7/27/2015

This week went by really fast, that is what happens when you have an exchange almost every day. I guess I can tell you a little bit from my area, we are a small branch in northern Germany almost as far north as you can go and still be in Germany. Only about 40 miles from Denmark. The area has a ton of windmills and cabbage, people wise our area is like the basin would be if it was only 1% Mormon. Every Sunday we have about 30 people at church, there are more kids here than in Magdeburg, we have 12 in the primary. our ym/yw we have 4 soon it will be three. 

I find out Saturday who my new comp is, this week I will be in a dritt with some other elders in our district. Elder Paul goes home tomorrow so that is the first elder I kill  and one of the elders in the dritt goes home the next week so he will be the second.

This week went by really fast because I had 4 nights on exchange

Monday was a normal p day then we went on exchange i was with elder Woodside, he is having a hard time in his area, hopefully he will be transferred so he can work good again.

Tuesday we were still on exchange, his comp is really hard working so he needed two nights of a break, 

Wednesday we had districts meeting, the zone leaders came to it and we did our exchange with them there. I stayed in Heide again with Elder Morton, the same one that was in Magdeburg at the start of my mission. We had a really good time together, we worked in a little town for the day the guy we wanted to visit was busy but we got some referrals so that is cool. 

Thursday was all on trains, not a lot happened

Friday we had another exchange, Elder Bankhead came here and we worked in Heide.  He is the elder that will be going home next week that  I will be in a dritt with.  Anyways we did some work and got some appointments so well have to come back to Heide one day next week.

Saturday we exchanged back and Elder Paul packed, there was a ton of thunder and lightning so we couldn't really work so that's OK. I cleaned the apartment. Then it let up a little bit we went to an investigator and she tried to kill us with how much food she had. Then we came home

Sunday we had church and two eating appointments with members, it was a whole lot of fun and went by so fast. Probably one of the funnest Sundays on my mission so far.  After the appointments

we went home and the day was over. that was my week this week.

7/20/2015

Sounds like a crazy week! We don't get robbed or mugged here in Germany (knock on wood) so don't worry about that.

This week was a good week. Things are going really slow, everyone is gone for summer,

Tuesday was a normal day, I wasn't feeling good but didn't want to stay in so we went out and talked to people, then we rode to another town, and went by a few contacts then came home. By now I really didn't feel good so I went to bed.

Wednesday I was sick, really not good I slept a lot and had a fever and stuff. No fun

Thursday we went by on contacts here in Heide 

Friday we did weekly planning then went and elder Paul said good bye to a less active member.

Saturday we had a service project, we died from all the dirt we moved, it was like two cubic meters and we did it with a garden shovel and two buckets 

Sunday was church, it was good but in eventful like this whole week, hopefully next week I'll have more to say

I love you all 

July 13th, 2015

Favorite thing this week was an exchange adventure.

All the missionaries here live in apartments, only rarely is it more than two in it.

I got to meet the new president he is really nice, a lot different than Kosak. 

Monday was a normal pday, not really much to write about.

Tuesday we went to a dorf and went by on a few contacts. Our bikes were in the shop so we had to take the train, we have bought so many train tickets this month

Wednesday we had zone conference, I got to meet the new mission president and his family there. it was really cool.

Thursday i went on  exchange with elder Okeefe, we had a lot of fun in Glückstadt, we went by on contacts and just had a really fun time.

Friday we stayed in Heide and did some work here.

Saturday we did a service project weekly planning, then i started to write my talk for Sunday.

Sunday I had a talk in sacrament, you can make your German sound really good when you copy and paste most of a talk from the gospel priciples book. then we finaly got to have a lesson with a guy we have wanted to meet with and it went so awesome. that lesson was our miricale for the week

 Love you and thanks for the pictures.  What is with the frowning faces?

It is the city of happiness i cant smile there. 

and in the other one i just had to be different

What was the exchange adventure?

looking for a playground

Random Pictues

July 6th, 2015

This week was a good week but not a whole lot exciting is happening here in the moment, having short transfers and needing 7 exchanges is really hard on a program.

 Monday was a normal pday, not a whole lot happened, then we had our family home evening, that went well, 

Tuesday was a kinda hard haha not really, but i did find out what can make me trunky. a 72 chevy pickup truck. there aren't really cars here except for economy sub compact crap cars, so a nice 72 made me think of dad. the only problem was it was blue and white not orange. 

Wednesday we had district meeting and then i went on exchange with an elder, he was in my mtc group so that was a fun exchange. 

then Thursday we exchanged back and went on exchange again with another elder. he was a little crazy about drove me insane, but i managed, riding bikes was able to make him quiet for a minute. 

Friday was bike riding and then weekly planning. ive liked the time on trains because they are the only things that have ac and its been super hot and humid lately

Saturday there was a baptism of a members son so that was super cool then we had more time on trains and went to kiel for district leader training. then we came home. 

Sunday was a normal Sunday, we went to church and then rode to a members house and had dinner. it was a really good time

sorry that there's not a whole lot to tell you about i love you guys.

June 29, 2015

This week went by pretty fast, we didnt have a whole lot to do but we stayed pretty busy.

Monday was a normal p day. we didnt really do anything and it was over before we knew it. we had a really good lesson at our family home evening. it was about eternal life, and went really well.

Tuesday we killed ourselves on our bikes we rode almost a hundred kilometers  to appointments and stuff, by the time we were home we were just dead, there's a reason this area had a car, and its almost impossible without one.

Wednesday we had district meeting and then i went on exchange with elder Gibbs, we spent the whole time going by on contacts but no one was home. 

Thursday was a pretty fast day with us running around a lot to get exchanged back and to the member appointments we had, the members here are really fantastic, so even if the missionary work isnt really all i would hope for, the members are fantastic.

Friday we went to a birthday party of a member because we couldent go on the elders quorum boating trip, but it was a nice time there. 

Saturday was all used up in our service project, i saw a chicken riding a turtle, and then weekly planning.

sunday was a normal sunday, we had an eating appointment after church and then we went working, the weather was perfect until dinner time when it started to rain but thats when we were done so all was well

im hanging in here, my comp and i get along really well hes just ready to die, but thats to be expected. i love you guys and i pray for you always

June 22nd, 2015

this week went by really fast it was the last week of the transfer and they always are fast, i will be staying in heide to kill elder paul. he goes home in five weeks, so he is a little excited.

monday was a normal p day i fixed the bike for him because i knew how to do it, so all those times of tearing bikes apart and getting yelled at by dad finnaly payed off. then i went to pinneberg for an exchange with elder woodside. that was my monday

Tuesday i was with elder woodside all daywe didnt have much exciting happen, we did a ton of doors, not much fun but sometimes you have to. then we went by on some contacts. then had american breakfast for dinner missed our train to exchange back so just decided to do that at district meeting so we went to sleep.

Wednesday we exchanged back for district meeting then i went on exchange with elder Peacock. we went back to heide and did some work in the rain, that was fun but not verry productive.

thursday we exchanged back and then elder paul went home teaching with a man in the branch but the lady we went to visit wasnt home, then we went on our bikes to another little town and did some doors

friday we did more bike riding and more contacting we were both really burned out from our tausch marathon. they take a lot out of you.

Saturday we had our service project that took most of our day then we did our weekly planning.

 sunday was cool we had a family from utah here in our branch visiting an exchange student. i got to translate for them. that was super hard

that was pretty much my week

June 15th 2015

This week was an exchange marathon, 

Monday was a chill p day then we went on exchange with Glükstadt

Tuesday we went for a bike ride 16 km one way to a lesson and back,
she was worried for us that we didn't have a car any more. We had a
good lesson with her about the atonement, and then went home and went
to neumunster for the night, it was fun all four of the elders in the
apartment had served in Magdeburg so we had a lot of fun talking about
that

Wednesday I stayed in the apartment all day because elder weaver is
recovering from bronchitis so I was babysitting as the other two went
to Hamburg. When they got back we went to go exchange with Pinneberg
and I got to spend more time with elder Gibbs.

Thursday our service project fell out so we went contacting at the
beach, and visited some less actives in the town there, that was a 40
km day and destroyed elder Gibbs

Friday we went to district meeting and then we came home and did our
weekly planning, I can't believe it's already the last week of the
transfer,

Saturday we did a service project then we got minor food poisoning and
the rain made it terrible to ride bikes, and my comp almost throwing
up made us decide to stay in,

Sunday was awesome, their making me sing bass in the choir so that's
fun, then we rode out to a member family and that was a long ways but
it was fun. Not a super exciting week,

Answers to questions -  (I asked him what advice he would give to the kids getting ready to leave right now, If he was finding his mission hard and Why I was not getting pictures)

1 don't worry about the language too much in the MTC it will be
different when you get to the country, but still try your best. If
your not having fun your not doing it right, it's not all about fun
but we share a message of happiness so be happy. And just pray a ton,
exercise your faith, and study all that you can.

2 it is incredibly hard there's just two things that I have been able

to do. One is hope for a better brighter tomorrow and the other is
look for the blessing or lesson from today, today's test is tomorrow's
testimony

3 I have my camera I just haven't had time or opportunities for pics,
I'll try harder this next transfer

I love you guys

June 8th, 2015

Its going really well, so i didn't say much about my companion because i haven't had any time with him. we are always on exchange because we had to fit a ton into this short transfer.  But he is really cool. He finishes next transfer and is a little trunky.  The area is really small as far as population goes, but big as far as area, it really sucks not having a car because it means 40km bike rides and no money because we have to buy train tickets. the people here are really nice, there is defiantly a difference between east and west. the weather here is really nice for the summer, it doesn't really get above 25 degrees but the humidity kills, it rains almost every day, and since we are so close to the coast the storms just come from nowhere.  This week was a good week. really busy and the transfer is almost over so that is crazy

Monday we just had a chill p day. not really a whole lot to do here that's within distance to do it. so we just chill and then go to a family home evening at a members house and that is normally how our p days go.

Tuesday we both felt sick so we didn't really get a lot done. it was a lot of being inside it rained a lot and i read a lot. 

Wednesday we went to hamburg for zone conference, that was a lot of fun it was presidents last one so that is kinda sad, there was a lot of good stuff there, and then we left our car there and rode the train home. and that was the whole day.

Thursday we were going to go for a bike ride but then found out that my companions bike was not working so we took it to go get fixed and then we just did some street contacting around Heide.

Friday we had district meeting and then we went on exchange with the zone leaders. I went to Keil with elder Blake and we had a really good time. i got to do a join teach with sister Davis so that was cool and we also played soccer with some investigators.

Saturday i got to see the ocean and the we went back to Heide. did our weekly planning on the train. 

Sunday was church and then we went to a members house 20 km away for an eating appointment, then we came home and went to bed. that was pretty much my week.

June 1 , 2015

This week was fun and went by super fast, a lot of traveling and exchanges.

Monday night we had an exchange with the Elmshorn elders, I was with
elder Rhode who was in Sent from my iPad

Tuesday I spent the whole day in Elmshorn. It involved a lot of bike
riding ( that I'll have to get used to but that comes later) we didn't
have any appointments so we went by on a lot of contacts. Some went
really well like a guy who wasn't the person we were looking for but
gladly took a Book of Mormon. Then we went to the train station to
exchange back.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Glükstadt. Then on the way home
we stopped in brunsbüttel to visit a less active but he wasn't home so
we went home and I got ready to go on another exchange with the
Glükstadt elders. While we were waiting we asked president if we could
have some extra kilometers to go to Hamburg on Friday for
interviews,We missed the train because their train was late and ours
early, so we got into itzahoe late but president said we could have
extra kilometers because we will be loosing the car next week. I
almost cried.

Thursday we went around talking to people, I had a really good time
with elder Schmaltz we didn't have any appointments but we walked
around a ton and got back in contact with some of their old
investigators so that was cool.

Friday we went to Hamburg for interviews with president, I already had
mine last transfer but elder Paul needed his so we went. Then we came
back and did weekly planning, and that was the day

Saturday we went to neumunster for stake conference that was really
good, then we went home and that took up pretty much the whole day but
it was super good, they talked a lot about council, and gave a lot of
really good ideas and insights.

Sunday we went to Kiel for stake conference, I got to see my first
cruise ship, those things are so huge, the conference was super, it
was on being thankful and how we use our time, then we came home and
had an eating appointment with a family, that was so cool. It's a
single mom with seven kids and she is just so amazing her kids are
awesome too and all super cute, we had them all draw their favorite
scripture hero and tell us why that's their favorite it was cool