April 7, 2011

Sorry its taken so long to write- ive been a tad occupied. On pday I was kinda rushed, so i had like no time to do anything. Then on Tuesday we had to clean our car for zo-ko inspections, shop for food, and do other stuff. On Wed. we had zo-ko, which was pretty sweeet. I got to see a couple of the guys I came in with. Then right after I had a split, and I wasnt in my usual area. Now its Thurs. and Im letting you know Im still alive. On Fri. I go on a split with the Zone Leaders, then Sun. is Stake Confrence, and on Mon. we´re going to Frankfurt for the day. Last week was pretty good. General Confrence was done alittle weirder cuz of the time difference. We only got to watch 3 sessions, but we´ll see the others at aonther time. The priesthood session was from like 1-3 in the morning, so we watched it the next day in Friedrichsdorf where we could watch it in English. We had a BBQ on Sat. with a family from our ward. Im pretty sure I put pics of them on Facebook. It was pretty sweet actually being with a member family. I got to play a guitar there, so I was happy. Actually, theres quite a few Ive been able to play, so its exciting. Except that I can barely remember how to play songs, so Im trying to remember. They come to me as I just play random notes, so thats good news. The weather has been absolutly awesome. Its rained a couple times, but thats about it. Its been an average of like 70 degrees, and my allergies are starting to come in :(. It stinks, but Ill get over them just like I have in the past. OH YEAH. So, on pday we had...PIZZA HUT. I: WAS. SO. HAPPY. I didnt think Germany had it, BUT THEY DO. Ive actually seen 2! AND A KFC. I love the west. I almost bought a new suit too, cuz I left my other suits in Weimar. I still have my 1st one, but the others were too big...and I couldnt fit them in my suitcase. This just gives me a reason to get a European suit, but Im gunna kill this one first. And on Thursday an Elder that went home a few months ago came to visit with his father on their way to China. It was way sweet. We fit 6 people in a 4 person mini-cooper, and ate out at a legit German resteraunt. I had Jäger schintzel, which is just schnitzl with a really good sauce and some small mushrooms. It was awesome. Im also certified by the church to drive now, so I can drive until I need to get my German DL, which I was gunna take money out for soon. Apperantly its like €30-40 for the test itself, then the other €130 for the license. I should have it covered. Speaking of gay people, Theres alot of them over here. But its not like it is in the States. They´re way nice and most of the time you cant even tell. My comps had to tell me who is, and I didnt even recognize it. They´re way cool. But yeah, sounds like everything is going pretty well back home. We have a couple people that we´re teaching, and hopefully we´ll get acouple of them baptized. One of them wants to, but he´s part of the Unity Church (look it up, its wacked). One of their core beliefs is that Satan had sex with Eve, and thats why they wore fig leaves. They also believe that their leader, Rev. Moon, is finishing Jesus´ mission cuz he (Jesus) couldnt. Its way crazy, But he came to Gen. Conf. and that was good. But yeah, the language is still a little slow, but I think Its helping having a native companion. Im still working on getting a letter to Travis, ive just been way busy. Tell him I said late Happey Birthday and I should be coming up with something soon. I think thats it for now. If I dont write on monday, its cuz Im in the NYC of Europe and I was busy. But it should be okay. Okay, have a nice week! Tschüß!

April 4, 2011 (Letter to Dad)

 The new area is awesome. It feels like my mission is just starting, except Ive got a head start in the language and stuff. Theres alot of country in-between tiny towns. Its so pretty, ive gotta take more pictures. General Conference was good. We watched 2 sessions in Friedrichsdorf (right next to the temple) and the other in Wetzlar. The one @ Friedrichsdorf was in English, and the one in Wetzlar was in German, so it was a little harder to pay attention. Jesus the Christ was great. I learned alot from it. Ive gone thru the entire mission library already. We had an investigator go to General Conference on Sunday, and that was pretty cool. 
The Autobahn is pretty fast, but not scary at all because everyone is going the same speed- well over 100 mph. The fastest are car goes is 200km, which is only 124mph, and we get passed by porshes, BMWs and Audis all the time. Its awesome.  
Baptisims are hard to come by, but this cycle has its potentials. We´ll see. Okay, hope you didnt get too much snow. Im kinda in a rush writing cuz we got here kinda late, so love ya tchüß!

March 28, 2011

Helloooljagsf
So, transfers were good. I have a new goal for my mission- get rid of everything I have. We slept over at ERfurt to catch the train at 7:17 to Frankfurt. When we got there, we saw alot of our friends, so that was awesome. At like 11 or something Elder Hofbauer and I headed out to Wetzlar. He´s way awesome. AND WE HAVE A CAR. Its way sweet. Im killing him this cycle.(when a missionary goes home, they say they are killing him off) He´s my uncle which means he was trained by Elder Stradling´s trainer. Our ward is a pretty nice size. Its about the same as yours. The schedual is a little weird tho, we have Priesthood 1st, Sunday School 2nd, and Sacrament last. I got to introduce my self. I guess it was okay. Elder Hofbauer said it was good, so Ill take his word for it. Do you know how awesome it is to drive on the Autobahn? Its about the same as it is back home lol. Except where the average speed everyone is driving at home is like 75mph, its about 120mph here(about 190km I think). Its pretty fast, but way awesome. Our ward members are cool. Its nice to finally see people at a meeting, and apperantly everyone wasnt there. The area is way nice. Theres at least 2 castles you can see from the road, and others around the area. We have DDM in Friedrichsdorf, and the building is right next to the temple, so thats way sweet. I get to babysit again this week, but its not for as long. He was actually my companions Golden, so he knows the area pretty well. The German here is way different from the DDR. I can actually understand people haha. And its alot faster, but thats prolly because everyone Ive heard speak has been a tad older than me. My companion. is like 25, and everyone else is also older. But its still way awesome. And because the weather here has been awesome, we´ve been playing alot of soccer. Apperantly Im a lefty player (which I hear is rare), so you can tell Bro. Shelly when I come back Ill be way good. Its just awesome. Im having a blast. We turned clocks forward yesterday. And Im not sure yet whats goin on about General Conference. We might be going to a members house to watch it, or to Friedrichsdorf with the other missionaries, im not sure. 
So people are finally getting Eagles? Thats pretty intense. You schould tell Trav to get a DS and HeartGold or SoulSilver (thats just what I would do) and then he can give it to me when I come home. Yeah, we dont get much world news, but we do have our ways of finding out things. I new about japan, but not about libya. Its a good thing Im over here lol. But yeah, thats about it. If anything else comes up Ill let you know. Zo-Ko is next week in Offenbach, so Ill prolly get your package there. OH. Elder Hofbauer showed me a store where they have Root Beer and Mt. Dew, so I'm way very excited about that.  But yeah, I think thats it. Have a nice week! Tscüß!

March 21,2011

Hellooo 

So I have not too much to write and not too much time cuz we got into Erfurt kinda late. Oh, by the way, this is my last PDAY in the DDR- Im going to Wetzlar, which is above Frankfurt aways. Its a HUGE area, so I´ll prolly have a car. And I already kinda know my new comp. His name is Elder Hoffbauer. He´s from Austria, but he speaks perfect English, so Im still okay haha. On Friday I had a split with my buddy Elder Sorensen in Gotha, whos being transfered to Saarbrücken, which is right on the French border. Elder Anderson is TRAINING. THATS CRAZY. But yeah, our split was pretty sweet, except it took forever to get back to Weimar cuz something was going on in Erfurt. But we got to Weimar after an hour or so. But yeah, I leave for Frankfurt Wednesday morning. Im excited.  Something crazy always happens on splits. Something WAY crazy happened to me and Elder Sorensen, but I dont wanna talk about it. Maybe Ill tell you later. As for Travis's Eagle Project, Bro. Henriksen is awesome, its good that you were able to find away around the glitch. And the whole transformer thing sounds crazy. I wish I was there to see it (and everyone freak out). Can you tell Chad to stop wearing my leather jacket? I give an inch, he takes my jacket. Yeah, my weights about the same- like 130 or something. Budgeting is going good, I think. I still have munee. I mostly just buy food and transportation. I can pull money out for my license in like 2 months- I need to get certified by the mission first. 

K, I think thats about it for now. I'll let you know on monday how everything went with transfers and stuff. Thanks for the package! K, tschüß!

March 14, 2011

Helloo.. 

So it is monday again. Not much to write about this week. Transfer calls are on Sat/Sun, so if you can, get on my facebook & tell people not to write me this week. I cant get on it .  Weather has been awesome. Today is prolly in the 60s, and its been like that for almost 2 weeks. I just finished Jesus the Christ on Sat, so Im proud of that. It was really intense. I also just started Alma auf Deutsch, and I can read & understand everything quite well. I had a split on Tues to Weds. with Elder Johnson. I went to Nordhausen (FINALLY) and it was pretty sweet. I had Nordhausen Pizza, which is supposedly the best pizza in Germany. So far, their right. And this week I have a split with Elder Sorensen in Gotha. That is gunna be pretty sweet.  Oh, and I showed our family picture you sent me to one of the families that we eat lunch with. They liked it lol. And they happened to notice that I had another picture of a certain "you-know-who" in my wallet, so they wanted to see that too. They said "she" is "sehr hübsch" (you can look that up). Translation: Gorgeous. On Thursday we had an awesome day. We had 3 lessons on the street & gave out 2 Books of Mormon. Sadly, we didnt set up any times to meet. I hope to be getting transfered out west. Its not usual for a missionary to stay in their Golden city for more than 3 cycles. Yeah, thats ´bout it. OH. I want to add to the Blockbuster death list (games I want when it closes). All of the following are for Xbox: "Fable 3"; "Civilazation"; "Two Worlds 2"; "L.A. Noire"; "Fallout: New Vegas"; "Knights of the Old Republic 2"; and "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim". If you already have any of these or BB doesnt have them, its okay. Theyre just on the list. Its not very important right now. Maybe for my birthday...lol. KIDDING. Um, yeah, I think thats all I got.  Has Chad dodged any mailtrucks yet? How fast do you think that Trav can get done with his Eagle Scout Project? He´s got 2 weeks haha. And its sweet that the greenie was able to get a lesson in! I havnt actually myself taught a lesson yet, but Ive been in some. I think it would so much easier if I could just speak German. BUT, I have been noticing that when people talk to us on the streets and theyre being jerks, ways to talk to them pop in my head. Good ways, not bad ones haha. OKay, I think thats about it. Im gunna go play a sport now. Have a nice week! Tschüß!

March 8, 2011

Well hello there, 

You wrote so much, Im not sure I can address everything, but I will try. Um, yeah, Fashings was okay. Nothing really happened. The Assistant President split was good. Im not sure why they wanted to split with us, besides that one of the APs goes home at the end of the cycle, so they´re prolly looking for a replacement for leadership.  Matt LaFrance is District Leader right now. I get an email from him pretty often. Um, yeah. So after the AP split we had our split with Elders Sorensen and Krebs. Elder Krebs is from Switzerland, and like I said, speaks no english. So, naturally, I had to speak German the whole day. And it was not a problem. If anything it seemed kinda easy. But thats prolly cuz Id been praying for help the whole week before. But yeah. It was fun. Nothing overly exciting this week. Carnival Monday (yesterday) was also fine. We just wern't allowed in the city center, but that wasn't a problem. 

So the Herfurths dropped us, so we´re down to 0 investigators. But theres like 3 lessons tomorrow that I won't be there for because Im gunna be on a split in Nordhausen from the end of today till Thursday. That'll be fun. Next week is most likley my last week in Weimar. Im prolly going west, but I don't know where. Um, yeah thats about it. I got your picture in the mail! Now the members can stop nagging me for one, LOL. Yeah, I think it'll be easier to send the package to the mission home. Um, I'm not sure if our new Mission President speaks english. He prolly does a little, so thats okay. How easily did Matt translate my letter? Yeah, my journals will be interesting to read in 2 years. So I started budgeting my money, I think. Its gunna take a while to get use to it, but I have like an emergancy wallet that I'm using to store all my money in. Does Travis want to go foreign language speaking now?

 Im not quite sure what to write...

 7 days without a PDAY is kinda hard, so today has been long awaited. We were supposed to "take the Elders to Eisenach" (movie referance) today, but I dont think that'll happen today. Theres a legit castle in Eisenach, so thats why we were gunna go. Its called the Wartburg if you wanna look it up. K, I think that's everything. If I forgot something I'll write it or make a note or something. Oh, and yes I got the letters from everyone (thats why I wrote back to them, lol). They were very nice. K, ima go now. Tschüß!

February 28, 2011

hellooo,

Sorry its tough back home :( Im glad to hear its getting better tho. I am adjusting to my companion. We´re getting along pretty well. Today is soo nice out. Everyone is still bundled up except us. It prolly around 60. We have 2 potential investigators- this older guy and his wife. We brought them a BOM and they´re really interested in our religion. They intended on reading AND praying about it. The older guy (their name is Herfurth) actually gave the closing prayer and asked if it was true on the spot! The rest of the day kinda stunk. I was soo physically and mentally tired. Today is a long awaited PDAY. I dont like talking to people because I still cant really talk yet lol. Im working on it. I contacted 4 cute girls last week- all at the same time. They talked for a bit, but didnt really have interest, so we gave them pass along cards. We had Zone Confrence on Thursday in Nürnberg. That was pretty good. I saw foxes & owls on the trainride down. I had a split w/ Elder Anderson on Friday into Saturday.That was awesome. This week I have 2 splits: One on Wednesday in Thurdsday with the Assistants to President and another on Friday into Saturday w/ Elder Krebs from Switzerland. He cant speak English, so I need a miricle. We found out on Thur. who our new Mission President is. I dont remember his name, but he´s actually from Nürnberg. He starts in July. Yeah, so remember that Elder Liebelt you told me about? He comes in in April or May.Thats all I know. This week is an event called Fashings. Basically on Wednesday, girls go around and cut peoples ties off and give them a kiss. Im gunna wear all my ugly ties lol. And next Monday is Carnival, and we´re not allowed to go out because its NUTS so PDAY will be on Tuesday next week. But yeah, alot of contacting this week. Thats about all I can think of. More usually happens in my days, but I can never remember to write it down. We´ll have to go threw my journals when I get back. Okay, I think thats it for now. Hope everyone has a nice week! K tschüß!

OH, can you send me a family picture? Ward members are starting to ask...lol. It can either be by mail or email. Just askin. K Thanks