Time Flies When Having Fun

The week flew by out here in Schweinfurt!  It started on Pday with my companion and I visited a park with animals.  For the first time in Schweinfurt, I actually saw a pig.

The following day we had district meeting, followed by a split where I went to Würzburg again.  While there I got to see the Residence, a really cool building, surrounded by a beautiful garden area. Ultron was there as well.

Through the course of the week my companion and I had some cool experiences.  The week before we had met a man in a park and got his telephone number, but for whatever reason the number didn´t work.  We prayed we could find the guy again so we could give him a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic and set out to find him where we first met him  for a few days, and eventually we ran into him when he was riding his bike, and we were able to give him the Book of Mormon.  We also were able to visit a less active member, who is actually our landlord, and set up times to meet with the entire family to share the missionary lessons to introduce the Gospel to the family members who are not members.

All four Schweinfurt Elders also teamed up with a member and his son to help out in a move on Saturday.  We helped a less active member move from one apartment to another, and we were able to do it rather fast, and it was a lot of fun.

This upcoming week is a zone conference in my first area, Offenbach.  I´m excited to go back there, and we should be receiving iPads then, so things are looking pretty good for this next week!

Aaron at the Residence

Ulton checking out the statues 

Summer Weather

This week in Germany we were hit with really hot weather, which makes working outside not a lot of fun, but at least summer is here!

Early in the week, I had the chance to go to the city of Würzburg for a split.  The Elder I worked with and I met an American and prepared for a street display later in the week during our time together.  We also had a little fun with Ultron.  Interesting enough, during the split my companion ran into the woman I met weeks earlier during a street display, who claimed to have contact with aliens from the 4th dimension.  She told my companion that she had met Steven Spielberg in the past, which I found pretty cool when I heard about it!

Thursday was once again a holiday, but this time we found more success.  We decided to visit people we had met earlier.  We were able to clear up some questions about the Book of Mormon, and as to who we were as Mormon missionaries.  The rest of the day was spent walking under the hot sun by a river contacting.

During the week, my companion and I were also able to visit a part member family that lives far away from the city of Schweinfurt, which makes it hard for the missionary to visit them as much as we would like to. They seemed happy to have us over, and we got to learn more about their son who is serving a mission currently.

To end the week, we had another split with the other Schweinfurt Elders, and we went to Würzburg for a street display.  I had an interesting time during the street display.  The whole time I was trying to fill in contact information on the material at the display because it wasn´t done earlier, yet I was able to share multiple copies of the Book of Mormon with people.  They just kind of walked up and seemed interested.  It´s really cool when that sort of thing happens.  Sunday we had visitors at church, yet no priesthood leadership was there because of the vacation time, so someone from the stake came to run the meetings.

It was a fun week, looking back.  Missionary work can be tough often times, but it can also be awesome!

Ultron calling the Elders to repentance.

Ultron wants you to go to Sunday School

A Little Bit Of History

My companion and I had a pretty good week for the final week of May.  We saw a lot of stuff happen!

Monday was a holiday, so we changed our Pday to Tuesday.  For the holiday we tried to talk with people on the streets, but because of the holiday, not many people were out, and it rained.  For what was something like an hour my companion and I were trapped under a bridge with two other people who couldn´t really speak English or German.  The reason for being trapped was because my companion forgot his umbrella, and didn´t want to get soaked in the rain.  Even if there was a language barrier, we did try to communicate with the other people under the bridge.

Tuesday was a quiet Pday, and some knocking on doors in the evening.  Wednesday was district meeting, and afterwards I drove to Nürnberg to start a split with zone leaders.  Returning to Schweinfurt, the zone leader and I met with a family we met earlier through knocking on doors, and we were able to share a copy of the Book of Mormon and invite them to read it and pray about it.  Towards the end of the week, my companion and I drove to a member´s house that lived far away.  There we learned about his family history, and things about WWI and WWII.  It was really cool to meet with this older member, and hear his stories, some of the stuff he was saying was incredible to hear, and then he had pictures and articles as well documenting the story of his family.  After that really cool appointment, we returned the car to the senior couple in Würzburg, that we were borrowing the car from.

Saturday we had our first cleaning check in Schweinfurt, and then later ran into the senior couple that came down for the check when we were out trying to talk to people.  They were out seeing the sights.  Sunday was quiet, especially because it is vacation time in Germany, so a lot of members were not at church.

So that was the week!  I would say it was a good time, and a lot of good things got done.

Aaron's District

Guess Who Got A Car

It was the beginning of a new transfer, and new things happened in the Schweinfurt District.

After an uneventful Pday, I had a short split with the Elder in Schweinfurt who would be moving to a new area.  The other Elders had planned some stuff at the same time, so we did a split so they could do everything they planned.  That meant I got to go to a member appointment for dinner.

The next day we had a district meeting in Würzburg, and after that, my companion and I traveled with the senior couple in the district to pick up their car.  Of course, the senior couple wanted to show off the town they were living in and due to heavy traffic, the whole experience of picking up the car lasted much longer than planned, but it didn´t harm anything.  So I got to pick up the senior couple´s car and drive it from Würzburg to Schweinfurt, and part of that trip was on the Autobahn.  I can say I have driven on the Autobahn now!

The next day was full of finding and helping out the other Elders getting ready for transfers.  That meant transporting them around to their many appointments, and getting in on another dinner appointment.  My companion and I were able to share a Book of Mormon with someone we met on the street during the day, so that was cool.  Thursday we welcomed the Elder coming into Schweinfurt, and did a lot of walking around for trying to find people.

Friday my companion and I were able to use the car to visit a less active member who lives a bit far out, and it was nice to have the car to do that.  Saturday we joined up with the other Schweinfurt Elders, and did chalk art on the street, and in the evening we did our usual game night in the church.  Sunday was the day before a holiday, so there were a few visitors at church (members from other regions of Germany who were traveling), and after church we had a meal appointment with the Bishop, and senior couple missionaries who were visiting from Nürnberg.  We got to learn a little more about East Germany back in the day the wall was still up.  It was cool to learn about.

That was the week!  As always, I will update the status of my mission next week.  Until then!

Aaron with a car

Aaron with the Schweinfurt wall

More chalk art

Elder Down!

Quite the uneventful week for me out here in Germany, but that is kind of ok, because my companion was sick for the majority of the week.

After P-day my companion and I went out and knocked on some doors.  We met one guy who showed a little interest, because he himself has had experience as a door to door salesman, and he was trying to figure out why two young guys would spend so much time doing something "boring."

Tuesday the district met in Würzburg for a district meeting, and interviews with the mission president.  I found out with my interview that I would receive the car from the senior couple in the district for a little bit, while they figure out trying to get German driver´s licences.  That was a surprise!

The next day my companion expressed he wasn´t feeling to well and fell asleep on the couch after our morning studies.  A little later in the day, he felt bad about being sick, and wanted to get outside, so we did.  We were able to share a copy of the Book of Mormon with someone, and ran into a member in the streets.  After we returned to the apartment for dinner my companion crashed.

Thursday was a German holiday, and with a sick companion, I ended up the whole day hanging out in the apartment.  The other Schweinfurt Elders came by to work out some issues they were dealing with, and after that got all sorted out, we ate dinner together.

Friday my companion was feeling better, so we got outside and did some finding.  Saturday we had our transfer call, and learned that one of the other Schweinfurt Elders would be leaving to another area to be a district leader.  That was cool, and we had a nice breakfast afterwards.  Later that evening, my companion felt sick again, so we retired to the apartment, and on Sunday my companion was still feeling sick, so I ended up the whole day in the apartment, missing church.  A lot of time was spent reading books from the missionary library that I had yet to read.

Until next week!

Aaron finding something to read

The Deutsche Bahn Strikes Back

Hello Everyone!

Early in the week we learned that the trains were going on strike, which ended up messing with the entire week!  What felt like an adventure followed.

Tuesday we had a zone training meeting where we talked about using technology in the mission, even though we still have no clue when the iPads will actually come.  It kind of feels like everyone is starting to run out of things to say about the topic, and it is getting kind of old hearing the same things over, and over again, but at least we know that something will happen in the future.  After the meeting we learned that returning to Schweinfurt from Nürnberg was near impossible because of the strike, so what happened was we traveled to Würzburg with the Elders in our district, and from there we got a ride home from the Bishop of Würzburg, who lives in Schweinfurt.  Also we had a surprise split with the Würzburg Elders, because of how things worked out relating to the strike.

The split was with an Elder who came out to Germany the same time as me, and our split was right around our one year mark in Germany, but because of the strike, most of our time was spent trying to figure out how we were going to get back to our companions.  For the short time we had, we baked a cake for another elder in our district who would be having a birthday the following day.  So late in the evening, I was carrying a cake around trying to get around the horrible train schedules.

Friday I got to see some of the prettier sides of Schweinfurt while trying to go out finding former investigators, and on Saturday we had a street display planned, but it rained and we had to save our materials by retreating back to the church.  At the church, my companion and I helped out the other Schweinfurt Elders by giving someone a tour of our church building, so at least there was that.

Sunday we had Stake conference in a city called Fürth.  There, two Elders from the Seventy came, and announced that the former mission president, President Schwartz, would become the new Stake President in the Nürnberg Stake.  That was a cool surprise.  In the evening all of us Elders in Schweinfurt went to a member family´s house to do skype with our families, and have a barbeque, which was really nice.

The week flew by, a lot of crazy stuff happened, but it was a good week. Here is hoping that there is not another strike in a long time.

Long Day with the trains

The Age of Ultron

So to get it out of the way,  Avengers: Age of Ultron came out in America last weekend, so Ultron got some special pictures for the occasion.

Returning to normal missionary life, early in the week was another district meeting.  My companion and I worked together to give a lesson about agency, and the lesson ended up involving everyone in the district drawing pictures of me.  That was pretty funny, and being the loving district leader, I gave them all chocolate for it.

After the district meeting, I had a split with another Elder who works in Schweinfurt.  Together we searched for members and investigators on our records who have gone missing, and met with some investigators.  The following day, after the split, my companion and I had time set up to meet with an investigator, but it didn´t work out so we made brownies to give out to members and investigators during that time instead.  It always feels good to surprise people with brownies!

Friday was Labour Day in Germany, so not a whole lot happened.  Holidays are always dead outside when it comes to Germany.  We did get weekly planning done, and had a little bit of time with the other Schweinfurt Elders for dinner.  The following day we did some finding, a German language test provided by the MTC we do every few months, and played basketball for our game night.  Sunday was relaxed at Church, and in the evening, my companion and I met with some investigators we had been trying for awhile to meet with, and learned that they have nearly completed reading the Book of Mormon.  That was cool!

So the week came to an end, and a new one begins.  Until then, May the 4th be with you!

Ulton

Ulton (with Aaron in the back)