Germany week 40

This week has been perty krasy. Tuesday was primarily occupied with Taking a train to Nienburg. Oh daddy. But we did get back in time to go and do some Doors.

 Wednesday afternoon I went to Hannover with Elder Pollard, Elder Thorley's 2nd transfer Golden. He was really cool. I had a great time finding with him. I was also present for the first time he made out an appointment on his own (He did most of the talking and set up the appointment himself) It was super cool - and he was so excited about it. Then we got little pizzas from the place right by their apartment. There was also a big picture of Charlie Chaplin. And there is never anyone inside. I'm pretty sure missionaries are the only ones who've ever bought anything there. Those two factors make this place my most favoritest place ever in the history of places. It was also kind of funny that at that point I had been in Hannover longer than Nienburg. At least Almost. It was also weird to be the Senior Comp on a Tausch - well, this was more of a half Tausch, not a full Tausch - so it's like the step above the leadership training stuff I did earlier. People keep telling me I'm going to train next transfer, which I feel sooooo not ready for. I doubt that that would happen, but I'm trying to get myself deeply enough rooted that I would be able to do it... blah de blah de blah, anyway, Wednesday was good - And the reason we had this Tausch überhaupt was so Elder Thorley, our beloved District Leader and Emeritus AP, could give the Baptismal interview to the most awesomest Family ever.

 Thursday, we had District Meeting, and then I went back to Nienburg. I love Nienburg. It's a gorgeous little place. It's probably mostly in my head, but I feel like everyone who walks past us has this expression of, "I'm being really friendly to you, but I would like nothing better than to run down to the Angry Mob Surplus Supply, grab a pitchfork and a trusty old torch and run you out of town." Ok, Ok, so that was an exaggeration of ridiculous proportions, but sometimes there's a trace of that. It feels like it's too small to really just go street contacting, because you see the same people everyday - of course, we all know that deep down that excuse is just as dumb as all the excuses I come up with when I'm scared of talking to people.

 You know, I'm just in one of those moods where I talk like a crazy person in my emails. Hopefully, you don't mind. Actually, let's take a poll: If you like the emails that are like this better, raise your right hand. If you like the less crazy emails better, raise your left hand. Then, seeing as I'm incapable of seeing you as you do this, go write me a letter about what's going on in your life, and if you feel like it, include which hand you raised. I wouldn't want to write in a style contrary to the wishes of my loyal readership. That's customer service. As for replying to letters, we're in a bit of a backlog at the moment, and will get back to you as soon as possible. ;P

 My address in Nienburg is as follows:
 Elder Cloward Georgstraße 24
 31582 Nienburg (Weser)

 As I seem to have skirted pretty far off topic, I find that it is a perfect time to wish you a very Merry Cinco de Uno! If you don't know about the vast traditions of Cinco de Uno, go hunt down Curtis Sudbury and ask him. He tells it much better than I do anyway. And while you're at it, tell him hi from me.

 Later on Thursday, we worked a lot on the Program for the L's baptism - And for a handmade Baptismal Program, I must say it is super fancy. We also met with a cool guy, L2, who's half German, half English. I really enjoyed meeting with him.

 Friday we had weekly planning and then ran off to Neustadt, a bigger city in the Area - there we did doors for a while. Then I finally got to meet the L family. They are so cool. The parents are C and A, they're from Tanzania, and they were so well prepared for baptism. They understand it so well, and are very committed. One thing that A said was that the change of heart that her Husband had had, and that strength from the Gospel is exactly what the people back in Tanzania need. That hit me with such a strong spirit. And it's true! The Gospel is exactly what the people of Tanzania need! It's exactly what the people of Nienburg need! It's exactly what I need, and it's exaclty what you need! Jesus Christ performed the atonement, and his gospel - Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, is how we can gain access to it. The Gospel transforms bad people into good ones and good people into better people. And it makes them all happier! It made me so happy to meet this family who understood that so well, and who were so excited to do something about it. Another thing she said was that the idea of being with her family for eternity in heaven fills her with this joy and a desire to go forward. They have really got the vision.

 Saturday was then the day of the baptism, so pretty much everything was geared toward that. We baked a cake and grabbed some ice cream in the morning (very important things) and were picked up by a super awesome member, Sister H - who's totally American and grew up in Utah. Then we drove to Hannover, where they've got a font. Apparently, fonts don't really like to work. The font filled partway up, and then just stopped filling - so we filled it with buckets for a little bit, then declared it good. It was still pretty shallow, just below Elder Welker's knees - And not deep enough to baptize C. It finally worked out after three tries. He ended up having to sit down to be immersed. He kept just saying - It's ok - don't worry about it- we can try it again. Sister H talked to him after he came out, saying that every birth is hard - and that's exactly what baptism is - a new birth (Which she had also talked about just before in a talk) After C was baptized, the font started working again, so we waited about ten more minutes and A was able to get baptized without any problems. They were so happy. It was marvelous.

 Yesterday was a really good day at church. The Gemeinde here in Nienburg is so Awesome. It's about the same size as Bad Bentheim, but with fewer priesthood holders, and no Missionary Ehepaar (married couples). And all of the people are so friendly. They were also so excited to have the L family, and are very supportive. The L's also got the Gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday, which was wonderful to be a part of. A also gave the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting. It was one of the greatest prayers I have ever heard. She was so full of gratitude and you could really feel that she was speaking to her Father. Elder Welker translated for them through the meeting, and that went pretty well - They only speak English and Swahili - It looks like it should work out though - Several of the members speak English, and they're also working on learning German.

 One other exciting possibility - The Branch Presidency asked if we could come with the branch to do Baptisms in the Frankfurt temple, since they don't have enough Melchizedek Priesthood Holders to do it otherwise - so I called President Pimentel to see if it would be possible. He said he'll have to make a few phone calls himself to find out if that would be ok. So, I have no idea if it would be possible, but that would be sooo awesome if we could.

 Well, anyhoodles, I'm pretty much out of time, so have a beautiful week, y'all!

Germany Week 39

Well, I suppose the first matter of business is that I'm being transferred. I'm making my way down to Nienburg (an der Weser) It's funny, because my companion will be Elder Welker, who I kicked out of Flensburg. It's gonna be quite the party. Elder Sowards was also serving there, and told me that it's a marvelous place. It sounds like it's a smaller branch in a smaller area. I suppose I'll learn more about that tomorrow. I'm going to miss Flensburg a lot, but I'm excited to go where I'm supposed to. Things were really picking up a lot here, so if all goes as planned, I'll be coming back up a couple Saturdays for baptisms. Oh daddy. So what happened this week? Tuesday night we met with N, from Afghanistan, who we'd found on the street, and he's super awesome. He speaks a little bit of English, but we talked to his friend in German who translated into Persian, and that worked pretty well. He's read the Bible about a million times through and has made all sorts of notes - He fled afghanistan because he was part of an underground Christian group. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and answered some questions. He wanted to see what we believed, so he picked out some particular things from the Bible, like, "Do you belive Jesus Christ is the only way back to God?" "Do you believe that it's bad to steal, kill, commit adultery, etc.?" "Do you believe that Christ taught people on a mountain?" I think all of our answers were acceptable. He then came to church, and brought a friend, N, who's also been looking deeply into christianity - he was talking about the different things between Catholic and Protestant churches, and all of that. Then H, who we've been teaching for a few weeks, and wants to be baptized in the next couple, was there too, and he was able to translate for them, and we had a great Investigator class during church. Later in the evening, we met with N & N again, with the help of Google Translate and one of their roommates who speaks a little german, and taught about the Evangelium, also, Gospel of Jesus Christ - 1.Faith in Jesus Christ, 2. Repentance, 3.Baptism, 4.Recieve the Gift of the Holy Ghost, 5. Endure to the End - N (the first one) got all excited and opened up his BKMO to 2 Nephi 31, and showed us where he'd underlined all of that stuff. Man, those guys are super awesome. It turns out that he's read the whole book (Although only selections have been translated into Persian - but that's still a pretty good portion of the book) And he's told us that he thinks it's equal to/ the same as (gleich) the bible. Those two really want to get baptized, and we set dates with them, but they said it could be dangerous for them, so we really need to make sure that they're able to stay in Germany. As for H, he's doing super awesome - we'd set a baptismal date for this coming Saturday, but we're going to have to push it back, just because we haven't had time to teach him all that we need to, not because of any setbacks. Anyway, we've been making lots of jokes about setting up a Persian branch here. Sooo cool. Wednesday after District meeting I stayed there on Tausch with Elder Frame. That was a lot of fun. None of our appointments went through, but we got to ride bikes 26 kilometers getting to them, go on a giant escalator under a river with our bikes, and ride across a suspended ferry thingy over the same river. Elder Frame is super awesome too. And we talked to some cool people and did doors in the middle of nowhere. Well, I'm kinda running out of time, so I'd best abbreviate the rest of my week to - it was great, we met with some really cool people. Yesterday after Church we had a potluck, to which I brought Peanut Butter bars (of which I've made probably 6 batches since you sent me the recipe) which were a big hit. This girl in the ward, who had organized the table and put number notations describing which each dish was, later wrote on the board: 1.Lecker 2.lecker 3. Lecker 4. Lecker 5.Sehr Lecker 6. Lecker (with 5 being the peanut butter bars) Then a bunch of people asked me for the recipe. They're all going to have heart attacks once they know how much sugar I jammed into those bad boys. So thanks. The Church is true! Have a beautiful week and a nice life!

Germany Week 38

So I'm starting off with a blank, but I'm pretty sure this week was pretty crazy.
Let's see - Last P-day we ended up hanging out in the church for a while - since it was Easter Monday, everything was closed and we did emails in the church - so while one was writing emails, the other watched videos on the D&C DVD set, which is perty awesome, I gotta say. Mmmmk. Then we got invited to a member's Birthday party, which we went to. It was fun. M, one of our investigators was also there. But I found out yesterday that his name is spelled M. Heheh... it's funny, cuz the first letter is still the same.... ooooooook....
Tuesday.... was also quite the party. We met with this guy who was interested in Genealogy, but not the church, we had dinner with a part Member Family, who are super awesome, and we had a walk in while doing doors. On the doorstep, I just kind of said who we were, and he said, "I'm Evangelisch. (I guess english people would usually use protestant for that....anyway)" Then I said, "Oh, that's very good." And then he looked at me with surprise in his face and invited us in. He was a very friendly man, and we were able to have a nice chat and gave him a Book of Mormon.
Wednesday Elder Huber came on Tausch with me from Heide. That was a lot of Fun. I like him a lot. We visited A, a less active member, and watched "The John Tanner Story" with him. It's pretty much the best thing ever. And then we had a really good discussion. A's a super cool guy. Then he gave us a bunch of soda, because he has a friend in Denmark who can get 72 cans for just 15€. Also pretty awesome. Then we took a bus out to H (It's So awesome that he's so willing to ride his bike for over an hour to get to church, by the way), with whom we had I nice discussion about Joseph Smith's search for and discovery of the truth. He still wants to get baptized, and is very aware of the situation in Afghanistan. We're pretty sure that he's able to stay here, but we've got to make more sure of it before we proceed. After him, we just barely missed our Bus, so we were just kind of trapped at the Bus stop for an hour. So I put together a Fortschritt's Bericht (progress report), and Elder Huber quizzed me on some German words. I'd almost forgotten how awesome it is to have a native speaking companion. Then RH picked us up and took us to the M's for the Ward mission meeting thingy and Dinner. That was all really good. As we were talking about it, It was cool to see how the missionary work has really been picking up in the last several weeks. Woo hoo!
Then Thursday was Zone Conference, which was fantastic. There was a real focus on the converting power of the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to better implement that into my teaching, and really help investigators to understand the significance of it and how they can apply it.
Friday we probably did something.... ah yes. We tried by a bunch of people, and V, who we had a nice quick chat with and B were home. With B we had a nice little music jam, then we showed him the restoration video, which he got pretty excited about. But he was dissapointed that it wasn't in Polish. But glad that it was in Russian. Then he wanted to save it on his computer, and insisted that he'd be able to. So he kept it and said we could have it back next time. But he said he would have V over and they would watch it together in Russian. Which is awesome. Then that night we went to Member couples' for Dinner. It was very nice. He turns out to be an Opera Star, and they have a fancy convertible.
Saturday... I think we did something else.... We went to Rendsburg! Where we had a Strassenaustellung. It was really funny because all of the political parties had Austellungs right around us - I almost felt like we were campaigning for SPD, the people whose stand was literally within 10 feet of ours. They gave out Chocolate.... nom nom nom. I went off and just did street contacting with Elder Sowards for most of it. Afterward, we did something else missionaryish - oh yeah! we Visited F - we had a nice review of the philosophical/religious discussion that we've been having with him. It was cool, because it's the same stuff he always says, but it was more organized this time, and it really helped us see what we need to teach, and it was a really good discussion. Then we had Dinner with Schwester P. That was good too. Except when we read Enos together and my mind kind of went blank and I kind of did a terrible job of talking about it afterward. It was still nice though.
Sunday... That's yesterday, we just passed the sacrament then watched the Sunday Afternoon session of Conference. It was good. I especially liked Elder Ballard's talk. H was there with us, and he really couldn't understand it (It was also pretty hard for me to understand it with the German translation from the English... I'd keep tuning into one or the other language, and not get much of the meaning before switching) But H doesn't speak English, and his German, while pretty good couldn't keep up. After President Monson spoke, he said, "I could understand him because he spoke slowly." That made me very happy. H is so awesome.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around to contacts, talking to people in the street, and doing Weekly Planning. Looks like this next week is going to be quite the party as well.
Church is true, love y'all! Have a nice life!

Germany Week 37

My Easter was good. We had a couple investigators at church which was marvelous. They were both really cool guys. One, M, I believe I've talked about before - he was invited by a member girl to church, and I think he's sincerely interested in it, even if the chief interest is in the one who invited him. The other one who was there, H, is also super awesome. Elder Cottrell and I talked to him on the street during our tausch, and made an appointmnt, but he wasn't able to make it. But he'd also given us his phone number, so we were able to make an appointment for Saturday, which he came to. He's from Afghanistan/Iran and is super cool. We talked about the Book of Mormon, gave him a Persian one (Persian only has selections for the time being), and we had a really nice discussion. After the closing prayer, he asked, "So when can I get baptized?" That is pretty much the best question anyone can ask. Then he came to church yesterday, where we taught about the Plan of Salvation, and we'll be seeing him again on Wednesday.
After Church, we went to Familie K's, which was really nice. They have a really big family and almost all of them were there - it was really nice to be able to see them all chatting with each other, and the cousins playing around.
Then we got a text from an investigator, K, who lives way out there, saying he was in Flensburg. So we were able to meet him at the church and had a great lesson.
After doing some doors, we went home, did Weekly Planning, and Dyed Easter Eggs. It was quite the Party. Quite the Easter.

Saturday was a nice day - we had some good lessons, including that one with H. It sure beat the Heck out of Friday, which we spent wandering through the cold, dark and wet from Kontact to Kontact and fallen through appointment to fallen through appointment. It also didn't help that I spent a lot of it whining under the clever guise of trying to sort out my problems.
Donnerstag we started out by helping a lady move in. Or rather, helped some guys move a lady in. She wasn't there - She's the friend of a member in Berlin who Elder Liechty knew, and I guess the people we were working with were other friends of hers. It was a nice experience - it was pretty fun, and it's always nice to able to help someone with that sort of thing. Then we had lunch with Sister P and were able to give her a Krankensegen for a pretty gnarly cold that she's got. In the evening we went out to eat with an Investigator, A. It was nice.
Wednesday we had district meeting, then took off on a bus to a member Family, which was really nice. I don't know them all that well, but Elder Liechty had a bunch of connections to them, like their son who's in the Tiergarten Gemeinde (Who was also visiting them, so we got to see him), and he (Elder Liechty) served in Neubrandenburg, where they're originally from. Afterward though, we just barely missed our bus to go out to Schleswig for our meeting with the GML. As a matter of fact - it pulled away from the bus stop, but right after that was a stop light, where we very easily caught him, but the driver just shook his head no, and waited another five minutes or so with the door closed. I imagine he was just following protocol, but It was pretty frustrating since we then had to wait another hour and a half for the next bus, and we didn't work there at all because it would be really impractical to go back there for an appointment. So then we just had to go home.
One highlight of Tuesday was being with one of our investigators, B. He's not exactly what you'd call a progressing investigator, but he's cool. He's also really musical. He taught Elder Liechty some basics of the Accordian, then Elder Liechty played "Love one Another" on the Guitar and I sang along. B really liked it, and after listening to it once played it on the piano. He also said he wants to do some recordings with us next time. Maybe we'll be able to get through to him through primary songs or something.
Monday we spent in Rendsburg with our District, just hanging around, playing Ping Pong and whatnot. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we had to go down to Neumünster to pick up Bikes. Then we had to run back up to Flensburg for an appointment with these two really cool brothers, P & I. But we were way late with the train, and we rode like the wind, but weren't able to make it in time. We don't have any contact information for them, so we're just desperately hoping to run into them in the streets.
So that's been my week from back to front. Quite the Party looking back on it. I know this church is true. I know that through obedience to the commandments, we can grow in faith, we can be in a better position to help others, and we can be happier. And I know that when we fall short, there is always another chance, and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become renewed.

Germany Week 36

We got to see all of General Conference but the Sunday Afternoon Session - I'm told that most german wards get it recorded and watch it for church in a later week. They didn't in Bad Bentheim though.... and most of the people watch them on the internet anyway, so I guess we'll see. I very much enjoyed it. It's kind of all a blur already, but a very nice blur. That's what notes and Liahona magazines are for. One of my favorite talks was Elder Eyring's talk where he started out with "Give me this Mountain!" It was a really good reminder to me of the purpose of trials and the opportunities for growth. I've been having a pretty rough time in some aspects, and it helped me to refocus on the fact that if I endure it well, I'll overcome the challenges and become the person that I want to be, and that if I just give up, those weaknesses will just become more deeply ingrained. So here's to working hard.
Another magnificent highlight to Conference was seeing so many friends singing in the Salt Lake Institute choir during the priesthood session. It made me so happy to see some of my friends that I haven't for over two years. I was kind of giddy.
The rest of the week was pretty redonkadonk. On Tuesday we had to go to Kiel for a District leader training thing, Wendesday we had district meeting, and Thursday we went to Hamburg for a leadership training. That was all perty krasy. And added to that the craziness of not having a car - so we've spent a lot a lot (which is a whole bunch of a lot) of hours taking busses and walking. Hehe. One thing's for sure though - I've gotten to know the city a whole lot better in the last two weeks than in the six before. It's been really tricky to make out appointments and stuff though, just because it takes so long to get anywhere, and pretty much all the members live quite a ways away from the city, and all that jazz. Not to mention that this week we spent most of our time at those meetings anyway. One thing about Tuesday and thursday though - Since all of our senior companions were in the leadership meetings, I went out to work with the other junior companions, who were all Goldens. So I by default was the temporary senior companion. It was pretty relaxed and we just went out and talked to the people on the street, but I was scared to death by the idea of being the one in charge. And president keeps threatening me that it's time for me to step up in the mission, especially with all of the older people dying in the next couple transfers.... gulp. Hopefully I'll manage somehow.
Tuesday I also had a Tausch with Elder Cottrell after the DLSchulung deelio. It was quite the party. None of our appointments went through, but we found some cool people and I discovered and purchased a big bus plan for the region, and that puppy has made my life about a million times easier. I feel like I'm talking in circles, but hopefully they're good circles.
That's all that's coming to mind of the specifics of my life... I think it'll suffice as well.
So I love you all, I hope you have a marvelous week, and the church is true!
Tschüssles!