9-18-11

Hello Everyone!

Wow what a week and what a day yesterday was amazing!! I guess thats what the whole mission is about! So yesterday was Peters baptism it was so cool he passed his baptismal interview on Wednesday and I wasnt here we were on exchange cause the Zone Leader had to do the interview anyways and I guess they were talkin to him about how the baptism would be in Osnabruck which is the city about 45 minutes away and they have a baptismal font and we dont so that is where we do our baptisms as well. Anyways Peter said why do we have to go to Osnabruck I dont want everyone to have to go there we can just find a lake or something? So I came back to Rheine on Thursday and Elder Ririe told me what had gone on and so we looked at our maps and looked at all the big bodies of water on the map and did some investigating the second one we went to was called Quendorfer See so the call Lakes Sees here anyways we went there and it was such a nice place a lake kinda tucked away in the trees and we decided to do it there since it was only 10 minutes away from the church and everything. So it was nice cause we could have the service at the church and drive 10 minutes to the lake and do the baptism! Anyways so we got that all figured out and got the program set and all the everything prepared and what not it was really great a lot of work but it was good. Than come Sunday we get to church around 10 and our meetings start and Peter isnt there and I was kinda freaking out like uhh what the heck are we going to do if he doesnt show up cause people had brought food and stuff for after. So we get a text that said he missed his train but he will still be coming. I guess he left his white clothes at home so he had walked to the train station which is 10 minutes away from his house than forgot his stuff so he had to go back home and get his stuff than come back again anyways so than he didnt show up for quite a while but he finally came which was kinda a relief haha to say the least! So than our meetings finished and we wanted to start his baptismal program so I went to the bathroom to get changed into my whites and everything and I guess Peter was getting kinda nervous and saying I hope its the right decision and all this stuff than Elder Ririe was talkin to him and he's like ya and I dont know where Elder Voran went and was just getting a little nervous haha anyways I came out and he went in to get changed and than we started the program. The program was really great actually Sister Weel so the relief society president gave an awesome talk about baptism it really invited the spirit and we also had Brother Feith another member give a talk about the Holy Ghost! Than we were off to the lake for the baptism. Now I have to add something here the whole last couple days the weather has been really bad! Rain and wind and clouds and it was like that on sunday too. So we get to the lake and its not raining or anything which was nice but it was still cloudy! And so we were all ready I walked into the water and it was COLD as crap but it was ok because I only had to walk in waist deep! Anyways than Peter walks in and he was freezing!! Hahah it was funny I was telling him this is what you asked for haha but than he got out there and right when I put my arm up to do the baptism the clouds broke and the sun came out it was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life! So than we did the baptism it went really smoothly I did it in German and I didnt mess up and he went all the way under it was just great!! So than we had to change out of our wet clothes somewhere but since its germany there are no public restrooms so we just changed in the trees haha it was quite the experience Elder Thom and Bruder Blanken who is the 2nd counsler in the branch presidency held up a towel for us to change behind it went really well we had a good turn out. Than we all got back into our cars to go back to the church to finish the Service and it started RAINING it was so crazy we got so blessed it was awesome! Than we had a good lunch and everything went really well! So Elder Hardman and his comp came back for the baptism since Elder Hardman was here when we met Peter so that was cool I forgot how much I liked him he is a cool guy! Anyways so we hung out with them and we made steaks for lunch and everything it was really a cool day! Than we went to the Thoms to take them brownies because I made brownies for the baptism but all the kids ate them before Elder Thom could have any and he was sad about that but we had a whole pan left so we took it over to them and we were just talkin about the great baptism and Sister Thom comes in and says we should play a game! So we played 2 games of Yahtzee it was really fun I got crushed both times there was so many Yahtzees rolled it was ridiculous Elder Ririe had never played and he won both games the second game he rolled 3 Yahtzees so crazy anyways so that was a lot of fun! But other than that we had 4 investigators to church which was awesome and we are now preparing for Florians baptism this coming week which is going to be way cool we are really excited for it he is ready and he wants it so bad so we are really ready and excited!! I was really blessed to be able to do the baptism and especially in a lake its really the coolest thing ever I have some really good pictures I will send! Well other than that nothing really new!! Thanks for everything and all the prayers! They help me every day!! I love you all very much!! And Have a great week!!

Elder Christian J. Voran

9-11-11

Hello Everyone!!

So this week was pretty good but it was a little bit slower than normal sadly but its ok!! So Florians baptism was pushed to the 25th acutally because stuff with his family and they all want to be there so they had to arrange some things but that will be good anyways! With Peter we only met with him twice this week because he has been really busy at work and stuff and than we got busy with some other things than he got sick he wasnt able to come to church cause 2 of his children got sick but we had contact with him and he said that he was planning on coming just couldnt cause of the children I am sure we will meet with him tonight yesterday was supposed to be his quit smoking day so hopefully he achieved that!! I am sure he did he is still doing good but we will see tonight! Its been kinda slow as far as new investigators go we just need to take one day and have a finding day to get us some new investigators to teach! The elders in Osnabruck had a baptism yesterday so that was really cool to be at and to see this kid is 18 he has been investigating the church for 3 yrs but his parents told him he couldnt be baptized untill he was 18 so he finally is and was able to be baptized the spirit was way strong and it was really cool!! So on Monday when we met with Peter last week he wanted to show us how his marketing skills could help us with our finding and stuff so he took us for dinner first at a Doner laden dont ask what that is cause its something thats hard to explain its kinda like a taco stand in utah basically... Anyways and we had a really good talk with the owner there who is a muslim but was willing to listen to us and we taught him a first lesson it was really cool and when we were leaving we gave him our card and he said hold on and wrote down his number for us and said if you ever need help with anything give me a call! So he was way cool it was kinda funny how we started a conversation with him because at first he thought we were peters kids haha but than he noticed we were speaking english so he said were you just speaking english or dutch? Cause he knows peter and knows that peter is dutch and we said wir haben gerade englisch gesprochen which means we were just speaking english and he said wait isnt he your dad and we said na wir sind aus amerika! that means we come from america and he said what wait what are you doing here so than we had a really good conversation about what we are doing here and he told us a little about his faith and that was really cool so now we have a friend that owns a doner laden and doners are freaking the best!! Anyways so after we left peter was like see you can be with me and get more lessons than you would if you were talking to people on the street! So than it was getting kinda late and it was time for us to go home and he is like lets get a drink and we were like huh? And he said I mean a cola! So took us into this bar man it was seriously the most uncomfortable place I have ever been in my life! The bar tender was pretty attractive and it was really wierd so we were just sitting there and he was trying to teach us how its easy to give people our pass along cards he said we have to give something that they want plus something that we want to give them than they have to take it. So he was demonstrating with the bar tender and when he payed for our drinks he gave her a card and she took it and smiled and he said thats how you do it! Hahah than he was taking pictures of us it was really wierd than he said he needed the bar tender to take a picture of all three of us! But instead of doing that he called the bar tender over to be IN the picture with us so she came up behind us and put her arms around us man it was weird! I was like hmm I dont really feel good about this but than we left and we told him no more bars!! Than we met with Peter on Tuesday and we went to the train station cause there is a bakery in there and we just got a little sandwich or something and we were asking him more methods to talk to people and he was trying to explain something but we werent really getting it so he said I will show you an example haha so he went in the middle of the bahnhof oops sorry train station and started talkin to random people and trying to get them to come and sit down with us and listen to us it was funny but he wasnt very successful cause the train station there are always people coming and going so its kinda hard so than we were leaving the train station and we see sanga and we started talking to us and Peter was really surprised kinda like you know this guy? and we introduced them we said ya this is Sanga he is a member of our branch and Peter said HE IS A MEMBER and just started laughing he is like I just asked him a minute ago to come have coffee with me so you guys could teach him and he told me he didnt drink coffee haha it was way funny he tried to get Sanga to come sit with us but offered him coffee and sanga didnt know we were there cause he couldnt see us and told Peter he doesnt drink coffee it was great! Anyways thats my stories for the week it was pretty good and funny Peter thinks he figured out how we can get more books of mormon to people and make out return apointments so he is going to be doing door to door with us this week sometime it should be interesting!! We also had a ausstellung so a street display this saturday we made out an apointment within 10 minutes so that was really cool! As far as grace goes we havent been in contact with her this week we need to give her a call and start teaching her again cause she is way cool!! Other than that nothing really new!! THanks a ton Love you all have a great week!!!

--
Elder Christian J. Voran

9-4-11

Hello Everyone!

We had another great week here in Rheine\Bad Bentheim. Again achieving the standard of excellence with 20 lessons and 7 new apointments! I was pretty excited about that. We are really being so blessed here with people ready to accept the gospel! We have a baptism this week with Florian the 14 yr old we have been teaching him 2 times a week and he is such a stud of a kid! He goes to school in Bad Bentheim and his parents live in osnabruck.  He really is the coolest kid and he understands that he has to get baptized to be with his family forever!! SO we are working with him and he will be baptized this Sunday! He is so cool and we are really excited for him! As far as Peter goes!! WE finally set a baptismal date and it was so funny how it happened so I asked him to be baptized several weeks ago and he said he needed to think about it. And everytime we met with him I would mention it and say have you thought about our question and he would always say ya but I still need to think about it. So come Tuesday night we were at his office and we werent even talkin about the gospel at the moment and he said well I know your going to ask so I will just tell you right now and he said it wouldnt be so bad if I was baptized!! And I didnt even know how to respond haha it was so funny and he said but I cant do it on the 11th cause that was the date we had tried to push him to and he said he had a lot of projects going on at work that week so he cant do it cause he knows he will come out of the water and be thinking that someone needs to be somewhere for his work and with too much stress so we pushed to the 18th and he is excited about it and we are too! We know that he has really recieved the answer and a testimony of the gospel and what we have been teaching him! He still needs to be taught a couple of things but that is not a problem because we have daily contact with him and make sure he can really make this covenant and be ready for it! I will be baptizing him so I am really excited about that. Its really cool for me because I have seen the whole story and miracle unfold! So it will be really nice to be able to baptize him as well. He likes us missionaries alot but he loves the ward members too he traveled up to Oldenburg which is about almost 2 hrs away for District Conference yesterday and he went with Sister Weel they are good friends and they are both dutch so that works well! And Florian also went with them up to Oldenburg. Peter was able to meet President Pimintel who was also in Oldenburg for district conference and of course he loved President Pimintel everyone does haha! So we have had a pretty good week! But I have to tell you some warning first dont put anything on facebook about peters baptism because he is keeping it a secret from his girlfriend in Peru so that he knows he is doing it for the right reasons and not for her!! So remember that even when I send pictures of the baptism dont put them on facebook!! Or congratulate him unless its a personal message to him!! Just FYI. Anyways Its been really good. As far as everything else goes. With our new investigator Grace we werent able to meet with her this last week which kinda sucks but it is ok we have her phone number and we will give her a call so that will be good we will give her a call and meet with her this week! We are going to be so busy this week with preparing things for the baptism! Its great because it will be in Osnabruck because we dont have a baptismal font here in Bad Bentheim and the Osnabruck elders also have a baptism that day so there will be 2 baptisms in our district!! The work is going forwards and it is so great to be a part of it!! Now for a funny story of the week. On Monday Peter took us to a mongolian buffet thing with the thoms as well and its way nice and pretty pricey its about 13 euro per person so its expensive!! Anyways my comp and I have been there before Elder Hardman and I went there a couple times but just to the lunch thing which is only 6 euro but they bring you this juice at the begining and say its on the house and its always way good!! So we all drank it this week on Monday and we ate and it was really great. Than the people came after we were finished and said is there anything else you would like and he said we would like the check and some more of that green drink so she brought it out and this time it was in little shot glasses so Peter asked and said what is in this actually? And the lady started naming off all of the juices that were in the mixture and at the very end she said and a little bit of VODKA!! haha we were like no way it was so good and it tasted like juice so Peter was like is it alchohol free vodka and she said no haha so we had a problem becuase well first of all we had dranken Vodka it wasnt that much but still I felt like a sinner. Ingnorence is bliss I guess!! Hahah but we had ordered this special last order of it so it would be rude not to drink it! So we were all sitting there and Peter is like there is a plant behind Elder Voran he can just secretley put it in the plant haha but of course if I would have done that people would have noticed so I came up with the idea to put all in a bigger glass and I would take it to the bathroom and put it down the sink so we did that! But it was sooo funny haha especially because we were with the Thoms and he is the branch president and she is just the sweetest lady than I called Elder Hardman and told him to start his repentance process haha so it was a good time!! Well thanks again for all you do!! I hope you all have a very great week!! Love you all!!

  

Elder Christian J. Voran

8-28-11

Hello Everyone!

We had a pretty good week this week. Oh first I need to start out with transfer calls news!! So here it is!! I am staying here for five more weeks! With Elder Ririe. I was really surprised I thought for sure I was gone cause I have been here for quite a while this will be 4 transfers here! I guess President likes what we are doing here. We could have 3 baptisms within this transfer which is really exciting! Hard work pays off. This week was good we were able to teach 20 lessons again. We found a new investigator her name is Grace she is from Kenya a refferal from Sanga and she is way cool! She just had a baby 4 weeks ago she speaks perfect english and german and swahili or whatever her african language. She is married to a German who teaches in Holland. She is 24yrs old and has been in Germany for about 2 yrs she is way cool and was way interested and understood everything we told her. She totally understood and was really interested she is a really religious person and wants to come to our church but her baby is still really young but she will come in a few weeks. We have another appointment with her this week she is way awesome! We also came back in contact with a couple former investigators they are both younger guys but are both way cool and still interested in our message which is awesome so we have appointments with them this week as well. We were able to meet with Peter 3 times this week and he is making progress. He is way awesome. We had an awesome experience on Thursday. We were talking with Peter and he had some concerns about some things. Because he studied theology he knows tons about the Bible he is way smart haha and Elder Ririe and I are just like ok ya we have no idea about anything like that. But there is a scripture in Daniel that says the Anti Christ will change the days and months or something and in the year 386 the general foundation of the Christian church changed the sabbath and created hollidays and whatever else. And he said I dont understand why since you have so much more than all these other churches like the Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants and a Living prophet why are the days and hollidays still based on what happened in 386. Elder Ririe and I were stunned we had never answered a question like that before. So we just kinda sat there and thought for a while and had nothing to say back. Than as clear as day a thought came into my head and the spirit totally took me over it was one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission and I just started talking and I had no Idea what I was saying it was just coming out and I was loud and stern it was way cool. I said well I cant tell you why but I can say that it doesnt matter right now and that we know when Jesus Christ Returns he will organize things how he wants it to be organized but we as human beings are not ready to make all of those changes and be perfect yet thats why we are growing here and than I went off about the law of conscecration and how we are not there yet but we will be someday than I bore testimony that he will never be happier unless he gets baptized and that baptism is the only way and than I went silent after about 3 minutes of talking and everything was silent and he looked at me and said you know your right! I was way pumped haha but than he said I sitll need to think about this baptism thing and than he asked us to teach him everything that goes on at baptism so the whole process and everything so he is SOO close he will get baptized soon I know he will! Anyways thats really the cool story for this week. We have had a pretty good week and are ready to start a new transfer!! We are going to work really hard and increase our teaching pool even more than it is! There are plenty of people here that need the gospel so we are going to find them!! Other than that nothing really new this week still working hard still doing the Lords work!! Actually I gave a talk yesterday in Sacrament about Repentance it went pretty well. I was scared because the Stake President was there haha but he was way cool. He is the brother of Erich Kopishke of the Seventy so he is way cool!! Other than that nothing new! The Gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is the corner stone of our religion its such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and what he did for us! Thanks for all you do!! I love you all!! Have a great week! And keep the letters coming now that I will be here for 5 more weeks!!

 --
Elder Christian J. Voran

8-21-11

Hello Everyone!!

What a crazy week I have had. I am back in Rheine but I don't know how long I will be back here. I was in Osnabruck untill saturday morning than came back here but last Pres said was at least for the week end? So I dont know what will happen its really wierd cause its not like Pres to just leave everyone hanging nobody really knows whats going on and maybe Pres doesnt know either and he is just waiting till transfers at the end of this week to get rid of Brinkerhoff I have no Idea. But I had a good week in Osnabruck we worked hard and got that city a little fresh life. We were able to get 2 new investigators there and we taught about 12 lessons monday to friday so it was pretty successful but I was happy to come back!! Rheine has been pretty dead since I have been gone because they havent been able to do much of anything its pretty sad so when I got back we went by on like 5 people who they hadnt been in contact with and we got back in contact with them so thats good our teaching pool is still strong!! I am not sure how much longer I will be here. But we do have a baptismal date! This kid from Osnabruck lives here in Bad Bentheim because he goes to some school his mother and older brother are new converts and his dad has been baptized for a long time but was inactive untill a few months ago. He wants to be with his family forever he understands that so that is way cool he is 14 and will be baptized on the 11th of September. So Elder Ririe and I will be teaching him and helping him prepare for his baptism so thats really cool! As far as Peter goes. He is still AWESOME I guess they were able to meet with him here last week when I was in Osnabruck and had a good 2nd lesson he really loved everything and said he feels something at our church that he has never felt before and he loves it and loves the branch here so thats way cool! He says he believes everything is true but cant be baptized because it wouldnt all be for the right reason! SO I guess his friend in Peru is a GIRLFRIEND and she said the other day to him that she has always wanted to be married in the temple and he says that that would be part of the reason he would be baptized because he wants to marry her! So we have a bit of a problem but we are meeting with him tonight and now I am back I called him last night and he said OHHH HELLO how are you he was pretty excited I was back and said I missed you last week haha so maybe I can get through with him today. Because that is completely an ok reason to want to be married in the temple! We will see I know he will be baptized I am so confident about it its a done deal he is really the coolest guy! Mom maybe I will have him add you on facebook I am sure he would love to be in contact with you. He has some pictures of us that he can send via facebook as well..... Anyways thats about it as far as missionary work goes I dont know where I am going to be but I will know next week for sure. So dont send any letters this week and I will let you all know next week....

 

As far as a funny story for the week. So I had my first run in with the police here in Germany!! It was way crazy!! haha. So we went by on a contact in Osnabruck and he kinda lives in the outskirts of town and Osnabruck is a big city about 250 thousand or so. He kinda lives in the Ghetto of town so we got off the bus and started walking to his house and like 5 or 6 little kids came up to us and were like who are you are you police and we said no we are from America just for our church and they were all excited they thought we were famous or something so they started asking for our autographs on their arms and everything and it was so funny they were so enthraled with us so it was great than we said we need to go in and talk to this guy so we walked away and he wasnt home so when we came back out those kids had gone and gotten like the whole neighborhood kids and there was about 15 or so ages from 4 to 10 or 11 and they were asking us for our cards and everything so we gave them some and autographed those and than one kid said lets take a picture so we did like a group of the kids with me all happy and everything it was way funny they like loved us so than we said ok we have to go and walked back to the bus stop that was about 5 minutes away we were waiting for our bus and I hear the kids again and I was like great they are coming back to get more cards or more autographs cause it was quite a ways to walk to the bus stop. So than they come around the corner and this little kid comes up to me and says Hey I know who you are delete those pictures.. and I said what who am I? and he didnt say anything than a mother of one of the kids comes around the corner and you have to know these people are like ausslanders so not germans cause its in the ghetto so this lady was turkish and she started ripping us a new one saying how we were taking kinder photos and how we were criminals and so I pulled my camera out and said ok I will show you the pictures and I will delete them so I did and she saw me delete them but she was still freaking out and there was a guy there like a father of one of the kids and she said call the police. And I was ticked I was like well what do you want me to do about it and I told her everything that had happened and she said we were bad people and kept calling our church a sect and oh we were both getting really upset. And I said well I deleted the pictures so what are the cops going to do? and she said well I dont know I guess we will see. So before we know it we missed our bus and all the kids parents were over at the bus stop yelling at us!! It was crazy than the police came and we told them the story and they were way cool about it and they checked our cameras and said well it was way nice of you to play with the kids and give them your cards but its illegal to take pictures of people without their permission here in germany than we told the officer that the kid asked and he said ohhh and he said well now you know the rules and they let us go! The parents were Nuts!! So we called President because he is a Lawyer we thought it would be good to find out what could happen and he said oh wow thats something you guys will laugh about in the future. So we just went home and all was ok haha but it sure was a good experience!! So that is my story for the week! Now I am on record here in Germany!! How many missionaries can say that!!

 

Thanks for everything and have a great week. Love ya tons!!

 

 

Elder Christian J. Voran

8-14-11

Hello Everyone!

Where to start this week! Man my life has changed dramatically this week haha well not really but kind of! So I guess I will start off with zone conference, Zone conference was really great it is always great to hear from president and to see all your mission friends! I ran into Elder Sullivan haha he is in my zone in the city of Leer so that is pretty cool I will see him at every zone conference as long as I stay in this zone but we will see I dont know if I will be in the zone for long we shall see. As far as Peter goes man he is so freaking cool!! We met with him on Thursday and he has still been reading in the book of mormon and loves it and he really knows he needs to join the church he took us to dinner again and after he was like I have this hobby that I didnt know was a hobby and I dont know what it is called in english its when you look for your father and than his father and than his father and he was like whats that called and we said GENIOLOGIE and he said ya that I am already back to 1500 or something! He would make a perfect member haha it was so cool!! But than after that was the bad news of the week. President text us and said when you get a minute give me a call so I was driving at the time so Elder Ririe gave him a call...before I tell you what happened I will tell you the situation so there is 4 elders in our district us and the Osnabruck elders and last week Elder Brinkerhoff in Osnabruck hurt his foot and couldnt really walk well. So president asked elder Ririe what he thought if Elder Brinkerhoff went to Rheine with him and if I came to Osnabruck with Elder Bossart and Elder Ririe said well we still walk quite a bit here and President was really stern and said you need to do this for me! He said it may be a week it may be more so I am now in Osnabruck and I dont know how long I will be here it kinda sucks cause I am living out of my suitcases! I guess they found out last night that Elder Brinkerhoffs foot is broken in 3 places and has to be on crutches for 6 months so basically he either has to go home or has to go to the office! He really hurt our area in Bad Bentheim when I left they werent able to get any lessons cause he cant move!! It wasnt the happiest thing this week but thats how life goes sometimes! And sometimes I want to get frustrated about it but the song always comes to my mind I will go where you want me to go. Thats the life of a missionary. I really worked hard in Rheine and that place was really turned around so I guess I left it better than I got it! We had a mid transfer transfer cause some elders are going home to get to school! And the big news of that was that my trainer Elder Carlson is now a ZONE LEADER in Kiel I was way happy for him he is such a good missionary and will make an awesome zone leader! So Elder Bossart who I am with for now is one transfer older than me so we were in the mtc together for 3 weeks and thats kind of hard  cause our german is about the same so I cant really learn much german from him which is what I need right now. But I am sure President will get everything figured out. I dont have much to write about because I havent taught hardly any lessons this week cause Osnabruck is dead! Elder Brinkerhoff really screwed up this area too so we have been doing tons of finding trying to get it back up! We will see what happens though!! Thanks for all you do! Hope you all have a great week! Love ya tons!

Ps. If you have sent mail and it has gotten there in the last week I havent recieved it yet cause I am not in Rheine so sorry if a letter doesnt come back asap I will get it soon though!!

-- Elder Christian J. Voran

WEEK 27 8-2-11 - 8-8-11

Hello Everyone,

WOW what a week here in the Bad Bentheim area we are tearing it up and it feels AWESOME! We really see the blessings from the Lord every day and we are seeing people get closer and closer! I said last week that it was the best numbers I had had my whole mission well they just got better! We got 20 lessons this week!! That is the standard for our mission here so that was cool to be able to do that. We actually got 22 lessons but thats not important haha we had two days this week where we had 6 lessons each that was so cool! We also found 5 new investigators this week and they are all pretty cool. A couple are way solid so that is nice one of them actually came to church on sunday. We had 3 investigators to church and it was awesome. I want to start though by talking about Peter he is the one who just showed up at church a couple of weeks ago and so we have been meeting with him regularly. We met with him on Thursday and we usually meet him in a cafe just by our house cause his office is here in rheine and he doesnt like to meet at his office. So he gets to the cafe about 5 minutes late and he says have you guys eaten lunch? and it was about 4 o clock and we said ya we ate about noon and he said well I didnt so lets go haha. He took us to a Mexican resturant here in Rheine it was way nice its definately not real Mexican food but it was pretty good he bought us both like 13 euro meals and also dessert! We had a great lesson with him as well in the Resturant. We wanted to talk to him about the restoration of the priesthood and it was good cause he had a question about the Sabbath and since he studied theology he knows lots about religion and he said why is the Sabbath not on saturday and we explained it to him that it was revealed to the prophet and that could only happen through the restoration of the priesthood and it was so great he is still reading in the Book of Mormon and he says he really enjoys it. He really studies it because he has so many books from his studies. In the middle of our conversation he looked at us and said I prayed last week! And we both dropped our jaws like WHAT! So what I told him the week before must have got him to think a little bit! It was so great! He is the coolest guy! He took a few pictures of us missionaries cause he wanted to send them to a friend of his in Peru who is a member of our church. He than came to church on sunday and enjoyed it alot. After the meetings we took him upstairs in the church to watch the restoration movie. That went really well after the spirit was so strong we talked about it. I asked what he thought and he said I must be honest and we were thinking oh no he is gonna find something wrong with it. Than he said you can notice that people who diligently seek always get answers and Joseph Smith really did that. He said we can see it in the bible all the time with the people who get the answers like that are really trying to figure it out. Than I gave him the big baptism question!! He didnt give me an answer I think he may not of fully understood what I was asking cause we teach him in English because he is Dutch so its a language barrier for sure but I said when you know this is true will you be baptized? and he said I believe it is true already I just want to study it a little bit more! He told us you can really tell a tree by its fruits and that the fruits of our tree have been good so he really believes it is true! We are going to keep working with him but he is progressing so much!! Its amazing! Oh I almost forgot so when we were eating on Thursday we told him about fast and testimony meeting cause we didnt want him to be freaked out on Sunday at church so than he said should I fast too? and we said well you could if you want and he said ok I will!! So he is definately going to get his answer soon!! He also told us he had been smoking 90 to 100 cigarettes per day and just this last week cut down to 5!! He is planning on being completely finished by next Sunday which is awesome cause we never talked to him about the Word of Wisdom he is just doing it cause he knows its right and he says he has never drank alchohal so thats not a problem at all he is being prepared!! Anyways we also had a couple walk in appointments doing doors this week and we met with Shaney Luckys roommate and he has met with the missionaries before and has been so close to baptism but his family who lives in India they are muslim and dont want him to join the church so thats been hard and he has always had a hard time with smoking so we met with him and asked him if he wanted to quit and he said ya and that he needs our help and I also asked him if he would talk to his family again and have them look into what the church teaches so they know its not some crazy church and he said he would so he is getting on the right track again!! Its so crazy how busy we are and how many awesome people we are finding! Its like we had hit a wall and finally broke through its so great! 3 more weeks of the transfer that means we need to get a baptism fast cause I will prob be transferred since this is my 3rd transfer here but maybe President will leave me here cause the work is EXPLOADING! We have had such a great week and I know we can continue to keep the work going forwards here. It seems like recently people have just been so much nicer to us even the ones that dont have interest! We were walking to our car on Saturday and we walk pass this bar on the way everyday cause its by our house and this guy in the bar stopped me and said what are you guys doing I see you walking around all the time and so I told him we are from our church and we teach people about our church and there were crazy drunk people in this bar coming up to us and saying have a drink and stuff it was kinda funny this one guy asked if we were the Anti Christ and we said no and he said where are you from and we said America and they all started freakin out saying we have some real americans here and all this stuff than this one drunk guy was like you have that black man as president and we said yup and he said he is screwing up the world with all the debt and the other guy was like well these boys cant do anything about that it was really funny and than he somehow found out we were mormon and he said we have mormons from america here haha it was funny. But the guy who we were talking to in the first place kept talking to us he wasnt drunk and he said he would love to meet with us his parents were Jehovas witness he is a little bit older his parents are prob dead but he said he wants to learn about what we are teaching and we made out an appointment to meet him at the bar haha crazy things are happening and its awesome the Lord is blessing us with miracles!! We are working hard and its been great! This next week we will be going to Hannover for zone conference that will be fun I will be able to tell Elder Hardman that we are tearing it up here! Haha. Oh also I was asked to teach priesthood this next week! SO pray for me that I will be able to speak good enough German to teach a good lesson!! Oh I think I forgot to tell you last week we taught Primary and that was really good we taught them about the Plan of Happiness and had them draw there own worlds and told them Gods plan it went really well!! So everything is good here with me! Thanks for all you do!! Love you all!!

WEEK 26 7-26-11 - 8-1-11

Hello Everyone,

Wow this week has been awesome! The best week number wise that I have had since I have been here! We finally got 15 lessons and 7 of them were with non members!! We also got 2 new investigators this week its been way good! Its good to see your hard work pay off finally! And I know it will get better and better as the time goes! We will see the prepared people come out of the wood work! We also were able to meet with the man who came to church last week his name is Peter and that was way cool. It was a little unfunctional because he didnt want us meeting in his office so he took us to a cafe and bought us some drinks and we talked there! I think he is really progressing he has a really hard time with prayer and doesnt want to do it. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and since he studied theology he has a couple other books he is reading with it to see if its valid haha like dates and stuff and he hasnt found any problems thus far! And we all know that he wont find any problems with it! So he was talking about prayer and how he doesnt think he should cause he knows that his prayers would be answered and he is scared of that or something? But near the end of the time we had together I bore my testimony on prayer and said thats my challenge for you to try it again and to feel the spirit and he said you know your right I need to do it but I dont know if I am ready! So he is getting there we are meeting with him again this week so I will let you know how that goes. We also got a refferal from Lucky and we went by on him and we said so we heard that you would be interested in talking more about Jesus Christ and he said of course! I am a child of God why wouldnt I  want to talk about Jesus Christ so he let us in and we talked a little on where he stood as far as religion it was pretty funny we walked in and sat down and the bible was open on his table so he is a religious guy. He said the Elders had met with him before but it had been quite a while and the Elders didnt really explain much about our religion or the Book of Mormon he said he hadnt read the Book of Mormon but he thought he had one but wasnt quite sure. So we got to talking and he is kinda against religion because he believes he can get answers to his prayers at home and what not and every church he has gone to just doesnt seem right! So we started talking about the Book of Mormon and I started talking about 3rd Nephi 11 and how Jesus Christ visits the people and he got all excited and said really?? Jesus came to those people? And I said yes and he taught his gospel to them and he asked why it doesnt say anything about Jesus coming to these people in the Bible and we showed him the scripture that says other sheep I have which are not of this fold! And it all clicked for him and he said next time you come we will read this together and so he is pretty excited to meet with us again! We also met with a lady from Africa this week and she really seemed to enjoy our first lesson we are planning on showing her the Restoration DvD things are really starting to fall into place here. So my new companion his name is Elder Ririe he is from Ogden Utah and he has been here about as long as Elder Hardman like 3 weeks less or so. He is a nice guy but like I said before definately different than me I dont think he has watched a sports game in his life! I have been 0 for 3 on comps that like sports haha but I am sure one day I will get one! I will have to send a picture of him and you will be able to tell the kind of person he is. He is really goofy but he knows he is goofy so that makes it all the better haha he is just this little short guy and its seriously like a 24-7 comedy show for me so its been good so far haha. He is a terrible driver though so I had to take over with that I thought I was about to die about 3 or 4 times yesterday when I let him drive for the first time! He is a good missionary though and likes to work so him and I have had a lot of success this first week and success really brings happiness and nothing to complain about! I really cant believe the first week of the transfer is done and that it is alread AUGUST time goes by way fast when you dont want it too but way slow when you do haha I have learned that when you really forget yourself and get to work the time goes by and you end up wanting more time cause you dont feel like you have accomplished everything! The only thing that is a problem with this comp is he is not German and I have found that the Americans even if they do know German are not the best with teaching it because they dont know why it is the way it is and they screw up sometimes too so its hard but I guess I just need to keep working on it! I don't have a whole lot to say this week so sorry my e mail is a little bit boring! But we have been working hard and seeing success and baptisms will come soon! We met some crazy russian people last night and gave them a Book of Mormon so that was interesting the guy was a little bit drunk and was amazed that we were Americans he said I am really talking to real Americans right now!! We came accross them trying to find a refferal from Lucky haha and we taught them a first lesson and gave them a Book of Mormon they said they would read it. They are Orthadox catholic there is quite a bit of Auslanders here so people from other countries and its cool to meet them and hear about their backgrounds. Anyways thats all for this week!! Thanks for all you do and all the prayers!! I Love you all!!

WEEK 25 7-19-11 - 7-25-11

Hello Everyone!!

So this week was pretty good we had a lot going on with transfers and everything!! I guess I will start off with the news on transfers.. So we decided to do transfer calls with Lucky because he wanted to see how it works so we were walking from our apartment to the car at about 9 30 the transfer call started at 10. So we were at the cross walk and the phone rings I look at Elder Hardman who has the phone and say oh great its Lucky bailing on us huh? He than gave me a face of shock and said its President!! So he answered and President told him he likes to call all the new zone leaders before transfer calls so they arent so surprised and said that he had seen the INCREASE in work the last transfer and would like to ask Elder Hardman to be ZL in Hannover so he's a gonner! I will stay for at least another 5 weeks cause this transfer is a week shorter due to timing with the elders coming from the mtc! My new comp is coming from Meißen which is on the other side of the country kinda by where I was before in Annaberg. He has been District Leader there for a while so I think he is a good missionary! I have met him once my first transfer at president interviews he seems nice but I can tell you we are different! haha but those seem to be the people I get along with best! I am excited his name is Elder Ririe he comes in tommorrow at 2 o clock and Elder Hardman leaves at 9 so I will be hanging out with the Thom couple I am pretty excited cause they are such awesome people! And they have an eating appointment with my favorite members! The Weels! So that will be way cool. I chuckled a little bit when Elder Hardman told me that Pres said he had seen the numbers increase and that he had been workin harder the last couple weeks! Ever since my exchange with the Zone Leader we have gotten an appointment everyday and achieved what is called 21 ballards every week so thats been pretty cool! I am excited to stay another I know there is alot of work here to do! Thats the news for transfers!!

So other news. Seriously a miracle happened to us yesterday it was the coolest thing ever! The coolest thing that has happened to me on my mission thus far! So we were at the church and this guy walks in and Elder Hardman talks to him for a bit cause I was playing with the kids before church! Haha but anyways nobody knew who this guy was it was way crazy so we asked why he was there and he said he didn't know why he was there! And we were like hmm that doesnt make a lot of sense! So he stayed for both hours of church and after we got his information and stuff and said ya we will give you a call this week! He said ok thats great. So he left and about 10 minutes later his car pulls back into the church parking lot. Elder Hardman looks at me and says well he must have forgot something! So he walks in and we were like hey your back and he said ya I was on my way back and I realized I still didn't know why I was here today and I want to figure that out can we go talk!! It was so cool so we went upstairs and he really opened up to us and told him he hadn't been to any church for 5 years. When he was younger he went with his parents to the Salvation army than something happened with his family so he had to go to foster parents and his foster father was a protestant preacher so he went to church all the time. He said he had done some bad things and chose not to believe in God and Jesus Christ. He also studied Theology in the University. He has been married before and has 4 kids he is now divorced and I think that may have something to do with it! Than he told us how he ended up at our church which is even a cooler story! He said he was on his way to Dusseldorf for a fashion show because some of his clients were there and he needed to meet with them. But before he could go he had to go to his office which is in Rheine where we live he had to go to his office to get his invitation and also directions off the internet he said he got this feeling that he needed to go to church and he said he hadnt felt that in many years and he didnt like it so he called some friends and asked them to pray for him that this feeling or the spirit! Would go away but it never did so he was just planning on going down to dusseldorf he left his office and got to the train station and realized he forgot the invitation! So he had to run back to his office and when he was there he noticed he had an e mail from a friend in Peru who is a member of OUR church so he is like thats where I need to be and googled the church and ended up at ours cause it was closest to Rheine. Man it was so crazy and he than continued to tell us the last 6 to 7 months crazy things had happened that he couldnt explain. He said he was on a train with a colleague of his and the train was full and a random guy walked up to him and said I got a strong feeling I need to tell you God Loves You. And the same thing happened when he was sitting on a bench in Amsterdam a lady came up to him and said the same thing! So crazy we tried to explain the spirit and he said ya I know thats what the feeling was I am just scared cause I dont think I am worthy to go to church cause I have done bad things and we explained a little about that. He said he knows God has a plan for him but he scared to go back and fallow that plan cause he has chosen a different direction in his life! We than gave him a Book of Mormon and commited him to read it and he said he had tried to buy one before but couldnt find out where to buy it we said well thats cause its FREE! SO he will read it and we asked if we could pray and he said he doesnt pray cause he doesnt want to ask for forgiveness if he cant forgive himself! The talks in sacrament were about forgiveness that day! So we both bore testimony about how he was supposed to be there and how God lead him back to where he is supposed to be! We set another appointment oh man it was the coolest thing ever! That was the highlight of my week!! Nothing really else went on we found some other cool people. We got a few refferals from Lucky he is like the only one who gives us referals and they are all black guys his friends haha so its interesting the think of us more as friends but love talking about Jesus Christ its fun!! Anyways the week was good! I hope you all had a great week and have a great week this week! Happy Birthday HUNTER Du Bist Der Chef! Thats all for this week. Happy Birthday Mom! Have a great week! Love you all

WEEK 24 7-12-11 - 7-18-11

Hello Everyone!

Man this week has flown by! I can hardly keep up with everything thats going on!! I have been out for 6 months thats so crazy tomorrow I will be burning a tie of mine as tradition! I will record it and send it with my next sd card! July is almost over thats so crazy! SO to clear everything up transfers are this coming week so this Saturday we have our transfer call so next e mail I will let you all know what happened! I am sure I will stay but I guess you never really know! As far as the week goes. On Monday we had a pretty good P Day we got to play american football with Lucky and Sanga and 2 other younger kids it was probably the most ridiculous game of 2 touch football I have ever played because nobody knew what they were doing! Of course my team won haha! We were also able to make some food for them that was fun too. On Tuesday we had a pretty long day we did a lot of finding and didnt find much of anything haha but it was ok. We were on our way to our eating appointment but my comp had to go to the bathroom so we stopped by the church and I hopped out of the car and this older guy on his bike came up and started talking to me and asked if we had anything to do with the church haha and I was thinking of saying no we have nothing to do with this church we just dress up like this and have a key to the church! But we said yes we are missionaries and started talking to him taught him a first lesson. He was pretty crazy though and believes in reincarnation and that the animals on the bottom of the sea that we dont know about will reign when the humans die off so that was interesting. And he kept asking us what was so important about the last 3 days we had no idea what he was saying but than he said the name of your church says of the last days and he just figured it was the last 3 days! We have had quite a few people ask us about that! He also told us that Jesus didnt do that many special things. He told us that he took upon himself like 2000 souls or something cause he was the last member of is soul family?? He was nuts! But we gave him a book of mormon and challenged him to read it. We also invited him to church so that was good. On Wednesday we had a pretty good day. We went by on Lucky and gave him a lesson and his roommate shaney was there as well and we were able to read second nephi 31 its a great chapter about the gospel of Jesus Christ! Than after he gave us a referral and we went and contacted him that same day and got a first lesson set another appointment and a new investigator! So that was way cool! Than on Thursday we got another new investigator! So the work is picking up it just takes a lot of work! The lady who is our other new investigator meets with the Zeugen Jehovas as well So in english the Jehovas witness. But I think she has a different view on life than the Jehovas witnesses she is a way cool lady so that was good I think when she reads the book of mormon she will be able to become converted! Thats basically the weekly run down of the new people we found and what not. I gave a talk yesterday in church about Faith. I think it went pretty well. I got a couple compliments but I dont know if thats cause it was good or if thats cause I am a missionary! I usually hate talking in front of a group of people but it went really well and I think my German was pretty good as well! A couple of crazy things have happened this week as well! We were going by on a contact to see if we could make out an appointment with him but he wasnt home so we started walking the other way and there was three younger kids sitting on this bench 2 black kids and one Turk and they were probably 12 14 age group and they looked at us and we said high to them and kept walking than we hear this can of some liquid hit the top of the bus stop we were right next to! And some of it got in my mouth! I dont exactly know what the liquid was but could have been beer if so I have now tried beer! But I wasnt very happy about it and we went back and my comp was like what was that and the Turk was like it was a can! And we were like ya no crap and than my comp said did you throw it and he said ya and oh man he was the stupidest little kid! But whatever we just kept walking haha its funny how stupid people can be and its sad at the same time! We just said hi to them but because we are walkin around wearing white shirts and ties we get crap thrown at us haha classic! Its going to be interesting to see how transfers turn out cause if I stay here I may have to drive the car that will be interesting! My comp suggested that I suggest to pres that I would like a german comp to help with my German cause he says thats the best way to learn! I will probably after next transfer if I dont get a German comp! To prepare me to train and what not! But I know Pres knows what he is doing so ya! So thats about it for my week! Thanks for all you guys do for me! Thanks for the prayers they really help me everyday! I love you all! Have a great week!!

Pictures

Week 23 7-5-11 - 7-11-11

This week was pretty good and its had its down times too haha to be honest. But the coolest thing about this week was that on thursday we were up in Hamburg for the mission tour from Elder Cuacee or however you spell it from the first qourum of the seventy it was way good! He is an awesome man and he definately taught us with the spirit! It just made you feel like you need to do better! He was awesome and he asked us what are we here for and said when it comes down to it we are here to baptize the people so why are we so afraid to invite people to be baptized and than he challenged us to invite all of our investigators to be baptized and make sure the people we teach know that that is why we are teaching them so they can be expecting the question and prepare for it. So we came back and had an appointment with Gisbert and at the end of our lesson Elder Hardman challenged him to be baptized and he said something like, I dont dare. Because his family is all catholic he is afraid they wouldnt accept him so that was pretty dumb and he also said that he knows he would be happy if he joined the church and he  knows what we have said is true but the fact that he would lose his family and he said there is nobody smart enough in our branch that he can talk to! That was kinda a dumb excuse but whatever haha. And so we said ok well than we should probably start meeting less like every other week instead of every week and he said ya I think it would be stupid to just stop all contact and than he said he would really think about our invitation and talk to his family that was cool. He also told me that he think I memorize what I say that made me not so happy but whatev haha its just because I cant speak tons of German so what I can say is really simple! So we were a little dissapointed after that! Than yesterday he called us and we saw his name on our phone I was like no way he wants to get baptized I was so stoked! Than he talked to Elder Hardman and said I want to stop all visits and Elder Hardman said well can I ask why and he said well its hard to explain over the phone than said see ya. So that was a shock but I guess he just isnt prepared! I wonder what happened taht he completely changed! We worked pretty hard this week and didnt see a lot out of it and thats kinda hard. But I just figure thats Satan not wanting us to work as hard like it says you have to have a trial of your faith! All of our appointments fell through this week! But we taught a couple people on the street so that was pretty cool. We have to appointments tommorrow so I think they will both go through! Germany is a great place! I just wish the people could be a little more humble so they can be more accepting of the gospel! It is really hard to explain to people how happy it will make them when they dont WANT to believe in God or anything. Another cool story, On Friday we had to go up to Oldenburg cause the Zone Leaders wanted my comp up there for some district leader meeting so I had to go as well of course. So the other district leader was there as well and his companion Elder Cartwright (he was in the mtc with me the group younger). SO while they had this meeting me and Elder Cartwright went out and did some street contacting in Oldenburg which was hard cause I have never been there and we had no idea where we were going but it was fun haha we talked to a lot of people we introduced the Book Of Mormon to a guy that told us he was a practicing athiest haha I don't understand how that works but I was talking to him and he was telling us all the bad experiences he has had with church and so I explained to him what the Book Of Mormon was than I said I really know this book can help you and that you can really find out if God is there if you read this and pray about it. And he looked at me and said ok I will take it. So we placed a BOM that was way cool. He also told me my German was good haha so I was pretty happy about that! We really have been working hard and I know we will see the benifets from that. I dont know how soon they will come but I know they will come! I think I finally got my comp on the same page and he has been doing his best as well and its crazy to see that when he started working and doing his best we have gotten a long a lot better and so thats way cool too. Transfers are almost here again not this saturday but next we will know who goes and who stays. My comp says he can see him staying for another and me getting transfered? Haha maybe so. I really like this city and I like the work here and I know it can really turn around! We will see.... Its way cool to see how awesome the gospel is and how much happier we can be if we do what our Heavenly Father asks of us. There has been trials I have faced on the mission or before or whenever and the answer has always been the gospel! The gospel is really a medicine its a cure to all of our problems. When we understand that we really our children of our Heavenly Father we understand our full potential and other worldly things do not matter! I have really noticed that in my life and I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is really the only way we can reach that potential. Nobody is perfect but the only way we can be perfect is through Jesus Christ! I love the gospel and I love the oppurtunity I have to serve a mission it hasnt always been easy but it has always been worth it! I have learned so much and I love it! I love you all and thanks for all you do for me and the prayers!! Have a great week!!

Week 22 6-28-11 - 7-4-11

Hello Everyone,
So I have had a pretty good week to say the least! We made out an appointment everyday this week that was the first time I have done that on my mission so that has been way cool! We have worked really hard and this week we need to turn that into Investigators and we will also be finding more people. President Interviews on thursday were good. President gave a good lesson and so did the Aps and the ZLs. My interview with president was not very long he brought me in asked how I was doing and said I can see your numbers increase and I know your working hard I am really proud of what your doing and don't have anything to complain about! So that was good he said he can see that I am helping Elder Hardman because sometimes after the year mark you can get a little unmotivated and he knows that I am picking up that motivation so that is good. I told him about Elder Sullivan coming in and said something about training he laughed and said well you may be able to spend some time together so that would be way cool if after he is trained maybe we could serve together. We will see what happens. So transfers are half way over thats so crazy! So today for the 4th of July the Thom couple are having us over for some American food I am pretty excited about that. I know she is making sloppy joes and I am not completely sure what else she will be making I guess it will be a surprise! I am so sore on Saturday we helped out a member he is re doing his whole backyard and he had tons of stons and bricks like on the ground that he wanted to take out so we were doing that for like 3 hours straight probably the most manual labor I have done since I have been here than we would just load it all up in a wheel barrow and take it to the big dumpster thing my arms and back are killing me haha but it was good work and than after his wife who is from Hungary made us some dang good home made pizza with this special hungarian flat bread it was way good so there was nothing to complain about! We have had a couple appointments fall through this week so that was kinda crappy but we have a lot of appointments this week and I am sure a few of them will go through. Also this week on thursday we are going up to Hamburg for the Mission Tour which means a member of the Area Presidency will be touring the mission so goes to three different spots and talks to the elders. Elder Causee I dont know if thats is how you spell his name but he is from france and he is in the area presidency he is also in the first quorum of the seventy so that will be cool to hear from him I also get to see some of my friends from the MTC so I am pretty excited about that! So something cool that also happened at president interviews... President has been pretty big with the driving people to the website fishing with the internet and creating our own media refferals so since every person on the street or wherever we are always stares at our nametags he had the idea to get the website engraved on our nametags so more people would drive to the website but the mission office said no to that because the nametags have been the same forever but I guess they may be still thinking it over? Option number 2 was to have something hanging from our nametags with the website on it kinda like at the temple square in Salt Lake the missionaries have something hanging from their name tags. Well the mission office said they are thinking about that one too and that could go global! SO while all this is in the process of going through the mission offices and what not. President said he isnt going to wait around so he went and got patches made that stick to your backpacks and shoulder bags that have the website on them so people will see that. Pres is such a smart guy haha he said so if you see the church website hanging from missionaries badges in latter years you know that started in the Germany Berlin Mission. These patches are way cool they are just the website and you dont have to sew them on or anything they stick and you can take them off and stick them on again so that is way cool! We have been trying to get out more cards I have started a new policy if someone doesnt take the card I just leave it where that person was because who knows someone else could pick it up. I have also been sticking them in the light poles like the cross walk buttons where you press for the signal to come. I asked pres if that was Legal and he said he didnt know but he would find out! But he wanted me to keep doing it untill he found out haha. It was kinda cool so on Friday we got to cook dinner for Shaney and Lucky. Lucky is a member from Nigeria who is about 22 and we meet with him regularly he is way close with the missionaries and Shaney is his roommate who has been an investigator forever but cant quit smoking and his family in India is way against him joining the church. But they asked us to cook something american for them so we made some Hamburgers and a Salad it was pretty dang good! I was proud of my cooking ability! haha. I got a few letters this week one from Gpa Norm one from Gma Sondra and one from Boots but I didn't get yours mom. Or anyone elses and that was pretty dissapointing haha pick it up people! Hahah just kidding but it would be nice if you found some time to drop me a little letter once in a while! Well not much to really say this week we got really close with Gisbert he started breaking down kind of and than he said well I will have to think about this and wait till next week so we know he was feeling the spirit after I tried to lay it down to him in my broken German! Hahah German is hard but I can see that I get better everyday I can hold a pretty good conversation I just need to improve my vocab than I will be a lot better! Well It was a good week but this week will be better! Thanks for all your support and all you do! Love ya tons!! Have a great week!
P.S I am expecting more letters this week!! Hahah

WEEK 21 6-21-11 - 6-27-11

Hello Everyone.
My week has been good for the most part! So first I want to start off with what happened on wednesday so you all know how I had been kinda worried with what to do because we werent seeing a lot of success cause we werent talking to a lot of people cause my comp had been only doing the minimums for quite a while. Well on Wednesday I had an exchange with the zone leader Elder Wagley and we worked really hard we made out two appointments and talked to EVERYONE! I felt really good after and throughout the day we had been talking and he said you remind me a lot of myself when I was young on the mission. You just want to do the right thing. I said yes but I don't want to tell my comp ok this is what we are going to do and create problems cause I am just the Junior companion. And he told me Its your area too tell him you want to have success and this is how you are going to do it. And I made him a promise that I would do my best to make out an appointment everyday for the rest of the transfer and he said if you do that I will give you a tie! SO my comp came back and I had a really hard time getting enough courage to lay it down to him! But I just finally said it I said ok man this is what we are going to do we are going to turn this area around even if it takes staying out a little bit later walkin a little more and talking to more people! I dont think he was the biggest fan at first but than when we would go outside I would just talk with everyone so he had no other choice! Than he finally got involved and we made out an appointment everyday this week! The other night we were walking and he said this is the hardest I have worked since I have been here! So I felt pretty good about that that I was setting a good example even if I am just the Junior Companion. So we have found a few new people and soon when we keep finding people we will have more people to teach so I am trying to get this area going and that takes hard work! But I am glad I learned the lesson from Elder Wagley that if I really want to do it I can do it. We didnt get a chance to meet with the Italian guy this week sadly he works so much he is hard to set a firm appointment with! But we saw him at home one night it was kinda late and we ran the Proclomation to the Family over cause in our first meeting he talked soo much about what his family means to him and how that is most important so we thought that would be good for him to read. As far as Gisbert goes he came to church this week so that was good but he doesnt totally understand the Priesthood and why it is so important and we dont really know how to just say ok well this is how it is! So we will see I guess! This coming week on thursday we have President Interviews I am pretty excited for that to sit down with Pres and talk to him about what is going on! He is such a cool guy! Than the week after we have mission tour from Elder Causee I dont know if that is how you spell his name but he is in the first quorum of the seventy and also in the area presidency so that will be cool to hear from him. I still get frustrated with my comp sometimes but I think I have grown immune to it! Hahah he sometimes doesnt understand the question rules I have laid down so I have to continue to remind him! And that is frustrating sometimes but it is what it is and I guess thats what happens when you pray for patience!! As far as the 4th of July goes it is a P day so maybe we will be able to do something exciting! I dont really know what but maybe Sister Thom can make us some American Sloppy joes or some hamburgers! She is the lady in the senior missionary couple in our ward so she knows how to cook and she is super nice so maybe we can talk her into it! I got my package like thursday or friday Fedex is really fast here Idk why but it was way cool and thank you I really enjoyed it! I needed a new jump rope and the Ensign was way good too because I didnt have one yet so it was good to get it! I am just working hard doing my missionary things! haha I have really stepped my game up and turned it up a notch which is way good cause I know now the Lord will bless us with more people to teach and will be able to trust us with the prepared people he has! Also Sanga has his trial today so that is going to be interesting to see this trial decides if he can stay in Germany or if he has to go back to Africa! We are all praying for him because he has had such a hard life! We went over to his place last night and we read the end of 2nd Nephi 4 with him and that is where Nephi is talking about how he just needs to trust in the Lord and what not. So we read that and the Spirit was way strong than we left with prayer but this time we prayed on our knees he was really grateful for that and I know he really felt the spirit! He is a good guy we will find out today if he can stay or has to go! It will be hard for him because he doesnt have any documents! Because he is a refugee but there are some things in his favor that might enable him to stay here! So keep your fingers crossed for him! Hmm what else went on this week! Oh so I really liked darlenes Idea about sending the food packages that makes things a lot easier! I havent used one yet but I am plannin on using the Alfredo here soon! Thanks for all you guys do for me! Sorry this e mail is so short and boring I guess I dont have that much to say this week! But I promise it will be better and more eventful next week! We meet the craziest people but I dont know how to describe the conversations we have! I guess I can only do that via Letters! So if I get some more letters from people I can tell more stories!! I love you guys and thanks for your prayers I can really feel them helping me out here! I know this Church is true and through the atonement we can really be made clean! The gospel changes lives you see crazy experiences every single day on how someones life is changed through Jesus Christ and his Gospel!! I am grateful I can be here and serve a mission sometimes it gets frustrating and hard but I have learned keep your head up and keep going!! Thanks again and have a great week!!

WEEK 21 6-14-11 - 6-20-11

Hello!

So this week has been pretty slow to be completely honest but that seems to always be the case with the first and last weeks of the transfer so it should start going by a little faster again! First to answer your question President Interviews are next thursday so the 30th of June than we have a mission tour with one of the seventy from the area seventy in Hamburg on the 7th of July so that will be really cool I am excited for President Interviews and to sit down and talk with President. Maybe I will suggest that I am ready to train?? haha we will see! Secondly I just want to wish all the Dads a happy late fathers day! It was not Fathers day here in Germany yesterday but it was Fathers day in Holland and of course our eating appointment fell through because the people are dutch and were going to Holland for fathers day! So we had to fend for ourselves and since my comp doesnt really cook much (I cook everyday!!) But he does the dishes so that is ok. Well he sometimes does the dishes. But I made a nice meal Gma and Gpa would be proud! I made some chicken (cause thats all we had haha) and I just put a little different spices on it Salt, Pepper, Cyann pepper, a little lemon juice, and some garlic salt. And it turned out really good than I made REAL mashed potatoes and I will have to admit they were pretty close to Sunday dinner at grandmas! I am not quite there yet though haha! And this is the shocker I even made homemade gravy for the first time in my life it was pretty good for a first try! So thats what we had for sunday dinner wasnt bad if I do say so myself! Anyways ya so happy fathers day! This week we got a new investigator she is from Ghana and has lived in Germany for like nine years now or something and we taught her a first lesson and made out another appointment I think she really liked it she seemed to be grasping what we were sayin it was also nice because English is her native tounge so we got to talk to her in English!! We had a couple appointments this week fall through but thats the life of a missionary I guess! This Italian guy I mentioned last week we tried to go by yesterday but he was walking out of his door when we got there but he told us to come back next sunday so we will do that. We want to give him the Proclomation about the Family cause he told us his family is really everything to him so I think he will like that and that would be way cool! We are still in the finding stages we just need to find the prepared people like I said before my comp and his previous comp had gotten into a pattern of just doing the minimum and that doesnt set well with me because there is no way we will find more people if we only talk to 10 people a day. It seems to me that everytime we talk to as many people as we can we always seem to make out an appointment! So we are gonna keep trying and using the Pass along cards to chum some streets and to do some more doors! We have only done one street of doors since I have been here and thats cause I said hey we need to do that street and that is where we found the Italian guy. So I think doors will be a lot more effective for us and finding! A funny story so on Friday we had it planned to go visit Lucky who is one of the guys from africa that is a member I think Lucky is 21 and Sanga is 20 so those are the 2 way cool african guys in our ward anyways so we go to Luckys place and we were planning on leaving him a spiritual thought but right after we prayed Sanga called and said him and some of his friends needed our help haha so we went over to see what was going on and one of their friends Samuel he has a car and he had to work but he let lucky barrow the car well lucky let Jeremiah barrow the car and Jeramiah went to school that morning and left the lights on for 6 hours haha so the battery had died and I guess they had been trying all day to get the car started and its manual so we tried to push start it for like 2 hours and it didnt work haha so we didnt get home till about 10 that night cause we were helping our brothas out with their car haha it was pretty funny! Thats way cool Hunter got a new bike early cause he has been riding so much! Ya I dont think I ever got a present early that kinda sucks too though because than when it comes his birthday he doesnt get anything? are you guys doing a party for him or what? Another funny story so I guess you could say I finally just snapped with the question game this week! But I didnt do it in a rude way. we were doing some street contacting and he said now where and I said lets go this way than when we came to another turn he said now where and I was like ok I am laying it down right now! than I said I hate questions so much and especially repetative questions my sister and mom asked me so many questions it drove me crazy and I said some questions are of course needed but some like what is the plan when he has the same plan I have are not needed! And I said when we are doing street contacting just go where we see people not having to worry about which directiong every single turn just free and easy and than this is where I proved that what I was saying is really legit. I said the less decisions you have to make the faster the time goes by! And he said you know what I have noticed that! Haha so now we are all clear on the questions! SO something else really quick I am going to need a new jump rope because mine already broke twice because I have been using it so much! So thanks for that. I can not believe hunter gets baptized so soon I am excited for him I will be expecting pictures from that! I love getting your guys letters and everything and I would love to hear more from the other family who recieves this e mail through letters. Such as Gma Gpa taysom Kipp and Linda and the boys. Sarah Scotty Holly Jeff Rene the boys and whoever else I am forgetting send me letters folks! It really is so awesome to hear from everyone! The Kansas Family too! Gma Lois has been super steady take her example. (Gma Lois dont worry I will send you a letter back today sorry its been so long!!). Anyways missionary work is fun. Sometimes well a lot of the times it gets frustrating but I know the Lord will send the prepared people my way if I am doing what I am supposed to and talking to EVERYONE like I am supposed to. Man I miss the little kids Easton and Iyrlend but they will be even cuter when I get home! Easton will be so old that will be crazy!! haha But ya so I will wrap it up! We are still finding people thanks for your prayers please continue to pray for me so I can find those golden investigators! I will continue to pray for all of you and I am grateful for all you guys do for me. Love you tons!!

 

Ps. Gpa Chuck Happy B day this last week!!!

WEEK 20 6-7-11 - 6-13-11

Hello Everyone!

My week has been pretty good/crazy and everything that a missionary goes through every week of transfers! So first and foremost I was so positive that my comp would get transfered that he ended up staying haha we were both really shocked so we have 6 more weeks together. We get along really well but after a certain amount of time anyone can get on your nerves sometimes haha I figured out though that he is a cool guy but not someone I would choose to hang out with he is just different with certain things so sometimes we clash but we make it work. Another cool thing Elder Carlson my first comp got transfered to Dellingsdorf which is in the west and got made district leader and will be serving with Elder Lloyd from my district in the mtc! He is way excited about that I am excited for him he is a stud! Something else that is pretty cool. Elder Wilson who was serving in Osnabruck which is in my district also went to highschool with me he got transfered to Lankwitz Berlin to serve with Elder Jake Walter who is the one from our highschool that came the same day as me! So he was excited I think they are actually related somehow 2nd cousins or something! So that was the info on transfers.

 

As far as mission work goes. It has actually still been pretty slow this last week which isnt cool. I swear yesterday we were going by on some potential investigators and we had the worst luck we went by on 5 and none were home! Of course today is some stupid German holliday (excuse to get drunk) so they may be doing that. The highlight for the week also happened last night. So we were at the apartment and we were wondering what we should do because we had already gone by on 5 people and nobody was outside and I got this feeling we should go do this one street of doors that we had chummed before which means we had gone by and put our cards in the mailbox so when we knock on the door they know who we are. So we didnt have a lot of time like 1 hour to do doors cause after 8 o clock the germans dont like people knocking on their doors! So we went and we started doing some doors and there were a lot of old people which is never good cause they are always too set in their ways and dont like talkin about religion so about the first 45 minutes of doors was very unseccesfull. Than we came to this one door this middle aged guy answered and we started talkin to him and he let us in and so we got a walk in appointment taught him a first lesson he is from Italy and is baptized catholic but has had many bad experiences with churches because his wife is Protestant so the catholics didnt want him to marry her and all this crazy stuff so he is pretty skeptical when it comes to churches so he said he believes in God and just wants to leave it at that. But we introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he liked it he kinda seemed like he understood what we were saying and when we told him we were giving him the Book of Mormon he is like wait what your giving this to me he said that doesnt happen very often there is usually something behind it. We said well we want to share the truth with people so he took the book said he would read in it and also said he would like to come to our church in the near future! That was way cool! So thats the lesson for the week if you fallow the Holy Ghost cool things like that will happen! haha. As far as everyone else hmm Gisbert is still Gisbert I kinda feel bad I kinda laid it down to him this week but my comp said it was good so thats good I just told him like man if you know the book of mormon is true that means Joseph smith was a prophet and the Church is true and he didnt have much to say back so hopefully we can get him to budge!

 

Soo my watch did come its pretty cool I will have to send you a picture of it. It doesnt look like a watch just looks like a metal armband than you press a button and the numbers light up so its cool especially for 1 euro! haha. The branch here is way cool there are a couple weird people but you can find that anywhere but they are all really nice! There is about 40 members on paper I would say but 25 to 30 are active so ya a couple less active members. So church goes like this. The first hour is priesthood/relief society and the second hour is Sacrament meeting. This week Elder Hardman taught priesthood and I gave a talk in sacrament about how you receieve a testimony that was a really hard subject to talk about because a testimony can come through so many different ways!! So we are really involved in the ward just because there isnt tons of people! I am sending my Sd card home tommorrow too so no worries with that you will get pictures soon. We found this cool old windmill that was right on the Holland Boarder that we went and took some pictures by so that was cool.

 

Thats about all for this week! I am grateful for all of your support and your prayers I can feel them with me! I am workin hard trying to get this language down so I can be a more effective missionary! But I know that it will come before I know it! Thanks for everything!! Love ya!!

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!!