Another krasy, krasy week, that I've almost entirely forgotten. It's a good thing I've got these emails, because they're the most complete Journal I've been keeping for a while... whoopsies...
I'd also like do start with a shoutout to my daddy. Happy Birfday tomorrow!
Well, I suppose I get to start with last Sunday, the 12th of May, seeing as this week got stretched out a bit. Well. That sunday was really good. P, our investigator from Nigeria came! He is so cool! And he really enjoyed church, even though he couldn't understand any of the German. Don't worry though, I was there to translate for him the whole time. Normally during sacrament meeting they have translation done through headsets, but some of them weren't working, so they only had enough for the Senior couples, so I got to translate for Paul anyway - everything except for my talk. I got to talk for five minutes about how it is for me as a missionary being away from my family and how awesome it is that you are all so supportive of me and that families are eternal. We (As part of the priesthood of the ward) also sang that one dead people song but we sang "mothers" instead of friends. I thought it was a cute idea, but there was a little bit of drama over the song choice - nothing bad, just not everyone was excited that we were singing the dead people song, which they didn't know anyway. Elder Beck sang a solo and did awesomely. After Church we went to the Z family, who are really cool and down to earth. We had a good time with them. Then we went to open up the Office for the Neukölln sisters so that they could Skype with their families, but the internet was down. Curse you, internet! It is at this point that elder Cloward realizes that he's still describing his first of eight days, and that time is running thin..... anyway, The B's let them skype at their place and sister Peine came and saved the day by unplugging the router and then plugging it back in, this time waiting longer than Elder Beck and I had.
Monday - We got a lot done in the office. Woo hoo!
Tuesday we did a bunch of office stuff, then we ordered Pizza as an office staff. It was pretty good, but very thin, and no where near worth the price we payed.... Then everybody else had their Office Meeting and we ran of with the Dahlem Elders, with whom we were going to teach. There's a family that they'd been teaching, the Ms, that live right on the boundary of our two areas, and have been meeting with them, but coming to our church. They haven't come since I've been here though, but they intend to keep coming. So the Dahlem elders were going to pass them onto us, so they can be taught in the ward they'll be attending. But we had some time before that appointment, and the Dahlem elders dropped into the office but were going to lunch first, so we tagged along. Greek food. So I bought a small Gyro plate and some water. The food was delicious. But I have no idea why I bought that water! There was like half a liter of mineral water imported from Greece, and it cost me 2 euro. On top of that, I'm pretty sure it was enchanted with dark greek magic! Effects of the Greek water:
1. I have been sneezing up a storm! and my throat has been itching! Only explanation:Greek Water
2. Starting Tuesday afternoon, I was suddenly extremely tired, and despite sleeping, didn't feel at all energized for the next several days.
3. My lower left eyelid swelled to roughly the size of Nebraska. I don't know if it's a Stye or an allergic reaction or what, I only know that it's origin was in Greece.
4. see 2 Chronicles 21:15
5. Who knows how many symptoms I've yet to discover!?!?!?
Anyhoodles, after our culinary venture, we went to visit this family. The Wife wasn't there, I guess she was sick. But we met with the man and he was really nice. It was a little weird having all four elders with just him, and he didn't seem all that responsive at first, but once he started talking it became clearer that he believed it and he was accepting it. He just didn't talk much. We read 2 Nephi 31 together and talked about baptism and invited him to be baptized. He set a goal with us to be baptized, but we also stressed the importance of reading, praying, pondering, and discussing it with his wife - We're told she's already expressed the desire to get baptized, but she just wasn't there. It was a really good experience. It's not every day you get a referral that turns immediately into a baptismal date. I'm excited to get to know them and to help them progress toward their baptism. Later that night we Tausched with the Neukölln Elders - I went out to Neukölln with Elder Gibson and Elder Myrabo came to Elder Beck in the Office. That was a party.
Our day on Wednesday included a very interesting eating appointment with an older lady in the ward who took us to a bakery where we were served belegte Brötchen. After that we were able to go contact a referral from Missionaries in London, who I'd actually talked to a day or two before on the phone, and had given on to the Neukölln missionaries. They were really cool people from Ghana and were excited that the Latter Day Saints were coming to visit them. "You are doing a great work," the man said. It wasn't the best time, so we made out a return appointment - I'll have to ask how that went.
Thursday we had an awesome Distrikt meeting. Well, I gave the Thema. Not sure how awesome that was, but I think I did an alright job. Afterward we all went together to a Chinese Buffet, but the buffet part didn't start for another half hour, so we split off and I got to go with Elder Turney. It was wonderful to catch up with him a little bit, and we were able to give away a Book of Mormon, which was cool. That evening we met with R and the Sisters again. Man, that guy is so cool. So thoughtful, so honest, so sincere. He's not sure what he believes or what he wants to do, but it's miraculous how openly he'll state that and how thoughtful he is when we teach him. We ended up teaching the plan of salvation. Sister Peine has a really nicely made "puzzle" thing, much like the ones we always see - one thing that she had that I thought was really cool were separate figures for Adam, Eve, Christ, and the investigator specifically, each of which she took through the plan as she described it. I know I felt the spirit as we testified of the purpose of life and of the reason that God allows suffering here. I really think that Robert felt it too. He said he really can accept it, that he sees that it's perfectly logical as a system, but that he needs time to test out how it can apply in every day life. He said he'd like to meet with us again in maybe six months or a year. We explained that we would love to be a part of that journey, to learn from him and for him to learn from us. So we've got another appointment set up for this week. I love that man so much. The thing is, he actually lives in Neukölln's area, so there will need to be a transition at some point. I just really hope that we are able to do what's best for him.
Friday we met with P again, which was good. We read some of King Benjamin's talk with him and I think it was nice. As we were bringing the lesson to a close, he asked us a question. Another investigator had called him an "investigator," and he was really bothered by that. He said he didn't like the connotations and wanted to be a member. Then we began to talk about baptism. He didn't understand why he would need to be baptized again. We mentioned that it was because of priesthood authority, but he believes in the Catholic line of authority. I wasn't able to explain it all that well, but we both said that we would read and pray and discuss it next time. I really hope that we're able to do that well. I felt like anything I did then would've been a little bit Bible bashy and without the spirit. I really hope we'll be able to have a spiritually uplifting and enlightening discussion.
Saturday we spent in Dresden! Woohooo! We took a train down and spent the afternoon with 60 other missionaries practicing the music that we sang in the evening for Stake Conference. Elders Bangerter, Wolfley, Beck and I had a quartet bit in "Called to Serve." It was a lot of fun. It was great to be able to see that stake conference, too. And there were so many good missionary friends that I thought I wasn't going to see again! Afterwards we went to McDonalds with the Kosaks - that's where all of the big decisions of the mission are made. ;P It was really fun. Though, once again, the extent of my sight seeing was the Karl G. Maeser statue. Though actually not quite - we saw some really beautiful stuff as we were driving to McDonald's.
Dang, I'm taking forever. Yesterday at church was good, but none of our investigators came, which was very disappointing. I got to meet our high councilor, who knows Joseph really well. He was walking by, saw my name tag and said, "Cloward! I know you!" And as he saw my confused expression he said, "well, I know your brother - quite well." He was hilarious. and English. I then got to translate for the headsets in sacrament meeting. That was a doozy. There was this one guy who spoke about the meaning of the Pentecost in rapid high language. It was fun though. Afterward, both Senior couples, the sisters and we crammed into the apartment of this Thai family and ate delicious food and had a great time.
Today was nice too, although our network was down in the morning, so there was little we could do in the office - but then we went to an eating appointment with a member and her husband. It was really nice to get to know them. Happy Pentecost Monday, by the way. Then we came back and worked on officy stuff.
Well, I'mma be done now.
Love you!
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