Defending Your Life

It has been quite the first full week for me here in Siegen, but it´s been a lot of fun!

Starting with Monday, we had a member call us wanting to meet us, implying we would go into a forest.  We ended up walking through a forest for something like three hours, while the member just talked with us.  There was a tower at one point along the path we were walking, and Elder Pfleumer and I got pictures up there.  After that we met with a family in our branch in the evening.

Tuesday we attempted to visit investigators, with some success.  We tried a potential investigator, but he was heading off to work and said we could try again on Saturday.  We then met with a woman who has known the missionaries for a long time.  She was friendly.  Other investigators or less active members we tried that day ended up not being able to meet.  Wednesday we met with two solid investigators.  They are a couple, and they come from America.  At one point, one of the investigators brought up the film "Defending Your Life" to try to get a point across, and thanks to my parents showing me that film years ago, I was able to understand where he was coming from and what he was saying!  In the evening we had some stuff come up in the branch that we had to take care of, because we have leadership callings in the branch.

Thursday we traveled to Dortmund for a zone training meeting.  There I was able to see a past companion of mine from Paderborn.  He is still there, and we were able to catch up, and I got to see some pictures of a recent baptism they had in a river in Paderborn.  That was really cool to see.  The meeting was all about the Plan of Salvation and practicing teaching this Gospel topic.  In the evening we came back to Siegen and took care of some more branch business.  Friday we planned for the next week, and met with the senior couple who is involved in our branch at an Asian restaurant, and discussed what we could do for the branch, and after that we went out to try to meet with a family in the branch.  Saturday we were able to meet the potential investigator and talk about the Restoration of the Gospel with him, that was a good experience, and we visited a member who is currently in the hospital.  We ended the day meeting with some more members in the evening.

Sunday came and we had a Ward Council meeting, which went well, and we had our American Investigators show up to Church!  I translated German into English for them during Sacrament meeting, something I haven't done much, but I for the most part was able to keep up.  After Church we helped the member in the hospital get some stuff in his apartment as he stays a bit longer in the hospital.  All in all, a good week.

Up in a tower in the woods.

I See Siegen

The start of my 12th transfer came and went on my mission, and I am now in a new area.

To start the week off, I spent my final P-Day in Schweinfurt by going to Würzburg and meeting up with the Elders there and visiting the Residence, a beautiful building located within the city.  We were not able to take pictures inside the building, sadly, but it was beautiful, and we even ran into some Mormons who were touring the area.  In the evening my companion and I, along with the other Schweinfurt Elders, met with the Bishop in our ward and said goodbye.

Tuesday we had a final district meeting together, and had a motivational speech complete with background music from an Elder who would be completing his mission within the next few days, and learning about the importance of the Sabbath by making sandwiches, a lesson given from the senior couple in our district.  After that, most of my time left in Schweinfurt was preparing to leave.

When transfer day came, my companion and I woke up early in the morning so we could drag my luggage through the city to get to the train station before 6:00 am. At Frankfurt, I got to see multiple missionaries I met in the past, and met my new companion, Elder Pfleumer.  He is my second Swiss companion.  We loaded up my luggage in the car for my new area (yes, my new area has a car) and traveled to Siegen.  From there, we unloaded and tried to meet with some people on Thursday and Friday.  Saturday came, and we got picked up by a member and traveled to the temple in Frankfurt, to visit it one last time before it closes until 2017.  That was a great experience, and then we traveled back to Siegen and met with another member and met the senior couple who works with the branch in Siegen: Elder and Sister Jones.  Elder Jones is branch president, my companion is first councilor in the branch presidency, and I am now the executive secretary in the Siegen Branch.

Sunday we had some meetings, and then I helped the member who took us to the temple pick up an older member to get him to church, and I met the branch.  After church, I helped get the older member back home, and my companion and I visited the member who took us to the temple.

Things are off to a quick start in Siegen!

Last time with the Schweinfurt District

At the Frankfurt Temple

Elder Pfleumer and Aaron see the temple

Into The Woods

What a week it has been!

P-day went pretty easy as usual, doing shopping and emails. My
companion and I picked up comp ties as well. Tuesday rolled around
with district meeting, where we did predictions of where people would
go for the next transfer, learned about learning German, and the
Würzburg Elders did a rendition of "Into the West" for an Elder in the
district who will soon be heading home. I had a split with one of the
Würzburg Elders afterwards, and together we did former investigator
work, finding, and having fun. Wednesday evening we ended the split,
and my companion and I made brownies for going by on people we know.

Thursday we helped out the other Schweinfurt Elders, met a man I met
before who just wanted to argue and left us on the street abruptly
when we wouldn't surrender to his ways, and visited a member with our
bishop in the evening. Friday during weekly planning I got a phone
call from the mission president saying I would be released as district
leader, and afterwards we did former investigator work and had a run
in with the arguing man from the day before, twice.

Saturday in the morning, we along with the other Schweinfurt Elders,
made breakfast and listened to our transfer call. There I learned
that I will be transferred to the area of Siegen, which is in the
Dortmund Zone, the zone I was in when I was in Paderborn. After that
we helped an American member cut wood in the forest, which was fun,
and in the evening did game night. Sunday was my last time in the
ward here in Schweinfurt, and I also called the woman who believes in
aliens and said goodbye to her. In the evening I did my last call ins
with the district. I can't believe how fast my time went as a
district leader! I enjoyed the opportunity I had to serve with my
district, and am anxious to see what lies in store!

Cutting wood

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