June 24, 2013

Hallo!!

Sorry you didn't get an email from me last week.... I just didn't really feel like it. Haha just kidding just kidding, we had a Zone P-Day in Bonn, and we just didn't have any time. It was sweet though. We all ate a pizza place there and then went up to a pretty tight castle and just chilled and took pics there. Something pretty cool, one of my old EFY roommates (elder Hawker) just came in this transfer and he's totally in Ddorf Zone. Pretty tight. It was cool to chill with him at that. But yeah, that's why you had to go two weeks without hearing from me... tut mir leid. 

Everything went fairly well with the transfer. The new comp is super cool. Elder Collins and I get along really well, and we've been working really hard. The gemeinde seems to have kinda reawakened as well so I think the transfer will be rockin. 

Last week had some days that were hottttttt. Hanging out in apartments with no AC makes for a good time. Haha but in no time it was back to normal... raining and cloudy and 60 degrees. I'm sure there are more hot days to come though. 

I was thinking the other day about how it had been a year since I went to BYU... Freaking crazy. That went so fast. It has really been a great year though. Not much that I would change. We just got an email about the leadership thing (we don't watch it until next week) and my ZL just called me and was like "we get to use Facebook" and I was like "I know." Pretty dope. Except I don't really know how that's gonna work. Guess we'll see though. 

The past two weeks have gone well. Thursday to Thursday last week and the week before was kind of a crazy period, and not a whole bunch got done because of transfer stuff. But me and Elder Collins have kinda settled in and we're doing some good stuff. We have started teaching a super cool Brazilian lady and her daughter, and also the friend of one of our JAE´s. All three are really cool and have a ton of potential. We're still working with most of the same people. We've been trying to do a lot of contacting to find some new people and have had a little success, gotta keep trying. We're trying to up the member work in Solingen so we're doing that as well. We've got a really busy week ahead of us so we're excited. 

Anyways, I can't really think of much right now (the past week or so has been kind of a blur) but I think I´ve covered pretty much everything.... We had Zone Conference, so that was sweet. I don't even know haha this past couple weeks has been crazy. It was fun though. I'm having a great time. I'll take some time this week to collect my thoughts and next week’s letter will just be great. 

Love you guys!!! Hope everyone has a great week!

Tscuß!

Elder Brown

The view from a castle near Bonn

With companions at a castle near Bonn

June 10, 2013

Hallo!!

Hopefully the Heat keep it up.... I would be so mad if the Spurs win, buncha old farts.  And yes.... something did indeed happen with transfer week.... My trainer got transferred to Bitburg! So yeah, I have to basically know everything about Solingen by Thursday, so that´s sweet. My new comp´s name is Elder Collins, and I think he's been out for about 8 months or so. And then soon, Solingen will possibly be getting another set of missionaries... We'll see how that goes. 

Sunday was great as usual. We had one of our investigators at church, and it was all about temple work... like the whole 3 hours haha. We sat down, and I leaned over and asked him if he´d ever learned anything about the temple and he said no... And I was just like, this will be fun. But it was cool. Then we had two dinner appointments, so that was awesome. I have never been more full in my life. At our second one we were eating steak and the sister brought out chocolate fondue and I was just like come on.... It was wonderful though. They´re a super cool family.  

This week was cool though. We had Zone Training last Tuesday, and then after that I went on a split with one of the Zone leaders in Düsseldorf, Elder Ockey. That was fun. Split back on Wednesday, then on Thursday stayed in Solingen on a split with an elder from Wuppertal, Elder Meinert. That was super fun. We met with Bruder Olbert, and then our investigator who came to church, and those both went really well. Then we spent like an hour trying to find a potential investigator we had met on the bus, only to find out she lived in Wuppertal! It was great. Haha. We were on the phone and she was like "I'm outside my apartment can you see me?" and we were just like "nope". Turns out there is a G….. Strasse in Solingen and Wuppertal. It was sweet. So Elder Meinert got a referral out of that.

Saturday morning was the transfer call, so that was cool. Then we met with another investigator and he made us spaghetti.... a lot of spaghetti. It was pretty good. We were going to set a baptismal date with him at church yesterday but he was sick. 

But overall, the week was pretty fun. Spent a lot of it on splits, which was kinda weird but also really fun. My new comp will be the DL too (my first was as well) so we´ll still do a lot of them. I can´t really think of too much else. All the floods and stuff are down in like Bayern and Österreich so pretty far away from me. Still rainy though. Although it kinda has been sunny and hot this week. Summer´s coming slowly but surely. 

Anyways, Hope everyone is doing awesome, I love all of you!! 

Auf Wiedersehen

Elder Brown

June 3, 2013

Hallo everybody!                                       

Greetings from Solingen, and agreed, it is so weird that it´s already June. Time goes by so fast. And I´m sorry that Summer has begun yet again... I don´t think I´ve experienced a day over 80 here yet. And we´ve probably had like 3 days over 65 haha. But they use Celsius over here so I mean... 15? or something... No idea. It´s overcast and rainy pretty much every day. And I love it. 

The Heat better win!!! Haha.

Anyways, this week was good. Nothing too crazy but it was still good. Last P-day we went to Düsseldorf and played dodgeball with the zone. It was sweet. Our zone is pretty tight. It´ll be interesting to see who replaces Elder Hall as ZL. That night we went to dinner at our ward mission leader´s house and ate fajitas and chocolate fondue. And then had dessert. Haha it was tight. 

Then Tuesday, I had my visa appointment. Super easy. I´m legal now. We also met with Bruder Olbert, which was wonderful. Wednesday, we met with the member helping us with our language skills, and had Deutsch practice and got our new “homework assignments.” Met with a couple of our JAE´s... pretty chill day. Thursday, we met with one of our investigators, and had a good lesson. Then we had a dinner appointment, which are always great. 

Friday was sweet. We met with three less áctives. One brother, fresh dude from Thailand, gave us noodles that were delicious but spicy as crap. They all went well and it was just a cool day. Saturday we were in Wuppertal as a district and did a street thing with like a board setup and stuff. It was fun. Then we had District Meeting. That night we met with a member that cuts the missionaries hair. So he gave us haircuts, and we ate.

Sunday was good as usual. Always chill. And then today we´re probably going shopping in Düsseldorf.

Anyways, things are going sweet here. I love Solingen. I really hope no funny stuff gets pulled this week with transfers. With all the new missionaries no one really knows what will happen haha. We´ll see though. 

Love you guys! I hope everyone has a great week!!

Tschus

Elder Brown