WEEK 19 5-31-11 - 6-6-11

Hallo Von Deutschland!
So first and foremost I havent heard of anyone from the mission getting sick with this e coli outbreak or whatever. Secondly I probably figured that that is the case because not a lot of missionarys eat vegetables! I really like vegetables but they are a little more expensive and hard to prepare fresh ones! We eat a lot of easy to make food actually this last week we made some African stew it was sooo SPICY I about died of course that is because an African made it for us or showed us how to make it!! President actually sent us a text the other day telling us that they found that the cause of the outbreak was from bean sprouts so really we should all be fine and its easy to defeat when you just wash your vegetables and cook your meats all the way through!! So just to let you know my comp and I are both healthy actually just kidding he got a cold about a week ago and has been coughing and sometimes he doesnt cover his mouth and I tell him everytime if I get sick I will punch you square in the face and I kinda started getting a sore throught but it went away no problem! As far as the week goes it has actually been somewhat slow and dissapointing. We had some pretty solid appointments with some people that we had met on the street and they all fell through which was rough on us cause we were really excited about it! We are still teaching Gisbert I just wish he would understand the whole authority thing which I dont think he does. Its kinda like he is just content with where he is and doesnt need to join the church even though he has read the whole book of mormon and started over again!! He told us he knows without a doubt that the book is true but I dont understand why he wont get baptized sometimes I think we are just not straight forward enough! He really likes my companion so we will see what happens If my comp gets transfered at the end of this week! I cant believe its the last week of the transfer I am about 100 percent positive I will stay but I am also  pretty sure he will be going! There is 6 zone leaders that are finishing their missions and one of the APs so thats 7 leadership positions that need to be filled and he has been district leader for 6 transfers now and I guess president had basically told him he will be a ZL this summer I guess we will see haha. Anyways we have a pretty solid appointment tonight with a guy we met a couple weeks ago that will be cool to see how he has progressed he has been on vacation for a week so I am not sure if he has gotten the chance to read out of the Book of mormon this week hopefully so! I am actually in Osnabruck with the elders here for P day we decided to do a district P day and I think we are planning on going to the Zoo. Its way cool because Elder Wilson is in Osnabruck and he went to Snow Canyon so its like I am back at home cause we can talk about things back there haha its cool he is a sweet kid! And we are going on exchanges Elder Wilson is coming to Rheine with me and Elder Hardman is staying with Elder Stoe is Osnabruck. Ya my comp had to go to a training meeting a couple weeks ago but I just went with the elders in Osnabruck for the day and ya he tells me stuff but a lot of it is just stuff I already knew or had heard at zone conference or what not! I can't believe Easton is already 1yrs old thats freaking nuts! Happy Birthday to Dad and Easton! I will be sending a package home soon for Fathers day. For Dad and maybe he can share! Its hard for me to find candy he likes here because they have so much chocolate but I found these things that are delicious that I think he will like so we will see! Thats cool about the Thomas S. Monson book I want to read it as well I guess I have 19 months and I can haha. So nothing really new for me still trying to find some new investigators and its hard cause a lot of contacts have fallen through. Oh I got a new watch! A member in the ward collects watches well her brother does that lives with her he is and older guy he is deaf and what not so that is why he lives with her but he is way way cool. Anyways he found some watches on e bay from hong kong and he showed us one he had purchased and I though it was way cool and it was only a dollar and shipping is like 7 so an 8 euro watch so they ordered one for me!! I am super stoked to get it haha!

Now for the more spiritual part! I have been reading the war chapters in Alma well actually I am just reading through the Book of Mormon and that happens to be where I am at. And I love the war chapters just cause there is so much action going on! I always wonder what can I learn from this cause I don't plan on ever being in a battle with swords and what not! But hey I am in a battle right now! I fight everyday to spread the gospel to people who sometimes dont want anything to do with it thats a battle in itself! I learned something really valuable from Alma chapter 47 the story of Lehonti and Almickiah or however you spell his name! Almickiah wants to become king but first he has to take over the armies so he can become king. Lehonti and his army are on the top of a mountain and Almickiah has this great plan to get them so he sends up a messanger and says Lehonti come down I want to talk to you. Lehonti says no! So he tries that 3 more times and Lehonti wont come down so than Almickiah thinks if I can only get him halfway down. So he sends up his servents again and says hey Lehonti come halfway down and so he says ok! So than Almickiah makes this deal with him that sounds so great as long as Lehonti puts Almickiah second in command! So than Lehonti agrees and what happens Almickiah slowly poisens Lehonti and when Lehonti dies the armies are now all controlled by Almickiah because he is second in command. That is such a crazy story and how many comparisons you really can make with it! With Satan the whole goal was Satan wanted glory! And that is what Almickiah wanted people to follow him. And than that just shows us we have to keep our standards high and not even come down at all! We need to stay on our mountains and not let Satan bring us halfway cause than we are done for! I thought you guys might like my message for the week! I love you all and am so Grateful I have such a great family and friends I pray for you guys and I feel the prayers for me! Thanks for Everything!!

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!!

Alles Gute

WEEK 12 4-12-11 - 4-18-11

Halo!
This week seemed to go by a little bit faster but that was because I wasn't here for 2 of the days of the week!! I went to Dresden on Tuesday it was freakin so cool it its a huge city and so many people to talk to!! It was awesome it was a lot different than here in Annaberg! The zone leader I was with he's pretty cool Elder Grange is his name he is from Bountiful and went to Viewmont! Of course the zone leaders have all the super awesome cities! I guess I'll have to fight my way to zl someday!! Interviews went really well but it goes by zones and our zone is the Dresden zone and since I was with the zone leader I had to go early to the church in Dresden cause thats where interviews were and my district was the last to be interviewed and I was very last out of them all! So I was the first one there and the last to leave but it was a good day lots of cool lessons! My interview with president was awesome such an awesome guy!! I told him that it had been pretty hard for me and he said ya thats something the mtc doesnt really prepare you for and then he said I'm going to be completely honest with you always and I am never gonna lie to you.  Your gonna have hard times and he went on about how when he went on his mission he went because it was a commandment and he didn't know it was gonna be hard but he went and he did it cause it was a commandment. Than he went on and said how he is not worried about me and how there is something about me he said that even when things are hard I'll do it and I have lots of spiritual strength and he told me there is something special about me?? I was kinda shocked haha he said your gonna do great things here we are gonna have a fun 2 yrs! He was like ever since our first interview I've been a big elder Voran fan I know your gonna do good things here.
So it was cool to have an uplifting interview!

 Anyways last Monday was good we had p day then had this family who invited us to FHE (family home evening) it was cool they are a super young family 3 little kids super nice people! It was fun to play with the kids they kinda liked me!! The little girl we were eating at their house and I was talking to her although she speaks better German than I do haha! She is like 4 and she is like Mama I like him haha it was funny then we gave a spiritual thought and we were about to leave and the guy was like do you guys wanna jump on our tramp we were like heck ya of course we do! So we did that for a little it was a lot of fun! I dont think Im going to do skype for mothers day but probably for x mas and what happens is the p day before mothers day I'll give you a number to call and you guys call at a certain time its a members phone and incoming calls dont cost them money so you dont need to send a calling card! I'll probably be sending the chocolate and treats off today so it should be there soon! Thats crazy that Clark leaves so soon!! And I got Chases E mail thats awesome Tennessee!

So bad news we met with Enrico on Friday and it went really well and he wanted to come to church and everything then on Saturday we were helping a member with some garden work and Enricos mother called us now let me tell you something the guy is like 36 yrs old and he has depression and he moved by his mom cause his dad is like dying so he moved back to help her out! Anyways she is Protestant which most people are here! But she told us we cant meet with him anymore because he is protestant and she wants it to stay that way and its her responsibility cause he is sick or something it was so stupid and we were trying to help him quit smoking and now we have 0 investigators so thats hard we do a lot of doors and street contacting! It sounds like everything is going well for everyone back home! I figured out today im 1/8th done of my mission well actually more. What I found out is that I'll be going home three weeks earlier than I thought so around the end of december because 2 transfers are going to be shorter than six weeks to arrange the elders from the preston mtc and the elders from the provo mtc to get here at the same time. But ya thats kinda just a side note! Anyways nothing really else that happened this week its funny we walk down streets and people like seperate for us I say its like parting the red sea haha its pretty funny!! Anyways thats all for this week!! Love you all!!

CURRENT ADDRESS

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Elder Voran
Karlsbader 25
09456 Annaberg-Buchholz
...Germany

WEEK 11 4-5-11 - 4-11-11

Hallo! From Germany!

This week has been good! Hard none the less but its been good. Wednesday we had tausch which in German means switch so the district leader came here with me in Annaberg and Elder Carlson went to Schwarzenberg that was fun to just be with someone else for a day... Then this coming week actually tomorrow Tuesday we have a tausch with the Zone Leaders in Dresden and Dresden is quite a big city to I will get to go to Dresden with one of the ZLs that will be fun to experience a big city! Then on Wednesday we have interviews with president thats kinda like a whole day thing they have lessons and stuff going on and activities while he's giving interviews its like everyone in our zone the Dresden zone if you look at the mission map you can see.

Here is my sad story for the week. So Saturday was just not our day we had three appointments but they all fell through so we just did finding all day and that is seriously the worst you don't feel like your accomplishing anything! So we walked a few miles to a little dworf and started doing doors there and nobody was listening to us we had been outside all day we were both super beat it was not fun! It had been quite a few hours with nothing to do but doors and finding people when I was like man this sucks!! This is definately not fun for me! and right as I said that I felt something hit my head I was like great now someone threw something at me out of the window I turned around and Elder Carlson was like dude a bird just pooped on your head!! It was so sick it got all over my pants and everything!! So I knew that I probably shouldn't complain anymore God was trying to tell me something I guess it kinda made us laugh just at the timing that it happened!

I am halfway through a transfer here and all depending on if my comp gets transfered or not will tell how long I will be here but probably tops 3 transfers which if that happens then I guess there is something I need to learn here! We had an appointment with Enrico one of our investigators this last friday and he is Evangalish which is Protestant in German a lot of people are Protestant becuase the city like keeps the churches and everything there are some big huge lutheran churches here. Anyways he has a friend at work who is in the ward great guy Bruder König and they are pretty good friends anyways before I came Enrico had started meeting with the missionarys here and it was more cause he has depression and just wanted to talk to someone but he said he didnt want to change his religion! But ya he had gone to church once with the missionaries and he smokes and drinks coffee and the talk in church that he heard was about how our bodys are temples and stuff and he really liked that and he has wanted to quit smoking for a long time now! anyways so we met with him and we were talking about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon which is kinda hard cause we meet with him in a park! Elder Carlson was like ya we know we can know what is true through prayer and stuff then he was like ya I know that your church is true and we were both super shocked but it was way cool! We invited him to get baptized but he's a little hesitant we dont think he is quite ready but the guys gonna get baptized he explained what he felt and it was definitely the Holy Ghost it was cool! We are getting him on the stop smoking workshop and everything so we will see how it goes!

We haven't had a lot of work this week so its been rough but it works I think we might start english class one day a week and that might give us some leads with some people. Oh another funny story so earlier last week like Tuesday we had been out of the apartment for like 10 minutes and we were walking and some guy yelled out of the window and called us a bad word hah then he threw something like a rock or something I don't know what it was and we turned around and he flipped us off! so we just laughed and kept walking and no later than 30 seconds a car came around the corner and this guy stuck his hand out of the sun roof and flipped us off it was a record I think it was kinda funny!!

Anyways Sunday was really good it was definitely needed! Although we had to watch the Sunday afternoon conference session in german a guy had the talks printed in english cause he is trying to learn english so then after he used them I just read the talks! After we met with the bishop such a sweet guy doesn't ever have a lot of time because he works in Freiberg and works late so we have never really met with him but he's a really nice guy such a classy dude. The ward is just super awesome they all know I don't know a lot of german but they are super nice people! and all of them have like 3 callings! Then after we met with the bishop we had an awesome lunch it was fast Sunday so that was needed as well! Schnitzel and Potatoes it was good but not as good as Grandmas!! But dad you definitely would have loved it! Then we met with a less active lady and her kids her mom is in the ward and we meet with them both once a week and we played with the kids we played a board game that was fun and threw a frisbee around for a while then we had another member lesson which was cool. I definitely needed yesterday cause Saturday was rough!

That's funny about Jeff he seems to always bring the rain and cold!! Its been pretty windy here but its been good. Still rough but I'm doing good! Its all about attitude! And any family can e mail me but I cant guarantee an e mail back! I will try though!  thanks for everything and all the support and prayers I love you all!!!

WEEK 10 3-29-11 - 4-4-11

Halo!
So Another week down its pretty crazy they say it goes by a lot faster after your first transfer so we will see... the start of this whole thing has definately been tough there is times when me and my comp just get frustrated cause nobody talks to us we are workin a lot with less actives in the ward and what not so that is good... We have one investigator he is from America but his girlfriend is from the chzeck and annaberg where I am at is right on the chzeck border so thats why he is here its good cause he speaks english. His only problem is that he is not really trying to find out he said he would be baptized if he found out but he doesnt keep commitments and so its hard. Conference was good I got to watch it in english I saw the saturday morning and the sunday morning ones live! I was a little dissapointed missing grandmas and a delicious meal while watching conference. We went down to Shwarzenberg which is like 20 miles away and stayed with the elders there cause thats where conference was being held. Anyways someone from their ward made this noodle soup stuff and it wasn't that bad but it smelled funny and it made us all feel pretty sick so that was fun ha. Mom you know how you like the smell and taste of cofee well you would love it over here in germany I drink whats called caro every day and its like coffee without coffee the members give it to us all the time I am not the biggest fan but if you put enough sugar and cream in it its not too bad! So funny story for the week we were walking in the city and there was this guy sitting in his car and my comp stopped and talked to him and he's like ya I know you guys talk about god and what not and so we ended up just giving him a pass along card and he's like make sure your cell number is on here incase I want to meet with you guys and it was already on there so my comp pulled out the phone and he's like I have it incase you want to meet. Anyways about an hour later he gets this text that says hey its the guy you talked to in the car and I wanna meet with you when is good. So we were way excited so my comp texted back and said ok we can meet anytime is good for us when and where is good for you and he said evenings are the best and you can come here and we can both drink a bottle of wine and get comfortable.  My comp was like ok we don't drink wine and we can meet by our church if you want and then he text back and said well i was hoping just you could come over here and we could have a good night together! HAHA I gave him so much crap for that I still tell him he has a boyfriend its interesting we meet some interesting people here! The ward is way cool on friday night they had whats called polter abend which is right before someone gets married there is a couple in the ward getting married this week anyways polter abend is like where you go and just break things! People just bring stuff in this parking lot and just throw plates and glass cups and everything a couple people brought like 5 gallon barrels and they had this big stick they were like destroying these barrells than a few people brought like porceline sinks and what not and threw them and they shattered it was way cool. Then after they have this huge dinner which was also pretty delicious then they had like dancing and stuff which thats about when we left! I hope you guys liked my pictures I'll send a couple more that I have in my other e mail. Hmm what else oh I sent you a letter mother hopefully you got it or it should be getting there today or tomorrow I think I'll send a package soon. Conference was really good I was kinda upset cause we don't get to watch the sunday afternoon session till next week well this coming sunday in church so its gonna be in german and Elder Holland spoke during that session so I have to watch it in German which I don't really understand! Mom you should send some cds like the trek cd or maybe just an i pod with like the trek cd and the joseph smith cd and like josh groban disney music and maybe a couple owl city songs. president is pretty cool with music he says that whatever is uplifting so ya... Next week I have a split with one of the Zone leaders in dresden so that will be fun to be in a bigger area then the week after that were going to the freiburg temple were pretty close so we just take a train and what not! I have already lost like 10 pounds here the weather was amazing this last week but its raining today its starting to get green so thats pretty awesome! Thanks for all the support! Love you all!!

WEEK 9 3-18-11 - 3-27-11

Hello Everyone!!
Wow what a week. Well I guess it hasn't been a week yet but I feel like it has! First things first this missionary work stuff is definitely not easy!! We got here to Berlin about 10 in the morning on Wednesday and it was cool to see president the first things he said to us was were gonna get you all a nap today and tonight your staying at a hotel in Berlin were having a German buffet and your gonna go do some finding and try to place a book of mormon or two with one of the older missionaries in the area. And then when you get home you will go to bed an hour early and sleep in till 830 so we can get rid of your jet lag as quick as possible!! That was literally amazing! Anyways pres and his wife are way way cool super nice people my interview was good he's a really good guy!! So anyways the first night we went finding and it was me and elder Elmer who was one of my roommates and an older elder from the berlin zone and we were walking and these 4 muslim kids asked if we had a smoke and elder Songenredder (the older missionary) said no but we have this book and he started talking about the book of mormon and a couple of them were like no we can't read this we are muslim but one of them was like we can read it its about Christ so that was really cool. Then we continued to walk and it was my turn to talk so I talked to this guy and just said we talk about this book and Jesus Christ and he said how he had always been interested in religion and he'd take the book and read it and pray and call the missionaries so that was super awesome! So then the next day we went in the morning (after an amazing night of sleep) to mauer platz one of the places where the wall once was and we visited there it was cool! Then we went back and had lunch at the church the lunch was pretty good. Then we had whats called golden conference where all the trainers are and that's when you find out where your going and who your companion will be. So I was about the 3rd elder to find out where I was going and I went up and read it. Now let me tell you a little something before I tell you where I am at. Northern Germany is generally really flat and 0 mountains right. So I am in Annaberg-Buchholz which is south of Dresden its like the 2nd most southern part of the mission look it up on a map! Anyways its a small city built on a MOUNTAIN and another thing our area is not a car area we have bikes but my companion does not like to ride them so we walk and we walk and we walk up the hills every day its quite interesting my legs were freaking dead! still are actually the church is like a few miles up the mountain so walking there sucked. But hopefully I lose some weight here I am sure I will my comp is like super skinny and he's lost 10 pounds here he doesn't even have that much to lose so its crazy another thing is that we don't eat dinner here so that is good... Yesterday was my first Sunday here and it was good I had to give my testimony I was a little bit nervous because I can hardly speak German its super different than the mtc also this place where I am at has a different dialect so its super hard to understand people!! The members are really nice though. We had an eating appointment yesterday they made schnitzel and it was delicious. So the work here is hard because its small and most people have already heard of the lds church here and they don't want anything to do with it. Also there is a big protestent church right in the middle of the city! People don't really like to talk to us which is hard cause we walk so far and talk to everyone but nobody listens!! We do doors also there are just these big apartment complexes and the apartments are like one room each. Totally east germany youll have to look at it. So it's been a hard frustrating week but hopefully it will get better! My companions name is elder Carlson he is from pleasant grove he's a nice kid... But you know how I don't like to be told what to do and how to do it better and what not well ya he does that i know he is just trying to help so its ok... He's been here for nine months in germany and he's only been in the dresden zone and this is his 3rd transfer in Annaberg so he might get transfered this next transfer. It's definitely different than the mtc cause the people are real and don't really want to talk to you haha so its hard! I hope all is well back home. I can not believe that kansas blew it!! to an 11 seed! thats really weird that no number 1 seeds are in the final 4 ha crazy year! hope all is well I miss you guys pray for me! I can't wait to call you come mothers day!! all is well!

WEEK 8 3-11-11 - 3-17-11

Hello!!
Wow 2 months down how crazy is that I can't even believe I have been here that long!! I can not wait to get to Germany though I'm so excited!! This week has been a lot more relaxed because its our last week so our teachers have started to tell us stories about their missions and what not so that has been fun to hear!
So our last Tuesday night devotional we were betting on it being an apostle but of course it was another seventy which was still good but 8 weeks and no apostle that"s super rare we missed Holland by 1 week so boots got to see him! That's crazy about you going back to work that will be great.  Waking  up early is hard but when you go to bed and get 8 hours of sleep you feel so much better than when you get 10 or 9 like our bodies only need 8 hours so its more healthy for us! I definitely can not wait to sleep on the airplane though!! Thanks for all the stuff in my bag!

I decided the first thing Im going to buy when i get to Germany is a jump rope so i can excersize while im there cause I want to lose some weight and i know that i can! My work ethic has improved a lot also my desire to finish! My one thing I have always struggled with is finishing.  i always started something but never could keep with it! I am glad the mission has helped me with that because I want to be a doctor and i know thats going to take a lot of drive to finish! Im getting a little nervous to be honest to leave here because out there everything is not going to be structured for you and you have to structure it yourself! I am hoping my senior comp is way sweet and we get along really well and go to work! My next p-day i will send you pictures of my first experiences in Germany and some pictures from the airport in the Netherlends I have some pictures printed off that I'll send before I leave there are some pretty funny ones!
Ya G-ma Sondra sent me a dear elder that said Hunter did really well thats awesome good job!! I wish I knew how to play piano honestly thats an awesome skill!  Anyways so I start packing my things up today thats gonna be kinda crazy!! Idk where to start! I hope I can figure out how to do that shirt folder thing! We got to host again yesterday and I finally got to host an elder he was from like alpine or something I think going to Mosanbique in Africa! My teachers little bro is over there and he tells us they are baptizing people like crazy so thats way awesome! Both of my teachers have little bros on missions one in tonga and he was actually here while we were here! No Hurst is here for 9 weeks he is going to the Phillipines so he has 6 weeks after I leave. Alex comes in on April 6th and Clark comes in in May 5th or something! I haven't heard from Boots but Taylor forwards his e mail every week to me and so I can forward that to you if you'd like! I e mail mike and chase frei pretty consistently though!
Its gonna be wierd cause once I am in Germany I will have to e mail everyone cause letters take awhile! Make sure dad keeps up on my bank account just to make sure everything is good! So there is like 30 of us leaving on Monday and Tuesday are zone is big there is 17 of us going to Berlin on Tuesday and like 13 going to Frankfurt on Monday so the branch will reduce more than 2 thirds! It's so crazy I will be in the real world in like a week I am so excited its going to be super interesting! I have been reading the start of the New Testament and Christs teachings which I have loved! It's cool to really study and figure out the parables! And with what I learned last week about mercy and justice and intelligence everything seems so simple! Miracles aren't crazy its just science! and its an honor to say that I have the power to preform those miracles! But also faith is a huge part! The atonement makes so much more sense! That is probably the one sole thing that I am glad to say I learned here and I can use in the mission field is my knowledge of the atonement! I hear the jayhawks are dominate! They'll win it all! better let me know how everything goes! I can't believe I only have 22 months left thats not long at all i'll be home before you know it! Thanks for everything I love you all!!

WEEK 7 3-4-11 - 3-10-11

Hello!

Wow another week down how crazy!! so first the big NEWS......... I got my flight plans yesterday!!! here they are we leave March 22nd from Salt Lake City at 11:05 AM to Detroit Michigan!! We get to Detroit at 4:37 Eastern time and that is prob when I will be calling cause we have a 2 hour lay over there!! we leave detroit at 6:50 Eastern time to AMSTERDAM in the netherlands!! We get to Amsterdam at 7:45 am Netherlends time and than we leave at 8:50 to Berlin we get to berlin the 23rd at 10:10 am which will be like 2 in the morning our time!! We were all way pumped when we got them yesterday!!

 Ok so on to the other stuff! Yesterday was literally the coolest lesson/conversation we've had since Ive been here!! We talked about intelligence and everything with our teacher he brought a talk by cleon or leon skousen its called the need for the atonement!! And it talks about intelligences and it made so much sense to all of us!! It puts everthing in to better perspective and why the Atonement is so important and why it had to happen! Basically it comes down to the fact that with the law of justice we will never be able to leave with our Heavenly father again cause he would cease to be god by not following that law. But because of the Atonement Christ has the call because of mercy Mercy is a whole different law but Mercy over powers Justice so that is how it is possible for us! It also makes more sense why blessings are so important or why blessings work! and same with miracles its all science. God can do anything but he has to keep the laws or he ceases to be God! Everything has intelligence so with blessings its like askin or telling those intelligence to fix themselves and obey but it has to be if God wants it to obey thats why the spirit is so important! Gods power is his honor! By having Honor every intelligence obeys him! Even though it still has agency! That is where the light of christ comes in! The intelligences are light and truth which is the light of christ! So that is what gives us the desire to do good and obey God!! It's a really deep concept I wish i could explain it better But read about the atonement and the creation and all that its pretty awesome!!

 I got a letter from Scotty it was good to hear from him I'll have to write him back today!! I can't believe I have less than 2 weeks and I'll be in Germany! I am a bit nervous I hope I get an awesome companion!! SO there is quite a few people going to germany 2 from st. george are here now with the new district they are both at little different!! But tell aunt linda Elder Maughn and I are pretty good friends!! Hunter good luck with your preformance I know you will do great!! Ya its cool having hurst in the same building he comes up and I go down and we hang out for a little bit every night so thats fun!! I can't believe Austin is home thats so crazy! President Daines (the provo Temple pres) spoke on sunday here and it was awesome so much things about the temple! He promised us that it would be harder to leave our mission than it was to leave our families I had a hard time believing that!! But I am looking forward to seeing that happen and I am sure it will!!

We got to host yesterday it was wierd to see all the moms crying and stuff it seems like that never happened cause I've been here for so long! I am sure we will host next week also!! Also in Pres daines talk well his wife talked before he did she told a story about this 12yr old boy who had cancer and ended up dying! and he appeared to his dad later with the boys Grandpa and great Grandpa and said he was happy! and than the boy said  its weird  everything is so busy here we are preparing for the second coming! How freaking crazy is that!! anyways yes all is good here at the mtc! I can not wait to get to Germany though!!. And i have a lot more respect for the priesthood now because I know that to perform those miracles we have to have gods Honor!! so thats prety awesome!! Come on mother 6:45 is nothing!! we are right in the thick of things that early!! haha! Well nothing really new here!! I don't think there is anything I really need! But I love you all!! The church is true keep up the good work!! Study the scriptures! Oh another thing I learned is if you write down a question you have before you read the scriptures it makes the scriptures so much more meaningful and you can definately find the answer its so crazy!!

WEEK 6 2-25-11 - 3-3-11

Halo Guten Tag!!
It's definately flying by!! I can not wait to get to Germany though I am so excited!! This week has gone by super fast its just to the point where it's flying by and everything is kinda the same ya know!! But I am still learning a ton! This last Tuesday Richard C. Edgely from the presiding bishopric spoke and he was so awesome!! He talked about how it's so easy to be a successful missionary and that we are the best the church has ever sent!! It was a really good uplifting talk for all of us he just said study, pray, and have the spirit and you will be a successful missionary so that was awesome!! I have not seen Kaleb yet we weren't hosts yesterday but I have seen Elder Heaps quite a few times so that's cool he's a good kid! He actually leaves before me because he goes to the mtc in Guatemala for a few weeks so he leaves the 14th of March! Saying bye to boots was crazy he was super excited though and that's good I know he will do great!! His companion is way cool too and they were both really excited to go do the work!! I got an e mail from taylor haha he says his part of hawaii is not what you'd think of when you think of hawaii but he loves it says its so much better than the mtc and his first door he knocked it was a little asian lady who slammed it in his face haha classic! Thats way sad about Jordan Parras i knew who he was what a freak accident!! Crazy! Hunter sounds like a smart kid not taking crap from anyone!! Haha no tell him he needs to respect people who are older than him but next time that girl tells him not to do something to tell her to worry about herself!! Thats my boy!! Tell him to keep up on the Lakers for me so he can tell me how they are doing and everything and also about Kansas to see if they are doing good!! Keep up the piano! and when i get home you can teach me!! Thats cool you'll be able to come up here it looks like it might be a little bit colder again which sucks but oh well!! So last night our teacher taught us about we are responsible for 100 percent of what happens to us and I had a hard time with that the fact that a 4yr old boy in africa born with aids and dies at the age of 4 of starvation is responsible for that! But it is a principle we must understand that in the pre earth life we all chose Gods plan not knowing our consequences but we knew there would be consequences so we chose to come here! God gave us laws also so he must follow those laws and even though we cant choose our consequences we are responsible for what happens cause we know as a church that God gives us everything we need to reach our highest potential which is exaltation no matter how hard our life is we must realize that everything has or will be given to us that will help us reach our potential!! So now I understand a little bit better! Thats so nuts Austin gets home soon what an example to his bro's and to our family tell him I say hello from the mtc!! and Tell Sarah and Danny congrats thats way cool the priesthood is an awesome privilege I've stood in on a couple blessings since I have been here so thats been fun and interesting! So elder cox is still weird we are worried he wont make it out in the field cause none of us think he is emotionally stable! his companion told us the other day he should be making money for being a phsyciatrist haha it was quite funny! Me and my comp still get a long really well and that really helps our teaching!! So Pallas finally made it to Spain that will be good for him he says its Beautiful and he loves it there! Pretty disappointing day yesterday NO MAIL! thats like the first day I have had in a long time with no Mail or dear elders in one day so that means I should have a lot today I'm crossing my fingers! My comp and elder cox got in an argument yesterday about castles and my comp said how it would be awesome to have a castle and preach to people from the tower! Elder cox said that is so ineffective! You have to send out a decree to all your people! Towers are for war purposes only! Then my comp said oh really how about King Benjamin didn't he preach from a tower haha than elder cox knew he had been beaten so he said wow now your taken it way too far!! I wish I could tell you all the things he says they are literally ridiculous! We got new German Missionary's yesterday a few of them are a little different but a few seem way cool there is actually a kid who went to dixie high school so ya but he's one of the wierder ones! There is also one who looks like harry Potter!! haha classic! Anyways I am excited for the package and excited to be able to call in a couple weeks I will have to let you all know times so I can get a hold of you and maybe you can get Hunter out of school so I can talk to him too!! It will be on a tuesday I should get my Travel plans within the next week so that will be good! Keep reading the scriptures they are awesome read about the Plan of Salvation it really helps keep an eye on the eternal perspective!! Well keep it up ya'll thanks for the support!! See ya in 22 months!
Ps. The church is true!!

WEEK 5 2-18-11 - 2-24-11

Halo Guten Tag!

Another week down how CRAZY!! I can not believe I have less than 4 weeks left and I am in Germany!! I am so excited to be able to go there but I also just wish that I could know the language better!! Oh well I know that it will come with time!! So this last tuesday we had a devotional we have devotionals every tuesday and sunday night but this time Elder Kearon of the Seventy spoke he acutally spoke in the last general conference priesthood session go look up his talk he was AMAZING!! He was just telling us how we need to be the message we need to look like the message act like the message and just be the message!! The weather wow well its still pretty cold but I am not outside much haha mostly class room so I don't realize it a whole lot so thats good. I went to the temple today thats good and I love it cause we eat temple breakfast every thursday and its truly amazing. Um ya I hope the package gets there cause if not that would be not good!! A word of advice for Hunter tell him to not quit the Piano!! He will regret it just keep doing it I am trying to learn a little bit of the Piano from a friend here so that will be good. And tell him memorizing the articles of faith is awesome!! Tell Bret thanks for the scriptures she told me to read they are great missionary scriptures!! Linda dear eldered me it was great to hear from her and their family thats so crazy that Austin gets home so soon!! I know it prob just flew by for him like it is for me! It was so weird saying bye to taylor and next week boots leaves so its gonna be weird but it will be good he is really excited to go so I am excited for him he speaks prettty good spanish spanish is easier than German though that is for sure!! SO we got a new district leader it's elder lloyd  I sent a picture of him he is the one has his hair parted and looks like a goon he is a way sweet kid but he is getting strict which is weird I just think we should all just have fun! Anyways nothin really new from the mtc just been reading in true to the faith its money cause it has so many topics where you can study those things and than it has scriptures for you to study also so thats good for me!! Studying by topic is really a lot more productive for me other than studying just to study and read through the book of mormon!! The bottom bunk is so MONEY its nice I don't have to climb up my bed every night!! I can just say my prayers and jump in my bed its the best!! I don't really need much of anything I will send my sd card soon and I should get my Travel Plans within the next couple of weeks so I will let you know when I will be calling so you can plan on that! I might be calling from ATL or Paris Idk yet but I will find out and let you guys know. So at 1:30 today I have to drop 120 dollars for shots I am pretty upset about that but its ok I guess I should get the shots! Did I say how excited I was to go to Germany!! I know it will be hard but I will do my best I will take a lot of Pictures and when I get there I will be able to send pictures from my e mails so that will be way easier. Mail is still awesome here I love getting it!! I always thought I would always need a nap but I haven't really I take one on sundays sometimes for about an hour and that sure is nice!! My companion and I are getting along a lot better so that is cool cause we are starting to teach better but before I know it I will have a new companion!! I have been praying that My senior comp will be way cool and work hard so that he finshes strong and I start strong!! Anyways ya st. george is probably awesome weather right now lucky people!! Its ok though because Germany is gonna be way nicer!! I e mailed Pallas in Idaho I guess he already has 5 baptism dates lucky kid! Dad I guess your mission still has people who need to be baptized he is only teaching the hispanic cause he is supposed to be in spain so he is speakin spanish which is good for him. Hurst comes in on the 2nd so that will be cool to see him I haven't hosted yet I don't even know how they choose who hosts! But hopefully I can figure something out!! Heaps got here yesterday I haven't seen him yet but I am sure I will this is boots last P- Day how crazy he will be a good missionary! Well thats all from the mtc I love you all and hope you continue to learn the gospel! There is so much we can learn and when we think we have learned everything something else comes to our mind and we need to learn that! The spirit will talk to you but he wont compete so let him talk and don't talk over him!! The church is true! Joseph Smith is still the man! And the German Language is still Hard!! Oh ps so about that wrestler kid come to find out its not cayle sandersons brother its cayle sanderson himself!! how crazy haha well thats it thanks everyone Love Ya.

Geh Voran 

Love Elder Voran

WEEK 4 2-11-11 - 2-17-11

Halo Guten Tag!!
Yes I loved the package it was awesome and the package from grandma the day later and than callen sent me a package the next day I have too much candy to even handle!! I laminated the little cards Iyrlend sent me and hung them up at my desk so that is good!! I love them. Um to answer your question there is 8 of us in my district and 4 in each room our rooms are right next to each other also so we are all hanging out all the time!! I get along with the other guys a lot!! So this week flew by this saturday is our halfway mark!! Its so nuts Taylor is one lucky guy he leaves on tuesday or something so he'll be gone but I am going to try and be a host on March 2nd so I can see hursty!! Boots is leaving soon too but before I know it i'll be out of here I am so excited to get to Germany and teach those people!! The language is coming along just great getting better and better everyday its!! I am feeling alot more comfortable with speaking the language and everything so that is good!! Also tell hunter to keep up the basketball I knew eventually he would love sports its in his blood well at least from me dad isn't the most passionate sports fan but he sure likes to see that Jayhawks play!! It's pretty interesting to think that when your out here there is only a few things that really matter and that is your family, your friends, and preaching the gospel!! The spirit really is so strong it's pretty crazy I prayed about what I should be studying last night and this morning I was reading this book and I saw something about Abraham and I felt promted that I should read Abraham so I did and I learned so much about the temple before going it was truly personal revelation. So this last tuesday Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the first quorum of the seventy came and spoke to us and he was so intense like he was almost yelling at us!! He said just cause you are a missionary doesn't mean you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and to be that you can't think that Oh your Christian Voran on a mission you have to think oh I am a disciple of Jesus Christ you have to put all your past in your past and move on in the future. Another cool thing he said was how the mission will bless your future wife and family!! He said he has only seen 20 percent of missionarys really meet there full potential but to do that you have to be diligent!! It was kinda a confidence shot but like they say sometimes the Lord brings you down so he can take you higher!! Diligence is huge out here my quote I came up with was I wanna be so dilegent and work so hard that at the end of every night when I kneel down to pray I can tell my Heavenly Father I honestly did my best!! It's easy to get caught up in the motions as a missionary it's really easy to just figure you are doing enough because you are sacrificing 2yrs of your time thats what i thought coming in here, my outlook has totally changed. I wanna be the type of missionary that the people I teach don't forget and their families remember me. I know the people of Germany are ready for our message and they need the gospel just as much as any of us!! I can't believe I have already been out a month its going by so fast I know when your doing everyting your supposed to and trusting in the lord you don't even have time to think about what is going on in the world!! I feel like I have grown so much already and I am grateful for everyone's support. It really is uplifting to get letters and to hear from everyone!! Thanks for all the letter packages Etc I love everytime I get mail!! The church is true and if you abide by its teachings that is where you will find true happiness!! ps. Idk if I ever gave you my scripture for my plaque mom but its 3rd Nephi 13 vs 5 I am a disciple of Jesus Christ one!! Well keep the letters coming I love them!! Love you all!! Oh also something cool if any of you have ever heard or cale or gale sanderson he was like a super good wrestler who wrestled for Iowa state well anyways so one of the new missionary's who is going to the Alpine mission his last name is sanderson and you can tell he is a wrestler cause of his cauliflower ear so we were asking him and he said that cale or gale was his brother. This kid has already been to 5 years of college!! He wrestled 4 years at iowa state and 1 at penn state he's like 24 but he came after us its so weird cause the new missionary's always seem younger than you are even if you are younger than them. Someone told me the mission is like a small life time and every week is a year and so you grow so much that really i am 4 yrs old in my mission and he is 1 so thats why he seemed yonger than me well thats all!!
Thanks Again!! Love Elder Voran

WEEK 3 2-4-11 - 2-10-11

I just got back from the temple it was great!! I am pretty dissapointed dad did not update me on the kansas game!! what the heck is up with that?? I am sure i will hear about it sooner or later but ya this week has flown bye!! the German is coming along slowly but surely its good to improve it just makes you feel so good!! Thats so cool about Hunter tell him to keep it up and don't give up and learn hard work cause he's gonna need it on his mission!! I learned this week that if you focus on the investigator and not what you need to learn everything else falls into place!! The mission isn't about the missionary at all the missionary is just a messanger that can carry the spirit to the investigator!! It's really my goal to have the spirit with me all the time cause that is what converts people not me!! Anyways haha your little story about Iyrlend cracked me up what a cute little girl!! Easton is going to be a stud!! Also in my package i sent shirts for like you dad bret and zach I tried to get one for Hunter but they don't do them in kids sizes so tell him when i get to Germany in 6 weeks I will send him something way cool in the package i send for brets Birthday!! Grandmas B day is coming up i'll have to send her something!! How is it back home hopefully its going good. It's still pretty dang cold here it snowed today a little when I was walking to the temple and what not. I have not met the new missionarys yet they are all going to the alpine mission and there is only 7 of them the alpine mission is like austria and munich germany so not very close!! I saw taylor i clean his building for service every saturday so thats cool i get to see him he even bought me a dew!! Haha so thats good. Anyways its hard to keep going becuase it's like the same thing everyday here!! Oh i got a valentine from grandma lois today that was nice of her and Gpa chuck dear eldered me yesterday its still good to get support and to hear from everyone! So one more thing my companion is the most forgetful person there is in the world he forgot his watch in the temple pants today so we had to run all the way back and get it and we are always late cause he forgets something!! It gets on my nerves a little bit but thats ok!! Im gonna bear a little testimony in german!! Ich wise dass das Buch Mormon war ist und Ich wise dass das joseph smith war propheten ist und er wiederhergestellte das evangelium und die kirche Jesu Christi. Ich wise dass das durch der sühnopfer wir können zurruckkehren mit gott und glucklich sein!! Anyways thanks for the support love you much!!

Love Elder Voran

WEEK 2 1-28-11 - 2-3-11

Hello!!!

I am gonna start by answering the questions!! Yes my comp will be my comp for the rest of the time i am here. My whole district is going to Berlin all eight of us so that is cool!! Funny story so Elder Cox the one who is a bit odd told my comp the spirit told him not to eat spicey food anymore!! slightly odd I dont remember if i told dad that Vaughn dear eldedred me so did aunt tiff its so cool to hear how everyone is doing and how everything is going. Also i will send my sd card when i get some good pics on there!! I love my district the guys in the other room are so cool Russell M. Nelson Grandson is like my bro out here its funny they are all awesome people!! Grandma thanks for the cookies they were awesome its still great to get letters and packages still better than christmas morning!! I havent seen taylor yet but i see boots every thursday he is actually with me right now!!! haha funny ya I only go to the Temple Thursday at 10 am so thatd be cool if i got to see them!! THis week has seriously Flown BY i cant even tell you the first week went by so slow but this week has gone by so fast its ridiculous!!. I'll be in germany before i know it. I guess i need the other 6 and a half weeks cause i am speaking on about a 2yr old German level haha its hard cause the german language has so many cases and you can use all cases in one sentance so it really takes a lot of thought. Gym is good i play basketball everyday usually with elder walter and other kids from my district. My comp doesnt play but that is the cool thing about gym you dont have to be with your comp because there are so many elders there that your always with and elder ya know. THats so cool the Jayhawks are back to #2 even cooler they kicked K states BUTT. I also love getting sports updates so thats good too!! Im so grateful too all of you who support me and have written me and stuff its so great!! Joseph Smiths Experience ( we cant call it a story here) but his experience is so legit what a stud he straight up left everything for something he believed and knew was true!! I hope i can be that diligent and have that understanding and just lose myself in the work!! He is seriously like my Hero he went through so much!! so one of my teachers just got home from my mission like 5 months ago he is so legit soo soo spiritual i love it when he teaches!! THanks again for everyones thoughts prayers and e mails i am praying for you all so much too!! I miss Iyrlend and Easton so much its hard I wont be there to see them grow up but i will be back before you know it!! tell Hunter to keep the letters coming!! I cant wait for the package. SO Joseph Smith is Legit. the book of mormon is true. Jesus Lives. God Loves us all and through Christ we can all return!! (use this for my blog too)

Ps. Keep the letters coming

Love Elder Voran