Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, and I hope everyone is
ready to take on the New Year that's coming up. Can't believe how fast
it has come! It's so weird thinking that in just a few days it will
be 2016! But, this year has helped me grow a lot. I'm so glad I got to
spend the entire year of 2015 as a missionary for the Lord.

Christmas was fantastic, and in Germany they celebrate Christmas for 3
days!! Christmas Eve we had a fun Christmas service at the church and
then we went and had a wonderful time at the Ziegner family's house.
We laughed, talked, had some really good food, and then I watched the
family play Mario kart. It was super fun because they are the type of
family that makes you feel like their own. Also I got told by the 9
year old that she thinks I'm very handsome haha. How funny!

Christmas Day we just took it easy. We slept in a bit, which was
heavenly, we opened presents, and we went over to a member’s house
where we played skipbo! We even got to watch big hero 6, which was
pretty fun. The weird thing was that it wasn't weird watching a movie.
I loved it! Not to mention we Skyped our parents, which was needless
to say my highlight. That, the movie, and chasing the cats with a toy
helicopter.

Second Christmas we were invited over to two families houses, and both
of them stuffed us to the brim. I won't lie; I am sick and tired of
getting chocolate!! One member gave us a half kilogram Santa! There's
no way I can eat that! So I have probably put on a few pounds
unfortunately, but it's not like you can escape the holidays
unscathed.

It was almost like we had a week off, it was heavenly! But, gotta kick
things back into gear and finish off strong. This week we have one
more holiday where we get to go in early, so...New Years. Because we
live on the 7th floor I will actually get to see a decent firework
show this year, and the other elders are overnighting. Right before
that we are going to a catholic mass, so it will be a really fun
night.

Thanks for all of the Christmas cards and love you sent my way, I hope
you all have a fun and safe New Years! Well, I'll see hopefully all of
you next year!

Baptism!

Wednesday Dagmar was baptized in Herne and the service was great! None of us really took any photos because it really wasn’t very big. I didn’t
know her either, so don’t be mad!  It was really small but nice, and
a member brought her friend and we might start teaching him the
lessons after Christmas! How cool would that be?

Being new here, I wanted to get on the wards good side, so I asked the
bishop if there was anybody he wanted us to call or go by on. He
immediately gave us a name and I called her a few days later and she
was really glad that I called. She talked to me for like 30 minutes,
but she was more just frustrated that nobody else had called before
me. Well, sorry! Anyways we went by and the spirit was there, but I
think she just feels too hurt by a bunch of random stuff, so I think
we are going to turn her over to the ward to work with.

One really cool thing that happened last week, was that as we were
going to her house we had to take the bus and the bus driver contacted
us because we were speaking English and he lived in England for 12
years. We ended up just staying on the bus so we could talk with him,
and he was super impressed and really liked us. We gave him our card
and said he would check it out.

As we were doing our studies, the other elders ran into him and he
said that he knew me! How cool is that that he ran into the other
elders and remembered my name!

That’s pretty much it, I'm sorry this is a short letter..Koln was my
favorite part of the week, and I think I wrote about that last week.
Anyways, take care, and have a very Merry Christmas!

Kevin

First week in Gelsenkirchen

Currently I'm on the train going back from Köln! What a fun PDay! We
were only there for a few hours, but I got to see so many things that
I have fond memories of. As you can imagine, the city hasn't really
changed in one year, but a construction project on the Dom was
finished that looked pretty neat. I can't tell you all how happy I was
to be back! It was like coming home! I had quite the fun
time leading around my friends knowing exactly where everything was.

Well, being in a new city has been quite the adventure, and I'm
already making new friends and memories. Gelsenkirchen isn't anything
beautiful, but it's a nice suburban city that has a little bit of a
homey feel to it. What got me excitedis that they have a few
streetcars that run through the city. Right from the start we have
been busy meeting with people which has been really nice.
Most of the people are members, but that's ok, we are going to find
some new people to teach.

Tomorrow we even have a baptism in Herne, the neighboring city,
because we rent a building and don't have a font. I've only met the
lady twice, but she is super nice and she is really ready to be
baptized. It will be exciting, and hopefully a lot of people will
come.

Our apartment is pretty cool, and we live on the seventh floor, which
is the top. And, there is a ladder to get up to the roof, so there's
no way I'm missing this year’s firework show on New Years.

Nothing too big has happened this week, although just yesterday we had
a real big conference with the Düsseldorf zone in Dortmund. What I
realized was that I was there exactly a year ago for last years
Christmas conference. I saw a bunch of my old mission buddies, but I'm
at that point where I don't know anyone anymore, but it was still
pretty fun.

Elder Rogers is my new companion, and he is from Utah, like most of my
companions! So far things are going great, and we have had quite a few
good laughs lately, so things are really looking up.

That's all I've got for this week, everyone is doing well and getting
into the Christmas spirit. Love you all!

Off to Gelsenkirchen

Well I’ve got some bittersweet news, being that I have been transferred
out of Offenbach and into a city called Gelsenkirchen up around
Dortmund and Essen. I don’t really know anything about my new companion
or area, but it should be pretty good! I am just excited to see if
there are some Christmas markets, because those are one of my favorite
things over here. The one in Frankfurt is pretty cool, but I’m excited
to go back up north. I actually leave tomorrow, and I will have to
change trains in Cologne, so I’m super excited to just be in the city
and be in the train station again, it is like a small dream come true.
I have missed that city ever since I left.

It was a good last week though, and we were pretty busy as well. I got
to see some pretty cool things as well as do some fun things. It wasn’t
as hard to say goodbye as I thought, but that doesn’t mean I liked it.

On Tuesday I got to see Andy, and I got to go see his twin baby boys
that were only one day old! They were so cute, and it helped remind me
again of why we are here, and how pure and innocent little children
are. It’s always a humbling experience. The next day we went back and
taught his stepson, who is going to be baptized early next year, and
then his mother. We just began teaching them a week or two ago, but
since Andy is a member, they talk a lot about the church and want to
become members. We just need to take it slow and make sure they
understand everything.

I got to see Greg this week and said goodbye. It was sad because
something just felt different, and it made me sad for him and Ajda. I
just think they need time, but I just want them to choose the right
path and be baptized right now! I think they will come to it again in
the future.

On Saturday we spent a good chunk of time helping Sister Young paint
her house with Aaron our ward mission leader, and we had a fun time
and also had some really good discussions as well. I am so excited for
her to come back to church, I was just bummed I never got to see her
come while I was here. We just talked about very deep things, and I
think the Lord put words in my mouth. I shared a video and by the end
she was teary eyed, and I think it got across to her a lot better than
I did. The spirit is awesome.

Excited to see what this new area brings. It may be a challenge, maybe
not, but the Lord wants me to be there because he knows it is the best
opportunity for me to learn, so hopefully I will figure it out! Thanks
for all of your love, emails, and prayers. Love you all!