Moinedy Moin moin!
It's a little too southerly down here to expect any real moinage, but I've been saying it anyway. I've been surprized by how many moins I've gotten back. It's pretty intense! I'm still loving it here in Halberstadt. There's something I really like about the feel of the area. I really love small cities. A lot of missionaries talk about the good places being the huge cities, where there are more people to talk to, and that definitely is an advantage, but I feel so much more comfortable in the smaller places. I feel like I have more of an opportunity to get to know people, and the people are a little more willing to talk. They're still not super willing, but there's a nice feeling in the air. Our area includes a good deal of the Harz, a mountainy forest thing, and I love it. We were working in a town that's snuggled into it, and we ended up going off on a path for a while. It was glorious. I suppose there are better ways to find people, but trudging through that snow surrounded by trees and hills was so nice. It can be marvelous to just take a moment and enjoy the "pleasing of the eye" part of creation. And there was quite a bit of snow. It's just been gently constantly flowing down into heaps for the last few days. It's made driving a little sketchier (Thank goodness Elder Olson does most of the driving) But it's actually not that cold, so walking around in it hasn't been bad. Slippery though... And a little wet. Anyway, I'm enjoying it.
On Tuesday I had a great Tausch with Elder Sullivan. I was with him in Magdeburg, where we did doors in a Studentwohnheim -college housing. It was nice. Well, doors are never "nice" but it's definitely one situation in which you'll find more open people. We had some cool little chats with a few people. When we met up on Wednesday with Elders Olson and Williams, we headed down to Leipzig for Zone Training Meeting. They had planned to have a "Bonfire" and we would be in our Pday clothes, but due to the weather and the slight problem of them not having keys to get into a garage or something for the stuff they would need, we had a much more traditional meeting. It was nice. 6 of the 11 remaining missionaries from our MTC group were there, which was super cool - Elder Sullivan, Olson, and I, Elder Baker, and the APs, Elders Fullmer and Bangerter. Quite honestly I've been seeing quite a bit of all of them recently, but it was still awesome to all be together.
On thursday I got to meet R, who is set to be baptized this coming Sunday. She seemed really ready. It was cool to get to meet her, and I'm excited to keep working with her. I'm getting pretty good at this coming into an area just when someone's about to get baptized thing. I just need to work on my finding people and helping them come to baptism.
Well, I love you! The Church is true! Have a great week!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Germany Week 82--An excess of Phlegm
Moin Moin from the lad where they don't say Moi quite so much. (Though I've still heard it a couple times)
First off, groundbreaking development. Yesterday at gemeinderat, oe of the members asked me if i was German. That's been one of my goals all along - that Germans would mistake me for German. Ad I've been slowly making my way in that direction. I don't think I'd have anyone fooled for long, but It was really cool that someone felt the need to ask. I still think my German can use a lot of work, but that was cool. Also, just so's you know, the n on this keyboard is havig some troubles, falls that should lead to any misunderstandings.
Well, I've been pretty darn sick this whole week. Monday last week was definitely the worst of it, but those train rides on Tuesday were not the happiest moments of my life. blleeeechh... I got into Halberstadt and napped my life away.
That's what I did through a lot of the week, actually. Each day I was feeling progressively better, so we made it out a little more each day and we were able to get to appointments, but we only went out otherwise a couple of times. And then Elder Olson was talking to people and I was mostly wiping my nose.
Now I feel a lot better, but I'm still packed with Phlegm, which makes normal functioning obnoxious.
Oh, before I forget, my address in Halberstadt is
Elder Jacob Cloward
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Mozartstr 7 38820
Halberstadt Germany
I really like this place already, despite my limited exposure. The Gemeinde is pretty small - my smallest so far, I think there were 18 people in Church on Sunday, but it's got a similar feel to those in Bad Bentheim and Nienburg - though here there are a lot fewer kids than there were in either of those branches. I'm really excited. I also just love the look of the city. There are a lot of Churches and quite a few Old Buildings, which I just love having around. Some of it's pretty different for me, just because it's in the East and I've been up im Norden this whole time.
It's also suuuuper cool to be with Elder Olson. He's so hilarious, and we already knew each other pretty well, We've got a lot to talk about and I think we're going to have an excellet transfer together. The Elders in Magdeburg are cool too - Elder Sullivan was Elder Olson's MTC companion, and Elder Williams, the young'n of the group is a total stud of a missionary.
We've got a few investigators here, I'm excited to be teaching. One is frau K, who I met, we had a nice lesson, though she admitted she was a little out of it. There's also R, the wife of a recent convert, who is going strong toward her March 3rd Baptismal date - I didn't get to meet her though because she was sick this week. I'm really looking forward to the work here.
Saturday we went to Leipzig for a "Distrikt Leiter Schulung" - basically where the Zone Leaders talk to the District Leaders about what they and President Kosak have planned for the Zone. Elder Olson is the district leader, but they said president wants the companions to start taking part in these meetings, so I got to sit in and witess the lower levels of the bureaucratic mammoth. ;P It was kinda fun. We're going to be going to Leipzig again on Wednesday for Zone Training Meeting, which will be a bonfire. Sounds like quite the party. It's a heckuva trip though - we had to leave around 1:00 and got back home at like 11:30. So we'll get to do that again on Wednesday...
Then, once I got home from that, I got to go to sleep so I could wake up the next morning and write my 15 minute talk for Sacrament meeting. That went surprizingly well, and I'm pretty sure no one even tore their eyeballs out while I was giving it. I was super tired though, and after our eating appointment I totally passed out on the couch. Someday my body will be able to function properly again.
Well kids, I love you, the church is true, have a fantastic week!
First off, groundbreaking development. Yesterday at gemeinderat, oe of the members asked me if i was German. That's been one of my goals all along - that Germans would mistake me for German. Ad I've been slowly making my way in that direction. I don't think I'd have anyone fooled for long, but It was really cool that someone felt the need to ask. I still think my German can use a lot of work, but that was cool. Also, just so's you know, the n on this keyboard is havig some troubles, falls that should lead to any misunderstandings.
Well, I've been pretty darn sick this whole week. Monday last week was definitely the worst of it, but those train rides on Tuesday were not the happiest moments of my life. blleeeechh... I got into Halberstadt and napped my life away.
That's what I did through a lot of the week, actually. Each day I was feeling progressively better, so we made it out a little more each day and we were able to get to appointments, but we only went out otherwise a couple of times. And then Elder Olson was talking to people and I was mostly wiping my nose.
Now I feel a lot better, but I'm still packed with Phlegm, which makes normal functioning obnoxious.
Oh, before I forget, my address in Halberstadt is
Elder Jacob Cloward
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Mozartstr 7 38820
Halberstadt Germany
I really like this place already, despite my limited exposure. The Gemeinde is pretty small - my smallest so far, I think there were 18 people in Church on Sunday, but it's got a similar feel to those in Bad Bentheim and Nienburg - though here there are a lot fewer kids than there were in either of those branches. I'm really excited. I also just love the look of the city. There are a lot of Churches and quite a few Old Buildings, which I just love having around. Some of it's pretty different for me, just because it's in the East and I've been up im Norden this whole time.
It's also suuuuper cool to be with Elder Olson. He's so hilarious, and we already knew each other pretty well, We've got a lot to talk about and I think we're going to have an excellet transfer together. The Elders in Magdeburg are cool too - Elder Sullivan was Elder Olson's MTC companion, and Elder Williams, the young'n of the group is a total stud of a missionary.
We've got a few investigators here, I'm excited to be teaching. One is frau K, who I met, we had a nice lesson, though she admitted she was a little out of it. There's also R, the wife of a recent convert, who is going strong toward her March 3rd Baptismal date - I didn't get to meet her though because she was sick this week. I'm really looking forward to the work here.
Saturday we went to Leipzig for a "Distrikt Leiter Schulung" - basically where the Zone Leaders talk to the District Leaders about what they and President Kosak have planned for the Zone. Elder Olson is the district leader, but they said president wants the companions to start taking part in these meetings, so I got to sit in and witess the lower levels of the bureaucratic mammoth. ;P It was kinda fun. We're going to be going to Leipzig again on Wednesday for Zone Training Meeting, which will be a bonfire. Sounds like quite the party. It's a heckuva trip though - we had to leave around 1:00 and got back home at like 11:30. So we'll get to do that again on Wednesday...
Then, once I got home from that, I got to go to sleep so I could wake up the next morning and write my 15 minute talk for Sacrament meeting. That went surprizingly well, and I'm pretty sure no one even tore their eyeballs out while I was giving it. I was super tired though, and after our eating appointment I totally passed out on the couch. Someday my body will be able to function properly again.
Well kids, I love you, the church is true, have a fantastic week!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Germany Week 81--"Tree!?!? I am no tree!"
"I am an Ent!" This phrase somehow made its way very deeply into my delirious mind last night as I was trying to fall asleep. Now that I'm awake and slightly less delirious, It doesn't seem quite as moving as before. You see, I decided that even though I am by no means hasty, I can put a pretty big dent in Isengard once I've gotten around to putting my mind to it. (I mean, I've gotta have some sort of redeeming quality, right?) So, I boldly determined that the Ents are going to War. It's gonna be awesome. I'm going to be a super hardcore missionary for the next three transfers. Not that I haven't been trying to do that the whole time, but now that I'm aided with my image of being a giant walking tree tearing down dams and throwing rocks, there's nothing that can stop me. Heheheh. I'm a lunatic.
So one of the chief reasons for my delirium is that I'm awfully sick. It started with a slight sore throat on Saturday that got worse throughout the day, and when I woke up yesterday, I had a throat so dammed up by phlegm that only Treebeard himself could release that river. By the end of the day I had a fever of 101.3 - I actually have no idea how bad of a fever that is, but I don't feel too great. So today we've been taking it slow. Poor Elder Linderman. I totally ruined his Pday. I've still got to pack today because...
I'm getting transferred to Halberstadt tomorrow! It's really cool, because 1. I'm going to be with Elder Olson, who was in the MTC and in the Flensurg district with me. As was our district leader, Elder Sullivan. That'll be quite the party. 2. because it fulfills both of what I was thinking were incompatible requirements: Halberstadt is in the East, where President keeps telling me I'm going to go, and it is part of the former Hamburg mission - So I'll've kept up my Hamburg streak and made it to the east. Pretty Cool, na? 3. That's in the Leipzig Zone nowadays, which as I understand it means I'll be able to go to the Temple! It's been quite a while since I got to do that. I'm told that Halberstadt is a very small city, with a small branch, but that we've got a large area with a car, and that it's pretty mountainous (or at least hilly -we'll see) So that train ride'll be my Tuesday.
Speaking of Tuesdays, this last Tuesday I had a Tausch with Elder Baker - It was nice to be with him again, even if our one appointment fell out and we ended up walking around talking to people the whole day.
Wednesday was looking like a pretty exciting day with an appointment with a less active member who we'd only met just once before and with a contact that the Elders in Stade found -but both of those ended up falling out. Or wait... I seem to recall Joseypookins saying I'm supposed to say through... In any case, that was disappointing. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange something this week - or rather, Elders Linderman and Von Nieda will be able to arrange something. But we did have our usual Wednesday eating appointment with the Rs, which was really nice, as always and helped keep us afloat.
Thursday we met with R and did a lot of Hymn singing. And I tried to explain notes and counting... don't think I did a great job, but it was fun. Then we had a lesson with Herr Y, which was really nice. We were able to answer a few of the questions that he had, and the spirit was there. One of those questions was about Baptism for the Dead - he thought that we baptize corpses. It's always nice to be able to clear that one up.
Friday we had transfer calls. Sort of - It was a bit different this time. Normally we have a big conference call and learn where everyone is going, but this time the AP's called us individually. President Kosak has slowly been diminishing our contact with the other missionaries. It makes me sad, but I'm sure he has a reason. Then our appointment with the Js fell through, but we had a fun Spielabend aka Hangout with R because no one else shows up even though it's an official branch activity.
Saturday afternoon we met with V - he made a fancy Ukrainian/French dish that they eat on special occasions - It was chicken with mayonaise, egg, onion, cheese and Pineapple juice baked on top of it. It was nummy. We also ended up showing him Johnny Lingo...
Sonnday was when I woke up feeling awful, but it seemed to get a little better once I'd coughed it up, and we still made it to church. Pretty much everyone there was sick too. And Half of the regulars weren't there because they were sick anyway. That led to me being asked to try to stretch out my goodbye Testimony to ten minutes. I did an awful job of looking at my watch and of judging the time I'd spoken for, and ended up only speaking for three... whoops... I'm pretty sure the other guy who spoke had been asked on the fly too... but I think he got to somewhere around twenty minutes... We got out a little early. I felt like an idiot.
Well. I can't think of anything else to say, but I don't want to end on that note. Oh - I haven't been able to send pictures for a while because I lost my cable, but with the services of Elder Linderman I present to you some random pictures from the last little while.
 |
| I'm on a bridge... |
So one of the chief reasons for my delirium is that I'm awfully sick. It started with a slight sore throat on Saturday that got worse throughout the day, and when I woke up yesterday, I had a throat so dammed up by phlegm that only Treebeard himself could release that river. By the end of the day I had a fever of 101.3 - I actually have no idea how bad of a fever that is, but I don't feel too great. So today we've been taking it slow. Poor Elder Linderman. I totally ruined his Pday. I've still got to pack today because...
 |
| Elder Linderman sat on a wall... |
I'm getting transferred to Halberstadt tomorrow! It's really cool, because 1. I'm going to be with Elder Olson, who was in the MTC and in the Flensurg district with me. As was our district leader, Elder Sullivan. That'll be quite the party. 2. because it fulfills both of what I was thinking were incompatible requirements: Halberstadt is in the East, where President keeps telling me I'm going to go, and it is part of the former Hamburg mission - So I'll've kept up my Hamburg streak and made it to the east. Pretty Cool, na? 3. That's in the Leipzig Zone nowadays, which as I understand it means I'll be able to go to the Temple! It's been quite a while since I got to do that. I'm told that Halberstadt is a very small city, with a small branch, but that we've got a large area with a car, and that it's pretty mountainous (or at least hilly -we'll see) So that train ride'll be my Tuesday.
Speaking of Tuesdays, this last Tuesday I had a Tausch with Elder Baker - It was nice to be with him again, even if our one appointment fell out and we ended up walking around talking to people the whole day.
Wednesday was looking like a pretty exciting day with an appointment with a less active member who we'd only met just once before and with a contact that the Elders in Stade found -but both of those ended up falling out. Or wait... I seem to recall Joseypookins saying I'm supposed to say through... In any case, that was disappointing. Hopefully we'll be able to arrange something this week - or rather, Elders Linderman and Von Nieda will be able to arrange something. But we did have our usual Wednesday eating appointment with the Rs, which was really nice, as always and helped keep us afloat.
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| My last Spielabend with R |
Friday we had transfer calls. Sort of - It was a bit different this time. Normally we have a big conference call and learn where everyone is going, but this time the AP's called us individually. President Kosak has slowly been diminishing our contact with the other missionaries. It makes me sad, but I'm sure he has a reason. Then our appointment with the Js fell through, but we had a fun Spielabend aka Hangout with R because no one else shows up even though it's an official branch activity.
 |
| Elder Linderman, V and I looking awesome |
Sonnday was when I woke up feeling awful, but it seemed to get a little better once I'd coughed it up, and we still made it to church. Pretty much everyone there was sick too. And Half of the regulars weren't there because they were sick anyway. That led to me being asked to try to stretch out my goodbye Testimony to ten minutes. I did an awful job of looking at my watch and of judging the time I'd spoken for, and ended up only speaking for three... whoops... I'm pretty sure the other guy who spoke had been asked on the fly too... but I think he got to somewhere around twenty minutes... We got out a little early. I felt like an idiot.
Well. I can't think of anything else to say, but I don't want to end on that note. Oh - I haven't been able to send pictures for a while because I lost my cable, but with the services of Elder Linderman I present to you some random pictures from the last little while.
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| Our district picture |
Monday, February 4, 2013
Germany Week 80--There's a Tarnation in my Boot!
Moin, Moin,
Well, another one of those weeks has slipped its way right past me. Which leads to the question, What in Tarnation is tarnation? I would imagine it's some sort of darnation derivative. ;P Speaking of segues, There was very little out of the normal for most of the week.
Well. I guess one thing that was pretty crazy that on Wednesday we ate at the I's after district meeting instead of the R's. But then we ate at the R's on Thursday, even though Thursday morning they called to cancel, but they called our old number, and so when we showed up they just made us something anyway. I felt pretty bad, but it was really nice. Groundbreaking news, I know.
Friday morning we did have a little bit of an adventure in the morning - There were some cleaning supplies being delivered to the ward building, so we needed to be there to let the delivery guy in - He was supposed to show up sometime after nine, but he called us at 7:45 to ask if he could come at 8:30 instead. He woke me up from my prayer (whoops....) and Elder Linderman was still in the shower, so I sort of groggily agreed without realizing just how tight it would be to get there. So we scrambled everything together, just barely missed our SBahn, but still made it to the church just a few minutes after he did. Then we went back to the apartment where we had to wait for these other guys to dust the inside of our water heater. We didn't have to wait long though - That is one difference here from America. Here they come before the time frame they give you, and in America, they come way after..... Then the appointments we had for that day fell out, which was a bummer, cuz Fridays have been a day we can really look forward to.
Then Saturday we spent the first half of the day Filling up the font for a baptism of one of the kids from Lauenburg. It was a nice baptism. We had an appointment for that evening fall out too, but we just moved it to Thursday night.
And Yesterday we had Church, A really nice member Appointment and Weekly Planning... In priesthood meeting we talked about Fasting and Praying - it was actually a little bit of a slap in the face for me, not only because I totally forgot that it was Fast Sunday and had a nice big dinner Saturday night, but because fasting is something I've never really used very effectively. We talked about how it can really give strength to prayer and really shows heavenly father how badly you want what it is you're fasting for, and in a way becomes part of the work that goes toward achieving that.
Well, I love you! Have a great week!
Well, another one of those weeks has slipped its way right past me. Which leads to the question, What in Tarnation is tarnation? I would imagine it's some sort of darnation derivative. ;P Speaking of segues, There was very little out of the normal for most of the week.
Well. I guess one thing that was pretty crazy that on Wednesday we ate at the I's after district meeting instead of the R's. But then we ate at the R's on Thursday, even though Thursday morning they called to cancel, but they called our old number, and so when we showed up they just made us something anyway. I felt pretty bad, but it was really nice. Groundbreaking news, I know.
Friday morning we did have a little bit of an adventure in the morning - There were some cleaning supplies being delivered to the ward building, so we needed to be there to let the delivery guy in - He was supposed to show up sometime after nine, but he called us at 7:45 to ask if he could come at 8:30 instead. He woke me up from my prayer (whoops....) and Elder Linderman was still in the shower, so I sort of groggily agreed without realizing just how tight it would be to get there. So we scrambled everything together, just barely missed our SBahn, but still made it to the church just a few minutes after he did. Then we went back to the apartment where we had to wait for these other guys to dust the inside of our water heater. We didn't have to wait long though - That is one difference here from America. Here they come before the time frame they give you, and in America, they come way after..... Then the appointments we had for that day fell out, which was a bummer, cuz Fridays have been a day we can really look forward to.
Then Saturday we spent the first half of the day Filling up the font for a baptism of one of the kids from Lauenburg. It was a nice baptism. We had an appointment for that evening fall out too, but we just moved it to Thursday night.
And Yesterday we had Church, A really nice member Appointment and Weekly Planning... In priesthood meeting we talked about Fasting and Praying - it was actually a little bit of a slap in the face for me, not only because I totally forgot that it was Fast Sunday and had a nice big dinner Saturday night, but because fasting is something I've never really used very effectively. We talked about how it can really give strength to prayer and really shows heavenly father how badly you want what it is you're fasting for, and in a way becomes part of the work that goes toward achieving that.
Well, I love you! Have a great week!
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