January 19, 2015

Hey Family!

Germany is awesome! We left the MTC real early on Tuesday and flew until 9am Germany time. We then met with our Mission President and then we went to the Church building in Germany.   I have actually not been to the mission office yet. So we got to know the mission president a bit and then we watched some safety videos and had some pizza for dinner. Before dinner though they took us out on the street to a display they had set up. They gave us some cards and a Book of Mormon and told us to go hand them out. That was pretty crazy. Been there for a few hours and we were already trying to hand out cards. haha. Well we didn’t have any luck with that so then we went back to the church. We were all so tired that day so we went to a hotel around 7 pm and went to bed. All the trainer missionaries showed up at the hotel around 9 am so we woke up in the morning with someone in our rooms. haha

View out our apartment window of the university.

 We woke up and had breakfast and then we went to the basement for a meeting. We had a short little meeting and then we got our companions. My companion gave me a matching tie and we got a picture with the president and his wife. His name is Nik Anderson from West Jordan Utah. He is a pretty cool kid. This is his last transfer so he leaves in 12 weeks. After our meeting we went to the train station. We got some more pizza there and then we said goodbye to everyone and got on a train. We had a 3 hour train ride and I sadly fell asleep for a big chunk of it. We are in an area called Jena (yay-na). We live right on a college university. It’s pretty cool. It is a university town over on the eastern side of Germany.  It is a leader in the optical industry and is where Carl Zeiss began.  

Devin (far left), Elder Anderson (front right) in the train station headed to Jena.

So we have a branch and we had about 13 people at church not including the missionaries. I had to go up and bear my testimony and tell a bit about myself. It went pretty good except I didn’t know some words I was trying to say and so I just said them in English. The members all thought that was pretty funny. My first day here we went to institute and I had no clue what was going on. They speak so fast and it turns out they all pronounce things a little different around Germany. I have had a great time so far. We have been trying to talk to people on the streets and that is not the easiest.

On Friday we went to a member’s house he was a cool guy who recently got married. We had cake and some watery hot chocolate. It was really cool except I didn’t know what they were saying.

Germany is a really cool place all the yellow and red buildings and all the roofs are red, also all the sidewalks are cobble stone.

So Saturday we went and played soccer with a bunch of Germans and it was crazy. It was on a little soccer court like the size of a basketball court and we got whooped. There was a super tall German guy and he was on the city team. It was really fun and we got to meet a lot of people.

Eating some German Pizza and watching some church approved videos in our apartment.

I am in an area where we don’t get cars. We have three bikes, for some reason, but we don’t know where the sisters left the helmets so we haven’t used them yet. It’s ok though because we are really close to everything. The church is a two minute walk from our apartment and so is the store. Also, we went to an investigator’s house and we just used the train system that goes through the streets. It is like the trolleys in San Francisco except theses have rails that go through all the streets. I will send you some pictures.

Here are some things Dad and Adam will like. My Companion right now was roommates with the Emery kid in the MTC. Also, there is a basketball team two floors below us. There is some guy on the team who used to be in the NBA. The zone leaders told us a bit about him. His name is Jordan and I don’t remember what team he played for but I think they said he was going to play for Houston but then he came to Germany to play. I will find out more about him and let you know.

That’s awesome Abby that you are doing so well at basketball. You little punk! Hope you can find a place to live Adam and Sara. I’m glad the Jobs are going good and don’t worry Adam the commute gets better unless my dad plays Willie Nelson.   Megan that’s awesome you get to go to Portland. Maybe the family could visit you. I know Sara and Adam like Portland haha.

Glad all is going well. I will write more next week I’m sure I will have a lot more to write about then,

Devin Kenley

It was Elder Anderson's birthday the other day so we got to celebrate.