Week Twenty-nine

Herro Famiry.

Greetings from the Taj Mahal Restaurant/Internet Cafe in Hof, Germany. This last week was really awesome! I can't believe that this transfer is almost over, too. The time is flying SO fast, I can't even believe it. Sometimes I feel like it's going by too fast. Like I'm missing out on opportunities to learn and progress personally. But it's all good. I don't like to think about the time as a whole (like in regards to two years). Taking it week by week is what works well for me. I love the missionary work.

This last week was jam packed, but at the same time kind of uneventful. I'm going to apologize in advanced if this email is boring. I'm trying to keep them interesting! But let me tell you about my last week.

Montag: Last p-day was cool. Our morning was normal. After emails, we headed to the M's house. We had planned on going to the 'Hofer Volksfest' that day. Basically the San Diego County Fair, but 1/50 of the size and awesomeness. Just kidding, it was super cool. I ate 6 Burger Kings burgers before. On Mondays, they're only 50 cents. Which is dangerous for missionaries. Anyway, we all went to the fest. We rode 4 rides. All pretty normal fair rides. Except for this super shady Rocket ride that brought us super high up, spun us in circles, and then rotated the rocket things we were sitting in, so we were upside down. The whole time, the cables holding us up are making the most terrible noise ever. I thought I was going to die. For the first time in my life I was scared of dying haha. You all would have been so upset if I died in Germany on a 3 Euro Rocket ride. That would have ruined the week. But I had fun. After the fest, we left P-Day early to meet someone. We were supposed to meet in front of a supermarket, but unfortunately, they never showed up. Schade. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, and on our way back, we were spotted by this part-member family eating ice cream. They're super cool. We got free ice cream, and got to have a good little spiritual moment. It was coooool.

Dienstag: Tuesday morning we shopped for groceries. Last week I was on the 'tuna fish-rice-curry ketchup' diet. It's really cheap and apparently it helps lose weight. So the bill for the week was like 10 dollars. Which is always nice. We wet home and ate, and made some important phone calls to try and get in contact with some old investigators and contacts. After calls, we had an appointment with this man named Herr S. (Herr means Mr.) It took forever to find his house/walk to it. He gave us his address over the phone, and we didn't really understand it too well. But after like 45 minutes of walking and looking, we found him. Turns out, he's a super cool old guy who loves to talk. He admitted that he really didn't have interest in finding the truth, even if we were the ones who had it. That was weird to hear, but I'm in super missionary mode and I think everyone should be having these deep thought-provoking questions like is there a God and where do we come from?. Turns out some people just don't think about that or don't care. Anyways, he was really nice and said we could come back whenever we want to talk with him. Maybe we can help him change his opinions. After Herr S., we looked for a referral that F from Hannover (most interesting man in the world) gave me when he heard I was coming to Hof. That only took another hour of walking. We got to his house and his wife answered and said he was out...Schade agian. But at least we have this contact.

Mittwoch: Wednesday was Mission President Interviews! In Leipzig. It was a 2 1/2 hour train ride to get to Leipzig from Hof. We woke up at 4 a.m.....totally worth it. President Kosak is a super awesome person. His wife is, too. I had a good interview. President shined and polished all of the missionaries shoes. I think it was symbolic for washing feet....it was cool. We heard some good workshops and such. I gave the closing prayer and my new Zone Leader said I have awesome German, which is also cool. Vollprima.
 

 The Hohenstein District

It was cool being with my new zone for the first time, and I even got to see Elder Scholes! He was in the MTC with me. The first missionary I saw that was in the MTC with me. It only took 4 transfers haha. We then rode the 3 hours back to Hof. And got Chinese food.

The Leipzig Zone (Elder Pollard is in the back...)

Donnerstag: Thursday was a little annoying. The morning went normal. Right at 11am, we left to go by on some contacts. We found out that one doesn't live there anymore which is useful information. Then we meet this other guy who said we could come back another time. We were then supposed to eat with a member and he friend who is a non member. (It was supposed to be an awesome eating appointment and joint teach) but she wasn't there! Oh no! haha Now we were hungry, didn't know where the member was, and the whole situation was just a little tragic. So then we went home and ate. Because we were hungry. After that, we made a grid of the city. We have around 120 contacts that we need to go by on, and they live all over the place, so we're making a grid of the city to categorize all of the contacts. That took a while. At night, we went out on the bikes. Elder Huber got permission from President to take the bikes out every night. Exercise and stuff. Hof is a beautiful city, and Germany is a beautiful country. We just rode up hill until we found a cool view. It was fun.

Fritag: Friday was Friday. We woke up, did stuff, ate lunch. After lunch, we started our weekly planning session. That went well for a couple of hours, then we had an appointment, so we had to take a break. We went to Brother R's place. he's way cool. He has a super strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and he's super friendly. He has a friend who wants to be baptized, but is always super busy and stuff. I think we're meeting with the two in a couple of weeks. After that appointment, we went by on an inactive member who lived by Brother R. She was busy, but nice and said we could come back later. So went went home and finished Weekly Planning. We then took the bikes out again. At night, I wrote some letters! I got a lot of letters this week. From. Chris Sherman, Nicole D'Souza, Christina Shoesmith, and the RB ward Relief Society! Much love from back home. I replied to all of them as fast as I could.

Samstag: Saturday was SICK! In the morning, we had district finding. The Elders in our district (from Plauen, Zwickau, and Meerane) came down to Hof to help us out with some finding. It was awesome. I was with Elder Coleman (my new British friend) we walked around, talking to everyone. Some homeless people asked us if we had a Bible to give them. We said no, but we have this other book haha. They took it gladly and said they'd read it. Hey, why not. District Finding was a success. This Indian Restaurant just started making some delicious smelling. After District Finding, we ate lunch. Tuna. Rice. But this time I used Zaziki instead of Curry Ketchup. I love zaziki so much. After lunch, we went to Untreusee for the branch Sommerfest. We hung out with the branch, grilled, and relaxed at the lake. ALSO, Bruder G. taught us how to throw boomerangs! Like really. How cool is that? Parents: Your middle son has thrown a boomerang, had it come back to him, and caught it. Be Proud.

Sonntag: Sunday was low key. We had fast and testimony meeting, with 8 people. Haha the branch here is kind of small.... But it was an awesome meeting. After church (which is only two hours here) we ate at the F's house. They're a super cool family. Super nice, and Schwester F. made AMAZING food. Oh my gosh. Like some meat that reminded me of pot roast, Knudle, Rotkhol, and veggies. With a lot of gravy. We had Strawberry Tort after. I ate so much. It was delicious. I am so thankful for the members here haha. After that, we went home and kind of hung out. Elder Huber is sick, and I kind of feel something coming too. So we relaxed to try and prevent further illness. I feel good today.

The week was awesome. I really like Elder Huber, he's a cool guy. We get a long pretty well. I'm excited to be here in Hof and with him. And President kind of hinted to him during interviews that we'd be staying together another transfer after this one. I'm excited. The work in Hof WILL explode. I love being a ´missionary.

MOM! Thank you so much for all of the recipes! I'm going to see if I can get everything for the wontons. There's an Asian store kind of by our house, so I'm sure I can get everything. So excited to try out these recipes! Can I get a recipe for chicken strips?! Please and Thank you mama.

It sounds like you (Mom and Dad) had a good week. The house was empty, you got to road trip, and visit a huge Cotsco. That sounds awesome! I'm happy to see everything going well back at home. I love and miss you all so much! I really miss your cooking Mom, like a lot. I didn't realize how lucky I was... haha but I am well fed here, so don't worry! I actually gained weight this past week. I need to keep losing! Right now I'm at like 205. But still 25 pounds lighter than the last time you saw me!

I want you to know that I'm actually doing really good. I am comfortable, happy, and trying my hardest. Or trying to try my hardest haha. Like I sound all good and happy in my Emails, and I AM! I love it here in Germany. I love the freedom to responsibility ratio we have as missionaries. I love having goals and seeing myself reach them. I love the scriptures and being able to study them everyday (starting Alma soon) (third time through the BOM since January). I love how my prayers have gotten soooo much better. My relationship with prayer and Heavenly Father is awesome. The church is true! This stuff is real! And I know it.

I LOVE YOU ALL!
ELDER POLLARD