Hello Mom and Dad!
Okay, so this German keyboard will take some getting used to. But it has cool letters with umlauts!
Wow, where to begin? So, after our call we flew to Germany. When we got to Berlin the previous mission President picked us up and took us to Momoplatz where we consecrated our next year and a half, our whole mission, to the Lord. That place is a little known place, but it is where the Berlin Wall was. Yes, I have a picture. So, then we had a bunch of meetings in which I found out there was a €200 fee for bikes. Like communism, everyone pays, but not everyone rides. Then, we had more meetings and the jet lag was kicking in and we finally got our assignments!
So, I...are you ready for this...? I am in a small town up near the Baltic Sea called Greifswald! We are also in charge of two other cities. So, after getting our assignments we had our first ever street contacting. Whoa. I thought it would be way harder, but it wasn't too bad. We didn't get any appointments, but I did get a chance to tell someone it was my first day in Germany, and asked if I could bear my testimony. The man was on the verge of tears. That was amazing and inspiring. So, we stayed in a hotel in Berlin that night, then we were on our way!
That was when I really got to know my companion Sister Shallenberger. She is way cool. She is from Elk Ridge, Utah and has been out for exactly a year on Thursday. We have the same taste in music and we are both laid back so getting along won't be too much of a problem.
Right now my mission feels like Russia all over again. I guess it helped so much more than I could have ever even imagined.
Oh, and another thing, I will probably be the next Lance Armstrong really soon here because that whole commy bike thing--was for ME! Haha! I ride a bike! And then we go to our appointments in commy buildings! Yipee! The buildings have been remodeled since the wall fell. I guess in Berlin they hated it so much that they started remodeling them from the center of the city and worked their way out. Hm. What else? I had a list but then we left our bags at the church--which is a rented out building that is so beautiful, I have to send you pictures!
Okay, church members are as follows: Brother Wild plays the organ for sacrament and when he thinks people should stop talking he'll just start playing louder, then there is Bruder Lorke who is annoyed and covers his ears, then there is a recent convert Wolfgang who bore his testimony yesterday and apparently got off topic about nazi's, Sister Wild yelled free agency, then later we all found out Wolfgang was drunk. Ha. What a good first Sunday.
We trade off going to another ward about an hour away by car--we go with the Senior couple the Johnson's. This ward was pretty much normal except for the few younger guys that like to flirt with Sister Missionaries so the ward has assigned people to guard us from them. You would think all of this was made up, but have I ever been good at telling stories?
We also taught a lady Frau Brauer who the sister's "found" before us. So, the story is that they were doing doors and she invited them in, so they told the ward about how they found a new investigator. Then, members of the ward started describing her and said, oh, yeah we know her--she's already a member and apostacized years ago. So, we taught her the second lesson and she believes everything already, and we don't really know what to do about the baptism challenge--we don't know if she has alzheimer's or what.
There is also another lady Frau Pahl, who studies doctrine more than anyone I've ever met and won't get baptized and almost cried when we invited her to church. I don't know what happened there. Oh, and she told me some stories about living behind the wall, so I've realized my German is just as good as my Russian was, I can get the gist of what's being said, but I'm still not exactly sure. But, she did meet Hitler.
Then there is Herr Beitter who has one leg because he got hit by a train and he was shirtless with his gut hanging out during our appointment. He is going on vacation and promised to read the Book of Mormon! He said that it is possible that Joseph Smith was a prophet! Bah. We are so close!
Oh, and we were knocking on doors (klingle is what they say in German) and I got to see tons of people with only underwear on. I guess they don't wear pants when it's hot. Strange. I think that is most of the highlights of the week. Oh, and P-Days are Montags! Monday! Please send this along to Sister Curtis-the Branch President's wife at the MTC, she inspires me to work so hard, and my teachers Brother Blewitt and Sister Jones. Oh, and I have to use this e-mail. Mission rules.
I hope that you are having fun out there in the wild, eating fresh fish and lounging around. Yeah for urlaub-vacation! Have a wonderful day!
Love you!