Mission Conference

This week was an unusual one, but it certainly had some great highlights!

To start off with, for Pday we got together with Elders in the area of Hamm and explored an abandoned factory.  There was a lot of interesting grafiti to see, and it was interesting to see how the building has been treated over the years.  Oh, the things missionaries do for Pday!

Unfortunately, all of our previously planned appointments fell out during the week, so we didn´t get too much teaching done.  We were able to meet with a member multiple days to help him prepare to receive the priesthood, which is exciting!  On September 11 we spent the entire day doing service for a member who is in another area, but works in our area.  We helped him move furniture for a place where he hopes one day firesides will be held, and then helped him clean out trash out of a woman´s apartment.  This member was grateful for our help, especially when it was short notice for us, and he even gave us a referral!  We also helped out with a street display in Unna, which was fun.

The big moment of the week though was the mission conference.  Elder Ballard, Hallstrom, and Teixeira.  Elder Teixeira talked about how his family was found by the missionaries, and about finding people.  Elder Hallstrom talked about how missionary work is increasing, and Elder Ballard talked about the importance of internalizing the doctrine and being yourself and having a positive attitude.  It was a really cool experience to have, and it was also fun to have the entire mission gathered in one place and talk amongst each other.

Out of all of the things said, I think the point about being yourself hit me the most.  It really is important to know who you are, and that makes you all the more unique.

Until next week!

Kissed By A Homeless Man

This week I learned that I will be staying in Paderborn, with my current companion, but that was probably one of the less exciting things that happened this week.

For Pday we went to Dortmund and did some shopping.  We ended up going to the soccer stadium there, where the the Dortmund BVB team plays (this team seems to be a favorite, out of all of the German soccer teams).  That was cool to see, even if we did kind of just wander into it not knowing if we had permission to go in there or not.

We got our bikes repaired this week, which needless to say, makes our bike rides a lot better now, and the bikes run much smoother, which is a great feeling.  Our brakes actually work now!

The most exciting thing though, was our new investigator.  Our homeless friend I believe I mentioned earlier in another email became a new investigator for us when we found a triple combination scripture for him (Book of Mormon, D&C, Pearl of Great Price).  We shared a short lesson, in which I shared a scripture.  After I shared it, he kissed me on the cheek, which needless to say was awkward for my companion and I.  This guy is a very happy man, and has funny ways of showing it.  We committed him to come to church, and the next day he did!  He participated in all three hours of church, and even sort of shared his testimony during the testimony meeting!  It was exciting to get someone to church, and for him to have a good time.

This week will be fun, a whole new transfer, let you all know how it goes next week!

Aaron at the Stadium

A Good Week

This past week was pretty good, missionary work wise!  We were able to get into contact with a few people we had been trying to for a while and had another good zone meeting.

Finding this week, didn´t go exactly as planned (does it ever?)  but we did talk to a guy who was really friendly and open and became a referral for missionaries in another area, and we talked to a Hobo who was incredibly happy to see us.  He had had experiences in the past with missionaries.  It was cool.

Outside of finding, we tried to contact a less active member, but he wasn´t around, but later in the day he actually called us.  He is a super busy guy (he is a doctor) but he was very happy to talk with us and we will be able to meet with him sometime later this month.  We also met with a former investigator, who was super friendly, and we gained a new investigator.  The new investigator is from Africa, and she will be returning there sometime soon, but we were able to pretty much give her the lesson of the Restoration and introduce her to the Book of Mormon.  It has hard, because she was having a hard time accepting anything outside of the Bible, and this other German guy who started to listen in on our conversation had to go all Catholic on us, but she did take the copy of the Book of Mormon and was open to meet again.  Hopefully we can move forward with this experience!

This week certainly had it´s hard aspects, but at the end of the day, it was all pretty positive.  I know that trying to do your best with this work, you will receive help in your efforts from the other side, which is a blessing!

[Aaron was at a place where he couldn't upload pictures this week. -Aaron's Mom]

Mission Tour and Member Finding

I finally got to visit my first castle!

For Pday we went to to the Schloss Neuhaus castle, which was about a 20 minute bike ride away from where we live.  With school back in season, there were a lot of students hanging around the area.  It feels like we will be seeing a lot more kids out now that school has started.  We even had some come up to us and ask about our name tags.

This week we continued our assignment from the branch and sought out those who were on the member list.  Unfortunately, about 99 percent, it seemed, moved and their telephone numbers didn´t work.  So now with this assignment over, we will be focusing our efforts on finding people!  That is neither mine or my companion's strongest trait, so it will be an interesting time, but I believe we can do it.

The highlight of the week, however, was the mission tour/zone conference we had.  We were visited by Elder Patrick Kearon of the first quorum of the Seventy, and it was a great experience.  He was fun to listen to because of his British accent, and he was actually a convert to the church, so it was interesting to hear about finding from a a guy who was found on the street.  It was definitely a big spiritual and motivational boost, and we all got to shake his hand, which was cool.  It was great!

Aaron at the branch's meeting place

Aaron at the castle

Also at the castle

The Search Begins

This week consisted of going on a split, and a lot of less active finding.

The split was in an area called Unna, and I was with a "Golden" or new missionary.  We attempted to do some finding in the evening, but there was a big soccer game during that time so it was pretty fruitless.  The following day we did service by helping a less active member clean up his backyard from a lot of trash.  It was nice to help out and to get out and do something out of the normal activities you do as a missionary.  Following that experience, some assistants came to the missionary apartment in Unna, and we "renovated" the apartment, which lasted the rest of the day.  Did a lot of painting and cleaning, along with some new furnishings.  

Back in my area we spent most of our time going through the member list and attempting to find less active members.  Most of the time, these people didn´t live in the address provided and their telephone number didn´t work.  This is something the branch has asked us to do however, and it is good to find out who actually is in our area.  Side note, found Elvis while looking for a member.

In the end of the week, we visited a member on Sunday, and on our train ride back to Paderborn, we missed the stop we needed and traveled farther than we intended too.  Let´s just say we might have ended up in the Berlin Mission for a little bit.  I thought it was pretty funny.

As far as member list finding, we still have a lot of work to do, and that will probably be the main focus for us for a while.  This week we do have a mission tour to look forward to, so I will let you know how that was next week!

 Aaron 

 I found Elvis!!

I wonder how we missed our train stop...

Crazy Week

Hello Everyone!

This past week has been hard, but not without small success.  Early in the week we did go bys  [Mom note:  Go bys are when they just visit someone without letting them know before hand]  less active members, and we actually got let in by one member.  We will be working with him, and hopefully reactivate his testimony, which is cool.  We also were doing go bys another time, and no one seemed to actually live where they said they lived (the branch list we had was very outdated).  Things were not looking too hopeful, and the last one we wanted to visit lived kind of far away.  We were not sure it would work out, but we tried, and thankfully this person was actually there and we were able to briefly talk to her (plus the town this member lived in was really pretty).  Later in the week, we got a call from someone we didn't  know, and we were able to find this guy, he has met with missionaries before and seems to have not too much interest and just wanted a visitor, but hey, we got to visit with the guy.  I also was able to meet with the one investigator we have, and long story short, after a journey through the forest and autobahn and arriving to a lake, it was too late to teach her.  We didn't  have a joint teach, so we though we could find a place to sit down outside, but ended up not finding a place.  So we didn't  get to teach her, but we did get to know her better. Hopefully next time things work out better!

Past those adventures, we went through the entire former investigator list and tried to contact all of them through phone, but we had no success.  It was interesting to dig through the area book though, and learn the history of this area, there were some pretty interesting things learned about this place I am at right now.

I was able to get to a computer that can upload pictures this week, so here is a picture of me on a Pday in Paderborn from last week.  Hopefully I can get more pictures of my new area as time progresses in future emails.

Aaron on a Pday

Welcome To Paderborn

Well, I have finally made it to my second area!  The day before transfers, I got to go help out with the new missionaries in Frankfurt, which was fun, and during then, I said goodbye to my trainer, because he was going to be training again.  The next day I took a bus Dortmund, and met my new companion, and then traveled by train to my new area.  It was a bit of a struggle with all the luggage to get around, but I made it.

My new companion, Elder Black, is my first companion from Utah.  He has been in the area for one transfer now, and in a few ways is a little like me.  We are both quiet and have similar interests in TV and movies, so that´s cool, but we have a lot of work to do in my new area.

Paderborn is a beautiful area, and there are a lot of college students here, but the church itself does not have too much of a presence.  There were only about ten people in church, and there are no youth in the branch. As of right now, we only have one investigator, who I still have yet to meet.  We got our work cut out for us in Paderborn, that is for sure!

The bad news of the week is that I currently have no way to send pictures through email, hopefully in the coming weeks, something can be figured out, but until then, no pictures.

Hope you all have a good week, and I will report again next week!