Mother's Day Skype and Letter

Hey guys!  I really enjoyed Skyping with you all yesterday on Mother's Day!  It was a lot of fun! 

You guys are super great and I miss you all a ton.

Here's a short video from Kayl.

As far as last week is concerned, it was pretty good!  We had lots of member appointments come out of nowhere so that was fun!  Last Tuesday, we had an appointment with a member from our ward who lived in Essen.  We were in Herne for a District meeting.  Then, we had to go back to Essen but the Deutscher Bahn (German railway a huge train company) was on strike.  We traveled by bus and street train all the way there.  We had to change trains and buses a lot.  It took us about 3.5 hours to get there. It was way longer than it should have been.  We ended up getting to the Familie Kühn house about 30 minutes early.  Elder Trippe and I found a bench so that we could sit down and prepare something to talk with them about.  As we were doing that, some super crazy wind and rain home out of nowhere! While that is going on, my companion pulls out his umbrella and sat there as the wind occasionally turned it inside-out.  Then, we sat there in the rain.  I having left my umbrella at home because I thought that I wouldn't need it.  I am too lazy to carry the 'extra weight' also.  We only sat in the rain for about 15 minutes before I told Elder Trippe, "I don't think they will mind if we show up to their place 20 minutes early.  Let's go."  We then walk to their place. At this point, I am completely soaked, except for my butt and back of my legs, because I was sitting down.  My hair is matted and water is just dripping off me.  We get there and they gave me a towel to dry my face and my hair.  Luckily, I was completely dry once we left.  My jacket, on the other hand, felt like I just pulled it out of the washer machine and forgot to put it into the dryer.  That felt nice.

A couple days pass and we have an appointment with a less active named Bruder Rech.  He is a super cool guy and we had a lot of fun talking with him.  Our spiritual thought was interesting.  Pretty much, Elder Trippe and I shared what we have been studying and what we have learned in the past week.  We talked about how we have been, are, or going to apply what we learned.  We then had Bruder Rech do the same.  While doing this, we had a really good discussion about tons of different topics.  Later on, he was going to grab a Bible but couldn't find the right one.  He had like 4 different kinds.  I asked him why he had so many, and he said, "That is a good question.  I don't know.  Here, you can have this one."  He drops a little blue book in front of me.  It's a tiny New Testament with the book of Psalms.  He said that he got this while in Military service and he could always get more so he just gave it to me.  I was shocked but he insisted.  I was also really stoked!  I like it a lot.  It is a lot smaller than my other German bible.  I just need to get a mini Old Testament someday.  He also asked us if we wanted anything to drink.  I said sure.  He pulls out a whisky bottle that was on one of his shelves and he pours us some.  He reassured us, "Don't worry, It is peppermint tea.  I cleaned out the bottles and then put tea inside to make it look like it is full.  It looks better than an empty flask on a shelf."  It was really good.  Bruder Rech is a super cool guy!  

We then went to Game Night at the church.  While coming home for the night, some people got on the street train.  The ticket checker (Conductor) came by.  One of the checkers did not even check for this guy's ticket.  The Conductor simply and calmly told him to get off the train and just leave.  The other guy, said no.  Eventually, it gets to the point where the two of them are yelling and the passenger guy gets thrown out.  Then, another guy comes and he stands between the conductor and the first guy, trying to keep the passenger out.  The passenger, being kicked off, keeps yelling and then throws a punch, which was deflected by the passenger helping the conductor.   The passenger keeps yelling to the guy, helping the conductor, to come out and fight.  He doesn't.  The train then keeps moving.  It was cool.  By the way, we find out later that it had nothing to do with a ticket, it was all personal.

The next day we had two member appointments that were fun.  Later that day though, there was a concert going on and there were lots of people on the trains and drunk.  Two guys start to yell at each other and their girlfriends try to make them stop.  They keep yelling and they are right in each other's faces.  No fists flew though.  It just got loud and intense.  I was watching this all happen, just waiting for it to explode.  Somehow it did not.  I think the hung over guy sitting next to me was thankful because he was just closing his eyes and trying to cover his ears.  If there was anything that I learned that day, it's that I never want to get involved with alcohol.  It just riles people up and they don't feel good afterwards.

The next day was Sunday. We went to church and had really good classes and a really good sacrament meeting.  All 4 of the elders and the young men and young women joined the primary in singing the primary song "Love is Spoken Here."  It was pretty good.  After, we went to the family Hübner with the Ziegners for Mother's day.  We drove with one of the Hübner's sons in his really nice Audi.  It was great! I have ridden in it before but Elder Trippe has not.  He took us on the Autobahn.  He went really fast and it was great! I loved it! (140 MPH)

We then made it to the Hübner's.  We ate amazing food and had a great BBQ.  I don't know how or why, but I was starving and I just pounded tons of food.  It was unreal.  I ate several Bratwursts and several more mini Wursts, along with a Steak and a half, a plate of salad, noodles, baked potatoes, and bread. That does not even include the two helpings of dessert and about a liter of drinks.  I was still hungry after all that, but I decided to stop.  It was unreal.  I think the last time I have eaten so much was when I was younger and about to hit a growth spurt.  Maybe I will grow a couple inches taller?  Na.  Tough luck. Then, at about 17:00, 9am back at home,  I Skyped home.  It was super awesome!  I really had an awesome time talking with my family. They are just the greatest people, did you know?  I really love them to pieces.  After that, we thanked the Hübners for the food and the Ziegners for their computers. We, well....I, ate a little more and then headed home.  It was a great week!

I hope everything back at home is going great for you guys and I wish all you a Frohe Mutterstag (Happy Mother's Day)!

Elder Grow

Photo - Brother Ziegners who Feeds us all the time!

Photo - I put on the jacket of an Elder who is double my size. I look like a primary kid.

May 4th, 2015

This week was not really the greatest.  Not many appointments. Just lots of go-bys.

Last Monday was pretty great. It was P-day and we played soccer for about 4 hours in a park. It felt nice to be worn out.  We had the entire District so there were a total of 8 people.  It was a ton of fun and it got intense.  Later that day, we all went back to the Church building nearby and played some games until we all had to leave.  Elder Trippe and I got home later and we were changing into some pajamas for the night.  He tells me that he wants to go and do some laundry so we walk out the door.  Our apartment is on the top floor and we have to go into the basement to get to the washing machines. We walk out and I start to throw the door shut behind me and he yells, "Wait, wait, wait!!!!"  I turn around and try to stop the door but it closes before I could stop it.  Awww Crap....  We left our keys inside the apartment.  It can't get any worse than this right? Wrong. We also left our phone inside.  It was also 8:30 at night and we were in our Pajamas.  We end up going downstairs and knocking on the neighbor's doors.  We start at the bottom and ring one doorbell.  It makes the dog in the apartment next to us start barking.  Two people answer the doors at once.  I didn't know who to talk to so I kept looking back and forth asking if they had the phone number to the landlord.  Luckily, the landlord was in our ward, and now lives about 20-30 minutes away in Essen.  Anyway, we get his number from the one who had it while the other neighbor shuts his door.  We then ask the lady who gave us his number if she had a phone we could use.  She said that she did not have one.  We then knock on the other neighbor's door again and ask if we could use his phone.  He says sure and invites us in.  Elder Trippe calls Bruder Daniilakis and then we wait upstairs for 30 minutes, just chilling there.  He eventually comes and we thank him a ton and apologize.  We go inside and just go to bed.

On Wednesday, we went by a potential investigator named Herr Kowsky.  He was a referral and he asked for a Book of Mormon.  That was about a month ago.  We go by to check up on him and he says, "I was in Utah visiting a friend and something about the Mormons got me super interested.  I was intrigued and I wanted to learn more.  I was only there for 10 days and it left an impression. I already read the Book of Mormon through and I see many similarities to the Bible.  I have a couple questions.  I am Evangelist but I am ready to convert once I get these answers.  I also plan on coming to church this Sunday so we can just talk right after Church."  Elder Trippe and I were just like Whoa!, Ok then. This guy seems super promising.  We give him the church address and the time it starts and we tell him we will see him Sunday.

Saturday comes along and we did some garden work at Bishop's house.  We trimmed hedges and uprooted vines with huge thorns and weeded out their garden plot.  It was pretty fun.  It was a lot better than all the moving projects that we have been doing the past two months or so.  Bishop then buys a ton of pizza and I am just pounding it.  I ended up eating about a pizza and a half because I didn't have a good breakfast.  I then remembered that we had an eating appointment in 2 hours.  What have I done?  I thought to myself.  We then end up going to the appointment and we ate tons of food.  The Strohmire family is super great.  They just make way too much food and then expect us to be like the missionaries in the past and eat it all.  I was dying.  We eventually come home for the night.

Sunday came along and Herr Kowsky did not show up sadly :(   We had great Sunday meetings and then went to the Ziegner family for lunch/dinner.  It was super great.

So that was just about the week.  All the other day's were just go-bys to Less Actives or Potentials.  This last week though I have read a lot in the Book of Mormon.  I really love this book.  It is super cool!  If you find reading church stuff boring, I don't blame you.  It sure has its moments, but just wait until you get to Alma.  That is when it really starts to get great!  Everything before is great also, but the Book of Alma gets really exciting when you read about the wars.  I learned a lot in all those chapters.  I also learned that when you read the Book of Mormon with a goal or with a purpose, you learn a ton more.  I really love it and my testimony about it has grown a ton since I went into the MTC and until now.  I know it is the word of God.  It has changed my life and the life of millions of others and it can change yours if you let it.  Only good will come from it.  If you have not yet read it, try it.  Experiment on its words.  Read Alma Chapter 32. This is a cool parable about comparing the Word of God to a seed and planting this seed in your heart.  It is awesome!

You guys are all super!  I love you all and I can't wait to Skype home this week!

Here is a photo of my Humble Shower for those of you who wanted to know what that is.  The toilet broke last week.  It's starting to leak.

Elder Grow