Germany Week 48

So, even though I haven't watched a single Mormon Message this week, I've still only got like 40 minutes to write this and the one to President Pimentel. Not really sure where all that time went. Well, I did get a bunch of emails today, and I've been chatting with Elder Turney. I guess that can do it to ya.
  Well, this week has been pretty pretty krasy, I'll see what I can cram in here.
So monday was super awesome. I'm a fan of Having Birthdays. I'm especially a fan of having Birthdays on Pdays. We ended up playing wiffel ball and soccer with the Hannover Elders, even though we were in our church clothes - it was fun. We went into a grocery store to grab some stuff for luch before that. As I walked in, I thought to myself.. "Man, I'm really craving a certain type of food... But I'm not sure what it is... It's not bread..... It not candy.... hmm.... Is it Meat? It's usually meat... Is there another kind of food?" And then I saw it... A large man picking out cherries - "Aha! The mystery food is fruit!" So then I bought myself a kilo of Nectarines and a kilo of plums. Oh mylanta, best purchase of my life. I've missed fruit in this last year or so... I'm not quite that malnourished, but I don't usually think to get fruit.
  Well, now that I've spent half of my time writing about the fruit I bought on Monday.... .... the Hannover Elders are done with their emails and are talking to us... which is fun, but, yeah,
 So that night we went to the Hegemanns, and there were a bunch of other members there too - it was so much fun.
Tuesday... the only thing I remember from Tuesday is the Frau R Tschüssed us - she gave us the restoration DVD and her Book of Mormon back, said she had watched it/read in it, and that something was just missing for her. So we never even got to teach her a real lesson - we'd only had a few quick visits on the door - at least she got a good exposure.
   Then Wednesday was Zone Conference - it was Pres. Pimentel's last - as of this Friday, our President will have officially switched. That is sooo weird. It was a great conference. It was a weird one, in that it focused largely on the transition and on saying goodbyes and stuff. It was really great to be able to see and to talk to President Pimentel one last time. He's been a great help to me.
Thursday, Thursday Thursday... we called Frau P to see if it was ok if a member came along to our appointment, and instead she told us not to come back again. So that was quite the party.
 But after that, we visited the L's, who, by the way, are the most incredible people on the face of this Planet. Every time I learn a little bit more about their lives, and hear them talk about their conviction to the gospel, I am newly blown away by their goodness. The Lord has really been preparing them. They are really going to go far. 
 Friday we had weekly planning and then this "Theaterstück" It was a play thing put together by Bruder H, about a deceased mother, whose son is reactivated and able to get baptized for her in the temple. There weren't very many people there at all, but it was a lot of fun, and was a nice thought.
Samstag we did a lot of finding....
Sunday we had church which was nice and H's for lunch which was marvelous. Then, after we had some appointments fall through, we did a bunch of doors. 
And... there's this marching band of old men that have been marching through the streets of Nienburg. They play super late into the night... it's pretty awesome.
Well kids - out of time. the Church is true!

Germany Week 47

Moin Moin,

So, I wasn't really in the mood to write emails so I decided I would watch a couple "I'm a Mormon" videos first... Well, that took the first hour and 15 minutes of my typically cramped 2 hour email writing time. It was great though - but I'll see what I can do as far as doing y'all justice.

Today for my birthday we're going to hang out in Hannover with the Hildesheim Elders, prolly watch Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration - I haven't seen that since the MTC! heheh. We brought it to watch with the L's a few weeks ago, but they said they'd rather hear more from us, since they could just borrow the movie and watch it on their own later. Which was actually super awesome. But I didn't get to watch it. ;P Then we're going to the H's - they had somehow figured out that it was my Birthday, and said they wanted to host a party for me. It looks like most of the people we invited can't make it, but we'll at least have a good time with the H's. I'm pretty excited. Pretty convenient for my Birthday to've fallen on a Vorbereitungstag. yeppers.

On Thursday we met with Frau P again, which was nice. We were able to give one of the more solid first lessons I've given on my mission. We were able to make it quite clear that she can get an answer and how to do that, and she said that if she learns that it's true she will definitely get baptized. So now we just need to work hard and pray so that she can receive and recognize her answer from Heavenly Father. 

Saturday morning we had our Straßenausstellung - I was pretty excited for it, but also super nervous. It's the first Ausstellung that I've "headed" - I've helped with some in Osnabück and Rendsburg, but I've never been responsible for one myself. The truth is I didn't have anything to be worried about - but we all knew that, and it's never stopped me from worrying before. We were a little bit scatterbrained in the morning, and it was super rainy - we had to go hunt down the table from a member - we weren't sure where she lived and ended up going in the wrong direction... but we got it eventually. We had several members there too, which was awesome. With most of the people, it felt like the only difference between the Ausstellung and normal street contacting is that they have an earlier queue (Or is that cue?) to prepare themselves to reject and/or avoid you. At the very least, the inhabitants of Nienburg received a reminder that the Mormons are still chugging along here. I definitely learned a lot though - I've been thinking a lot about making more effective Ausstellungs - It very rarely works to talk to the people and bring them into it, but In the future I'll definitely focus on trying to have large, strong visuals, that will be able to teach some small principle or bit of helpful information even to the people who only pass by. I also had a lot of fun just giving people cards. Mostly It's just because I'm a coward, but there's this great trick that Peter Alexander taught us in Bad Bentheim. If you just reach a card out to someone as you walk by them, most people will impulsively take it. So I did several rounds of just walking down the street, leaving in my wake multitudes puzzledly reading a brief statement about the importance of genealogy and the eternal nature of families. Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Maybe It'll've left an impression on somebody. 
   Oh, and yesterday when we were doing doors, we found this super nice family from Iraq - The mom could only speak Kurdisch, but she was very friendly, and the kids were so excited to have us there and just gave us such huge smiles. Teaching them might be difficult, but we're bringing them a BKMO in their language next week, and hopefully we'll see from there. Anyway, they brightened my day so much. 
  Well, Kids, I'd best take off, but you all have a beautiful week! Love ya! the Church is true!

Germany Week 46

Doo be doo be doo bah, Doo be doo be doo bah, Perry! 

Oookey Dokey....

I don't feel like this week was anything particularly exciting, just kinda one of those keep chugging weeks. 

Well, one thing that was quite cool - On Thursday we had our first appointment with one Frau P. We found her through the klingel (the doorbell - loudspeaker on the outside), and she was just like yeah, come back later, then tried again the next week, then she said, come tomorrow, so we did. We didn't imagine she was that interested, but was at least willing to let us in. So Thursday when we came, she greeted us really warmly, and To our surprise there was already a Book of Mormon sitting on her table. It was an older one, and it had been decorated with all sorts of pictures of Jesus and Joseph Smith and so weiter (on an on). She told us that her mom was a convert to the church, who was really excited about it and always said it was the one true church, but after some years, suddenly said it wasn't the true church and left it. Frau P said a missionary had given her the Book when she was 14 or so, but that she had never read it, but also never thrown it out. So she decided that maybe it's time to read it, and she was glad to meet with us. And ta da - we have a new investigator.

  It really is a struggle for me a lot of days to get out there and do the work - I've just been going through one of those mopey spells, but as I do it, it usually gets better too. And the allergies don't make it any easier. They have been killing both me and Elder Welker. Sometimes our noses are just so runny that we can hardly think, much less preach the gospel, but we try to do it anyway, and it usually works out alright. I also have always said that I need 10 hours of sleep a night to function properly - well, I'm not gettin' it. :P I've just been so sleepy recently, which has been making it difficult. Then on top of that, I've been taking Zyrtec, which I used to think just did nothing, but I've now discovered it does the same thing as Benadryl - That is, put you to sleep so you just can't feel the pain from the allergies. But maybe someday my body will decide to cooperate. Well, that was my whining for the day.

  Yesterday was a good day too, albeit a bit of a different schedule.... After church, Bruder Borcherding, our High Councilor, as well as President Pimentel's Predecessor, pulled us aside after the meeting and had a really nice talk with us. It was a good pep talk. Not just a peppy pep talk, but he really talked to us about the importance of our work here in Nienburg, and how desperately we're needed. It helped to refocus our perspective toward the good we can do here. He told us about how the branch had been founded because of a dream that the damalige (at that time) Mission President, President Dahlquist had. Then he shared with us an experience from his Mission President training in the MTC - He said that during one of the meetings, he and his wife got to sit in the second row, which was great, until he met Elder Perry's eyes, and felt that maybe it wasn't such a good thing. Right after the meeting, Elder Perry came up to him and said, "President Borcherding, Double It!" And a couple more times throughout the training just came up to him and said, "Double It!" He then told us to Double it, and talked to us about the importance of always aiming higher, so that we can always have growth and always be making progress. It was pretty cool. He also pulled aside pretty much everyone in the branch leadership, which is part of why we didn't leave the church for our eating appointment with the H's until 3:30 or so, even though church gets out at 11:40. So then we made lunch, and ate lunch, and helped them with their computer, and made some plans for our Ausstellung (display) and my Birthday, and by that point it was like 6:30, so then we finally got out and did some doors. quite the party.

  Well kids, I love ya. I know that Got is our loving Heavenly Father, and that everything he does is geared toward our wellbeing. I know that he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to the world, in order that we might again live with him. And I know that it is through his restored church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that we receive the ordinances that allow us to take hold of his atoning sacrifice, and enter into the path back to him. And I say that in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

      Have a great Week!

Germany Week 45

Oooh Daddy. 
So there's a slight problem. I switched planners cuz it's a new transfer, but my memory is kind of... pathetic. How am I supposed to remeber what happened in the last week if I don't have the planner I had it written down in? Exactly! I don't know either! Ahhh.... so that's why we have Companions. The remainder of this email is based upon the key pointers of Elder Welker, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Elder Cloward. Just kidding. I'm still the speaker here. Let's not kid ourselves.
  Soo... Monday, we went and had a party at the H's with the L's for Pfingsten. They live in a pretty small Dorf, and basically live on a farm, so we had lunch outside under the shade of their tree, which was really nice. Then they had a bunch of little games to play, and we all had a lot of fun. It kind of doubled as a Family Home Evening, and we talked about the importance of Family Unity In daily life and in the Eternities. It was great to hear what it meant to them to be able to do work for and be sealed to their families. Then in the evening we went and helped another family in their garden and did some grillin' in the back. Or rather, Grillen, which sounds exactly the same, except for the accent.
  Diensday, or whatever that day is called, is mostly a void in my memory, but Elder Welker reminded me of a nice Walk in we had. This kid opened the door, and we asked, "are your parents home?" and he was like, yeah, my mom is, come on up. They were really nice people. His mom was a little bit curious, but not very interested. But he, L, was like, "I want the book! I'm gonna read the whole thing!" So we came in and taught them an introductory Book of Mormon thing. The mom asked if we were Swiss - which is pretty much a great complement - it means that we sounded funny, but weren't obviously non native German Speakers. When L found out we were American, he kept asking questions like how to say stuff in English, If we'd seen tornados, and if he could come home with us. We asked if we would be able to come back again to teach some more, and the Mom said, well, we'll look through the book, and we'll call you if we decide we want to learn more. L grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and said he was going to write down the return appointment. Then he kept asking us if we could come back, and we said, You'll have to talk to your mom about that - you've got our number, you can call us. They were really cool people. Maybe some day. The next night, we were sitting waiting for our train, and they walked onto the platform across the tracks, and L got all excited and waved, and his mom seemed kind of embarassed, but waved too. 
Then Wednesday we had the "Eprit de Corps wie nie zuvor" deal which was pretty hardcore, but kind of brutal. We had a nice distrikt meeting, it was Elder Thorley's and Elder Carlson's last. Then we went out and did doors for pretty much the rest of the Evening. We didn't get to teach anyone, but we got several people who said we could try back later. So we'll see. Woof.
Thursday... Was a very dark and cold and rainy day. And I was just in a really crummy mood anyway. Those who know me best know how I can at times just get really mopey and revert back into myself for no reason. Well, Thursday was one of those days. I had no desire to go out, I had no desire to do anything. But... I knew I needed to do something. I was backed up to my last defense of Well... it'll build character. And build character it did. We went and did a couple hours of doors in pouring rain. So the plan was, that even though I don't want to do it, I do it anyway, and eventually I'll feel happy doing it. Well, it did work, but it took a heckuva lot longer than I wanted it too. Thank goodness for Elder Welker too. He just keeps plugging along, and on the days when I feel like that, I just have to follow him around - I think if I had a less motivated companion, I wouldn't've stayed out there. But I'm so grateful I did. Because by the end, I was soaked, and I was happy, and I was glad to have been rejected by a bazillion people, and I was happy that I had somehow managed to conquer my grumpy, lazy self to a small degree. 
  The only stuff Elder Welker remembers from Friday is boring....
Saturday morning we helped a family move out. That was by far the best organized move I've done in Germany yet. It was like a Miracle. Well, actually, there was one other one that was quite well organized in Bad Bentheim... In any case, this one was really good, we had almost the whole branch there to help, and we were practically done getting everything out and in the trucks within two hours. Hallelujah. After that, we had our transfer call - so we just pulled off to the side and listened to that. We are both staying another transfer. I'm glad about it. In the evening we had a nice appointment with the L's - We were able to start teaching their son, E, It was great. He's got a lot of good questions and is fun to teach. 
  Let's see... Yesterday was great at Church, this guy Lt, a returned missionary who went to Madagascar, came as a guest speaker for the Primary Boys, and they invited the L's and us to come too. It was quite the party. And C blessed the sacrament for the first time, that was also really cool. Man, those people are awesome. Then we Went to the H's, where we had a blast, I received the lowdown on the Simpson's Movie, and I learned that J is a LARPer and there's a larping village in our area. Bwahahaha.
  Well, I do believe that that all adds up to an excellent week. Here's hoping for another! And I hope you all have a great one too!
 Love ya!
 Elder Cloward