Elder Grow: 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.