Germany Week 79

Oh daddy Oh daddy Oh.
I can't really remember this week too well. It all pretty much blurred together, and blurred into other weeks, as they mostly do. We spent a lot of time wandering the streets of Bergedorf and the surrounding area. The people seem to've gotten a little bit colder along with the weather. Probably mostly because they're focused on getting home where it's warm and a conversation with a couple of religious weirdos isn't at the top of their list of acceptable delays.

 As I'm looking through my planner, there really doesn't seem to be anything exciting that I'm forgetting about. I wasn't in the best mood for a lot of the week - It's really hard to keep motivated when you're working a lot harder and you're not seeing any more fruit than you did without the effort. Naja, I'm pretty happy with how well I've held up. Elder Linderman has really helped me a lot there. There are a couple times I'm not sure if I would've made it out the door if he hadn't so wonderfully manipulated me. yeppers.

 I suppose the most exciting part of the week was on Saturday when we met with this investigator - He's super cool. He had found some video about some polygamist breakoff group down in Mexico, so I was pretty excited to whip out some hardcore explanation and stuff, but it ended up not even really being about that, and he already understood that we didn't have that stuff anyway. Then we ate some Octopus that he'd gotten in a Chinese laden I'd told him about because that's where we can find root beer sometimes, and ended up listening to part of a J. Golden Kimball talk with him. It wasn't exactly a traditional lesson, but hopefully some good came of it... Anyoodles.... Love you! The Church is true!

Germany Week 78

Dun dun dun...

So yeah, it's been another week. Quite the party. I can't think of too much of anything that made this week that special, but let's take a dive into what I do remember.... 

  Wednesday was actually pretty adventurous... It started out with a call from the Zone Leaders at 8 informing us that the people who had been planning on checking our apartment on Thursday night would instead be showing up in an hour. We had cleaned a fair deal already, but had intended to do some more... So we had a fun hour of cleaning. Of course, the check wasn't about cleaning anyway, they were just going around taking pictures of all the apartments for President Kosak to see, but with that purpose, cleanliness is certainly a bonus. That went pretty well. I was also really grateful for it because our home had been transforming slowly into a slimy mudhole, and it was good to be forced to spend the limited time we have redeeming it.

  Then, after district meeting, I tausched with Elder Gochnour - he came to me in Bergedorf. He actually had a member from Lauenburg who lives in our area that he wanted to visit. Our schedule wasn't too... how you say... ironclad... so I was totally cool with the idea of an adventure. So Elder Gochnour called him, and he said we could come over - so we got on a bus, went out there, walked  a ways, realized that I had been slightly misled by the map, and that where I thought his street would come through there was instead a river... but then we got there without much of a problem. We found the house and there was a moat around the front door - what I mean by that is just that the path leading up to the porch and the first step of the porch were missing. We went up to it anyway and klingeled. Nobody answered. We saw some lights on downstairs, and the screen saver was running on the computer we could see through the window so we figured he was there, not to mention the fact that we had talked to him on the phone an hour or so earlier. Then we called, and we could hear the phone ringing, but nobody answered. And it was dark and we were in the middle of nowhere, and Elder Gochnour started being like, "What if he's dead?" And then we started hearing weird dripping noises and things falling out of trees. It was pretty intense. ;P  Then we did some doors and tried again, but he still wasn't there. But don't worry, we've since received evidence that he's still alive.

  That was definitely the most exciting event of the week, but Friday was good too, we had a nice visit with the Js and with R. Saturday we decided to go explore a new part of the area, so we went to the train stop "Mittlerer Landweg," and walked from there to the next one, right on the border of our area, "Billwerder-Moorfleet." Exciting, I know. On the way we saw A Circus tent for Cirque du Solei, or however it's spelled, that I've been seeing posters all over for, IKEA, Burger King, and about three people. Just kidding. There was like a constant flood of people between Bahnhof and IKEA. But now that we know Ikea is in our area we're gonna go there like every day. ;P

  Yesterday I got to give the priesthood lesson, and Elder Linderman gave a talk. It was pretty intense, let me tell ya. I was really grateful for the amount of participation we had in priesthood, even if I couldn't figure out what the comments had to do with the questions I had asked. 

  Well, That was pretty much my week. I love you! I know the church is true and that it is led by God through a prophet today. I am grateful to be able to follow him and to know that it is true. Have a fantastic week! 

Germany Week 77

Hey, Hey, Hey,

 Let's see if I can even remember this week. Last Monday we ended up watching a bunch of other Elders and Sisters bowl... that was quite the party. But at the bowling watching experience, we also finally became, and by 'became' I mean received, a small electronic chip which has been complicating our lives. But It's main purpose is to simplify our lives. But since we had already had such a chip, it became a little complicated to switch them out. So this chip was actually a new SIM card because the mission switched service providers. The first complication was that we were supposed to get it over a week before in the mail... but ours never came. I'm not exactly sure what happened there - if it was the post's fault or some sort of mix up in the mission, but in any case we didn't get it until the AP's sent it to us through a missionary in our Zone who was in Berlin too pick up the missionary he's now training.

That does remind me though, that our post has been ridiculous here in Bergedorf... For instance, Elder Robinson's absentee ballot finally showed up a day or two ago (real useful now, right?) And Elder Linderman's parents sent a package of which there's been no sign - I haven't gotten any post here except from the mission at this address - I have no idea if anyone's sent me anything, but if they have, the Post carriers didn't get it to me - So I would recommend either sending stuff directly to the mission office or being sure to include "Kirche Jesu Christi" along with my name, because that seems to help. Don't worry though, I got the card on Friday, that came through the mission office and I got it at Zone Training meeting. Thank You!

 We had some more fun with switching phone numbers - just informing members and contacts and what not, and buying a new stamp for our pass along cards. It's been quite the party.

 Another highlighty moment of the week was Zone Training Meeting on Friday - for which Elder Linderman and I got to prepare a workshop. It was on the Study of the Book of Mormon - It went alright. Much better with the second group, because they participated a lot and I didn't have to babble like an idiot quite as much. Anyway, we gave this Thema because we're reading through the book of Mormon as a mission. We started on the sixth, and will finish on the 6th of April, just in time for general conference. It was a great meeting. Well, I love you! The Church is true! HAve a great Week!

Germany Week 76

It's been pretty crazy getting back into the swing of things - actually, it didn't take too long for it to feel normal to be to tweit again, but it was an adjustment at first. But mostly a nice adjustment. The biggest difference has been that we're going back to spending most of our time talking to randoms instead of in transit between the two cities. That's been a little bit rough.

 Monday night the three of us got into the apartment at 6, and had a party. We played some card games and ate some snacks, but then elder Linderman and I both got headaches (Even before there were too many fireworks) So then we just kinda veged for a while... Then around midnight the fireworks went crazy - Here in Germany, Silvester(New Years Eve) is a pretty big deal, and everyone shoots off their own fireworks, most of which are more like the ones we see in shows than the ones we get to light off in the streets. So we hada nice show put on by the people on the street corner by us. That was quite the party. Even if it didn't help our headaches.

 Tuesday we picked up Elder Gochnour, Elder Baker's new companion, then we split our ways. It was cool, but a little weird. I'm pretty sure we gave Elder Gochnour a weird first impression, which is totally for the best.

 Then Wednesday we had district meeting, which was held in the Nursery Room, and for a get to know you game, I had everyone pick out their favorite Toy and explain why. It was also funny, cuz we all knew each other pretty well except for Elder Gochnour.

 Thursday we just wandered around talking to people,

Friday we wandered around talking to people then had a nice appointment with the J and Spielabend with R.

Saturday we helped a family move into the ward, and then we wandered around talking to people. Sonnday we had church - we got to go to the youth sundayschool class with R and Schw. L. That was a lot of fun... I kinda wanna just go there all the time... We were there to talk about learning and teaching by the spirit. It was cool. Then There was a baby blessing with tons of family there. And then we all ate soup and bread. It was awesome. Then we actually found some people who said we can come back.. not sure how sincere they are. And now we're on Today.

Happy Week! Love You!