A New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I hope everyone was able to have a fun and safe New Years! As for me,
I enjoyed over an hour of fireworks on the roof of my apartment! It
was heaven for me, and I was so happy that I didn’t miss a second year in a row. There were a few of the fireworks that were just exploding 10 or 15 feet away, and so at one point we had to move to the other side of the building.  The other elders were able to overnight for that, and then the following day we were able to meet up for a catholic mass, which was quite different from what I’m used to, but quite cool as well.

I went on a mini split this week with Elder Jensen again because on
our split a few weeks ago we met a super cool woman on the bus! As I
got on the bus with my Christmas tree that I got for free, she was
laughing about it and we struck up a great conversation. She told us
how she was alone for the holidays with her boys, and so we asked if
she wanted a visit. Well, this week we visited her on the 31st and we
had dinner and kind of had a base lesson. So, she may be working with
the other elders, but she is officially a new investigator! Neat
right?

On the mini split a few days ago, we went by on a member that hasn’t
come to church for a while, and I had the feeling to talk to a guy
that was walking our way. I was a little nervous since he seemed busy
and his kids were running around, so I contacted him asking him about
the family. He then called his little boys back, and told us how happy
he was that we contacted him! He had seen missionaries all the time,
but was never sure if we spoke German, and he always wanted to know
what it is that we do. I asked if we could talk for a few minutes, and
so we walked to a park and told him about the restoration and
explained why it does matter which church you join. One of the most
prepared Germans I think I have ever met!

I’ve gotta go, but I hope everyone has a great week!

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!

Gearing up for Christmas

Tuesday really set the week up to be a good one with a solid zone
training all about Christmas and the new Christmas initiative. It got
us all very excited and motivated to get out there and work and find
some people. I got a fun post card from the Nowaks as well, so if
you’re reading this, Vielen dank, ich vermisse euch!

That night we did a lot of finding near the Christmas market here in
Offenbach, and we had a lot of really positive and uplifting contacts
that got us all excited for the Christmas season. Something cool was
that we contacted one of the people in a stand at the market and she
wanted a Romanian book of mormon, so we took it by the next day for
her and she was super happy.

Something really different happened this week. One of our
investigators grandmas died, and we had the funeral at the church. We
sang nearer my god to thee, and it was really nice. During the
service, it was just so obvious to me that there was a life before
this one as well as one after this one. This life is too short and too
meaningful to go to waste and have no point once we die. It was just a
nice realization.

I had a split this week in Frankfurt and we did some dooring, which is
my least favorite method of finding, BUT it went great. We ended up
talking to two people on the doorstep for about 20 minutes a piece.
Both of them knew us, and both said that we could meet another time. I
can’t tell you how refreshing that is to hear.

Because of the Christmas markets here in the area, there have been a
lot more Americans in the area, which has been a lot of fun. Its always
fun to just get a little taste from home. Americans are pretty cool
people I guess :)

Well, things have been really working up to Christmas, which has been
really fun. Im excited to see what comes from it. I hope to be able to
report to you all some awesome miracles soon! I wish you all a great
week, and to stay warm!

Winter is coming!

I can’t believe how fast this week rolled by! I guess it was since this
week was a lot fuller. On Tuesday we met with a guy that wants to meet
with us and work together in the community and do service, as well as
help his friends learn more about our church when they want to meet
and ask questions. He’s on a trip right now, so it should be fun when
he gets back! We have a transfer coming up soon, and everyone seems to
think I’m leaving, so we will see if I even get to be a part of this
cool teaching experience.

Later that day we got to hear and see President Ballard from the
twelve apostles! He was holding a conference here for all of the ward
councils on how they can help more people come into the church, and
all of us were invited. It was really neat to see him, and he had a
lot of cool insights and I really hope he inspired the wards here to
work more with us.

Later on in the week we got to work with Andy and his family, so we
are going to begin the lessons this week and work towards baptism. I’m
really excited to see what happens with them, because Andy is a really
strong member and loves sharing his testimony while we are there. He’s
a great example for his family.

Sundays are always the busiest days at church! Everyone always wants
something from us or needs to talk to us at the very moment that
everyone else is trying to do the very same thing. It’s kind of funny.
Everybody says that Sunday is the most relaxing day of the week for
them, but I can’t even imagine that anymore. It was nice though,
because yesterday we were busy from the moment church ended, until the
time we had to go in for the night. It was nice being busy and needed,
and it felt good to serve the people that couldn’t come to church.

We had our fist snow last night, so winter really is coming! Hard to
believe that 2015 is almost over!! Its nuts, but that’s life for you I
suppose. Have a good week and stay safe everyone!