Germany Week 102

Hey Mom!

This week was pretty good. We ended up setting a baptismal date with a guy so that was great fun. It was a little weird knowing that there was no way I was going to be there for it, but hey, the work must go on. Also on Sunday a less active we've been working with came to church and he had an appointment with the bishop. Afterward he went up to Elder Davis and informed him he's not actually baptized. So they should have an appointment with him on Saturday and they'll probably set a baptismal date with him too. Super exciting. Bonn is such an awesome area. I'll definitely miss it.

Well...yeah... See you on Thursday!!!

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany week 101

Dear Mom,

The end is coming so fast and it just makes everything weird. As mushed together as the weeks have always been I feel like this last week was even worse. I really have no idea what happened. Um... Let's see.... Probably the best was on Monday, we were able to meet with C and Sa, two of the Neubekehrte and we had a way spiritual time with them. They're great. I'm going to miss Persians.

Also, on Sunday Sa and Sh got the Priesthood which was epic!!! Yay!!!

Um... Sorry I'm terrible at this writing emails thing.

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 100

Dear Mum,

This week wasn't all that exciting. More or less the same as every other week. We had a few appointments, but most of them fell through. Ah, well, there's always next week. Most of the Neubekehrte are doing pretty well, though I'm still worried about that family. They're still struggling a little bit, but they're at least doing a little better than before.

The only really noteworthy thing this week happened on Saturday. We went by on a man we doored into a few weeks ago, who said we could come back sometime. When he opened the door, he informed us that he was not going to be able to be converted, but he would talk to us anyway, so we did. We ended up talking for quite a while about various topics, but in the end he ended up being right and politely refused to take a copy of The Book of Mormon, though he thanked us for the conversation. As I walked away from that house though, I had the overwhelming feeling of love for that man and I felt the Spirit tell me that The Lord had a plan for that man and that I had just played a part in that plan. It was such an amazing feeling and I hope I can have it again in these next few weeks.

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 99

Dear Mom,

Sounds like your Mother's Day was pretty good. Freut mich*. Or as the Persians would say, Hoshalam. (I don't know how close that actually is, but it's close enough.) Well, you already know basically everything about my week and even everything about my yesterday because you talked to me toward the end of the day. But that was great talking to you. Um... Yeah... See you in fourish weeks?

Love you more!
Isaac

* I am pleased

Germany Week 98

Hi Mom,

The week was pretty boring. Everyone we tried to meet with ended up cancelling on us, so that was fun. But we did talk to some cool people, so we'll see what happens there. Probably the coolest thing that happened was our appointment with H. He's seemed a bit stressed with everything he's been trying to help the Neubekehrte, so it was way cool to have a nice spiritual discussion with him that was able to help him and not just have him translating for someone else.

Yep, the rest of the week was pretty boring, but y'all should have a nice week.

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 97

Dear Mom,

This week was okay. I was a little sick the last half of the week, so that was fun. It wasn't that bad though, so life mostly just went on as usual.

Turns out those one Persians live in Much, which means it takes forever to get to Bonn and the buses don't run very early, so the earliest they could get to church is an hour or two after it starts. Hopefully we'll still meet with them sometime this week though and then we can figure something out. Also we found out on Sunday that Shahab's brother-in-law has read all of The Book of Mormon and apparently has a lot of questions, so hopefully we'll be able to work something out with that family too. Should be awesome.

Other than that, nothing too exciting happened this... Yeah...

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 96

Dear Mum,

I have no idea what happened this week. Even though neither I nor my companion got transfered, the beginning of the new transfer definitely made things a little weird. First we had to help the other Elders move because their trains left from Bonn, so that took some time. We also spent a day going up to Düsseldorf to do some things to start the transfer off. Great fun.

Leider, we didn't get to meet with Sh's family this week, but we're still hoping for sometime soon. Also, a different Persian family wanted to come to church on Sunday, but they took the wrong bus or something, but they're still interested, so hopefully that works out. We also met with Z and R. That was awesome.

Um... yeah...

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 95

Dear Mum,

This week was pretty great. Sh- and Sa- did indeed end up getting baptized and that was an awesome experience. They were both so ready. Throughout the whole program Sa- kept thanking us and then after his confirmation on Sunday he continued to do so. Sh- also invited his sister and her family and they all really seemed to enjoy it and feel the spirit. They came to the baptism and the confirmation and stayed for all of church and they seem really interested, so hopefully stuff happens with that.

Yay! From left to right: me, Sh-, H-, Sa-, Elder Davis

In other news this week, transfers happened. Nothing too exciting there. I'm staying with Elder Davis here in Bonn, like we thought. It was pretty funny though because most of the people in the district thought I was going home, so when they found out I was staying they were a little confused. So that was amusing.

Well, I can't think of anything else exciting, so have a great week!

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany week 94

Dear Mum,

This week was pretty swell. General Conference is the best. There was so much in it that I don't even remember what else happened this week. No, I think I remember some things, but Conference was super great. What's more two way super awesome investigators were there. Also a random guy showed up and then we talked with him and set up another appointment, so that's cool.

Anyway, speaking of those two investigators, I don't think I've told you yet because life has been so crazy with other things lately, but they're hopefully getting baptized on Saturday. They're way awesome and are Persian, just like the last two. Serving in Bonn has sure made me appreciate Elder Kearon's talk. I love that man. And I love Persians. They're the best.

Well, that's all I really remember from this week, but let's face it, that's enough stuff for the next month or two, so yeah. Y'all have a nice week now.

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 93

Dear Mum,

This week was kind of a blur. I feel like it just gets more and more like that as the weeks go by. They're all basically the same anyway.

The best part of the week was definitely Sunday though. In Sacrament Meeting the bishop asked Z and R to come up and bear their testimonies. So they came up and bore their testimonies in Persian and then H translated it into German. Their testimonies were pretty simple, but the Spirit was super strong, it was awesome. Probably my favorite part was when Z was talking and talked about how when we first asked him to read and pray about The Book of Mormon he was mostly just a little weirded out, but then he did it and he received an answer and now knows that it's true. Couldn't ask for anything more than that. Then after church Bishop then interviewed Z for the priesthood and H gave him a white shirt and tie so he can pass the sacrament and stuff. It's so exciting!

Anyway, that was my week.
Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 92

Hi Mom!

From left to right: R, Z, H, me, Elder Davis

Well, our baptisms went off more or less without a hitch, but the one the Sisters had was a little more interesting. Actually the baptism wasn't that interesting, but the confirmation was. You see about two minutes before Sacrament Meeting started he wasn't there, so the sisters called him and he informed them that he was trying to come, but the trains weren't working properly and he can't speak German, so he wasn't totally sure he what was going on,but he was going to get there as soon as possible. So they let bishop know, and bishop being the boss he is, and having the last talk of the meeting, started stalling at the end of his talking to give G more time to get there. He did finally get there and they confirmed him just after Sacrament Meeting should have ended, so we ended up having three awesome confirmations.

Same stuff, but with the Sisters and G. 

 You can probably figure out which ones those are.

Also, after the baptism we met with one of the other Persians that came to the baptism and we set a baptismal date with him, so hopefully that will also happen in a few weeks. Also, on Sunday two other Persians, that are members, brought their friends and we'll probably teach them sometime this week, so that should be way cool. We should get a Persian Branch here in no time. We just have to wait until enough of them have the Melchizedek Priesthood and then it will totally happen.

That was the highlight of my week. I can't think of anything else.

Y'all have a nice week now, ya hear?

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 91

Dear Mum,

It was mostly a good week this week. We had some great lessons with R and Z, two of the Persians, this week and they seem excited about their baptism this Saturday. Naturally we are as well. The whole baptism is probably also going to make this week full to brimming with all of the preparations we have to do for it. Sadly this week we also found out that for various reasons the two other Persians that we're going to get baptized on Saturday no longer want to. We're hoping to still be able to meet with them and help them get there a little later though, they just want a little more time to prepare and what not. But the good news is that I really feel like they're earnestly seeking the truth and when that's true, The Lord will guide their path, just as he has done before.

The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. We talked to a lot of people, including a few crazy ones that told us that the bible proves that NASA didn't actually go to the moon and things like that. Life as a missionary is always exciting, that's for sure. Well, that's about all I can think of. Have a nice week!

Love you more!
Isaac

Germany Week 90

Dear Mum,

This week was pretty dandy, though a bit stressful along the way. We had a million things that had to all be done in the mornings throughout the week and that started with transfers. My new companion is Elder Davis. He's from Payson. He's been out for about a year now. (Fun side note about transfers that I don't think I mentioned last week, this transfer they moved the Zone Leaders to Duisburg, which means I totally get to go on a split there, and see a bunch of people, including, hopefully, one of the investigators I had, who should be get baptized this month!)

The next thing we had on a morning was an appointment with some Persians and an appointment at the Auslanderbehörde. So Elder Davis on his second day in Bonn got to take over the area and go to that appointment with one of the Euskirchen Elders while I went with the other to get my Visa extended. Everything worked out there and now I just have to wait for them to send the hard copy in a few weeks.

Then, the next day or so we met with some other Persians. They're all doing super great and are really excited about their baptisms. They're the coolest people. Sunday was Stake Conference, which meant that everyone had to go to Düsseldorf and even though it's almost a two hour trip everybody came! Well, F and N didn't, but that's because they ended up being sick. Anyway, after Stake Conference the Stake President wanted to meet all of the recent converts and investigators, so we had a little meeting. Probably about half of the people there were Persian, and about half were from the Gemeinde Bonn. 'Twas awesome.

That was the week!

Love you more!
Isaac

Germany Week 89

Dear Mum,

I do indeed live in Bonn now, but I'm not sure what my address is... Well, it's Rosenhain 16, Bonn, but I've got no idea on the zip code thingy.  As for my visa, that's a little crazy.  I should be having an appointment to get that done sometime this week (specifically Thursday) to extend it, but this week is also insane.  You see, we got transfer calls on Saturday and Elder Coombs got transferred, so have to deal with that as well as some other random meetings.  And of course all of those things have to be in the morning, which also happens to be the only time of day our Persian friends can meet with us, so hopefully that all comes together.

As for all of the people that we're working with, they're doing great.  Two of them, a mother and father of four adorable children, accepted the challenge to be baptized last week when we met with them.  We were originally thinking sometime in April, but they more or less said that that was too far away, so now they should be getting baptized on the 19th, which means between us and the sisters there will probably be five people in Bonn getting baptized on that day.  Should be super awesome.  Also two of our other Persians that are also getting baptized that day asked us if it was okay to bring someone to church, and when we assured them it was, they brought another guy on Sunday.  These people are the coolest. 

Anyway, love you more!

Isaac

Germany Week 88

Dear Mum,

Well, that's awkward. I totally sent you an email last week. Something weird happened and I wasn't sure it sent, but then my iPad assured me it had, so I thought that it was fine. Guess not. Hope everyone else got their emails... Sorry.

Now I just feel guilty and can't remember what happened this week. Uh... Our Neubekehrt, C, is a boss. He brought like four people to church last week and we taught them all this week. They're all way cool and Persian, so we can't understand anything they say, so we have to have one of our Persian members, H, there every time we meet. Then this Sunday they all came to church and what's more C brought another friend of his, who we're also going to meet with this week. #BonnisCanaan #IlovePersians

Love,
Isaac

Drachenburg! (And Bonn in the background.)

P.S. Some pictures to make up for the iPad failing?

Drachenfels! (And not my companion)

Germany Week 87

No Letter from Isaac this week.

Germany Week 86

Dearest Mum,

I feel like this week is best summed up in a scripture I read this morning, namely Ether 2:7, where the Lord tells the people that He's not wanting them to stay where they are in the wilderness, but to go to the promised land, because Bonn is the promised land. And it's pretty much just because the members are the best ever. Yesterday morning we were leaving Geminderat, which we had right before church, and I was saying hi to people when one of our Neubekehrts, C, walked up to me a little stressed because he had brought a family with him, but they only speak Persian and, while he speaks good enough German, he didn't feel comfortable translating and he couldn't find H, the guy who usually translates. But that's just because he was in Geminderat with us, so then we solved all that and he helped them out and then made an appointment out for us to go help him teach them. (Not entirely sure how that works, since we literally cannot communicate at all. From what I hear about the other Persians that recently got baptized, basically Hamed just teaches them and then we help Hamed make sure he taught them everything.) So that should be epic.

Anyway, the rest of Sacrament Meeting was also epic because we had the Testimonies in literally four different mother tongues. Super cool. I feel like other stuff happened this week, but the stuff with C and H was the coolest so it kind of blotted out everything else. But I'm still out on a limb with my Visa and with those other referrals, so yeah. But hey, Church is true and members are awesome and can make anywhere into the Promised Land. But especially Bonn.

Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 85

Dear Mum,

My week was pretty good. I have not yet received my extension, but when I finished anmelding they told me they would send me a letter telling me everything I need to do and need to have, so hopefully that will come soon and be able to be done quickly, but we'll see. Thankfully German Bureaucracy tends to be faster than American bureaucracy. As for my address it's:

Saarstraße 84
53879 Euskirchen
Deutschland

But unless you're going to send me anything in the next week (if that) it doesn't really matter because we're moving to Bonn. We got the okay to move to the new appartment on the 15th of February, so we'll probably move a few days after that. We'll have to talk to the Tech Elders to see exactly when we'll be moving, but it should be happening soon and then we'll actually live where we work! What's more, we'll live only about 10 minutes away from the church (which is indeed in Bonn) which will be a nice change for the hour or so it takes now. Of course it's not too bad anyway because church starts at 10:00.

Anyway, the week was good. Probably the coolest part was on Tuesday when we recieved two random referals. One of them was a German Forgein exchange student in America who said that he wants to get baptized when he gets back. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get in contact with either of them, but that's what this next week is for. The rest of the week was pretty bland. I can't specifically remember anything that happened, but I'm sure it was exciting.

Love you more!
Isaac

Germany Week 84

Dear Mummzypoo,

My week was pretty good. Bonn is super awesome, though it's a little weird because we live in Euskirchen right now, which means that we have to travel an hour or so everyday in both directions to get to our actual area and back. But next transfer we should be actually moving to Bonn and then the other elders will keep working in Euskirchen. It's pretty crazy though, because just recently they made the official splitness between the Bonn ward and the Group in Euskirchen. (They're hoping to make that into an actual Branch soon and then it will be even crazier because currently all of the ward leaders are in both groups.) But, yeah, Bonn is super great and miracles are happening here, so I'm excited.

My new companion's name is Elder Coombs. He's from South Weber, which breaks my streak of having companions not from Utah. Elder Frickey is indeed still in Mainz and almost assuredly will be until he goes home. Anyway, Elder Coombs has been in Bonn for awhile and has been on his mission for a little under 18 months so this could very possibly be the only transfer I serve with him. Schauen wir mal.

So anyway, yes, Elder Newman called sometime this week and officially made it so I will be going home in June. I haven't actually gotten my visa extended, but that should hopefully be happening this week and if not then the week after. It sounds like the Ausländer Büro here in Euskirchen is fairly reasonable, so it should be good. Aber, na ja, that should be what's going down, so I should be home in June. In related news, I'm pretty sure that means I broke the system and should be having five times to call home, but that last one will be way weird because I'll basically be home for it.

Anyway,
Love you more!!!
Isaac

Germany Week 83

Dear mum,

My week was pretty good. I found I'm getting transferred to Bonn, or more specifically Euskirchen, but I've been told that soon after I get there they'll probably move us to Bonn and the other elders that live there will be still in charge of Euskirchen. That could make the whole situation with getting my Visa extended even more complicated since I'll be moving twice within the next few weeks. We'll see how that goes.

As for the rest of my week, it was pretty good. We had a lesson planned with R, that less active, but it fell through, but he was able to make it to church, so that's totally okay. Our appointment with H, that investigator from the sisters, also fell through, but we are out another appointment, so hopefully that will work out too. On Friday we had an appointment with another investigator, K, and we thought it might be our last because he hasn't been doing much, so it was kind of a make it or break it lesson. It ended up being the most spiritual lesson I've ever had with him and he now seems like he really understands why we're there and what he needs to do, and he seems to want to do it. I'm excited for him. I'm going to miss this city, but Bonn should be great too.

Also, that was my week. Love you more!!! Isaac

Germany Week 82

Dear Mom,

Anyway, this could be awkward, because I'm currently trying to extend my visa, and if I do I'll be going home six weeks after that, but if not then I'll be coming home on the 14th. The problem is I now have an appointment to get that done, but it's for the sixteenth of February, which might be too late, and as transfers are this week it's very possible I won't be in Mainz when that appointment comes along. So we'll see what happens with all of that on Saturday. I should know for sure what's happening fairly soon though.

This week was pretty good though. Probably the best moments were on the weekend. On Saturday we met with a less active and at the end after Elder Frickey and I bore our testimonies he asked if he could bear his too. Well of course we let him and it was very simple, but very powerful. 'Twas awesome. Then on Sunday after church we decided to go by on a potential the sisters gave us the other day and what do you know, he was home. What's more he let us right in and after we talked to him a bit about The Book of Mormon we were able to make out another appointment.

Well, that was the highlights of my week.

Love you more!
Isaac

Germany Week 81

Sup, mum?

Well, this week was a week. Specifically the new year! The 31st was crazy, as to be expected. At midnight the people in the street right in front of us light off so many fireworks that about a minute into it we couldn't see anything the smoke wegen.(because of the smoke)

Apart from that, the week was fairly uninteresting. I can't really think of anything else that happened, though I found out I will probably coming home on June 2 instead of the 14th of April. I'll probably actually find out for sure in not too long. In fact you might know before me because they're better at sending the parents the flight itinerary than they are the missionaries. So there you go.

Love you more!
Frohes Neues!