Week Thirty-nine

DEAR FAMILY!!!

OH HOW I LOVE ROSTOCK!!!!!

I can't even describe to you all in words how happy I am to be here with Elder Stanley. I am supposed to be here in Rostock. I love it so so so much. I love Hof too, but exciting things are happening here, and it's just amazing. I'm having the time of my life.

Let me just tell you about my week. That will be the best way for you all to understand how awesome Rostock is.

Monday: Last P-Day was kind of sad, because we had to explain to all the members in Hof that Elder Huber and I would both be leaving. But anyways, we emailed like normal, and did some packing. Schwester Y. took us out to Chinese food, which was pretty good. We then got ice cream.



I had RedBull ice cream. It was interesting. Probably won't eat that again. After that, we packed a bunch. I am so grateful for the vacuum bags that I bought at Rossman. It made packing a little better. Then we went the the M's house. That was sad haha. We just hung out, played Ligretto (awesome card game) and played with the puppies and what not. It was super sad to say bye!

Tuesday morning was STRESSFUL! ALL OF TUESDAY WAS STRESSFUL. So the ehepaar actually helped Elder Huber and I get our luggage to Bahnhof. Then the left haha. I rode the rain with Elder Huber from Hof to Dresden. At Dresden I transferred onto a train that was going to Berlin. There was another missionary on that train, so we hung out and talked haha. The train going to Berlin was late though, so I missed my train leaving Berlin. So I had to spend 40€ of my personal money to buy a new ticket to Rostock. It's OK though, because the church will refund it. It wasn't my fault anyway. I just hung out in Berlin Hauptbahnhof by myself for an hour. No big. Then I caught my train to Rostock! My luggage survived, and did not break more then it already was. When I got into Rostock, my companion, Elder Stanley, and a member, Tobias were waiting for me. It was freezing when I came into Rostock. It's super cold here. We then went and checked out the church, because we were supposed to have a lesson, bu the guy never showed up. Oh well, we just ate some sketchy Chinese food and talked and got to know each other.

Wednesday: Wednesday morning was normal, study and such. After that, we went and bought the ticket for the train going to Berlin on Sunday to see the Prophet. After that, we went to the church (literally across the street from the apartment) to have Gemiko (ward mission leader/missionary conference). Which is just awesome. Tobias, the member that picked me up, is like 25, speaks perfect English, went to BYU and stuff, is the 2nd counselor in the branch, and our ward mission leader. He's amazing. He is the heart and soul of the missionary work in Rostock-he does so much for us. I love it. So at Gemiko, it was Elder Stanley and I, the sisters Sister Linford and Moon (Sister Moon was in the MTC with me) and the Senior sisters Wunderli and Holbrook. All amazing people. I love it. After that we went shopping. The church in Rostock is above a Netto, which is like a small grocery store. Legit. We ate, then did some doors, which was fun. At night, we had institute, which went well. We had an investigator there. His name is M. He has a crush on a member in the branch, but not super interested in the gospel. We'll change that. It was a good day.

Thursday: After study, we were supposed to meet this guy at his work, which turned out to be this huge building, and he is the head psychiatrist of this business or something weird. Too bad he wasn't there, but we made out another appointment. We went home and ate then did some study. Because I'm finishing Elder Stanley's training, we get 4 hours of study for 'New Missionary Study' or whatever. It's fun. We made a bunch of calls then. Then we OYMed. Which is Open Your Mouth. Just street contacting. Finished the night with a load of Doors. I love it.

Fritag: After study, we went by on this referral, who just wasn't there. Oh well. The referral actually lives on the street that the sister missionaries do so IDK why it's ours. But good. After that we went home, ate, and did weekly planning. Some good stuff. After that, we went by a super old investigator that Tobias told us to go by on. His name is Mark S. He is from Indonesia, but speaks English, German, Indonesian, Dutch, French, and Spanish. No big. We went on a walk through the Rostock University Botanical Garden, and had a good talk about life and religion and the Bible/BOM.

Botanischer Garten Rostock Teich

Hopefully we'll get to met with him more. He's super busy always because of school.We ended the night with Doors, taught one lesson doing that, and went home to study.

Saturday: Sat Morning was District Meeting. Our district is interesting. There are 12 missionaries. (Which is kind of a big district) but only 2 areas haha. Rostock and Greifswald. And there are 6 missionaries in each area. Good stuff. After that, we had an eating appointment with Bruder S. haha he's the man. Just super funny but a solid members. He's actually the Elders Quorum President. He's super super funny. He has this huge dog named Moppel. Who just owns the place. Moppel stole my seat, and they just brought out a chair because they said he wouldn't move haha. I love it. We then met up with some cool Asians playing basketball, and they invited us to play next week. That's happening. We met with this Asian guy named Xu after that. He actually was baptized a year ago, but went to China before being confirmed. So we were like what the heck. Nobody could get contact with him. But we did. Bonus. After that, we went back to the Institute center and played Ping Pong with our newest Investigator DANNY! My man! We had an awesome lesson with him. I loved the week.

Sonntag: WAS SUPER STRESSFUL. But totally worth it. We left at 7 in the morning to go to Berlin.

Elder Pollard and Friend in Berlin

We got there, and ate lunch with the Sister in Eisenhüttenstadt. After lunch, we went to the conference center. THAT WAS INSANE. There were soooo many missionaries there! I got to see everyone. It was amazing. I got to see all my best friends. President Monson was awesome. He's so cool. He talked eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that feel. In regards to working with less active members. It was awesome. I was actually asked to translate for this American family that was there. Monson spoke in English, obviously, but there was a speaker in German. So the translation was hard, but I did alright. After the conference, I got to see the whole branch from HOF!

The Hof Branch, Elder Huber and Elder Pollard

They all came up!!! It was awesome to see them again. I loved it. Then we went home. We got home at 11:300........

I LOVED LAST WEEK! EVERYTHING ABOUT IT WAS AMAZING!

So Rostock...such a cool city. I love it. It's super North, right on the Ostsee. The Baltic Sea. It's super pretty and kind of big. 200,000 people, as apposed to the 54,000 in Hof. I love working with the other missionaries in the city too. Elder Stanely is a champ.

Elder Stanley and Pollard in front of the German Reichstag

He reminds me of Brother Wertner, but 20 years old. He's in his 2nd transfer in Germany. He's a way good guy, and a hard worker. I just love it. I love Rostock and everything! The apartment is kind of...interesting. A little small and definitely hasn't been taken care of, but we're cleaning a lot.

So I hope you can tell that I'm happy haha. Being sent here was the answer to a lot of prayers. I love working, it's the best. But no Wal-Mart here...booo.

Sorry if I can't answer all of the question. I hope you enjoy the pictures!!!!!!





Love you all SO MUCH!  And miss you a ton.

Love,
Elder Pollard