WEEK 18 5-24-11 - 5-30-11

Hello!

So this week hs been pretty good kinda just another week in Germany! Sometimes missionary work gets quite repetative! But we found some cool people! On Monday we decided to do some door to door. Our first house we got let in by this younger guy and he said well you cant come in my house cause my wife is sleeping but you can teach me outside! So we taught him outside on the stairs! Super cool guy he works for General Electric so he knows really really good english! He said he has always been interested in religion cause he has a lot of friends who are from a lot of different religions so we taught him a first lesson about the book of mormon and gave him a book of mormon so that was way cool and we made out another appointment with him next week so we will see how that goes! On saturday we did some service for a member family they just moved in to this new house not to long ago and the person who had lived there before was an old guy who didnt do anything with the backyard so there was trees and plants everywhere it looked like a jungle! So we cut down some trees and stuff we worked for a good 4 hours so that was good! Than we came home and got ready and went and did some more doors and we werent having a whole lot of success actually a few people like told us to leave the whole appartment building that was really frustrating. Than we were just like ok lets come back another day haha so we started walking and saw this younger guy so we started talking to him and asked him what he thought the purpose of life is and why we are here! And he said that is a good question! And we explained what we believe and he really liked that! And we said so are you a member of another church and he said no I am on the search for a church!!! So that was super money! So we have an appointment with him on Wednesday we will see how that goes! So this week I think on friday we went to visit Sanga one  of our african friends and after he is like are you guys hungry and we are like ok ya sure so he brings this stuff out. To be honest I was a little skeptical about it haha but its like this chicken in red sauce that you put over rice and it was dang good but super spicey! I really enjoyed it so he is going to show us how to make it today that will be fun! On saturday night we had an eating appointment with Estephania she is a new member and she is from ECUADOR! hahah I thought zach might enjoy that! She is married to a German guy and he is super cool he said that church is just not really his thing right now though but he would make a sweet member! But they made some dang good food! Prob the best eating appointment I have had! They made ribs and potatoes and some rice with this special sauce! It was dang good! She is a super cool lady and like every missionary who has served here thinks she is hot. But I dont know she is not my taste! Plus she is married! Anyways so than yesterday we talked to a few people and we talked to this younger kid prob about 17 and he is catholic but he is really a smart kid like knows there is something more and we made an appointment with him so that will be cool to see where that goes! As far as my comp he is still my comp. I wont know if he goes zone leader untill transfer calls which is not this saturday but next so when I find out I will let you know! I am glad I made robbins day haha thats funny I though it might be nice to send her a little something! I havent heard from taylor lately but mike e mails me every week he comes home the end of July I dont know the exact date! Thats so crazy he is coming home so soon! Thats so crazy abóut brother southwick thats super sad! He was a really nice guy! As far as studying I havent been the best either I need to step my game up. I am kinda just all over the place when it comes to studying. I just finished our heritage kinda about our church and every prophet and what they have all done so that was cool than I read in the BOM sometimes I am in like the middle of Alma so thats good too I just need to stick on one topic each day haha. Thats good you guys are going to go to the temple and stuff that is really a good oppurtunity the closest temple to us here is Frankfurt but we cant go there cause it is out of our mission boundries. You can only go to the temple when you are in the Leipzig zone of the Dresden zone so the far eastern ones that are close to the Freiburg temple! Anyways this week was good I hope to get some new Investigators this coming week I am sure we will we just need to step it up. I guess my comp and his last comp kinda got into the pattern of just talkin to some people but I am trying to change that where we talk to everyone we can so we can make out more appointments which leads to baptism! I am glad to hear all is well there Love you all and hope all is good!!

WEEK 17 5-17-11 - 5-23-11

Hello!
This last week has been pretty fun I always forget what happened when it comes time for e mails because I am just so excited to hear from everyone else!! I am glad you finally got the package and the chocolate! I was about to go have a chat with the German post but obviously they are stepping their game up! I also got your package on like Thursday or Friday it came way fast!! Thanks so much I loved it! And there is nothing like getting new underwear!! Ok so I was in Hannover on Wednesday for zone conference that was way awesome hearing from president and everything I love that guy! I dont know if I have added this in an e mail before but pres changed the German lds website or got it changed to were it is now investigator friendly he also made new pass along cards that he said he received revelation to do all this from his past experiences with business and what not. Anyways he now claims instead of fishing 1 by 1 we are fishing with nets! The INTERNET! Ha pretty funny but I really think it will work its like creating our own media referrals! So an update on Gisberd I told you about him last week anyways we went by on him Thursday and just started chatting with him he was saying something he noticed at the baptism was that everyone was so happy and he told us he has doubts and stuff but all of us (MORMONS) seem like we dont have doubts so we explained to him that everyone has doubts but when you really understand what the final goal is (exaltation) then you can be happy when your doing the right things and what not. He said he was really envious of that so we will see I think he is getting closer it may take some time though! He really likes elder Hardman so thats also good! Hopefully he keeps progressing! Thats so sad about Rock! I will be praying for their family! We haven't taught a whole lot of people this week. We went by on a members wife last Monday she is not a member but goes to church more than her husband does which I have never seen him there so thats kinda the problem she doesnt want to get baptized cause hes not exactly setting the best example! But we are going to continue to work with her and we will see! We made a few appointments out yesterday a guy from Ghana his name is martin and he speaks english seems like a super solid new contact I guess they had made out an appointment before but he had something going on so it fell through but he tried to find our cell phone number on the lds website and what not and tell us but he couldnt find it! We ran into him yesterday which was really lucky cause he was leaving his house! And he said ya I am really excited to meet with you guys and stuff so that will be cool. We also made out a few other appointments with old investigators or people the missionaries have met with before so we should have a busy week this week! Oh Zone conference was also really awesome because I got to see a few kids that were in the MTC with me! Elder Robinson who was in my district in the mtc it was way cool to see him then Elder Maughn who was in the group younger than me but we were way good friends in the mtc so that was cool to see him! I had an exchange with my grandpa (IN the mission) so Elder Tjaden is his name and he trained elder carlson he is a zone leader here in my zone so we went on exchange and he was super excited to finally be able to talk sports with someone he goes home in 3 weeks and he said he has only met 2 other missionaries on his mission that even know anything about sports so that was fun he is a cool guy its funny cause carlson told me that elder Tjaden and him didnt get along weird. Anyways thats pretty much it for this week. Oh I tried to make clam dip it wasn't the same cause they don't have the same ingredients but it was ok.! Thanks for everything and all the support!! Love ya!

WEEK 16 5-10-11 - 5-16-11

Hello from Germany,
So I have quite a bit to go over this week and I have no idea where to start! I guess I will start with yesterday there was a baptism in Osnabruck which is the other 2 elders in our district its about 45 minutes away so we were able to go there and see it it was really  cool you forget the spirit there is at baptisms until you actually go. So also this last week was my first time driving in Germany it was pretty sweet driving on the autobahn I think I got to about 110 mph or so its crazy but the Germans are good drivers and they follow the rules of right lane is the slow lane and left lane pass so that is good! The branch here is the bomb! quite a few of them about half are dutch from holland and speak awesome english so they really help me with my german cause they speak german as well so we speak in German and if I mess up they can explain in English so thats really good. I am getting more and more comfortable with the language everyday sometimes I am scared to speak it cause I am afraid to mess up I know a lot of words but what gets me is the Grammer which is tough. I actually gave my first talk in church yesterday, A bit nerve racking but good none the less I talked about the Atonement I got quite a few compliments on my german as well haha. The family we ate dinner with last night said I speak better German than the branch president. Who is also a missionary he is an elder couple so he has forgotten a lot of his german that he learned. So we had this pretty solid investigator he had been meeting with the missionarys for about 6 months the only problem with him was that he could basically trace his catholic roots back to the pre earth life! But he reads the book of mormon and I am pretty sure he knows its true. So we met with him on Thursday and the whole goal was set a baptismal date and just throw it down. So our lesson was about baptism and what not. Near the end he said so I have been meeting with the missionaries for about 6 months now and I think you guys are expecting something from me.... My comp said well ya kinda in a way haha. And so he said and I am going to give you an answer right now. SO we were all on the edge of our seat just like come on!! Then he said I am going to stay catholic!! It was like getting kicked between the legs. He just doesnt want to do a 2nd baptism basically but he doesnt understand that when he got baptized the first time his catholic priest didnt have the authority. But we still have faith because he agreed to coming to the baptism yesterday and he was there and he was chatting with some members the whole time so we are going to meet with him again on thursday and see if he felt anything different about this baptism. As far as teaching other people there are a couple people slash contacts that we have that I don't know that we need to go by on and there are a few others that we are teaching so that is cool. Funny thing before I forget so last p day we played ping pong with one of the African kids who is in our ward that we take to church his name is Lucky he is about our age and he is from Nigeria sweetest guy but he totally destroyed us!! I thought I was pretty good at ping pong from my last area when I destroyed everyone but he sure humbled both me and my companion it was sad haha. Ok back to my stories.... So on wednesday we had exchanges and I stayed in Rheine with elder Stoe who is only 2 transfers older than me so that was fun and I made out an appointment with a super cool guy we found on the street he was younger and we asked what he thought the purpose of life was and he said well the family and to have a family and we are like exactly and we have a book that can help you better understand can we make an appointment where we can better introduce it and he said ya of course I have a lot of interest so we went by saturday is when we had our appointment and I guess he lives with his parents so I knock on the door and his mom answers the look on her face was PRICELESS and I said Ist Jens zu Hause and she said nein and I said oh wir haben ein Termin mit Ihm ausgemacht which means oh we made out an appointment with him and her face was astonished it was so funny. But we will call another day to see if we can get a hold of him. I still love it here in Rheine its an awesome city I figured out the population is about 70 thousand plus all the little cities around us... So we have plenty of people to talk to and to find its great. There are actually a few cute girls here as well which is nice haha well yes and no. This week I have a lot going on. Tommorrow we are doing exchanges with the Zone leaders and I am going with Elder Jaden who is my grandfather in the mission which simply means he trained my trainer. So that will be interesting to go with him cause we both served with carlson. Then on wednesday we have Zone Conference in Hannover that will be cool to hear from president man I love that guy. My comp is way sweet we get along really well and he is a really good missionary. You dont have to put Kirche hlt but you still can. I cant believe that at the end of this week the transfer is halfway over!! So nuts I hope I stay another Im sure I will cause I think my comp will go Zone Leader which will be cool! Thats sad about logan man a month or two before I left he messaged me on facebook wondering how I was doing and what was going on in my life and said he was proud of me for going on a mission thats way sad! I can't believe It has been 2 yrs (he is talking about since his accident) sometimes I look back and realize man I really have something to do here and the mission I know is a really important part of that! That experience really changed my life in a way it made me realize how life really is short and we have to do our best everyday cause we never know what is going to happen! And we need to be worthy when the time does come so we can make it back and I know that we can only do that through Jesus Christ! I know before my accident I took lots of things for granted and I wish I wouldnt have but thats what it is its life you live and you learn!! I love you guys and I am so thankful for all the support!!

WEEK 15 5-3-11 - 5-9-11

Hello From Germany!
So I talked to you guys yesterday that was really cool to hear your voices and what not I hope you guys had a great mothers day! Anyways not really anything new except for I am really enjoying this area actually teaching people is cool and I am definitely expecting a baptism so we shall see. There are some pretty cool people here there are only 20 or so members in the branch but we have an eating appointment like every single day haha they like the missionary's I guess and back in Annaberg the ward was quite big but we only had 1 eating appointment a week! I took a few pictures yesterday that I will send so you can see kinda what the city is like. The weather here is perfect right now nice breeze and everything! Ya I am sure Kaleb was really excited to get out of there I am pretty sure he had a hard time as did most of the people I know but it is what it is and it really helps but then again the mtc doesn't really tell you how hard the mission is going to be! There is something President Hinckley said to some elders in Scotland he said. Its not as easy as they say it is, but its not as hard as you think it is. I thought that was kinda a cool little thing I got that in Presidents e mail this week. Its so true if you think its gonna be hard then its gonna be harder than it really is. Its definitely not easy but its not as hard as we sometimes think. Also Kurt probably loved it because I am pretty sure he was only in the mtc for 2 weeks then went to the mtc in the Dominic republic so ha he didn't quite have the full mtc nine week experience!  Also I can not believe I have been out here for basically 4 months and next transfer I'll hit my six month mark thats nuts. So I am pretty sure my comp will go zone leader next transfer he has been district leader for 5 transfers and there are quite a few zone leaders dying at the end of this transfer and dying means they will be done with their missions....Its crazy how different the world is than just little St. George Utah haha sometimes I think we just need to get out of our little bubbles cause after I met the kid from Africa I told you about I was just like wow you dont really think about how bad it is until you know someone who has been through it! I feel really bad for him but I guess its life I am just glad I dont have to be in that situation. The whole train by myself was interesting but it will be easier after I know the language a bit better. I am glad everyone is doing well. I guess I will get to call again in December!! Haha thats so weird that next time I call I will be basically a year out and the last time I call I will be coming home in 2 weeks so I'll be expecting the Christmas tree to still be up and also for my I phone to be under it haha just warning you now!! The mission goes by pretty quickly... I feel bad I didnt have a lot of time to talk to Hunter  but he didnt have too much to say either he sounds a lot older thats weird. I wish Iyrlend would have talked a bit more but she has probably already forgotten me! It was good to hear from you all! You all sound really great and I am glad I got to talk to you. So I guess I really could have done skype cause the older couple has their own computer and what not and they skype their families like every night I guess thats the perks of going on a mission when your older you can communicate with your family every day haha. But it was just a little bit hectic with transfers and all so thats why I guess it didnt work out... But I am sure I will be able to figure it out come Christmas time. Also on the 18th I get to go to Hannover for zone conference I will be able to see a couple of kids from my golden group so that will be cool. I will see Elder Robinson so that will be fun... Ok. So I thought of some other things I may need... If you would be so kind to send me some easy recipes and stuff so I can have different things to cook. Also I want the recipe for your clam dip as well!! And.... Some stain remover would be nice the German stuff SUCKS.... Also hmmm ya I guess you could send that calling card as well if I need it for some reason.... I am pretty ticked that the package didnt get to you guys because It was a pretty good one. But I will just send individual chocolate bars and what not cause they are pretty dang good.... The reason I need some new garments is becuase... In my last are I literally walked holes through a lot of them its pretty sad! But thanks so much I will be expecting it soon! Love you guys tons! Cheer for my Lakers for me while I am here they need it right now!! Love ya

CURRENT ADDRESS AS OF 5-2-11

Elder Christian Voran
Herren Schreiber Str #20
48431 Rheine
Germany

WEEK 14 4-26-11 - 5-2-11

Hello Everyone from Germany.
I'm doing good this week! The mission has just kinda finally become my life and so its fun you have to find ways to make it fun! So first I'll give you the bad news then I'll give you the crazy weekly news ya. So first of all the bad news I wont be able to skype because you can only skype for 30 minutes and I think that is kinda worthless... And ok here is the crazy news Saturday was my first transfer call and transfer calls are super cool its a big conference call and Pres gets on and one of the APs starts with a prayer then he just goes through every city and says who is going where and before he just says how he and his wife and the APs have prayed about every city every companionship and he has received revelation so he makes sure you know that transfers are from the Lord not from him and what he thinks so that's really cool. So now details from transfer calls the other 2 elders in my district came to our apartment cause we were on exchange with them I went to Schwarzenberg for Friday so we came back Saturday morning and had transfer calls. Elder Nethercott the district leader made a dang good breakfast for us so that was cool too. We plugged the phone into our speakers so we could here it and freak out if someone got transferred! So my comp has been here in Annaberg for 3 transfers which is 18 weeks that's pretty long but usually you stay in an area for 2 to 3 transfers. Elder Nethercott has been in Schwarzenberg the same amount of time i've been here in Annaberg so it was basically 100 % that we would both stay and Elder Perry the other elder in Schwarzenberg has been there for 2 now so we thought it would be Elder Carlson my comp for sure to get transferred and maybe Elder Perry. So President was going through every zone and all of a sudden I heard my name!! I got transferred!! I am going to the complete opposite side of Germany haha I went from the Chzeck border to the Netherlands border! I will be in a city called Bad Bentheim well actually the city we live in is called Rheine! I will be serving with Elder Hardman and i've only heard awesome things about him so I am super excited! That's another reason I cant skype becuase Elder Hardman had gotten things set up for us to call there already since it will be my first week there! I leave tomorrow at 9 in the morning on a train and I'll be alone on a train for 7 and a half hours im a little nervous about finding my way and what not but I'll be fine! The whole rest of the district stayed where they were i'm the only one getting transferred so my comp will be here for a total of 6 months!! I felt a little bad for him and he looked like he was going to puke! He is really sad to see me go cause we worked really hard but we had a lot of fun together! Everyone was definitely shocked!
Anyways as for missionary work this week we made out 4 appointments in 2 days which is like unheard of here in Annaberg and only one went through but that is ok because she is now a new investigator she says she wont change from her church but she took the book of mormon and said she would read what we asked her to read and pray about it and then she made out another appointment so that is why she is considered a new investigator it was cool that we finally found someone! That couple the phillipino lady and her husband came to church again and the ward was really accepting and the couple ladies who can speak broken English were talking with her so that is really good hopefully they can get her husband baptized!! Anyways we did a lot of walking and finding this week and we worked our butts off! Its pretty crazy to think I wont be here anymore but I'm excited to go! I am a pretty firm believer in change and I think that change always can help the area and the missionary work!
So a funny story there are these less active member Mike and Katja and we had met with them several times and they would just say ya we are coming to church this week and they wouldn't be there on Sunday so we would call and ask and they always had some sickness or injury or something it was quite ridiculous! So we had made out an appointment to go meet with them and we went over and knocked on the door and they didn't answer so we called and Mike said they were at the hospital so they couldn't meet with us but he never gave the reason why they were at the hospital so we were like ok thats kinda weird. So we were walking down the main street and we see them shopping!! We see them walk into this store and I was like Elder we need to go in there and Elder Carlson was like you have got to be joking they just told us they were at the hospital!! So we walk in this store and Mike sees us and like he didn't know we saw him but he hid as fast as possible and they like literally ran out of the store trying to get away from us haha it was classic then Elder Carlson was just like i'm done with them haha he was pretty ticked about it!!
Anyways that's basically everything for this week! I cant believe that you haven't gotten the package yet that's not good!!! But I did receive your package it came on Thursday though not Tuesday but thanks for the package and the pictures!! I love the pictures of the gates family Easton looks so old!! I hope all is good there and everything is going well!! I am glad you had fun in Disneyland even though everyone was puking that's kinda disgusting haha you Bret and Zach all kinda touched on the puking part! But by the time I get home Bret will forget how much she doesnt like family vacations and she will come with me!! haha Anyways. Love you all thanks for everything Talk to you next week and mom I'll send you the number and time in the personal e mail to you!! Thanks

WEEK 13 4-19-11 - 4-25-11

Halo!

Well Happy late Easter to all of you!! Easter was good here in Germany I was a little nervous thinking that the Easter Bunny would not find us but he found us!! A couple members in the ward gave us some chocolate of course considering we are in Germany and also the eating appointment we had they made us little Easter candy plate things kinda like an Easter basket! So that was good!! Here Easter is a pretty big deal! For most people! The Saturday before is a holiday so everything is closed and also today the Monday after is a holiday and everything is closed then as well!! So it’s pretty crazy but I think that a lot of people here just celebrate it to celebrate it but don’t really understand the whole reason for Easter.

 On Friday the 22nd we went to the Freiberg Temple we are about an hour or so away from the temple it was good it was pretty interesting because the session was in Hungarian but they give us little radio things but ya it was cool to see that there is members all over the world and the distance they have to travel just to go to the temple its really cool! After we came back we had an eating appointment with Brother Löhrmon he’s an older dude he served in ww2 and everything and he loves the missionaries him and his wife are super nice people and they made a dang good meal for us! Also after he asked for a blessing because his back has been really hurting him! So my comp gave him a blessing then we saw him yesterday at church he came and talked to us and told us he had had 2 painless nights cause of our blessing that was really awesome he had like tears in his eyes and so that was cool!

Yesterday at church we were sitting there and not expecting any random people to show up then in the middle of Sunday school the elders quorum pres came in and got my companion and said we have some visitors and so he went out and talked to these people. The lady is a Phillipino and her husband is GermanI guess they met on the internet or something she is already a member and was like a relief society pres in the phillipines and her dad is the patriarch or something so that was kinda cool and she speaks no german but she speaks english and her husband was in some accident I guess and so he's kinda handicapped but more like physically not mentally and he speaks no english only german I still haven't figured out how that marriage works ha they can’t talk to each other I guess its kinda fishy to me but that was cool they found our church on the internet and drove out!

 

As for Transfer Calls they are every six weeks. And so this Saturday will be transfer calls and the next transfer starts on next Tuesday...

 A Dorf is a small little town I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s not big enough to be a city but ya it’s a town... There are a lot of dorfs in my area but we have a hard time getting to them cause the bus system here is pretty bad and we don’t have a car! But this dorf was way cool that we had found last week. It was like in these cliffs I am sending some pictures. And also there was this cool train motel thing haha it was really interesting but really cool. We have a super small district the other 2 elders are in Schwarzenberg which is just about 30 minutes south of us we hang out with them every p day and on Wednesday we have district meetings.

 I am excited to get the package I have been waiting for mail!! I did get a letter from G ma Lois man she is beating everyone with the letter writing maybe you should take lessons from her!! Disneyland sounds fun!! I wish I was there to go but maybe in a few years ya! haha anyways. Ya president has been pretty concerned with our area for quite some time I think because the work is just like stopped and we are working our butts off so we will see if he makes any changes on Saturday when transfer calls are!! We have stake conference in a couple weeks on mother’s day actually it’s kinda hard because transfers are the week before so we don’t know who will be here!! I’m glad you enjoyed Easter it was pretty cool here as well besides the bells at the church by our apartment that usually go off for ten minutes at 6 in the morning went off for an hour because it was Easter other than that it was a great day!! The language is coming I feel like I am starting to understand a little better it’s still hard but I almost feel like I can speak better than I can understand so hmm idk it’s a little weird!! But Ya that’s about it nothing really new just working my butt off still. Oh and you should read 2nd Nephi chapter 9.  I read it the other day in personal study and the week before president gave a lesson at interviews on how Jesus Christ is the way he is not the destination our Heavenly Father is the destination and a lot of times people overlook that because we talk so much about Jesus Christ not always about our Heavenly Father but that is our destination and only through Jesus Christ can we get there! And verse 41 in 2nd Nephi 9 is really good!! That’s my scripture for the week!! Well Love you all hope is well!!

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