June 29, 2105

Hey guys! 

This week was good we went to the Kleinert’s again on Monday and had dinner which was meat balls and potatoes. Then we went and taught a new member the 5th lesson. It was fun and good. We have taught the lady a few times and when I showed up she asked if I was new :( ,but it was all good. Tuesday, we went to a town called Kierspe again to give the Italian dude we talked to last week a Book of Mormon. He was playing a card game with his friends and acted like he had no time. After that, we went back shared a spiritual thought at young men and  young women’s and then grilled with them. They had some darn good bratwursts and things called fackeln. They are delicious. Then on Wednesday, we went and taught a lesson to the lady who can’t read or speak much German. She is from Romania I think and she speaks Hungarian. Then we did some doors with no success. But it was fun. 

Thursday we went to soup kitchen. It was good. What we normally do is get there around 8:30am and cut up meat that she has and then it goes into a soup later. Then we clean and sort vegetables and bread. They have big hard German bread and throw it in plastic crates to hand out. Then we have breakfast with everyone and then it is around 11:30am and we let the big crazy crowd of homeless people in. I go around and give them coffee and water and soup sometimes. They get really impatient sometimes, which is annoying because they are getting free food, but there are some really nice people.  After the soup kitchen, we had an appointment with an investigator but he wasn’t at home. It was funny, we were walking around the city center and we saw him and he was talking to someone so we walked down the street where he lives and pretended to look at stuff in a shop and then popped out when he was walking down the street and caught him. It was a sneak attack haha. Then we went home teaching with a guy from our ward.

 

Elder Frickey and our Mini Missionary

On Friday, we cleaned our apartment because we have a mini missionary.  He got here Sunday and is staying until Saturday! He is sixteen and from Mühlheim.  On Friday, we also had a street display. It went well. Not too many people from the ward showed up but it was good. I passed out a few Book of Mormon’s and balloons that say "Ich bin ein kind Gottes" which means I am a child of God. We did that from 10am till 1pm and then went to Bro Kramer’s and helped his son move apartments. We helped him until 10:30pm at night. It was a long day but really fun. I had to carry a fridge down these crazy German stairs. When they turn the corner the stair is big on the outside and small on the inside, like Kenny and Karen’s old spiral stair case. Then we went to church.  Elder Frickey gave a talk and then we went to Kramer’s for lunch. We had a bunch of meat and I was so stuffed. Then we went to Dortmund to get our mini missionary. So the end of this week has been a little crazy but it is good. The castle from last week was in Altena. It is apparently really old and is closed on Mondays. So we may go visit it sometime on another day. Bro Kramer said that he would take us to the Temple next month! I am super excited! It is closing in September for 2 years which stinks. If you guys can pick me up we wouldn’t be able to go through. :( 

 

Brother Kramer

That’s cool that the less active guy you know is allowing Brother Richardson to come over. I wish it didn’t take him almost dying to realize the church is true. I guess it is hard sometimes though. We did not hear back from the guy we gave the restoration pamphlet too. We went by but no one answered the door. The soup kitchen is good.  The main lady always asks if we have converted anyone yet and I told her 1,000 this week. She didn’t believe me... haha. 

I am here for another six weeks with Elder Frickey. That’s going to be 17 weeks together. Haha...  We have a family in the ward and their son just left on a mission a few weeks ago to the Alpine mission. That is southern Germany and Switzerland. They are a cool family and super nice. We went there for dinner and they gave us a bunch of ice cream. I have a picture of Brother Kramer and his son and I can send it in another email with the Ipad.

All is going good the language is coming along okay. It’s tough learning a new language. I haven’t eaten anything too strange lately. I can’t believe I am almost 7 months done!?! Well have a good week I love you all so much and if you want to send me a package with American food and other neat things, I wouldn’t say no! I am sending you guys one soon! I have it all wrapped up and ready to send! 

Well Love you all! 

Devin 

Panoramic of our apartment

June 22, 2015

This is a 12th century Castle in Kierspe
called Burg Altena

Hey guys!

Wie geht's dir? 

So last week we went to Kramer’s after emails for service. We helped in his lawn picking weeds, and then he bought us some pasta. It was really good. After helping the Kramer’s, we went to a member’s house and had dinner. They made lasagna and we had lasagna the day before too. Haha.  Tuesday, we went on a split and Elder Frickey went to Unna. I stayed in Hagen with Elder Watts. It was good to see him again.  We had an appointment with an old couple from our ward. They are awesome and gave us pasta and stuff and then he gave us the German bible on the IPad because there are no apps for it. Don't know if it's legal but hope it is okay. We had English class with a kid named Daniel, but he is having a hard time with English.

We had district meetings on Wednesday and then Elder Frickey and I went to Kierspe which is another city in our area. It was cool and we found a guy who was kind of interested and gave us a free soda. We met a lady who said her son was interested in religion so we gave him a restoration pamphlet. Hopefully he will read it. On Thursday we went to the soup kitchen again which is always fun, except the people there are crazy haha. After we were done at the soup kitchen, we went by on a lady that Brother Kramer told us to go by and see. We did and she works at this cafe and she gave us apple juice and strawberry cake. It was cool. 

Friday, we went around Hagen on less actives. Saturday we went to the Kramer’s and we helped him make dinner for a missionary coming to visit him and his wife. Then we went to a priesthood meeting and I could understand a lot of what was going on! It was good.

Sunday we went to church and then went to the Langner’s house for dinner. This is the parents of the family whose house we Skyped from on Mother’s Day. They are funny. We have to wear house shoes there and they always feed us meat potatoes gravy and kraut, every time!!  It is great.  Then we taught their son’s girlfriend the first lesson. That was pretty much my week. 

Lenne River in Kierspe

It has been a little rainy here this week.  Our investigator guy didn't answer this week. And the IPads are staying in the mission so we don't have to buy them. That is awesome that the guy in your ward asked for a blessing. It is crazy how people fall away from the church but still know it's true. I am glad the guy is felling better and is talking to the home teacher now. Love you dad, HAPPY FATHERS DAY! 

Love Devin 

June 15, 2015

Hey Family, 

This week has been good. On Monday we went to the Kleinert’s and had dinner and then a lesson. We got home around 8 pm, so we decided to go by on a past investigator and we met him at his door so he invited us in and we got to teach him a little. It was cool. I hope we can help him. 

Tuesday we had a zone conference in Dortmund. I had a good time seeing everyone and at the end we did get IPads. So yes, I am writing to you on one right now.  It was awesome seeing all my old pals from the MTC. Later that night we went on a split to Paderborn.  

Elder Homer and I went to an appointment on Wednesday with a member. She is an old lady who is just in love with us. She gave us some weird soup with bratwurst in it Haha. Then we went and contacted next to this river, I think it is called the Ruhr, and then we got some ice cream out of this sketchy van and then met back up with the other elders to split back. Elder Frickey and I spent some time walking around the college campus to find people but not a soul was there. We then made homemade mac and cheese for dinner and went to bed. 

Thursday we went to the soup kitchen again and cut meat and stuff to put into the pasta soup they were serving that day. It was fun. We went home had lunch and then our studies and then went to Brother Kramer’s because we had an appointment that we had made on Saturday. We had a bunch of meat they had grilled and we played some catch with his son. Don't worry I will try and get some pictures with them today. 

On Friday we weekly planned and then we contacted and looked for areas we could contact in the future. 

Saturday we did studies and had a lesson with the guy from Tuesday and it went pretty well. We read Alma 32 with him. I hope he keeps reading and we can help him with all his problems. 

After that, we went by on potential investigators.  We went to a member’s house from Sri Lanka. It was a good appointment but their food was a little spicy, but delicious. It was some kind of spring rolls and these weird Turkish spinach and meat things.  It was fun.

Sunday we went to church and had dinner with a member family after church. They made super good lasagna. I asked him about work and he has a worse commute than dad does. It is 5.5 hour drive to Nurnberg where grandpa and grandma where and he stays there all week and then drives back Friday night. It is crazy. I am sad I didn't get to see grandma and grandpa and Michelle. It was weird to think they were in the same country as me.  Do you know if they flew over the top of the world? I am pretty sure it was eight from Chicago for us.

Germany has not been too bad on the heat. No one here has air conditioning in their homes and not too many busses have it either. The trains do which is way nice. It hasn't been too hot here though. It's staying pretty cool. I had our English class friend try and pray in English and he said, "God heaven love" then the rest was in German haha. It was funny. Germany's been good the teacher guy never called back. When we taught the Brazilian lady it was good. Her cat was walking around everywhere and everyone was speaking German. It's still such a crazy language. I will try and take more pictures this week! To answer your questions, yes there are a ton of smokers, and Catholics and Evangelistic people. I haven't met too many atheists, however.   One thing that I think kept us a happy family is how you and mom always told us how much you loved us, even though I didn't play basketball and go to the NBA you still tell me you love me haha.  And I think that is important.  I have learned here that love is a big thing in the church. We need to show our love for others. I find it funny when we go to church here, we shake hands with almost every single member and then say goodbye to almost every single one. 

How is the Willow fire looking? Is our place and LaDaSa okay?  Hey Abby, I think my German speaking skills are getting a little better. Hallo wie geht's dir abby. Du bist ein sass Face. Haha ich hoffe du besser spüren werden. That's cool you got to talk about church with your friend. You should invite her sometime or give her a Book of Mormon.

Well that's all I have got for you. Can't wait to see you on Skye at Christmas either! 

Love you lots

Devin

June 8, 2015

Dear Family,

 This week has been kind of slow.  On Tuesday, the day grandma, grandpa and Michelle got to the country; I went to Unna and had a split with Elder Morris. He is from Utah. He and I rode back to Hagen on the train and then we caught a bus out to the other Kleinert’s house and went and had lunch with them and talked to them about Preach My Gospel. It went pretty well. Preach My Gospel is really a good book and you guys should study it with the scriptures. It has a lot of different ways we can better ourselves. Like chapter 6 “Christ like attributes”. I really like that one.

After that we went to the Church and had English class. It went good also. It is hard teaching English to people who don’t know it. After that, Elder Morris and I walked around the city doing some contacting and then went home and had dinner.

The next day we had a district meeting and then went and got Dönners together. Then I went on a split with Elder Strong from Arizona and we went to Ludenscheid, which is in our area, to go by on less actives members. We went by on some different people and met with a guy in an old folk’s type home.  It was super weird and awkward. He didn’t want to talk with us so we kept trying to talk to him and yeah it got super awkward and finally we left and he told us not to come back.  It was kind of sad.

On the way to Ludenscheid, however, I started talking to a guy who is a school teacher in Hagen. He was really cool and I gave him a Book of Mormon. Don’t know if he will read it but I hope so.

Then on Thursday we split back and Elder Frickey and I went to the bishops to talk to him about people in the ward. We call it Gemiko here but I am not sure what the English translation is. We ended up having ice cream and sharing a thought with Bishop and his wife. It was good fun. Then he dropped us off at this park to do contacting along the river. It was way hot and I wanted to go swimming more than ever. It was 34 degrees Celsius. It was boiling hot on Thursday. I think that’s around 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The View from my window in Hagen

On Friday, we weekly planned and then went to Iserlohn another area we have, to go by on less-active. Then we had another appointment back in Hagen. We waited around a while for our appointment and then we texted him and he told us he forgot.

On Saturday we went to a guy who we had an appointment with but his kid answered and said he wasn’t at home, so we went by on a less active with no luck. Then a member picked us up from the train station and we went to an investigator nearby and had a lesson with her. It went really well and we had a good time. She is a lady from Brazil I think. After the lesson, we went and ate dinner at Kramer’s again and there was a missionary who was here 20 years ago who was visiting. We had a good time and ate steaks.

On Sunday we went to church and a member from Bulgaria showed up. The elders there called us and let us know she was coming. She didn’t speak German or English so we sat next to her and tried to make her feel welcome. She had a friend who spoke German so we could sort of communicate. Then we were going home to do our studies and Brother Kramer asked if we had an appointment for dinner. We told him no, so he invited us and the kids from another family over because their parents were gone. We had a good time and played football with Kramer’s son and a kid named Leon. It was awesome. After dinner, we went home did studies and then went by on a guy who didn’t answer the door and then went to bed. And now I am here emailing you guys. haha. So that was my week!

My goal this week is to read Mathew in the bible. I am a few chapters in but I got to finish it. Yes, kopf is head and Hitler’s book was mein kamp and that means my battle. I love the German people they are all cool and funny. Some are grouchy and mean though. I never get to go to the Temple here. You get to go at the end of your mission but they just said it will be closing this September, until July 2017.  That really stinks.  I don’t know why, but I have really wanted to go to the temple lately. I think maybe I have seen what a huge blessing it is to others and how I kind of take it for granted.  I realized now that our whole purpose in life is to try and be like Jesus and bring others to him. I gave a short lesson in a district meeting that we had and was talking about the missionary purpose and I realized that Alma went around his entire life trying to convert people and how he never really took a break. I realized that when I get home, it’s going be a long time before I die but I shouldn’t quit trying to share the gospel. I kind of thought if this really is the true church and we are saying its true why do we stop being missionaries after our missions. That’s just kind of one thing I got thinking about.

Well I miss you too and Love you guys all very much! Have a good week!

Devin

June 1, 2015

Hey Everyone,

This week has been pretty good. We went to the Kleinert’s again on Monday and had dinner and family home evening. We talked about preach my gospel and had a good time. We had to do our shopping on Tuesday because all the stores were closed on Monday for a holiday. I don’t remember what holiday it was but like I was telling Megan if something is written on the calendar they celebrate it.

We had our English class again this week, but the guy never showed so we went and tried some contacting. Not much happened while we were out. On Wednesday we had district meeting. It was great. I went on a split to Paderborn.  It’s a two hour train ride just to get there.

Train Ride to Paderborn

We went and did some doors and when we got there and I gave out a Book of Mormon to some people. I hope they call us back.  Thursday we split back and then Elder Frickey and I had an appointment with some members. It took a while to get out to the people but we got there and had a delicious dinner of mashed potatoes and some vegetable soup stuff.  It was really good, even though there were vegetables. It reminded me of moms homemade grannies chicken noodle soup!

Friday we had a meeting in Dortmund. I went and did some contacting with a kid.  We picked a bad route and only saw a few people. We had a lesson with a member that didn’t go so well and then another appointment fall out on us. Not such a great day. After that there was a German boy having a mission going away part. He is leaving on the 11th of June and he is going to the Alpine Germany mission. We got to chill there for a bit and listen to the music they had playing. It was mostly American stuff. On Saturday we went to a town called Wetter. It was a cool place and we met an old companion of Elder Frickey’s who was visiting Germany. We said hi for a few minutes and then they left. After that we went to Brother Kramer’s house and had dinner. He fed us burritos. He is in love with Taco Bell and has a Taco Bell tray. He is a funny guy. On Sunday we went to church and oh yeah some lady from Venezuela stopped us on the street on Tuesday and she only spoke Spanish, so we called a Spanish speaking member and asked her to translate. Turns out she is a member and we gave her the church address. She showed up on Sunday and it was the best. When we first met her she kept pointing to the sky and then grabbing her heart. It was cool. After church we went to a members house and had chili and cornbread for lunch. It was delicious.

That’s pretty much all that happened this week.  Thanks for all the prayers. The couple we had lined up for a baptismal dates are not coming to church and are always too busy to meet. It kind of stinks.

Burgers and Fries at the Crittenden's

 

Well have a good week and I love all of you so much!

Devin

May 25, 2015

Hey guys,

So this week we had cleaning checks. We cleaned our apartment and then the Bench’s came and checked out our place. They said it was all good but Sister Bench started trying to fold my clothes because apparently, I folded my pants wrong and she was trying to get my shirts out so she could iron them. We told her we do that in the mornings before we put the shirt on and she finally gave up. haha

On Tuesday we tried going by to visit less actives but no one answered their doors. After that we had English class and that went well. There is a girl here from Utah that’s going to school and she helped us teach. 

Wednesday we went to Unna because Elder Frickey is a district leader so he had to do a baptismal interview for an Unna's investigator. It went really well and then we went to a member’s house for dinner. They had wraps and it was delicious. We then went to Ward Council. It’s called Geminda rat here. 

On Thursday we went to the soup kitchen and gave out soup, coffee and water. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to Bro Kramer’s house and had lunch with him. He gave us Chinese food and then goulash and hash brown things. He always has a lot of food for us. Then we watched some old Joseph Smith movie with him in German and then shared a thought with him and then we went to Institute. Institute was good but our investigator didn’t show up. He is working three jobs and could not make it.

On Friday Brother Bench came back over and fixed stuff in our apartment. He was there for three hours.  We weekly planned and then went to meet an investigator from a long time ago. We showed up but he was stuck in traffic, so he never showed but we are meeting with him next week. 

On Saturday we went to Unna again because they were having a baptism and we were speaking at it and then doing service with them right afterwards. It was great because their investigator showed up and he got baptized! Afterwards, we went and helped a guy paint his house. It was pretty good but we all kind of sucked at painting. 

Sunday we went to church and afterwards we went to a members house for dinner. She had some meat thing called Rolladen, I think.  It was delicious and we had knodel (dumplings) and gravy and rot kohl (red cabbage)and then had a lesson with them. We also got a referral from them. Her son had some girl over and she said she wanted the lessons. And now it’s Monday and I am at the Church emailing you guys, and there is some guy next door sweeping his porch with no pants on. haha

Pant-less man next door

 I am glad that you guys all had a good week four wheeling. That’s good you had Adam helping get everyone out. He needs to build some muscle for snowmachining when I get back. haha  That’s cool your going on splits with the missionaries dad. Maybe you can go flying with the guy. He can teach you how to use the radio. haha  I don’t have any really cool mission experiences to share this week but I have been reading in the Book of Mormon a lot and I really like it. I used to think it was boring but not anymore. We listened to a talk called 17 Points of the True Church and it is a really cool talk. You should listen to it. I am sure Adam has heard it while on his mission. 

I don’t remember Brother Brown. That is cool he served his mission in Frankfurt.  What cities did he serve in? I am going on another split with Elder Watts in a few weeks, I think. We are working on less actives but they live far away and they are never home. We are meeting with Gerardo still which is good. Our area has Hagen, Ludenscheid and Iserlöhn. Germany is good. It’s a little rainy today but it’s good.

Well have a good week! I love you all! 

Devin

May 18, 2015

Hey guys,

This week was good but a little slow. Not much happened. The weather here is alright. It’s warm some days and then others it’s kind of cold. I went on a split this week to Unna and got to drive around in a car with a friend (Elder Watts) from the MTC. Elder Watts and I grilled some bratwurst and bananas on our split.  We went back to Unna Saturday and did some service for some people who were just moving things up stairs. 

Elder Watts and I driving to Unna

 

Yes, I see the Langner’s at church all the time. I don’t know what he does for work. So I don’t know what else to tell you about the Langner’s.  I don’t really know them too well. I know they have four kids, I think. I met three of them and one is on a mission in England, that’s about all I know.

The week has been good but a little boring. No one new to our English class. The guy we invited never showed up. It’s always disappointing when they talk to you and say they will come and still don't show up. We are teaching a Mexican guy named Gerardo. He is awesome. He is already a member but it’s all good.

Grilling bratwurst and bananas in Unna

The city is good. I am meeting a few new people. The ward is pretty good. They invite us over all the time for dinner and stuff. We have a member Brother Kramer and he is real cool. I think I told you about him last week. We go over every Saturday and he is awesome. Nicest guy ever. I really like meeting people here. Some are okay but others are just amazing and super nice. Transfers are on Wednesday we got the call Saturday and everyone in our district is staying. This transfer is only a five week transfer. 

Well love you guys! 

Devin

 

On our way to Unna