Monday, May 27, 2013

May 27, 2013

Hallo!

The Champions League final zwischen Bayern and Dortmund was this weekend. Literally everyone was watching it. Except us. Haha. But it was all anyone was talking about at church on Sunday. Some big Dortmund fans in the ward were getting trash talked a little bit in Ward Council and stuff... Pretty funny.

Well, let’s see what I can remember about this week... It was good. Haha like always. But we had District Meeting in Düsseldorf on Thursday, and that´s always good. Today´s a Zone p-day in Düsseldorf so I´m here right now actually. I like this city a lot.

We had some good lessons with one of our investigators this week, prepping for baptism. But then, I also had a split with another greenie in Wuppertal, so that was fun. It actually was really fun. We just had an eating appointment and a member appointment, so it wasn´t too crazy. Wuppertal´s tight. Look up "wuppertal schwebebahn"... yeahhhh haha. Pretty sweet. 

On our way home on Friday (I think)... we were on the bus, and a lady came up to us and asked about our nametags (in English!) haha, so I was already excited. But then we just talked about what we did and she had a bunch of pretty deep questions about life and stuff.. so I really enjoyed that conversation. But then she gave us her number so hopefully we set something up there. I would very much enjoy that .

Nothing too crazy happened this week. We really just set up appointments and keep ourselves busy most of the day, and there´s often a lot of travel time, so nothing too crazy happens. Just missionary work. Haha it´s really fun though. I´m looking forward to the day here in Düsseldorf. 

I did hear about the tornadoes in OK... One of the members told me about it. He also said something about a flood? (maybe talking about the same thing... Idk) but yeah... that´s no good. Hopefully all the crazy stuff back home is done for a while. 

Say hi to the ward for me in testimony meeting or something. And tell them to give the missionaries referrals haha. 

Well, that´s like all I can think of right now...

Anyways, love you guys!!! Schöne Woche noch

Elder Brown

(Dinner appointment at a member's house on an exchange)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

May 21, 2013



Hallo!

It was Pfingsten (Pentecost?) yesterday, and everything was closed, so we moved our P-day to today, so sorry for the heartache of no email yesterday. Haha but that´s another thing that I like about Deutschland, they have holidays all the time, and actually observe them. The first day I got here was a holiday, and we asked a guy on the street what it was, and he said, "the Erste Mai!" ... The first of May. Haha. So tight. 

But anyways, the week went well, let’s see if I can remember what happened. On Monday, I did indeed hit H&M, as well as Deichmann, and C&A. I very much enjoy shopping here.

On Tuesday we had District Meeting in Düsseldorf which is always fun (and provides great nap time on the Bahn). Then we spent most of the day traveling to and from Monheim for a lesson with a guy. He´s cool, wants to quit smoking (like everyone else). Gave him a blessing, it was cool. Then that night we had a lesson with the investigator who´s our main focus right now. He´s super tight.  Told us he reads his Book of Mormon every night and takes notes on his laptop. Pretty cool. But he now has a baptismal date for June 29. We´re excited. 

Wednesday was Frankfurt for trainers and greenies and that was tight. Train ride to Frankfurt is realllllly long but really pretty. I slept most of it. The meeting was tight though. Got to see all my MTC buds so that was cool. Didn´t get home til like 22 so that was all we did that day. Thursday we met with the less active member who teaches us German. He´s such a boss. He gave us a news article about a bishop in Utah that scared off a robber with a samurai sword. Kinda cool. But then I have like no idea what we did the rest of the day. Met with another investigator who also wants to quit smoking. But he´s a really cool, chill guy. Lessons with him are cool. 

Friday we met with an older member in a nursing home that we go by once a week. Probably my favorite person in the world. He´s so awesome haha. But then we went by another less-active member. He´s a guy that´s super tight. He´s got tats and guns and knives all over the place, and he makes jam. But that was fun. And he gave us jam. It´s delicious.

Saturday was a mission-wide finding day and we bombed it pretty bad so we´ll move on to Sunday haha. Sunday´s always great. Ward is super cool, had an eating appointment and it was good. Then went home and planned. Good chill day. 

Yesterday was a great day. We had a Pfingst Frühstuck in the Gemeinde and it was off the chain. Had like 5 nonmembers there so it was even better. Side note, if I´m not 300 lbs by March 2015 it will be a small miracle. Took the sacrament to a lady in the ward with some health problems... Then visited an older couple with a member of the bishopric and gave them blessings. It was a good day. 

Other than that, I´m loving it here. Deutschland is awesome. The ward is super cool, and I just like it a lot.

 I hope everyone has a schöne Tag and wish everyone well for the kommende Woche.


Love you guys!

Elder Brown

Arriving in Germany

P-day in Solingen

Scenery in Solingen


Monday, May 13, 2013

May 13, 2013


We Skyped with Elder Brown on Mother’s Day so his letter was kind of short the next day – a picture is attached – it was great to talk to him and he looked and sounded great!

Hallo!

The past week was pretty good. We´ve been having some pretty good success, and have two pretty solid investigators right now. One of them came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it, so that´s cool. He´s from Kosovo. He´s a really cool dude and we´re looking forward to meeting with him more often. 

Our other investigator didn´t make it to church because his girlfriend was sick, but he´s really cool too and really interested in the church. He´s German and he´s really cool and pretty funny. Those are always fun appointments so I´m looking forward to that. 

Other than that, we work a lot with less-actives and our young adults. Just to kind of help lay the foundation for the future of the church here in Germany. But I really enjoy that especially. We have some super tight, interesting less active members. And then we have three really strong YSA´s that are super cool. It´s fun working with them, and helping them talk with friends and stuff. 

Other than that, I just really like Germany. I love train rides to and from Solingen, they´re super cool. Went through Köln the other day and that´s a super cool city. The food is wonderful. I don´t know how I ever lived without pomm-döners. The Haribo factory in town is also very convenient haha. 

This week is looking like it´ll be pretty busy. We’ll lose a day because of our trip to Frankfurt this weekl, so we have to fit everything into one less day. That´ll be fun. 

Well, if you guys ever have any questions about Deutschland, let me know! I feel like my emails are really boring... haha. But I love you guys, and I hope everything is going well for everyone!

Auf Wiedersehen
Elder Brown


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

May 6, 2013

Hallo!

My first email from Germany... kinda crazy. But I´ll get right down to it I guess... Also it´s telling me I´m spelling every word wrong so that´s kinda annoying. Haha but whatever. 

Well, the first week was pretty dope. We landed Wednesday morning and got right down to business. Me and my bud Elder Rogers went out contacting with an elder who was going home, so that was cool. My lone contact was asking an old dude dragging a bag if I could help, and him replying "es gibt kein Gott" {There is no God}... pretty tight haha. Then he started going through the trash. Then we did a bunch of awful paperwork and ate pizza with President and Sister Schwartz. They´re super cool. But then we went to the super foreign Holiday Inn Express and passed out. 

On Thursday morning I met my trainer, Elder Allen, and we headed out to my first area... Solingen. It´s up in the northwest part of the mission, right next to Düsseldorf. It´s a really cool place.. probably about the size of Denton... but Deutsch haha. That took most of the day... Then we went and helped a Nigerian lady paint her apartment. 

Friday, we went to the other city in our area, Remscheid, which is about the same size, to see some less actives but didn´t find any of them. Then we went and helped Esther again. Three YSA´s {Young Single Adults}.. or JAE´s auf Deutsch, have helped us with that... They´re all super tight. A couple are preparing for missions so that´s really cool. But after that, I had my first döner (basically the equivalent of a hamburger in America as far as availability, cost, and healthiness go...) which is basically a gyro. They´re soooo good. I will be eating many haha. 

Saturday we had district meeting in Düsseldorf... District is cool. We went on splits and did a finding day there. I went with an Elder who´s on his last transfer. He´s from Bountiful, but he went to UNT before the mish and spent some time in the YSA ward... - Elder Hall. Also, finding here is a tad difficult. Then we had an appointment back in Solingen... and it was kinda crazy haha. I don´t even know what to say. We went through the 15-step program to quit smoking.... 

First Sunday was really cool. There´s about 70 active members, and they´re pretty sweet. Lots of English is spoken here by the way... so that’s nice. Still learning a lot of Deutsch though. I gave my testimony and introduced myself auf Deutsch. They all said I did wonderful haha. Then we had a dinner appointment that lasted from after church until planning time basically haha. It took like an hour and a half to get there switching buses and everything, but it was great once we got there. It was with the ward mission leader. We had a barbecue and we didn´t even eat like half the meat, and we ate a lot. So that was nice. 

But today we helped the Nigerian sister again... it was cool. 

Anyways, Deutschland has been tight so far. That´s about it for today

Auf Wiedersehen!
Elder Brown