Meine Familie,
Meine gute ich bin hier! I officially made it through my first week in Germany, and already have some great experiences under my belt. Kaufbueren is a great town, not very touristy and very German. At least I think its very German. The members here are really nice and very patient with my lack of German. And anyone who can speak English always speaks English with me. They love to speak English here its hilarious.
We have an investigator, Luciana Beudner, who had a really hard childhood and it makes me really grateful for not only my loving parents and siblings, but all the love I have from my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. What a great blessing that is. I hope I have done a good job at returning the love that all of you have given me.
The first day was pretty ridiculous. I've never been that fatigued and tired in my whole life. I got two hours of sleep on the plane and my last night in the MTC we pulled an all nighter so I was dyin! After we landed, they put us right on the train to do some contacting. It was really fun and a lot less scary than I thought it would be. I think Elder Walking Eagle and I got lucky though. We first talked to an old Lady who was pretty easy to understand. And then we talked to a Bulgarian lady who spoke about as much German as we did so that was fun.
We stayed in the Hotel Hausstein our first night and I can honestly say it was the best nights sleep I've ever had! To put it simply, I was out!
The next morning we met our companions and said our goodbyes pretty quick. It was wider to leave my MTC family, but I think all of us were ready for the next chapter in our missions so it wasn't too sad. Besides, we'll all see each other again throughout the Mish.
My companion's name is Elder Hartmann. He's from Switzerland and has been the perfect trainer for my personality I think. He helps me with my German and I help him with his English, so that's fun. He's pretty chill, which is such a relief in this first part of my mission to have a companion that isn't too intense. We have a similar sense of humor, which as you know is pretty important to me. We have some good laughs, which I think is important in this work for the sake of keeping spirits up.
Our area is pretty spread out--about an hour or so in each direction. We have a hideous little car that makes a sound very similar to the Elantra when it accelerates. Good stuff.
The members I've met so far are really great. They really enjoy having the missionaries over I think. On the second day we visited Schwester Müller Cladiwa for lunch, a really sweet lady who kinda reminds me of Buffy. On Friday we helped Bruder Rotter put up some cupboards. It was awesome because it was just like the time we helped Grandpa put up his cupboards in the garage. Good times. After we were done he fed me my first real Bavarian meal--some big pretzels, weisswurst with sweet mustard, which was delicious, and my first Beer (non-alcoholic of course). Not gonna lie, the beer tasted awful, but I was happy to have it for the sake of German nostalgia.
We have a variety of interesting investigators. My favorite is Oliver Friedrich. He's a great example of someone who doesn't have the appearance of a typical golden investigator, but has the light of Christ in them. He's really into heavy metal and his apartment looks like a shrine to death metal and goth. The guy has long greasy hair and piercings, and when he switches to English he swears a lot. But he's an amazingly nice guy, growing testimony of the gospel. He has a sincere desire to change. He prayed for us last time we met with him and it was really powerful. After he kinda had a "did I just say that" moment. It was really cool to share that with him.
I'm also really excited that I get to be here to see an investigators baptism next month. His name is Franz Labuda, an older polish gentlemen who I've had the privilege of teaching once so far with Elder Hartmann.
On Thursday we talked to the Hepfner family for the first time and unfortunately the last time. It's unbelievably frustrating to see such a nice family have the truth right in front of them and be unwilling to even give it a chance. All part of the work I guess. Fangen wir an.
On Saturday we wanted to try somewhere new so we went to this little village just outside of Kaufbeuren. It was crazy because the place was more Catholic than Provo is Mormon. Every door we knocked on, we got "Es tut mir leid, Ich bin Catolisch" over and over again. It was outa control! Elder Hartmann said to me "You always here that Bavaria is totally catholic but this is the first time I've ever really experienced it.
My first Sunday here was a pretty interesting experience. I had to introduce myself and say a few words in sacrament meeting. I had thought out in my head what I was going to say and the correct way to say it in German so I wasn't that nervous. Then when I got up there I totally slaughtered it haha. I looked out at all the members and they gave me this look like "Awww poor Elder." It was really cool to be in a sacrament meeting all in German though. A testimony builder really. Just showed me that the church is the same every where, and that the church is true everywhere. I told the ward when I introduced myself that while I was in the MTC, the German speaking branch was the biggest in the MTC, and I know that the reason is because the Lord's work is succeeding in Germany and in all of Europe. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending me here and allowing me to be part of his work in this beautiful part of the world with these wonderful people.
Take care everyone. Love you always!
-Andy
