Week Ten

FAMILY!

This is my first P-Day in the field! It's pretty exciting stuff!

Here's what's up: I got to Berlin safely on Wednesday, met President Pimental and had some good German food and went street contacting, all in my first night! President P is so awesome! He's super on top of everything going on in the mission from what I can tell. He's a great guy, too. Wednesday we went to Maurplatz (the place of the wall) which was cool. We ate more German food and then had our GOLDEN CONFERENCE (they call the new missionaries here goldens instead of greenies). I was assigned to serve and be trained in Hannover. So it's like a really downtown city where I'm living and working. The city is like amazing. I ride Bahns all day every day, which is a new experience, but I like it a lot. My trainer is Elder Thorley.

(If you look on the blog picture of us at the golden conference, you'll see him. He's sitting to my left.)

 

He's like way legit. He used to be an AP and he's been all sorts of zone leaders and he speaks the language really well. He's a good guy. The travel to Hannover wasn't bad. We took and ICE train from Berlin and it took about 2 hours. I'm all unpacked and just doing work now!

Elder Pollard and Elder Thorley

My first Sunday was interesting. Listening to german and how fast they speak it and trying to understand what everybody is saying is mentally and physically exhausting. I haven't fallen asleep yet, but I've been close. I met a lot of members of the Hannover Gemeinde (ward). I get the feeling that members in Germany are kind of skeptical of new missionaries. I've been told that you have to earn their trust. I plan on doing that. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting. Everybody said it was really good, which makes me happy. I had to break off and speak in English for a part of it, but it was ok. There's a family in the ward that is from America, doesn't speak German, and they love the missionaries, which was such a relief to hear. Until I learned that they're moving back to Phoenix tomorrow, so I only got to meet them once. But they were super cool. So that's how church went!

I've had three eating appointments so far, all of which were really good. The first was on Friday with die Familie Stefan. They're an older couple who feeds the missionaries very Friday, so expect to hear a lot about them. They made some sort of pork cut that tasted a lot like bacon, but it was like a steak, with boiled potatoes with a really good gravy, and sauerkraut with pineapples cooked with it. It was all SO good. But I was still jet-laggy so I didn't really have an appetite. Then, for dinner on Friday, we ate at the Lachheads (the American family that's moving tomorrow). They made chili and it was good. Yesterday, we ate at the Kollmeyers. We had Progresso soup, salad, chicken with tomatoes and cheese cooked on top, boiled potatoes, that Italian potato pasta stuff, and veggies. All the food has been so good. I can't wait for more eating appointments!

AND GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I inherited a baptism. Mark one for Elder Pollard! I got to Hannover on Thursday, and Pia Paschen was baptized on Saturday. Everyone says it counts as a baptism for me because I taught her once, but I don't really feel like it does at all. Anyway, I hope it's a foreshadowing of my mission to come. I am striving for a lot of tangible success.

My apartment address is:

Elder Timothy Pollard

Kirche Jesu Christi

Königsworther Str. 15

30167 Hannover

I'm loving Deutschland and everything is going good!

I Love and miss you all!

Love,

Elder Pollard