Foo Foo Party!

Hey!

 

So, this last week was pretty much amazing.  We started the week out well by finding some great people, we had a zone conference on Thursday, and throughout the week we had some miracles!

 

The Zone Conference pretty much changed my world.  I decided to kick everything up a notch.  I had worked super hard to get where I am, and then I thought to myself, that I want to reach higher.  I set my bar up another couple notches, and I continue to climb.  I decided I am not going to settle for anything less than what I can be!  That is valid for everyone on Earth.  If you push yourself as hard as you can, you can achieve so much!

 

Also, the other day we were walking to go visit an inactive member.  We were just kind of going down the street, trying to find out where this person lived.  Somehow I made a wrong turn, which set us back some time.  We turned back around and headed back the correct direction.  All the sudden I heard behind me, a man.  He asked us if we were the Mormons.  Naturally, I answered in the affirmative.  He then began to explain that he is a member--baptised and all!  He had fallen away from the church and began drinking, smoking, and drinking coffee.  He didn't want anything to do with the church.  Now, at least a year after the previous contact with missionaries, he searched us out and told us that he is doing super well!  He says he quit drinking, quit drinking coffee, and quit smoking.  All because he knows the church is true and wants to feel of the Spirit again.  He wants to come back to church, and he is happy to be back.  He said he repented and wants to move forward.  What a miracle!  I could not believe it!  I have never lived such a happy experience.  I felt exactly like the father whose son came back.  I wanted to kill the best calf we had and hold a feast.  I can't wait to see him at church.

 

On Saturday, we had an appointment with one of our investigators.  He decided that he wanted to make us some Foo Foo!  It is a traditional Ghanian dish, and he said he loves to make it for the missionaries.  Elder Hess had the chance to eat it for the first time!  It was super delicious.  The pictures are of the Foo Foo itself, and of me eating it!

 

That was our week!  It was great!  I can't wait for another great week!  I miss you all and hope you have a great week! 

 

Also, by way of announcement (haha):  If you send me a package, make sure to send it to the mission home in Berlin--NOT to me at the apartment.  Packages take longer, and sometimes require going through customs.  If you send them to the office, then the office can take care of all the customs problems, and eventually forward the package to me.  Letters can still be sent to the apartment, no worries there.

 

Enjoy Yourself!

 

Elder Blaine Frogget

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Weeks Gone By

Why Hello!

So the weeks keep on travelling by quickly!  I don't know how that is for all of you all in the non-full-time missionary world.

So, my companion and I are working hard and getting things done.  The last week we only had a couple of appointments go through, but we are working hard to find more people with whom we can meet!  It is amazing what you can accomplish when you work for it!  There really wasn't anything too exciting that happened during the last week.  I feel like I am reliving my life of about a year ago when I was a Golden missionary.  However, now that I am training a Golden, I see everything from a different light!  It's a cool experience, but requires a TON of effort!  The job of teaching someone German in 3 months is alone a big task!

I can't think of any single event or two from the last couple weeks that was really cool, but just know that the weather is warming up and so are the people!  It won't be long before "the time of darkness" (What I like to call the winter time here in Germany where it's dark at 4 o' clock and the sun comes up at 11am) is over!  That will mean that people will be happier about the weather!  Including the missionaries.  I am excited for that, and excited for the coming summer.  It has been a while when I could simply wear a short sleeved shirt outside!  it will be fun!

Here attached is a picture of me near the Elbe River again.  Everytime we pass somewhere cool by the Elbe River I just want to take a picture!  Haha

With My Love,
Elder Blaine Frogget

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Golden Week!

Well Hello!

 

I can't believe I am a trainer!  This is crazy!  I get to go around with an American trying to speak to a bunch of Germans in broken German!  Wahoo! haha.  Actually, it's bad.  It is quite a new experience though.

 

On Tuesday I spent hours in trains going to Berlin, and stayed the night there.  It was a good travel, and luckily one of my old companions, Elder Staheli, came with me.  Since we were both training, we decided it would be fun to travel together.  After staying the night, we woke up and headed over to our trainer training.  That didn't last too long, and then we were introduced to the Goldens!  I didn't know who my golden was going to be right away like I had expected.  It was crazy!  They finally read off the name of Elder Hess as being my new Golden to serve with me in Hamburg-Altona!  What an awesome experience.  Right after the names were read, I ran up to the front and gave him a huge hug (practically tackling him).

 

Later, we had to wait in the big Berlin Train Station for about an hour before our trains came.  We hung out there, and then took off to go to Hamburg.  Another 4 hours of trains with a ton of luggage.  We traveled a lot with Elder Staheli and Elder Zondler (Elder Staheli's golden) because we were going the same general direction.  They even came all the way to Hamburg with us where we went and got Döners!  Now, for all of those who don't know what a Döner is:  it is a turkan invention, invented in Berlin, and it is pretty similar to perhaps... a burrito.  Except that it is put in a sort of bread thing.  We went there and Elder Hess had his first Döner!

 

The week has been great since then.  Just a lot of work, and learning.  That's what it is all about!  I am hoping for another great week this week!  Wish me good luck! 

 

Sincerely,

Elder Blaine Frogget

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Training!

Wow!

 

This transfer I am training!  I may be getting a guy fresh out of the United States!  It is crazy!

 

More information to come next week!  All you need to know is that I am staying in Altona (Hamburg)!

 

My Address continues to be the following:

 

Elder Blaine Frogget

Osdorfer Landstrasse 17

22607 Hamburg

Germany

 

 

Until Next week!

 

Elder Blaine Frogget

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Last Week of the Transfer

Why Hello!

 

So, it is once again the last week of the transfer.  That means that we get transfer calls on Saturday and I get to see whether I stay here in Altona, or if I leave.  It is really weird that the time is going by so fast.  It seems like I just barely arrived here in Altona.  I hope I stay here in this area! 

 

The last couple weeks have been interesting.  We have been sick on and off.  We cleaned some crazy mold out of the apartment.  We found some new people.  It has been fun.  It's also exciting that we finally have snow on the ground!  Plus, it is cold enough to stay on the ground!  That's one of the best things.

 

There haven't been too many super exciting things lately.  Just the normal missionary work!  I have decided to set some new goals with my language learning.  I have come to a comfortable place with my German, and, even though I am still learning new words everyday from other people, I decided that during every language study that I have, I will learn 10 new words!  I am hoping that this will bring me to an even higher vocabulary level, and allow me to communicate things even more clearly.

 

I decided to attach a picture of the port here.  This is right by our train station in the Altona side of Hamburg.  Enjoy!

 

Have a great week!  Hold off on the letters this week until I know if I am getting transferred to a new city or not!

 

Yours truly,

Elder Blaine Frogget

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Yep!

Hey!

So, I am feeling pretty sick because I got sick last week (and I am still sick), so I want to make this quick.

Yesterday was awesome.  A lady came to church, and she is now a new investigator.  She was totally excited to learn about the gospel, and even stayed for all 3 hours of meetings.  After that, there was a baptism of a little girl in the ward, and the lady stayed for that too!  She even asked if the baptismal font had warm water.  It was so cool.  I have high hopes for her!

I also wanted to attach a photo of me and the Elbe River in the background. 

Have a great week!

Elder Blaine Frogget

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Super Speed!

Just like normal.

The week went by fast!  In the past it seemed like the time was slow, but fast.  This week was simply fast.  I am just doing the work, and not really thinking about what time it is, what year it is, or what month it is.  It is fun!  I enjoy being in the city I am in, and I enjoy my companion.  It's just a great time.

I don't know how to explain this week other than that.  The time just passed us by.  We were able to talk to some new people and make out appointments.  It was great.  My companion speaks fluent Spanish.  Sometimes I try to speak spanish with him to learn some things. 

The work goes on, and I have the opportunity to take a part of it.  I am so blessed to be here!  I'll even show you a picture of our church building here in Altona.  It's amazing!  Sorry the color is weird, I took the picture at night, and it was super dark.

Sincerely,
Elder Frogget

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Happy New Year!

Wow!!

I cannot believe that we have entered the year 2012!  That is amazing!  This year is going to be great.  I can just feel it.  Don't you worry about anything.  This is your new beginning.  Give people a reason to say that they enjoyed 2012.  First thing I learned this year:  You can make somebody incredibly happy by the things you say to them.  Don't judge people, don't decide whether or not they deserve to be treated nicely--just be nice!  It's the little things that you do everyday that can bring you closer to God.  It doesn't have to be something big.

For our new years we didn't do anything special.  We had to go in to our apartment early (at 6 o'clock) because of all the drunk people and fireworks.  We played a game called dominion with the Elders in our apartment.  It was fun.  We went to bed on time (10:30) and I got woken up at midnight because of all the crazy fireworks!  Fireworks are 100% legal here in Germany, so they launch TONS of them off at midnight.  It was crazy.  I have never heard so many fireworks at one time before.

I hope you are ready to make some goals for your new year!  Have fun, and enjoy yourself!  

Stay True!

Elder Blaine Frogget

P.S.  Here is a picture of my new companion, a cool statue, and the aftermath of what happens on New Years.  

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Hey!

Hey All!

Just a quick e-mail.  I had a great Christmas!  I wish I had taken more pictures, but I guess I didn't.  I took a lot of pictures, but they weren't with my camera.  So, I have a few pictures for you.  One is a picture of Osdorf-Hamburg at night with the HSV stadium in the background.  One is a picture of me and one of the Elders in my apartment at the Train Station in Hamburg, and one is a picture of my old companion, Elder Staheli, in front of the Christmas tree at a member family's house.

Thanks for everything!

Have a wonderful new year!  Work hard, set some goals, and stay positive!

Sincerely,
The German Frog ;)

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Merry Christmas Week!

Hey!!

So this week is the week before Christmas, eh?  I hope you are all enjoying the season.  Sometimes this time of year brings stress, but I know you can try to put that away--at least for this coming week!

I missed writing last week, and so I have a couple weeks to catch up on!  First I want to tell a story from last week!

I love it here in Altona.  There's no other place I would rather be right now.  I want to stay here for the rest of the mission. That would be fun. We mostly have African investigators.  The Germans usually refuse to meet with us.  We have one German investigator, but he's more interested in simply talking about what he does and what he believes than learning about the Gospel.  He doesn't think it's worth his time to read in the Book of Mormon, so he doesn't do it.  You would be surprised how many Africans are here!  It's fun sometimes!  We have some pretty solid African investigators.  One of them wants to be baptised in April.  He's totally serious about it and everything.  One just needs to get married then he can get baptised, some of them are new.  The other day we went by a contact of ours (who is African) and we asked her if she had some time.  Earlier, we gave her a Joy to the World DVD.  She let us in, and she was watching the DVD already!  At that exact moment that we decided to go over, she was watching it.  Super awesome!

 

Another cool story.  We have a Chinese Investigator (who can speak German!).  My companion and I were headed over to an appointment and there were a couple ladies on the street.  My companion talked to one of them, I went and talked to the Chinese lady.  She agreed to meet with us, and during our first visit she told us she had been lonely lately and was excited to get to meet people in the church.  In our second appointment she told us the whole story.  She said she had been so lonely, so she called up one of her old professors and said she was unhappy in Germany, but she still likes it better than China.  Her professor said she needs to find some friends and she didn't know how.  Her professor then suggested that she get to know the church a little better in Germany.  One day she was feeling particularly upset and wanted to find more friends and still had this thought about the church in her head.  She "randomly" decided to go outside and take a walk.  Something she said she would never do on a normal day, and she didn't know why she did it that day.  We just happened to talk to her that day, and it made her so happy.  She is convinced that this is a crazy coincidence, and we told her that the Lord wants her to visit the church.  She still hasn't come to church, but it was a way cool story.  She told that to us this last week as we met with her.

We have also been having a crazy experience with one person who keeps telling us she wants us go to by.  It all started out with one appointment.  We made out this appointment with a young man, and we went by.  A lady answered the door and said he didn't live there and she doesn't really have interest.  We asked her if she might know where he lives, or if there is somebody she knows who may be interested.  She pointed at the apartment on the other side of the building, and so we went over there.  The lady opened the door, she seemed pretty nice and happy to see us.  She invited us to come over later that day when she had a little more time.  

Upon our return, we rang the bell of the house we visited and somebody opened up the door.  This time, the lady, with whom we talked to first and referred us to this apartment, opened up the door!  We looked around to see if we maybe accidentally rang the wrong apartment.  Sure enough, we were at the correct apartment, but the wrong person answered.  It was a strange experience.  The lady said, "Actually, I don't think that this person has any interest."  She wished us a good day and closed the door.  That was strange.

We returned a week or so later to see what was really up.  We rang, and we heard someone inside yell, "Nobody's Home!"  We took that as a sign that maybe this lady really didn't have any interest and left.  Later that night, we were talking to people on the street, and we found this lady again!  Not the crazy one that switched apartments, but the one who earlier seriously had some interest.  We asked her again what the deal was, and if she still had interest.  She assured us that she really does want us over, so we made out a new appointment and she was excited that we could come over again.  It rarely happens that people are excited to have us over, so we were looking forward to it.

We returned for the appointment that we made, but nobody answered.  It was a super weird thing, and we are not sure what's going on, but I think we are supposed to meet with this lady.  Why else would we make 2 different appointments out, and both times she wanted us to come back over?

Anyway, I am pretty excited for the coming week.  For Christmas we are going over to a member's house for dinner.  Germans celebrate Christmas on the 24th.  They have some interesting traditions that we have been doing.  For example:  the 4 Sundays before Christmas are called advent's.  There are 4 of them, and each of them represent something different.  Hope, Joy, Love, and something else that I forgot.  They have a wreath with 4 candles, and they light one candle each Advent.  By the time it is the 4th advent they have all 4 candles lit (that was yesterday)  Sometimes they have a 5th candle in the middle which represents Jesus Christ.  That Candle gets lit on the 25th.   

Christmas is also celebrated 3 days long.  The 24th is like our Christmas, called Heilig Abend (Holy Evening).  The day where presents are opened, and we spend time with family and stuff.  The 25th is the day of remembering Jesus Christ, and is called the erste Feiertag (first Holiday).  The 26th is also considered a holiday (zweite Feiertag or second holiday), but I'm not sure if there are any traditions attached to it.  It's probably simply a holiday for getting time off work or something.  

Germans also don't get a Christas tree until the 23rd, or at least they don't set up a Christmas tree until the 23rd.  They tend to leave it up longer though, probably until the 7th or January or so.

Well, have a great week!  I miss you all!

Sending my Christas love,

Elder Blaine Frogget

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