Week Nineteen

Greetings! (Sean Connery voice)

I'm so grateful that today is P-Day. I'm not going to lie. This week was straight up busy, hard, and really disappointing. Last week Elder Thorley and I had made a huge goal: to teach 20 lessons in one week. It doesn't sound that hard haha, but it's really an accomplishment in the Germany Berlin mission right now to teach 20 lessons in a week. Three a day really doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it's not the easiest thing to do. Let me tell you about my week, and I'll keep a lessons tally. Here we go.

Last Monday was way cool! For P-Day, the zone leaders here in Hannover, the Elders in Nienburg, the Elders in Hildesheim, and us (basically our district) took a little trip to Marineberg Schloss...which is a castle. No big, just the residence of the late king of Hannover. It was super, super cool and we took a couple of tours through it and it was just really interesting to hear about how, why and for what reason this castle was built. It was especially cool to hear about how the castle functioned during WWII. It was super hot that day though, and incredibly humid. Hannover is just a humid place. It's really uncomfortable a lot of the time haha. Oh well. Our P-Day was really cool. After P-Day was over, we tried to go by on a couple of contacts to get some lessons in. Nothing. We resorted to visiting a Polish lady who lives in an old folks home. She's super nice and loves us and we always play Parcheesi after our lessons. I won this time. (One point for America). On our way home, we had a really intense conversation with this African guy who was kind of trying to prove something about how he knows the Bible and Jesus better. We just let him talk and bore testimony haha. It turned into a lesson though.

Lesson count: 2

Tuesday was alright...but it could have been better. We started off by helping a family set up some IKEA furniture. That was annoying haha. It took way too long and the stupid IKEA picture instructions were frustrating, but service really is the best part of being a missionary. It was annoying while we were doing it, but it felt way good after. Sorry I'm complaining too much haha. Three of our most solid appointments fell out Tuesday though. That's why it was hard. For lunch, Elder Thorley made paprika schnitzel which is just pork cuts with red peppers and a cream sauce. Way good. And filling. After lunch we met with a German lady who believes that God is nature and his energy and all this weird voodoo hippie stuff. But she's making progress. After her, we must have had a lesson on the street somewhere, because that's what our planners say haha. I don't remember it though. After all this, we had a first appointment with an Indian guy. He was a little defensive at first, but it ended up being a really good discussion. Unfortunately we got the classic line "I'll call you if I have questions or I want to meet". Oh well, we'll see.

Lesson count: 6

Wednesday was Zone conference! 50 missionaries sitting in one room, all wearing suit jackets, it's 95 outside and crazy humidity......I loved it haha. Everyone was so hot and tired but there were a lot of really great Themas (lessons/workshops) given. And lunch was incredible. It was catered by some members. It was like a sausages wrapped in ham with cheese sauce over it. All cooked in a big pan like enchiladas. Oh man. Also we had Kartoffeln Puree (mashed potatoes) and veggies. It was so good, but I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Anyways, Zone Conference was sick. After that, we tried really hard to go by on some contacts and get some lessons, but nothing. We then met a sister about her getting a patriarchal blessing. After her, we had to go to volleyball with the JTA's (young single adults) That was fun.

Hannover Zone Missionaries

Lesson Count: 7

We started off Thursday with study, like usual. I'm currently reading in the New Testament. I like it a lot. It's really fast pace and just like every verse is a scripture mastery. It's nice. One of the ward members then took us out to lunch. He's way cool, and the guy's a saint. He spends literally all day just going by on less actives and other members and making sure they're doing good. That's literally what he does all day. He took us to get Döners. So good. After that, we went by on an African lady who's been kinda off and on investigating for a while. We teach a lot of Africans. It went well. We spent the rest of the day Dorf-hopping (traveling by train between different small dorfs or villages) We went by on an investigator family, where we talked about the importance of reading the Scriptures and becoming 'bekannt' with them. After them we went by on a sister who is preparing for a mini mission. We just talked with her about missionary stuff and taught her how to ask good questions. The family she's living with made us Abendsbrot! So basically, in America you eat a small lunch and a big dinner, but in Germany, you eat a giant lunch and just like sandwiches for dinner. I got to eat raw meat spread....which was cool.

Lesson count: 10

We ate so much on Friday. The member family we were visiting made us delicious Rouladen, which is cow meat with a pickle and onion wrapped inside and cooked. Kind of like pot roast. It was delicious. We ate it with potatoes and Rotkhol (red cabbage), my favorite. For desert we ate this flan thing and Eis (ice cream). So now it's around 1 in the afternoon and we have until 7 so get some lessons in. We spent the whole 6 hours walking around, going by on contacts, trying to door, trying to get anything. But nothing. It was really hard. We wasted 6 hours and nobody could or would meet with us. Luckily, on the way to our next member appointment, we talked with the old Russian lady. and for some bizarre and odd reason, I had a Russian Book of Mormon in my backpack. God really does work in strange ways. She was so happy to meet us and so outgoing and thought we were awesome. We taught her a lesson right on the street. It was a miracle, because we had this goal and really wanted to reach it. So after that we went by on a member family. They made us Pfankuchen which is like thin pancakes. We ate them with Nussli (Nuttella), applesauce, and jam. It was really good. We also ate them with cheese. for desert, more Eis. Fun was had by all. We played Kniffle after as usual.

Lesson Count : 13

Saturday was cool. For lunch, an investigator (from Spain) made us food because Elder Thorley and Elder Carlson are leaving. She made beans, Turkey, wurstchen (sausage) and kebab. Kind of a weird combinations, but it was good. She's so sweet and nice haha. We read from the Book of Mormon with her after. Saturday, unfortunately, was kind of another wasted day. Just everything falls out when you think it'll go well. It's really hard. So that night we ate at an investigator's house. He is awesome and his wife cooks really well, but he needs to get baptized! He already knows everything is true, he's just waiting on his wife to start believing with him. It's sad because he's such a cool guy. They made us Spargel again (big white asparagus). They made Spargel Suppe, Spargel with really good smoked ham and a cheese sauce, potatoes and schnitzel. Wow it was so good but it was so much food. For desert we had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry pudding. We shared with him the road to Damascus talk from President Uchtdorf. It went well.

Lesson count: 15

So it's Sunday and it's looking like we're not going to reach our goal, unless we can get 5 lessons on Sunday haha. We had a lesson with one brother in church because he came. Church went well. Elder Carlson gave with last testimony in to the ward. After church we went to a member's home to eat. They grilled for us. Wursts and other assorted meat. It was way good. We had a good spiritual thought. After them, we went home teaching with a younger guy in the ward. We went by on two families and had good discussions. That day was hard though.

Lesson count: 18

So we almost reached our goal. In the end though, a goal like that is just numbers. We're not supposed to focus on the numbers, but rather on the people behind the numbers. We could get 20 lessons in a week, but not make any progress with investigators or help to build the ward and it'd be a failure of a week. I learned a lot this week. It was so hot and humid and I just sweat 24/7. It's not cool. But it went by fast because we were busy and diligent.

That's really interesting that you talked about Uchtdorf's talk in High Priest group, because we used the talk a lot this week haha. In German, it's called 'Du bist dem Hernn Wichtig' which means you are important to the Lord. It is such a good talk, and it's really good to share with less active members. I like bringing up Moses 1:39 along with it. It's like, our Heavenly Father is so powerful and so great, but he puts all his effort into us. He has so much un-comprehensible love for us, and every waking moment He spends is for our eternal salvation. I think that's so cool.

So the week was hard and hot, but I'm still doing good. I wanted to maybe buy slacks today because all my pants are too big for me, but it's Pfingstag today, which means all the stores are closed because it's a holiday. So I don't know what we're going to do haha. Oh well, we''ll figure something out.

Don't worry about sending a package off too fast, it can really wait. But I'd love it if you could send me more family pictures! Thanks for the recipes mom! I haven't made mac n cheese yet, but I probably will soon. 

There's not much more to say! I love and miss you all more than you know. Do good, and be happy.

Love, Elder Pollard