SO. This past week was my year mark on the mission, and my 21st Birthday. It was a good week. I never thought that my year mark day would be so...normal haha. I forgot both on my year mark and my birthday that it was this special day, but Elder Collins reminded me both times haha. I don't want to say these days were disappointing, because I received a lot of love from the members and missionaries here, but it just wasn't the same. I miss everyone so much! That's just it haha. Plus this last week was kind of weird. It started by people just asking me if I was OK and I'd be like...of course I'm OK haha I'm just tired. But so many people asked me and tried talking to me that I had to figure out what was up. I still don't know haha
people think I'm always bummed out but I'm totally not. The work in Rostock is better than it's ever been, and Elder Collins and I get along fine. SO the week was weird because of all that. Family and Friends: Elder Pollard is doing great.
Last week:
Montag: Last Monday was goooood. We ate at McDonalds after emailing. 2 years in Germany and we're eating at McStankies on P-Day. Classy. It was good though. Fun fact: McDonalds in Europe (Germany at least) is a lot different and fancier and more expensive than in America. Same food though. We went shopping after. I decided to treat myself to an early Birthday present so I bought myself a t-shirt to do morgensport in. It's my 'let's be healthy' inspiration shirt. Other than that, we hung out with the Sisters and stuff. Not super exciting. But still a good day. After P-Day was over, we were supposed to have an
appointment with an investigator, but it fell out.
Dienstag: Tuesday morning we were going to have an appointment at 10 at the church but it fell out. That's kind of our fault though, because we didn't get any contact information for this guy. He probably just forgot that there was an appointment haha. After that, we made some bomb Chinese food for lunch. Elder Collins and I bought some Sriracha chile sauce from this Asian store, and we've been eating it up. After lunch, we had an appointment with D. It went really well. D is reading in the Book of Mormon and making progress at
his own pace. It's fun to see that. D is super nice too. He loves to talk, even if he's talking with a new missionary who doesn't speak German that well. He's just a good guy. I'm happy I've met him. We went door to door in this neighborhood too, and a lady let us in to talk to her for a little bit. She was really nice and had met the missionaries in Phoenix while she was on vacation. Cool story really, but she had no interest to meet again. That night we had Institute, and Brother G taught. He's an amazing teacher, and even though
Institute is for the non-members and young single adults, I just learn so much from that guy. I'm in the back taking notes haha. He talked about love and how the most important duty that Christ gave his apostles was to love one another and to show charity. Some good stuff.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had District Meeting. That went really well. We also had a district fast. We were also on splits so I spent the day with Elder McKean, who usually serves in Shwerin. It was a
really good day. We dropped some books off for an investigator at the library in Rostock haha. We also had three lessons that day. A, L, and F. It was some good stuff. They were all pretty good lessons. That best part is that we even had contact with these people. That was the real blessing. We also found an older lady on the street who said we could come by on talk to her. She was really nice. That night we made breakfast burritos to break the fast and studied.
Donnerstag: Thursday was crazy. Not a good day haha. We had one lesson with a guy who basically chewed us out for 2 hours and told us that he'd never investigate because Mitt Romney spent a lot of money on his campaign. That was his reasoning and there was nothing we could say to make him think otherwise. Some people. BUT he's still a nice guy and is just trying to figure some stuff out. He's super smart too. That
night we had Family Home Evening, which was cool.
Freitag: Friday was a lot of running around from place to place trying to get in contact with people, talking to a lot of people on the streets. We ended up having two appointments that night with members, which was real fun. Also my year mark! Time flies!
Samstag: Saturdays are always good. We had a fall out appointment after lunch, but we weren't expecting it to go through really. But we played Bball. I did really bad this week. That's when I realized that I'm totally coming down with something like a cold or what not. After Bball we played TishTennis, which is always fun. T chilled with us that night because I was feeling way down and sick. He made us soup haha.
Sonntag: Sunday was my Birthday! Woo. Church was really good. I got a lot of love from the members, which made me really happy. I also got a couple of presents haha. Legos. Classic. I love it. The sisters made
us spaghetti too. Good stuff. We had an appointment with F after, which was really good because he showed a lot of promise. I'm really excited to meet with F. And we planned the rest of the night.
So the 'big week' for Elder Pollard was really cool. I love my friends that I have made on the mission. They help me a lot every day. We had a lot of lessons this week, which was also really motivating and just
cool. I love meeting with people and sitting down and talking and hearing stories and really just having a heart to heart with somebody and saying, 'I have exactly what you need to find more joy in life.' Just one of the blessings you got from being a missionary. This stuff is Freaky Real. I'm not going to mess with it. I love my mission. I love being a missionary. I love all of the cool experiences I've been able to have. I also love all of the sucky day that I've had. We're always learning, which is something I've really realized since being
out here. We really do change from day to day just from the experiences and choices we have. I love everyone! Thanks for all of the emails and help.
I love you guys so much and miss you all more than you know! Time flies though, and before you know it, we'll be sitting in the In-n-Out talking face to face! I can't wait! But I have more work to do here in
Rostock, so I'm going to have to!
I'm sorry to hear that some of you are sick. I've been dragging this cold/virus thing behind me for a while, and I know that it just sucks. But get better! I'm praying for you. I totally have met Sister Oldenwalder haha she's really cool. And yes Mom, Germany is freezing. I think it's planning on getting even colder though. I'm not quite sure when to expect spring though, I totally forgot about it all.
I love you all.
Elder Pollard
Monday, January 21, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Week Fifty-two
Literally. There is ice everywhere. Rostock, along with most of Northern Germany, received 'the Russian whip' over the weekend. That is some crazy weather pattern where all the cold and wind come from Russia and just destroy the missionaries serving in Northern Germany, Poland, and Denmark. I THINK I'M DYING! I am just so grateful that I grew up in a place where it doesn't hurt to walk outside. Wish me luck, really haha. Last week was pretty warm though, it was just the weekend that got super cold. We had a pretty solid week. A lot of finding and taking to people, a lot of doors, but it really paid off, because this week coming up is packed wit appointments. Miracles are happening in Rostock!
Last Week:
Montag: Last Monday was cool. We ate Döner after emails, and did grocery shopping like normal. We got these coupons in the mail for 10% off at Rossman, which is essentially a Sav-On, so I did some hardcore toiletry shopping on Monday. Got a lot of good stuff. I also bought this suction cup clock for our shower, which has come in handy. (It's really easy to forget how long you've been in the nice warm shower at 6:30 in the morning). Other than those things, we just walked around Innenstadt. It was Elder Collin's first P-Day, so it was cool just to introduce him to P-Day in Rostock. Monday night, we went to the Heim to teach J, but he was asleep when we got there haha. African investigators are the best. So we went by on a couple of other people and talked to people on the street.
Diesntag: Tuesday was interesting. We had to change our cell phone number that morning. As you could all imagine, it's just been causing problems haha. We have to get rid of all our old cards, and let everyone know about our new number. It's insanity. We had an appointment on a bridge haha. Or at least we were supposed to. We stayed there for like 30 minutes waiting for this guy, just talking to everybody walking by. No luck though. We had some good lunch. We made this really really hot chili haha. I love spicy food! So much now that I'm in Germany, where they consider bbq 'spicy'. German food is good, but it's never spicy. I can't get enough spicy food over here! I miss Mexican food! Well, after lunch we were supposed to have an appointment with D, but he didn't show up. He tried calling us...but our number had changed. Oh well. We went by on a lot of people, but nobody was home. We ended up doing doors though, and found this way cool area to door. On our first house we were let in by this girl named C. It was a cool appointment. She' 20 years old and from Norway haha. We talked about the Book of Mormon and why it's important/how to use it in our lives. We wanted to make out another appointment, but she said she's call us if she had further interest. Hopefully! After that we had institute and then we studied.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had District Meeting.
It was a really good one. We just like got a lot done and got a lot of cool ideas out. I was stoked after. We had to leave a little early to wait for the washing machine repair guy. BUT NOW OUR WASHING MACHINE WORKS! Blessings all around. I've never been more grateful to have a washing machine. After lunch, we had an appointment with D. It was real cool, because he read the first 5 chapters of 1 Nephi, and really remembered everything. I asked him what he though of it and he said 'Nephi needs to be thrown in prison because he killed that guy and took his records'. It was great. A solid lesson! We did OYM's after. We wanted to meet with James again, but he was busy and couldn't meet, which is just too bad.
Donnerstag: Thursday is when it started getting colder. It started officially snowing again on Thursday! It was really evident when we were walking around all morning in the snow. Turns out, street contacting while it's snowing isn't too effective. BUT we did get one cool appointment out of it. It's crazy how these things work! But you just plan and pray and things happen. Nuff Said. Unfortunately the rest of the day was kind of disappointing. A lot of walking in the cold. A lot of talking to people. We had an appointment fall out with a guy we found while doing doors. We had FHE that night, which was way cool.
Freitag: Friday was pretty average. We went by on an older investigator in the morning, but he wasn't home so then I had to go check the bank to see if the church was going to let me have food haha but I had stacks in my account so alles gute. We ate at the university cafeteria with Tobias too, which was cool. They think I'm a student so it's super cheap for me haha. Like 2 euro for this big plate of food. We got our new stamp for the new cards we had to make because of the new number...it took forever to write out the message with the little letter block stamp things. Kind of rough but oh well. We then went up to Möllner strasse where we were supposed to have an appointment, but it fell out. Appointments fall out a lot. That night we visited Bruder S and talked about PMG and ate odd German lunch meats. Dangerous. But it was good.
Samstag: Saturday morning we studied a lot, then ate delicious homemade curry wurst, and then played bball. It was good to see all our friends again haha. And at least one of them is going to meet with us, so it's totally worth it. I love being able to go and play a sport and get some real good exercise. Good stuff. We had tish-tennis that night. I almost won. Sister Linford is too good. And we were supposed to have an appointment with D after, but he kind of flaked.
Sonntag: Sunday was the day of the week! We had church, which was good as always. Then A from Greifswald came and helped teach this young single adults class. I enjoyed it. D came to sacrament meeting too, which was primo. We ate with the F's after church, and the sisters invited their African investigators, they were super cool. After eating, we went home and did weekly planning. It was just a miracle because we made out appointments with like EVERYONE. This week will be good. After/between planning we met with the K family. They were the family that we helped move a little bit ago. We had an OK appointment. The husband was a theology student, so all of his answers and insights are just like really textbook and it's hard to get a real heartfelt answer out of him. It's going to be hard to invite him to do a lot of things, but we're trying. After the appointment we went home and finished planning and studied.
So the week was hard actually. We were out a lot and talking to a lot of people. But it was definitely a set up week for this one. We have so many appointments planned, that if all of them go through, this next week will just breeze by. Hopefully we'll see some solid progress too. I'm just thankful that it works like this and that we don't have to be talking to people on the street all day haha. I love this work!
Well yea this next week has some pretty cool marks in it. The 18th is my year mark, and the 20th is my b-day. I really don't know what I'll do. I probably won't be cutting any ties in half, because I like my ties haha. I know that next P-Day we'll all be going to K's again to eat. So that's my birthday celebration really. It should be fun. Other than that, just normal missionary work. If you want to send packages or letters, I'll still be at the same address for the next 4 weeks, and probably for the next 9 weeks really. So the address is:
Elder Tim Pollard
Kirche Jesu Christi
Budapester Str. 20
18057 Rostock
Deutschland
I'll totally get any letters and packages that you send in the near future. Thanks!
It has been so cold here! 30 degree weather is still pretty cold, but that just sounds nice right now haha. I'm super jealous whenever I hear about the amazing food you're making at home! Elder Collins and I have a goal to make and eat better food actually. I've been losing more weight for some reason. Last week I lost 5 pounds like legit. I don't know why because I eat a ton. We think it's because I was sick for a while.
Your conversion story is awesome! I can only imagine how stoked the missionaries were who got to teach you. Just think, at one point in time there were two missionaries sitting down and planning for the lessons they would teach to the Pollard family. That's just great! Thanks for the story mom!
Everything is going well here. I miss home a lot. Especially around this year mark. It's gone by super fast, but thinking that I still have a year left makes me home sick. Like literally sick! I need to get my mind off of it.I miss you all so much. And love you all too. Do great things! I love hearing about how everybody is achieving and accomplishing things. Keep it up!
I love you all so so so much!
Elder Pollard
Last Week:
Montag: Last Monday was cool. We ate Döner after emails, and did grocery shopping like normal. We got these coupons in the mail for 10% off at Rossman, which is essentially a Sav-On, so I did some hardcore toiletry shopping on Monday. Got a lot of good stuff. I also bought this suction cup clock for our shower, which has come in handy. (It's really easy to forget how long you've been in the nice warm shower at 6:30 in the morning). Other than those things, we just walked around Innenstadt. It was Elder Collin's first P-Day, so it was cool just to introduce him to P-Day in Rostock. Monday night, we went to the Heim to teach J, but he was asleep when we got there haha. African investigators are the best. So we went by on a couple of other people and talked to people on the street.
Diesntag: Tuesday was interesting. We had to change our cell phone number that morning. As you could all imagine, it's just been causing problems haha. We have to get rid of all our old cards, and let everyone know about our new number. It's insanity. We had an appointment on a bridge haha. Or at least we were supposed to. We stayed there for like 30 minutes waiting for this guy, just talking to everybody walking by. No luck though. We had some good lunch. We made this really really hot chili haha. I love spicy food! So much now that I'm in Germany, where they consider bbq 'spicy'. German food is good, but it's never spicy. I can't get enough spicy food over here! I miss Mexican food! Well, after lunch we were supposed to have an appointment with D, but he didn't show up. He tried calling us...but our number had changed. Oh well. We went by on a lot of people, but nobody was home. We ended up doing doors though, and found this way cool area to door. On our first house we were let in by this girl named C. It was a cool appointment. She' 20 years old and from Norway haha. We talked about the Book of Mormon and why it's important/how to use it in our lives. We wanted to make out another appointment, but she said she's call us if she had further interest. Hopefully! After that we had institute and then we studied.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had District Meeting.
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| Zone Neubrandenburg |
It was a really good one. We just like got a lot done and got a lot of cool ideas out. I was stoked after. We had to leave a little early to wait for the washing machine repair guy. BUT NOW OUR WASHING MACHINE WORKS! Blessings all around. I've never been more grateful to have a washing machine. After lunch, we had an appointment with D. It was real cool, because he read the first 5 chapters of 1 Nephi, and really remembered everything. I asked him what he though of it and he said 'Nephi needs to be thrown in prison because he killed that guy and took his records'. It was great. A solid lesson! We did OYM's after. We wanted to meet with James again, but he was busy and couldn't meet, which is just too bad.
Donnerstag: Thursday is when it started getting colder. It started officially snowing again on Thursday! It was really evident when we were walking around all morning in the snow. Turns out, street contacting while it's snowing isn't too effective. BUT we did get one cool appointment out of it. It's crazy how these things work! But you just plan and pray and things happen. Nuff Said. Unfortunately the rest of the day was kind of disappointing. A lot of walking in the cold. A lot of talking to people. We had an appointment fall out with a guy we found while doing doors. We had FHE that night, which was way cool.
Freitag: Friday was pretty average. We went by on an older investigator in the morning, but he wasn't home so then I had to go check the bank to see if the church was going to let me have food haha but I had stacks in my account so alles gute. We ate at the university cafeteria with Tobias too, which was cool. They think I'm a student so it's super cheap for me haha. Like 2 euro for this big plate of food. We got our new stamp for the new cards we had to make because of the new number...it took forever to write out the message with the little letter block stamp things. Kind of rough but oh well. We then went up to Möllner strasse where we were supposed to have an appointment, but it fell out. Appointments fall out a lot. That night we visited Bruder S and talked about PMG and ate odd German lunch meats. Dangerous. But it was good.
Samstag: Saturday morning we studied a lot, then ate delicious homemade curry wurst, and then played bball. It was good to see all our friends again haha. And at least one of them is going to meet with us, so it's totally worth it. I love being able to go and play a sport and get some real good exercise. Good stuff. We had tish-tennis that night. I almost won. Sister Linford is too good. And we were supposed to have an appointment with D after, but he kind of flaked.
Sonntag: Sunday was the day of the week! We had church, which was good as always. Then A from Greifswald came and helped teach this young single adults class. I enjoyed it. D came to sacrament meeting too, which was primo. We ate with the F's after church, and the sisters invited their African investigators, they were super cool. After eating, we went home and did weekly planning. It was just a miracle because we made out appointments with like EVERYONE. This week will be good. After/between planning we met with the K family. They were the family that we helped move a little bit ago. We had an OK appointment. The husband was a theology student, so all of his answers and insights are just like really textbook and it's hard to get a real heartfelt answer out of him. It's going to be hard to invite him to do a lot of things, but we're trying. After the appointment we went home and finished planning and studied.
So the week was hard actually. We were out a lot and talking to a lot of people. But it was definitely a set up week for this one. We have so many appointments planned, that if all of them go through, this next week will just breeze by. Hopefully we'll see some solid progress too. I'm just thankful that it works like this and that we don't have to be talking to people on the street all day haha. I love this work!
Well yea this next week has some pretty cool marks in it. The 18th is my year mark, and the 20th is my b-day. I really don't know what I'll do. I probably won't be cutting any ties in half, because I like my ties haha. I know that next P-Day we'll all be going to K's again to eat. So that's my birthday celebration really. It should be fun. Other than that, just normal missionary work. If you want to send packages or letters, I'll still be at the same address for the next 4 weeks, and probably for the next 9 weeks really. So the address is:
Elder Tim Pollard
Kirche Jesu Christi
Budapester Str. 20
18057 Rostock
Deutschland
I'll totally get any letters and packages that you send in the near future. Thanks!
It has been so cold here! 30 degree weather is still pretty cold, but that just sounds nice right now haha. I'm super jealous whenever I hear about the amazing food you're making at home! Elder Collins and I have a goal to make and eat better food actually. I've been losing more weight for some reason. Last week I lost 5 pounds like legit. I don't know why because I eat a ton. We think it's because I was sick for a while.
Your conversion story is awesome! I can only imagine how stoked the missionaries were who got to teach you. Just think, at one point in time there were two missionaries sitting down and planning for the lessons they would teach to the Pollard family. That's just great! Thanks for the story mom!
Everything is going well here. I miss home a lot. Especially around this year mark. It's gone by super fast, but thinking that I still have a year left makes me home sick. Like literally sick! I need to get my mind off of it.I miss you all so much. And love you all too. Do great things! I love hearing about how everybody is achieving and accomplishing things. Keep it up!
I love you all so so so much!
Elder Pollard
Monday, January 7, 2013
Week Fifty-one
Crazy Missionary named Pollard
From the church of Latter-Day Ballers!
I just made that up. Ice Cube would be proud.
Well It was a pretty solid week! I was traveling A LOT!! Oh man I don't think I've ever ridden more trains in one week. I certainly got used to falling asleep on the Deutsche Bahn trains haha. This past week was really cool though. It's been full of little spiritual experiences that have all told me that being in Germany and talking to random people about Jesus Christ is the right thing to be doing at this time in my life. I just know that this is true and I'm loving it. Really, to all family, friends and whoever reads this: being a Missionary is just so fun and so fulfilling. I know I made that right choice over a year ago to submit my mission papers in.
Well let me just tell you about this last week.
Montag: Monday was Elder Stanley's last P-Day, which was sad. BUT It was a great P-Day haha. It was New Years eve, which meant a couple of things. All the stores were going to close at like 2...BUT they all had nice sales! All we do is shop until we drop haha. But anyways, after emailing, we went out and ate. It was Elder Stanley's LAST DAY IN ROSTOCK! So we ate steak. Which was just amazing. After lunch though..........I bought a new suit. Grandma and Grandpa sent me money, and it was just enough to buy a suit haha. 44 euro suit! Super cheap! And it fits me pretty well (a lot better than my old one) So I was really happy about that. After shopping, we went and played this board game with one of the investigators from the sisters. It was really cool, kind of like chess, more strategy and stuff. I enjoyed it. And then we had to be in the apartment from 6 in the evening until we went to bed. On new years eve, Germans launch off just millions of fireworks haha. We just watched from our windows all the fireworks going off. There were some hoodlums in our backyard/court thing being stupid haha. It was good entertainment. We spent the night cleaning and Elder Stanley packed.
Dienstag: Tuesday was hectic. I rode on the train with Elder Stanley to Berlin (I did this all to meet up with Elder Gibson and spend a couple nights in Prenzlau while we waited for the new missionaries to get to Germany) and put him on his train to Dresden. Alles Gute! I was with Elder Gibson in Berlin Hauptbahnhof for a while. We ate McDonalds. Then we caught a train up to Prenzlau. I helped him clean up the apartment and rearrange things, then we went and did finding.
Mittwoch: I was in Prenzlau the whole day on Wednesday. We did grocery shopping, finding, and had one really good appointment with this older guy who was really impressed when I knew where it says in the Bible that God says he's a jealous God...I feel like that's pretty common knowledge. But yea, it was a good day in Prenzlau.
Donnerstag: Thursday was the day! Elder Gibson and I got on a train at 7 in the morning and were in Berlin at 930, listening to President Kosak talk. It was way cool to see President again, and I learned a lot from the meeting. Then they brought all of the new missionaries in and we had our new missionary conference. I met Elder Collins there, and President told us that we'll be serving together!
It was a way cool experience and I really enjoyed it. I helped Elder Collins take his luggage around Berlin and we finally got back to Berlin Hauptbahnhof. It was only a 4 hour train ride back to Rostock, where Tobias was there to pick us up. We dropped everything off at the apartment, and went finding in Innenstadt. There was like nobody there though haha. We ended up eating Döner instead.
Freitag: Friday morning we had District Meeting. Our new District Leader is Elder Barr who's serving in Schwerin. He's a cool guy. Our district is small now though, it's kind of weird. After District Meeting, we met T at the Kantine, our favorite little restaurant, and we ate. We had Gemiko at the church after lunch. After that, we headed up to Möllner Straße and tried to get in contact with W. He wasn't there, but we made out two appointments with students, which was cool. After that, we went to the Senior Sister's apartment and studied while I did a load of laundry (yes, we still don't have a working washing machine.) It was cool though. After that, we went and had an appointment with Bruder S. We're studying Preach My Gospel with him, it's way cool. He gave us Abendbrot, too haha. I ate Leberwurst. Not good. Never eating it again. First thing I don't like in Germany. We went home and studied more after.
Samstag: Saturday was cool. We were supposed to have an appointment at 10:30, but they never showed up, so we went and talked to people instead and we made out an appointment, which is awesome. After that we went and ate lunch. We ate tortellini. Mmm. So after lunch, we had an appointment with A! It was the first appointment we've had in a while. He talked a lot, like usual, but at the end we had a super solid lesson and he said he wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith. Andy is super awesome. He's way friendly and real. I really enjoy meeting with him and hope that he'll make some progress. Well the appointment ended up taking a really long time...haha so we went home and studied for a little and then went to Ping-Pong. Unfortunately, nobody came, so it was just the missionaries and Bruder S. We played anyways haha it was cool. We went home and studied after.
Sonntag: Fast Sunday, so we had meetings before and after church. We also had Gemeinde Essen! Which was way good. I talked with Schwester S for a while about her mission (she served in the East Germany Mission in the 50's) and I was so amazed at how different missionary work is today. And I'm so grateful to be a missionary today and not in the DDR in the 50's. After eating, we went by a couple of contacts who weren't home. We ended the day with planning and study.
The highlight of the week was just this self improvement that I've been noticing. I think it comes with training and really having this responsibility kick you in the pants. But like the work is going great, and my study has been awesome. We're reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and We're going to finish it before April I think. Focusing on the Holy Ghost and how the spirit will help us and our investigators. It's was cool and helping me a lot. I love it!
I'm jealous of all the new years snacks you talked about! Ah I miss food from home so much. The food here is excellent, but it's just not homemade onion dip and little smokies good. I'm super happy that you liked the package, and that it got there on time. It's like a little miracle haha. That's really why I wanted money so bad! So I could send the packages home! The chocolate is excellent here and I hope you really liked it all. And if you ate that heart cookie, it's ok but you usually don't, they're just decoration really. But you totally can if you want.
It's way cool that Emily and Matt are moving to SD! Emily said that she's email me, and I even bribed her by telling her I'd send some chocolate if she emailed me her address, but she still hasn't haha. Oh well! I can't wait to see everyone again. I'm super happy that I could skype with Matt and Emily also, it was a lot of fun.
Well, everything is going well! Elder Collins is liking Germany, I think and hope, and we're getting along. I'm learning a lot haha like every day. I'm super grateful to be hear too.
Mom and Dad - please send me an email about your conversion story! I'd ove to read it.
I love you all!!!
Elder Pollard
From the church of Latter-Day Ballers!
I just made that up. Ice Cube would be proud.
Well It was a pretty solid week! I was traveling A LOT!! Oh man I don't think I've ever ridden more trains in one week. I certainly got used to falling asleep on the Deutsche Bahn trains haha. This past week was really cool though. It's been full of little spiritual experiences that have all told me that being in Germany and talking to random people about Jesus Christ is the right thing to be doing at this time in my life. I just know that this is true and I'm loving it. Really, to all family, friends and whoever reads this: being a Missionary is just so fun and so fulfilling. I know I made that right choice over a year ago to submit my mission papers in.
Well let me just tell you about this last week.
Montag: Monday was Elder Stanley's last P-Day, which was sad. BUT It was a great P-Day haha. It was New Years eve, which meant a couple of things. All the stores were going to close at like 2...BUT they all had nice sales! All we do is shop until we drop haha. But anyways, after emailing, we went out and ate. It was Elder Stanley's LAST DAY IN ROSTOCK! So we ate steak. Which was just amazing. After lunch though..........I bought a new suit. Grandma and Grandpa sent me money, and it was just enough to buy a suit haha. 44 euro suit! Super cheap! And it fits me pretty well (a lot better than my old one) So I was really happy about that. After shopping, we went and played this board game with one of the investigators from the sisters. It was really cool, kind of like chess, more strategy and stuff. I enjoyed it. And then we had to be in the apartment from 6 in the evening until we went to bed. On new years eve, Germans launch off just millions of fireworks haha. We just watched from our windows all the fireworks going off. There were some hoodlums in our backyard/court thing being stupid haha. It was good entertainment. We spent the night cleaning and Elder Stanley packed.
Dienstag: Tuesday was hectic. I rode on the train with Elder Stanley to Berlin (I did this all to meet up with Elder Gibson and spend a couple nights in Prenzlau while we waited for the new missionaries to get to Germany) and put him on his train to Dresden. Alles Gute! I was with Elder Gibson in Berlin Hauptbahnhof for a while. We ate McDonalds. Then we caught a train up to Prenzlau. I helped him clean up the apartment and rearrange things, then we went and did finding.
Mittwoch: I was in Prenzlau the whole day on Wednesday. We did grocery shopping, finding, and had one really good appointment with this older guy who was really impressed when I knew where it says in the Bible that God says he's a jealous God...I feel like that's pretty common knowledge. But yea, it was a good day in Prenzlau.
Donnerstag: Thursday was the day! Elder Gibson and I got on a train at 7 in the morning and were in Berlin at 930, listening to President Kosak talk. It was way cool to see President again, and I learned a lot from the meeting. Then they brought all of the new missionaries in and we had our new missionary conference. I met Elder Collins there, and President told us that we'll be serving together!
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| President and Sister Kosak and Elders Collins and Pollard |
Freitag: Friday morning we had District Meeting. Our new District Leader is Elder Barr who's serving in Schwerin. He's a cool guy. Our district is small now though, it's kind of weird. After District Meeting, we met T at the Kantine, our favorite little restaurant, and we ate. We had Gemiko at the church after lunch. After that, we headed up to Möllner Straße and tried to get in contact with W. He wasn't there, but we made out two appointments with students, which was cool. After that, we went to the Senior Sister's apartment and studied while I did a load of laundry (yes, we still don't have a working washing machine.) It was cool though. After that, we went and had an appointment with Bruder S. We're studying Preach My Gospel with him, it's way cool. He gave us Abendbrot, too haha. I ate Leberwurst. Not good. Never eating it again. First thing I don't like in Germany. We went home and studied more after.
Samstag: Saturday was cool. We were supposed to have an appointment at 10:30, but they never showed up, so we went and talked to people instead and we made out an appointment, which is awesome. After that we went and ate lunch. We ate tortellini. Mmm. So after lunch, we had an appointment with A! It was the first appointment we've had in a while. He talked a lot, like usual, but at the end we had a super solid lesson and he said he wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith. Andy is super awesome. He's way friendly and real. I really enjoy meeting with him and hope that he'll make some progress. Well the appointment ended up taking a really long time...haha so we went home and studied for a little and then went to Ping-Pong. Unfortunately, nobody came, so it was just the missionaries and Bruder S. We played anyways haha it was cool. We went home and studied after.
Sonntag: Fast Sunday, so we had meetings before and after church. We also had Gemeinde Essen! Which was way good. I talked with Schwester S for a while about her mission (she served in the East Germany Mission in the 50's) and I was so amazed at how different missionary work is today. And I'm so grateful to be a missionary today and not in the DDR in the 50's. After eating, we went by a couple of contacts who weren't home. We ended the day with planning and study.
The highlight of the week was just this self improvement that I've been noticing. I think it comes with training and really having this responsibility kick you in the pants. But like the work is going great, and my study has been awesome. We're reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and We're going to finish it before April I think. Focusing on the Holy Ghost and how the spirit will help us and our investigators. It's was cool and helping me a lot. I love it!
I'm jealous of all the new years snacks you talked about! Ah I miss food from home so much. The food here is excellent, but it's just not homemade onion dip and little smokies good. I'm super happy that you liked the package, and that it got there on time. It's like a little miracle haha. That's really why I wanted money so bad! So I could send the packages home! The chocolate is excellent here and I hope you really liked it all. And if you ate that heart cookie, it's ok but you usually don't, they're just decoration really. But you totally can if you want.
It's way cool that Emily and Matt are moving to SD! Emily said that she's email me, and I even bribed her by telling her I'd send some chocolate if she emailed me her address, but she still hasn't haha. Oh well! I can't wait to see everyone again. I'm super happy that I could skype with Matt and Emily also, it was a lot of fun.
Well, everything is going well! Elder Collins is liking Germany, I think and hope, and we're getting along. I'm learning a lot haha like every day. I'm super grateful to be hear too.
Mom and Dad - please send me an email about your conversion story! I'd ove to read it.
I love you all!!!
Elder Pollard
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Week Fifty
SO
This last week was just crazy. We had Christmas! And getting ready for new years/ending the transfer. I would be lying if I said this week hasn't been way stressful haha. Just like everything. And I've been sick so not really the greatest thing, but this last week was just so fun that I totally forgot that I was sick most of the time. I'll just have to tell you about everything!
Montag: Last Monday was P-Day, so we did shopping and emails and normal P-Day stuff. The greatest part though, is that T' family invited us over to celebrate Heiliger Abend with them. That's Christmas Eve. We got there and ate cake haha. SO MUCH CAKE. And after that we hung around and talked and stuff. We then opened presents. It was awesome. We all got some nice warm socks from the E's and T even bought Elder Stanley and me these Heart things that we're personalized. Mine says 'We are young! Right?' Just an inside joke. We sing a lot of Pat Benatar so......and he says I say right a lot. After presents, we got to go to this way cool Lutheran Christmas Eve mass. It was in German, but I got what he was saying. It was cool to experience what other people know as church. I enjoyed it. We then came home and ate potato salad and meat. It was just a solid night. We sang too. It was a great time.
Dienstag: Tuesday was my Christmas in Germany. I started the morning by going back to sleep. Elder Pollard's gift to himself haha. Not too long only a short morning nap. Then I opened the presents from home! Aren't you guys proud that I waited until Christmas!!?? I am. I really enjoy everything from home! Thanks! After that, the sisters and we made the senior sisters breakfast at the church. It was our present to them. We made breakfast burritos. It was great. We spent the day opening presents, playing games, and eating. It was fun. And of course, at night I skyped! It was so great. I just loved skyping! It was a good way to get re-motivated for everything. Elder Stanley and I were just pumped after haha.
Mittwoch: Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning, which was cool.
And after, we were with Bruder S all day! It was way cool. We made us Kassler and potatoes and rotkohl. We also played chess for a while. Bruder S was in Prison for a while I guess? He's way good at chess haha he learned it there. He's such a cool guy and really tries hard to be the best member he can. I love the guy.
Donnerstag: I just don't remember what we did on Thursday...
Friday was our tausch, so I went to Greifswald with Elder Dospil from Austria.
It was way cool. We had the car all day, so that was really nice, and we had like 5 appointments, So the day went by really fast. We just listened to music in the car all day.
Saturday: TRANSFER CALLS! It sucks that Elder Stanley is getting transfered to Dresden, but I'm getting a new missionary, so that's kind of cool.
Elder Pollard is training for his second time. After transfer calls, the day is just a blur. I was sick haha.
Sonntag: Sunday was the best, we were invited to the E's again, which was so great. We ate goulash and potatoes and after we ate, we went and visited the ocean, because they live by it. It was weird to be ate a beach where the sun doesn't set over the water. That threw me off haha. After that we visited Schwester S and gave her flowers, because she gave us presents for Christmas. That was also super uplifting really.
So the week was good. It was kind of slow with the work, but like the week between Christmas and new years in Germany is just dead. Nobody goes outside and it's a time to spend with family. The Germans go hard with their holidays. Germans celebrate new years (or sylvester) with fireworks. And they're everywhere haha just going off this whole week. We're not allowed to be out past 6 tonight, so I'm assuming it just gets intense haha.
Well, everything is going ok. I'm just waiting to go pick up my new companion in Berlin on Thursday. It should be exciting! I'm looking forward to working with the new guy.
Everything is good with me! I love you all a lot!!! More than you know haha.
Alles Gute!
Elder Pollard
This last week was just crazy. We had Christmas! And getting ready for new years/ending the transfer. I would be lying if I said this week hasn't been way stressful haha. Just like everything. And I've been sick so not really the greatest thing, but this last week was just so fun that I totally forgot that I was sick most of the time. I'll just have to tell you about everything!
Montag: Last Monday was P-Day, so we did shopping and emails and normal P-Day stuff. The greatest part though, is that T' family invited us over to celebrate Heiliger Abend with them. That's Christmas Eve. We got there and ate cake haha. SO MUCH CAKE. And after that we hung around and talked and stuff. We then opened presents. It was awesome. We all got some nice warm socks from the E's and T even bought Elder Stanley and me these Heart things that we're personalized. Mine says 'We are young! Right?' Just an inside joke. We sing a lot of Pat Benatar so......and he says I say right a lot. After presents, we got to go to this way cool Lutheran Christmas Eve mass. It was in German, but I got what he was saying. It was cool to experience what other people know as church. I enjoyed it. We then came home and ate potato salad and meat. It was just a solid night. We sang too. It was a great time.
Dienstag: Tuesday was my Christmas in Germany. I started the morning by going back to sleep. Elder Pollard's gift to himself haha. Not too long only a short morning nap. Then I opened the presents from home! Aren't you guys proud that I waited until Christmas!!?? I am. I really enjoy everything from home! Thanks! After that, the sisters and we made the senior sisters breakfast at the church. It was our present to them. We made breakfast burritos. It was great. We spent the day opening presents, playing games, and eating. It was fun. And of course, at night I skyped! It was so great. I just loved skyping! It was a good way to get re-motivated for everything. Elder Stanley and I were just pumped after haha.
Mittwoch: Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning, which was cool.
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| Last district meeting of 2012... |
And after, we were with Bruder S all day! It was way cool. We made us Kassler and potatoes and rotkohl. We also played chess for a while. Bruder S was in Prison for a while I guess? He's way good at chess haha he learned it there. He's such a cool guy and really tries hard to be the best member he can. I love the guy.
Donnerstag: I just don't remember what we did on Thursday...
Friday was our tausch, so I went to Greifswald with Elder Dospil from Austria.
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| Elder Pollard and Elder Dopsil from Austria... |
It was way cool. We had the car all day, so that was really nice, and we had like 5 appointments, So the day went by really fast. We just listened to music in the car all day.
Saturday: TRANSFER CALLS! It sucks that Elder Stanley is getting transfered to Dresden, but I'm getting a new missionary, so that's kind of cool.
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| So long to Elder Stanley... |
Elder Pollard is training for his second time. After transfer calls, the day is just a blur. I was sick haha.
Sonntag: Sunday was the best, we were invited to the E's again, which was so great. We ate goulash and potatoes and after we ate, we went and visited the ocean, because they live by it. It was weird to be ate a beach where the sun doesn't set over the water. That threw me off haha. After that we visited Schwester S and gave her flowers, because she gave us presents for Christmas. That was also super uplifting really.
So the week was good. It was kind of slow with the work, but like the week between Christmas and new years in Germany is just dead. Nobody goes outside and it's a time to spend with family. The Germans go hard with their holidays. Germans celebrate new years (or sylvester) with fireworks. And they're everywhere haha just going off this whole week. We're not allowed to be out past 6 tonight, so I'm assuming it just gets intense haha.
Well, everything is going ok. I'm just waiting to go pick up my new companion in Berlin on Thursday. It should be exciting! I'm looking forward to working with the new guy.
Everything is good with me! I love you all a lot!!! More than you know haha.
Alles Gute!
Elder Pollard
Week Forty-nine
Heyo
So like this last week has been the craziest anticipation for Christmas and skyping and everything! It is so hard to focus on the work, but we're able to do it somehow. This email might be confusing and scattered, I'm just so excited for CHRISTMAS! We're going to T's house tonight to celebrate with them and their Grandparents, so it's going to be legit! And we're going to eat some bomb food.
So this last week was pretty good. It was COLD. And it started snowing again, which kind of blows, but it's ok, I'm just used to being cold and walking on ice everywhere by this time. Let me just tell you what happened last week.
Montag: Last P-Day was Elder Stanley's B-Day, so it just rocked. His parents sent him money to take us out to lunch, so we went to this restaurant called 'the old western'. Germans just don't know what America is really like haha. It was an 'American' themed restaurant, but it was just ridiculous. Well, I ate kangaroo. No big. It was good, but kind of tough. And a baked potato, and they were playing Sports Center! Oh my gosh that was the most exciting part of the day. After eating out, We rode this carnival ride thing, which was way fun. Then we went shopping. I ALMOST bought a suit haha. They were super cheap. But I decided just to wait and be smart. I can't even remember what else we did haha. We went grocery shopping. That night we had Family Home evening. That was fun. Mondays haha.
Dienstag: Tuesday we met with L, this Hindu student. He's really cool. He's like in the 'elite' class of Hinduism, which is intense, and I'm just not sure how much he is really willing to investigate, but he'll meet with us and talk about religion and stuff. He lives in this dorm at Möllner Straße, which is just the nastiest place on earth. Sometimes it smells so bad that you just can't be there. It hurts haha. He had us say this Hindu prayer. It was interesting, but super cool. After that, something weird happened haha. We went by on this less active member, and had an appointment, BUT like our appointment was scheduled for a different day haha. And we didn't realize it, and neither did he until after the appointment. Just weird stuff haha. We had institute that night, and it was really good. It was about love.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning was district meeting, which was cool. We ate taco salad after.
And the zone leaders were there. It was fun. After DCM we went by on a guy who wasn't home. We actually had like 4 appointments fall out on Wednesday. We studied at night and played bball later. It was cool.
Donnerstag: Thursday was COOL! For lunch, we ate at the Mensa, or cafeteria with T's and some of his friends. It was cool because they asked us a lot of questions and we gave them Books of Mormon and Tobias said his friends really liked it. SO GOOD. And it was super cheap. Bonus. After that, we had an appointment with D. He had met with the sisters before but we took over. We had this lesson about 'real intent' and it went really well. He said he really wants to learn more and try to figure it all out. He has like a learning disorder though, so reading isn't the easiest thing for him. We're just going to teach slow, and help him as much as we can. That night, we went caroling to this really old lady haha. She's 90! Her name is Schwester S. She's the bomb. It was a good day.
Fritag: Friday afternoon we went shopping with T. We were grocery shopping for Bruder S. The ward always buys him a bunch of groceries for Christmas because it helps a lot. So we helped T do that. We ate after that. Then we basically walked around with T all day, going by on every member and trying to meet with them/help T with his home teaching. We meet with 2 people haha but it was good. And we had an appointment that night with a guy named Herr G. We had the 'real intent' lesson with him. He actuall said he was so old (only 50) and so experienced that he didn't need anything else. But we got him to agree that he hasn't experienced the BOM yet, and he said he would read it and try to see if it made any difference. It was cool.
Samstag: We did a street display in Greifswald on Sat. morning. It was SO COLD. Like -8 degrees Celsius. It was just painful. But I was able to talk to a couple of people and made out an appointment. So good stuff. We ate subway after. I hate subway. It's so expensive. Not cool at all. After we got home, pretty late at night, We met with J, one of our investigators. He's super cool. He's from Ghana and like is super faithful and believes in God. He told us that he already knows that the BOM is true and comes from God. SO like we're going to be working with him a lot.
Sonntag: Sunday was cool. I was so tired/sick in church so it was rough. We ate at the F's after. They made us really good food. And after that, we came home and studied.
So like the week was alright haha. I'm just so excited for Christmas! I feel like, after the Holidays and everything, it'll be my one year mark too and things will just go back into gear and I'll have this downhill momentum so I'm really looking forward to it. This transfer has gone by SO SO SO fast. Like I just can't even believe it. I'm excited.
SO MOM and DAD
We can skype tomorrow at 7:30 pm my time. Which will be like 10:30 am your time on Christmas day. GET STOKED! I'll call you first with the phone so we can make sure skype will work. I'm so so so excited!
We can talk about everything else then!
Love you all!
See you tomorrow!
Elder Pollard
So like this last week has been the craziest anticipation for Christmas and skyping and everything! It is so hard to focus on the work, but we're able to do it somehow. This email might be confusing and scattered, I'm just so excited for CHRISTMAS! We're going to T's house tonight to celebrate with them and their Grandparents, so it's going to be legit! And we're going to eat some bomb food.
So this last week was pretty good. It was COLD. And it started snowing again, which kind of blows, but it's ok, I'm just used to being cold and walking on ice everywhere by this time. Let me just tell you what happened last week.
Montag: Last P-Day was Elder Stanley's B-Day, so it just rocked. His parents sent him money to take us out to lunch, so we went to this restaurant called 'the old western'. Germans just don't know what America is really like haha. It was an 'American' themed restaurant, but it was just ridiculous. Well, I ate kangaroo. No big. It was good, but kind of tough. And a baked potato, and they were playing Sports Center! Oh my gosh that was the most exciting part of the day. After eating out, We rode this carnival ride thing, which was way fun. Then we went shopping. I ALMOST bought a suit haha. They were super cheap. But I decided just to wait and be smart. I can't even remember what else we did haha. We went grocery shopping. That night we had Family Home evening. That was fun. Mondays haha.
Dienstag: Tuesday we met with L, this Hindu student. He's really cool. He's like in the 'elite' class of Hinduism, which is intense, and I'm just not sure how much he is really willing to investigate, but he'll meet with us and talk about religion and stuff. He lives in this dorm at Möllner Straße, which is just the nastiest place on earth. Sometimes it smells so bad that you just can't be there. It hurts haha. He had us say this Hindu prayer. It was interesting, but super cool. After that, something weird happened haha. We went by on this less active member, and had an appointment, BUT like our appointment was scheduled for a different day haha. And we didn't realize it, and neither did he until after the appointment. Just weird stuff haha. We had institute that night, and it was really good. It was about love.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning was district meeting, which was cool. We ate taco salad after.
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| Elders Pollard, Stanley and District Leader Elder Dopsil and their taco salads... |
And the zone leaders were there. It was fun. After DCM we went by on a guy who wasn't home. We actually had like 4 appointments fall out on Wednesday. We studied at night and played bball later. It was cool.
Donnerstag: Thursday was COOL! For lunch, we ate at the Mensa, or cafeteria with T's and some of his friends. It was cool because they asked us a lot of questions and we gave them Books of Mormon and Tobias said his friends really liked it. SO GOOD. And it was super cheap. Bonus. After that, we had an appointment with D. He had met with the sisters before but we took over. We had this lesson about 'real intent' and it went really well. He said he really wants to learn more and try to figure it all out. He has like a learning disorder though, so reading isn't the easiest thing for him. We're just going to teach slow, and help him as much as we can. That night, we went caroling to this really old lady haha. She's 90! Her name is Schwester S. She's the bomb. It was a good day.
Fritag: Friday afternoon we went shopping with T. We were grocery shopping for Bruder S. The ward always buys him a bunch of groceries for Christmas because it helps a lot. So we helped T do that. We ate after that. Then we basically walked around with T all day, going by on every member and trying to meet with them/help T with his home teaching. We meet with 2 people haha but it was good. And we had an appointment that night with a guy named Herr G. We had the 'real intent' lesson with him. He actuall said he was so old (only 50) and so experienced that he didn't need anything else. But we got him to agree that he hasn't experienced the BOM yet, and he said he would read it and try to see if it made any difference. It was cool.
Samstag: We did a street display in Greifswald on Sat. morning. It was SO COLD. Like -8 degrees Celsius. It was just painful. But I was able to talk to a couple of people and made out an appointment. So good stuff. We ate subway after. I hate subway. It's so expensive. Not cool at all. After we got home, pretty late at night, We met with J, one of our investigators. He's super cool. He's from Ghana and like is super faithful and believes in God. He told us that he already knows that the BOM is true and comes from God. SO like we're going to be working with him a lot.
Sonntag: Sunday was cool. I was so tired/sick in church so it was rough. We ate at the F's after. They made us really good food. And after that, we came home and studied.
So like the week was alright haha. I'm just so excited for Christmas! I feel like, after the Holidays and everything, it'll be my one year mark too and things will just go back into gear and I'll have this downhill momentum so I'm really looking forward to it. This transfer has gone by SO SO SO fast. Like I just can't even believe it. I'm excited.
SO MOM and DAD
We can skype tomorrow at 7:30 pm my time. Which will be like 10:30 am your time on Christmas day. GET STOKED! I'll call you first with the phone so we can make sure skype will work. I'm so so so excited!
We can talk about everything else then!
Love you all!
See you tomorrow!
Elder Pollard
Week Forty-eight
Family and Friends,
So like every week I get to come and email back and I just reflect on the past week and it always just seems so hectic and crazy! But like this like week was good even though it was hectic and crazy. All the snow started melting! So the whole city of Rostock is covered with an inch of ice, with standing water. Just everywhere! It's crazy and not good if you really don't enjoy slipping in public. I'm good though! I survived the first week and a half of snow and ice and haven't slipped yet. Going strong. It is way cold though. It got down to like -5 degrees Celsius here the other week, and it was just painful to be outside. I am definitely grateful that I've lived in Southern California my whole life. Snow and ice just aren't fun! Well anyways, here's what I did last week.
Montag: P-Day was good. I didn't have any money yet (from the office of from home) so we couldn't do all the shopping I wanted to do! But it's ok. We walked around, emailed, hung out, and all the p-day activities that we love. After P-Day, we had Family Home Evening. BUT NOBODY SHOWED UP. It was kind of a bummer because it was the the senior sisters and us. The other sisters were on splits somewhere in Hamburg. So we spent the night singing Christmas songs, eating, and playing card games. Just the 4 of us haha. It was fun.
Dienstag: Tuesday was boring. We did street contacting in the morning, and ate lunch. We cleaned a lot, because someone from the church came and inspected the apartment and gave us a list of things to clean. Like stuff that hasn't been cleaned for the past 5 years. It's great. After that, we went by on a lot of old investigators and came into contact with a couple of them. We had institute that night.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had an appointment with M and the sisters. M told us that he'd rather meet with the sisters than with us...which was just insane and weird. That was rough haha. After that, we went to Brother S's and he made us lunch. It was like a rice ball with Chicken soup on top. Straight up good. We had a good spiritual thought with him. His dog Moppel attacked me with love like he always does. Moppel is like the biggest dog on Earth and he loves missionaries. It's just a funny situation. After Bruder S we visited a less active member names M.R.. He's super cool and loves Pokemon and collects rocks. He hasn't been to church in a while though. Elder Stanley and I really want to start working with M and seeing if there was any way to make him active again. After that, we had an appointment with a guy names H.J. He was an old investigator. It was kind of a miracle that we meet with him. So we showed up to the street that he lives on like 10 minutes early. But it literally took 20 minutes to find his house. Germany just has streets layed out in the strangest ways! And like houses will be behind other houses and stuff but still on the same street. It's just confusing haha. But we found it and we were late. We rang his name and he didn't answer and we called him and didn't answer. So we just started to leave when he walked up and was saying sorry for being late and all. BUT if we didn't take forever to find his house, we might have missed him! Little miracles haha. We had a good lesson. After H we went by on some people, talked to some people on the street. It was good. That nigh we played basketball.
Donnerstag: Thursday was our Zone Conference! President Richards was there from the area 70. He gave a really good 4 hour workshop haha which was a little painful to sit through, but it was so interesting and I learned a lot. Especially a lot about teaching. It was great. For lunch we ate Rouladen, Klöse and Rotkohl. The food was super good, and I picked up all my Christmas packages! Getting them home was a little struggle, especially because my companion got like 9 packages haha but I was/am so grateful! Thursday was all in all a good day. Oh yea our train going back to Rostock was delayed an hour....haha
Freitag: Friday was the coldest day ever. Literally. I think it was like -8 Celsius. I just died. I though my ears were going to fall off. Good thing we got those ear muff things at Target a year ago. They keep me alive. No joke. We had Gemiko early Friday morning, which went well but ran a little long. So we left right from Gemiko to this appointment that fell out. So after that, we went and ate with T. After lunch, we had an appointment with an old investigator named L. He has the deepest voice on earth. We makes James Earl Jones Jr. sound like Peewee Herman. He's was cool and shared some nice German Christmas treats with us. He has some solid fundamental beliefs that we thing are going to be key in teaching him more. After that, we helped T home teach. We met with O. We taught about Ether 12:4 and faith being an anchor. It went well. After O we went home and prepared for our lesson with B. We then taught B and had a solid lesson on the plan of salvation. THE MISSIONARIES IN ROSTOCK ARE ON FIRE!
Samstag: Saturday morning we did OYMs (open your mouth, or street contacting) we didn't find anybody though. After that we went home and ate lunch. Then we played basketball. Basketball keeps me alive haha. I was sick though so I felt horrible. Kind of like Michael Jordan in the playoffs. Game 6 verses the Jazz...Except I played better than him. It was way fun. We went home and showered after and went to ping pong. After that we oymed at night and found one guy who say we should come back.
Sonntag: Sundays are always great. I love church! Listening to talks is great, and I can't wait to come home and be able to listen to talks in English haha. There were like 15 people at church though. After church we ate at the A's and they made delicious food. Potatoes, Veggies, and meatballs. So good. After that we went to the außlanderheim. that's where like all the political refugees and illegal foreigners live. It's a sad place, but a lot of the people there are super receptive to our message. We met with this guy named J, from Ghana. Craziness haha he's super cool. We asked him what he would do if he had to ask God something. He said, I'd get on my knees, pray to him, and then listen for his answer. My jaw was just on the floor! haha we've never had such a solid answer! It was awesome. Sunday night we planned.
So a good week! Like we got a lot done haha. The week was like a rollercoaster with up and downs though. But at the end, it was just solid. Also, I was able to get everything to send home for Christmas! So I'll be sending all the packages today. So I'm happy and feeling the Christmas spirit! It's hard not to when you're hanging out in Germany haha They love Christmas!
So Mom! I got all four packages! I have to admit that I already opened some.....It's so nice and I'm so grateful that you sent me all that stuff! I know it wasn't the cheapest thing...But thank you so much. But everything else is still wrapped and I'm waiting patiently until Christmas! We're going to open all of our presents together (the missionaries). But I got all of them, so no worries! It was cool to see a Sephra box after a year of not seeing one haha. And it was so weird to see your handwriting! Both your's and Dad's! I opened the letters haha. That's why. Thanks for that by the way, I really enjoyed them.
Well today is Elder Stanley's B-Day, so we're eating out. It should be good!
That picture of Thomas and Christian is crazy! Christian looks exactly the same but Thomas looks like a different person haha. WEIRD! Who dressed up as Santa? It's cool that Ryan is leaving so soon.
Well, everything is going great with me! You guys should expect a package in the next week or so, and a Christmas card soon too! You're going to love the package!!!!!
I love you all so much and miss you!
Elder Pollard
So like every week I get to come and email back and I just reflect on the past week and it always just seems so hectic and crazy! But like this like week was good even though it was hectic and crazy. All the snow started melting! So the whole city of Rostock is covered with an inch of ice, with standing water. Just everywhere! It's crazy and not good if you really don't enjoy slipping in public. I'm good though! I survived the first week and a half of snow and ice and haven't slipped yet. Going strong. It is way cold though. It got down to like -5 degrees Celsius here the other week, and it was just painful to be outside. I am definitely grateful that I've lived in Southern California my whole life. Snow and ice just aren't fun! Well anyways, here's what I did last week.
Montag: P-Day was good. I didn't have any money yet (from the office of from home) so we couldn't do all the shopping I wanted to do! But it's ok. We walked around, emailed, hung out, and all the p-day activities that we love. After P-Day, we had Family Home Evening. BUT NOBODY SHOWED UP. It was kind of a bummer because it was the the senior sisters and us. The other sisters were on splits somewhere in Hamburg. So we spent the night singing Christmas songs, eating, and playing card games. Just the 4 of us haha. It was fun.
Dienstag: Tuesday was boring. We did street contacting in the morning, and ate lunch. We cleaned a lot, because someone from the church came and inspected the apartment and gave us a list of things to clean. Like stuff that hasn't been cleaned for the past 5 years. It's great. After that, we went by on a lot of old investigators and came into contact with a couple of them. We had institute that night.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had an appointment with M and the sisters. M told us that he'd rather meet with the sisters than with us...which was just insane and weird. That was rough haha. After that, we went to Brother S's and he made us lunch. It was like a rice ball with Chicken soup on top. Straight up good. We had a good spiritual thought with him. His dog Moppel attacked me with love like he always does. Moppel is like the biggest dog on Earth and he loves missionaries. It's just a funny situation. After Bruder S we visited a less active member names M.R.. He's super cool and loves Pokemon and collects rocks. He hasn't been to church in a while though. Elder Stanley and I really want to start working with M and seeing if there was any way to make him active again. After that, we had an appointment with a guy names H.J. He was an old investigator. It was kind of a miracle that we meet with him. So we showed up to the street that he lives on like 10 minutes early. But it literally took 20 minutes to find his house. Germany just has streets layed out in the strangest ways! And like houses will be behind other houses and stuff but still on the same street. It's just confusing haha. But we found it and we were late. We rang his name and he didn't answer and we called him and didn't answer. So we just started to leave when he walked up and was saying sorry for being late and all. BUT if we didn't take forever to find his house, we might have missed him! Little miracles haha. We had a good lesson. After H we went by on some people, talked to some people on the street. It was good. That nigh we played basketball.
Donnerstag: Thursday was our Zone Conference! President Richards was there from the area 70. He gave a really good 4 hour workshop haha which was a little painful to sit through, but it was so interesting and I learned a lot. Especially a lot about teaching. It was great. For lunch we ate Rouladen, Klöse and Rotkohl. The food was super good, and I picked up all my Christmas packages! Getting them home was a little struggle, especially because my companion got like 9 packages haha but I was/am so grateful! Thursday was all in all a good day. Oh yea our train going back to Rostock was delayed an hour....haha
Freitag: Friday was the coldest day ever. Literally. I think it was like -8 Celsius. I just died. I though my ears were going to fall off. Good thing we got those ear muff things at Target a year ago. They keep me alive. No joke. We had Gemiko early Friday morning, which went well but ran a little long. So we left right from Gemiko to this appointment that fell out. So after that, we went and ate with T. After lunch, we had an appointment with an old investigator named L. He has the deepest voice on earth. We makes James Earl Jones Jr. sound like Peewee Herman. He's was cool and shared some nice German Christmas treats with us. He has some solid fundamental beliefs that we thing are going to be key in teaching him more. After that, we helped T home teach. We met with O. We taught about Ether 12:4 and faith being an anchor. It went well. After O we went home and prepared for our lesson with B. We then taught B and had a solid lesson on the plan of salvation. THE MISSIONARIES IN ROSTOCK ARE ON FIRE!
Samstag: Saturday morning we did OYMs (open your mouth, or street contacting) we didn't find anybody though. After that we went home and ate lunch. Then we played basketball. Basketball keeps me alive haha. I was sick though so I felt horrible. Kind of like Michael Jordan in the playoffs. Game 6 verses the Jazz...Except I played better than him. It was way fun. We went home and showered after and went to ping pong. After that we oymed at night and found one guy who say we should come back.
Sonntag: Sundays are always great. I love church! Listening to talks is great, and I can't wait to come home and be able to listen to talks in English haha. There were like 15 people at church though. After church we ate at the A's and they made delicious food. Potatoes, Veggies, and meatballs. So good. After that we went to the außlanderheim. that's where like all the political refugees and illegal foreigners live. It's a sad place, but a lot of the people there are super receptive to our message. We met with this guy named J, from Ghana. Craziness haha he's super cool. We asked him what he would do if he had to ask God something. He said, I'd get on my knees, pray to him, and then listen for his answer. My jaw was just on the floor! haha we've never had such a solid answer! It was awesome. Sunday night we planned.
So a good week! Like we got a lot done haha. The week was like a rollercoaster with up and downs though. But at the end, it was just solid. Also, I was able to get everything to send home for Christmas! So I'll be sending all the packages today. So I'm happy and feeling the Christmas spirit! It's hard not to when you're hanging out in Germany haha They love Christmas!
So Mom! I got all four packages! I have to admit that I already opened some.....It's so nice and I'm so grateful that you sent me all that stuff! I know it wasn't the cheapest thing...But thank you so much. But everything else is still wrapped and I'm waiting patiently until Christmas! We're going to open all of our presents together (the missionaries). But I got all of them, so no worries! It was cool to see a Sephra box after a year of not seeing one haha. And it was so weird to see your handwriting! Both your's and Dad's! I opened the letters haha. That's why. Thanks for that by the way, I really enjoyed them.
Well today is Elder Stanley's B-Day, so we're eating out. It should be good!
That picture of Thomas and Christian is crazy! Christian looks exactly the same but Thomas looks like a different person haha. WEIRD! Who dressed up as Santa? It's cool that Ryan is leaving so soon.
Well, everything is going great with me! You guys should expect a package in the next week or so, and a Christmas card soon too! You're going to love the package!!!!!
I love you all so much and miss you!
Elder Pollard
Week Forty-seven
Hi,
It's totally cool to hear about all the missionary news back at home! I can't imagine Brandon speaking Tongan. I don't even know how that sounds! But that's way cool. Elder Stanley said that the Billings Montana mission has to be the most boring mission on earth, but that every companionship there gets a car. So that's a plus. Elder Stanley played basketball at a school in Montana, and he lived in the mission boundaries haha. But I'm just happy that I'm in Germany! I feel like it's totally fun and great, but when I think about it I realize how hard it is. I like it though, because I just feel like I have things that I have to prove to myself. And being here can help me! I love Germany.
Thanks for the money mom! That will be enough to send some presents home. Hopefully I can send them off today, so you can have them kind of in time for Christmas haha. I want to send home some authentic German stuff. Like stuff you won't be able to get unless you're in Germany! I'm doing that. I will pick up the packages that you sent here on Thursday. We have another big missionary conference then.
German food is excellent. If you feel like you want to make some INTENSE German food, look up a recipe for Rouladen. Eat the Rouladen with boiled...not mashed potatoes and a gravy/sauce. That's just the most typical German meal I can think of haha. Kohlrouladen would be even better! I certainly do miss you cooking though mom and dad! I haven't eaten a steak for 10 months...that's just a problem.
So get this story...
It started snowing A TON this last week. It's around 20 degrees during the day, and there's like a foot of snow everywhere. It's winter. But the giant hole in the bottom of my shoes was just a problem haha...I'll send the picture so you can see just how much snow was coming through the bottom of my shoes. It was a real problem. And since I had just zero money, I had to call President Kosak about it. Luckily, there is a mission fund that is especially for missionaries like Elder Pollard, walking around all day with freezing feet. So they hooked me up with some new shoes! Elder Pollard is stomping around with great new shoes. It was a Christmas miracle. I was also given just a little money 'for other warm things' so I think I will survive this winter! But keep praying for me! haha
This last week was really slow and now that I look back on it, there was definitely a lack of motivation and effort on my part. Partly because the snow just dumped and my feet were cold and I'm getting sick and all these excuses. But that like shouldn't stop the effort part of missionary work. You know? So I only have a couple of things to report on from this last week. I feel like I didn't do much, but I learned a lot.
Noteworthy events:
Last P-Day was fun. I helped Elder Stanley shop/ship all of his Christmas presents back home. P-Day is always just great. Nobody showed up to Family Home Evening though! Which wasn't really the biggest problem, but it was kind of weird. So Sister Holbrook (one of the senior sisters) led FHE with some tradition Swedish Christmas activities like singing and lighting candles and other Christmas-y stuff. It was great.
Tuesday I went on splits to Greifswald. Tuesday was the day that it really started snowing a lot. Like it all just came down Tuesday night. We had a couple of good lessons while I was in Greiswald, and got to spend the whole day riding a bike around in the snow and slush. Good times.
Wednesday was district meeting in the morning. Elder Dospil is our new district leader. He's from Austria, which means that Elder Pollard is like the only missionary in the mission to have directly worked with both of the Austrians here! Kind of cool.
But we did an egg-drop activity which represented taking care of our investigators. It was fun.
Wednesday night though, (I say night, but I mean 4 in the afternoon, because that's when it gets dark here) we went by on a less active member in this little city called Krakow am See. This was just an adventure. We got there after riding a train and a bus for about an hour, and noticed that the bus going back left in 30 minutes, so we only had 30 minutes to find this member and meet with them. So Elder Stanley and I are running through this little town while on the phone with Sister Holbrook who's using Google maps to lead us to the right address haha. Turns out that the address on the ward list just doesn't exist. And the number for this member belonged to a guy who had no idea who U. was. Oh well haha. But here's the problem...we looked and saw that we only had 5 minutes to get to the bus. So it was just a dead sprint for like 5 minutes!!!!! When we got back to the bus stop that bus was just leaving so we waved it down and got in. Miracles.
Friday was fun. This worker for the church came to inspect the mission apartments here. Not like a check to see if we're keeping it clean like pass or fail thing, just to see what they need to fix and stuff. And our apartment is just horrible haha. Nothing works. So the guy was there for like 3 hours. He was really nice and cool though. We have a list of things we need to clean, which is great.
Saturday was basketball!!! But before that we met with M, one of our investigators. Our lesson went really well. We always have bomb lessons with Mark. Then we played bball and ping pong. That was that night.
Sunday was cool. After church, we ate with Schwester L. The ordered this Kohlrouladen and potatoes and it was so delicious. BUT SO MUCH FOOD. I don't think I've ever eaten that much. It was just amazing how much food I put down. That night we planned, cleaned, and studied.
So the week was just slow. Like there's no reason for it, it just was. Oh well. This week is going to be better. This transfer is half over, so these next three week just have to be great!
I'm really not sure when we'll be skyping. I know it will be on the 25th. But we haven't worked out anything else. I'm guessing that we'll know by next week. And don't worry, I will definitely let you know when I know haha.
To end, I wanted to talk about this scripture that really impressed me last week. It's in 2 Nephi 25: 23. It says basically that we are saved through the grace of Christ, but only after we've done everything that we can. You know, you hear a lot of people say 'You're saved through grace! Just believe in Christ and you're saved!' which brings me to the scripture in James 2, faith without works in dead. So like that goes hand in hand with my whole effort thing. God's totally here to help us, but he definitely wants to see us put forth the right effort. Does that make sense? I feel like I get it.
Anyways, I love you all! I hope you're enjoying the season! Just remember that I'm doing well.
Love,
Elder Pollard
It's totally cool to hear about all the missionary news back at home! I can't imagine Brandon speaking Tongan. I don't even know how that sounds! But that's way cool. Elder Stanley said that the Billings Montana mission has to be the most boring mission on earth, but that every companionship there gets a car. So that's a plus. Elder Stanley played basketball at a school in Montana, and he lived in the mission boundaries haha. But I'm just happy that I'm in Germany! I feel like it's totally fun and great, but when I think about it I realize how hard it is. I like it though, because I just feel like I have things that I have to prove to myself. And being here can help me! I love Germany.
Thanks for the money mom! That will be enough to send some presents home. Hopefully I can send them off today, so you can have them kind of in time for Christmas haha. I want to send home some authentic German stuff. Like stuff you won't be able to get unless you're in Germany! I'm doing that. I will pick up the packages that you sent here on Thursday. We have another big missionary conference then.
German food is excellent. If you feel like you want to make some INTENSE German food, look up a recipe for Rouladen. Eat the Rouladen with boiled...not mashed potatoes and a gravy/sauce. That's just the most typical German meal I can think of haha. Kohlrouladen would be even better! I certainly do miss you cooking though mom and dad! I haven't eaten a steak for 10 months...that's just a problem.
So get this story...
It started snowing A TON this last week. It's around 20 degrees during the day, and there's like a foot of snow everywhere. It's winter. But the giant hole in the bottom of my shoes was just a problem haha...I'll send the picture so you can see just how much snow was coming through the bottom of my shoes. It was a real problem. And since I had just zero money, I had to call President Kosak about it. Luckily, there is a mission fund that is especially for missionaries like Elder Pollard, walking around all day with freezing feet. So they hooked me up with some new shoes! Elder Pollard is stomping around with great new shoes. It was a Christmas miracle. I was also given just a little money 'for other warm things' so I think I will survive this winter! But keep praying for me! haha
 |
| Elder Pollard is cold... |
This last week was really slow and now that I look back on it, there was definitely a lack of motivation and effort on my part. Partly because the snow just dumped and my feet were cold and I'm getting sick and all these excuses. But that like shouldn't stop the effort part of missionary work. You know? So I only have a couple of things to report on from this last week. I feel like I didn't do much, but I learned a lot.
Noteworthy events:
Last P-Day was fun. I helped Elder Stanley shop/ship all of his Christmas presents back home. P-Day is always just great. Nobody showed up to Family Home Evening though! Which wasn't really the biggest problem, but it was kind of weird. So Sister Holbrook (one of the senior sisters) led FHE with some tradition Swedish Christmas activities like singing and lighting candles and other Christmas-y stuff. It was great.
Tuesday I went on splits to Greifswald. Tuesday was the day that it really started snowing a lot. Like it all just came down Tuesday night. We had a couple of good lessons while I was in Greiswald, and got to spend the whole day riding a bike around in the snow and slush. Good times.
Wednesday was district meeting in the morning. Elder Dospil is our new district leader. He's from Austria, which means that Elder Pollard is like the only missionary in the mission to have directly worked with both of the Austrians here! Kind of cool.
But we did an egg-drop activity which represented taking care of our investigators. It was fun.
 | ||
| The construction of the egg safety pod... |
 |
| It didn't work... |
Wednesday night though, (I say night, but I mean 4 in the afternoon, because that's when it gets dark here) we went by on a less active member in this little city called Krakow am See. This was just an adventure. We got there after riding a train and a bus for about an hour, and noticed that the bus going back left in 30 minutes, so we only had 30 minutes to find this member and meet with them. So Elder Stanley and I are running through this little town while on the phone with Sister Holbrook who's using Google maps to lead us to the right address haha. Turns out that the address on the ward list just doesn't exist. And the number for this member belonged to a guy who had no idea who U. was. Oh well haha. But here's the problem...we looked and saw that we only had 5 minutes to get to the bus. So it was just a dead sprint for like 5 minutes!!!!! When we got back to the bus stop that bus was just leaving so we waved it down and got in. Miracles.
Friday was fun. This worker for the church came to inspect the mission apartments here. Not like a check to see if we're keeping it clean like pass or fail thing, just to see what they need to fix and stuff. And our apartment is just horrible haha. Nothing works. So the guy was there for like 3 hours. He was really nice and cool though. We have a list of things we need to clean, which is great.
Saturday was basketball!!! But before that we met with M, one of our investigators. Our lesson went really well. We always have bomb lessons with Mark. Then we played bball and ping pong. That was that night.
Sunday was cool. After church, we ate with Schwester L. The ordered this Kohlrouladen and potatoes and it was so delicious. BUT SO MUCH FOOD. I don't think I've ever eaten that much. It was just amazing how much food I put down. That night we planned, cleaned, and studied.
So the week was just slow. Like there's no reason for it, it just was. Oh well. This week is going to be better. This transfer is half over, so these next three week just have to be great!
I'm really not sure when we'll be skyping. I know it will be on the 25th. But we haven't worked out anything else. I'm guessing that we'll know by next week. And don't worry, I will definitely let you know when I know haha.
To end, I wanted to talk about this scripture that really impressed me last week. It's in 2 Nephi 25: 23. It says basically that we are saved through the grace of Christ, but only after we've done everything that we can. You know, you hear a lot of people say 'You're saved through grace! Just believe in Christ and you're saved!' which brings me to the scripture in James 2, faith without works in dead. So like that goes hand in hand with my whole effort thing. God's totally here to help us, but he definitely wants to see us put forth the right effort. Does that make sense? I feel like I get it.
Anyways, I love you all! I hope you're enjoying the season! Just remember that I'm doing well.
Love,
Elder Pollard
Week Forty-six
Hey guys,
So honestly, this last week was just rough. For a bunch of reasons. But mainly: we lost like ALL of our solid investigators, my health is down the hole, I had no money, and I have no warm clothes and it's just freezing outside. So it was just like really hard to step back and see all the positive sides of the week. It's sometimes just a lot easier to complain haha. It goes along the lines of the natural man in Mosiah 3. But it's the Christmas season, and Germany is going hard with the festivities haha. So it's a cool time of the year. I just wish I wasn't a walking ice cube. The week was long haha and just not a lot happened.
Last Monday was P-Day. We went around and explored the Christmas market in Innenstadt for most of the day. I ate a delicious smoked sausage thing. It's supposed to be very local and special to Rostock, but it just tasted like a Hillshire farms polish sausage. Still good though. It was way cool to walk around and see all the the 'German' Christmas things. They're really into little wooden things. It was a fun P-Day. After that we had Family Home Evening. It was only the missionaries and M, so pretty low key. We had a spiritual thought, ate some food, and decorated trees. It was solid.
Last Tuesday was rough. We had 3 appointments fall out. And we were like pretty sure that 2 of them were super solid and just wouldn't fall out haha. But oh well. We got in contact with this family that had investigated the church a while ago, and they told us they were moving so we offered to help and they invited us to come over on Saturday! Kind of random but super cool. We had institute that night. We had a good number of members and investigators show up, so it was pretty cool. Sister Wunderli made pumpkin soup which was good. We gave M a blessing that night, because it was the last time we'd see him! And now he's gone. So sad.
Wednesday we were in Berlin. We got up super early and got on a train. It was way cool though. I got to see literally everybody that I know! Which was cool. We heard some good workshops, exchanged presents (I got a magnet...) and ate Subway. Except the mission ordered like no food haha. We each got like a quarter of a sandwich. That took all day.
Thursday was cold. And long. 2 of our 3 lessons fell out. Just wonderful. But we used the extra time to go by on some members. We visited M. R., who's been less active for a while. Hopefully we can start meeting with him often and get him back into it. We also stopped by on Bruder S, who's just awesome. That night we had this insane lesson. 5 missionaries and 1 investigator haha. It was just chaos and nobody could get a point across. The investigator was B, who's been investigating/taking English lessons for a while. It was still an ok lesson. He wants to learn more, which is cool.
Friday was better. It started snowing on Friday though.....In the morning we had gemiko. We gave T some birthday presents, because Thursday was his b-day. That was fun. Then we went home and finished studying. We ate out with T and all the missionaries. And a guy named J from England who served in Rostock a while ago. He was really cool. After eating, we went and tried to find some people in our außländerheim. That's like a college dorm where they house foreigners who don't have money. We got in contact with a guy who knew like everyone haha and he told us who still lived that and who'd been moved. Then we had a lesson with an old investigator names K. He's a boxer who's like 5'4, looks 45 but is really 26 haha. He's cool though. And that we went by on more old investigators. We did weekly planning that night.
Saturday is always a good day. In the morning, the sisters and we helped the family K to move. It was super random but it was good service. One of their friends was saying how impressive it is that we just help total strangers. It was fun and they gave us sandwiches so worth it. It's all about the immediate temporal blessings. After that we went and played Bball. That's always fun. It's starting to look like there's not a lot of interest from the people who play though, which is sad. After bball we went home, showered, changed, and went to ping pong. Always fun.
Sunday was great actually. We had a cool church meeting, and after we had a Christmas party/singing thing. The food was way good. We got M to come, but he told us that he doesn't really want to meet any more. We'll see. B was there too. It was nice to celebrate with the whole branch. I was feeling sick though. After that, we walked around, trying to find old investigators. We came in contact with quite a few actually, but a couple said that they didn't have interest anymore. That night we finished studying.
IT WAS FREEZING THIS PAST WEEK. And it's only going to get worse. I am going to need some warmer clothes if I'm ever going to live to see summer again haha. It's like seriously cold here! I'm not a fan. But, when you focus on the negative parts of life, then you're going to have a bad time! So it's all about attitude. I forgot where I heard it, but someone said something along the lines of...Peter cut someone's ear off because he was mad, and denied Christ three time....if that's all you know about him, then he sounds like a bad dude. But if you focus on the great things he did, then we realize the miracle and everything. So I've been trying to be really optimistic lately. It's good for you.
The Weihnachtsmarkt here is huge. It's like all of downtown is filled with little booths selling Christmasy stuff. It's way cool. We like like a 5 minute bahn ride from Innenstadt. That's crazy that Brandon is already home! Time really flies. That recipe sounds really good mom. Germans love pork, it's all they eat. I haven't gotten the packages yet. I'll pick them up on the 13th when I'm back in Berlin. Carrying 4 packages through Bahnhof is gonna be crazy! But totally worth it. You sent them to the mission office right? Germans love advent calendars they're like everywhere haha. M, our investigator, gave us this intense one with little games every day instead of chocolate. I'll totally be in Rostock for a least 9 more weeks. Probably 15 really, so I'll be talking to you from here.
I love you all a lot. This last week I feel like I got away from prayer and scripture study, which is why I was in such a bad mood. I've realized how important it is to stick to studying, and making sure that your prayers are good. So I invite all of you to try it too!
Enjoy your first advents week!
Love you all!
Elder Pollard
So honestly, this last week was just rough. For a bunch of reasons. But mainly: we lost like ALL of our solid investigators, my health is down the hole, I had no money, and I have no warm clothes and it's just freezing outside. So it was just like really hard to step back and see all the positive sides of the week. It's sometimes just a lot easier to complain haha. It goes along the lines of the natural man in Mosiah 3. But it's the Christmas season, and Germany is going hard with the festivities haha. So it's a cool time of the year. I just wish I wasn't a walking ice cube. The week was long haha and just not a lot happened.
Last Monday was P-Day. We went around and explored the Christmas market in Innenstadt for most of the day. I ate a delicious smoked sausage thing. It's supposed to be very local and special to Rostock, but it just tasted like a Hillshire farms polish sausage. Still good though. It was way cool to walk around and see all the the 'German' Christmas things. They're really into little wooden things. It was a fun P-Day. After that we had Family Home Evening. It was only the missionaries and M, so pretty low key. We had a spiritual thought, ate some food, and decorated trees. It was solid.
Last Tuesday was rough. We had 3 appointments fall out. And we were like pretty sure that 2 of them were super solid and just wouldn't fall out haha. But oh well. We got in contact with this family that had investigated the church a while ago, and they told us they were moving so we offered to help and they invited us to come over on Saturday! Kind of random but super cool. We had institute that night. We had a good number of members and investigators show up, so it was pretty cool. Sister Wunderli made pumpkin soup which was good. We gave M a blessing that night, because it was the last time we'd see him! And now he's gone. So sad.
Wednesday we were in Berlin. We got up super early and got on a train. It was way cool though. I got to see literally everybody that I know! Which was cool. We heard some good workshops, exchanged presents (I got a magnet...) and ate Subway. Except the mission ordered like no food haha. We each got like a quarter of a sandwich. That took all day.
Thursday was cold. And long. 2 of our 3 lessons fell out. Just wonderful. But we used the extra time to go by on some members. We visited M. R., who's been less active for a while. Hopefully we can start meeting with him often and get him back into it. We also stopped by on Bruder S, who's just awesome. That night we had this insane lesson. 5 missionaries and 1 investigator haha. It was just chaos and nobody could get a point across. The investigator was B, who's been investigating/taking English lessons for a while. It was still an ok lesson. He wants to learn more, which is cool.
Friday was better. It started snowing on Friday though.....In the morning we had gemiko. We gave T some birthday presents, because Thursday was his b-day. That was fun. Then we went home and finished studying. We ate out with T and all the missionaries. And a guy named J from England who served in Rostock a while ago. He was really cool. After eating, we went and tried to find some people in our außländerheim. That's like a college dorm where they house foreigners who don't have money. We got in contact with a guy who knew like everyone haha and he told us who still lived that and who'd been moved. Then we had a lesson with an old investigator names K. He's a boxer who's like 5'4, looks 45 but is really 26 haha. He's cool though. And that we went by on more old investigators. We did weekly planning that night.
Saturday is always a good day. In the morning, the sisters and we helped the family K to move. It was super random but it was good service. One of their friends was saying how impressive it is that we just help total strangers. It was fun and they gave us sandwiches so worth it. It's all about the immediate temporal blessings. After that we went and played Bball. That's always fun. It's starting to look like there's not a lot of interest from the people who play though, which is sad. After bball we went home, showered, changed, and went to ping pong. Always fun.
Sunday was great actually. We had a cool church meeting, and after we had a Christmas party/singing thing. The food was way good. We got M to come, but he told us that he doesn't really want to meet any more. We'll see. B was there too. It was nice to celebrate with the whole branch. I was feeling sick though. After that, we walked around, trying to find old investigators. We came in contact with quite a few actually, but a couple said that they didn't have interest anymore. That night we finished studying.
IT WAS FREEZING THIS PAST WEEK. And it's only going to get worse. I am going to need some warmer clothes if I'm ever going to live to see summer again haha. It's like seriously cold here! I'm not a fan. But, when you focus on the negative parts of life, then you're going to have a bad time! So it's all about attitude. I forgot where I heard it, but someone said something along the lines of...Peter cut someone's ear off because he was mad, and denied Christ three time....if that's all you know about him, then he sounds like a bad dude. But if you focus on the great things he did, then we realize the miracle and everything. So I've been trying to be really optimistic lately. It's good for you.
The Weihnachtsmarkt here is huge. It's like all of downtown is filled with little booths selling Christmasy stuff. It's way cool. We like like a 5 minute bahn ride from Innenstadt. That's crazy that Brandon is already home! Time really flies. That recipe sounds really good mom. Germans love pork, it's all they eat. I haven't gotten the packages yet. I'll pick them up on the 13th when I'm back in Berlin. Carrying 4 packages through Bahnhof is gonna be crazy! But totally worth it. You sent them to the mission office right? Germans love advent calendars they're like everywhere haha. M, our investigator, gave us this intense one with little games every day instead of chocolate. I'll totally be in Rostock for a least 9 more weeks. Probably 15 really, so I'll be talking to you from here.
I love you all a lot. This last week I feel like I got away from prayer and scripture study, which is why I was in such a bad mood. I've realized how important it is to stick to studying, and making sure that your prayers are good. So I invite all of you to try it too!
Enjoy your first advents week!
Love you all!
Elder Pollard
Week Forty-five
Hey guys!
So this last week was just like...amazing. I guess that's a good word for it! Elder Stanley and I were just way busy, but it was great because we got a lot of work done, and experienced some cool things. It's been getting like cold though. So that's always rough. When it's noon here it's colder than the coldest night ever in San Diego. It's just rough haha. Anways let's get to the week!
Montag: So last P-day was kind of cool/hectic. So in the morning, we got up and cleaned like usual. We were emailing, and in the middle of emailing I get this phone call from an unknown number. So I answered and heard 'Hallo, hier sind die Polizie'. The police were calling me! I was just like...what. I really didn't know how to respond. Well apparently, we left our front door open. A neighbor called the police, because we weren't there and we had to stop emailing and go home to talk with the PoPo. That was just lovely. Well everything worked out and the police told us to be more careful. It was just weird. After that, the senior sisters, regular sisters, and we went to Ikea! Haha there's a tradition with Sister Holbrook (one of the senior sisters) to go to Ikea on the last P-Day of the transfer. She grew up in Sweden so she likes Ikea. We went there and ate some delicious food (Ikea in Europe goes hard with the cafeteria). After eating, we walked around the store for a little. I bought some house slipper things. They're purple. It's cool. And some way nice and cheap pens. Ikea rocks. After P-Day, we met with M. M told us that he thought about his baptism and decided that it would be better to be baptized in Switzerland. Which is great actually, because we agree with that. It's cool that he's making these decisions that are just good and best for him. So unfortunately, we didn't have a baptism on Saturday, but it's ok. After meeting with M, we had Family Home Evening. There was a spiritual thought, some good snacks, and we played this game called phase ten. It's my new obsession. No big-just naturally talented at card games. THIS IS REAL LIFE.
Diesntag: Tuesday morning Elder Stanley and I made the decision to go by on a less active member. Schwester P is her name. She live(s)(d) in the city called Ribnitz-Damgarten though, which is like a 20 minutes train ride from Rostock. And she doesn't really live in the city. She lives like 45 minutes outside of the city haha. Well we got there and just had no idea how to get to her street. Luckily we found a map and figured it out. After a 45 minutes walk we got the Papelallee 24. And she just doesn't live there! Haha we walked forever just to find out that the address is wrong. Oh well I guess that's missionary work. There's no number on the ward list, so there's no other way of contacting her! And nobody knows who she is. It's ok though because it was an adventure. After we got home we hung out a little to recover and then had another lesson with M. We talked about Tithing and Fasting and he just had no problems with either of the subjects. After that we had Institute, which was cool because T came! We changed it from Wednesday to Tuesday night just so T could come. We love T. If you don't all know by now, T is our 2nd councelor/ward mission leader. He's 24 and speaks 100% perfect English with no German accent. He did an internship at BYU for teaching English or something. He's just amazing and we talk with him at least once a day about the work. That went well. Bruder G came up from Berlin to teach institute and he taught an amazing lesson about Luke 5 and Christ telling Simon to cast out his nets again. He related it to trusting in Christ and never giving up when we need to find an answer or overcome a trial. It was cool. We ate some good food after.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had District Meeting. Our new District Leader is Elder Dospil from Austria. He's cool! We had a good meeting and got to know each other again haha. After DCM we went home and ate. That afternoon we were going by old investigators and two things happened. We made out an appointment with this older man named Herr S. Herr means Mr. He's Atheist, but made out the appointment and was super nice. And after that, we got in contact with this old investigator. She said she couldn't meet because she was moving, but we said we'd love to help the family move and she said that'd be cool. We're still waiting for them to call us, but hopefully we can help! After that we met again with M haha. After meeting with M we hung around for English class and played this game with Sister Holbrook and Bruder G, who's learning English. It was cool to get to know him better. That night we played basketball with a new group of guys. So like 4 weeks ago this British guy just stops Elder Stanley and I and says, 'You're those American guys aren't you?' haha he invited us to play bball and so this week we actually went and it was super fun. Elder Stanley is so good at baskteball it's insane. I'm just average. But average for an American is super for a German, because they're just not athletic people. It was fun though. And best twist! This British guy who invited us to play turned out to be T's English Professor! haha that's just great.
Donnerstag: Thursday was Thanksgiving! But not in Germany. It was just a normal day. Thursday morning was normal, except we did our German study at the church with Sister Holbrook and the other sisters. It was cool. We learned a lot. So we went by on this guy who said he wanted a Book of Mormon, but he had no time so we made out another appointment for this week. He's cool and hopefully we'll be able to meet with him a lot. We went back and had lunch, then met wit M. We had a KILLER lesson with M! But at the end we talked with him about baptism and he just said that he could never ever be baptized. He showed us this letter that he wrote to us and it was way confusing but basically said he'll never be baptized. We're still working on that. After M, we met with Herr S! We gave him a BoM and talked a little. He's Atheist so it's kind of different teaching him. That evening we were walking around going by on old investigators. We came in contact with one, and made an appointment on the street. Good stuff!
Freitag: Friday morning was Gemiko (Ward Mission Leader/Missionary meeting) and it went well. We taught M again after the meeting. After meeting with M, we went out to lunch with T. I ate Kassler. It was good. We went and check out the Christmas Market at Innenstadt after that! Our whole downtown is just a huge Christmas Market! It's way cool and intense and packed. Germans go hard on Christmas. After that we went back and studied more. Then went by on old investigators. Then we had an appointment with this guy named Herr G. He has a super intense story about living in Chile during the revolution down there. We talked for a while and we were able to relate the gospel to his life, which was awesome. And my German was just firing! It was the best. That night we planned for the week.
Samstag: Saturday is always a good day. We studied in the morning and ate an early lunch. We went to the basketball guys, but had a meeting with A before we played. T came with us. A wanted to learn about Tithing before he committed to learn anything else, and T is just the best teacher on Earth so it went really well. Hopefully we can meet more often with A. We played Bball. We killed it. The Germans love us because we're athletic. After Bball we had Ping Pong, which was fun. One of the sisters investigators came and brought a bunch of old DDR coins, which was cool. After Ping Pong we had a good discussion with M about 'real intent' when reading and prying about the BoM.
Sonntag: Sunday was normal. We had church. I gave a talk about the BoM and it's 'converting power'. We had 3 investigators at church, which was cool too. We ate at Bruder S's with the sisters after. It was way good and Bruder S is just awesome. After that, we went by a couple old investigators. We met with the senior sisters for a little and talked about M and then went home and planned.
It was a good week! Probably the best week I've had in Rostock, and definitely the best week German wise. I love German, especially when it's just working for you. Some days it just comes out, and some days you just can't speak a word of it. It's cool though. It's super hard to learn, so when you can actually have a good conversation, it's just the most fulfilling thing ever.
Family! There's a new laptop!? That's just amazing news! Is there a webcam?? That's the important question. I really don't know how we're doing skype this time. The senior sisters have laptops, so we might use though. I just don't know though haha. It'll be on Christmas, and definitely before noon, because we're 9 hours ahead. But it's all good. We have a zone conference this week, so I'm assuming that president will tell us what to do there. Not too worried about it, but I'm super excited to skype!
I'm just so jealous of the Thanksgiving you guys had! On Thursday, Elder Stanley and I at tortellini for lunch, and then fasted the rest of the day. Fun right? haha. It'll just make coming home THAT much better when I can eat some home cooked meals.
I'm glad my raptor picture amuses you all.
I love you all! So much! I can't wait to skype and see how you all are! I want to see your faces. I really want to send you a present too! I'm planning on sending you some authentic German Christmas stuff! You'll love it!
Love you all!
Elder Pollard
So this last week was just like...amazing. I guess that's a good word for it! Elder Stanley and I were just way busy, but it was great because we got a lot of work done, and experienced some cool things. It's been getting like cold though. So that's always rough. When it's noon here it's colder than the coldest night ever in San Diego. It's just rough haha. Anways let's get to the week!
Montag: So last P-day was kind of cool/hectic. So in the morning, we got up and cleaned like usual. We were emailing, and in the middle of emailing I get this phone call from an unknown number. So I answered and heard 'Hallo, hier sind die Polizie'. The police were calling me! I was just like...what. I really didn't know how to respond. Well apparently, we left our front door open. A neighbor called the police, because we weren't there and we had to stop emailing and go home to talk with the PoPo. That was just lovely. Well everything worked out and the police told us to be more careful. It was just weird. After that, the senior sisters, regular sisters, and we went to Ikea! Haha there's a tradition with Sister Holbrook (one of the senior sisters) to go to Ikea on the last P-Day of the transfer. She grew up in Sweden so she likes Ikea. We went there and ate some delicious food (Ikea in Europe goes hard with the cafeteria). After eating, we walked around the store for a little. I bought some house slipper things. They're purple. It's cool. And some way nice and cheap pens. Ikea rocks. After P-Day, we met with M. M told us that he thought about his baptism and decided that it would be better to be baptized in Switzerland. Which is great actually, because we agree with that. It's cool that he's making these decisions that are just good and best for him. So unfortunately, we didn't have a baptism on Saturday, but it's ok. After meeting with M, we had Family Home Evening. There was a spiritual thought, some good snacks, and we played this game called phase ten. It's my new obsession. No big-just naturally talented at card games. THIS IS REAL LIFE.
Diesntag: Tuesday morning Elder Stanley and I made the decision to go by on a less active member. Schwester P is her name. She live(s)(d) in the city called Ribnitz-Damgarten though, which is like a 20 minutes train ride from Rostock. And she doesn't really live in the city. She lives like 45 minutes outside of the city haha. Well we got there and just had no idea how to get to her street. Luckily we found a map and figured it out. After a 45 minutes walk we got the Papelallee 24. And she just doesn't live there! Haha we walked forever just to find out that the address is wrong. Oh well I guess that's missionary work. There's no number on the ward list, so there's no other way of contacting her! And nobody knows who she is. It's ok though because it was an adventure. After we got home we hung out a little to recover and then had another lesson with M. We talked about Tithing and Fasting and he just had no problems with either of the subjects. After that we had Institute, which was cool because T came! We changed it from Wednesday to Tuesday night just so T could come. We love T. If you don't all know by now, T is our 2nd councelor/ward mission leader. He's 24 and speaks 100% perfect English with no German accent. He did an internship at BYU for teaching English or something. He's just amazing and we talk with him at least once a day about the work. That went well. Bruder G came up from Berlin to teach institute and he taught an amazing lesson about Luke 5 and Christ telling Simon to cast out his nets again. He related it to trusting in Christ and never giving up when we need to find an answer or overcome a trial. It was cool. We ate some good food after.
Mittwoch: Wednesday morning we had District Meeting. Our new District Leader is Elder Dospil from Austria. He's cool! We had a good meeting and got to know each other again haha. After DCM we went home and ate. That afternoon we were going by old investigators and two things happened. We made out an appointment with this older man named Herr S. Herr means Mr. He's Atheist, but made out the appointment and was super nice. And after that, we got in contact with this old investigator. She said she couldn't meet because she was moving, but we said we'd love to help the family move and she said that'd be cool. We're still waiting for them to call us, but hopefully we can help! After that we met again with M haha. After meeting with M we hung around for English class and played this game with Sister Holbrook and Bruder G, who's learning English. It was cool to get to know him better. That night we played basketball with a new group of guys. So like 4 weeks ago this British guy just stops Elder Stanley and I and says, 'You're those American guys aren't you?' haha he invited us to play bball and so this week we actually went and it was super fun. Elder Stanley is so good at baskteball it's insane. I'm just average. But average for an American is super for a German, because they're just not athletic people. It was fun though. And best twist! This British guy who invited us to play turned out to be T's English Professor! haha that's just great.
Donnerstag: Thursday was Thanksgiving! But not in Germany. It was just a normal day. Thursday morning was normal, except we did our German study at the church with Sister Holbrook and the other sisters. It was cool. We learned a lot. So we went by on this guy who said he wanted a Book of Mormon, but he had no time so we made out another appointment for this week. He's cool and hopefully we'll be able to meet with him a lot. We went back and had lunch, then met wit M. We had a KILLER lesson with M! But at the end we talked with him about baptism and he just said that he could never ever be baptized. He showed us this letter that he wrote to us and it was way confusing but basically said he'll never be baptized. We're still working on that. After M, we met with Herr S! We gave him a BoM and talked a little. He's Atheist so it's kind of different teaching him. That evening we were walking around going by on old investigators. We came in contact with one, and made an appointment on the street. Good stuff!
Freitag: Friday morning was Gemiko (Ward Mission Leader/Missionary meeting) and it went well. We taught M again after the meeting. After meeting with M, we went out to lunch with T. I ate Kassler. It was good. We went and check out the Christmas Market at Innenstadt after that! Our whole downtown is just a huge Christmas Market! It's way cool and intense and packed. Germans go hard on Christmas. After that we went back and studied more. Then went by on old investigators. Then we had an appointment with this guy named Herr G. He has a super intense story about living in Chile during the revolution down there. We talked for a while and we were able to relate the gospel to his life, which was awesome. And my German was just firing! It was the best. That night we planned for the week.
Samstag: Saturday is always a good day. We studied in the morning and ate an early lunch. We went to the basketball guys, but had a meeting with A before we played. T came with us. A wanted to learn about Tithing before he committed to learn anything else, and T is just the best teacher on Earth so it went really well. Hopefully we can meet more often with A. We played Bball. We killed it. The Germans love us because we're athletic. After Bball we had Ping Pong, which was fun. One of the sisters investigators came and brought a bunch of old DDR coins, which was cool. After Ping Pong we had a good discussion with M about 'real intent' when reading and prying about the BoM.
Sonntag: Sunday was normal. We had church. I gave a talk about the BoM and it's 'converting power'. We had 3 investigators at church, which was cool too. We ate at Bruder S's with the sisters after. It was way good and Bruder S is just awesome. After that, we went by a couple old investigators. We met with the senior sisters for a little and talked about M and then went home and planned.
It was a good week! Probably the best week I've had in Rostock, and definitely the best week German wise. I love German, especially when it's just working for you. Some days it just comes out, and some days you just can't speak a word of it. It's cool though. It's super hard to learn, so when you can actually have a good conversation, it's just the most fulfilling thing ever.
Family! There's a new laptop!? That's just amazing news! Is there a webcam?? That's the important question. I really don't know how we're doing skype this time. The senior sisters have laptops, so we might use though. I just don't know though haha. It'll be on Christmas, and definitely before noon, because we're 9 hours ahead. But it's all good. We have a zone conference this week, so I'm assuming that president will tell us what to do there. Not too worried about it, but I'm super excited to skype!
I'm just so jealous of the Thanksgiving you guys had! On Thursday, Elder Stanley and I at tortellini for lunch, and then fasted the rest of the day. Fun right? haha. It'll just make coming home THAT much better when I can eat some home cooked meals.
I'm glad my raptor picture amuses you all.
I love you all! So much! I can't wait to skype and see how you all are! I want to see your faces. I really want to send you a present too! I'm planning on sending you some authentic German Christmas stuff! You'll love it!
Love you all!
Elder Pollard
A note from King Papi...
So there have not been any postings in the last few weeks. Elder Pollard's photos are of such high resolution that they do not show up in this blog (other than on my computer). While we are working to fix this issue, we will resume our normally scheduled postings (albeit with fewer photos...).
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
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