Great Scott!

The future has finally arrived, come this last week, and here is what happened out in Sigen during that time:

Monday was P-day, which involved the usual shopping, emails, and then the not so usual driving to Dortmund to do bowling with other missionaries in the zone, and starting a split with my district leader back in Siegen.  Tuesday we drove back to Dortmund for district meeting, and on the way I realized the card we had to pay for gas was missing.  That put a bit of a panic on the day because we were starting to run low on gas.  Despite the odds though, we were able to make it to Dortmund safely, and then drive out to visit our American investigators and teach them about tithing.  At the end of the day we had an apartment inspection from the missionary senior couple in our zone, and right after that the card for the gas was found in a pocket of a jacket my companion owned.  

October 21, 2015 at 7:28 am my district leader and I celebrated the arrival of Marty Mcfly by making a video using all the materials we had in connection to "Back to the Future."  We then drove to Dortmund again to end our split, and then Elder Sollis and I helped a less active member buy groceries.  Right as we were done with that, I managed to get a picture of me, my companion, and a toy DeLorean at 16:28, which, for California, was 7:28.  We also visited the African shop that evening.

Thursday we went to a tire place to pick up winter tires for the old car we had, but they didn´t have them in yet.  We also did some looking for trying to find options for a weekly service project in the community.  Friday we had a good experience talking to someone on the street and sharing the Gospel, although nobody we talked to accepted more than a pass along card.  We also helped out the less active member some more by doing dishes and picking up medicine for him.  Saturday was transfer calls, where we learned that Elder Sollis and I will continue to work together in Siegen, and then we did planning for the next week and helped out a lady in our ward transport groceries for her so she wouldn´t have to carry them all on a bus.  At the end of the day we had a brief visit with a member.  Finally, on Sunday, we had our American investigators come to church, and the last session of General Conference was shown.  After Church, we went out with a member to visit a less active family in the branch, and then we had dinner with the member we were with.

The future looks bright!

Bowling with the zone

The "Future" is here

Cars, Toys, and Baptismal Dates

It was a busy week in Siegen!  It all started on Monday, where I finally caved in and submitted to the power of the Force and bought cereal with a Star Wars Episode VII toy.  The rest of the P-Day was spent actually not really having a P-Day, but rather, cleaning a dirty, dusty shed at a member´s house for six hours.  After that we did emails, and then went to bed.  Tuesday we traveled to Dortmund for district meeting, and afterwards went out to eat at a nice Italian restaurant for lunch.  Upon returning from Dortmund, we got a call from a member asking us if we could pick up some groceries for her.  We did that and then she asked us if we could pick up a TV she bought online from someone in the city, so we did that as well.  That basically consisted all of Tuesday.

Wednesday we went to a less active member´s house who is confined to his home, and picked up a shopping list from him.  We ended up having to go to three different grocery stores for this member (he used to be a chef) and then rushing over to an appointment with our American investigators because the shopping took longer than we thought it would.  The appointment afterwards went well however.  Thursday was unique because we drove from Siegen all the way to Frankfurt, to trade in our car we had with a newer one.  That trip involved seeing the first snowfall of the season, and struggling to find a parking spot in the busy streets of Frankfurt.  It lasted all day.

Friday we had our usual weekly planning, and afterwards going back to the less active member´s house and doing his dishes.  We also were able to visit the African shop and got into a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit and living as Christ would.  Saturday we went to the member we helped on Monday and spent a little bit of time at the self reliance program he put on (the whole reason for us cleaning on P-Day in the first place) and switching out the new car with the senior missionary couple's car.  We also went out to get some shoes for an investigator to help him get to Church, and visited a less active family with a member.  Finally, on Sunday we had our American investigators show up to church, and we invited them to baptism for the end of the year, which they accepted!  We also were able to visit a member after church and help out in writing an email in English.

In summary, there was a lot of service this week, and also setting two baptismal dates!

Giving in to the Force

His reward

[Mom note:  His little brother, Hyrum, noticed the temple in this picture first]

Beatlemania!‏

Another week in Germany means more adventures!  It all started on Monday, otherwise known as P-Day.  After shopping and emails, my companion and I went to go visit a "Schloss"  in Siegen and see the sights.  Being a Monday, the day when everything is closed, we were not able to go into the Schloss or the museum there, but we got to walk the grounds a bit and found a memorial relating to events in WWII about allied soldiers that discovered art hidden by the Nazis, stuff relating to "The Monuments Men."  From there, we walked into a shopping complex and found that the place had been decked out with showcases containing things that belonged to the Beatles!  They had guitars, drums, outfits, the works, and it was fun to check out.  We also caught up on the last General Conference session that day.

Tuesday  we traveled to meet a potential investigator we met earlier in the African shop the week before.  When we arrived at the address, we were a little lost because we couldn´t find where the man lived, but thankfully we found him when he walked out of his apartment, and we were able to meet.  We also visited the African shop and taught our investigator about the Sabbath and tithing.  Wednesday, in the morning we teamed up with a member and helped an older member pick apples from trees, and then we went out to a hospital to give a blessing to a member who got into a bike crash.  Later that day we visited the member we teamed up with to say happy birthday.  Thursday we traveled to Dortmund for a zone training meeting, and also interviews with our mission president.  All went well, and then we traveled out to meet with our American investigators and teach about keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Friday was weekly planning, and then we met with our acting branch president and senior missionary to help clean an apartment for a less active member.  That took some time, and in the evening we went out to eat with the missionary senior couple.  Saturday, early in the morning, we ran to the hospital to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to the member in the hospital.  We wanted one to share with somebody he was rooming with there in the hospital.  After that, we got a phone call from from our American investigators asking if we could come visit them, so we did.  Strange enough, one of them wandered off before we got there, so our time was spent trying to find this investigator, but sadly it didn´t happen.  Later that evening we worked on preparing materials for an upcoming baptismal date for our investigator with a baptisimal date.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and I got to conduct sacrament meeting for the first time ever.  We also had our American investigators come to church, which in and of itself was a miracle because they live far away from the church and can only get there by train.  They made it, however, and that´s what counts!

Alles Gute!

Monuments Men

Beatles Guitars

Ultron

My Last General Conference on My Mission‏

The 185 Seminannual General Conference hit, making for 4 General Conferences since entering the MTC. Oh how fast the time has flown by.

The week started with P-Day, which was spent doing emails, playing Monopoly, Ping Pong, and Kicker.  In the evening we tried to meet with a member family, but sadly the husband was sick, so they asked us to come again the next day.  Tuesday we drove to Dortmund for District Meeting, and there my companion got to meet the district since first coming to Siegen.  From that point on, we started a split where I drove back to Siegen with the companion of the District Leader, and together we visited the African shop and the family from the day before.  At the shop, our friend of the Church with a baptisimal date was too busy dealing with customers, but we were able to sit down at the shop and talk a little bit with people there.  We also left with a prayer as we always do there, and then visited the family and talked about Elder Scott´s last General Conference talk, which focused on prayer, scripture study, family home evening, and attending the temple.

The next day we drove back to Dortmund to finish our split, amongst heavy construction on the roads making for driving next to semi-trucks in some uncomfortable tiny lanes.  Upon receiving our normal companions, we split back, and my companion and I went out to visit our American investigators.  We taught about the law of chastity and how if they live it they can prepare for baptism.  One understood what we were saying, but the other did not, so we have some work to do to make sure everyone is on equal grounds there.  Thursday we went to city to continue working on Visa stuff for my companion, and we also had a meal appointment with a member, who at the time of our arrival, was on Skype with a return missionary who served in Siegen at the beginning of the year.

Friday we had our usual weekly planning session, and we visited the African shop again.  This time we were able to talk a little with the lady with a baptisimal date, and we also got to know some other people as well and passed out multiple copies of the Book of Mormon and invited everyone to General Conference.  From there, we teamed up with the senior missionary couple and visited a family in the branch and talked about the temple and General Conference.  Saturday was the the National day of German Unity, which meant everything was closed down and nobody was outside.  We visited a less active member and helped him out with a few cleaning tasks, and then we went to the Church to set up General Conference.  That consisted of setting up a projector and a sound System, which I had a lot of fun setting up.  My companion and I were the only people present for the first session of Conference.

On Sunday members showed up for one session of General Conference, but for the majority of the time, it was really only us, the Elders, and maybe one or two other members.  The talks given in conference were really good though, and it was great to see three new Apostles of the Lord called!  For me, Conference was an uplifting time and I know that the words spoken were spoken by prophets, seers, and revelators.

It´s hard to believe the next time General Conference rolls around, I will be home!

Aaron setting up for Conference