Transfer Fun

Hey hey! This week has been pretty fun! So yeah. This transfer i am training again! His name is Elder Monroe and he reminds me so much of Houston Swann! haha

So Elder Garner and i were able to take the same ICE (Bullet train) to Frankfurt! It was a fun 2 hour ride. We caused some problems by putting our luggage in the wrong places. In seats. Above young children with protective mothers. But after a few difficult conversations we made it to Frankfurt! We traveled around, got lost, it sleeted and then we made it to the street display with the other trainers and the Goldens (new missionaries) after that we got back to the Frankfurt church building to have the pairing meeting. Memories flooded back of my first day and meeting sister Carroll there. Seeing my trainer. Falling asleep haha. I was able to see a bunch of people from my group and other friends. Basically everyone who trained this round were people I've met and befriended haha it was really fun.

After i found out i was training Elder Monroe the Goldens left for the hotel and the trainers had a training meeting for trainers. It lasted too long but was a great intro to training. We got back to the Hotel with all the Goldens and the trainers all stayed in the Lobby for a little while and talked. Sister Catherall was there and Sister Williams, Elder Andrewsen, Elder Warner. It was wonderful to be able to talk with old friends. Coming back into the area i was super excited to show my Golden the wold of Germany without spraying him with a firehose of info. I keep asking if he has any questions but he doesn't haha. Honestly he doesn't feel like a new missionary. He seems pretty accustomed to Germany and missionary work and his German is great! Today we went to Burg Linn in Krefeld. It was a cool way to introduce the new missionaries to Germany. It was a lot of stairs and a lot of Photos haha. We got the entire district together and played like little kids haha. Um... i dont know, i don't really feel super different now that im 20 haha Sister Catherall remembered my birthday and brought me a card. That was nice. I haven't heard anything from Ben. I emailed twice but got nothing in return. And yes i put them up still haha. So sister Catherall stayed the night in that apartment with the other sisters after we left and they saw them and thought someone's girlfriend had sent them ahaha i corrected her and said i just had a cool mom haha. Sadly i don't have any photos of the Apartment but i have a few videos from today haha next week the Apartment.

He called me here

This week we went back to the Grind. Finding finding finding. I've spoken to so many people but no one has enough interest to show up to our appointments. I had one Muslim tell me that in Islam they say "one man one word" as in, you must keep your promises. Of course I promised and show up to our appointment but after 45 minutes of standing in the cold, I accepted that he didn't take that saying to heart.

I'm having a hard time with that. Muslims I mean. From what I've read and heard and understood about Mohammad and Islam, they should be really stand up people. In fact I've met a few, only a handful, that I would really call Muslima. But the majority of my interactions from them is cold discrediting of my beliefs, Verfolgung (persecution) and mockery. I'm trying to love these people, as I know the Lord does and because I know there are many "Christians" who act the same. I've met those too haha. In my experience Syrians seem to be the most Muslim of the bunch. I Love Syrians haha Rami was a Syrian. But I digress, I can't help but feel that there is a Cold War happening between Christianity and Islam here in Germany. There is a clear separation. Olive skin and Hijabs usually stand apart from Blonde hair and Crosses. And everyone says that they "respect" and "accept" each other but these words are being used as synonyms for endure and allow. There is little admiration or even understanding between the two. And that makes the work here particularly interesting. We still don't have any investigators. In fact the one man we had been teaching moved to the Oberhausen area so we're at a minus 1. It bugged me that we weren't teaching but then I realized that I'm doing all I can. More than I've ever done so far, and the Lord knows that. He called me here and if I'm not teaching, then I'm sure there's something I need to be learning.

So I'm waiting patiently for that as I labor for my Savior.

I get tired of typing in English haha,

Ach so, da, jetzt fühl ich mich wohl. Ich kann gar nicht mehr auf englisch beten. Haha es fühlt komisch mit dem Herrn auf englisch zu sprechen. Die meisten von meine Gedanken sind auch auf deutsch. Es ist jetzt meine Sprache ahaha ich liebe es so sehr. Ich will ein paar deutscher freunde so dass ich es besser verstehen und benutzen können.

NAJA ich Quatsch nur ein bisschen.

(Oh, well, now I feel good. I can no longer pray in English. Haha it feels funny talking to the Lord in English. Most of my thoughts are also in German. It's now my language ahaha I love it so much. I want a few german friends so I can understand and use it better.
NAJA I nonsense just a bit.)

Today we went to some Roman ruins. It was super fun!!! We played in the Colosseum, saw the bath Hauses and many different clothing styles, we learned about the culture and even got T-shirts. It is amazing to think about how much history there is here. German and then Roman and even older than that. I'm honored to be able to serve among a people with such a rich and far reaching culture. 

 

P Day on the Rhein

Hello hello! This week has been filled with finding and going by on Less actives. We are putting all we have into this and we can't get any one to stick. We have found more potentials, given out more Books of Mormon and talked to more people on the trains and buses than ever before. Like I am really going all out for these people but no one seems to care enough to show up to appointments. It's a fight.

Thankfully my district is fantastic "fabelhaft". And we had a fantastic P-Day today! Plenty of Frisbee plenty of makeshift grills on the Rhein. I'll send the videos and you have the photos schön. :) I love you all!