Former Investigators

Once again, time flew by this week.  Starting off with P-day, we took it easy again, and in the evening my companion and I set out to find a former investigator, but sadly he had "no time" to meet.  Tuesday came around and for lunch we were going to put good use out of our new oven and make a Shepard´s pie, but right as we started cooking, the power in our apartment went out.  A few hours later the power was restored, and we were able to continue with our lunch.  For the rest of the day we went out to find some former investigators and ended up helping the other companionship in Schweinfurt.

Wednesday we had a district meeting in the morning, and following that the zone leaders from Nürnberg drove up for a split.  I stayed in Schweinfurt, and together with the zone leader, we helped out the other Schweinfurt Elders and did some more finding former investigators, only this time the weather was really hot and humid.  The next day we took a long train ride to Nürnberg to end our split, and while there I saw some other Elders I knew from early on in my mission.  I got to talk with them a little bit before we traveled back to Schweinfurt and had a dinner appointment with a member family.

Friday was once again finding former investigators and planning for the next week.  Saturday we also tried working with former investigators, and we had our usual game night in the evening with youth in the ward.  Sunday was church, and in the evening we visited an investigator.  He surprised us this time at the start by saying it was time for a prayer, which has never happened before, so someone is picking up on something!

I guess you could say a lot of the week was spent out and about seeking out former investigators.  There is still a lot of work to do there, but we had a start this week, which was good, because we have a ton of former investigators listed in our area book, and everybody deserves a second chance.

Ultron helping Aaron take a "selfie"

We Got an Oven!

This week again was full of dealing with district leader responsibilities, but before all that, let´s go back to the beginning of the week.  Pday we took it easy and then in the evening my companion and I had a dinner appointment with a family in our ward, which was really nice.  Tuesday, we had a district meeting and then a split with the other Schweinfurt Elders.  What was interesting was we did a role play in the district meeting of talking to people on the streets, and I pretended to be someone I met earlier in Schweinfurt who says he was a wizard.  Later that day on the split, my companion and the Elder he was with actually ran into the guy in the streets.  On my side of the split, we tried talking to people by the river, but for the majority it was all couples who were more interested in each other rather than some Mormon missionaries.  After that attempt of talking to people, we tried out a restaurant that the Elder I was with really wanted to go to.

Wednesday, we split back and tried some more finding but not much came of it.  Thursday, when we were going through our area book looking at former investigators to see who we could try to make contact with, the other Elders called asking for help.  The rest of the day was spent helping them out.  Friday we did some service with our Bishop for someone he knew, and then soon after, the other Elders called us requesting help again, 30 minutes before they had to do something.  My companion and I had to rush across the city to get to them, but we made it.  Later that night, we met with our Landlords again, this time with our Bishop, and it went pretty well.  After the visit, the Landlords told us they had a new oven for us, so our Bishop helped install it.  I guess I should say we have been going a few weeks with a broken oven, so it was exciting to get a working one again.

Saturday we planned for the next week and had our usual game night, where we made makeshift Apples to Apples cards because we could not find the game in German.  Sunday we had a nice time in Church, and in the evening we tried to visit some people we know.

Until next week!

Our new oven

The Life of a District Leader

It has been quite the week for my companion and I.  Being a District Leader sometimes means helping out others in the district, and there has been a lot of that going on.

After a P-day of shopping, emails, and miniature golf, my companion and I went out to try to get into contact with some investigators before they left for vacation, and we were successful.  The next day we had district meeting, and a split with the other Schweinfurt companionship.  During the split, we were able to visit some investigators, and we were able to share a message about believing and knowing.  I know I felt the Spirit at the end of the lesson, and I am pretty sure the investigators felt it as well.  That was a good experience.  I then ended up having an hour and a half long phone call with the woman who has had alien contact.  We´re still working on trying to do a church tour with her.

The next day we split back, but not too long after that the other Schweinfurt Elders called asking for some help.  So we ended up going to their apartment and baking snickerdoodle cookies with them. They then later delivered the cookies to a part member family in the ward.

The following day I went on another split; this time with an Elder in Würzburg.  There we shortly visited an investigator, and attended institute, which was put on by the senior couple in our district. The next day we did some service for a member in the Würzburg ward.  When we split back we went out to eat together at the Schnitzel place in Schweinfurt that gives a lot of food.  Then Saturday my companion and I got another phone call from the Schweinfurt Elders, requesting help.  They had been going through a lot of stress, so later in the day we allowed them some time to cool down and ate dinner together.  Sunday we had the Stake President visit our ward, President Schwartz, who was the Mission President when I first came to Germany.  It was fun to see him again, and have a little bit of interaction with him.  The rest of the day was spent planning for the next week, because we didn´t get a chance to do it earlier in the week.

Every day is an adventure in the mission field!

Lots of food is good

Hot 4th of July

The weather was nice and hot this last week in Germany, but at least
that didn't stop good things from happening.  It felt like every day
of the week my companion and I had something scheduled or needed to
do, which made for a good week.

Early in the week on Monday, my companion and I went to the city to
get my companion registered in Schweinfurt and what not.  Tuesday was
interesting because on that day we had an appointment with the woman
who believes in aliens,  that I had met earlier during a street display.  She
really is a nice lady with a lot of interesting ideas and events from
her past, at one point she told us that she was on the Ed Sullivan
show, and a bunch of other stuff relating to that time period.  As of
right now we are looking to set up a tour of the church with her and
see how that goes.  Wednesday my companion and I were able to meet
with an investigator, and we helped out the other Schweinfurt Elders
with a few of their teaching appointments.  Thursday we travelled to
Nürnberg for zone training, which took up the whole day, and on Friday
we were able to meet with our landlords again.

On the Fourth of July we went to Würzburg for a ward grill.  That
lasted all day because we got there early to set up and we helped
clean up.  There was a bouncy house for the kids there, a good
barbecue but no one wanted to be outside because the weather was so
hot.  Still, it was fun to have the entire district together on the
Fourth and celebrate a little, even if the majority of people
attending were German.  Sunday was just as hot, and we visited the
Bishop after church, and in the night there was an impressive
lightning storm.

The adventure continues next week!

Schweinfurt Elders

Bouncy house in the church