Schon Wieder? (Again?)

I wish I could be home with you all! This might be the the first time that I have felt actually a bit homesick. Yeah, I have always missed home, but this time I would do anything to be with yall for a couple hours! But yeah, like you said, last one!  I cant wait to see you all face to face soon!

I can't wait to come home and make my relationship better with all the kids. As I have been gone, I have realized that I took WAY too much for granted. Sure it will not be the same when I get home, but it is never too late to start being the person that I wish I could've been.

Time flies. That is all I have to say. The end of the transfer is already here. This Saturday, we'll be listening to the transfer calls again. 

A few main points for this week:

- Got sick

- Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner activity in the ward

- Cold

- Wet

- Two new potential investigators in one day

- Helped people

- New Christmas video

- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go

On Thursday, I ate something; Which, for whatever reason, did not agree with me. I ate it that morning, puked after lunch, and later while we were on our way to an appointment, and while on the train at about 3pm. Ha ha ha ha so yeah. That was not fun at all. We turned around to go home and we cancelled our appointment.  It was accompanied by a pounding headache; So, I pretty much took it easy for a chunk of the day and tried to sleep it off. It helped. I didn't feel queasy anymore, just a bad headache. It was not that enjoyable.

The next day, I was feeling just fine! We did weekly planning and then we had an appointment with our investigator which fell out. We later had out Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner with the men of the ward. We were able to get a ward member to pick up one of our investigators named Alfred. It was good to have him there! He is lonely and was able to talk with people. The ward members were super great! They made him feel super welcome. The food was good and the spiritual thought was also good. It was a great time!

Sunday, we helped our ward mission leader teach the Sunday school lesson. We introduced and shared the new Christmas video that the Church put out just barely. It is really cool!  You should go check it out. It's called, "A Savior is Born." We were able to help get the members excited for Christmas and for sharing the Christmas Spirit with other people. We then had an appointment with a member after church. Lets just say that German food is amazing! I love it here. I cannot really describe what it was but pretty much it was home made Spätzle (a type of noodle) with some good sauce and meat to go along with it. It was simply delicious. We then went to check on some people. One of which was Alfred. We were able to talk with him and to cheer him up a bit. We read with him and taught him how to pray. It was good! I love that man. He's a great person. 

That was the highlights of the week! I am super excited for Christmas here. The Christmas Markets are starting to open up. We are going to a city called Mainz today to check out the Christmas Market there. Hopefully this rain will give out soon.

Love y'all! Have a great one!

Elder Grow

 Photo 1: Getting the apartment festive

 Photo 2: Using a jig-saw to cut turkey?

Getting Cold!

Backpack Update - He never got his backpack back.

This week was pretty good.  We got a new investigator this last Wednesday.  We met with him in a little playground place at night. That is where I got a Quran.  We met him a week prior and I asked him if he had one in English.  I then asked if I could have one.  That is how I got it ha ha ha!  We found this awkward stone thing that we were able to sit on and talk.  I sat on the ground so that we could be in more of a circle.  We had a good lesson with him though.  He’s Muslim and is open to other religions.  He said, "Wherever the truth is, I will follow it."  He had some pretty tough questions.  We were able to answer them pretty well though.  We had a week or so to study his questions before the appointment.  We are meeting with him again this week. I am curious to see where this goes. 

Last Monday, we went up to Mainz to go and hang out with the Elders and Sisters there. There is also a senior couple who is serving in Mainz.  They are way cool.  We all kinda just chilled and talked and played games. Sister Jerarrd made some cookies for us all.  It was pretty fun.  We then had an appointment at a member's place.  It went pretty well.  We then had some extra time and we did not really know what to do.  We already made a plan for afterwards but we weren't really feelin' it.  We decided to pray and ask what we were to do.  We sat on our bikes for a bit and then we decided to go by on an investigator who we have not seen in a while. We went by on Alfred.  We get there and he lets us in.  It was not going so well with him.  We just talked with him and just listened to him.  It was good that we went by.  He said he was thankful for the visit.  He is just lonely and wants someone to take care of.  He just wants to serve people but does not seem to know how. Our visit really helped out a bit.  We then hurried home because it was freezing cold and late.

Tuesday evening was really cool!  There was a conference that was being held in a city called Offenback and it was being broadcasted across Europe.  Elder M. Russel Ballard was there.  It was cool!  There were also a ton of missionaries there from other parts of our mission.  It was nice to see some old faces!  Elder Ballard is a funny guy though.  He said at one point, "When you die, you’re going to the spirit world and you will be put to work to do missionary work.  If you can't get out of it by dying, you might as well learn to do it and enjoy it while you're living."  I thought that was a pretty good one.  We also got a potential investigator yesterday named Blessing.  We will see where that goes.

 Elder Ballard

On Friday, after weekly planning, we met with Dominik and Petra, our two main investigators as of right now. We had Bruder (Brother) Kempener, our Ward Mission Leader, come with us. It went really good!  We read together with them in the Book of Mormon for a little bit.  It went well!  We then went to the church to teach a lesson to a young man who’s going to be turning 12 in the next couple of months.  It was a priesthood prep class.  There were other classes/activities going on in other rooms for different age groups of youth.  Afterwards we all ate some spaghetti for dinner.

Saturday, we had an appointment with a part-member family. The trains were super bad that day so it took forever to get there.  Once we got there, the family’s 14-year-old son is at the train stop waiting for us so he could show us how to get to his place.  As we’re going, we walk by a random basketball hoop. We shoot a couple shots with him as it rained. It was pretty fun. I was running over to the ball and I forgot that I was not wearing normal shoes, so I grabbed the ball and tried to pivot on my left foot.  I slipped in the mud and nearly did the splits but ended up on my back.  I couldn't help but laugh at myself.  We had a great lesson about eternal families.  We’re hoping to work with them more.  The husband believes in it all; he just like his beer. But yeah, like I said, we’re hoping to work with them more. We then got a ride from the husband to the next city that we planned on going to. We went by an investigator who we have had a hard time getting in contact with. The trains were still all messed up so it was hard to go anywhere. We finally get to his house and he was not home. We hit some doors in the area.  We were able to get a potential investigator.  As we were leaving, we were able to talk with someone and give out a Book of Mormon.  It took forever to get home, but we made it!

So yeah, these were the highlights for the week.  I hope you all had a good one! Bis Später! (See you Later!)

Elder Grow

 

 Huge Dog. The lady is about 5ft

 Pre-Backpack Loss with Zone Leader

Train Rides and Lost Bags

This week flew by. It was ridiculous! We are working really hard here and have even made a new story to tell! I will get to that later.

Last Monday, we barely had much time again but we had a little fun.  We were going to go to the Frankenstein Castle but that did not work out.  We will go and do that another time. We were able to pick up our bikes that day.  We then rode around Darmstadt that evening just to explored for about 30 minutes. We were hoping to meet with our two investigators at a member's place for family home evening but they couldn't make it.  We ended up staying with the Kempener family for family home evening.  We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy.  I find it important to make the Sabbath day fun with them.  It is really one of the only days that the entire family can hang out together.  I liked how we would always play games with each other at home.  That was usually pretty fun.

Tuesday, I learned that chicken heart and lungs taste like beans.  We had a member appointment.  The wife is from Malaysia.  There was a lot of good food.  There was also a bowl of chicken parts that got boiled and made a natural broth thing.  The body of the chicken was cut in half, so you could see the heart, liver and lungs and stuff.  But yeah, like I said, it tasted like beans. The meat fell right off the drum sticks and it was super yummy.

Friday, I went on a split with a Zone Leader. We stayed here in Langen.  We did some go bys and some dooring but could not get a hold of anyone.  Later that evening, we have an appointment at the bishop's house.  We rode our bikes through a long stretch of farm but it was too dark to really see anything in detail.  We had a great lesson and ate some great food.  Towards the end of our visit, his wife asks if we were taking a train back home.  We said yes.  She then informed us that it comes in 15 minutes and if we miss that one, the next comes in an hour.  We hurried out of there and we peddled to the metal.  We finally got there to find out that our train was going to be a little late.  It started to drizzle a little so I took off my jacket and stuffed it in my bag.  I wasn’t wearing the waterproof shell so I didn’t want the inner lining, I was wearing, to get too wet.  When the train arrives we jump on with our bikes and strap them down.  We put our bags on the overhead rack.  While we sit there and start talking, an Italian guy starts to talk with us.  He couldn’t speak German that well and his English was ok.  We talked with him until we got to Darmstadt to switch trains.  We grab our bikes, get off, and jump on the train right across from us.  We then look at each other and something seemed a little different. "OH SHOOT! OUR BAGS!" We run to the door and it was already locked.  The other train is just sitting there.  It's doors lock.  We then watch the other train as it rides side by side with our train.  We contact the ticket checker that was next to us and he was able to call the ticket checker on the other train.  We’re told that we will have to wait until tomorrow to get our bags because the train is going to finish its route and then overnight at the end stop.  The end stop is a 45-50 minutes ride from where we got off.  I happened to take off my jacket and stuff it into my bag with my GPS, iPad, and Book of Mormon. Nothing really that bad, except for the iPad. Elder White had his entire life in his bag.  Elder White had his wallet, ticket, camera, his Residence Permit, iPad and €100.  Even though it was a pretty garbage situation, I couldn't help but laugh at what just happened.  It was just so unbelievable that I was just laughing at us.  When we get home, we called our comps and they just laughed at us.

Saturday morning, we get up and walk to the Langen Train Station.  Well, it is more of a stop than a station.  It’s super tiny here even though it’s between two huge cities.  Anyway, we walk there and go by a bakery for breakfast.  I bought a loaf of raisin bread the size of my head for €2.  Not bad.  We then get on the train, go to Darmstadt, then to Aschafenburg, the end stop.  The train pulls up and Elder White is trying to buy a ticket so he can ride up there.  I’m holding the door open and a ticket lady walks up to me.  She’s looking at me all funny.  She then looks at my name tag and then back up at me.  I say, "I am just a missionary. I don't work for the trains."  People mistake us a lot for train workers and Jehovah's Witnesses.  She then asks, "Did you lose a bag with a Jacket, iPad and a book last night?" I replied "Thanks you!" with a chuckle.   She says, "Come with me please."  We followed her.  She then hands me my bag back.  She then told me, "Yeah, I stepped out of the train and I saw you standing there.  You had a haircut that matched the picture in your Passport.  I also noticed that you were the only person here without a jacket so I thought its gotta be him'.  I then read your name tag and it matched the name tag on the jacket."  The only thing missing was my GPS.  Luckily my jacket was in the bag because, if it wasn't, then my iPad would've been gone also.  I would have to pay to replace that.  Too bad, she didn’t have Elder White's bag.  We then bought a ticket to get to and back from the end stop from here.  We had to go to the end and see if the info desk had it.  We didn’t have enough money to buy a ticket, but she still printed one off anyways.  She then held onto it until we were able to pull money out of an ATM and pay her for it.  We get to the end stop but they didn’t have it.  We still had 30 minutes until the train left to go back so we explored the city.  It was super pretty!  It was really German.  We were able to see a tower from a castle but did not have time to get closer.  I took a couple photos along the way.  We then finally got home and split back.

 Elder Kayl Grow and Elder White who lost his backpack.

(Picture while on Splits)

Sunday, we got a new Ward Mission Leader, Bruder Kempener.  Right after, he got set apart to it, he started requesting things that he would need.  Then he called me and Elder Murray over for a little bit so we could start talking about how we’re going to get missionary work going.  It is so cool!  I am super pumped to work with him!  I never had a good Ward Mission Leader before.  He is getting ready to hit the ground running and it will be great.  We then met with him at his place later that night.

That was pretty much the week! Pretty exciting, that's for sure. I hope you have a good one! Love you guys!

Love Ya,

Elder Grow

Transferred to a New Area

This week was pretty good! Last Pday was not great because we simply has a lot of things to do so that we could get the week ready. We had to take in our bikes for repair which we just got this morning. I am super excited to lose a little weight. Christmas is going to destroy me. I am working on not snacking on things that we have sitting around the house. We also did a lot of cleaning and stuff. Kinda sucked but I am glad it is mostly out of the way.

I can't really remember too much of this last week. It went by pretty quick. We had about 5 or 6 appointments fall out, but we still were able to work a lot and speak with a lot of people. We spoke with one Lady on the street and we asked if she believes that God helps her. She said no and went on about this whole thing about how her faith is getting weaker and weaker. She said that she tries to do good but bad just keeps coming back around. She does not believe that God is there for her. She believes that she is hopeless. We talked to her for a good while but she would not even try. She said that she has tried everything and it does not work. It was really sad. I don't really know what to do for people like that. We talked about it for a bit afterwards, but I guess it comes down to agency. 

This Saturday, we got enlisted to sing for Stake Conference in Offenbach. Oh man. You know me, I am no singer. Yeah I sing the songs in church and stuff, but I would never ever take place in a Choir. We had some practice that evening at 4:30 and then we sung that night at 6. It actually turned out pretty well. Most of the missionaries from the Zone were there to compensate. There was a talk given by a Lady from Colorado and she talked about how she was at Jerusalem and she was on a hill taking in the scenery. She then heard someone singing in Arabic. As she waited, she saw the man walk by on the path on the hill singing as his sheep followed him. There were a lot of sheep and they all followed him in a single file line as he walked. She then talked about how that was so different from the lifestyle back at home where there were Cowboys and rodeos. She then compared the Savior is more of a Shepherd than a Cowboy. He will not man handle us like a cowboy does with his cows or bulls. He leads us with his voice and we follow. We are not forced to obey. I thought that was a pretty interesting analogy.

Sunday, we had Stake conference again. It was in Darmstadt. It too was really good! On our way back, we are at Darmstadt train station and there was a man sitting on the stairs. I thought nothing of it because people sit on the stairs all the time. I then heard him saying repetitiously, "Hey, can someone help me?" I talked to him and asked what he needed help with. He told me he needed to get to the Frankfurt Train Station. I immediately realized that he was mentally handicapped. I told him that we were in the right place for the train to Frankfurt. He asked if we could help him get on the train. I said sure. He tried to stand up, from the steps, but it was kinda hard for him. I offered my hand out to assist in pulling him up. He took it and stood up and held on to my hand until we found a bench. We talked with him for a bit. He was a super nice man. As you know, one of my few soft spots is reserved for handicapped people. I really enjoyed helping him out. While we were waiting for the train, two Italian people start asking us for help with their tickets and about train stuff. They could not speak much German or any English. Language barriers are always fun. We tried to help them find the right train platform. I told our handicapped friend that we would be back real soon and that he should wait for us. We are running back and forth reading machines and Travel Plans trying to help these people. Eventually we were able to help them out. We then went back to go and find our buddy. We found him walking around asking the same question as before. I run up to him and we tell him we are back. We help him on the train and we start riding home with him. Our stop was one stop before his. We tell him we are leaving and that his stop is the next one. He tells us to stay because he needed some help. We decide to stay and see the job through. We got to Frankfurt and we went to the next information box with him. He held my hand the entire time at Frankfurt. It was kinda weird bit it was reassuring to know that he was handicapped and that his sight was not so great. We found out where his train was and we noticed we had about 6 minutes until it left. We still had a distance to walk. In the mean while, our train back home left two minutes after his. We told him that we needed to hurry to catch his train. Elder Murray walked ahead to make sure he found the right platform and I kept walking with the man. We got him on the train and we told him that it will take him to where he needs to go and that there are more people to help him on this train. We then sprinted back to our train. As we were running up to it, we realized that the entire platform was empty. That meant that the train was already loaded and that it could be leaving soon. We made it luckily and we rode home. 

Frankfurt Train Station

 

So that was the week. Today we were going to go to the Frankenstein Castle but we just realized that we kinda ran out of time for right now. We will try again another time. I do not really know what we will do today. Hopefully something fun. I love you guys! Have a great week!

Photo: Me at Darmstadt Train Station. Yeah I kinda got my hair cut a little shorter than normal.