Hitch hikers!, Pick them up!.....

Received July 23, 2012 Ok, maybe not in America. However, you never know who might have potential to accept the word of God. This week Jasmin Strigl was baptized in Bergsee in Bad Säckingen. Only a couple of months ago she was a hitch hiker on the side of the road and the mighty Bru. Titz picked her up. He told her that he had just gotten done with his church duties and asked her what she believed. That led to her accepting the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to meet with the missionaries. Since that time she has read 25 pages each day in the Old and New Testaments and the Book of Mormon. It didn't take too long to finish the Book of Mormon, so she continued in Doctrine and Covenants and eventually in the Pearl of Great Price. She was really ready to be baptized, but she had one problem left: smoking. The week before the baptism we had a lesson with her and the Branch President. He promised her that if she had the will to stop smoking that the Lord would help her to quit. We gave her a blessing at the end of the lesson that she would be able to overcome her addiction and the promise has held. She gave up smoking and on Saturday she was baptized. Elder Chapman came back from Ellwangen to baptize her and Bru. Titz confirmed her a member of the Church on Sunday. Are there people to find and baptize in Germany? Yes! It has been wonderful teaching Jasmin and we are all so happy that she made the decision to be baptized. (John: don't you dare touch those plaques in the church) I hope that everyone has a great week. We're going to have a good one too. I'm no longer District Leader, so that means that I don't have to go on as many exchanges anymore. My MTC companion came to Schwenningen this week, so all the people from my MTC District are in this district. Sis. Nelson went home on Thursday, so that officially means that we are "old" missionaries. That doesn't matter though, we will still do good work. We won't be getting a license here since Elder Thompson has been here in Germany too long to transfer his Canadian one, therefore we will be doing a lot of walking and bus riding. Well, that's all for this week. More next week! Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!!!!!

Springkraut!!!!!

Received July 16, 2012 When I went on my mission, I definitely never thought that I would ever do anything like I did this week. Our branch had a service project on Saturday. We worked with a lady to pick weeds in the forest....yeah, weeding the forest. It really is an issue, because there is this plant called Indische Springkraut which is obviously not native to Germany and therefore needs to go before it takes over the whole forest. This plant is especially difficult to completely get rid of because the seeds from the flowers can "spring" up to 7 meters from the mother plant. We went deep into the forest to find their hiding places in really wet parts of the forest floor. At first we weren't finding too many, but then Elder Chapman called us over to see where he was working. He had found a place where they were so numerous that you could barely move two inches without finding 10 more to pull out (keep in mind that some of these can grow to be nearly 6 ft tall). While we were picking the weeds a little bit of weather started to come our way and the wind was knocking the little pine cones off the trees and hitting us and some rain was even coming down. Right then in the middle of it all, with a huge pile of weeds under my arm, the phone started ringing. I picked it up and it was President Miles. He just wanted to thank me for serving as district leader. I told him that we were in the forest and that there was bad reception, but I don't think he quite understood.....anyway, we had a great time working with the ward at the service project and we left a really good impression on the lady that was our guide who was not a member. Just in case anyone was wondering, I do not travel alone all that often. President Miles decided that it was ok for certain people to go alone on trips so that we could save some money on travel expenses. This was an action packed transfer though, I must admit. We got transfer calls on Thursday and we found out that Elder Chapman is leaving to go to Ellwangen and Elder Thompson and I will be staying together. That means however, that we will not be driving anymore for this next transfer unless the office tells Elder Thompson to get a license. That will be fun. On a side note, we went to a place called Zell im Wiesental yesterday, which is where Constanze Mozart (Mozart's wife) was born. I took a picture of the sign, like a good music nerd. Jasmin Strigl should be getting baptized on Saturday. She needs to give up smoking, but she's doing really well. It will be in a lake up north of Bad Säckingen. We're so excited. Also, our Nigerian investigator Tina came to church this week. Altogether we had 5 people in church this week. It was crazy! I'm looking forward to this week and I hope everyone has a great week and that all is well. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!

Traveling to Munich has never been so fun....

Received July 9, 2012 Or not! You might want to sit down. So on Wednesday we went to the train station in Bad Säckingen to catch my train. I left at 9 am. I took the IRE (somewhat fast train) to Schaffhausen and then switched to an SBB (Schweizer Bundes Bahn) IC (somewhat faster train) and rode to Stuttgart. I was alone in the train the whole 3 hours that I travelled. In Stuttgart I met up with Elders from the Stuttgart Zone and we all got in a DB (Deutsche Bahn) IC in the direction of Munich. At Göppingen the train stopped and the man on the loud speaker said that the train was not going any further because of a signal failure. Just then an ÖBB (Österreichische Bundes Bahn) IC pulled up and we got in that. It was on it's way to Lindau which was no help for us, so we had to get off again in Ulm. We then got on a DB IC that went to Munich. We arrived in Munich almost an hour later than we were supposed to and one of our beloved mission secretaries Elder Buntain (a Brit) was waiting there with the 8 passenger Opel van (the Beast) and we "For the Queen"-ed it out of there through the packed streets of Munich all the way to the Stake Center where we got to the meeting about a half hour late. We then had a few hours of instruction and discussion about the mission work and how we will reach our goal of 300+ baptisms this year. That night the majority of us slept in the Mission Office with about 15 or 20 of us all sleeping on the floor or on cushions or (in the case of Elder von Niederhäusern) on the stone table. It was great in the morning when we all had about 2 minutes in the shower. On Friday we were there for another several hours in the meeting. At the close of the meeting we booked it out of there and we caught the next S-bahn back to the Munich Main Station. I then travelled with all the other Stuttgart Elders back to Stuttgart (for some reason) and then went off with the Stuttgart International Elders to spend the night with them. In the morning we needed to catch my train at 9:56 and we left the apartment at about 9:40. We then proceeded to run about a quarter mile downhill to the bus stop. We got to Stuttgart Main Station just in time to run in and not see my train anywhere. I should have taken a SBB IC, but instead I had to take a DB RE (relatively slow train that stops at every station). It ended up taking about twice as long and nobody sat next to me for about 3 hours. I had to wait for an hour in Singen for my next train so I arranged for the Singen Elders (they're from my District) to come and wait with me. I then got back on a DB IRE and rode back to Bad Säckingen alone. Talk about a whirlwind trip! This week we recommitted Jasmin Strigl to be baptized on July 21st. She is soooooo excited and is now finished with the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and is reading in the Pearl of Great Price. She is really amazing. Just a couple months ago she was just some hitch hiker waiting on the side of the road until Bru. Titz came and picked her up and had the courage to tell her about the Book of Mormon. That just shows that people are everywhere and they are ready for the gospel. The Lord has blessed this land with at least 300 people that will accept the gospel this year and we are finding them and teaching them. I hope that everyone has a great day/week and that opportunities to share the gospel present themselves. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!!!!

Fighting the Punks and Learning From the Best

Received July 2, 2012 This week was pretty cool. We had the really cool opportunity to go to Schwenningen for Interviews with the President. After Interviews were over we went out to the city center and contacted, all 9 missionaries and the President. I was President Miles' companion for the time and he and I were talking to an old woman on a bench when some young kids came up and asked what we were doing. I turned around and addressed them as President stayed and talked to the lady. The kids started becoming a problem when they started trying to bash me with Islamic theology. They picked the wrong person to bash with. Comment after comment they tried to convince me that they knew more about God than I do and that all I was doing was being a Jehovahs Witness. I simply stood up for what I believe and told them straight to their faces what I know. One kid who was especially in my face said that I need to read the Quran. He didn't know that I have read a good amount and he was standing there asking me what it says about Christ in the Quran. After thoroughly debunking all of his claims of me not knowing anything he decided to go off to the other missionaries and start harrassing them. The others spent nowhere near as much time talking to him and just ignored him as he went around. As they were leaving they tried saying some more not so friendly things and I told them straight up that they needed to leave or we would call the police. They left but they didn't hurt our efforts. In that couple of hours we made out a few appointments, got some telephone numbers from people and gave out at least 10 copies of the Book of Mormon. It was really a successful day. One of the best parts was working with the President. He is really natural when he speaks to people on the street because he really just wants to find people that are interested in the gospel because it means so much to him. I want to try to incorporate some of what he does in my personal contacting. At the end of the day we got to enjoy a concert in Schwenningen where Sis. Miles and some performers from the Orchestra at Temple Square performed flute and harp music. It was great and I even got a CD, despite the fact that I told myself that I wouldn't buy more music. Life on a mission is great. It's also great to get packages. The package did get to me on Thursday or Friday probably, but I don't really know because we were in Schwenningen. The cookies were great and everything was still there, most importantly the glasses. Thank you for sending it. I even shared with my companions and they were happy too. Next week I get to go to Munich for a couple days to have some district leader training. It's going to be fun. I hope everyone has a great week and that it's not too hot where ever you are. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!

What are you saying ?!?!?!?!?!?!

Received June 25, 2012 The subject line very precisely defines the feelings that I had this week when I was in Zürich on exchange with the Zone Leaders. I had a lot of moments where I really was wondering what in the world the people were saying. We even went to a member family and they didn't even spare us that much. I now admit, the Swiss dialect is the most crazy thing ever. The only issue I had with the exchange was that I had to spend about 50 Franc to get all the tickets I needed for the two day exchange. It's a good thing that we sent in the tickets for reimbursements as soon as possible. It was nice to meet some of the awesome people that the Schwammendigen (Zürich) Elders are teaching. Here in Bad Säckingen we have been doing a lot of dooring. We went to one street where we had two successive conversations at the door that lasted about 20 minutes each. One was a really cool guy from Iraq who is Aramaic and was willing to read the Book of Mormon. He asked right at the beginning if we were Jehovahs Witnesses. We said no and he said "Are you sure? Because if you are, so help me..." He was really funny and spoke really good English since he actually lived for a while in California. He was really open to what we had to offer and he even said that next time we meet we should bring a bunch of Books of Mormon for his friends. Today we are going to Schaffhausen to check out Rhein Falls. They are the biggest in Europe I think. It will be really cool. I don't have a lot of time left to write so I will tell you all more next week. Have a nice week and don't do anything that I wouldn't do. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!

Gruezi Wohl!!!

Received June 18, 2012 Servus! Gruezi mitenand! Gruß Gott! There are more greetings, but I can't list them all. This week has not been bad. We spent a lot of time traveling this week. On Tuesday I got to go to Schaffhausen to have a meeting with the other District Leaders and the Zone Leaders. Elder Daybell is the DL in Freiburg and so I got to see him there too. We even rode the last 30 minutes of the train ride together. In Schaffhausen the church is in a little house on the hill above the train station. It was funny walking into the quaint little Swiss house and thinking that the members meet there every week for church. We also travel to Singen every week for District Meeting and so do the Elders in Schwenningen. I will also be having another meeting in Schaffhausen this week and we will be having Interviews with the mission president in Schwenningen later this month. Above all though, I will be going to Munich next month for the Great District Leader Counsel. In short, I will be traveling a lot this transfer. This week we met with one of our investigators Manuel (who is a horse whisperer) and he is really cool. He seems to already understand a lot of what we are telling him. I think he will be baptized, if not now at some point in the future. We also had an interesting day yesterday. A very large section of the main road that we travel every day along the Rhein in the city of Laufenburg was closed for an event. We needed to find a way to get to someone that was on that road, so we took a back road and hoped that we would get there. We parked the car and then started off on foot to reach the place and decided to knock on a few doors. In only about 20 minutes we found 3 potential investigators, which is not very common here. We never would have been in that area had we not been forced by the road closure to find a different way. I guess we just get led to the places where people are who are ready to hear the gospel. For mother's sake, yes we have had a couple of eating appointments already and it has been really good to get to know these people. We went on a hike this week with the Elders Quorum. At the top of the hill there was a bench and Bruder Titz sat down next to some people and started playing with their dog. He just started talking to them really casually and got into a conversation about us missionaries and what we were doing here in Switzerland. In the end he actually got their information and is going to send them a Book of Mormon. It was really cool. I didn't understand too much of what he said because a lot was in dialect, but it was cool to see him at work. He is a really good member missionary. Well, I hope that everyone has a great week. I know we will. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüß!

Schwarzwald !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Received June 11, 2012 As the subject line indicates, I am coming to you from the Black Forest. This is one of the craziest landscapes I've had so far. There are a lot of trees here in my new area and it is way cool to be in a car (in some ways). I am right on the border of Switzerland and our city sits on the Rhein river. I have now been in an area that touches every large river in the mission, namely the Rhein, the Donau, and the Neckar. There's also the Inn, but it's not quite as cool. We work in both Germany and Switzerland and it's always a joy to go through the border and get stopped by the police. They're harmless though. The dialect is not too crazy, because it's not really all that different, but once you get to real Swiss people, you can forget about it. We met the Stake President on Sunday and he was really really Swiss and when he was talking to the members, it was ridiculous. This week we got a couple new investigators and they are pretty cool too. We are able to cover a lot of area with a car, but we can only drive 2000 kilometers a month. I fear that I will gain weight here, but I hope not. It seems that the members don't invite us over to eat too much here, so we'll have to change that. It's hard to get a really good relationship with the members when we never get into their homes. We want to inspire them to share the gospel with their friends and that's why we really come over. For those who need to know/haven't written me in a while, my new address is: Elder Andrew Neumayer Kirche Jesu Christi Uhlandstr. 24 79713 Bad Säckingen Germany My new companions are way cool. One is a Canadian from Medicine Hat. The other is from Orem. We get along pretty well already and we drive around listening to classical music in the car. It's awesome!!! I'm oldest in the companionship, but I think that we all rely pretty well on each other to do our work. I'm excited for this transfer. This week I read in the Book of Mormon about when Jesus comes to the Americas. It's an awesome story. I realized this time reading that it must have been a such an amazing moment to see Christ coming out of heaven and then to suddenly realize that everything that they had ever heard from the prophets and from their parents was really true. I could almost feel as if I was standing there with them. It is hard to really imagine what it was like, but it will be just as special when He comes again. I hope when that day comes that we will all be able to come and meet Him as he shows Himself to the whole world. Just something to think about. I hope everyone has a great week, I will. Tschüüüüüüüüüüß!