10-16-11

Hello Everyone.

Well my week has been pretty good. Man the work here is so much different than my last area but its work none the less and it needs to be done. Its so sad to see the effect of the DDR here and how run down things are. Like I think I said last week we havent been working in the city of Prenzlau because everybody already knows us and so its kinda crappy but we have just been going to little dorfs cause our area is so big and working there. The time just keeps going by so fast I cant believe 2 weeks of the transfer are already over. Than before I know it I will hit my year mark. Its crazy to think that I am as old in the mission as my trainer was when he trained me haha what the heck!! My german is getting so much better. I gave a talk in church yesterday and this time it was 10 minutes which was the longest talk I have had to give. I wrote my talk and everything but I only used what I wrote like 2 times in my whole ten minutes most of it was just me talking so thats good I am getting more comfortable with it. I got a lot of compliments on my german too. It kinda sucks cause the elder here before me was 1 transfer older than me and his german is terrible so the members kinda think that mine is too so they dont really talk to me but hopefully now they will start because my german is ok! Yesterday was pretty crazy I gave my talk than I sat down in the front and I couldnt believe it the spirit hit me so strong it was the craziest feeling I have ever had like butterflies times like 1000 maybe that was just a confirmation that I did a good job? Hopefully haha. I spoke about baptism and the importance of baptism I was also able to tell Peters story so that was good too. Other than that we have been doing a lot of finding here. Our teaching pool is like nothing so that kinda sucks most of my time here has been spent knocking on doors mostly or talking to people on the street. This week wasnt quite as good as last week we only made out 4 appointments so that was too bad. But man there are some crazy people here. I really think that some of them think that the wall is still up or something. The other day we were doing doors and we came to this pretty big house and not many people in east germany have big houses so we knocked and this guy came out and initially he was pretty friendly but he started saying how capitalism is crap and he is all about Karl Marx and all this stuff and he said I dont believe in God but if you want to talk about Karl Marx than that will be good. We were sitting there thinking what the heck he is rich and living in a large house and he is a Karl Marx fan? That doesnt make any sense but than we just left him alone! I have kinda been wanting to record some of the reactions of people it would be so funny. Sometimes when we talk to people they act like we have a sickness or something and start freaking out and say oh no oh no and close their doors haha its pretty funny. Yesterday we went to this small dorf and we parked in fron of this apartment building which is most of east germany big one room apartment buildings. So we started ringing and they didnt have a speaker box like most so we just rang and hoped they would stick their heads out the window or something or come down and talk to us. So we rang about 4 people and nobody came out but there was this old guy walking on the street and he was talkin to us so we went and started talkin to him and in the middle of our conversation this guy about 40 or so storms out the door and just starts yelling at us saying that we cant klingle here and all this garbage and my comp is like we have permission from the country to be here and to klingle and he was probably a couple of centimeters from my comps face! And I thought they were going to get in a fight. Because my comp kinda sorta likes to argue with people. Which is one thing I am thankful for that I dont know the german language perfectly is I cant argue with people. Hahah and than this guy who was freaking out saw our license plate and our license plate is from Frankfurt and he started calling us wessies which is like a bad thing for people from the west. Oh man it was crazy but than we found some pretty cool people too. On Friday we were doin street contacting and it was cold and late and time to go home and we couldnt find anyone everyone was unfriendly but on the was back to our car I talked to this younger girl probably 17 or 18 and she was the last person on the street and she was way open and telling us she didnt have a faith or anything but she had read the bible and we talked to her about eternal families and she said thats great cause her dad died when she was 12 or something and we had a really good conversation on the street than we made out another appointment man it was awesome! So ya there is still cool people here hahah. Its really like living in a different country coming from far west Germany to far east Germany its nuts!! Hahah It will all be good though. Man how I am missing football!! One of my zone leaders loves football too he is a huge kid and he played for dixie before he came on his mission he is from pleasent grove. But its good he calls sometimes and we chat about football so thats nice hahah. Thats great that BYU is finally starting to look pretty good! Well not really anything too new this week.... Hahah thanks for everything and I hope you all have a great week!! Love you all!!

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Elder Christian J. Voran

10-9-11

Hello Everyone!

Man what a week I have had its been crazy with gettin transferred again and again to the complete other side of the country!!! It was a long train ride but it wasnt so bad haha. The only problem was I reserved a seat on both trains and in the second train an old lady was sitting in my seat I had reserved and I didnt want to say hey thats my seat. Well I did but I thought it would be nice to let her sit there. And the train was pretty full so I had to sit in the little cafe thing on the train haha it wasnt too bad!! But my new area is so East Germany I think some of the people we talk to still think the wall is up or something they are so DDR brainwashed its pretty ridiculous. But to be honest its not too bad we have had a lot of success this week. We made out 9 new appointments and the most they had made out here was 5 or something. Me and my comp get a long dang good. He is so funny. I have never spoken so much german in my life and I am sure it has already increased so much. He says my german is pretty good but thats cause he has to say that! He is way cool. His name is Elder Breuer ya like I said last week he is from stuttgart so way down south. He doesnt have much longer on his mission 2 more transfers after this one. So we will see what happens he thinks he will die here. So dying on the mission means to finish your mission. But I think he will get transferred this next transfer and I will stay. But we will see we have 5 weeks to go! This week went by really fast. We have a lot of fun together so thats way cool!! So its pretty much normal as far as missionary work goes with him cause he is the second counsler in the branch presidency we arent required to visit members or anything plus there is only like 20 members anyways and 10 active haha it was such a surprise yesterday in sacrament meeting to see only 8 or 9 people there and us missionaries were half of the total because the 1st counsler in the branch presidency is a senior couple missionary. I think my comp is ready to go home when his time comes. He is a hard worker and he has been really in some crappy cities his whole mission I feel bad for him. He has only been able to baptize one person on his mission so far but maybe we can get a couple here soon!! I dont think he has a hard time serving close to home its probably about the same as me serving in Idaho or something its pretty far away. And ya I have séen elder Gibson he is actually sitting right next to me right now. Its been cool to see him and be in the same district he has been in his city now for 3 transfers and with the same companion. But he is doing good. My district is way cool. Elder Gibson and his comp me and my comp and the Zone Leaders which are way cool!! SO we have a lot of fun!! Its starting to get kinda cold here. And kinda windy too which sucks but I think I will be ok!! It isnt too bad!! My area is crazy its a pretty big area and we have been doing work in little dorfs because everyone in prenzlau already knows us and its hard to work here and prenzlau is actually not even the biggest city in our area its one of the smallest so we have been going to bigger cities in our area or little dorfs and we have really seen a lot of success so its been cool. My comp and his last companion who was here before me didnt really get along so thats probably why the work was so dead but we get along great! The senior couple here is freaking awesome! haha I dont know if they are as cool as the Thoms though. They actually invited us over for Tacos today so I am excited to eat mexican food again. They are from California they are pretty cool. Man I cant believe I have been gone for so long. I was just thinking that my birthday and christmas is coming up thats nuts. There are very few members here in Prenzlau but they are all pretty nice. There is one sister Sister Meilicke and she is like the mother for the missionaries and she stays close with every missionary who serves here and takes a trip to america every year to visit and calls on there birthdays and everything she is super awesome! She made us dinner yesterday and it was pretty dang good! But there are also some crazy people here. Haha so every sunday we have an appointment with  this in active family and the guy is prob 60 or so and its just him and his mom he takes care of his mom cause she is 88 and we play a game with them every week its some ddr game from east germany a long time ago and this old 88 yr old lady is so nuts hahah its so funny we make noises and she tries to copy it and everything and like she is pretty much still there just kinda funny. And we were making animal noises last night oh my gosh I wish I would have recorded this old 88 yr old lady trying to make animal noises and she is always laughing she thinks everything is funny. I asked her yesterday what was so funny and she said what do you want me to do should I be sad or something haha. And so I was thinking thats a really good answer we can choose to be happy or not! Although she is a bit crazy I think she likes me hahah she was smaking my leg like it was funny haha and then my comp haha he told them that I have a way good voice and love to sing!! Which is completely not true and so they wanted to hear me sing oh my gosh I was like what the heck elder you know I dont like to sing hahah and so I did a solo of Love one Another and thank goodness that my voice is better than theirs so I could pass with having a ''good voice'' Anyways it was freaking funny!! Other than that nothing really new here I am having a good time! I have already learned tons more german haha. SO that has been fun. Anyways Hope you all have a great week. Love you all!!

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Elder Christian J. Voran

10-2-11

Hello Everyone!!

So I guess I will start out with Transfer Calls. I have been transferred and you wont believe it I am going back to the other side of the country!! This time north of where I was before about an hour north of Berlin in a little city callled Prenzlau. Its in the Neubrandenburg zone. My new comp is German he is from Stuttgart which I am way pumped about that I will be able to learn German a little bit better and everything It will be way cool he is also the Second counsler in the branch presidency there and the district leader haha so I am going to another small branch. Thats ok though I will work hard and try to make it bigger! It was way funny nobody from my group went senior comp I guess we have a lot of older missionaries right now and not so many young ones! Anyways I am excited its a long transfer I go from Rheine to Berlin and than from Berlin to Prenzlau with the train so it will be fun at least I only have to catch one other train so it will be ok. I am sure I will be there in Prenzlau for the winter and that scares me because the Neubrandenburg and Berlin areas get the winds from Siberia in the winter but na ja it wil be good haha. It is going to be so wierd leaving this place!! It was pretty crappy too cause we had transfer calls saturday and had to leave to Osnabruck to watch conference so I didnt really get to see any of the members because they all watch conference live on their internets! So I guess I will have to visit some of them today so that I can say goodbye and I also need to pack today so I am going to be pretty busy! Before I forget here is my new address Wittenhofer straße #1 17291 Prenzlau Germany. So that is where I will be for a while I am sure back to the east. Oh and another thing that is cool about that is I will be in the same district as my Mtc comp and the same zone as Elder Wittwer from the mtc so that will be furn!! Anyways other than that we have had a pretty good week. General Conference was awesome I cant remember what my favorite talk was because they were all so good but when they are over I cant remember who said what haha. The first talk from President Monson well I guess it wasnt really a talk but a thing where he announced the temples that was dang funny when he just got up and said HELLO haha we all got a kick out of that he was really funny this conference! I couldnt believe that they are putting another temple in Provo thats nuts!! Elder Eyring was even kinda funny this conference it was really good his story about Spencer W. Kimball and how Elder Eyring and Elder Holland had to move his chair and he said oh dont hurt your backs haha it was great. Man but Elder Hales looked way bad!! Do you know what happened with him? He looked so different I could hardly even recognize him! And Packer is not looking so good either! Anyways we had a good week we met some Venezuelans I dont know how to  spell that but its ok and they are way solid investigators now so that is good. We have seen Peter a couple of times this week and we taught Florian once as well so it has been pretty good. Its going to be a whole different world for me where I am going haha kinda like where I came from but I am so much more mature as a missionary and able to handle harder cities and areas. At least I think so! I am really happy with the work I have done here and feel good about leaving but it will definately be hard cause I have LOVED this area but its time to go and move on I guess thats the life of a missionary! I have learned so much and I am grateful for that!! As far as everything else goes! I finished A Marvelous Work and A Wonder it is such a great book I couldnt even set it down it was awesome! And I have also been reading The Book of Mormon which was talked about so much during conference I am somewhere in 3rd Nephi so I am getting near the end. And I am also reading the New Testemant haha so I am kinda all over the place!! Anyways its great to learn about the parables of Jesus Christ and the things he taught his disciples sometimes they are kinda confusing but it makes you think and helps you understand things better. I can not believe its already October man time goes by so fast and its hard to believe (now that I am leaving) that I have been here since MAY wow how crazy we have accomplished a lot here and thats what matters!! anyways Sorry that this week was so short not really a whole lot going on because we had to be in Osnabruck for general conference! So I guess I can explain how that works. On Saturday we see the Saturday Morning session live but here its 6 at night but we still see it live. Than the next morning at 11 am we see priesthood session recorded and than at 2 pm we see saturday evening session. Than we are able to see the Sunday morning session live at 6 pm again so thats good than the Sunday evening session we dont see untill the next week or sometimes we just have to watch it on our own it all depends on the ward or branch your in!! Other than that nothing really new going on!! thanks for everything!! love you all!! Have a great week!!

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Elder Christian J. Voran

9-25-11

Hello Everyone!

I will give a little run down of my week this e mail may be a little bit short cause I cant think of a whole lot to say! First of all yesterday was great Peter recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost and right after church we had to drive to Osnabruck for Florians baptism! And that went really well his dad was able to baptize him and the whole family was there which is way cool cause his mom hasnt really been to church since she was baptized back in May. I think Florian is really going to be a spark for that family to get back to church and to live how they are supposed to. He is a great kid I have some pictures I will attach they are kinda funny cause Florian didnt smile in any of them which is funny cause he is ALWAYS smiling and laughing haha. Elder Ririe gave a talk we actually had a double baptism cause the Elders in Osnabruck had a baptism as well we are just dunking everyone down here in our district its great!! I guess Florian really likes us so thats good. He liked the presents you sent mom! He loves like colored pencils and pens and stuff so it was perfect for him haha. It was kinda funny we were sitting in church it was about 10 minutes before church started and Peter text us and said he would be late and we are like oh great he needs to be here to get the gift of the Holy Ghost and what not so we told Elder Thom and he said we would do it after sacrament so right before Sacrament he walks in and so he sat there than after Elder Thom got back up and said now we are going to give Peter the gift of the holy ghost and we looked at him to come up to the front and he was like what?? haha he had no idea what was going on we had told him he would be getting the gift of the holy ghost but I am not sure if he understood that it would be in front of the whole branch and since he is kinda shy he was a little nervous I guess! He also had his Priesthood interview yesterday so he should be getting the Aaronic priesthood the week after conference! On friday we went up to Hamburg for President Interviews that was pretty good kinda short but I think President just likes to get through all the missioaries haha and he talks to the ones who have problems longer so that was good! We did some street contacting in Bad Bentheim on Wednesday and the third guy we talked to was from Venezuela it was probably the easiest appointment we have ever made out in our whole missions!! Hahah But it was this younger guy his name was george and he was way cool! We set the appointment for Saturday but he wasnt home when we went by. But last night we were at the Blankens for dinner and we were telling brother Blanken about this guy because Bro. Blanken served his mission in Venezeula so he speaks spanish than he is like ok after we are done eating we will go over there and see if he is home! So after we were done eating he went and got dressed and we drove over to Georges house. And we clingled so a clingle is kinda like a door bell but they have clingle boxes where you can talk to the person from inside. So anyways this Lady answered the clingle and she is like who is there and so Bro. Blanken started speakin in spanish and she came out and was way excited to hear about the church and the book of mormon and everything and we had a joint teach right there it was perfect! Than she said she will definately come to church after conference and she said I am moving right now and she didnt know the address but she knew the directions so she gave the directions to us and we found her new house and she ended up being Georges mother so we could have 2 new venezualens here soon which is way cool!! This transfer is almost over! So transfer calls are coming this coming Saturday! I am pretty sure I will be going but I dont know where I am kinda thinking I will stay kinda close I will either go to the Hannover Zone or Hamburg Zone we will see though maybe I will go back to the east! That would be interesting! My dream is to serve in Berlin though so maybe I will do that soon. This transfer is big. Since it will be my 6th I will either be going senior comp or maybe I have 1 more as junior we will see. This next transfer I will be as old as my trainer was when he trained me thats so crazy!! Everything is good here In Rheine we are just working trying to survive untill next transfer haha! I havent given any talks in Church recently but I am always involved some way or another either saying a prayer or doing the sacrament or both! I dont think Peters family knows a whole lot about him getting baptized! And we still meet with him but we didnt too much last week because we were busy or he was busy. But we still have to teach him all the lessons again plus the 5th lesson so we will see! I am way excited for Conference we will be in Osnabruck cause we dont have a satelite recepter at our church! So we will go there on Saturday cause the first session isnt till 6 at night here than we will just stay the night and watch them all on Sunday than we will prob have P day in Osnabruck as well Idk how well that will work if I need to pack and have to leave early Tuesday morning! But we will see! I will let you know what happens next week!! Sounds like everything is good at home!! Love you all have a great week!!

Elder Christian J. Voran

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!!!

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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