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!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
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!!!!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Frohe Ostern!!!
Sent April 25, 2011
So Easter here is an interesting deal. They get Good Friday off of work and, of course, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. It is currently Easter Monday and it is a ghost town outside. There is NO ONE out and about. We were lucky that the internet shop people are Muslim and do not celebrate the same days. We had a lovely meal with the Henkel family where we ate some real German food. No hasenpfeffer mom but there was a lot of chocolate to eat. In Sacrament meeting we had a few talks and two musical numbers. The first was Bru. Kastle who did an arrangement of hymns. The second was Schw. Henkel and her grand daughter (who is in her 20s) who played a recorder duet. I know everyone is thinking of the lovely recorder performances we've all heard come out of the 1st grade but this was different. They played a Corelli duet for Soprano and Tenor recorders. I felt very Baroque in Sacrament meeting. So a few updates on things here in the lovely city of Heilbronn. Sometime in the near future the performing arts place will be producing Das Rheingold and I REALLY want to go. Elder Sills is way up for it so we'll see if President Condie is of the same persuasion. We went on a lovely train ride out to Mosbach to go to an appointment. There were castles and Medieval towns on the way there as we wound our way around the valley with the Nekar river flowing peacefully below. We also went out to a lovely little town called Hochstberg. There were few buses and certainly none that go on Saturdays so we walked. Ever a lovely feeling. Schwabisch is a new language all its own. It sometimes sounds nothing like German. The members of the branch here are very nice and are very willing to feed us (Mom). I have had a lot of really good food. It's awesome that you had a bunch of people over and were able to be the medium through which the missionaries could teach someone. There are NO investigators out here, so we spend pretty much all our time going out to less actives and dooring. It's always a lovely time. So, I'm glad that the missionaries in California have people to teach. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a lovely time at home and that it's not as hot there as it is here. Have a great week! Tschuss!
So Easter here is an interesting deal. They get Good Friday off of work and, of course, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. It is currently Easter Monday and it is a ghost town outside. There is NO ONE out and about. We were lucky that the internet shop people are Muslim and do not celebrate the same days. We had a lovely meal with the Henkel family where we ate some real German food. No hasenpfeffer mom but there was a lot of chocolate to eat. In Sacrament meeting we had a few talks and two musical numbers. The first was Bru. Kastle who did an arrangement of hymns. The second was Schw. Henkel and her grand daughter (who is in her 20s) who played a recorder duet. I know everyone is thinking of the lovely recorder performances we've all heard come out of the 1st grade but this was different. They played a Corelli duet for Soprano and Tenor recorders. I felt very Baroque in Sacrament meeting. So a few updates on things here in the lovely city of Heilbronn. Sometime in the near future the performing arts place will be producing Das Rheingold and I REALLY want to go. Elder Sills is way up for it so we'll see if President Condie is of the same persuasion. We went on a lovely train ride out to Mosbach to go to an appointment. There were castles and Medieval towns on the way there as we wound our way around the valley with the Nekar river flowing peacefully below. We also went out to a lovely little town called Hochstberg. There were few buses and certainly none that go on Saturdays so we walked. Ever a lovely feeling. Schwabisch is a new language all its own. It sometimes sounds nothing like German. The members of the branch here are very nice and are very willing to feed us (Mom). I have had a lot of really good food. It's awesome that you had a bunch of people over and were able to be the medium through which the missionaries could teach someone. There are NO investigators out here, so we spend pretty much all our time going out to less actives and dooring. It's always a lovely time. So, I'm glad that the missionaries in California have people to teach. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a lovely time at home and that it's not as hot there as it is here. Have a great week! Tschuss!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Oh, there's how many hours left?
Dated: April 18, 2011
So here I am in Heilbronn. It's a fun little place. It is really different though. There are probably just as many people in this city as were in 1 Bezirk in Wien. That means it's not going to be too hard to talk to pretty much everyone we see. The new address is as follows:
Elder Andrew Neumayer
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Werderstr. 164
D-74074, Heilbronn
So, let the email begin. The train ride to Stuttgart and then to Heilbronn was interesting. Elder Foremaster left me on Tuesday because he is training again and he went all the way to Munich to pick up the "golden" and take him to his new area. Meanwhile, I went off to the four-man apartment on the other side of town and lugged my suitcases all the way up several spiral stone staircases for which there are no elevators. We took off in the morning to go to Westbahnhof and all of the missionaries that were leaving Wien rode the same train out. So, Elders Handly and Olsen and Sister McGuire and I all left the beautiful city in search of places unknown. We had a lovely train ride out to Salzburg where it was freezing and we met the Salzburg zone leaders. The other Elders continued on another train ride to Munich and I had a 50 minulet layover until my train came to take me to Stuttgart. After getting on that train and having plenty of trouble with my suitcases and getting them just to stay put, I sat down in a cabin by myself and rode the rest of the 3 hours or so to Munich by myself. Upon arriving in Munich, I saw two Elders getting in the train. It turned out to be an Elder that I knew from the MTC and his trainer taking him to Tubingen. We rode together for maybe an hour or so and then I was once again left alone to ride the rest of the way to Stuttgart. By the way, the rides aren't that boring since the countryside is AMAZING! I arrived in Stuttgart and met my new companion Elder Sills. He is pretty cool. He is so funny and really chill. He was actually born and lived for a while in his life in Cypress, CA. He now hails from Mapleton, UT. He's really open to listening to me rant about opera and we have listened to a lot of good music since we've been together. He's helping me a little with understanding Schwabisch. It's different for sure. I like this place for different reasons from Wien and I think it will be an awesome place to work.
Now that you have my address, John can come tracting with me. I think he'll like it here. i keep telling myself that dad needs to come with me around Germany and Austria. He would just have way too much fun looking at everything. The countryside is awesome and he would love it, but the cities like Wien would have too much to look at even in one building. For my last P-day in Wien, we went to the Staatsoper and got some pictures. We also went to Doblinger Musikhaus which is amazing. And, we went to Schonbrunn. The pictures will speak for themselves. I'll admit that I laughed at the prospect of you and John going on a mission just because it would be exactly as you said it would. You and John would actually be awesome at the Wades are doing Wien. They run the Institute Center. They sit there from 4 to 9everyday and greet the YSAs as they come in and spend time there. You would be great at laying down the rules for the YSAs but also being a fun mom type character. And of course, making lots of good food. John would have the the time of his life sitting at the front desk greeting people as they came in and talking to the people at English class and just taking care of everyone's needs. I can literally see it in my mind. It would be awesome. Anyway, I gotta go and write some other emails. I hope life's great and still puppies and butterflies. Have a good week. Tchusssss!!!!!!!!
So here I am in Heilbronn. It's a fun little place. It is really different though. There are probably just as many people in this city as were in 1 Bezirk in Wien. That means it's not going to be too hard to talk to pretty much everyone we see. The new address is as follows:
Elder Andrew Neumayer
Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Werderstr. 164
D-74074, Heilbronn
So, let the email begin. The train ride to Stuttgart and then to Heilbronn was interesting. Elder Foremaster left me on Tuesday because he is training again and he went all the way to Munich to pick up the "golden" and take him to his new area. Meanwhile, I went off to the four-man apartment on the other side of town and lugged my suitcases all the way up several spiral stone staircases for which there are no elevators. We took off in the morning to go to Westbahnhof and all of the missionaries that were leaving Wien rode the same train out. So, Elders Handly and Olsen and Sister McGuire and I all left the beautiful city in search of places unknown. We had a lovely train ride out to Salzburg where it was freezing and we met the Salzburg zone leaders. The other Elders continued on another train ride to Munich and I had a 50 minulet layover until my train came to take me to Stuttgart. After getting on that train and having plenty of trouble with my suitcases and getting them just to stay put, I sat down in a cabin by myself and rode the rest of the 3 hours or so to Munich by myself. Upon arriving in Munich, I saw two Elders getting in the train. It turned out to be an Elder that I knew from the MTC and his trainer taking him to Tubingen. We rode together for maybe an hour or so and then I was once again left alone to ride the rest of the way to Stuttgart. By the way, the rides aren't that boring since the countryside is AMAZING! I arrived in Stuttgart and met my new companion Elder Sills. He is pretty cool. He is so funny and really chill. He was actually born and lived for a while in his life in Cypress, CA. He now hails from Mapleton, UT. He's really open to listening to me rant about opera and we have listened to a lot of good music since we've been together. He's helping me a little with understanding Schwabisch. It's different for sure. I like this place for different reasons from Wien and I think it will be an awesome place to work.
Now that you have my address, John can come tracting with me. I think he'll like it here. i keep telling myself that dad needs to come with me around Germany and Austria. He would just have way too much fun looking at everything. The countryside is awesome and he would love it, but the cities like Wien would have too much to look at even in one building. For my last P-day in Wien, we went to the Staatsoper and got some pictures. We also went to Doblinger Musikhaus which is amazing. And, we went to Schonbrunn. The pictures will speak for themselves. I'll admit that I laughed at the prospect of you and John going on a mission just because it would be exactly as you said it would. You and John would actually be awesome at the Wades are doing Wien. They run the Institute Center. They sit there from 4 to 9everyday and greet the YSAs as they come in and spend time there. You would be great at laying down the rules for the YSAs but also being a fun mom type character. And of course, making lots of good food. John would have the the time of his life sitting at the front desk greeting people as they came in and talking to the people at English class and just taking care of everyone's needs. I can literally see it in my mind. It would be awesome. Anyway, I gotta go and write some other emails. I hope life's great and still puppies and butterflies. Have a good week. Tchusssss!!!!!!!!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Muss ich einmal fort von den schonen ort ...
dann nimmt meine Sehnsucht kein end. So, I'm going to have to leave this beautiful city. I've been transferred back to Germany north of Stuttgart to a place called Heilbronn. I don't really know anything about the place, but I know I have to go there for some reason which I will figure out when I get there and start the work. I've had a great time here anyway and we'll be doing everything that we can today to see the things I still want to see. And, who knows? I could come back some day. By the way, Rigoletto was a no go. We went and got situated and were there for may 15 minutes before we realized the should not have gone to a modern production. That was the end of my Volksoper experience. The first few minutes showed that it would have been a good cast, but I won't put up with trash. Oh well though. This week was kinda crazy with a few interesting instances where we didn't quite find the people we went out originally to find, but we found some people with genuine interest on the street on in the bus around that area. We've walked a lot this week but it was all worth it. Not a lot to report this time around but I'm sure I'll have lots to say next week. So, bis spater! Tschuss!
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