Week Fifty-three

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