September 13, 2015

Hey family!

Es geht mir gut und dir? Diese Woche war sehr gut! Danke. Und wie war deine Woche? 

We just had our transfer call this last week but I am staying in Hagen for another six weeks. I think the next transfer is on my birthday. So I still have some time here. We are trying to start up some new activities. We are staring soccer next Saturday for all the less active YSA kids. And maybe we will start a Family Home Evening group as well. 

But yeah, this week was good we had a few member appointments and we spent some time looking for spots to chalk the plan of salvation on the ground. We are going to have the youth do it so that should be cool. We also went around and found soccer fields.

We are trying to get better with our contacts. We were just inviting people to church and they would say they would come but no one has, so we are trying now to make out appointments and get numbers. I was talking to Brother Kramer’s wife, Lilo, about it and she was a pro. She teaches sales people at Tupperware where she works. She was too good so maybe we can get a lesson from her sometime. 

We met an Italian lady and her daughter on the street she pointed at us and said to her daughter "See I told you they’re Mormons", so we talked to them for a bit.  The daughter thought we were city people but the mom told her we were Mormons. She had only seen our backs too. It was really cool but once again, we didn't make an appointment out. She told us she would visit though. 

Oh yeah, I have to give a five minute talk next Sunday. I am kind of nervous. It's on praying to recognize through the Holy Ghost. Hopefully it goes well. It's only five minutes. I think the bishopric guy thinks I don't understand too well. I do understand more than I can say but it was super funny he asked me about three times about it and said no more than five minutes about five times and then he also sent me an email to make sure I got it. Then on Sunday he asked me if I got the email and understood it all. Haha. Yeah so if you have any pointers for me you can email me them through the week. 

Man I do miss snow. They don't get much here. The leaves are barely turning yellow also. I miss Alaskan winters. I got the pictures. Thanks for those. I sent you some more of my awful selfies.  No more engagements don't worry Haha.  The zoo we went to is in Dortmund and the castle is on the same river as the big horse statue just further west. West of Herdecke. Our area is huge and makes for tough traveling. I can get a ticket called the fun ticket for 17€ a month and it gets me everywhere and Elder Freeland can't because he is 21 so he has to pay about 14€ just to get to Iserlohn and back.

Well I love you all so much and can't wait to skype you! Have a good week and keep reading the scriptures! 

Devin 

September 6, 2015

Hey family! 

So I don't really go into depth on who we are teaching because I think it's illegal to share information about other people over the internet here in Germany. So yeah deswegen (that is why), and if they see stuff on the blog thing they might get upset. 

But anyways everyone is doing well. Alli left to Syria for a month, so we won't be seeing him for a while. And we haven't been able to make it out to the Italian guy. Manuela is doing well.  We met with her and Brother Kramer Saturday and had a good lesson about prayer, fasting and personal revelation. It went really good and Brother Kramer is super nice. He is always joking around but then he is good at bringing it back and being serious. 

Our goal isn't going to good. We are kind of slacking a bit on that. But we are getting better at talking to people, not more people, but holding a conversation and trying to help others come closer to Christ. We talked to a guy on the street and we thought he didn't speak German because I asked if he wanted to meet sometime and he just said yeah. Normally no one says yeah. So we thought he didn't understand but then he started talking to us more and he really did seem interested so hopefully we can meet Thursday.

Monday we did that other move and the lady did live on the third floor, but she had an elevator so it took zero time. It was way better. It did suck having to take a train all the way to Witten though. 

Also this week, I got proposed to. There was some girl walking with her two friends and I think she said "missionaries!" and then she got on one knee and asked if one of us wanted to get married. I told her not yet and she looked a little sad. Haha it was super weird. 

I am getting your pictures and I did get the video. Thanks that was cool. I can't believe they already have the bridge done. I remember when it was just that big pile of dirt. 

Well it sounds like the fair is going good. I miss fair food. It is just the same every year but it's so good, but that's okay. Today we are going to a member’s house and he is making us his famous lasagna. It's so good. 

Quick question for you. What is the purpose of a ward council and what do you think we can do as missionaries to make it a more effective use of time. Well we taught this one guy. (I don't want to share his name) but it was a really good experience for me. I haven't done too much teaching out here but that was awesome it makes me really want to teach again. He had actually read and he had questions for us. He had real legit questions from his life that he needed help with. We told him about the Holy Ghost and how God will help you know what's right and wrong, and he asked us why he did bad things in his life. It was a way cool experience and what I liked best was he had questions that he had seemed to have actually have pondered about, not just stupid try and prove us wrong or get us stuck questions. It's kind of hard sometimes I got a little frustrated talking to a guy on a street. I asked him if he wanted to learn more and he asked me if I wanted to learn more about his church and I didn't answer right away and so he said "see you have your religion I have mine you don't want to learn about mine why do I want to learn about yours." It was kind of dumb but I just need to be better at telling people I do want to learn more and add on to what they already have. But oh well I guess there is always next time. 

Hey mom, there are definitely a million refugees here. And no we haven't had any more moves. You would think the refugees would hear us out but most of them are already Muslim and think that Jesus is just a prophet. So it doesn't go too far. The leaves here are all still green but it's definitely getting a little colder here, which is good. It was such a hot summer. Well see you all later! 

Auf Wiedersehen! 

Devin 

August 30, 2015

Hey family! 

This week has been exhausting.  On Monday we went to the zoo. It was alright. They have no special German animals here. Except maybe ant eaters. They had a ton of those. We went and ate with the Kleinert’s and then went out and contacted for a bit.

On Tuesday we had a split and I went to Unna. We taught a guy about the commandments and it went pretty well. He had a lot of interesting questions. But it was good. He seem to accept everything.

Wednesday we went to Lüdenscheid and we went by on a few old lady's there. We brought a member with us, who got back from his mission in Switzerland a few months ago. It was a good time. We shared Weil Er Lebt with everyone. We are trying to visit every ward member.

 Then on Thursday we did a lot of area book work and member book stuff. We were going to meet with Alli but he didn't answer. Turns out he had a lot of work and is going home for a month.

On Friday we helped a member move. This is why I am so exhausted. He lived on the fifth floor of his apartment. We had to move everything down. And when I say everything it means everything. Germans for some reason when they move take everything. Kitchen cupboards the counter with the sink….. Everything. It was a half the day. Then we had weekly planning.

On Saturday guess what we did, Yep, helped a less active move. And he lived on the 4th floor. Haha and neither of them have elevators. So yeah, after being sore from the first one we helped with the second and guess what we have going on today. Another move. Hah. I guessing she will probably be on the third floor. Haha.

Saturday was good we met with Kramer after doing our move and had steaks and cucumber salad. Kramer is the best. Then on Sunday we had church and it was really good. We had an awesome combined lesson from our bishop about all the small and simple things we need to do in our life. Like read the scriptures, going to church, have family home evening. It really is simple and then after church we did our studies and finished weekly planning.  Today,  like I said we are helping some lady in Witten move,  and then we are meeting with Kleinert’s again. 

Yes, so my week was good but exhausting. It is still pretty warm here. We are trying to contact 1000 people before the end of our transfer, but I don't know if we can quite make it. We are falling behind. It's ok though it's not about how many people we contact but how many people we help come closer to Christ. I really hope Germany gets some snow this year. The missionary works been a little slow. We haven't met the Italian guy Elder Freeland can't get a ticket. Alli is going back to Serbia for a month and we are hopefully going to meet with Manuela next week. We haven't been able to teach anyone all the lessons yet. I will have to ask my friend in the ward here if he served in any of the places you mentioned from Switzerland.

Well I got to run and go help this lady move. Hope all you have a good week I will try and put some pictures of the zoo on a little later. Maybe during English class! Well love you all! 

Devin

August 23, 2015

Hey guys! 

This week was good! We played ping pong last week on Monday and that was awesome. Turns out we have a ping pong table and everything here in the church. We met with Alli and had an awesome lesson and then went and contacted a bunch of people at night.  

On Tuesday, we did some former investigator go- bys and no one really answered the door so then we had English class with Daniel.   It was better.  I think he is learning a bit more.

Wednesday, we had district meeting it was good and then we had to go out to a members house for lunch. We had rice and chicken stuff. It reminded me of chicken Washington. We then hit a bus back to the church for geminda rat. That lasted a while but was really good and then we went out contacting for a bit.  We need are trying to contact 38 people every day to reach 1000 people by the end of the transfer.

 On Thursday we had an appointment and the dude didn't answer. Then we went around doing go bys and contacting. It went pretty good.

 Friday we got a survey from the other elders in our district that we can try at doors. It was really good and we got let in a door! We asked this guy about his religion and he was really nice and said he would love to learn more but he is going on vacation for a few weeks. So we will definitely go by again when he is back. Then we were supposed to have a lesson at the church but our guy never showed. So then we went to this other man’s house and he wasn't home. He was a former in our gps so we went by earlier and he said to come back by in the evenings.

Saturday we did our studies and then we basically got on a bus rode for two hours (actually it was three different buses) went to a members house for lunch and then we had to do the same thing on the way back and then we went to Kramer’s. It was basically a day of bus riding. Oh and at Kramer’s we were playing catch and I threw the football over this wall in their yard.  I went and rang the bell and I told the guy I threw the ball over the wall but I guess the word for a wall inside your house is different from the one outside so he was a little confused and started talking in English. Haha. But it was all good I got the ball back.

 On Sunday, we had church. I had to give the opening prayer in sacrament. I was nervous so the prayer was a little short. Then we went to a members for lunch. They are a funny family they have a little 1 year old who is running around saying hello to everyone and giving us handshakes and high fives. He also really wanted the iPad when we started playing a video on it. Haha.  It was a fun time.  We did more contacting that evening. 

And today we are going to the zoo in Dortmund. Sounds like you all had an eventful week with helping at colony. Glad everything went okay. Alli is an investigator we have and so is Manuela. They are both really cool.  I have noticed meeting so many different people and so many different missionaries that everyone really is different and has their own views on everything. That's awesome the church is helping out all the schools. I think it will be a great example to the rest of the community. There is not too much service going on here. We had those two projects back in Jena but here I have only helped Brother Kramer’s son move. I guess this Friday we are helping another family move.

Investigators are good. We do see interesting stuff here. There are a lot of homeless people who ask us for money. We also see people playing random instruments. I have seen a giant triangle guitar guy and a guy with a silver guitar. Yeah, I see Interesting people all the time. There are people that we call pfand pirates because when you buy a drink they charge you pfand for the bottle and you bring it back to the store and can get 15 cents or so and so when people throw the bottles away these people go digging through the trash everywhere looking for bottles. Hah it's crazy.

Well I love you all.

Love Devin

August 10, 2015

Hey Family,

Wow sounds like you all had a pretty crazy week! Well here was mine. 

So last Monday we did emails and then caught a bus to the Kleiner’ts for lunch. We went and had lunch with them and then did shopping and then did some studies and Elder Frickey got packed to leave to Mainz. 

Tuesday we went to Lüdenscheid to go by on the stake president so Elder Frickey could say goodbye. When we got there it was just his wife and son so we shared a quick scripture and she said we could go see if we can find him at work. He works at a hospital. We found him and he was surprised and super happy as always. He is such a funny dude. He gave us a ride to a park and ride place and we waited for a member to come and pick us up there because we had a dinner appointment with them. So then we went to the Langner’s for dinner (The families house that I skyped from) It was fun. We ate a normal German meal of bread cheese and a plate of sausage. Then they brought us home and we went to bed. 

On Wednesday we were supposed to meet Alli but he was a no show, and then we met with the Hiemer family and had dinner and then we went home.  Brother Kramer picked us up, got us a shake from Burger King and then we went to Dortmund. Elder Frickey was staying the night there because they left at 7 in the morning, and I got a kid from Utah named Elder Awerkamp and we came back to Hagen. 

Thursday we worked at soup kitchen and then we did studies and then went to Dortmund again to get our new companions. We waited around for about two hours because they were stuck in traffic and then I got my new companion Elder Freeland and then we went back to Hagen ate dinner and he got moved in. 

On Friday we met up with Norman, a YSA guy, and we went by on an inactive guy his age. He didn't answer but we went by on a few more people with him and we stopped in at his great aunts house and gave her a quick lesson and then came home weekly planned and ate dinner.

Saturday we went by on a few members and shared some quick spiritual thoughts with them and did some contacting between members. It was fun and Elder Freeland got to meet some ward members before church. We had Brother Kramer with us and ate dinner with him. It was all good.

 Sunday we went to church and had to teach Elders Quorum. I think we did pretty well. After that we went to a members house ate chili and then left them with a spiritual thought. So all in all we had a lot of member appointments this week but not so many with investigators. Today we are going boating with a member. I guess it's on a big ship she said. So it's allowed if it's public. Should be fun. Don't worry I will take lots of pictures. 

Sounds like you guys were quite busy with the family reunion. Sounds like you had a blast though. Haha Kenly…  I can't believe they messed the shirts up by spelling our name wrong. At least they fixed them extremely fast. Wow 60 people were at the reunion. That's nuts. I thought dad didn't like big crowds. Sorry I have been so bad at taking pictures. Nothing too new has happened in the past couple weeks so I don't remember to take pictures. My new comp is from Georgia and is one transfer younger than me. But he is 21. He is awesome.  He is very inspiring.  He took three years of German in school so he has pretty good German. He is awesome though. I feel like we will do well his transfer.

Israel and Christi didn't show up to church this week. We haven't been able to get to the Italian guy yet because he lives so far away. We are trying though. 

Well I love you all! 

Devin 

August 3,2015

Hey family!

 I am staying in Hagen and getting a new companion.  His name is Elder Freeland and hopefully he is cool.  Last Monday, we went and played a little basketball in Dortmund with some other Elders. It was pretty fun. On Tuesday I don't remember what we did and I don’t have my old planner with me. This week was pretty good. We haven't had too many lessons but I did go to Dortmund on a split and we had a member appointment. It was a fun time. On Friday night we went to Unna for the transfer call and I made some doughnuts like we used to do at home. We even had lemon juice and powder sugar glaze. They were way good.  This week we went to visit an old lady named Sister Shulta in our ward she is super funny and is in love with me. She is probably about 100 years old. It super funny when we try and share a message with her. She always interrupts and talks about what she wants to talk about. It's super fun at her house though. Also, we had two investigators randomly show up at church. That was way cool.

We haven't had time to go back out to the Italian guy because he lives to far. But we will for sure go by this week.  There is a girl that the Elders in Padderborn are teaching and she is studying theology and she said she doesn't really want to change churches because if she does she can't be a theology teacher. It's funny though because you think if someone really has a testimony they will give up anything.

Well love you all and don't forget to read your scriptures! .  Have a good week!

Devin 

July 27, 2015

Dear Family,

This week was good. Monday we went by on all of our referrals because we had taken P-day on Saturday to go to the Temple. None of the referrals answered the door but better luck next time I guess. Then we went to the Kleinert’s and had dinner and met with Sister Altmeyer. We talked about families and it went okay.

On Tuesday we went and started dooring a street next to the Langner’s because sister Langner told us a former member lived there. We went to the end of the street rang the first bell and some guy let us in and told us that he was cooking and that we could come back later. We realized after we left that we had met this guy on a bus. He spoke English with us. He seemed pretty cool so hopefully we can go back and meet with him today or something. We had a lesson with Eve again and it went pretty well. We taught about the Ten Commandments and fasting and tithing. Then we had gemiko.  I don’t remember what it’s called in English but we meet with the ward mission leader during that time. After that we had English class and then went by on a former investigator who didn’t answer and then we had dinner. 

On Wednesday we had District meeting and then I went on a split to Unna. It was pretty good.   I went with a Golden (brand new missionary).  We did some contacting and did some studies and then we had dinner. It was a fun split. Thursday we did studies and then we split back. After that we had institute and we got our guy Alli to come. It was fun we had a good class about being obedient and then had giant pancakes.

Castle on the way to Frankfurt

Then on Friday we did studies, weekly planning and then we went to Kierspe.  It is a small little city south of us. The Italian guy we met a while back lives out there so we went by on him. He was sitting outside his store and invited us in. He told us that he had read over a 100 pages in the Book of Mormon. We gave him the first lesson and he seemed to like it. I don’t know if he understands the best but he told us he knows the Book of Mormon is from God. We tried making an appointment for another time but he said no. He said come back anytime my house is yours. He is a cool dude. So hopefully we can go back next Friday. 

On Saturday we went to Iserlohn and had an appointment with a lady. Brother Kramer came too. It was really good and we talked about Temples. She is a cool lady. She isn’t a member yet but she goes to institute and helps cook and comes to church a lot. Then we were supposed to go to Kramer’s but he wasn’t feeling so good. So he bought us dinner and brought us home. He is an awesome guy. He wasn’t feeling good but he pulled through and came to our appointment anyways. 

Frankfurt Temple

Sunday we went to church and there were not very many people there. So after Church we went by on a few people and then went home and had dinner. 

It was a pretty good week. Today we are going to Dortmund to play basketball. It should be a fun day. The guy we gave the church tour to, came to church with his friend once and the guy from Lüdenscheid told us we could come back on any Friday and give him a lesson. I think we are going back this Friday. The Niggemeyers said they would come to church in a few weeks and we can meet then. 

Well I am glad all is going good with you guys. Glad you caught at least some fish. We still have a ton from last year right? haha how was the ward party. It sounds like it went well.

Abby, how was Seldovia? It sounds like you had a wonderful time out there. I am doing great.  Man I miss slushies. I haven’t had one in forever and I haven’t seen any here.

Thanks so much. You guys are the best. I love you and miss you! Can’t wait to skype again! 

Love, Devin

Scenery on the way to Frankfurt