Happy Oktoberfest Everyone!

Received September 24, 2012 That's right, the largest festival in the world has kicked off once again and beer is being chugged down by the liter. An investigator brought to my attention an interesting fact about the bar maids at Oktoberfest. She may look like a pretty little blond thing in a dirndl, but inside she's really a more like a body builder. Each one will carry at any given time up to 10 liters of beer which is actually more than 10 kilograms considering that the "Maß" are made out of glass. So every time she goes to pick up a new order of beer she's carrying probably near 25 pounds on her arms. Don't get in any bar fights with a one of those girls. So if any women out there want to earn some money and work their arms a bit, it's not a bad profession. All that aside, this week was pretty good. This week went by way fast and it's hard to even remember what happened. We did have our first district meeting in Dornbirn this week which means that I got to go back to the Vaterland. Well, Vorarlberg is more like Switzerland than it is Austria, but I guess it still counts. That day I went back with Elder Christensen to Ravensburg and proceeded to go by on a ton of "investigators" that I still have not met. Not many people were actually home and no one had time. However, we were waiting for a bus on a bench and a man who was sitting near us asked us if our name tags had something to do with music. We explained who we are and he said that he is a very faithful man who comes from Spain and loves Jesus. He told us that he does not have very many friends here is Germany and he needs something. We told him that we could help him with that and told him that we have a book for him. He readily accepted the book gave us his address and said that we could come by on weekends and talk to him. He would have called us to set up an appointment, but he didn't have a cell phone yet. We will go and talk to him this week. He is really cool. We also went to help out the husband of a member this week. He has a warehouse and he is building a museum inside the warehouse. It's interesting for sure. We spent quite a while there with him putting up a tent in the warehouse for his palm trees that he has outside. He needs to move them inside before the weather gets too cold. It's a complicated situation, but he's got everything under control. The museum will eventually be turned into a war museum focused primarily on the world wars. It's a work in progress. There is lots of work to do this week and we will be having fun while doing it. I hope that everyone has a great week. Until next time, Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüßßßß!

Elder Nelson Says Thank You...

Received September 17, 2012 He really does. He told us all to say thank you to our parents. He is really a very amazing man. Many of you already know this, but he is REALLY smart too. On Wednesday we travelled to Zürich to listen to him speak to us. We learned a lot, so I won't even try to give you a sum up of what he said. Maybe someday we can talk about it in person. He talked a lot about reaching our potential to become like Christ. That's a big task! However, he assured us that we can do it, through the Atonement of course. With all that in mind, the end of this week was a little bit of a down week with Elder Hustead becoming sick. It's nothing horrible though, so we will be back at it tonight. We had a lesson with our Brothas from l'Afrique, ok so they don't speak French, but they are from Africa. It was beginning to become a little bit out of our hands when it started to turn into a little Praise meeting of sorts. Luckily, Elder Sampson was there to save us from another 20 minutes or so. Since he takes them home he gets to decide when the lessons are over. I get the feeling that we are just being preached to. It's sad but true. We'll see how things progress. Have you ever been faced with a daunting task? Let me tell you about the one that our mission is currently facing. By the end of the year we want to reach our goal of baptizing 300+ people. Given that the current number of baptisms is 88, that leaves a lot of room for improvement. Since we're getting down to the final stretch, we have needed to reenergize our work and our faith that this whole goal won't go down in flames. However, sometimes you just have to believe no matter how impossible things look. Take for example the three Hebrew boys who would not pray to the idol of the king. They told him that their God would save them, but even if He didn't they still wouldn't pray to his God because they knew what they believed and would not waver at all. We then find our that God really did save them in a rather miraculous way. This can and will happen with us in this mission. Even if we don't make our goal, I will believe until the morning of New Years Day 2013 that this is a reachable goal. And even if we don't reach it, can we be disappointed in the many souls that came to a knowledge of the truth? No. This is a great work and I'm having fun along the way too. I know that my time is getting short, but I still have a ton of time mission-wise. Two and a half transfers is all the time in the world to find and baptize. Just remember to pray for us to find the people that need the gospel. Well, I think that's enough for this week. Have a fun week. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüßßßß!!!!!!!!!!

Germans love plays on words...

Received September 10, 2012 They really do. Every time I go to a new area it seems that there is someone whose name (or maiden name) is Mayer (and all possible variations -meier, -meyer, etc.). And every time someone is bound to say, "Oh you're the NEU-Mayer" Since the word "neu" just means new, it's like the the biggest joke ever. Every time I think, "Yep, haven't heard that one before..." They just love their plays on words, what can you do. Joseph Wagstaff eat your heart out. This week in Ravensburg was "Ravensburg Spielt", a game festival where everywhere you turn there is some crazy booth full of games for small people, big people, old people, all kinds of people! I really wanted to get a picture of the "Settlers of Catan" Bus, but I didn't get the chance. Thousands of people flocked to Ravensburg this week to participate in the festivities. You could basically go to any of the booths and just sit down and start playing the (mostly board) games that lined the streets. I can just say that it looked awesome! This week lesson-wise wasn't too bad either. On Monday we went to the (go figure) Meier family. Had originally invited some investigators and Derick a new member to come and eat. They didn't show up, so we had dinner without them. They had a friend of the family there who has apparently been to several dinners with the Meiers. Toward the end of the night he told us that he really wants to meet with us too but we can't go where he lives because there are some ladies there that will throw glass at us and then demand money from us (?) no joke. So Tanya Meier said that he was welcome to meet with us at their home. He is really quite a good man and very simple and will be a great member of the church. We also had a lesson with a family in Friedrichshafen who are really well rounded. When they heard that I was an opera singer, the mother went and put in a DVD of the Salzburg Marionette Theater performing Mozart operas. It was really funny and they were really interested that I sing opera. They would be a really great family to have in the church. We met with our two African investigators this week. It's not easy to just talk about one thing with them. We started talking about prophets and what the purpose of a prophet is. I don't know really where we ended, but it had nothing to do with prophets...anyway, they are slowly coming along. The best thing is that they come to church every week. I have no problem with that. I forgot to say anything about my new companion. His name is Elder Hustead and he comes from the St. George area in Utah. He is a physics major at USU and may want to join the Airforce. He's a pretty funny guy and asks a lot of crazy questions. This morning for example: What do you think of squirrels? This week on Wednesday is when Elder Russell M. Nelson will be coming to the mission. We will be going to Zürich to see him with all of the missionaries in Switzerland. Well, I think I've spent long enough on this email. I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Remember to help the missionaries at home. Until next week, Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß!

O je me nee, des isch jo kloin!

Received September 4, 2012 Willkommen in Ravensburg! This city is pretty crazy. It's actually not too small like some of my former areas *cough* Bad Säckingen *cough*. Anyway, there is a pretty nice amount of public transport and we have cards that pretty much cover the whole area. Yay, not as much walking! The crazy part of the city is that it's pretty old. There is a lot of history and everywhere you turn there's a little piece of the old town wall or a tavern that was built in the first century...yeah that's right. We do live in Ravensburg right in the town center. The building is pretty old but the apartment was refurbished not too long ago. We also have no neighbors downstairs so we don't have to be too worried about how much noise we make when we walk around. The reasoning behind the subject line (do not put it into Google Translate, it won't bring anything) is in reference to how I felt looking at the Branch on Sunday. We meet in an office building and there are about 18 or 19 people at church every Sunday. That's what I call small. My companion is fine with the size since he came from Neu Ötting where the branch is made up of 8 people. These people are faithful though because they come every Sunday and they know what they believe in. We have a senior missionary couple here named the Sampsons. They are awesome. They don't speak much German but they are trying. They are more there as support to the members, but they are awesome at teaching when they need to. Elder Sampson is a former mission president and he always loves giving Snickers bars and buying us ice cream. I think they are on their fourth mission now. We are teaching some pretty cool guys from Nigeria who really like when things are lively and exciting. We spent two hours the other day trying to resolve a concern of one of them. We also had our awesome new member joint teach Derick Taewo with us. He is also from Nigeria and he's way cool and speaks English and really good German. I'm excited for working in this area and helping the Branch grow. I have included a few pictures from Bad Säckingen. They don't have me in them, but they are some cool places. The first is the Münster in Bad Säckingen from up where I sang. The second is of a giant church in St. Blasien. The third is of some of the scenery in a town just outside of St. Blasien. My new address is: Elder Andrew Neumayer Kirche Jesu Christi Charlottenstr. 8 88212 Ravensburg Germany I hope everyone has a wonderful week full of not too much rain and lovely weather. Have fun! Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!!!!!

Where do you go to meet non-Germans???

Received August 27, 2012 The Internet Cafe, of course! As I sit here writing my email today it occurs to me that I am surrounded by people speaking either other languages (mostly Russian, and other eastern languages and Italian) or German with an accent. This is the place where they all come talk with each other. There are some missionaries that love talking to and teaching the "ausländer", but it's just because they're nice and don't immediately say no. In all honesty, the problem is trying to get them to understand the doctrine of the church when their German ability is lacking. If I spoke Serbian or Turkish, maybe it would work out. However, it makes very little sense to go week after week to people that can't even understand you when you try to tell them that they need to come to church or keep some commandment. They are some of the nicest people in the world. If I could already speak perfect German, then I could maybe think about learning some other language, but until then..."Es gibt eine IN-TER-NET SEI-TE, AUF RUSSISCH. Schönen Tag noch!" Well this week went by pretty crazy fast. I'll tell you why. When you have something that you are looking forward to, the time goes by so (as they say in German) Sau schnell (Pig fast....) that you can't even tell what day you are on in the week. This whole transfer has been like that. On Monday we had our P-day and everything went by super fast. Tuesday I had the awesome opportunity to sing in the Münster in Bad Säckingen (picture from the top near the organ coming next week) for a woman who is a former investigator of the church. It was the seventh anniversary of the death of her husband who was Catholic and she always has his name read every year in mass. This year because she heard me sing in Sacrament Meeting last week she wanted me to sing in the service. She organized everything and I got to meet with the organist earlier in the day at the church to practice. Afterward we left and did some things before we had to meet for the mass. A Sister in the ward called around to invite people from the Church to come and hear. I had a little band of groupies there from the Relief Society. I would look down from the banister and they would take pictures. It was really funny. I sang Nearer My God to Thee during the Communion and the Vicar thanked me at the end of the service. No one that was there knows my name because he didn't know it but he was very grateful that I sang. The accoustics in that church are great and it was awesome to sing there for the service. You would never think that an opportunity like that would show up on a mission. The lady wanted to give me an honorarium for singing but I wouldn't take it. I don't do those kind of things for money. My momma taught me better than that. The rest of the week got a little better because it started raining and it cooled down a lot. You can almost feel Fall coming. On Friday we got transfer calls. My time in Bad Säckingen has come to an end and I will be going to Ravensburg. The Elders live in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee which is one of the most beautiful cities in southern Germany and it is right on the shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee in German). I have also officially spent half of my mission in Baden-Württemberg; gotta love that yellow and black. Since then it's just been good bye after good bye which is not fun, but I'll see these people again (hopefully). This was a crazy week and this week will be no less crazy. Also, in a couple of weeks we will have the opportunity to have the Great Swiss Conference again because Elder Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve will be coming to visit in Zürich. It helps to have a mission president whose wife is the daughter of a General Authority. I hope that everyone has a great week and that all is going well. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüßßßßßß!!!!!

Sooooo Hoooootttt!

Received August 20, 2012 Today it is supposed to be 38° Cel. Yay..... that is not the kind of news I want, but it's ok, because it's P-day. It has been really hot this week though. We had a couple lessons with our stable investigator in Bad Säckingen. This time we heard about how Joseph Smith might have been visited by an alien....yeah. Anyway, it was an ok week. There still isn't a ton to do, but we are working on it. There is going to be a transfer call coming up on Friday, so we will see what happens. Hopefully it isn't like the last two places that I've been where I was with the same companion for 3 transfers in a row. Not that I don't like my companion, quite the opposite, but sometimes you just need change. I'm also getting to the point where (let's just say) I don't have as many transfers left and if I should happen to go back to Austria (hypothetically) I would want to do that soon so that I don't just go for one transfer and waste the money that it takes to renew a visa. So yeah, that as a side note, I don't really care what happens with this next transfer, but it will be interesting. This Sunday was interesting because the Stake Presidency came to change the Branch Presidency. That was little bit expected since the old Branch President had been in that calling for the past 8 years and it was getting to be time that some change occured. We ended up getting a pretty young President who will be great and he will do an awesome job. You wouldn't have really thought it before he recieved the calling, but now you can see that he really is the person that is called to lead the Branch for the next few years as they try to realize their goal of becoming a ward. Now it's (at least partially) our part to go and help them realize that dream. Anyone know a family or two in Bad Säckingen? I got to sing in the Sacrament Meeting with a member who studied opera. She is an American who married a German and they are awesome members. We sang "Nearer My God to Thee" and it was really nice for the meeting. Afterward I don't know how many times I had to tell people about how I study at BYU. Everyone was really interested, but I wish I could have just told everyone in a little group instead of saying the same thing 20 times. It was really cool. There was also a lady who is not a member but is a friend of the Stake President who came because he invited her. She asked me if I would be interested in singing at the Münster (large church) in Bad Säckingen. It's the cool one that is in all the pictures of the city. If that does work out, that would be way cool. She is going to try to set it up. If it doesn't work, that's ok too, but it was nice of her to make the offer. Well, I hope everyone has a great week and that it's not as hot wherever you are as it is here. Tschüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüßßßßßßß

Was soll ich denn eigentlich schreiben...

Received August 13, 2012 I really don't know what to write this week. We did go to Zürich for a Zone Conference which was pretty cool. We had a kinda terrible time this week with all the buses instead of trains. Everything took more than twice as long to reach. We spent a lot of time going and just talking to people because our investigators all fell through. It was pretty crazy. This transfer is not quite over, but I don't think that it would be good to send a package. I don't know what will happen at the end of this transfer. One of us will probably be transferred and I don't really know who will leave since we both came at the same time. We'll have to see. Today is hard for me to concentrate, so I won't make this email too long. I hope everyone had a great week. If anyone should feel the desire to write me, it will probably be best to send it the mission home instead. If anyone sent me a letter while I was in Ingolstadt, I found out that apparently the mail man was confused and had been putting quite a few letters to missionaries in the box below the one for the Elders and since no one has a key to that box and no one lives there, we will never get them. Sad huh? Oh well. Well, have a nice week and remember to help the missionaries at home. Tchüüüüüüüüüüüüüüß!