Wooheee. That week was sure a week. Uuuummm...
On Monday, the Lauenburg Elders came and we played Risk with them and our GML. It was kind of a last Hurrah for Elder Robinson before leaving Bergedorf. He was a good guy. I'll Miss him.
But then on Tuesday we got around to picking up Elder Linderman. Eventually. It was quite an adventure of a day. First, Elder Robinson and I left - he went to Hauptbahnhof, but I got off at the Church and waited there alone until Elder Patterson, who had dropped his Companion off at another Train station came and joined me. Then we were together for a couple hours - it was a lot of fun actually, we made lunch, then went to Pick up Elder Baker, his new companion/my MTC companion, then they brought me back to Bergedorf, where I hopped on a train to Hauptbahnhof to pick up Elder Linderman. It was the best way we could figure it out with the least amount of alonetime. It was also an adventure. We've got a really cool district now.
Then we spent the rest of the week walking around talking to people. yeppers. And we would sometimes talk to each other in between. After a couple days, Elder Linderman asked me, "Did you ever watch Card Captors?" And I was like, "Oh daddy, yes." I pointed to my name tag and said, "It's cool because Cloward is really close to Clow Card." Turns out he'd been thinking the same thing all along and was just trying to figure out how to wiggle it into a conversation.
We were also able to get a few lessons in. That's always good. I don't feel like we're making too much progress there, but hopefully things will build up. Mostly I'm just in a really crummy mood right now - things get better as long as I buckle down and work through those. Otherwise it just keeps slipping along.
One cool thing is that a couple 14 year old girls are giving a presentation on our religion for school, so they came and talked to some members and came to church, and they asked us to come when they give their presentation to answer questions at the end. It'll be exciting. I'm pretty nervous, actually. What if I say something stupid and all the 14 year olds make fun of me? But I'm also super excited. It'll be quite the party.
Well kids, that's it for today. Love your guts! The church is true!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Germany Week 69--Tengo dos gatos en mis pantalones!
I'm just joshin' ya. I don't have two cats in my pants. I just felt like saying one of the only Spanish phrases I know. We had dinner with the Z Family last night, which always makes me want to pretend to speak spanish.
So the big news of the week is that we had the transfer call on Saturday. Elder Robinson will be spending the last four weeks of his mission in the Office in Berlin. He was pretty disappointed about that. We'd kind of been counting on him dying here. I'll be getting Elder Lindermann, who I spent a day with in Kiel during what was his second week in the field while Elders Liechty and Evans were in some sort of District leader meeting. Hey! Remember that one time when I had those flashbacks? Well, Elder Lindermann was one of the ones for whom I bought that ticket. I think. If not him, then it was Elder Robinson. So either way, it's a small world. Or small mission I guess. Also exciting is that Elder Baker, my MTC companion, will be joining Elder Patterson in Lauenburg, making our district that much more awesome. Then, after four weeks, Elder Patterson gets dead and we'll become a dritt split between Lauenburg and Bergedorf. yeppers.
The first major adventure of the week involves the Thema that Elder Robinson and I gave during district meeting. Our main themes were Prayer and Fire. Our connections were a little bit of a stretch, but it was fun. We started off reading "die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" (Something like "the very sad story with the matches") from Struwwelpeter, wherein a girl, Paulinchen doesn't listen to her cats and ends up as a pile of ashes. We said that we as missionaries are like the cats, and if we don't get investigators to pray and find out for themselves, it doesn't matter what we tell them, we won't be able to help them. We also read the Story of Elija and the Prophets of Baal. And then we burned stuff. It was pretty stupid, but hopefully it was a good reminder to focus on prayer. and fires....
Anyhödles.... Then We had a Tausch, Elder Beck stayed with me. We visited some hobbits, cleaned up some ashes, found some doors and started some work on a poster. The Poster is actually to help us keep track/focus on a branch mission goal to get 365 Contacts within a year. We'll get to put up a colorful piece of paper every time we've got a new contact, and we'll be able to see how close we are to the goal. That sort of thing helps me a lot. We'll see if the missionaries that come after me are into that sort of thing. Friday we met with a couple of boys (11 &13) who's mom is a member, and Br. I was there with us. They seem shy, but it was good, and hopefully they'll open up and will learn for themselves, and be baptized. Then we had a spielabend, and R was the only one that showed up. We had fun playing Ping pong though. I had just done something really clumsy, as I am prone to do, and Elder Robinson was making fun of me. So I thought it would be funny to throw my paddle at him. But I didn't mean to hit him. But I missed. And in this case, missing means hitting him square on the head. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt, but I felt so bad. R thought it was so hilarious though. In fact, after like a half hour, R just burst out laughing randomly in the middle of a game because he thought of it again. Manno.
Saturday morning after Transfer Call we had the gemeinde Erntedankfest where we learned about Methods of Harvest and ate a little bit... And yesterday we had the primary program, which was awesome. Lots of people had invited family and friends for that. Then there were a couple of other really good surprizes. This kid that we sometimes play soccer with showed up, and so did a lady who said she'd just seen a picture of Jesus in the front of the church and decided to come. That was really exciting. I was so happy about it. Then we had a couple different appointments with members, which was a good chance for Elder Robinson to say goodbye. It was a good Sunday. Well kids, it looks like we've gotten to that point of moving on the the adventures that this week will bring. Woo hoo! Love You!
So the big news of the week is that we had the transfer call on Saturday. Elder Robinson will be spending the last four weeks of his mission in the Office in Berlin. He was pretty disappointed about that. We'd kind of been counting on him dying here. I'll be getting Elder Lindermann, who I spent a day with in Kiel during what was his second week in the field while Elders Liechty and Evans were in some sort of District leader meeting. Hey! Remember that one time when I had those flashbacks? Well, Elder Lindermann was one of the ones for whom I bought that ticket. I think. If not him, then it was Elder Robinson. So either way, it's a small world. Or small mission I guess. Also exciting is that Elder Baker, my MTC companion, will be joining Elder Patterson in Lauenburg, making our district that much more awesome. Then, after four weeks, Elder Patterson gets dead and we'll become a dritt split between Lauenburg and Bergedorf. yeppers.
The first major adventure of the week involves the Thema that Elder Robinson and I gave during district meeting. Our main themes were Prayer and Fire. Our connections were a little bit of a stretch, but it was fun. We started off reading "die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" (Something like "the very sad story with the matches") from Struwwelpeter, wherein a girl, Paulinchen doesn't listen to her cats and ends up as a pile of ashes. We said that we as missionaries are like the cats, and if we don't get investigators to pray and find out for themselves, it doesn't matter what we tell them, we won't be able to help them. We also read the Story of Elija and the Prophets of Baal. And then we burned stuff. It was pretty stupid, but hopefully it was a good reminder to focus on prayer. and fires....
Anyhödles.... Then We had a Tausch, Elder Beck stayed with me. We visited some hobbits, cleaned up some ashes, found some doors and started some work on a poster. The Poster is actually to help us keep track/focus on a branch mission goal to get 365 Contacts within a year. We'll get to put up a colorful piece of paper every time we've got a new contact, and we'll be able to see how close we are to the goal. That sort of thing helps me a lot. We'll see if the missionaries that come after me are into that sort of thing. Friday we met with a couple of boys (11 &13) who's mom is a member, and Br. I was there with us. They seem shy, but it was good, and hopefully they'll open up and will learn for themselves, and be baptized. Then we had a spielabend, and R was the only one that showed up. We had fun playing Ping pong though. I had just done something really clumsy, as I am prone to do, and Elder Robinson was making fun of me. So I thought it would be funny to throw my paddle at him. But I didn't mean to hit him. But I missed. And in this case, missing means hitting him square on the head. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt, but I felt so bad. R thought it was so hilarious though. In fact, after like a half hour, R just burst out laughing randomly in the middle of a game because he thought of it again. Manno.
Saturday morning after Transfer Call we had the gemeinde Erntedankfest where we learned about Methods of Harvest and ate a little bit... And yesterday we had the primary program, which was awesome. Lots of people had invited family and friends for that. Then there were a couple of other really good surprizes. This kid that we sometimes play soccer with showed up, and so did a lady who said she'd just seen a picture of Jesus in the front of the church and decided to come. That was really exciting. I was so happy about it. Then we had a couple different appointments with members, which was a good chance for Elder Robinson to say goodbye. It was a good Sunday. Well kids, it looks like we've gotten to that point of moving on the the adventures that this week will bring. Woo hoo! Love You!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Germany Week 68
I've had a few adventures this week. Quite a few. Monday night, we were with our GML and his family, as is often the case here. It was his son's birthday, so we ate cake and whatnot. He also had us eat Mattis (No idea if that's spelled right) But it's the fish like the one that they eat in the Best Two Years. It's really... salty. Then he was having fun with that, so M decided to challenge us to a competition of drinking soda without burping. My stomach was already not in the best of moods, and I was not about to do that. But Elder Robinson did. Oh, the poor boy. He spent a lot of time throwing up and his stomach was not a happy camper for the next few days....
On Tuesday night, we were at the church after a fallen out appointment, and we got a call from the Assistants who were apparently in the area after a Zone Training Meeting, and wanted to do a couple hour Tausch with us. So I went with Elder Fullmer, and Elder Robinson and Elder Cottrell went together. I had a good time. It was great to be with Elder Fullmer, and it was really cool for him because he was trained in Bergedorf. So he was able to see a lot of the places he'd been around a year ago, and we were able to have a nice walk down memory lane.
Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting and President Interviews, which was good. I always like those. We were supposed to be there at 8:00, so we had to get up early, but when we set the alarm, we accidentally set it for PM instead of AM. So the first thing I heard that day was, "Elder, it's 7:11" We were supposed to be out the door a minute before that. So we hurried and were able to get there only like 15 minutes late (Lucky that we're so close) which wasn't a big deal since we would've spent that time waiting for our interviews anyway. He also got new "Standards of Execellence," kind of the focus of the mission. We'll be focusing more on New Investigators and Progressing investigators - concentrating with our numbers more on the people we're helping than on the means we're using to help them. I think it'll be a good change.
Saturday we met up with our GML in the Morning for Breakfast and Gemiko, and then we headed down south. We had about a three and a half hour train ride to get to Stadthagen for A S's baptism. She was an investigator in Nienburg. She had been an investigator for a really long time and was great friends with all of the members, and had a testimony, but never felt ready to take the step of baptism. It was so wonderful to see her finally make that step, and to see how great she felt about doing it. It was also great to see the members from Nienburg. They were all so happy for her. Another adventure is that we ran into Brother B at Hannover Hauptbahnhof and rode with him to Stadthagen. It was good to talk to him, and it was funny because Elder Robinson didn't know who he was. He was able to figure out throughout the course of the conversation though.
Yesterday I gave a talk. I don't think I did that great of a job, but President Packer and Elder Bednar said some good stuff ;P. I wrote my talk down and read it, because last time I gave a talk, I tried to just go off of my outline and ended up doing little more than reading my outline, but I think I'd best try to do something in between next time.
Then we went to the Is' for lunch, which was very nice. They're very funny and very friendly people. Then we went with them to the home of a really cool family - the mom is a member, but has been inactive for her kids entire lives. We had a game night with them and it was a lot of fun. They had invited the I's over, who said, "We have the missionaries over for lunch that day." And they said, "Bring the missionaries along!"
Anyhoodles, it was a good week. I hope you're all doing well!
On Tuesday night, we were at the church after a fallen out appointment, and we got a call from the Assistants who were apparently in the area after a Zone Training Meeting, and wanted to do a couple hour Tausch with us. So I went with Elder Fullmer, and Elder Robinson and Elder Cottrell went together. I had a good time. It was great to be with Elder Fullmer, and it was really cool for him because he was trained in Bergedorf. So he was able to see a lot of the places he'd been around a year ago, and we were able to have a nice walk down memory lane.
Thursday we had Zone Training Meeting and President Interviews, which was good. I always like those. We were supposed to be there at 8:00, so we had to get up early, but when we set the alarm, we accidentally set it for PM instead of AM. So the first thing I heard that day was, "Elder, it's 7:11" We were supposed to be out the door a minute before that. So we hurried and were able to get there only like 15 minutes late (Lucky that we're so close) which wasn't a big deal since we would've spent that time waiting for our interviews anyway. He also got new "Standards of Execellence," kind of the focus of the mission. We'll be focusing more on New Investigators and Progressing investigators - concentrating with our numbers more on the people we're helping than on the means we're using to help them. I think it'll be a good change.
Saturday we met up with our GML in the Morning for Breakfast and Gemiko, and then we headed down south. We had about a three and a half hour train ride to get to Stadthagen for A S's baptism. She was an investigator in Nienburg. She had been an investigator for a really long time and was great friends with all of the members, and had a testimony, but never felt ready to take the step of baptism. It was so wonderful to see her finally make that step, and to see how great she felt about doing it. It was also great to see the members from Nienburg. They were all so happy for her. Another adventure is that we ran into Brother B at Hannover Hauptbahnhof and rode with him to Stadthagen. It was good to talk to him, and it was funny because Elder Robinson didn't know who he was. He was able to figure out throughout the course of the conversation though.
Yesterday I gave a talk. I don't think I did that great of a job, but President Packer and Elder Bednar said some good stuff ;P. I wrote my talk down and read it, because last time I gave a talk, I tried to just go off of my outline and ended up doing little more than reading my outline, but I think I'd best try to do something in between next time.
Then we went to the Is' for lunch, which was very nice. They're very funny and very friendly people. Then we went with them to the home of a really cool family - the mom is a member, but has been inactive for her kids entire lives. We had a game night with them and it was a lot of fun. They had invited the I's over, who said, "We have the missionaries over for lunch that day." And they said, "Bring the missionaries along!"
Anyhoodles, it was a good week. I hope you're all doing well!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Germany Week 67
Can I believe it's November? Nope, not even close.
What have I done with my November so far? I can't remember.
I guess I'll have to make it up....
Monday.... We went to Wartenau and played sports with other missionaries... that was way too intense for me... whew! but I did it anyway... Then...
Tuesday we did a bunch of searching.... We wanted it to be finding, but it didn't quite work out that way, and visited a cool recent convert...
Wednesday... we had a great eating appointment with the Rs, just like every week here. Then we met with R and his family and talked to him about the Priesthood and Missionary Work and what not. Then on Sunday his Dad gave him the preisthood and ordained him as a Teacher. So that was exciting. They are a great family.
Thursday was actually quite the adventure. We had District Meeting, then we went and ate Chinese with a member, which was yummy and fun, then we went to Hauptbahnhof for to meet up with the Zone Leaders, then I tausched with Elder Burnett, which was a party. We got to eat a second lunch, do some finding, play some billiard, help set up tables for the Pfahlball, come across a newspaper that said something about them making Star Wars episode VII, teach a lesson, and overall have a party. It was nice.
Then Friday we played with the I's and M.... Fun with Members.
Ummm... Yesterday after church we had a little gemeindeessen because M and K blessed their baby. That was also good. Then we went out and did street contacting with a member. Once we had given M his roller thing back - that was pretty funny. So as we were starting up street contacting, we went to the bus stop to check the times, and as we were doing that, Elder Robinson got a phone call. As he was talking, he looked at and put his hand on a rolly thing (I don't really know what to call it... it's like a rolly backpack shopping bag type thing...) that had a bunch of drinks and stuff in it. M had left it at the bus stop and had called to ask us to get it for them. So we did. It was a party. Holy Cow! Was that really only yesterday!? Yeah, I guess so.... Also, there were a bunch of people playing with fire in the streets.
Well kids, that's it for today. I wish you a happy happy time! The Church is true!
What have I done with my November so far? I can't remember.
I guess I'll have to make it up....
Monday.... We went to Wartenau and played sports with other missionaries... that was way too intense for me... whew! but I did it anyway... Then...
Tuesday we did a bunch of searching.... We wanted it to be finding, but it didn't quite work out that way, and visited a cool recent convert...
Wednesday... we had a great eating appointment with the Rs, just like every week here. Then we met with R and his family and talked to him about the Priesthood and Missionary Work and what not. Then on Sunday his Dad gave him the preisthood and ordained him as a Teacher. So that was exciting. They are a great family.
Thursday was actually quite the adventure. We had District Meeting, then we went and ate Chinese with a member, which was yummy and fun, then we went to Hauptbahnhof for to meet up with the Zone Leaders, then I tausched with Elder Burnett, which was a party. We got to eat a second lunch, do some finding, play some billiard, help set up tables for the Pfahlball, come across a newspaper that said something about them making Star Wars episode VII, teach a lesson, and overall have a party. It was nice.
Then Friday we played with the I's and M.... Fun with Members.
Ummm... Yesterday after church we had a little gemeindeessen because M and K blessed their baby. That was also good. Then we went out and did street contacting with a member. Once we had given M his roller thing back - that was pretty funny. So as we were starting up street contacting, we went to the bus stop to check the times, and as we were doing that, Elder Robinson got a phone call. As he was talking, he looked at and put his hand on a rolly thing (I don't really know what to call it... it's like a rolly backpack shopping bag type thing...) that had a bunch of drinks and stuff in it. M had left it at the bus stop and had called to ask us to get it for them. So we did. It was a party. Holy Cow! Was that really only yesterday!? Yeah, I guess so.... Also, there were a bunch of people playing with fire in the streets.
Well kids, that's it for today. I wish you a happy happy time! The Church is true!
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