Received August 29, 2011
So I got to see the effects of the first Volksfest during my time in Ingolstadt. There was one in a city just south of here and everyone was going to it dressed up in their Tracht (lederhosen and dirndls). It was pretty cool to see that it's still ok to wear those kind of things here. All the northern Germans think that it's weird, but everyone here just thinks that it's a normal part of life. Somewhere along the line they must have just decided that they wouldn't be ashamed of their heritage. It's cool.
As requested (and so that my mother will not kill me) here is my new address:
Elder Andrew Neumayer
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Dollstrasse 10
85049 Ingolstadt
Germany
Let the mailing begin.
This was a fun week. We had a good amount of lessons with people. We are getting a lot closer to baptism with a lot of people. They just have to make the leap and set a date as a goal and God will help them the rest of the way. We also teach a man named Bruder Saboory who is a less active member of the church because it is hard for him to get to church. He is nearly blind and he has some mental issues because he was tortured back in Iran. He is one of the most amazing and believing members of the church. He said that he used to read the Book of Mormon all the time when he had breaks at work and he would read it all day long because he was just amazed at the book and all the truths that it had in it. He also loves the hope that the book brings and the wonderful message that it contains about Christ and his mission on earth and in eternity.
Sometimes we meet some "fun" people on the street. There was a Herr Grunnert who we met once and then came back to see if we could teach him. He is a wirey little old man that is 84 years old and he just talks and talks and talks. It was hard to get him to not talk because inevitably he would end up changing the subject before we could answer a question that he had. It was interesting to talk to him and he really liked talking to us and hearing our opinion on everything, but we can't really teach him. These kinds of people just seem to flock to us though. It's crazy.
Some of the members in Ingolstadt are crazy fast speakers and they speak such thick Bairisch that it's often hard to understand them, but one learns to deal with these kinds of situations.
Our apartment is right above an Italian restaurant and they play music by lots of "operatic" singers. It's fun and it always smells like garlic bread.......yes. It's also gotten a lot cooler in the past couple of days. We bought a fan this week because we couldn't deal with it anymore. It was over 30 Celsius for most of the beginning of the week. It was not cool....haha cool.....get it......
Elder Daybell reached his year mark the other day and he kinda tripped out but he's better now. I wonder what I will be like at that point.
I really don't have all that many pictures. I only really have the one of the family at the beach, of Karen in her costume for Butterfly, you at Disneyland, and a couple of Emily. That's it. So I really don't care what you send me.
I have given it a lot of thought and I have come to the conclusion that my birthday present wish is for enough money to buy lederhosen. A good pair and the appropriate accessories. This wish is not too cheap, so it will cost somewhere in the area of 250€-300€ so that will be something to work for. We'll have to see since that is such a big number.
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and that there is love, peace, and visions of Elder Neumayer running across big German valleys in his very own pair of lederhosen. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
So Humid, Can't Breathe.....
Received August 22, 2011
What the freak happened to the whole "now it's Fall" thing. It was pretty bad this week. I've been dying since we got off the train in Ingolstadt on Wednesday. Like the subject line says, it's been pretty horrible and we have been doing so much contacting. Sometimes I don't want to leave apartment buildings in the interest of just standing in the dark hallways. It also requires a ton of water drinking, which isn't a huge problem since I have a full liter with me almost all the time. Ingolstadt is a fun little city. Our apartment is definitely the smallest one I've been in so far and I've heard that it's the smallest one in the mission. Elder Foremaster was here quite a while ago and he trained my "brother" Elder Anderson here who was in the Stuttgart International Ward while I was in Heilbronn. Now Elder Anderson is the Zone Leader here in Munich. On transfer day we got up at 4 in the morning so that we could catch a train at 5:59 to Stuttgart and then subsequently an ICE (a very nice and fast train) to Munich. I got to ride with the missionaries that are training which include Elder Pexton, Elder James Kirk Hawker (yes that is his name), Elder Graff (one of the coolest guys you're ever likely to meet, and the Sisters from Pforzheim. Upon arrival at the Munich train station, we were greeted by many old friends. While waiting there I saw Sis. Dye who was in the MTC with me, Sis. McGuire who was is Wien and is also a singer, and a big surprise Sis. Downs. I also saw Elder Dilg from my MTC district. He will be a District Leader in Neuötting and he said that Elder Clark will also be in the Munich Zone in Passau. It will be fun to meet up at Zone Conferences. With the past two transfers all of the companionships in the mission have been changed and every area has been handed over to the person that was there for less time. Lots of changes going on under the leadership of President Miles.
We found out last week that Elder Bednar is going to be coming to this area and we will have the chance to speak with him on Sep. 5 in a special mission tour. That will be awesome.
My new companion Elder Daybell is cool. He is from Springville, Utah. He is only 3 transfers older than me on his mission. We are learning a lot from each other. Ingolstadt is doing pretty well. We have more investigators here than in Heilbronn and so we get to teach more. Teaching is way better than Finding. I've been trying to adapt to Bayrisch and it's coming along, but it is a very interesting intonation of the German language. We are one of the only missions in the world with so many seemingly similar yet very different dialects, and that's just in Germany. We won't even talk about Switzerland. Everyone was really happy in the branch on Sunday to meet the new Elder Neumayer since Neum(-eier, -eyer, -ayer) is a very popular name here in Niederbayern. They were also happy to have someone that can sing well and lead the music in Sacrament meeting.
Next week I'll write a little more about the investigators in this area and how the work is going forward. Until then, I hope that everyone has a lovely week and that everything is rainbows, puppy dogs, and bunny rabbits. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!
What the freak happened to the whole "now it's Fall" thing. It was pretty bad this week. I've been dying since we got off the train in Ingolstadt on Wednesday. Like the subject line says, it's been pretty horrible and we have been doing so much contacting. Sometimes I don't want to leave apartment buildings in the interest of just standing in the dark hallways. It also requires a ton of water drinking, which isn't a huge problem since I have a full liter with me almost all the time. Ingolstadt is a fun little city. Our apartment is definitely the smallest one I've been in so far and I've heard that it's the smallest one in the mission. Elder Foremaster was here quite a while ago and he trained my "brother" Elder Anderson here who was in the Stuttgart International Ward while I was in Heilbronn. Now Elder Anderson is the Zone Leader here in Munich. On transfer day we got up at 4 in the morning so that we could catch a train at 5:59 to Stuttgart and then subsequently an ICE (a very nice and fast train) to Munich. I got to ride with the missionaries that are training which include Elder Pexton, Elder James Kirk Hawker (yes that is his name), Elder Graff (one of the coolest guys you're ever likely to meet, and the Sisters from Pforzheim. Upon arrival at the Munich train station, we were greeted by many old friends. While waiting there I saw Sis. Dye who was in the MTC with me, Sis. McGuire who was is Wien and is also a singer, and a big surprise Sis. Downs. I also saw Elder Dilg from my MTC district. He will be a District Leader in Neuötting and he said that Elder Clark will also be in the Munich Zone in Passau. It will be fun to meet up at Zone Conferences. With the past two transfers all of the companionships in the mission have been changed and every area has been handed over to the person that was there for less time. Lots of changes going on under the leadership of President Miles.
We found out last week that Elder Bednar is going to be coming to this area and we will have the chance to speak with him on Sep. 5 in a special mission tour. That will be awesome.
My new companion Elder Daybell is cool. He is from Springville, Utah. He is only 3 transfers older than me on his mission. We are learning a lot from each other. Ingolstadt is doing pretty well. We have more investigators here than in Heilbronn and so we get to teach more. Teaching is way better than Finding. I've been trying to adapt to Bayrisch and it's coming along, but it is a very interesting intonation of the German language. We are one of the only missions in the world with so many seemingly similar yet very different dialects, and that's just in Germany. We won't even talk about Switzerland. Everyone was really happy in the branch on Sunday to meet the new Elder Neumayer since Neum(-eier, -eyer, -ayer) is a very popular name here in Niederbayern. They were also happy to have someone that can sing well and lead the music in Sacrament meeting.
Next week I'll write a little more about the investigators in this area and how the work is going forward. Until then, I hope that everyone has a lovely week and that everything is rainbows, puppy dogs, and bunny rabbits. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!
Auf Wiedersehn Heilbronn!
Received August 16, 2011
Yes, it's true. I have been transferred. It has been a lovely time here in Heilbronn and I have enjoyed everything that I was able to do. I have been called to serve in Ingolstadt in Bayern (Bavaria). For all of you out there who don't know anything about Germany, Bayern is where Lederhosen comes from. Granted, I'm not in the mountains, but these are the people that I get to work with in this wonderful mission. I won't lie, they don't wear lederhosen all the time, but we are reaching the time of Oktoberfest and I will be only about an hour away from München (Munich) where the world renowned Oktoberfest is held every year. We'll see what happens between now and then. For all you car lovers out there, I have been serving for the past few months a few minutes south of Neckarsulm which is a city known for it's giant Audi production plant. For anyone who knows car history, it was the place where the car company NSU (stands for Neckarsulm) was founded way back in the day. In Ingolstadt, I will be blessed to work in another city known for Audi where they have their headquarters. Some people want me to make a deal with the company so that we can get Audis for the mission cars instead of Opels. I kinda doubt the reality of that happening, but we'll see.
Meanwhile, back in Heilbronn, Elder Pexton will be training a missionary fresh out of the MTC and he is glad to have that opportunity. Although, that means that he really does have to wake up in the morning and do some exercise to set a good example for the new kid.
We had a street display this week on Saturday and it went alright and we got a few numbers. However, we got in a little "scuff" with the Fuzz 'cause somebody felt like we were being "aggressive" (codeword for standing in front of them so that they actually look at us and don't just get stuck in their little German world). So we had to just stand there and hope that someone took a card from one of our outstretched hands.
We taught our Nigerian investigator Arisa this week. He's heard everything multiple times and we just try to help him by giving him more things to think about and hoping that at some point he decides that he is ready to stop smoking (which he knows is a sin, by the way). We shared Alma Chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon with him. He really enjoyed verse 40 for how forward it is, "For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil." Later in the chapter it asks, if you are not one of the sheep of the Good Shepherd, then whose sheep are you? Hopefully that will be something that will help Arisa to decide to give up the few things that are preventing him from being baptized.
The work is moving forward in Heilbronn and I'm sad to have to leave it, but nothing will stop the work of God as it rolls forward.
Yes, I will be sending a package. I don't really know when that time will come but hopefully soon since I'm kinda running out of places to put stuff. We'll see.
I hope everyone has a wonderful time in California, or wherever you hail from. Have a good week. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß
Yes, it's true. I have been transferred. It has been a lovely time here in Heilbronn and I have enjoyed everything that I was able to do. I have been called to serve in Ingolstadt in Bayern (Bavaria). For all of you out there who don't know anything about Germany, Bayern is where Lederhosen comes from. Granted, I'm not in the mountains, but these are the people that I get to work with in this wonderful mission. I won't lie, they don't wear lederhosen all the time, but we are reaching the time of Oktoberfest and I will be only about an hour away from München (Munich) where the world renowned Oktoberfest is held every year. We'll see what happens between now and then. For all you car lovers out there, I have been serving for the past few months a few minutes south of Neckarsulm which is a city known for it's giant Audi production plant. For anyone who knows car history, it was the place where the car company NSU (stands for Neckarsulm) was founded way back in the day. In Ingolstadt, I will be blessed to work in another city known for Audi where they have their headquarters. Some people want me to make a deal with the company so that we can get Audis for the mission cars instead of Opels. I kinda doubt the reality of that happening, but we'll see.
Meanwhile, back in Heilbronn, Elder Pexton will be training a missionary fresh out of the MTC and he is glad to have that opportunity. Although, that means that he really does have to wake up in the morning and do some exercise to set a good example for the new kid.
We had a street display this week on Saturday and it went alright and we got a few numbers. However, we got in a little "scuff" with the Fuzz 'cause somebody felt like we were being "aggressive" (codeword for standing in front of them so that they actually look at us and don't just get stuck in their little German world). So we had to just stand there and hope that someone took a card from one of our outstretched hands.
We taught our Nigerian investigator Arisa this week. He's heard everything multiple times and we just try to help him by giving him more things to think about and hoping that at some point he decides that he is ready to stop smoking (which he knows is a sin, by the way). We shared Alma Chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon with him. He really enjoyed verse 40 for how forward it is, "For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil." Later in the chapter it asks, if you are not one of the sheep of the Good Shepherd, then whose sheep are you? Hopefully that will be something that will help Arisa to decide to give up the few things that are preventing him from being baptized.
The work is moving forward in Heilbronn and I'm sad to have to leave it, but nothing will stop the work of God as it rolls forward.
Yes, I will be sending a package. I don't really know when that time will come but hopefully soon since I'm kinda running out of places to put stuff. We'll see.
I hope everyone has a wonderful time in California, or wherever you hail from. Have a good week. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß
Can It Really Rain Almost Everyday?????
Received August 8, 2011
Can it really rain almost everyday. Yeah....it can. We have been having a lot of rain, but it is never really a ton of rain. Usually it is in the morning or evening sometime and then the rest of the day is warmer. One interesting thing is that the rain in the evening almost always causes a rainbow as the sun sets and it is almost always in the same place. We decided to start going to some places in the past week that probably haven't heard the gospel in a while. We went off to Gundelsheim which has a really awesome castle, but that wasn't the point. We were actually way on the south end of the city far away from the castle when we doored into a lady that really had some interest in finding out about what we believed. She is the kind of person that really wants proof if she is going to believe in something. She said that it was hard for her to believe in God, but we showed her the Book of Mormon and how it was another evidence that God is there and that he loves his children and wants them to know that he is there and that he lives. She was very interested in all the things that separate us from the other churches that everyone knows in Germany. It is always great to testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the restored priesthood of God to act in his name and that our church is the same one that Jesus Christ founded, not as the Jehovah's Witnesses say which implies that it just simply has existed since the beginning of time, but that the Church was restored by Jesus Christ (Jehovah) himself and his messengers by calling a prophet to restore all the things that went wrong because of the ignorance of man. We met an older couple the other day who believe in Kabbalah. As great of an idea as it seems, it pretty much makes you God and just assumes that everyone is right about everything and there is no eternal law that holds everything together and points out right and wrong. When I told them that I thought that it was interesting, they asked me how old I was. Upon my response that I am 19, they said that no one could possibly begin to understand it until they are at least 40 years old. What kind spirituality excludes people that are younger from understanding the world and why we are here? We are the only ones holding ourselves back from knowing what is and what is not. The true gospel of Jesus Christ is something that everyone including little children can understand. We learn by making mistakes and then we have the opportunity to repent and make up for what we did and when we do that we can become stronger than we were before.
I have come to the realization that most of the time, we are mistaken for some kind of religious radicals. In reality, that is most of the churches that do proselyting in Germany. I am also so horribly disappointed in the churches of Germany that have made so many people absolutely Godless. Most conversations with people go something like this: "Do you believe in God?" (Shrug of shoulders followed by a grunt that means something like "I don't know") "What does that mean?" "I'm not sure if I believe in God." "Because?" "I was born Catholic (or Protestant Evangelical) and eventually I decided that it wasn't for me." "How did you come to that decision?" Then follow the varied responses that really just kill me: "When our son died we didn't get any sympathy or help from our church." "I was just constantly disappointed with God's servants." "I won't pay tax anymore for an institution that is like the Catholic church." (Or the worst) "I really don't want to talk about it." What kind of responses are those? There is a God and it doesn't matter who is representing Him, he has never changed. The people just expect that whatever church they grew up in had to be the only church that could have been right and then when they get disappointed in the leaders of that church, they don't go in search of a church that doesn't disappoint them, they just close off their life from all religion whatsoever and say that everyone is the same. As missionaries, we are out here to explain to people that there is a true church and that God calls people by revelation (not by how good of a preacher they might be) to lead his church. The principles of the gospel are still the same even if the leaders let you down in one way or another, because in all honesty they are humans too with all the same failings you have. Usually the people who have problems with the way something is going should look at themselves first and see what they could change first before being critical of God and his servants and if you don't know if your church is the right one, then pray about it and study the scriptures and you will know which church is right.
God is there. Anyone that is looking for direction, or even if they think that they are found, should look into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you really ask God in prayer which church is correct, He will lead you to discover the Church because it is (despite anything that anyone may spread about the church in articles, internet, or books) quite literally the ONLY church that can be true. I ask someone to find me a reason why the church isn't true, because if it isn't then I don't want to spend one more minute of my time on something that isn't from God. However, I know that no one can tell me that this church isn't true. There is no reasonable argument against it. It is just awesome knowing that and I wish that I could tell everyone that in the 3 minutes or so that I have to talk to them (and in German). I'll keep working on that.
As regarding things that I need my mother to know, everything is fine. You should probably wait until after transfer calls which should be at the end of this week. If I leave, I will be leaving next Wednesday. We'll see. I hope you have a good week and that everything is great with your new job. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!
Can it really rain almost everyday. Yeah....it can. We have been having a lot of rain, but it is never really a ton of rain. Usually it is in the morning or evening sometime and then the rest of the day is warmer. One interesting thing is that the rain in the evening almost always causes a rainbow as the sun sets and it is almost always in the same place. We decided to start going to some places in the past week that probably haven't heard the gospel in a while. We went off to Gundelsheim which has a really awesome castle, but that wasn't the point. We were actually way on the south end of the city far away from the castle when we doored into a lady that really had some interest in finding out about what we believed. She is the kind of person that really wants proof if she is going to believe in something. She said that it was hard for her to believe in God, but we showed her the Book of Mormon and how it was another evidence that God is there and that he loves his children and wants them to know that he is there and that he lives. She was very interested in all the things that separate us from the other churches that everyone knows in Germany. It is always great to testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the restored priesthood of God to act in his name and that our church is the same one that Jesus Christ founded, not as the Jehovah's Witnesses say which implies that it just simply has existed since the beginning of time, but that the Church was restored by Jesus Christ (Jehovah) himself and his messengers by calling a prophet to restore all the things that went wrong because of the ignorance of man. We met an older couple the other day who believe in Kabbalah. As great of an idea as it seems, it pretty much makes you God and just assumes that everyone is right about everything and there is no eternal law that holds everything together and points out right and wrong. When I told them that I thought that it was interesting, they asked me how old I was. Upon my response that I am 19, they said that no one could possibly begin to understand it until they are at least 40 years old. What kind spirituality excludes people that are younger from understanding the world and why we are here? We are the only ones holding ourselves back from knowing what is and what is not. The true gospel of Jesus Christ is something that everyone including little children can understand. We learn by making mistakes and then we have the opportunity to repent and make up for what we did and when we do that we can become stronger than we were before.
I have come to the realization that most of the time, we are mistaken for some kind of religious radicals. In reality, that is most of the churches that do proselyting in Germany. I am also so horribly disappointed in the churches of Germany that have made so many people absolutely Godless. Most conversations with people go something like this: "Do you believe in God?" (Shrug of shoulders followed by a grunt that means something like "I don't know") "What does that mean?" "I'm not sure if I believe in God." "Because?" "I was born Catholic (or Protestant Evangelical) and eventually I decided that it wasn't for me." "How did you come to that decision?" Then follow the varied responses that really just kill me: "When our son died we didn't get any sympathy or help from our church." "I was just constantly disappointed with God's servants." "I won't pay tax anymore for an institution that is like the Catholic church." (Or the worst) "I really don't want to talk about it." What kind of responses are those? There is a God and it doesn't matter who is representing Him, he has never changed. The people just expect that whatever church they grew up in had to be the only church that could have been right and then when they get disappointed in the leaders of that church, they don't go in search of a church that doesn't disappoint them, they just close off their life from all religion whatsoever and say that everyone is the same. As missionaries, we are out here to explain to people that there is a true church and that God calls people by revelation (not by how good of a preacher they might be) to lead his church. The principles of the gospel are still the same even if the leaders let you down in one way or another, because in all honesty they are humans too with all the same failings you have. Usually the people who have problems with the way something is going should look at themselves first and see what they could change first before being critical of God and his servants and if you don't know if your church is the right one, then pray about it and study the scriptures and you will know which church is right.
God is there. Anyone that is looking for direction, or even if they think that they are found, should look into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you really ask God in prayer which church is correct, He will lead you to discover the Church because it is (despite anything that anyone may spread about the church in articles, internet, or books) quite literally the ONLY church that can be true. I ask someone to find me a reason why the church isn't true, because if it isn't then I don't want to spend one more minute of my time on something that isn't from God. However, I know that no one can tell me that this church isn't true. There is no reasonable argument against it. It is just awesome knowing that and I wish that I could tell everyone that in the 3 minutes or so that I have to talk to them (and in German). I'll keep working on that.
As regarding things that I need my mother to know, everything is fine. You should probably wait until after transfer calls which should be at the end of this week. If I leave, I will be leaving next Wednesday. We'll see. I hope you have a good week and that everything is great with your new job. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Running in the rain...again
Received August 1, 2011
So, as the subject line would suggest, we had another little run in with the weather of Deutschland. We were riding on a bus to go out to a less active member and it had begun to rain pretty badly. As we arrived at our stop it had not let up at all. We got out and amid thunder and sheets of rain we ran off in the direction we thought would be best to stay dry. Of course, we went in the wrong direction and ended up without any covering at all except for just underneath the overhang of someone's garage. That wasn't that great either but it was enough. Elder Pexton had forgotten his umbrella and we had been just running around aimlessly in the rain. Needless to say, we were pretty soaked. However, the rain let up a little bit and we ran for cover under another bus stop where we waited another 10 minutes or so for a little more let up in the rain. Still raining, the clouds did not seem to get much better but at least it wasn't hailing. We started down the street looking for the house in which this less active member lives. As we walked down the street we saw a man standing just outside his door. We said hello and he said something back to us in Greek. Turns out, he is Greek but knows how to speak German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. It was interesting. He even went in and came back out with two bottles of juice for us to drink. It was very nice of him and he even took a Restoration pamphlet. As we went on our way, Elder Pexton said "Wasn't it just raining a few minutes ago?" As it turns out, we weren't even on the street we were supposed to be on anymore. Sometimes things like that just happen. Sometimes you also talk to three different people that all approach you on the same 10 minute bus ride. That happens too. People are just placed in your way. This week we also went to the German Red Cross to talk to people in the assisted living home. The people were all really nice and with the help of our friend from the Red Cross, we were able to go down into the garden and sit and talk with some of the people in the closed off area who can't go out alone. The man that I talked to was actually Czech, but when he was 9 years old he moved to Wien and was there during the occupation by the Americans, Russians and the French. He told lots of stories about what it was like. It was really a fun time and we will probably go there every week to do that.
It has been rather strange here as it applies to the weather. It has rained a lot and we ahve had a lot of really cold days. It feels more like November but it's actually August. It's CRAZY! It's weird to think that I have been out for 7 months now. Time passes crazy fast and it is interesting to see what has happened. It also makes me a little disappointed in the people of Heilbronn seeing as how there is really not a lot to count for our daily work. I guess we'll have to work harder but it really is a hard area. When we do find people to teach, we talk to them for a few minutes on the street and set up an appointment and then they aren't even there the next day when we come. Nobody takes their own word seriously anymore. However I may yet have another opportunity to sing in our ward in a coming Sunday. That will be fun. I hope you have a great week and that fun opportunities show up. Tschusss.....
So, as the subject line would suggest, we had another little run in with the weather of Deutschland. We were riding on a bus to go out to a less active member and it had begun to rain pretty badly. As we arrived at our stop it had not let up at all. We got out and amid thunder and sheets of rain we ran off in the direction we thought would be best to stay dry. Of course, we went in the wrong direction and ended up without any covering at all except for just underneath the overhang of someone's garage. That wasn't that great either but it was enough. Elder Pexton had forgotten his umbrella and we had been just running around aimlessly in the rain. Needless to say, we were pretty soaked. However, the rain let up a little bit and we ran for cover under another bus stop where we waited another 10 minutes or so for a little more let up in the rain. Still raining, the clouds did not seem to get much better but at least it wasn't hailing. We started down the street looking for the house in which this less active member lives. As we walked down the street we saw a man standing just outside his door. We said hello and he said something back to us in Greek. Turns out, he is Greek but knows how to speak German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. It was interesting. He even went in and came back out with two bottles of juice for us to drink. It was very nice of him and he even took a Restoration pamphlet. As we went on our way, Elder Pexton said "Wasn't it just raining a few minutes ago?" As it turns out, we weren't even on the street we were supposed to be on anymore. Sometimes things like that just happen. Sometimes you also talk to three different people that all approach you on the same 10 minute bus ride. That happens too. People are just placed in your way. This week we also went to the German Red Cross to talk to people in the assisted living home. The people were all really nice and with the help of our friend from the Red Cross, we were able to go down into the garden and sit and talk with some of the people in the closed off area who can't go out alone. The man that I talked to was actually Czech, but when he was 9 years old he moved to Wien and was there during the occupation by the Americans, Russians and the French. He told lots of stories about what it was like. It was really a fun time and we will probably go there every week to do that.
It has been rather strange here as it applies to the weather. It has rained a lot and we ahve had a lot of really cold days. It feels more like November but it's actually August. It's CRAZY! It's weird to think that I have been out for 7 months now. Time passes crazy fast and it is interesting to see what has happened. It also makes me a little disappointed in the people of Heilbronn seeing as how there is really not a lot to count for our daily work. I guess we'll have to work harder but it really is a hard area. When we do find people to teach, we talk to them for a few minutes on the street and set up an appointment and then they aren't even there the next day when we come. Nobody takes their own word seriously anymore. However I may yet have another opportunity to sing in our ward in a coming Sunday. That will be fun. I hope you have a great week and that fun opportunities show up. Tschusss.....
The Things A Missionary Wishes He Could Do or Have
Received July 25, 2011
I've done some thinking this week about what some of the things are that I find myself wishing that I could do or have. It's an interesting list of things, most of which I can't really do anything about. But a guy can hope right?
1) Why can't there just be a sign on someone's door when they are not home to tell us not to sit there waiting at their door for 3 minutes.
2) If I could speak Turkish, that would be great!
3) Just get that one appointment with people (before they close the door in your face) in which they would be able to feel the spirit and decide to be baptized.
4) Have power over the government to just grant people visas or citizenship so that they could get work and pay for their own trip to church on Sunday instead of requiring the Branch President to go out of his way to pick up someone at 8:15 in the morning.
5) To just have our own computer so that we didn't have to use the nasty ones at the internet cafes.
6) Have unlimited supplies of all languages of the Book of Mormon at hand when we promise someone, "Yeah, we have it in Croatian (or Albanian, Urdu, Arabic, Greek, etc.) and we can bring that over tomorrow".
7) Have a lie detector to tell us if they are actually going to be there at such and such a time and at such and such a place.
8) A full map that actually covers our whole area.
9) For those in the Alpine German Speaking Mission, Lederhosen!
10) Free haircuts from people that speak English.
11) A big huge list of other things that just show up during the day.
So, yeah, what can you do? Just hope that the point and the purpose of the message makes it's way into their ears and doesn't find the way out too fast. Sometimes you have situations like what's happening right now where a member of the church just comes up to you and starts talking to you about how he has been in Thailand for the past while and produces a Book of Mormon in English, Thai and Hindi. Sometimes crazy stuff like that just happens. This place is awesome and the people are sooooo cool. Ich liebe das Vaterland! I hope that everyone has a great week and a good timing doing whatever it is that they are doing. Tschusss....
I've done some thinking this week about what some of the things are that I find myself wishing that I could do or have. It's an interesting list of things, most of which I can't really do anything about. But a guy can hope right?
1) Why can't there just be a sign on someone's door when they are not home to tell us not to sit there waiting at their door for 3 minutes.
2) If I could speak Turkish, that would be great!
3) Just get that one appointment with people (before they close the door in your face) in which they would be able to feel the spirit and decide to be baptized.
4) Have power over the government to just grant people visas or citizenship so that they could get work and pay for their own trip to church on Sunday instead of requiring the Branch President to go out of his way to pick up someone at 8:15 in the morning.
5) To just have our own computer so that we didn't have to use the nasty ones at the internet cafes.
6) Have unlimited supplies of all languages of the Book of Mormon at hand when we promise someone, "Yeah, we have it in Croatian (or Albanian, Urdu, Arabic, Greek, etc.) and we can bring that over tomorrow".
7) Have a lie detector to tell us if they are actually going to be there at such and such a time and at such and such a place.
8) A full map that actually covers our whole area.
9) For those in the Alpine German Speaking Mission, Lederhosen!
10) Free haircuts from people that speak English.
11) A big huge list of other things that just show up during the day.
So, yeah, what can you do? Just hope that the point and the purpose of the message makes it's way into their ears and doesn't find the way out too fast. Sometimes you have situations like what's happening right now where a member of the church just comes up to you and starts talking to you about how he has been in Thailand for the past while and produces a Book of Mormon in English, Thai and Hindi. Sometimes crazy stuff like that just happens. This place is awesome and the people are sooooo cool. Ich liebe das Vaterland! I hope that everyone has a great week and a good timing doing whatever it is that they are doing. Tschusss....
Half an hour of something about William...What?
Received July 18, 2011
Why was it necessary that I listen to a man talk unendingly about a false prophet? I have no idea but watch out Los Angeles. Apparently he was caught up in a pillar of fire...maybe I understood that part wrong. Maybe someone can explain to me what really happened there. Otherwise, hello family on the other (comfier) side of the world. In our apartment we have taken to using the pull code on the fans since the dumb lightswitch is broken. I have already fixed it once and it's not worth electrocution just to fix a dumb light. Also, only about half of the bulbs in our apartment still function normally. We should probably do something about that.
This week we went to three eating appointments in two days. The first two were on Monday. We essentially went straight from our morning activities to the Henkels in Bretzfeld and then left there to get on a train to Ohringen. We walked a little bit in Ohringen but that was pretty much it. The food was great as always, but it is just too much sometimes. The next day we went to the Zander family in Waldenburg way on the edge of our area where the Prince of Waldenburg still lives. The Zanders are always so awesome and Bru. Zander and I engaged in a 20 minute conversation about modern opera literature which pretty much went way over the head of Elder Sills and the two grandsons that were there. On Wednesday, Elder Sills left Offenburg and I met my new companion Elder Pexton. He is from Colorado and was a swimmer, wrestler and gymnast. He's really cool and has a guitar. So far he has endured the onslaught of my music and unending talk of musical things. We decided on Thursday to go and see if we could come in contact with Schw. Soare. She is from Romania and was baptized in Tubingen. She went inactive because of some problems with the members and one day after moving to Heilbronn she saw the Elders and said that she was a member. The Elders got her records transferred to Heilbronn and since then we have tried to get her to come back to church. She had talked to Elder Sills a few times on the phone but usually we would have long periods of not hearing from her at all. We also tried coming to her house many times but she was never there. Finally I decided to go again on Thursday and Elder Pexton and I pushed her klingel (call box). Just when I was about to give up and turn to go home, she poked her head out of the window and seeing that it was us she let us in. Having no other adult male around, we went outside to talk with her. Lots of things have happened in her life and she is just not too trusting of people anymore but she does trust the Elders (since they are American). We talked for a long time and we finally convinced her to come to church. We then committed her to become active and prepare to go to the temple so that she can find some of the purpose that she has been looking for in her life. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to Pforzheim for a street display. Sister Chappel got transferred to Wien with Sister Lind who speaks wonderful German and will be a great influence for her and we got Sister Carroll from Wien. It was a happy reunion for us since she was actually on the train to Wien when I was first sent there. She has a lovely voice too and when we sant as a group as part of the display it was really awesome sounding. We talked to tons of people and I almost got an Italian man to take a Book of Mormon in Italian. He wasn't willing to meet though since it has caused trouble in his family before since his family is very Sicilian and very Catholic. He said that he would look at the website and the pamphlets though. One Sunday we got on our first bus to Allee Post which is where we take our bus to church. Upon arriving at the stop we saw Schw. Soare sitting there dressed for church and ready to go. We were so happy that someone finally kept their promise and came. She really was cautious at first because she doesn't like Schwabisch (Swabian) people. As the church started to fill up a member family from Switzerland came in and added about 9 people to our congregation. Brian, Michelle and Jessica came and they actually stayed for the whole three hours. It was an awesome time in church. Schw. Soare even had a really good time in Relief Society talking about eternal marriage and the other members really liked her. We were invited afterward to the Lichners house where they got to know Elder Pexton a little better. Christoph Lichner got his mission call and will be serving in the Berlin Mission. That will be good for him and I think he is excited. It was a whirlwind of a week and way wet since it pretty much rained almost every day. I hope you have a nice week and that it doesn't rain as much as it has here (actually I really like the rain). Tschusss!!!
Why was it necessary that I listen to a man talk unendingly about a false prophet? I have no idea but watch out Los Angeles. Apparently he was caught up in a pillar of fire...maybe I understood that part wrong. Maybe someone can explain to me what really happened there. Otherwise, hello family on the other (comfier) side of the world. In our apartment we have taken to using the pull code on the fans since the dumb lightswitch is broken. I have already fixed it once and it's not worth electrocution just to fix a dumb light. Also, only about half of the bulbs in our apartment still function normally. We should probably do something about that.
This week we went to three eating appointments in two days. The first two were on Monday. We essentially went straight from our morning activities to the Henkels in Bretzfeld and then left there to get on a train to Ohringen. We walked a little bit in Ohringen but that was pretty much it. The food was great as always, but it is just too much sometimes. The next day we went to the Zander family in Waldenburg way on the edge of our area where the Prince of Waldenburg still lives. The Zanders are always so awesome and Bru. Zander and I engaged in a 20 minute conversation about modern opera literature which pretty much went way over the head of Elder Sills and the two grandsons that were there. On Wednesday, Elder Sills left Offenburg and I met my new companion Elder Pexton. He is from Colorado and was a swimmer, wrestler and gymnast. He's really cool and has a guitar. So far he has endured the onslaught of my music and unending talk of musical things. We decided on Thursday to go and see if we could come in contact with Schw. Soare. She is from Romania and was baptized in Tubingen. She went inactive because of some problems with the members and one day after moving to Heilbronn she saw the Elders and said that she was a member. The Elders got her records transferred to Heilbronn and since then we have tried to get her to come back to church. She had talked to Elder Sills a few times on the phone but usually we would have long periods of not hearing from her at all. We also tried coming to her house many times but she was never there. Finally I decided to go again on Thursday and Elder Pexton and I pushed her klingel (call box). Just when I was about to give up and turn to go home, she poked her head out of the window and seeing that it was us she let us in. Having no other adult male around, we went outside to talk with her. Lots of things have happened in her life and she is just not too trusting of people anymore but she does trust the Elders (since they are American). We talked for a long time and we finally convinced her to come to church. We then committed her to become active and prepare to go to the temple so that she can find some of the purpose that she has been looking for in her life. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to Pforzheim for a street display. Sister Chappel got transferred to Wien with Sister Lind who speaks wonderful German and will be a great influence for her and we got Sister Carroll from Wien. It was a happy reunion for us since she was actually on the train to Wien when I was first sent there. She has a lovely voice too and when we sant as a group as part of the display it was really awesome sounding. We talked to tons of people and I almost got an Italian man to take a Book of Mormon in Italian. He wasn't willing to meet though since it has caused trouble in his family before since his family is very Sicilian and very Catholic. He said that he would look at the website and the pamphlets though. One Sunday we got on our first bus to Allee Post which is where we take our bus to church. Upon arriving at the stop we saw Schw. Soare sitting there dressed for church and ready to go. We were so happy that someone finally kept their promise and came. She really was cautious at first because she doesn't like Schwabisch (Swabian) people. As the church started to fill up a member family from Switzerland came in and added about 9 people to our congregation. Brian, Michelle and Jessica came and they actually stayed for the whole three hours. It was an awesome time in church. Schw. Soare even had a really good time in Relief Society talking about eternal marriage and the other members really liked her. We were invited afterward to the Lichners house where they got to know Elder Pexton a little better. Christoph Lichner got his mission call and will be serving in the Berlin Mission. That will be good for him and I think he is excited. It was a whirlwind of a week and way wet since it pretty much rained almost every day. I hope you have a nice week and that it doesn't rain as much as it has here (actually I really like the rain). Tschusss!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)