Elder Sowards and Elder Olsen were driving out of a parking lot, and somehow managed to get a giant dent in their car door. I believe another car might've been insturmental in helping them - I didn't really catch all the details. Their car was still.. quite... operational when your friends arrive... Ok - leave out the part about friends arriving, and that makes sense. But they were a little bit opposed to the giant dent in the door, so they'd been petitioning to the office to get that repaired. And that's what this particular phone call pertained to. You know, I just don't feel right using a fancy word like 'pertained' with the colloquial sentence structure ending with 'to.' So we're gonna try this again. And to that pertained this particular phone call.
After the phone call was over, Elder Sowards turned to me and said, "cool. We're getting our car fixed. Bad news for you though - we get your car." DUN DUN DUN..... As our pronounced doom spilled from his lips, I dark chill klettered up my spine. Yeah, yeah, sorry 'bout the denglish, it just sounded better that way.
Well, it just came to my attention that I've only got 15 minutes left of emails, and I've still got to write president, and I'ven't even made it through Tuesday! No wonder I never write very much...
So I'll try to wrap this up real fast.
So yeah - we lost our car. It's made things a lot tricksier. Pretty much all of the members and several investigators live out in the middle of nowhere, and it took forever to get there with a car. With Trains, busses and walking, it's going to be really hard to get to a lot of these people. We actually just talked to one on the phone though, and he's moving back to Flensburg - the timing on that one couldn't've been much better.
Umm... tuesday we spent most of the day getting back - we even missed our first train, for which we'd already waited about an hour and a half because some other missionaries ran off with some of Elder Liechty's luggage.
Wednesday we had District meeting and went to K's and the M's, Thursday we probably did something, Friday we drove our car to Heide, where we said our final goodbyes. Saturday we helped with this clean up the streets thingy, in which the Kiel Missionaries showed up and had to leave very soon after we finally started, and in which I found a gun, which was very small... it looked like it could've been a toy, but it was definitely metal and quite heavy, so Sister H. Called the police and had them pick it up, and then we did some other stuff and Sunday we went to church and to some members, and Elder Liechty is cool. He reminds me of Josey pookins, Patrick Halladay, and Brother Rasmussen. He'll eventually develop into his own character, but they some times have to start off that way. Kind of like how the part of Elder Ririe was originally played by Curtis Sudbury. Okey Dokey, I've really got to run, but have a beautiful life, and I'm sorry that that all was so abbreviated.

Germany Week 34

Coool Pants.
This week was perty krasy.
Last Monday we had a really cool eating appointment with B, who we'd helped move the week before. We were there with her friend, Sis. L. We gave her a Book of Mormon and shared a scripture from it. We had a nice discussion and the spirit was strong. We were there again last night. Once again, it was nice. I'm excited for her, and I think she'll be able to make some good progress.
And Yesterday we had a great lesson during Church. This guy, M, was here with a girl from the ward. He came last week, but he stayed with her in the primary, and I just figured he'd do the same this week. Luckily, our GML is cooler than I am. He was just like, "Quick! throw a class together for him!" He had the lesson in Priesthood, so he couldn't come with, but he ran around asking members if they wanted to join us, so we got a couple members with us, and we had a great first lessony discussion. M is super cool. He seems to be sincere and I know he felt the spirit. He's doing his Ausbildung (Job training) up here in Flensburg, and is from Hamburg, where I happen to be going today! Anyhoodles, or rather, any noodles....
We also got to Teach B (the little boy) again last night, as we do every Sunday night. It was fun, we popped Balloons with matches... And we spent pretty much all of Saturday with their Family. You see, their Daughter and Son in Law bought their House frome them, and are working on remodeling. Unfortunately, it's hard to remodel a house while there are a bunch of people with a bunch of stuff in it. So their looking for a house, but haven't yet found anything - so On Saturday we moved their stuff into the huge garage area of another member. And there was a lot of packing, etc. left to be done when we got there, so we were able to help out quite a bit.
On Saturday Morning before that, I learned who I will have as my companion as of tomorrow. One Elder Liechty, who was just a Zone Leader in Berlin, and knows Josey Pookins - He called me after the transfer call, and was like, "You sound just like your brother!" Apparently Joseph had even gone with them for a joint teach a couple days before. It should be quite the party.
Well, nothing else specific is popping into my mind, but It was a good week. The weirdest thing was just that It's Elder Hardman's last week on the mission, so he was tripping out about that a lot, and He said a lot of goodbyes.
Also, this week was very yummy. First we made a cake that he'd been sent for his birthday but we hadn't made. And then I made Peanut Butter Bars. Oh mylanta... best things ever. Let's just say I'm pretty sure I've gained back all the weight I've lost. (Jk. But that probably didn't help...)
Well, I love y'all bucket loads! Have a beautiful week!
I know this church is true, I know Christ knows us and loves us, and because of what he's done for us, we can be happy, right now and for eternity! It's such a wonderful feeling when you can tell that someone is beginning to realize that. It's also nice when you start to remember it yourself. Have a great week!

Germany Week 33

Hmm de dum de dum.

We started off last week by wandering around this Island called Sylt with our district. It was fun, but I get the impression it's more of a summertime destination. It was Cold and overcast. Actually, we were in a city called Westerland, which if I'm not mistaken is the subject of one of those songs that Josey Pookins brought back with him in the good old days. It never made any sense to me. Maybe it would make more sense now. (It might also help that I speak German now....)

On Tuesday I had a pretty intense Tausch with Elder Koppe aus the Niederlände, one of our Zone leaders. We were able to make out a couple appointments with people on the street, all of which fell through, but y'know, so ist das Leben. We also did a bunch of doors, and met a really cool guy, who let us in with the comment, "Heh. Come in. This could be funny." He was very willing to discuss and listen, and it was nice to talk with him. Elder Hardman and I went back to him the next day, since we didn't have a Book of Mormon with us when we met him, and we had another nice discussion. He doesn't seem to be anything more than curious, but I'm definitely glad we were there. We weren't able to make out another return appointment, but we'll definitely try by on him again.

We ended up spending a large portion of our Thursday and Friday helping a member Family prepare for their son's Wedding reception part II - Part one was down in Frankfurt the week before. When our appointment fell through, it gave us extra time to move benches around and hang up hearts, flowers and butterflies. Just what I always wanted. Nah, it wasn't really that bad. And I was glad to be able to help. Everything was pretty hectic for them. Then on friday night, we actually went to the reception, which was super weird. I mean, it's awkward enough to be at the wedding reception of people you don't know as a normal person. But to be there as a missionary... weird. It was nice though, and actually not as awkward as I thought it would be when we first got there.

Saturday morning we went down to Rendsburg where we had a Straßenaustellung. It was quite the party. I was the guy who stands there who hangs onto the pole on the back of the Austellung display for dear life. Those are really cool, but we couldn't have designed a better sail. Before that, we played Soccer with some ward members... It's always nice to be reminded of how clumsy I am and how slow my reactions are. My best moment was when I went to kick the ball, but instead got my foot caught in a net hanging from the ceiling along the back wall, swung up in the air, and landed a very graceful belly flop. Oh daddy, yes.

In the afternoon, we were able to have a couple good appointments, including one with F where we were able to discuss the Baptismal interview questions. I think it helped give him a much better idea of what it means to prepare for Baptism, and should help toward making stronger progress.

Then yesterday we had Branch Conference, which was quite the party. We had all three hours of church, but it still felt really short. In this branch, they usually just have Sacrament and either Sunday school or Priesthood/Relief Society, which always feels like nothing. One thing that was super exciting was that President Müller, with whom we spent a good deal of time with in Elmshorn was there, and he taught priesthood. It was great. All of the meetings were very uplifting, and provided a good opportunity to press forward with refreshed vigor. Afterward, we had Gemeindeessen (aka FOOD) and in the evening a couple of nice member lessons. Looking back on it, it was a really nice week. Oh - and I almost forgot - as I was stacking up the tables after Gemeindeessen, I seem to've let them all slip and destroy my finger. I don't think it's really too bad, but it sure made typing this quite the party. I've just got one finger less, but sometimes it takes trying to type with it to remind me of that...

Well kids, I believe I'd best run. Love your guts! I know that God is our Heavenly Father. He knows us, loves us and cares about us. We will get the most out of our lives as we follow him. Have a marvelous week!

Germany Week 32

Yeah, my thigh should be alright. And that really happened. Nah, actually, Neil Reed inspired me. Apparently he used to write crazy emails about adventures in the jungle instead of what was actually going on on his mission. And I had told Elder Turney about that, and he was joking around that we should start doing that.... so I did.
Mhmmm. GML is ward mission leader. (Gemeindemissionsleiter)
So yeppers...
This week was nice....
I had a pretty exciting day with Elder Sowards on Wednesday. I was on Tausch with him in Heide. We actually had four or five appointments set up, all of which fell through, so we spent most of the time doing doors. Elder Sowards is a really fun guy though, so It was still enjoyable even if that was a lot.
On thursday we had Zone Conference. That was good. It was also amazing because it was the first time I'd seen Elder Baker since we arrived in Germany. We were able to do some good chatting. There were a lot of people there that I was happy to see. Most of the Themas were along the lines of using the precious time that we have wisely. Man oh man, it goes so fast.
Hmmm... I feel like this is a really boring email.... I can't really think of much else to say, and I'm not in a Dwarf battling mood....
Well, Church is True, love you! Bis nächste Woche!