Germany Week 57

Well, It wasn't the best week of my life, but there were some good parts ;P Tuesday was quite the party. I went to Neustadt with Bruder H, who was totally not excited about it, but we ended up having a good time, and Elder Pack stayed in Nienburg with President K. We did our Pamphlet Door to door thing. It was.... a nice exercise. It was not at all successful(at least visably), the people who were there very quickly said no.... But hey, at least they learned a little bit about us, even if it's just that we have pictures of Jesus on the front of our pamphlets. Afterward, as we walked around a little, a guy who was working on the roof of a garage asked us what we were doing, Bruder H said we were doing missionary work, and then we ended up climbing up on the roof with them and Bruder H gave them a lot of pointers, because he worked as a roof repairman guy back in the day. He turns out to be the L's Housemaster.... ummm... landlord? I guess? And we saw him again on Saturday after visiting the Ls to celebrate E's 8th birthday, which was also a lot of fun. The roofman said we could probably meet with him, so I just need to keep my eye out for him and see what we can do. Another exciting thing is that E's getting baptized on Friday. We're super excited about that. His dad is going to baptize him, and I'm going to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm actually kind of nervous about it, but I'm sure I'll manage. Ummm... I feel like that wasn't really very much, but I can't think of anything else worth reporting... Except that we had our transfer call - we had a distrikt breakfast again, it was really nice. And we're all staying! It's crazy and awesome! Well, I love you! The church is true! have a great week!

Germany Week 56 -- Greetings from Africa!

It has been soo hot the last couple days! Yesterday it was around 40 degrees, aka over 100 ... we were totally dead. This morning when we woke up it was still/already 30ish/80ish degrees.... bwah. But luckily at like 7:10 it started thundering and raining like crazy - it only lasted a few minutes, but it helped to cool it down a lot. But it also made it an even moister heat - it felt really weird, but I was grateful for it. And if that's not enough like Africa, we went to a "Serengeti Safari Park" for Pday today. It was suuper fun. Way better than I expected. I was kinda like... "uh huh... a Safari Park.... in Germany... in the middle of nowhere.... and it costs 25 euro per person.... " but the Hannover Elders really wanted to go, and it did sound like it could be fun, and most of our distrikt was going, so we went. It didn't help my confidence when we had to walk through a half hour of farm land to get to the place, and there was no convenient way to walk into it - we just walked in and paid at a place where cars pull up. But then it turned out to be super awesome - first there were monkeys - haven't you always wanted a monkey? Then we went on this Safari Ride - first there were a bunch of real animals like rhinos and wildebeasts and Zebras, and then there were a bunch of angry, more "dangerous" animatronic animals, but the driver was hilarious and it was really entertaining. Then there were a whole bunch of rides - and the best part, no lines! Our favorite was one a lot like the cliffhanger - we rode it once, walked in a circle and got right back on - then the guy operating it gave us an extra long extra good spin. Then we had some more adventures including a log ride and the best slushy of my life (It wasn't actually anything special, I was just parched....) Then to finish it off, we went on the Cliffhangerlike ride one more time. And to put a capstone on that experience, Elder Pack threw up upon landing. The Arme... He was a really good sport about it though. Then, time was a little tight to walk back and catch our train, but this guy was sitting by the entrance with his van. Elder Henderson talked to him and he offered us a ride. He was a super cool guy - His family was still inside the park, and he'd just gotten back from fishing, and had a while to wait. He's a social worker for youth, and was super friendly - He and the zone leaders exchanged cards. All in all an excellent Pday - the only problem is that our train in the morning never came, so we had to catch a later one and didn't have time to do emails until now. This week has been absolutely crazy too - I guess it had to make up for the last couple. The first exciting event was on Tuesday night. We'd just finished doing doors on one street, and I heard from behind some bushes from the corner house, "Jehovah's Witnesses..." And I was all like "Nay, nay, wir sind die Mormonen..." (That's a favorite line of mine nowadays) And they were like, "Don't you have anything better to do?" And I was like, "Nope, nuthin' at all." So then they invited us over and we had a nice chat for about an hour. They were 6 really cool people, I'd guess each around 30, and a couple of them remembered us from when Elder Welker and I had knocked on their door - But the Europa Meisterschaft soccer game had been about to start. They asked really good questions, through which we taught several principles out of each of the lessons. They also accepted a Book of Mormon. They didn't want a specific return appointment, but they said if we ever see them hanging around outside again, we're welcome to join them... we may just slip through that area pretty frequently.... Then Wednesday we had Zone Conference. It was great. We had some great Themas on living life in Cresendo - gradually improving and growing in power. It was really cool - also about how we can best do that as we make little changes in the things we do often. I learned a lot and have a lot that I can improve on. We also had a testimony meeting at the end of it - I gave one of those quick explode into tears testimonies... I'm crazy. It was kind of embarassing, but also nice.... Right afterward, Elder Henderson came up to Nienburg with me on Tausch - we had an appointment with the L's, which is always marvelous. Then in the morning we ran around talking to people. There were several times after he'd talked to someone and just did such a great job I just had to look at him and say, "Wow! You're a real live missionary!" I think it actually kind of bugged him - he was like, "So are You! What do you mean with that?!" He just did a lot of things right.. better than I've ever managed to do them, and better than I'm used to seeing them done - just little things. I don't know how to explain it, I guess. It reminded me once again of how we can make the best progress by making small changes in the things we do often. Just in talking to him I also got a lot of ideas of how we can work more wisely in Nienburg. One idea he gave me was to pass out pamphlets in mailboxes - So, that's one thing that we do quite a bit - we put little cards with the church website and our number in peoples mailboxes - but he said that he'd heard of other missionaries doing that with Pamphlets, with a note attached saying, "We'll be coming around again on this day at this time to answer questions" So we totally did it - most of our Saturday ended up being devoted to preparing and distributing those - we'll actually be doing splits with our branch presidency tomorrow morning to go back on all of those houses. I'm super excited for it, but also nervous - we put a lot of hope and effort into it, so I don't want to be let down. Another thing I've been thinking about a lot is that instant at which we learn something new - something that invites us to repent, improve, change. It's a wonderful experience to learn it, but after learning, there comes that time of application - then our knowledge can either raise us up, or it can condemn us, depending on how we apply it. I hate that point. I'm just gonna say it. Because that changing usually means something uncomfortable and painful, but in the end leads to much better feelings, comfort, and a new power. So know that I've seen some more specific improvements I can make, I have to step up and make them. Wish me luck. ;P The great thing is that whenever we strive for that change, even if it seems impossible, God will help us to make it. That's what we teach investigators, and that's what we have to learn ourselves. Church was good yesterday, except that I had to give a talk ;P. Just joshing, well, not joshing, because I did give one, but that didn't really ruin church. I'm actually super lucky - it doesn't really make any sense that I didn't have to give one earlier - Elder Welker had given 3 by this point. I think it was a pretty crummy talk. But hey, they gave me pretty crummy missiles. Well, I did my best with the time I had... but I think I'm going to go back to writing my talks out. Ok kids, well I believe I've touched on all the most important points, Hopefully You'll enjoy this email a bit more than the last couple. I'm so grateful to be able to serve a mission, and for the growth I'm able to see in those around me, and I kind of assume there must be some of that going on in me too. Sure hope so. I know this church is true, and I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father watching over us. Have a wonderful week!

Germany Week 55

It was another pretty discouraging/discouraged week. I feel like the responsibility I feel to Elder Pack is the only thing keeping me afloat at the moment. Well, and to the Gemeinde. And even that's not providing the bouyant force I ought to have. I just need to shut up and be better. Dang it, now I'm just being whiny. Well, there were a couple cool people that we got to talk to through doors this week. There was just a really friendly young couple - he answered and we said kind of an introductory statement, and he was like, "ok, You're the Jehovah's Witnesses, right?" And I was just like, "No, no, we're the Mormons!" I just had the feeling that they were people we could joke around with. We had a quick fun chat, they accepted a Book of Mormon and he promised he would read in it before we even tried to "invite" them to - they didn't want any future meetings, but they said they'd come to church if they want to learn more. We met another nice older lady, who started talking to us about the loss of her son and how she's been asking God why for the last 8 years, but feels she has never received an answer. I just bore testimony that God has a plan for us and that she can see her son again. She also gladly accepted the Book of Mormon and a pamphlet on the plan of salvation. She hasn't had time to meet with us yet, but she seems happy to see us, and seemed to take our invitation to church seriously, saying that her husband was a bit sick this week, but that they could maybe make it next week. Yesterday we went to the H's for lunch, which was really nice as always. And church was good - It was uplifting and once again impressed on my mind how wonderful the people in this Gemeinde are, and how much they go through, and how much they need our help to build them up. So that helped a little bit. We read, or, rather, discussed Alma 40 in Sundayschool, and A L rose the question of what will happen to her brother who died two weeks ago, but with whom she had already tried to share the gospel. So we were able to have a good discussion, and she learned and was able to receive more hope for him. Also, I really love Elder Pack. He's such a trooper. Even when he's tired or doesn't want to go, he's willing to follow me out into the cold, dark, miserable world. JK. It's not cold dark and miserable. They've been bright and hot and... yeah, they've been bright and hot. Well, some of them have been cool and rainy. Those ones are nice. I've heard that "America" is having a really hardcore drought and that they solve all of their problems with violence. Has any of that been affecting you? Mmmmkey dokey.... ummmm.... yeppers. Have a beautiful week!

Germany Week 54

Bleargh. I am soooooo slow. And I'm actually already out of time... Not sure how that happened... All I've done is responded to a couple of emails and written President Kosak - I think next week I'll Come with a list of things I want to say, because at the moment I can't think of anything. This week was pretty normalish I guess - nothing too exciting. Other than President Interviews. Those were really good. One other adventure is Elder Pack and I made ourselves a Weekly planning board, which I think will help us quite a bit. My Scatterbrainedness has really made planning ineffective at times, but that should help. That Jar-Jar is just in the Pizza Hut next to the Hannover Hauptbahnhof, so if I ever need to see it, It's not too far out of my way. Umm... Sorry that this is so pathetic. Have a great week!