Before and Afer

Hey!

I had the chance to do a service project in somebody's garden.  I have just enough time to post the pictures of before and after!  You can accomplish a lot in one our!

Week 2, City 5

Hey!

How are you doing?! 

It has been a great week for me!  I do not know if there were any super cool highlights, but I do know that I feel great.  I have had a wonderful week and have been working hard.  My new companion and I in the city of Halle have been seeing lots of success.  It has been a good first couple weeks in the city.  We are convinced that this city is beginning to see the fruits of the beginning of a new time.  A time where the people are ready to hear the gospel and join the ranks of God.  We are excited.

Other than being in a new city, having a new companion, and having 5 baptisms last week, there is nothing new with me.  I am living it up, trying to enjoy the hot sun, and pushing hard to do my best.  Enjoy your week.  Do not let anything bring you down! 

I will talk with you again next week!

P.S.  I would have sent a picture or two, but the computer I am using has no accessible USB ports! 

Phew! Whataweek!

Moin Moin!!!

That will probably be the last time I can say that greeting because I am being transferred!  I am going to a place called Halle!  It lies in Eastern Germany, and I hear it is a good sized university city (200,000 people or so)!  It sounds like a great experience!  I can't wait! 

Sorry to all who expected emails last week.  I just didn't have time to send emails.  I didn't even get to email my mission president!  So, don't feel like you aren't important!

The last week was definitely good!  My companion and I worked so hard!  In our mission we have a standard of getting 20 lessons in a week.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Germany missions, that is a high number!  My companion and I wanted to reach it though.  We worked very very hard.  We did not quite get there, but we had 18!  That is soo close!  If all our appointments had gone through, than we would have achieved the goal (plus more).  It was a busy busy week, and very exciting!

Last weekend we did the coolest thing!  We had a Missionary Weekend in the Stake!  That means that many young men and the missionaries got together and they did a day-long mini-mission.  I got split up from my companion and went out with Calvin all day.  It was soo cool.  He was a stud and really did well!  We ran into a Jehovah's Witness, and he had no problem preaching the gospel to him.  I was super impressed.  Plus!  I got to be with a native speaking German all day.  That was so cool.  It was great!  I loved speaking German the whole day, and really feeling like I knew what I was doing, haha!

Today we are going to have a huge zone Pday activity because so many missionaries in our zone are going home.  It should be cool.  I will be leaving this zone and moving accross the country, so I am glad I get to take part! haha.

Well have a wonderful week!  Can't wait to hear more from you!

--Included are a picture of me and Calvin, and a picture of the beautiful houses on the Elbe River that I will miss so much when I am in Halle--

Building up the Kingdom of God

Hey!

So this last week my companion and I have really been focusing on teaching more people.  I must say, our efforts have been fruitful.  We were able to teach quite a few people.  We have decided to continue with our goals, so that we can keep seeing such great success.  I am really excited!

So, this last week, we had the chance to go to an ex-concentration camp.  Let me tell you, that was quite the experience.  The pictures are the pictures of the concentration camp, and of some of the missionaries that came with.  I had to use the wonderful features of my camera to make it look a little more like it was back in the day.  This particular camp was not an extermination camp.  It was a place where the prisoners were forced to make bricks for building buildings.  I never imagined I would have such an opportunity.  It felt kind of eerie there at the camp.  I want to go back because I didn't get to see everything though. 

My easter went well!  I went to church.  I had a talk too!  I felt like the talk went well.  I got to talk about how we can share our experiences of Easter with our friends and family.  I love Christ, and celebrating the ressurrection.  I am glad that we all will be ressurrected as a gift from Him.  I know that he lives.  2 Nephi 25:26 talks about how we talk of Christ and rejoice of Christ.  Let us do that continually, regardless of who we are!

Can't wait to hear from you all next week!  Have a great week!

Whataweek.

Moin!

So, I must say it has been a crazy week.  It started out pretty good.  I was excited about the things going on.   However, it was followed by an interesting experience.  I want to report on that experience today.  Hopefully others can learn from it as much as I did.

We had just had an excellent appointment.  It seemed like everything was going perfect.  We were in the train heading home after the good appointment when a man began talking with us.  He started out being a pretty normal guy who doesn't like us, but then it escalated to the point where there was obviously a huge opposition there.  I could quite literally feel the presence of the devil.  It was a feeling of hopelessness and darkness.  I could not believe what was going on--all in the presence of our investigator!  The man stayed on the train as we got off despite his threatenings, and we headed to the bus station.  While waiting for the bus, the evil spirit seemed to move into the body of a nearby lady.  She immediately took on a form of negativity.  The people around us definitely noticed the difference in mood as well.  We got on this bus, and the opposition was still there.  I feel like I was stuck in thick fog that blocked all form of proper thinking.  I then felt this small quiet light in my heart, the Spirit.  It told me to get off the bus at a certain bus stop.  The moment I listened to the Spirit and got off the bus, this evil, thick fog and opposition had no more power.  It was a testimony to me that Satan is there to work against us, and when we follow God we can be freed from his chains.  It was a very, very crazy experience, and I hope to not experience it again.  I guess these are the kinds of stories you expect to hear from missionaries though, haha.

Well, needless to say, it ended up being a strange week.  It seems like things are back to normal, and I am working hard!  I am looking forward to a great week and watching General Conference this coming weekend.  I hope you all have a wonderful week, and that blessings are sent your direction.  I know that God lives, and I know he wants the best for each one of us, his children!

Germany is still as great as ever!  I am enjoying it the best I can!

Transfer 4 in Hamburg!

Yo!

So, this last weekend was transfer calls.  Just as expected, I didn't get transferred!  That's pretty regular when being a trainer.  I imagine this will be my last transfer in Hamburg though.  There is, however, still a chance that I stay.  This transfer is a five week transfer.  That means it will probably seem to go by even faster than a normal transfer!  So crazy!  The time is going by so quickly these days.  This weekend we have the switch back of the times.  That means one less hour of sleep, and much more daylight in the evening!  Wow!

The last week was pretty awesome.  We did a lot of finding, and we had quite a bit of success!  We had a couple experiences where we only had a few minutes left to do doors, and so we chose to do a specific set of doors before we finished and we found somebody new!  It's great to see what the Lord blesses us with when we are doing our best! 

I think the weirdest thing is that I will have been in the Hamburg district longer than anyone else who is currently in the district!  I have been here a pretty long time!  Of course, the missionary couple is here longer than I, but that is only because they stay in the same place the whole time!  So they don't count.  It's a big district, too.  There are now going to be 13 missionaries in the district!  So weird!  That is just crazy!  It's bigger than one of the zones! I have a picture of our 12 person district of the last transfer and one of our adventures of last P-day!

Well, life is good, life is great, at least for me, at any rate!

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.

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

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! 

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:

Until Next week!