Received June 13, 2011
Happy Pfingst Monday everybody! Otherwise known as Pentacost Monday. I never thought that you could possibly have a day as dead as this. There wasn't anybody outside when we went to do emails. It's also sprinkling which is nice because that means that it's not hot. Just to be clear, that baptism we went to that I talked about in last week's email was the Pforzheim Sister's, not one of my investigators. I wish it was mine, it would mean that someone was actually progessing in Heilbronn. That's a little harsh sounding but it's kinda true. Nobody has time to meet with us. Anamul is going down to Ulm to be with his kids for the week so we might not meet this week at all. We met him by chance yesterday on the bus and he said that he had the 1st lesson pamphlet with him. We suggested that he read it on his way to Ulm since it's something like a 2 hour train ride away. Jessica would be doing a lot better if we could meet with her more but a lot of meeting with her depends on us having her boyfriend Brian there and he's not always too reliable. She is scheduled to be baptized on the 25th but we might have to move that back a few weeks if we don't start meeting with her a lot more. We have decided to end out pause with Arisa because he decided to come to church last week of his own accord. So we had a lesson appointment and we came to the asylum (political not insane) where he lives and we went to his room. Two of his friends who also live there were there and said that he was gone for the day and we couldn't call him because his cell phone was off. They said that we could wait there to see if he came back. After introducing ourselves, one of them, Franky from Gambia, asked us to share a message with him! That never happens! So we shared with the both of the the Einfuhrungs Lektion which is like a lesson 0 of sorts. We introduce the basic points of the message of the restoration without getting too much in depth and then present the Book of Mormon to them and invite them to read it. It is a great way of keeping the message simple to people who many times have not even heard of the church. Both of the guys said that they would read the book and Franky even said the closing prayer. He thanked the Lord that we came to them and that we share the message with them. He also prayed that he would be able to understand every word in the book through the Holy Spirit. He's just too cool for school!
Yesterday, we had a fun little experience with two drunk men at church. They came into the foyer during our Sacrament meeting and started talking really loud at which a couple of our members went outside to discuss this with them. The drunk guys said that they just wanted to observe our church services and that they pay the church tax. The church tax by the way doesn't apply to the LDS church since we are a private church and his tax does not pay us. Anyway, they had a nice little discussion until they needed to go smoke. They stood outside the gate and smoked and then came back at which point a member of Ludwigsburg Ward invited them in to their sacrament meeting which was just starting then. They went in and all was well until suddenly one of them dropped the "F" bomb and started yelling something about YouTube. They were pretty well out of it. Upon that, the (larger) Ludwigsburg members threw them out and they went away saying something about us being a sect. That was fun.
We went to the Henkel family's house for lunch. It was amazing. There was a lot of asparagus, of the white variety, and it actually wasn't too bad steam cooked with a hollandaise on top. There were amazing german potatoes and other vegetables. There was also really tender chicken. It was so good. We ended up staying there a really long time which was probably fine since nobody would have wanted to be disturbed on Pentacost Sunday. When it is a holiday, IT IS A HOLIDAY and people don't care what you have to say. Anyway, it was a great Sunday despite the drunk people.
I will probably be staying here for another transfer but Elder Sills will likely go somewhere else since he has been here 7 months already. I may make a package of stuff to send to you including some things that I have obtained in my travels here. I am running out of room in my suitcases and they are just too heavy!
Have a great week and I hope everything is sunshine, rainbows and unicorns. As always, Tschuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
3 times to Stuttgart in one week!
Received June 6, 2011
Like the subject line say, we went to Stuttgart 3 times this week. That's an hour long train ride each way by the way. It was all for good reasons though. First, we went to a District meeting like always and it was fun there like usual. The second time was to go to the Stake Center so that Elder Sills could give a baptismal interview to the investigator of the Pforzheim Sisters. That was fun because we don't usually get to meet the investigators of other companionships. The investigator is really nice and cool and does slack lining which is kinda like tight rope walking. She is actually from further north but she's studying in Pforzheim. After the interview Sister Anderson wanted to sing Be Still My Soul and I accompanied her on the piano...yea, me. It wasn't too bad. The third time to Stuttgart was the baptism itself on Saturday. This was by far the most interesting trip. As the train pulled up, we could tell something was up by the chanting and the fact that the back car was bouncing. The doors opened and we stuffed ourselves in with an entire train full of loud and very drunk soccer fans from Mannheim who were going down to Reutlingen for a game. They don't like Schwabs very much as evidenced by the songs they were singing which I will NOT write here. We stood in the part of the train with the police and felt pretty safe in their midst. That was the longest, loudest and stinkiest ride ever. When we got out in Stuttgart we walked really fast as the rest of the train poured out and the drums and chanting began to ring out. Crazy? Yeah.
The baptism though was amazing. It went really well and there was food afterward. After everyone cleared out of the rooms Elder Hawker wanted me to sing something for him since has never heard me sing before. We started with All Creatures of Our God and King and he was just smiling the whole time. We also sang God of Our Fathers in all its resplendent glory and it was really fun. Everyone out in the hall was taking a peek in now and then from the doorway. One of the men there came and "Wow, that's a voice Elder Neumayer! Satan just trembled!" A younger married girl out in the hallway told Elder Sills that she wished her husband sang like that. I just love singing when there's someone to play the piano for me. It's so cool. Things are always just better with music.
I got your package. Thanks. It had a lot of goodies in it. By the way, Sister Condie has put a ban on all salads for the time being due to the e.coli thing. And yes, your little calendar thing is correct, it has been raining today and a lot. It's a fun place this Heilbronn. I just wish it was moving a little more missionary-wise. Have a fun week and as always, Tschuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssssssssssssss!
Like the subject line say, we went to Stuttgart 3 times this week. That's an hour long train ride each way by the way. It was all for good reasons though. First, we went to a District meeting like always and it was fun there like usual. The second time was to go to the Stake Center so that Elder Sills could give a baptismal interview to the investigator of the Pforzheim Sisters. That was fun because we don't usually get to meet the investigators of other companionships. The investigator is really nice and cool and does slack lining which is kinda like tight rope walking. She is actually from further north but she's studying in Pforzheim. After the interview Sister Anderson wanted to sing Be Still My Soul and I accompanied her on the piano...yea, me. It wasn't too bad. The third time to Stuttgart was the baptism itself on Saturday. This was by far the most interesting trip. As the train pulled up, we could tell something was up by the chanting and the fact that the back car was bouncing. The doors opened and we stuffed ourselves in with an entire train full of loud and very drunk soccer fans from Mannheim who were going down to Reutlingen for a game. They don't like Schwabs very much as evidenced by the songs they were singing which I will NOT write here. We stood in the part of the train with the police and felt pretty safe in their midst. That was the longest, loudest and stinkiest ride ever. When we got out in Stuttgart we walked really fast as the rest of the train poured out and the drums and chanting began to ring out. Crazy? Yeah.
The baptism though was amazing. It went really well and there was food afterward. After everyone cleared out of the rooms Elder Hawker wanted me to sing something for him since has never heard me sing before. We started with All Creatures of Our God and King and he was just smiling the whole time. We also sang God of Our Fathers in all its resplendent glory and it was really fun. Everyone out in the hall was taking a peek in now and then from the doorway. One of the men there came and "Wow, that's a voice Elder Neumayer! Satan just trembled!" A younger married girl out in the hallway told Elder Sills that she wished her husband sang like that. I just love singing when there's someone to play the piano for me. It's so cool. Things are always just better with music.
I got your package. Thanks. It had a lot of goodies in it. By the way, Sister Condie has put a ban on all salads for the time being due to the e.coli thing. And yes, your little calendar thing is correct, it has been raining today and a lot. It's a fun place this Heilbronn. I just wish it was moving a little more missionary-wise. Have a fun week and as always, Tschuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssssssssssssss!
Wos sagt er? Der Donau er Moperle? Das is ja Blodsinn!
Received May 30, 2011
Another week in Heilbronn! This week was filled with a whole lot of nothing. People and their appointments feel out quite a few times. It was insanity! But, we had some good conversations with some fun people, We got a new sim card in our phone and for the first couple of days we were having trouble calling people, which was something we HAD to do since the sim card came with a new phone number. That was not cool. We have to go and change all of our numbers on the cards that we had already stamped and call everybody that we actually have contact with to tell them about the new number. It's a good thing that those cards that we had already given out still have the internet address on them. We went to a part member family this week where the husband, who is not a member, is an avid bonsai tree grower. I never thought I would meet a German that grew bonsai trees. The wife is also an avid gardener and they have an olive tree in their back yard! Another thing I never thought I would see in Germany. They also have a very sweet Afghan hound that just walks around and looks pretty.
We finally got invited to an after church lunch at a member's house thus breaking the three week long famine in the land. The Lichners are an awesome family and it is always amazing to spend time with them. Wolfgang Lichner, the husband, is like the German version of Jared Thomas, the other Sarastro in the BYU Magic Flute. He's just as tall if not taller and speaks just as low and is just as awesome and nice. In the entire Stuttgart Zone, there are three people with baptism dates. One is from us, another from the Pforzheim Sisters and the other is in the Stuttgart International. That means our district is leading in baptismal dates right not. It's cool and we expect the work to continue to expand as people get to know the missionaries and see the blessings of accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope you have a wonderful week and that the sun shines and isn't as hot there as it is here! Until next week, Tschuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuss!
Another week in Heilbronn! This week was filled with a whole lot of nothing. People and their appointments feel out quite a few times. It was insanity! But, we had some good conversations with some fun people, We got a new sim card in our phone and for the first couple of days we were having trouble calling people, which was something we HAD to do since the sim card came with a new phone number. That was not cool. We have to go and change all of our numbers on the cards that we had already stamped and call everybody that we actually have contact with to tell them about the new number. It's a good thing that those cards that we had already given out still have the internet address on them. We went to a part member family this week where the husband, who is not a member, is an avid bonsai tree grower. I never thought I would meet a German that grew bonsai trees. The wife is also an avid gardener and they have an olive tree in their back yard! Another thing I never thought I would see in Germany. They also have a very sweet Afghan hound that just walks around and looks pretty.
We finally got invited to an after church lunch at a member's house thus breaking the three week long famine in the land. The Lichners are an awesome family and it is always amazing to spend time with them. Wolfgang Lichner, the husband, is like the German version of Jared Thomas, the other Sarastro in the BYU Magic Flute. He's just as tall if not taller and speaks just as low and is just as awesome and nice. In the entire Stuttgart Zone, there are three people with baptism dates. One is from us, another from the Pforzheim Sisters and the other is in the Stuttgart International. That means our district is leading in baptismal dates right not. It's cool and we expect the work to continue to expand as people get to know the missionaries and see the blessings of accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope you have a wonderful week and that the sun shines and isn't as hot there as it is here! Until next week, Tschuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuss!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Captain's Log
Received May 23, 2011
THIS is THE 3rd WEEK in a row...that MEMBERS have not FED the MISSIONARIES on Sunday...We WILL soon NEED to go out in SEARCH of NOURISHMENT ourselves...WHO knows WHAT we MAY encounter...WILL send out the RED SHIRT guy first to SEE if EVERYTHING is clear and then travel out INTO the UNKNOWNNNNNN.....
But seriously, this week has been one of the best. It all started on Monday with our opportunity to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. They came later in the day and Elder Baird and I went off to Ohringen while Elders Adams and Sills stayed in Heilbronn. We talked to quite a few people on our way to the Dieterle family. One of the most interesting people was a kid at the train station who was just sitting on top of a bench smoking. Elder Baird approached him and asked him if he had ever thought about some of the questions of life, "Where did I come from?", "What happens after this life?". He said that he hadn't really thought about any of those kinds of things. He accepted the invitation to talk a little more about the gospel later. We ended up having another meeting with him later in the week where he took a Book of Mormon. We continued from the train station to the Dieterles and talked to quite a few people on the way. Arriving there just on time, we came up and ate dinner. As usual, Michelle Dieterle's friend Kathrine and Brian Dieterle's girlfriend Jessica were both there. Neither are members and Elder Baird took the opportunity to teach them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. At the end he committed both to read the Book of Mormon and Jessica even committed to be baptized on June 25th. We taught her one other time last week and she even came to church on Sunday. She's a little hard to get comments out of but she pays attention to the messages. We will be teaching her tonight. We also had Zone Conference this week and lots of fun things were learned there. Transfer calls were this week and Elder Sill and I are both staying for another transfer. Lots of fun stuff going on here. I hope everyone has a great week. Tschuuuuuusssss!
THIS is THE 3rd WEEK in a row...that MEMBERS have not FED the MISSIONARIES on Sunday...We WILL soon NEED to go out in SEARCH of NOURISHMENT ourselves...WHO knows WHAT we MAY encounter...WILL send out the RED SHIRT guy first to SEE if EVERYTHING is clear and then travel out INTO the UNKNOWNNNNNN.....
But seriously, this week has been one of the best. It all started on Monday with our opportunity to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President. They came later in the day and Elder Baird and I went off to Ohringen while Elders Adams and Sills stayed in Heilbronn. We talked to quite a few people on our way to the Dieterle family. One of the most interesting people was a kid at the train station who was just sitting on top of a bench smoking. Elder Baird approached him and asked him if he had ever thought about some of the questions of life, "Where did I come from?", "What happens after this life?". He said that he hadn't really thought about any of those kinds of things. He accepted the invitation to talk a little more about the gospel later. We ended up having another meeting with him later in the week where he took a Book of Mormon. We continued from the train station to the Dieterles and talked to quite a few people on the way. Arriving there just on time, we came up and ate dinner. As usual, Michelle Dieterle's friend Kathrine and Brian Dieterle's girlfriend Jessica were both there. Neither are members and Elder Baird took the opportunity to teach them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel. At the end he committed both to read the Book of Mormon and Jessica even committed to be baptized on June 25th. We taught her one other time last week and she even came to church on Sunday. She's a little hard to get comments out of but she pays attention to the messages. We will be teaching her tonight. We also had Zone Conference this week and lots of fun things were learned there. Transfer calls were this week and Elder Sill and I are both staying for another transfer. Lots of fun stuff going on here. I hope everyone has a great week. Tschuuuuuusssss!
Friday, May 20, 2011
"That Looks Pretty Bad, Elder Sills." "Na, We'll Be Fine."
Received May 16, 2011
So this was a pretty good week. We got to go to Das Rheingold. It was really well sung but the production was really weird. But like I said though the most important part was that the singers were good. Oh and there was FIRE! It was a P-day well spent. On Sunday we didn't get invited over for lunch so we went back home to eat. As we left it started sprinkling a little but it looked fine. It was just a little cold. We took an S-bahn out to Leingarten to go to a former investigator. As we got out I looked to the east and there were enormous and ominous storm clouds. The conversation in the subject line occurred and then we started off. We got about halfway there when it was essentially a downpour with hail and lightning to boot! When the lightning started we were like "Let's go back"! The we ran all the way back to the station running through the huge puddles that had just showed up in the past minute or two getting pelted by hail all the way. It didn't really make much difference that I had brought my umbrella because we were soaked anyway. We just went back home and dried off for half an hour or so (my shoes are still not dry) and then we went back out, just to a different place where we ended up having some good conversations and gave someone a Book of Mormon. Maybe we just weren't supposed to go to Leingarten? Anyway, it's been a great week and today we are going on splits with the Assistants to the President. It will be awesome. It sounds like everything is awesome at home. I hope that everything is sunshine, rose, puppy dogs and unicorns! Until next week, Tschuuuuuuuuuuusssssss!
So this was a pretty good week. We got to go to Das Rheingold. It was really well sung but the production was really weird. But like I said though the most important part was that the singers were good. Oh and there was FIRE! It was a P-day well spent. On Sunday we didn't get invited over for lunch so we went back home to eat. As we left it started sprinkling a little but it looked fine. It was just a little cold. We took an S-bahn out to Leingarten to go to a former investigator. As we got out I looked to the east and there were enormous and ominous storm clouds. The conversation in the subject line occurred and then we started off. We got about halfway there when it was essentially a downpour with hail and lightning to boot! When the lightning started we were like "Let's go back"! The we ran all the way back to the station running through the huge puddles that had just showed up in the past minute or two getting pelted by hail all the way. It didn't really make much difference that I had brought my umbrella because we were soaked anyway. We just went back home and dried off for half an hour or so (my shoes are still not dry) and then we went back out, just to a different place where we ended up having some good conversations and gave someone a Book of Mormon. Maybe we just weren't supposed to go to Leingarten? Anyway, it's been a great week and today we are going on splits with the Assistants to the President. It will be awesome. It sounds like everything is awesome at home. I hope that everything is sunshine, rose, puppy dogs and unicorns! Until next week, Tschuuuuuuuuuuusssssss!
To All My Adoring Fans
Received May 9, 2011
First of all it was really cool getting to talk to everyone last night. It was really late and I was tired when I woke up this morning but it was alright. It was for a good cause. I forgot to tell you about Saturday. It was Europa Tag and you know what THAT means: Wine Women and Song! Well, kinda. We happened to pass through the Stadmitte a couple of times and there were some really cool dance and singing performances on a big stage. There were also booths set up all over the square that had things from each of the represented countries in the EU. A very kind lady came and gave us pretzels that looked like little EUs. It was really fun and I loved getting some culture. We also went out to a few places and doored! Ja Wohl! It was fun just to go around. With the coming of Spring and lots of festivals (and days off) so comes the excess of beer, dirndls and lederhosen. It's a lovely sight and great that so many people feel unashamed of their old culture. I just wish that there was less alcohol involved. But, all that aside, we have just been having fun here in Heilbronn. President and Sister Condie came to our branch on Sunday and it was a great surprise to see them come so far out of their way. President Condie served here 38 years ago and feels a special affinity for the people. There was also a very large family from Brazil in the congregation. They practically doubled our branch. We also taught the lesson in Priesthood class about Missionary work (something they seem to think we know a lot about) and it went well. Bru. Zander fell asleep in the front row and was snoring. I thought that was pretty funny. We went to a place called Guglingen (40-50 min bus ride) where we saw a couple of cool things. The first was a person's yard that had a US Army truck from the 50s or 60s just chilling out. That was cool. Then we went saw a person's yard where they had set up (as part of their landscaping) a model train set. I want one of those. There are just some really awesome things here and you just have to keep your eyes open in order to see them. I hope everyone has a great week and that everything is going well and not too stressful. Tschuuuuuuusssss!!!
First of all it was really cool getting to talk to everyone last night. It was really late and I was tired when I woke up this morning but it was alright. It was for a good cause. I forgot to tell you about Saturday. It was Europa Tag and you know what THAT means: Wine Women and Song! Well, kinda. We happened to pass through the Stadmitte a couple of times and there were some really cool dance and singing performances on a big stage. There were also booths set up all over the square that had things from each of the represented countries in the EU. A very kind lady came and gave us pretzels that looked like little EUs. It was really fun and I loved getting some culture. We also went out to a few places and doored! Ja Wohl! It was fun just to go around. With the coming of Spring and lots of festivals (and days off) so comes the excess of beer, dirndls and lederhosen. It's a lovely sight and great that so many people feel unashamed of their old culture. I just wish that there was less alcohol involved. But, all that aside, we have just been having fun here in Heilbronn. President and Sister Condie came to our branch on Sunday and it was a great surprise to see them come so far out of their way. President Condie served here 38 years ago and feels a special affinity for the people. There was also a very large family from Brazil in the congregation. They practically doubled our branch. We also taught the lesson in Priesthood class about Missionary work (something they seem to think we know a lot about) and it went well. Bru. Zander fell asleep in the front row and was snoring. I thought that was pretty funny. We went to a place called Guglingen (40-50 min bus ride) where we saw a couple of cool things. The first was a person's yard that had a US Army truck from the 50s or 60s just chilling out. That was cool. Then we went saw a person's yard where they had set up (as part of their landscaping) a model train set. I want one of those. There are just some really awesome things here and you just have to keep your eyes open in order to see them. I hope everyone has a great week and that everything is going well and not too stressful. Tschuuuuuuusssss!!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Na Servas!
Wie geht euch? Everything is good here in the lovely City of Heilbronn. There were two protests yesterday. One was against Nazis and the other was against immigrants having jobs in Deutschland. There are approximately 6,000 police in Heilbronn in order to make sure that no one crossed between the two protests. We didn't see any of it but there were no buses and we had to be picked up to go to church. We were taken in for the whole afternoon by a lovely family in a little place called Zaberfeld. They are great members of the church and have a son preparing to go on a mission. Their daughter was the one who played soprano recorder with Schwe. Henkel on Easter. They live in a really cool house with lots of paintings by Gustav Klimmt and Paul Klee. It's cool. We do a lot of train riding here and a lot of buses riding. It's not the best but it does show us a lot of the countryside. We have permission to go to the opera and I'm excited! It actually costs a lot less than the Wiener Volksoper did. We can get orchestra level seats for 23 euros. That's what I call a bargain! Anyway, it will be awesome (they have fire). We went to our GMLs house for a meeting the other day and afterwards he wanted me to sing some songs for him. He sat at the piano and played some lovely operetta songs. Imagine the day when Elder Andrew Neumayer gets up and sings Komm in die Gondel and the Wolgalied while also have sung both of the Sarastro arias from Die Zauberflote. It was awesome! I got a letter from Ryan Wassenaar that obviously had something missing. I received a letter from Jonathan Wooldridge the next day and it shed a whole lot of light on the matter. They had written the letters where each took every other line to write their part. Nice job boys!
Anyway now the main event, Mothers Day calls. I will talk to you at 9 pm my time, noon your time. That way maybe you can call some other family to join in. I look forward to talking to you! I hope everything is great this week. Tschuss!!!!
Anyway now the main event, Mothers Day calls. I will talk to you at 9 pm my time, noon your time. That way maybe you can call some other family to join in. I look forward to talking to you! I hope everything is great this week. Tschuss!!!!
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